Tony's Cavorting on a Yacht with a Personal Butler to Rub in His Suncream. Isn't Life after No 10 Grand?
MAIL ONLINE: The impressive sight of the super-yacht Rising Sun hoving into view around the glamour spots of Europe is always enough to provoke envious glances - even among holidaying oligarchs and international playboys.

Built over five decks, the £150million vessel - the world's second largest privately owned yacht - boasts 82 rooms and an indoor swimming pool, basketball court, dance floor, spa, wine cellar and, of course, helipad.

Little wonder then, that Tony Blair chose to begin his current month-long vacation in one of its lavishly appointed staterooms.

Mr Blair expects only the best. In the past, he has complained - perhaps somewhat churlishly - that those giving him free bed and board have not provided him with accommodation of the absolute highest standard.

Indeed, his friends were flabbergasted when he moaned about a gratis holiday he and his family took three years ago at the Miami mansion of Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb. There was, Blair grumbled, simply not enough to do.

Happily, the accommodation on the Rising Sun is more than up to scratch. And Mr Blair's host, the billionaire software magnate Larry Ellison, has gone to immense trouble to ensure his stay is a comfortable one.

The former Prime Minister, who stayed aboard the yacht without wife Cherie or any of his four children, was assigned a personal butler to attend to his every whim. This extended, Mr Blair has confided, to applying his factor 30 sun cream.

After Mr Blair joined the vessel in Sardinia, Mr Ellison, the 64-year-old CEO of computer firm Oracle Corporation and the world's fourth richest man with a fortune of £13.6billion, threw a glitzy cocktail party on the deck in his honour.

Such opulence is a step up even from the luxury of Sir Cliff Richard's Barbados home, where the Blairs - when they were in Downing Street - used to spend their summer holidays.

Nowadays, Mr Blair likes to move in even more rarefied circles. Principal among his new super-rich friends is David Geffen, the self-made Tinseltown mogul and business partner of Steven Spielberg. The gay billionaire has become a close confidant.

In fact, so close are they that Mr Blair has introduced 66-year-old Geffen to his friend Peter Mandelson, who was a dinner guest on the Rising Sun himself last week.

The camp, shaven-headed Geffen has, in return, introduced the ex-Prime Minister to Hollywood stars Tom Hanks and Steve Martin, with whom the Blairs holidayed aboard a yacht in Greece last summer.

A story told by a source very close to Mr Blair illustrates the orbit of wealth and excess in which he has been moving of late. >>> Paul Scott | Friday, August 14, 2009

Daniel Hannan: Government-run Healthcare Would Be ’Deeply Un-American’

Iran Inmates 'Tortured to Death'
BBC: Iran's defeated opposition presidential candidate has said that some protesters held after last month's disputed poll were tortured to death in prison.

The claim by Mehdi Karroubi comes days after he said a number of prisoners, both male and female, had been raped. Officials deny the rape claims, but admit that abuses have taken place.

The BBC's Jon Leyne says the opposition uses the issue to maintain political pressure without directly questioning Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's poll victory.

On Thursday, Mr Karroubi alleged that a number of detainees had been tortured to death.

"Some young people are beaten to death just for chanting slogans in [post-election] protests," his website said.

Mr Karroubi also called for the formation of an independent committee to review his evidence in "a calm atmosphere".

On Sunday, the defeated presidential candidate claimed that some opposition protesters were raped in detention.

The claim was supported by a number of human rights groups but quickly dismissed as "totally baseless" by the speaker of Iran's parliament, Ali Larijani.

"Based on parliament's investigations, detainees have not been raped or sexually abused in Iran's Kahrizak and Evin prisons," said. >>> | Thursday, August 13, 2009

Anti-dhimmitude: Jim Fitzpatrick, Government Minister, Condemns Traditional Muslim Wedding
THE TELEGRAPH: Jim Fitzpatrick, a Government minister, has publicly condemned the Muslim tradition of separating men and women at weddings.

The farming minister and his wife walked out of the marriage ceremony of a constituent after discovering they would have to sit in separate rooms.

He said the gender segregation was a sign of increasing radicalisation and was damaging to social cohesion.

However, Muslim leaders insist the custom is traditional at Islamic weddings as well as in mosques, and expressed surprise that Mr Fitzpatrick, a third of whose east London constituents are Muslims, was unaware of the fact.

It was suggested that the Labour MP was trying to appeal to white voters who may fear divided communities.

His comments echo the row triggered three years ago when Jack Straw, now the justice secretary, called Muslim face veils a “visible statement of separation and difference” and called for women to remove them during surgeries in his Blackburn constituency.

Sir Iqbal Sacranie, a founding member of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “I think in the interest of cohesion it would be better if Mr Fitzpatrick established more contact with the Muslim community.

“It shows a lack of interest on the part of the MP to engage with people with different backgrounds and sadly it reflects badly on him.

“If he had a little bit of knowledge he would have found it was quite normal and nothing unusual for them to enjoy the celebration in this way.

“There are some who prefer segregated events and some where they are joined together. We live in a society where we need to respect all traditions.”

George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow who will contest the new Poplar and Limehouse constituency against Mr Fitzgerald at the election, said: “If he doesn’t wish to attend an Islamic wedding and observe the religious customs preferred by the bride and groom, he should not go rather than insult them for perceived political gain.

“I am absolutely amazed and astonished that a Government minister with a substantial Muslim minority in his constituency should have decided to give such a gratuitous insult to so many Muslims.” >>> Martin Beckford and Stephen Adams | Thursday, August 13, 2009

How Bush Went from Hero to Zero in the Eyes of Dick Cheney
THE INDEPENDENT: Memoirs to tell of Veep's change of heart in waning years of presidency

In office he was the eminence grise behind the George W Bush throne, a silent brooding figure who was the most powerful and probably the most unpopular vice president in modern United States history. Now however Dick Cheney is poised to go public, in a memoir charging that, in his second term at least, his old boss ignored his advice and, in a word, went "soft".

Mr Cheney's frame of mind as he prepares his memoirs, likely to be published in spring 2011, was described yesterday in a front page article in The Washington Post, drawing on discussions the former vice president has held with former officials, aides and policy experts. What emerges is a man convinced he is right, now as then, that the US faced extraordinary threats, above all that a renegade state might pass nuclear weapons to terrorists. These threats in turn demanded an absolutely uncompromising response.

At first Mr Bush agreed, "but in the second term he [Mr Cheney] felt Bush was drifting away from him," according to one anonymous participant in a recent conversation with Mr Cheney. "He said Bush was shackled by public reaction and the criticism he took. The implication was that Bush had gone soft on him, or rather that Bush had hardened against Cheney's advice." The Cheney doctrine was "cast iron strength at all times – never apologise, never explain" while Mr Bush moved towards a conciliatory approach. >>> Rupert Cornwell in Washington | Friday, August 14, 2009

Why Pretend the Past Was Cigarette-free?
THE TELEGRAPH: A council's plans to bar under-18s from films with smoking sets us on a dangerous path, says Gerald Warner.

Send for the Sanity Inspector – quickly. There is work for him among the denizens of Liverpool city council. The council is proposing to use its powers to upgrade to an 18-certificate the classification of films "if they depict images of tobacco smoking", in order to protect the vulnerable youth of Merseyside from exposure to such depravity.

Needless to say, the council is not embarking on this pioneering exercise without much conscientious preparation. A consultation exercise has been launched, with separate questionnaires for "stakeholder" organisations, community groups and businesses, members of the public aged 18 and above, and for under-age respondents. The clever money is on the nine-year-olds' being the most rational, coherent and jargon-free documents to have been seen in the council for many years.

Despite this elaborate exercise in democracy, which one can safely predict will be interpreted as endorsing the council's proposals, the question has to be asked: have the city fathers really thought through the implications of such a policy? As regards new releases, will Hollywood directors draw a blue pencil through every smoking scene out of dread it may be forbidden to under-18s in Liverpool? Is there not just a smidgin of megalomania about such a supposition?

As for existing films, if this policy caught on across the country, it would mean the demise of 101 Dalmatians, The Little Mermaid, Pinocchio and Peter Pan, unless there is a larger adult audience for those classics than is generally supposed. There is no point in objecting that Cruella de Vil, with her signature cigarette in a long holder, is a baddie: villainy is "cool" and therefore appealing.

Liverpool schoolboys may have watched their last classic James Bond film in a public theatre: the producers of Licence to Kill allegedly took a $350,000 payment to ensure 007 smoked Lark cigarettes. (In Tomorrow Never Dies, Pierce Brosnan denounced smoking as "a filthy habit", but appeared in Lark commercials in Japan.) Farewell, Superman II, with Lois Lane chain-smoking Marlboros. As for Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and The Muppet Movie – they, too, would go up in smoke.

Then there are the older classics. Bogart? Mostly glimpsed through a fog of cigarette smoke, so a candidate for airbrushing out of cinematic history. Bette Davis? Ditto. Audrey Hepburn's outsize cigarette-holder in Breakfast at Tiffany's? Tantamount to pornography.

It should not be supposed, however, that such a wise body as Liverpool city council is impervious to certain objections. For example, portrayals of historical characters who smoked would be exempted. Churchill could still be shown with his trademark cigar – although if The Eagle Has Landed features an anonymous private soldier with cigarette hanging from lower lip, things might get a bit dicey. >>> | Thursday, August 13, 2009

Signed Copy of Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' Sells at Auction
THE TELEGRAPH: More than 80 years after it was first published -and later outlawed- in Germany, a signed copy of Adolf Hitler's infamous manifesto "Mein Kampf" was sold on Thursday for £21,000.

The semi-autobiographical work outlining Hitler's anti-Semitic ideology, was sold to an anonymous telephone bidder at an auction in Ludlow.

Written in 1924 while Hitler was serving a four-year prison term in the southern German region of Bavaria, the book was first published in 1926.

Although it has been republished abroad, it has been banned in Germany since the Second World War.

"I am absolutely pleased," said Richard Westwood-Brookes from Mullock's Auctioneers. He said he believed the second-edition book to be a prepublication copy given by Hitler to a fellow inmate in 1925, making it a "highly prized article".

"Only a couple-dozen copies are given to the author, so they are pretty rare," he said. >>> | Thursday, August 13, 2009

Proof of Muhammad's Prophethood


Hat tip: Avenging Apostate >>>

Religious Freedom [in] Saudi Arabia?

Mohammed Is Most Popular Boy's Name in Four Biggest Dutch Cities
THE TELEGRAPH: Mohammed, or other variations of the name of Islam's founding prophet, has become the most popular name choice for baby boys in the four biggest cities of the Netherlands.

Information collected by the country's social security agency has found that traditional Dutch names have been displaced in the urban centres of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht as the country's Muslim population grows.

In The Hague variations of the name Mohammed have taken first, second and fifth place in the Dutch capital's league table of most popular names for boys, replacing traditional favourites such as Jan, Luuk, Gijs or Daan.

At a national level the name Mohammed is now the 16th most popular name for boys.

The figures, obtained by the Dutch Elsevier magazine, from the Dutch Social Insurance Bank, or Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB), are different from the official statistics which have in the past counted various spellings of Mohammed, Muhamed, or Muhammad as different names.

Previous government name counts, separating the different versions, have avoided controversy by keeping the name of Islam's founder outside the Dutch top 20 of favourite names for baby boys.

Geert Wilders, leader of the far-Right, anti-Islam Freedom Party, which is currently leading the Dutch opinion polls, has demanded a government investigation following the Daily Telegraph's Aug 8 report that over a fifth of the European Union's population has been forecast to be Muslim by 2050. >>> Bruno Waterfield | Thursday, August 13, 2009

Richard Dawkins on 'Have Your Say'

Fidel Castro, 83 ans, toujours là
leJDD.fr: Fidel Castro fête ce jeudi ses 83 ans. L'ancien dirigeant cubain, qui n'est pas apparu en public depuis trois ans, conserve une certaine influence sur la vie politique de l'île.

"La mémoire de la révolution." C'est en ces termes que Granma, le journal du Parti communiste cubain, évoque Fidel Castro. L'homme fête ses 83 ans ce jeudi et, à cette occasion, une exposition lui est consacrée à La Havane. "Ces photographies promeuvent nos souvenirs et nos sentiments, mais surtout, elles transcendent le temps, et demain, elles seront les témoins de moments historiques", poursuit le quotidien officiel, lyrique. A Cuba, toute l'île rend hommage ce jeudi à son "Lider Maximo" – titre qu'il avait lui-même inventé -, et ce, bien qu'il ne soit plus apparu en public depuis trois ans. Seules des photos et des vidéos – notamment à l'occasion des nombreuses visites du président vénézuélien Hugo Chavez – ont été diffusées.

Mais Fidel Castro continue à influer sur la vie politique de l'île, notamment au travers des nombreux éditoriaux publiés dans la presse officielle. Récemment encore, il dénonçait le coup d'Etat perpétré au Honduras contre le président Manuel Zelaya. Si de l'avis des observateurs, l'ancien président reste aux affaires, il est difficile de dire de quelle façon. Nombreux sont ceux qui s'interrogent notamment sur l'influence, réelle ou supposée, qu'il a sur son frère, Raul, qui a pris les rênes du pouvoir l'an dernier. "Je pense que c'est encore un partenariat, mais que Raul est maintenant le principal partenaire. Fidel n'est plus capable de s'impliquer dans les affaires quotidiennes", analyse pour Reuters Brian Latell, chercheur à l'Institut pour les études cubaines de l'université de Miami. >>> Marianne Enault, leJDD.fr | Jeudi 13 Août 2009

Fidel Castro offenbar wieder erstarkt: Neues Foto zeigt Máximo Líder in unerwartet guter Verfassung
NZZ ONLINE: Fidel Castro scheint bei besserer Gesundheit zu sein als vermutet. In einer Ausstellung in Havanna ist ein Foto gezeigt worden, das sein Sohn kürzlich von ihm gemacht hat. Mit gestutztem Bart und weisser Sportjacke sieht Castro erholt und vital aus.

In Kuba ist anlässlich des 83. Geburtstages von Fidel Castro an diesem Donnerstag ein Foto des Ex-Präsidenten veröffentlicht worden, das ihn in unerwartet guter Verfassung zeigt.

Die Aufnahme ist Teil einer Ausstellung in der kubanischen Hauptstadt und stammt von Fidels Sohn Alex Castro, einem professionellen Fotografen. Dieser hat seinen Vater mit gestutztem Bart und weisser Sportjacke im Gespräch mit anderen Personen nach eigenen Angaben erst vor kurzem fotografiert. >>> sda/dpa | Donnerstag, 13. August 2009

U.S. Re-embraces Relationship with U.N.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES: UNITED NATIONS | Declaring "the United States is back," the Obama administration pledged Wednesday to turn more frequently to the United Nations and work with the world body on the basis of decency and mutual respect, rather than condescension and contempt.

"Over the past six months, the United States has taken a fresh look at our positions across the board - including some policies that left many scratching their heads to understand what we objected to, policies that failed to advance our interests or our values," Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in a speech at New York University's Center for Global Affairs.

Ms. Rice explicitly reversed two of the George W. Bush administration's main policies toward the United Nations by declaring the United States "would no longer oppose mentions of reproductive health or the International Criminal Court."

She did not mention by name Mr. Bush or senior officials of his administration, who sometimes subjected the world body to harsh criticism and ridicule.

"We will increase U.S. support to U.N. peacekeeping," Ms. Rice said, citing the possibility of expanded U.S. contributions of military staff officers, military observers, civilian police and civilian personnel to U.N. missions.

President Obama has frequently praised the United Nations in his public remarks, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been a longtime advocate of international cooperation on transnational issues.

"Engaging across the full U.N. membership is more than good manners. It's also smart diplomacy," Ms. Rice said. >>> Betsy Pisik | Thursday, August 13, 2009

Americans Are Better Off Without an NHS
THE TELEGRAPH: A propaganda war is masking the real problems over health care reform, says Toby Harnden.

If Stephen Hawking had been treated in Britain, he would not have survived to be awarded his Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama yesterday, because the NHS "would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless". That was the thundering verdict of the Investor's Business Daily on our National Health Service and Mr Obama's plans to introduce what Republicans term "socialised medicine".

It was, as scientists sometimes say, a beautiful hypothesis destroyed by a single ugly fact. Professor Hawking, who is completely paralysed by motor neurone disease, has been treated by the NHS throughout his 67 years, and points out indignantly that he would not have lived without its care.

Much of the conservative contribution to the health care debate raging in the United States, which is dominating a long, hot summer, has been as misguided as that newspaper editorial. With the battle lines drawn, and President Obama staking his credibility on achieving a comprehensive reform that delivers health insurance to the tens of millions without it, Democratic members of Congress are facing the wrath and anxiety of their constituents – who are being urged on by opponents of reform.

Sarah Palin, who recently resigned as Alaska's governor but remains the darling of rural conservatives, invoked the spectre of a "death panel" pronouncing on whether her baby Trig, who has Down's syndrome, should be allowed to live.

Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa suggested that this was what happened in Britain. "I've heard several senators say that Ted Kennedy with a brain tumour, being 77 years old … if he were in England, would not be treated… when you get to be 77, your life is considered less valuable under those systems," he said.

In a television ad from the Club for Growth pressure group, a narrator intones portentously as images of Big Ben and the Union flag appear on the screen: "$22,750. In England, government health officials decided that's how much six months of life is worth. Under their socialised system, if a medical treatment costs more, you're out of luck. That's wrong for America." Cue the Statue of Liberty and the Stars and Stripes.

The figure comes from Britain's National Institute for Clinical Evidence, which evaluates treatments in terms of the average increase in life expectancy. If the cost of prolonging someone's life for a year exceeds more than £30,000, then the NHS will not pay for that treatment. In other words, although there are no "death panels", the fundamental point is correct. The NHS does decide that some treatments are too expensive. And if that means you die? Our condolences, says the Government. >>> Toby Harnden | sday, August 12, 2009

Betsy McCaughey Exposes Obama Healthcare Lies


Gordon and Sarah Brown Join US Pro-NHS Twitter Campaign
THE TELEGRAPH: Gordon Brown has joined in the Twitter campaign to defend the National Health Service following protests in the United States at Barack Obama's drive to reform the American healthcare system.

The Prime Minister's wife, Sarah, also leapt to the defence of the NHS, after US critics opposed to the President's reforms described the British system as "evil" and "Orwellian."

Many Republicans are opposed to what they term as "socialised" medicine. But Britons living in the US and in this country furious at the attacks have hit back by organising a campaign on the social networking site urging backers of the NHS to send messages of support.

Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, is among those who have taken part, along with thousands of ordinary members of the public.

Such is the popularity of the campaign - called #welovethenhs - that the site crashed yesterday.

Mr Brown used the Downing Street twitter page to add his support. His message said: "PM; NHS often makes the difference between pain and comfort, despair and hope, life and death. Thanks for always being there."

Mrs Brown added: "#we love the nhs - more than we can say." The Health Secretary twittered: "Andy Burnham: Over the moon about strong support for the NHS - an institution I will defend to my dying day." >>> Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Thursday, August 13, 2009

Greed! Sheer Greed!
TIMES ONLINE: The City watchdog was accused of giving banks a green light to continue paying multimillion-pound bonuses yesterday when it backed away from introducing tough rules to curb excess pay.

The Financial Services Authority’s proposals on City pay embarrassed Gordon Brown, who had promised to sweep aside the bonus culture in the financial sector. Opposition politicians branded the FSA’s new proposals a capitulation. The Treasury also indicated that they did not go far enough.

Some of the most onerous provisions in the FSA’s original proposals from March have been softened. Under the new guidelines the banks must link risk and reward. But they will have more freedom to structure bonus packages than was previously suggested and many bank executives and some smaller City firms are excluded from the plan altogether.

The row came as unemployment rose to a 14-year high and the Bank of England admitted that the recession was deeper than previously thought and that recovery would be slow, partly because banks were still not lending enough money.

It will be exacerbated by the disclosure that Royal Bank of Scotland, in which taxpayers have a 70 per cent interest, has hired two bankers on multimillion-pound packages. One of them, Antonio Polverino, who has been headhunted from Merrill Lynch, will earn £7 million in his first year. Watchdog 'gives green light' for huge City bonuses >>> Philip Webster, Political Editor, and Katherine Griffiths, Banking Editor | Thursday, August 13, 2009

Vive la belle France! Anti-dhimmitude: French Ban Muslim Woman from Pool for Wearing 'Burkini' Swimsuit
THE TELEGRAPH: A French woman who converted to Islam has been banned from wearing a "burkini" in a swimming pool outside Paris.

Muslim convert Carole understands she was banned on account of a 'political problem'. Photo: The Telegraph
The woman, named only as Carole, 35, was told that the garment, a swimsuit that covers most of the body, was "inappropriate" clothing for a public baths.

Pool staff said her three-piece Islamic swimsuit she bought in Dubai - consisting of a headscarf, tunic and trousers - was against pool regulations and unhygienic.

They had "reminded her of the rules that apply in all [public] swimming pools which forbid swimming while clothed," said Daniel Guillaume, a manager at the pool in the suburb of Emerainville.

The ban was imposed as President Nicolas Sarkozy's government is considering an outright ban on all Islamic dress, such as the head-to-toe burka or niqab, that it considers a "sign of subservience" and "not welcome" in France.

"Burkini" is derived from the words bikini and burka. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Arrêtée pour port de pantalon, une Soudanaise est interdite de sortie de territoire
Loubna Ahmed al-Hussein, le 13 juin 2009. Photo: Le Monde
LE MONDE: Les autorités soudanaises ont empêché la journaliste Loubna Ahmed al-Hussein, passible de quarante coups de fouet pour avoir porté un pantalon, de se rendre à l'étranger, a indiqué, mardi 11 août, la jeune femme.

Loubna Ahmed al-Hussein devait passer quatre jours à Beyrouth afin de participer à une émission de la chaîne satellitaire arabe MBC, mais les autorités à l'aéroport de Khartoum lui ont interdit de prendre l'avion dans la nuit de lundi à mardi. "Ils m'ont dit qu'il y avait une décision datant du 7 août qui m'interdisait de voyager à l'extérieur du pays (...) Je leur ai demandé un document écrit concernant cette décision mais ils n'ont pu m'en fournir un", a-t-elle déclaré. >>> LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | Mercredi 12 Août 2009

Alan Duncan: MPs Are Treated Like '****' and Have to Survive on Rations
THE TELEGRAPH: Alan Duncan, the accident-prone Tory frontbencher, has said that MPs are being treated like "****" and forced to live on “rations” following the expenses scandal.

Alan Duncan, the accident-prone Tory frontbencher, has said that MPs are being treated like **** and forced to live on “rations” following the expenses scandal.

The shadow leader of the House was caught on camera complaining about the public’s response to The Daily Telegraph’s disclosures about the widespread abuse of Parliamentary second home allowances.

He rejected criticism of his decision to claim thousands of pounds for gardening bills at his second home in his constituency of Rutland, saying that “the world has gone mad”.

Mr Duncan repaid £5,000 after The Daily Telegraph revealed that the Commons fees office questioned whether his claims “could be considered excessive.”

He was captured on video by campaigner Heydon Prowse, who previously filmed himself digging a pound sign into the MP’s lawn, during a visit to the House of Commons in June.

Asked why people no longer wanted to stand for Parliament, Mr Duncan said: "No-one who has done anything in the outside world, or is capable of doing such a thing, will ever come into this place ever again, the way we are going.

“Basically, it’s being nationalised, you have to live on rations and are treated like ****.

“I spend my money on my garden and claim a tiny fraction on what is proper. And I could claim the whole bloody lot, but I don’t.”

Questioned over how much he paid from his own pocket for his garden, he said: “About £2,000 a year and this was £1,000 a year on expenses, you know. It’s just, I’m afraid, the world has gone mad.”

Mr Duncan has gained a reputation for being gaffe-prone, particularly in his response to the expenses scandal. >>> Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Catholic Church Condemns Italy's Record Lottery
Euros. Millions of them! Photo: Google Images
THE TELEGRAPH: Italy is in the grip of lottery fever, with a record £113 million (131.5 million euros) up for grabs in the country's national draw, now the world's richest.

Italy is deep in recession and unemployment is on the rise, but millions of Italians are buying up tickets for the lucky numbers game, despite the odds of winning estimated to be one in 622 million.

Although draws are held three times a week the prize has not been won since January, with people in neighbouring countries making special trips to Italy to try their luck in guessing the six winning numbers.

The size of the jackpot has surged past the previous record of 126 million euros, which was paid out by Euromillions in Spain in May.

But the Roman Catholic Church condemned lotto fever, saying it encouraged greed, false hope for society's poorest families and a worship of money that amounted to idolatry.

"Fever for SuperEnalotto has for many people become a form of idolatry and should be stopped as soon as possible," said the archbishop of Lecce, Cosmo Franceso Ruppi. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Riz Khan: Sharia in the UK