Lethal Bomb Hits Hotel in Northwest Pakistan
Wounded men after a bombing on Tuesday outside a five-star hotel in Peshawar, Pakistan. Photo courtesy of The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Militants opened fire on security guards and rushed a small truck packed with explosives through the gates of a five-star hotel in this northwestern city on Friday, detonating a large bomb in the parking lot and killing at least 11 people and wounding 55, Pakistani officials.

The blast, which left a crater six feet deep and 15 feet wide, was powerful enough to be heard for miles, witnesses said. Television images showed parts of the hotel badly damaged by the blast and wounded people, with blood soaked clothes, being helped out of the smoke filled lobby of the hotel, the Pearl Continental, one of the few in the city that cater to Western visitors.

Guests at the time of the attack included United Nations officials and an airline crew, and five women and three foreigners were among the dead, officials said. Two United Nations World Food Program officials were wounded, one critically, a United Nations official in Pakistan said.

The attack was the most spectacular against a Western target in Pakistan since the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in the capital, Islamabad, last September, which left more than 50 dead. >>> By IRFAN ASHRAF and SALMAN MASOOD | Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Fear and Hate on the Rise: Europe Revives Its Old Monsters
FRANCE 24: Europe has elected its angriest, most eurosceptic and xenophobic parliament ever - with a battalion of hard-right parties breaking through for the first time on a wave of anti-immigrant feeling and an unholy cocktail of both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

But while there is no denying the fury of the "angry middle-aged men" apparently responsible for electing the violent anti-Roma Jobbik party in Hungary, the BNP in Britain, Heinz-Christian Strache's Third Reich nostalgics in Austria and Geert Wilders Freedom Party in Holland - who alone on the extreme right is proud to call himself a Zionist - the new parliament will also have a caucus of new and surprising progressive voices.

Sweden's Pirate Party, who have campaigned for freer internet downloading and a loosening of copyright restrictions, have struck a chord among the young everywhere, and France's crusading anti-corruption magistrate Eva Joly - elected on the Green ticket - and her Italian opposite number Antonio Di Pietro are likely to hold many in Brussels and beyond it to account.

This is also a much more colourful and controversial parliament than the one that went before. If half of the parliament's accountability problem is its lack of visibility, a bit of personality surely has to be a good thing - granted, of course, that it does not turn into a theatre of hate. But even that unedifying prospect may prompt the majority of Europeans who did not bother to vote to do so the next time. >>> By Fiachra Gibbons/RFI | Sunday, June 07, 2009

Michelle, Obama’s Belle, Leaves Her Taste at Home!
Bad taste! Faute de goût! Geschmacksverirrung! Michelle Obama in London. Hip! Hip! Hoorah!

European Elections 2009: How Labour Let the BNP Flex Its Muscles
THE TELEGRAPH: The collapse of the traditional vote in working-class strongholds was the key as an openly racist party won seats for the first time in a nationwide election, says Philip Johnston.

The smirk on Nick Griffin's face as he walked on to the platform at Manchester town hall in the early hours of yesterday morning said it all. The BNP had arrived. For the first time in a nationwide election, the voters of the United Kingdom had returned candidates from an avowedly racist political party.

Our cosy complacency that imagined that only Continental Europeans elect fascists to parliament was shattered. A collective wail of middle-class angst went up from mainstream party leaders: what have we done? Liam Fox the Tory shadow cabinet member, said: "All politicians should be asking themselves 'how did we allow this to happen?' "

The hostility engendered by Griffin's victory was palpable: as he took his place on the stage, giving a Churchillian "V for Victory" salute, his opponents all walked off. But we cannot keep walking away from the BNP. They need to be tackled head on. It is because the mainstream parties, Labour in particular, have failed so comprehensively to address any of the issues exploited by Griffin and his followers that they have been able to win two seats in the European parliament (under a PR system whose proponents might now think twice about pursuing it for Westminster).

Harriet Harman, Labour's blue-stocking deputy leader, said: "It's a terrible thing that we've now got representing Britain in the European parliament a party that is a racist party, a party that doesn't believe black people should even be allowed to join this party. What extremist, far right, racist parties like the British National Party do is exploit people's fears and if people are worried about their future they turn inwards."

But whose fault is that? This has not happened in a political vacuum. It was the collapse of Labour's vote in areas it considered its fiefdom that let in the BNP. After 12 years in power, Miss Harman cannot try to pass the buck. Most galling of all is that the British taxpayer will now fund the BNP through the generous salaries and allowances for which it now qualifies in the European parliament. >>> By Philip Johnston | Monday, June 08, 2009

This article is totally unbalanced, since it fails to mention some of the most important reasons why people felt moved to vote BNP: The mainstream parties gave them no alternative. The election of two BNP MEPs has clearly rattled the British establishment.

The fact is that all three mainstream parties will not face, still less confront, the real issues facing us all. Islam is growing apace in Europe. The demographic jihad (as well as many other jihads!) is being waged against us. The nature of European society is changing before our very eyes, and nobody is prepared to discuss the problem from the mainstream parties, still less do anything about it. The BNP is prepared to attack the problem head on. That is one big reason why many so-called "working class" people voted BNP, I believe. The liberal, leftist élite, of whom David Cameron is one, judging by his policies, knows nothing about the dangers of Islam, and they are too cowardly to confront the problem head on. The BNP is not.

All main parties are for the accession of Turkey into the EU. Most people I know - middle class people or working class - are against this accession. Yet nobody in the mainstream parties will speak for them. The BNP will. It is firmly against Turkey’s accession; and rightly so.

I predict that if things go on as they are, the BNP will grow and grow, because they will fill the political void that the other parties have created.

It is such a pity that the Conservative Party has lost its courage. Historically, one could always depend on the Conservative Party to get us out of a hole. No longer, it seems. Hence, many must have felt disenfranchised. The result: Many decided not to vote at all; others voted for extreme parties.

This problem needs to be tackled head on; otherwise extremism will continue to rear its head. – ©Mark

BNP Leader Pelted in Egg Protest
BBC: BNP leader Nick Griffin has been pelted with eggs and forced to abandon a press conference outside Parliament.

Dozens of protesters disrupted the event, which follows the British National Party winning its first two seats in the European Parliament.

Chanting anti-Nazi slogans and holding placards they surrounded Mr Griffin as he was bundled into a car.

Mr Griffin was elected for the North West region - a result condemned by parties across the political spectrum.

Mr Griffin and Andrew Brons, who was elected in the Yorkshire and Humber region, staged a press conference on College Green, opposite the Houses of Parliament.

The BNP leader began the event by holding up copies of national newspapers and talking about what he said were media lies about him and his party. >>> | Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Watch BBC video: BNP leader pelted with eggs >>>

Upon Sober Reflection, Bahrain Reconsiders the Wages of Sin: Island Reliant Upon Debauched Visits From Thirsty Saudis Looks to Clean Up
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: MANAMA, Bahrain -- Every weekend, bumper-to-bumper traffic blocks the causeway into this small island nation as visitors from nearby Saudi Arabia flock to delights unavailable at home: movie theaters, bars and, for some, commercial sex.

With few other attractions, Bahrain's booming tourism industry thrives on the island's reputation as a freewheeling oasis just a short drive from major Saudi cities. Bahrain has little oil of its own; tourism, mostly by the four million Saudis who cross the causeway each year, accounts for a tenth of its economy.

All of this is endangered, as Bahraini legislators press to scrap the country's drinking laws -- currently the most liberal in the Persian Gulf -- and to impose near-total prohibition.

"I'm sorry to say, but Bahrain has become the brothel of the Gulf, and our people are very upset about it," says parliamentarian Adel Maawdah, one of the promoters of the new legislation. "It's not only the drinking that we oppose, but also what it drags with it: prostitution, corruption, drugs and people-trafficking."

The Parliament's elected lower chamber unanimously approved a motion last month to prohibit alcohol in hotels, restaurants, duty-free shops and aboard Gulf Air, the national airline. Lawmakers acted amid outrage over a widely circulated men's Web-site article placing Bahraini capital Manama in the world's "top 10 cities to pursue vice and debauchery." The prohibition proposal must now go to the upper chamber, appointed by King Hamad, and to the government for endorsement.

Not even Mr. Maawdah expects that Bahrain will enact a complete Saudi-style ban in the immediate future. The government, however, is likely to respond to parliamentary pressure with fresh curbs. "Nobody is talking about banning alcohol completely," says Sheik Mohammed bin Essa al Khalifa, chief executive of Bahrain's Economic Development Board and a prominent member of the royal family. Still, "we all want to put restrictions on sleaze, and this will be for the good of Bahrain."

Already, just before last month's Parliament vote, the government forbade alcohol and live entertainment in dozens of one-star and two-star hotels popular with weekenders from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the two Gulf countries that outlaw booze. It also clamped down on prostitution, which is illegal but widely tolerated, rounding up and deporting hundreds of women. In earlier restrictions, Bahrain has begun to enforce legislation that prohibits alcohol consumption during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and has closed popular wine shops in residential areas.

"Step by step, they're tightening up," a Western diplomat says. "In the medium term, it may well come to a complete prohibition."

This drive contrasts with other Gulf monarchies, such as Qatar and Abu Dhabi, where harsh drinking laws have been relaxed lately. "When everyone else is opening up, we're going in the opposite direction," complains Ebrahim Sharif Alsayed, leader of Bahrain's secularist Waad movement. Bahrain's ruling family, he adds, "is allowing the Islamists to gradually Islamize the society." >>> By Yaroslav Trofimov | Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Atomwaffen: Nordkorea droht der Welt mit "Vergeltungsschlag"
WELT ONLINE: Immer schriller werden die Äußerungen des nordkoreanischen Regimes. Im Leitartikel einer staatlichen Zeitung verbreitet es, das Atomarsenal des Landes sei nicht nur ein Mittel der Verteidigung, sondern auch ein für einen "gerechten Vergeltungsschlag" geeignet. Gedroht wird allen, die Nordkoreas "Würde und Souveränität" anrühren.

Nordkorea hat die Rhetorik im Streit um seinen jüngsten Atomtest erneut verschärft. Dabei drohte das kommunistische Regime auch mit einem atomaren Angriff. „Unsere atomare Abschreckung ist ein überzeugendes Mittel der Verteidigung (...) ebenso wie ein erbarmungsloses Mittel zur Offensive als gerechter Vergeltungsschlag gegen diejenigen, die die Würde und Souveränität des Landes anrühren“, hieß es in einem Leitartikel der staatlichen Zeitung „Minju Joson“, den die amtliche Nachrichtenagentur KCNA weiterverbreitete.

Im UN-Sicherheitsrat laufen zurzeit Beratungen über mögliche weitere Sanktionen gegen Nordkorea wegen des jüngsten Atomtests. Diese Waffentests in Verbindung mit der Suche von Staatschef Kim Jong-il nach einem Nachfolger könnten nach Einschätzung des US-Geheimdienstkoordinators Dennis Blair noch sehr gefährlich werden.
Zwar handle die nordkoreanische Führung derzeit nach einem vertrauten Verhaltensmuster. Allerdings seien dieses Mal „gefährlichere Waffen, womöglich Interkontinentalraketen und Atomwaffen“ im Spiel, sagte Blair bei einer Konferenz in Washington. Somit sei das Risiko größer, obwohl das Verhaltensmuster bekannt sei. >>> | Dienstag, 09. Juni 2009

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Rally Abandoned Because Crowds Are Too Big
The vast crowds chanted slogans in support of President Ahmadinejad for several hours. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: Political history was made last night when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s President, was forced to abandon an election rally because the crowds who gathered to hear him were too vast.

As many as 50,000 fanatical supporters of the Islamic fundamentalist President had stood jam-packed for four hours in suffocating heat inside a vast prayer hall in Tehran.

Outside, an overflow crowd almost as great blocked all access to the venue. Officials said that Mr Ahmadinejad’s vehicles spent 90 minutes trying to force their way through, without success. There was talk of him holding the rally outside, but the idea was dropped when officials warned that people would be crushed to death.

As Mr Ahmadinejad’s disappointed followers flooded on to the streets, supporters of the President’s strongest rival, the reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi, mounted their own show of might. Tens of thousands of them, all dressed in green, formed a human chain running the length of Valiasr, the thoroughfare that runs 30km (18 miles) from the north to the south of the Iranian capital.

As darkness fell last night the city was in chaos, with all traffic paralysed and rival groups rampaging through the streets in support of two leaders with radically different visions for the future of their country.

It was a highly combustible situation and testimony to the extraordinary passions and excitement generated by Friday’s election in which Mr Mousavi, a former prime minister, is fighting to become the first challenger to defeat a sitting president in the 30-year history of the Islamic Republic. Iranians say that the only other presidential election that has caused such fervour was when Mohammed Khatami was swept into power on a tide of reformist fervour in 1997.

The chasm that has opened up in Iranian society after four years of Mr Ahmadinejad’s ultra-conservative, socially repressive presidency were starkly apparent yesterday.

The President’s rally matched any that Barack Obama held last year in both size and ardour. It was attended by the deeply devout, the working poor — Iranians still consumed by revolutionary fervour. The men were bearded and draped in red, white and green Iranian flags; the women dressed in all-encompassing black chadors with their headscarves drawn tight. The sexes were segregated. >>> Martin Fletcher in Tehran | Tuesday, June 09, 2009

L'Europe, à droite toute!
leJDDfr: Allemagne, France, Italie, Belgique, Pays Bas... Dans toute la vieille Europe, la gauche a pris une claque, dimanche, au profit des libéraux et des conservateurs. Au Nord comme dans l'ex bloc de l'Est, populistes et eurosceptiques ont fait une percée. Qu'elle soit au pouvoir ou dans l'opposition, libérale ou conservatrice, à l'Est comme à l'Ouest, c'est donc la droite qui a raflé la mise.

Alors que le capitalisme mondial subit une crise sans précédent, ce sont les libéraux et les conservateurs qui l'emportent au Parlement européen. Le scrutin de dimanche est en effet marqué -pour ce qui est des 43% de suffrages exprimés, en tous cas- par une victoire des partis de droite, de centre-droit voire de droite extrême. Surtout si on compare leurs résultats au camouflet qu'a pris la gauche gouvernementale, un peu partout en Europe.

En Grande-Bretagne, en Espagne et au Portugal - où ils sont dans l'opposition- libéraux et conservateurs réalisent de beaux scores; respectivement 29%, 42% et 33%. Mais là où ils sont au pouvoir, également, ils arrivent largement en tête: la coalition de la chancelière allemande Angela Merkel totalise ainsi 38% des voix, le parti libéral au pouvoir en Pologne réalise un score de 45% et même les chrétiens démocrates belges -malgré la crise politique que traverse le pays- tiennent le haut de l'affiche. Berlusconi et Sarkozy s'en tirent un peu moins bien; leurs formations arrivent certes en tête, en Italie et en France, mais leurs résultats peuvent sembler décevants au regard de ceux de leurs voisins. En Europe de l'Est également (Bulgarie, Lettonie, Lituanie, Slovénie, Chypre, Roumanie), la droite est vainqueur. >>> Par Marie-Lys LUBRANO, leJDD.fr | Lundi 08 Juin 2009

European Elections 2009: BNP in Line for £4 Million Cash Boost in Euro Success
THE TELEGRAPH: The British National Party is in line for a £4 million cash boost as its European election breakthrough was widely condemned as a "shaming" for Britain.

British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin celebrates his election results. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The far right group won its first two seats in the European Parliament as the Labour vote collapsed, sending shock waves through Westminster and the country.

Leader Nick Griffin, one of the successful MEPs, said it meant a "huge change in British politics". Critics lined up to condemn the result.

Mr Griffin and his new MEP colleague, Andrew Brons, will now be able to take advantage of EU expenses and allowances worth up to £395,000 a year each over their five year term.

Mr Griffin and Mr Brons will each have access to an annual salary of £80,443, an annual staff budget of £190,000, phone and postal allowances of £45,000 a year and a daily attendance allowance worth up to £80,000 a year, with no receipts required.

In comparison, in 2007, the BNP raised just £500,000 and in the first five months of this year are said to have raised £650,000.

Their success has also presented new problems for broadcasters who have to offer "due impartiality" to all political parties.

Ben Bradshaw, the Culture Secretary, admitted the success poses a "dilemma" under impartiality rules.

Mr Bradshaw told the Commons: "I'm sure that the broadcasters will be taking their responsibilities under the impartiality rules extremely seriously, but you are right to say that what happened yesterday does pose a dilemma for them.

"My own view is that usually when you give these people a platform, they condemn themselves through their own mouths."

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said: "It sickens me and it should sicken everybody here that the British National Party has succeeded in these European elections.

"It brings shame on us that these fascist, racist thugs have been elected to the European Parliament."

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, labelled the BNP a "party of thugs and fascists" who "don't provide any hope, they don't provide answers, they don't provide solutions to people's problems, whether it is jobs, climate change or crime."

Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader, said the result was "horrific" but admitted it was partly down to Labour's collapse in its heartlands. >>> By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor | Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Obama's Plan to Destroy Israel
SULTAN KNISH: If there's one thing that the Carter Administration can be given credit for, it's creating the new wave of Islamist terrorism, both Sunni, operating out of Afghanistan, and Shiite, operating out of Iran. The Carter Administration cracked down on Israel and put its "faith" in Muslim terrorists, who then went on to wage war on America, even while Carter was in office.

28 years after Carter was removed from office, we're in reruns again with the Obama Administration, which is not only following the Carter line, but whose plans greatly exceed it. 28 years ago, Wahhabi Sunni and Shiite terrorists were generally an afterthought when compared to the standard USSR backed Marxist terrorist groups, such as the PLO.

Today, thanks in part to the Carter Administration, they control several countries and have designs on several more. From Pakistan to Afghanistan, from Gaza to Lebanon, from the Middle East to Southeast Asia, the threat is very real and bigger than ever particularly as the race by both Sunni and Shiite groups to build and deploy nuclear weapons continues.

Like Carter before him, Obama has chosen to cut backdoor deals with the Mullahs in Iran, offering them power over Iraq and Afghanistan, in exchange for quieting things down enough to let him hang up a Mission Accomplished banner and pull the troops out. "Peace with honor", preferably before the next election. The rape law for Shiites in Afghanistan, the push for a US funded Hamas/Fatah Unity government in the territories and the rising expansion of the Taliban are all fruits of this arrangement.

If Iran is to be our new best friend under this arrangement, Israel is to be our new best enemy.

Obama stacked the deck by deploying Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State in a position that gave her an important title, but absolutely no power to go with it, while stacking the National Security Council and even the Pentagon with oil appointees in the pockets of the Saudis or his own left wing radical friends.

Israel electing a conservative government really put the ball into play, freeing up even more resources for attacking Israel. The strategy runs something like this.

The Obama Administration has broken down the Israel problem into two subsections, Israel itself, and American Jews.

Obama's people have studied the problem and understand where Carter went wrong. Obama does not want to have the same image problems as Carter in the Jewish community. Should that happen, the Beloved Leader and his lapdog press are fully prepared to unleash a Chavez style hate-on targeting American Jews. But that would be inconvenient and messy. Even with the changing face of America, there are significant differences between the average American and European or Venezuelan, and what kind of ugliness they are willing to tolerate. So Obama's people have split their attention in handling the two factors as two different problems. >>> Sultan Knish

U.S. Protests North Korea’s Punishment of 2 Journalists
THE NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — The United States government and Western rights groups protested Monday after North Korea’s highest court sentenced two American journalists to 12 years of hard labor, a move that introduced another complicating factor into Washington’s stand-off with North Korea over its nuclear and missile tests and its broader nuclear ambitions.

The two journalists — Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36 — were detained by North Korean soldiers at the Chinese border on March 17 and charged with illegally entering North Korean territory and “hostile acts,” but not with the more serious charge of espionage as some had feared. The North’s official news agency, KCNA, announced the conviction and sentence in a report monitored in Seoul.

Lisa Ling, Laura Ling’s sister, told ABC television that the two journalists were working on a story about the trafficking of North Korean women into China when they were detained, but other reports said they were reporting on North Korean refugees who had fled their country. The exact circumstances of their arrest remain unclear.

President Obama was “deeply concerned” by reports of the sentencing, the White House said in a statement Monday. The United States is “engaged through all possible channels to secure their release,” the statement said.

The human rights group Amnesty International sharply criticized the legal procedures behind the sentencing and called for the journalists’ immediate release. “No access to lawyers, no due process, no transparency: the North Korean judicial and penal systems are more instruments of suppression than of justice,” said Roseann Rife, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific deputy director.

In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists described the sentence as “deplorable” and called on all participants in the six-party talks on North Korea — both Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States — to work together for the women’s release.

Ms. Ling’s father, Doug Ling, spoke briefly to The Associated Press at his home outside Sacramento, California on Monday, saying the family was “going to keep a low-profile until we hear something better about the situation.” >>> By CHOE SANG-HUN | Monday, June 08, 2009

What Anne Frank Might Have Looked Like at 80: Her Stepsister Eva Schloss Speaks

Europe Swings Right as Recession Deepens
TELEGRAPH BLOGS – AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD: The establisment Left had been crushed across most of Europe, just as it was in the early 1930s.

We have seen the ultimate crisis of capitalism -- what Marxist-historian Eric Hobsbawm calls the "dramatic equivalent of the collapse of the Soviet Union" -- yet socialists have completely failed to reap any gain from the seeming vindication of their views.

It is not clear why a chunk of the blue-collar working base has swung almost overnight from Left to Right, but clearly we are seeing the delayed detonation of two political time-bombs: rising unemployment and the growth of immigrant enclaves that resist assimilation.

Note that Right-wing incumbents in France (Sarkozy) and Italy (Berlusconi), survived the European elections unscathed.
Left-wing incumbents in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Denmark, and of course Britain were either slaughtered, or badly mauled.

The Dutch Labour party that has dominated national politics for the last half century fell behind the anti-immigrant movement of Geert Wilders (banned from entering Britain). It serves them right for the staggeringly stupid decision to force through the European Constitution (renamed Lisbon) after it had already been rejected by their own voters by a fat margin in the 2005 referendum.

The Portuguese Socialists face Siberian exile after seeing a 18pc drop in their vote. The slow drip-drip of debt-deflation for a boom-bust Club Med state, trapped in the eurozone with an overvalued exchange rate (viz core Europe, and the world), has suddenly turned into a torrent. The country is already in deflation (-0.6pc in April). It has been suffering its own version of Japanese perma-slump for half a decade.

Portugal's opposition is calling for an immediate vote of no censure, while the Government clings to constitutional fig-leaves to hide its naked legitimacy. "O Governo está na sua plenitude de funções," said the chief spokesman. You can guess what that means. Not long for this world, surely.

In Germany and Austria, the Social Democrats suffered their worst defeats since World War Two. I don't say that with pleasure. A vibrant labour-SPD movement is vital for German political stability. It was the peeling away of Socialist support during the Bruning deflation of the Depression years -- so like today's Weber-Trichet deflation -- that led to the catastrophic election of July 1932, when the Nazis and Communists took half the Reichstag seats. >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Monday, June 08, 2009

The Burka Hits the Catwalk at London Fashion Week 2007

Panorama: White Flight
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Zahra Rahnavard Demands Apology from Iran’s President Ahmadinejad
Zahra Rahnavard. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMES ONLINE: A diminutive 64-year-old grandmother who refuses to be bound by the rigid constraints imposed on women in Iran proved more than a match for the President of the Islamic Republic yesterday.

Zahra Rahnavard had already broken all precedent by actively campaigning for her husband, Mir Hossein Mousavi, a relative moderate who is President Ahmadinejad’s strongest challenger in Friday’s presidential election. Yesterday she went a step further by summoning the domestic and international media to a press conference at which she tore into the President for lying, humiliating women, debasing his office and betraying the principles of the revolution.

What sparked her fury was Mr Ahmadinejad’s televised debate with her husband last week in which he challenged Dr Rahnavard’s considerable academic qualifications, suggesting that they were earned not on merit, but through the patronage of a corrupt political elite.

“He wanted to destroy his rival through lies,” she declared in a 90-minute finger-wagging tour de force, and she vowed to sue the President if he did not issue a public apology within 24 hours.

It was a more forceful attack than any of Mr Ahmadinejad’s three male challengers have managed, and would have been remarkable in any election, let alone in male-dominated Iran. It also injected more uncertainty into a race that already has an outcome impossible to call. Dr Rahnavard’s boldness is likely to enrage conservatives, but should delight the women and young urban Iranians who must vote in great numbers if Mr Mousavi is to unseat the incumbent.

Dr Rahnavard offered further inducements. She promised that her husband, if elected, would appoint women to Cabinet posts for the first time, and name many female deputy ministers and ambassadors. He would end discrimination and ensure that women were no longer treated as second-class citizens. He would release women’s rights activists from prison and abolish the “morality police” who, during Mr Ahmadinejad’s first term, cracked down on women deemed to be dressed inappropriately. She even suggested that women should not be forced to cover their heads. >>> Martin Fletcher in Tehran | Monday, June 08, 2009

MEP Nick Griffin

THE TELEGRAPH: Anger as BNP Wins Two European Seats

European Elections 2009: The British National Party Wins First Ever Seat
THE TELEGRAPH: The far-Right British National Party won a seat in the European Parliament for the first time in its history after receiving 120,139 votes in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Andrew Brons won the first ever Euro seat for the anti-immigration party, sending shockwaves through the mainstream political parties. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
Andrew Brons won the last of six seats for the anti-immigration party, sending shockwaves through the mainstream political parties.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham said that it was "deeply uncomfortable" to see the BNP polling in such large numbers.

He said that they had been the beneficiaries of an "anti-politics mood" which had hit all the main parties in the wake of the MPs' expenses scandal.

"It is a sad moment in British politics," he said.

"The BNP is like the ultimate protest vote. It is how to deliver the establishment a two-fingered salute. I think largely it is a comment on Westminster politics."

Meanwhile, far-Right parties and extremists made gains across Europe on Sunday night as protest votes and low turnouts marked elections for the European parliament. >>> By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Sunday, June 07, 2009

Labour Facing Losses but BNP May Win Seat in European Parliament as Polls Show Other EU Voters Backing the Far Right
MAIL Online: Europe was leaning to the right tonight as exit polls showed voters were backing conservative parties amid a global economic crisis and anti-Islamic sentiments.

The British National Party could win its first seat in the EU parliament if the results elsewhere follow in the UK.

It comes after the party won its first seat on a county council at Thursday's local elections.

While official results for the elections to the European Parliament were not expected until late this evening or early tomorrow, the polls showed right-leaning governments edging the opposition in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and elsewhere.

With most votes counted in Austria, the main far-right party was gaining strongly while the Social Democrats, the main party in the governing coalition, lost substantial ground.

The big winner was the rightist Freedom Party which, according to polls, more than doubled its strength over the 2004 elections to 13 per cent of the vote.

It campaigned on an anti-Islam platform, with posters proclaiming 'The Occident in Christian hands' and describing today as 'the day of reckoning.'

In the Netherlands, exit polls predicted the anti-Islamic party of Geert Wilders - who was banned from Britain earlier this year - would win more than 15 per cent of the country's votes, muscling in on the ruling alliance of Conservatives and Socialists. >>> | Sunday, June 07, 2009