Shock Jock Michael Savage and Others on UK Ban List Had Not Applied for Entry
TIMESONLINE: A majority of the people who were named by the Home Office as being banned from entering the country have never sought to travel to Britain, it emerged today.

Two of the 16 people named by Jacqui Smith as excluded from Britain are in prison in Russia where they are serving 20-year sentences.

The disclosure came as a US talk-show host said that he would sue the Government for defamation after being placed on the list.

Michael Weiner, also known as Michael Savage, a shock-jock broadcaster in America, has described the Koran as “a book of hate” and questioned the validity of autism.

He told his radio audience in the US that he intended to sue Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, who he described as the “lunatic... Home Secretary of England”.

He said: “To link me up with skinheads who are killing people in Russia, to put me in league with Hamas murderers who kill people on buses is defamation.”

In an article posted on his website, he said that he did not advocate violence but traditional values.

He wrote: “What does that say about the government of England? It says more about them than it says about me.”

A leading media lawyer said today that lawyers would be “falling over themselves” to offer their services. >>> Richard Ford and Frances Gibb | Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Moskau empfiehlt Saakaschwili Arztbesuch
DIE PRESSE: Vor dem Hintergrund eines Nato-Manövers erhöhen sich die Spannungen. Tiflis meldet einen Putsch-Versuch. Russland, das eine Einladung zur Beobachtung ausgeschlagen hat, sieht die Militärübung als „offene Provokation“.

Saakaschwili. Bild dank der Presse
MOSKAU. Genau neun Monate nach dem Fünftagekrieg zwischen Russland und Georgien im August 2008 ist die Atmosphäre zwischen den beiden Nachbarn wieder zum Zerreißen gespannt. Laut des georgischen Präsidenten Michail Saakaschwili hat Russland an der Vorbereitung eines Militärputsches in seinem Land mitgewirkt. Das US-Verteidigungsministerium hingegen sprach von einem „ziemlich isolierten Zwischenfall“. >>> EDUARD STEINER, Korrespondent der Presse | Mittwoch, 5. Mai 2009

Le Pakistan, "la guerre" d'Obama
leJDD.fr: Barack Obama reçoit mercredi les présidents afghan, Hamid Karzaï, et pakistanais, Asif Ali Zardari. Les trois hommes participeront à un sommet tripartite sur la situation régionale. Objectif pour le président américain: préciser sa stratégie de lutte contre Al-Qaïda dans un contexte de renforcement des taliban. Pour leJDD.fr, Karim Pakzad*, spécialiste de la région à l'Iris, explique les enjeux.

Le Pakistan et l'Afghanistan en sommet... à Washington. Sur deux jours, mercredi et jeudi, Barack Obama recevra séparément - et pour la première fois depuis son arrivée à la Maison blanche - l'Afghan Hamid Karzaï et le Pakistanais Asif Ali Zardari, avant de les réunir pour un sommet tripartite sur la situation régionale, rendez-vous institué par George W. Bush il y a trois ans. Le contexte est particulier: côté américain, la nouvelle administration a fait de l'Afghanistan une priorité ; côté afghan, le pays se prépare à l'élection présidentielle du 20 août ; côté pakistanais, les taliban paraissent plus fort que jamais et les combats se rapprochent de la capitale. Lors de ces tête-à-tête, Barack Obama espère convaincre Kaboul et Islamabad, dont les relations ne sont pas toujours évidentes, de l'utilité d'une démarche régionale pour vaincre Al-Qaïda. >>> Propos recueillis par Marianne ENAULT, leJDD.fr | Mardi 05 Mai 2009

Peres unterstützt Obamas neue Iranpolitik: Israels Staatspräsident zu Besuch im Weissen Haus
NZZ Online: Bei einem Besuch im Weissen Haus in Washington hat der israelische Staatspräsident Peres Unterstützung für Obamas neue Iran-Politik bekundet.

Israel unterstützt nach den Worten von Staatspräsident Shimon Peres die neue amerikanische Politik zur Annäherung an den Iran.
«Wir werden loyale Befürworter sein», sagte Peres nach einem Gespräch mit US-Präsident Barack Obama im Weissen Haus.

«Wenn sie gelingt, wird es das Beste sein», fügte Peres über die US-Politik hinzu. Er nannte keine Einzelheiten.

Obama verfolgt die Politik einer Öffnung gegenüber der Führung in Teheran und schliesst auch direkte Gespräche auf höchster Ebene nicht aus. >>> sda/dpa | Mittwoch, 6. Mai 2009

I'll Sue for Defamation, Says US Shock-jock Michael Savage, on UK Banned List
Michael Savage lashed out at the Home Secretary after his name emerged on the list. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: An American “shock jock” said last night that he was planning legal action against the Government after discovering that he had been on a list of 16 people banned from entering Britain since October.

Michael Savage, who hosts the “Savage Nation” radio show, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he had been defamed and endangered by the decision made by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary.

“This lunatic . . . is linking me up with Nazi skinheads who are killing people in Russia,” he said. “She’s putting me in a league with Hamas murderers who kill Jews on buses.

“I have never advocated violence. I've been on the air 15 years. My views may be inflammatory, but they're not violent in any way.” >>> Richard Ford, Home Correspondent | Wednesday, May 6, 2009

MAIL Online: U.S[.] Shock Jock to Sue Home Office for Defamation after Being Included on the List of 22 Banned from the UK

An American 'shock jock' DJ has vowed to sue the Government after being included on a list of Britain's 'least wanted'.

Talk-show presenter Mike Savage branded Jacqui Smith a 'lunatic' after being named alongside hate preachers and a member of Hamas.

He was yesterday named on a list of 22 hardliners banned from entering the UK because the Home Office claims they have fostered extremism or hatred.

Miss Smith said the move was aimed at naming and shaming extremists and demonstrate behaviour the Government will not tolerate.

But the publication appears to have backfired on the minister, whose job is already hanging by a thread due to a string of expense scandals.

Mr Savage said: 'For this lunatic Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary of England, to link me up with skinheads who are killing people in Russia, to put me in league with mass murderers who kill Jews on buses, is defamation.

'I thought this was a joke or a mistake. How could they put Michael Savage in the same league with mass murderers when I have never avowed violence? As a result of this, I am going to sue.'

He added: ‘I've been on the air 15 years. My views may be inflammatory, but they're not violent in any way.’ >>> By James Slack | Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Sharia Boards: Scholars Hold Sway over the Success of Products
FINANCIAL TIMES: The ultimate arbiters of the Islamic finance industry are not regulators, bespoke-suited bankers or the authorities, but a small, select coterie of ascetically garbed scholars versed in Koranic verses and arcane areas of jurisprudence.

This was made abundantly clear last year, when Sheikh Taqi Usmani, a leading scholar of sharia-compliant finance, shocked the industry by declaring many Islamic bonds, or sukuk, had gone too far in mimicking conventional debt.

Bankers and lawyers debate whether it was Sheikh Taqi or the credit crunch that caused the sukuk market to clam up: most admit the denouncement did not help.

The sharia supervisory boards – that Islamic banks must have – approve or ban transactions, products and services but do not become involved in credit policy or portfolio choices.

This can bring them into conflict with bankers who have conjured up increasingly complicated products.

“I’ve seen banks where the relationships were close, and others where they were tense, but everyone knows you cannot do anything without the scholars’ blessing,” says an industry insider.

Bankers say – until the credit crunch – the scarcity of sharia scholars was the biggest drag on growth of the Islamic finance industry.

Islamic banks have multiplied in recent years, thanks to government support, a profusion of petrodollars and a favourably inclined customer base in much of the Muslim world.

However, the number of scholars qualified to pass judgment on banks has remained low at about 30-40.

In addition to exhaustive knowledge of sharia and Islamic jurisprudence, scholars have to be financially knowledgeable and comfortable with English – the language of most financial and legal documentation. >>> By Robin Wigglesworth | Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Race War Terror as Mosque Fire Bombed
DAILY STAR: Fears of a race war grew yesterday after right-wing extremists were accused of firebombing a mosque.

The Call To Islam Education Centre was gutted in a blaze which local Muslims have called an act of terrorism.



And they claim the attack in Luton, Beds, was revenge for a protest by a Muslim hate mob against returning Brit soldiers in the town in March.



Farasat Latif, the centre’s secretary, said: “We strongly condemn this violent Islamaphobic attack on our mosque. We believe that this attack was carried out by far-right extremists, an attack that could have led to many deaths.



“Over 90 children attend our centre daily. Had this happened at a different time, the results would have been catastrophic.”



Detectives have examined CCTV footage of two hooded men running to a car seconds after the midnight explosion. >>> By Ross Kaniuk | Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Hat tip: Always On Watch >>>

Can We Ban Islam? - Legal Guidelines for the Criminalization of Islam in the United States
CANADA FREE PRESS: Geert Wilders’ recent call at a Palm Beach synagogue to ban Islam has stirred up all sorts of controversy, with more “moderate” blogs speaking out in opposition to it. So let’s take a closer look at the issue of banning Islam.

Banning Islam is more difficult in the United States than in Europe, because of the First Amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

On the surface of it this is a fairly straightforward formulation barring the legislative branch from taking any action to create a state religion or barring the practice of any religion.

The founders were English citizens and well aware of the way in which religion could stoke political violence. In the late 18th century, Cromwell was not ancient history, neither were the Covenanters or the Gunpowder Plot. While they did not anticipate like the rise of an Islamic insurgency in America, they understood quite well that religion and violence could and would intersect.

That of course was one of the reasons for barring a State Church, to avoid giving the government control over religion, a situation that had resulted in much of the religious violence in England. By giving religion independence, but not political power, the First Amendment sought to avoid a repeat of the same ugliness that had marked centuries of wars in Europe.

That of course is a key point. The separation of church and state was meant to protect the integrity of both, and avoid power struggles between religious groups. There was to be no state religion, the government could not leverage religious authority and religious factions could not begin civil wars in a struggle to gain power or autonomy. For the most part it worked.

Until now the only real acid test for this approach involved the Mormon Church, an ugly history on both sides that has mostly been buried under the weight of time. More recently Scientology flared up as a cult turned church that demanded its own autonomy and did its best to make war on the government and its critics.

And then there is Islam. The first problem with using the First Amendment in defense of Islam-- is that its goal is to violate the First Amendment. Islam’s widely stated goal is to become a State Religion, around the world and in America as well. >>> By Daniel Greenfield | Monday, May 4, 2009

Daniel can be reached at: sultanknish@yahoo.com

Taliban Tighten Hold on Pakistan as Army Backs Off
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: TALIBAN forces tightened their grip on Pakistan's Swat region and continued resisting the military's efforts to dislodge them from neighbouring Buner, bringing a fragile peace accord closer to collapse and the volatile north-west region nearer to full-fledged conflict.

Yet even as the Taliban continued their rampage and rejected the Government's latest concession to their demands - the appointment of Islamic-law judges in Swat - Pakistan's military leaders clung to hopes for a non-violent solution, saying that security forces were "still exercising restraint to honour the peace agreement".

Behind this strained hope for a peaceful solution lies an array of factors - competing military priorities, reluctance to fight fellow Muslims, lack of strong executive leadership and some internal sympathy for the insurgents - that analysts say has long prevented the Pakistani army from making a full-fledged assault on violent Islamist groups. >>> Declan Walsh in Islamabad | Wednesday, May 6, 2009

US Crackdown Could Tighten Tax Noose on Multinationals
THE TELEGRAPH: American companies may soon have to adapt to a fiscal regime without frontiers.

President Barack Obama has revealed a protectionist streak. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
THE world is becoming a chillier place for multinationals, and for the owners of capital.

While President Barack Obama's plan to clamp down on the overseas earnings of US corporations has been billed as an attack on offshore havens, it heralds a deeper change in the way the US companies are taxed worldwide.

American citizens must pay US income tax on every dollar, peso, or yuan they earn, whether or not they set foot on US soil that year. Mr Obama is making the first efforts to extend this principle to companies as well.

At the moment, US multinationals can take tax deductions on overseas earnings, but delay tax on profits forever by reinvesting abroad. They can shuffle money from one subsidiary to another through the "check box" loophole. This is why US companies pay just $16bn (£11bn) a year on $700bn of foreign earnings, a tax rate of 2.3pc.

Mr Obama has a fight on his hands trying to stop it. >>> By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Barack Obama Hints at Tougher Line on Israel
TIMESONLINE: The Obama Administration has signalled a tougher approach towards Israel ahead of fresh talks on the Middle East peace process by insisting it must endorse the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

“Israel has to work toward a two-state solution,” declared Vice-President Joe Biden today in a speech to the annual conference of a powerful pro-Israel lobby group in Washington.

“You’re not going to like my saying this,” he warned the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) before adding that the Jewish state should not build any more settlements on Palestinian territory, and should “dismantle existing outposts and allow Palestinians freedom of movement”.

President Obama later held a White House meeting with Shimon Peres, his Israeli counterpart, who holds a largely ceremonial position. But the US Administration’s message appeared to be addressed to the new right-wing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is due to visit the White House on May 18.

Mr Netanyahu has dismayed American, Arab and European officials by pointedly refusing to back Palestinian statehood since taking office on March 31. In his own speech to Aipac, sent via satellite link, he said: “We are prepared to resume peace negotiations without any delay and without any preconditions — the sooner the better.” Saeb Erekat, the senior Palestinian negotiator, however, criticised Mr Netanyahu’s speech for its “vagueness” on core issues such as the status of Jerusalem and refugees, as well as its failure to commit to a two-state solution. >>> Tom Baldwin, Washington | Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Sarkozy en appelle
à un volontarisme européen
Nicolas Sarkozy s'est engagé dans la campagne de l'UMP pour les élections européennes du 7 juin, mardi, à Nîmes. Photo grâce au Figaro
LE FIGARO: Le chef de l'État s'est à nouveau opposé à un «élargissement sans fin» de l'Union.

Dix ans après les élections européennes de 1999 - le pire souvenir électoral de sa carrière -, Nicolas Sarkozy a lancé mardi la campagne pour le scrutin du 7 juin. Ovationné par quatre mille sympathisants, il était mardi au moins autant le patron de la majorité que le président de la République. Installé au milieu de la foule selon une scénographie déjà testée lors de sa dernière «réunion républicaine», à Saint-Quentin, Nicolas Sarkozy n'était pas là, a-t-il répété, pour «défendre son bilan» après deux ans d'Élysée. Pourtant, il n'a pas hésité à le faire en rappelant à plusieurs reprises que «depuis deux ans la France a eu le courage de se réformer». Mais, il a aussi martelé que «cette France que nous essayons de changer, nous ne la changerons pas sans l'Europe».

Mardi, il a donc défendu l'idée européenne, «celle des pères fondateurs», qui croyaient en une «Europe qui protège». De Tbilissi au G20, en passant par Gaza, il a multiplié les exemples de son action pour illustrer sa conviction qu'il est possible de «refuser l'Europe de l'impuissance». Et a fixé plusieurs conditions à la réussite de son projet

Ratifier le traité de Lisbonne

La première condition est l'instauration de «limites» à l'Union. «Pour que l'Europe veuille, il faut qu'elle cesse de se diluer dans un élargissement sans fin», a-t-il expliqué, disant clairement non, sous les applaudissements, à l'entrée de la Turquie dans l'Union. Le président souhaite en revanche créer avec Ankara «un espace économique et de sécurité commun». Un espace qu'il veut d'ailleurs élargir à la Russie . >>> Charles Jaigu, envoyé spécial du Figaro à Nîmes | Mardi 05 Mai 2009

Iraner wegen Ehebruchs zu Tode gesteinigt: Involvierte Frau zeigt Reue und wird begnadigt
NZZ Online: Wegen Ehebruchs ist ein Mann im Norden des Irans zu Tode gesteinigt worden. Die Hinrichtung fand einem Gerichtssprecher zufolge bereits im März in der Stadt Rascht am Kaspischen Meer statt. Zur Identität des Mannes wurden keine Angaben gemacht. Der involvierten Frau sei die Steinigung erspart geblieben, weil sie Reue gezeigt habe. >>> ap | Dienstag, 5. Mai 2009

Thousands Flee Pakistan's Swat Valley
Residents prepare to flee from Mingora, the main town in Pakistan's Swat Valley. Photo courtesy of The Wall Street Journal
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: ISLAMABAD -- Thousands of panicked residents on foot and crammed in buses, vans and trucks fled Swat valley north of Pakistan's capital Tuesday following the breakdown of a fragile truce between government forces and the Taliban.

Authorities lifted a curfew for a few hours to allow residents to evacuate as the militants took control of Mingora, the main town of the valley, which lies about 100 miles from Islamabad. Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for North West Frontier Province, which includes Swat, said he expects as many as 500,000 to flee in the near future.

Khushal Khan, head of the local administration, urged residents to leave their homes before evening as fighting between the army and militants broke out once again. Pakistan's military has been fighting the Taliban in Swat after each side accused the other of failing to honor the terms of a peace accord struck in February to end the conflict in Swat in return for the imposition of Sharia law.

Tuesday's exodus worsened a humanitarian problem stemming from the displacement of more than half a million people from Pakistan's lawless tribal region near the Afghan border and in parts of North West Frontier Province where security forces have been check the militants' efforts to expand their influence. >>> By Zahid Hussain | Tuesday, May 5, 2009

US Shock-jock, Jewish Extremist and Hamas MP on List of 16 Banned from UK
Fred Waldron Phelps Snr, an American Baptist pastor, was barred for his homophobic views. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: A former member of the Ku Klux Klan, a neo-Nazi, a Hamas MP and a Jewish extremist are among 16 people named today as being banned from entering the UK.

Also on the list published by the Home Office is a US “shock jock” talkshow host whose views on Islam, rape and autism have stirred controversy in America.

The 16 are among 22 people excluded in the five months to March. The Home Office has not identified the other six on security grounds.

Today's move follows changes to the law in 2005 which widened the criteria for imposing a ban to include people who promote hatred, terrorist violence or serious criminal activity.

The list includes Erich Gliebe, the leader of an American neo-Nazi group, Michael Savage (real name Michael Weiner), a radio presenter in America, Mike Guzovsky, a Jewish extremist, and Stephen “Don” Black, a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan.

Also on the list is Fred Waldron Phelps Snr, an American Baptist pastor and his daughter, Shirley, who were barred last year for their homophobic views.

The two have picketed the funerals of Aids victims and celebrated the deaths of US soldiers as punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality.

Also on the list of those banned between October and March is the Hamas MP Yunis al-Astal.

Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky, the former leaders of a violent Russian skinhead gang which committed 20 racially motivated murders, are also banned. They are currently in jail. >>> Richard Ford, Home Correspondent | Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Großbtritannien: Was bleibt vom liberalen Erbe Margaret Thatchers?
WELT ONLINE: Margaret Thatcher hat Großbritannien von Grund auf verändert. Sie modernisierte das damals marode Land. Als Eiserne Lady bekämpfte sie Gewerkschaften, privatisierte Staatsbetriebe und hielt Distanz zur EU. Heute vor 30 Jahren kam Margaret Thatcher an die Macht. In ihrem Land ist sie umstrittener denn je.

"Tête à tête" mit dem damaligen US-Präsidenten Ronald Reagan im Dezember 1984 in Camp David. Bild dank der Welt
Sie gehört in jene Kategorie von historischen Figuren, mit denen man die Zeitrechnung einteilt in ein „Davor“ und „Danach“. So sprechen wir heute vom Vor-Thatcher Großbritannien und vom Nach-Thatcher Großbritannien.

Dazwischen vollzog sich die tiefgreifendste Metamorphose der jüngeren britischen Geschichte überhaupt. Sie veränderte das Vereinigte Königreich fast bis zum Nicht-mehr-Wiedererkennen.

Viele Wunden wurden aufgerissen im Verlauf dieser Revolution. Es ist daher nicht verwunderlich, dass sich bis heute Hass und Bewunderung zu gleichen Teilen um Margaret Thatcher ranken. Was dagegen nicht bestritten wird, auch nicht von ihren Verächtern, ist ihr heraus gehobener Platz in der Zeitgeschichte.

Vor 30 Jahren, in der Unterhauswahl vom 3. Mai 1979, kam sie an die Macht, mit einer eher bescheidenen Mehrheit von 43 Sitzen, die sie vier Jahre später freilich bereits auf 144 steigern konnte. Dazu verhalf ihr vor allem die argentinische Junta, die im April 1982 mit der Besetzung der Falkland-Inseln eine Verletzung des Völkerrechts beging und damit bei der „Eisernen Lady“ ein klassisches „We shall never surrender“ provozierte.

Im Zeichen der Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise sucht der britische Zeitgenosse gerne nach Sündenböcken für die gegenwärtige Malaise. Als Erster bietet sich Gordon Brown an, der zunehmend glücklos agierende Premierminister.

Aber man bohrt weiter: Womit begann denn alles, wer ließ das wilde Tier ungezügelter Bereicherungssucht von der Leine, wer lenkte die Risikobereitschaft der Bürger in die Abgründe fröhlicher Verschuldung, wer predigte als Erster die Segnungen des Marktes, ohne auf die Fallstricke der Unachtsamkeit hinzuweisen? Die modische Antwort: Margaret Thatcher. >>> Von Thomas Kielinger | Sonntag, 3. Mai 2009

Pakistan’s Islamic Schools Fill Void, but Fuel Militancy
The madrasas offer almost no instruction beyond the memorizing of the Koran, creating a widening pool of young minds that are sympathetic to militancy. Photo courtesy of The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: MOHRI PUR, Pakistan — The elementary school in this poor village is easy to mistake for a barn. It has a dirt floor and no lights, and crows swoop through its glassless windows. Class size recently hit 140, spilling students into the courtyard.

But if the state has forgotten the children here, the mullahs have not. With public education in a shambles, Pakistan’s poorest families have turned to madrasas, or Islamic schools, that feed and house the children while pushing a more militant brand of Islam than was traditional here.

The concentration of madrasas here in southern Punjab has become an urgent concern in the face of Pakistan’s expanding insurgency. The schools offer almost no instruction beyond the memorizing of the Koran, creating a widening pool of young minds that are sympathetic to militancy.

In an analysis of the profiles of suicide bombers who have struck in Punjab, the Punjab police said more than two-thirds had attended madrasas.

“We are at the beginning of a great storm that is about to sweep the country,” said Ibn Abduh Rehman, who directs the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent organization. “It’s red alert for Pakistan.” >>> By Sabrina Tavernise | Sunday, May 3, 2009

New Dark Age Alert! Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Who'd Be Female under Islamic Law?
THE INDEPENDENT: In Muslim states, violence against women is validated. A dark age is upon us

I am a Muslim woman and, like my late mother, free, independent, sensuous, educated, liberal, contrary and confrontational when provoked, both feminine and feminist. I style and colour my hair, wear lovely things and perfumes, appear on public platforms with men who are not related to me, shake their hands, embrace some I know well, take care of my family.

I defend Muslims persecuted by their enemies and their own kith and kin. I pray, fast, give to charity and try to be a decent human being. I also drink wine and do not lie about that, unlike so many other "good" Muslims. I am the kind of Muslim woman who maddens reactionary Muslim men and their asinine female followers. What a badge of honour.

Female oppression in Islamic countries is manifestly getting worse. Islam, as practiced by millions today, has lost its compassion and integrity and is entering one of the darkest of dark ages. Here is this month's short list of unbearable stories (imagine how many more there are which will never be known):

Iranian painter Delara Darabi, only 22 and in prison since she was 17, accused of murdering an elderly relative, was hanged last week even though she had been given a temporary stay of execution by the chief justice of the country. She phoned her mother on the day of her hanging to beg for help and the phone was snatched by a prison official who told them: "We will easily execute your daughter and there's nothing you can do about it." Her paintings reveal the cruelty to which she was subjected.

Meanwhile Roxana Saberi, a 32- year-old broadcast journalist whose father is Iranian, is incarcerated in Tehran's Evin prison, accused of spying for the US. She denies this and says she has been framed because she was seen buying a bottle of wine. This intelligent, beautiful and defiant woman is on hunger strike. Over in Saudi Arabia, an eight-year-old child has just divorced a 50-year-old man. Her father, no doubt a very devout man, sold his daughter for about £9,000.

I have been reading Disfigured, the story of Rania Al-Baz, a Saudi TV anchor, the first woman to have such a job, who was so badly beaten up by her abusive husband that she had to have 13 operations to re-make her once gorgeous face. Domestic violence destroys females in all countries, but in Muslim states, it is validated by laws and values. As Al-Baz writes, "It is appalling to realise that a woman cannot walk down the street without men staring at her openly. For them she is nothing but a body without a mind, something that moves and does not think. Women are banned from studying law, from civil engineering and from the sacrosanct area of oil." >>> Yasmin Alibhai-Brown | Monday, May 4, 2009

Bruce Anderson: Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Woman
THE INDEPENDENT: Thirty years after Margaret Thatcher arrived at No 10 and set out to change Britain, her greatness should not be in dispute

Did Margaret Thatcher really believe that there was no such thing as society? No, she did not. Photo courtesy of The Independent
Margaret Thatcher was not a Whistler etching. She did not do shades of grey. Nor do most of those who write about about her. She is either the best of Prime Ministers or the worst of Prime Ministers: the woman who saved the country or the woman who destroyed it. No one could claim that she was an insignificant figure. No one doubts that historians yet unborn will be discussing her legacy; that she will continue to ride the storms of controversy, as she did in her prime.

Thirty years ago, that all seemed so unlikely. In those days, even in the Tory party, very few people realised that she was the raw material of political greatness. Shortly after she won the leadership, Rab Butler spoke to Chris Patten. "This, ah, Thatcher woman. We don't have to take her seriously, do we?" It now seems laughable, but back then, he had a point. Ted Heath put her in his Cabinet, as the statutory woman. In three and a half years, she did not outgrow that status. She abolished a lot of grammar schools and free school milk; there were no other achievements. As an Education Secretary, she ranks somewhere between undistinguished and mediocre.

Ted lost two elections: time to go. But who was to take his place? Willie Whitelaw would not run against him. Everyone agreed that Keith Joseph would not do, including Keith Joseph. There was hesitancy. She brought it to an end. Her courage won its reward. Four years later, however, she had still not transformed that courage into unquestioned authority. A much less successful Leader of the Opposition than Tony Blair or David Cameron, she was often patronised in the Commons by Jim Callaghan. Her Shadow Cabinet included several men – Carrington, Gilmour, Joseph, Prior, Pym, Whitelaw – who appeared to be at least her equal in substance.

It is one of the more fascinating "what ifs" in counter-factual history: what if Mr Callaghan had called an election in October 1978? Even if Mrs Thatcher had won, she would have had a tiny majority. Could her fledgling government have survived the Winter of Discontent, which would have happened regardless, as Labour's wages policy imploded? But Jim dithered. The Winter of Discontent not only destroyed his chances. It highlighted the failure of an entire, often bi-partisan, approach to economic management. Amid all the wreckage, she alone seemed undaunted. No one else knew what to do. She insisted that she did. >>> Bruce Anderson | Monday, May 4, 2009

Taliban Terror Holds 2,000 Villagers as Human Shields
THE SUNDAY TIMES: TALIBAN militants who have seized swathes of North West Frontier Province in Pakistan have inflicted a reign of terror on villagers, landowners and the police, using kidnapping, looting, pillaging and murder to impose their will.

Yesterday, as Pakistani forces stepped up their campaign to retake territory in the districts of Buner, Dir and Swat, it emerged that in one Taliban-controlled village, Pir Baba in Buner, the militants were holding 2,000 people as human shields in case the army attacked.

Elsewhere the Taliban appeared to be relying on kidnapping to extort funds and intimidate the population. Many of their victims have been members of rich families.

“Kidnapping has become routine in our village. Armed Taliban were picking up people and then demanding a huge ransom for their release,” said an elderly refugee now living with his family in a tent in Timergara, a town in Dir. >>> Daud Khattak, NorthWest Frontier | Sunday, May 3, 2009