Cairo Protests at Swine Flu Bans
BBC: Angry scenes have been reported at Cairo airport as security forces barred Muslim pilgrims from travelling to Mecca because of fears over swine flu.

Hundreds staged a sit-in on Sunday when the Egyptian authorities implemented a plan to prevent anyone over 65 and under 25 from travelling to Mecca.

Another 180-200 belonging to the banned age groups were held back on Monday.

The curbs could affect large numbers of old people, some of whom expend great efforts to visit Mecca before dying.

An airport official said about 15% of would-be passengers to the Muslim holy city had been turned back on Monday.

"The people banned from leaving are those over 65 and those under 25 because they are the most at risk of being contaminated by swine flu," the official added. >>> | Monday, August 17, 2009

Gay Men Attacked, Executed in Iraq, Rights Group Says

L'Algérie décale son week-end pour faire face à la crise
LE FIGARO: Fini les jeudis et vendredis chômés en Algérie. A partir de cette semaine, le repos hebdomadaire sera respecté le vendredi et le samedi. Une mesure visant à s'adapter à l'économie des pays occidentaux.

Marche arrière. Plus de trente ans après avoir fixé au jeudi et vendredi le repos hebdomadaire obligatoire pour se démarquer des pays occidentaux, l'Algérie décale son week-end. A partir de cette semaine, le repos obligatoire devra être observé le vendredi et le samedi. Une mesure décrétée en Conseil des ministres le mois dernier pour adapter l'économie du pays à celles des pays occidentaux, et en particulier de l'Union européenne, avec qui l'Algérie a réalisé plus de la moitié de ses échanges en 2008.

En pleine crise mondiale, la Banque mondiale estimait que le manque à gagner représenté par ce décalage de week-end s'élevait à 1,2 point de croissance annuelle du PIB. Une étude de la Société financière internationale (SFI) chiffrait même à 600 millions de dollars le manque à gagner annuel. Sans remettre en question le repos du vendredi - jour de grand prière chez les musulmans -, le gouvernement algérien espère que ce nouveau week-end «semi-universel» concourra à relancer son économie. >>> Bastien Hugues (lefigaro.fr) | Jeudi 13 Août 2009

Barack Obama, Talking Crap
Watch Pajamas TV here

White House Backs Off Public Healthcare Option
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Obama and officials say it is not 'essential' to the overhaul. Insurance exchanges or cooperatives would be likely to replace it.

Reporting from Washington - The Obama administration signaled Sunday that it was on the verge of abandoning a government-run insurance option in its healthcare overhaul -- a bow to political reality and a big win for insurers.

But some experts said that may not completely relieve pressure on insurers to deliver cost savings.

Both Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on Sunday talk shows that a government insurance option was not essential -- one day after President Obama himself said as much.

Private-sector options, such as insurance exchanges or cooperatives, would be likely to replace it. Obama already has proposed forming exchanges -- virtual marketplaces where private insurers would compete for consumers' business. And co-ops would allow consumers to band together to negotiate coverage.

Sebelius told CNN's "State of the Union" that a public option is "not the essential element" of healthcare overhaul, but that lowering insurance costs and preventing insurers from dumping customers for preexisting conditions or for exceeding coverage caps are must-haves.

"I think there will be a competitor to private insurers," she said. "That's really the essential part, is you don't turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing."

Gibbs agreed, describing the "bottom line" for the president: "What we have to have is choice and competition in the insurance market."

Obama continues to believe that "the option of a government plan is the best way to provide choice and competition," Gibbs said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

But if there are other means to achieve that, Gibbs said, "the president will be satisfied." >>> Andrew Zajac | Monday, August 17, 2009

Dawkins and Oreilly: Do you believe in God?

Milizen töten Homosexuelle im Irak
NZZ ONLINE: Milizen haben im Irak laut einem Bericht der Menschenrechtsorganisation Human Rights Watch ungestraft Homosexuelle gefoltert und getötet. Die systematischen Angriffe hätten zu Beginn des Jahres in der Hauptstadt Bagdad begonnen und sich auf andere Städte wie Kirkuk, Nadschaf und Basra ausgeweitet, wie Human Rights Watch erklärte. Die Organisation forderte die irakische Regierung auf, sofort gegen diese Übergriffe einzuschreiten. >>> ap | Montag, 17. August 2009

Anti-gay Attacks on Rise in Iraq
BBC: Gay Iraqi men are being murdered in what appears to be a co-ordinated campaign involving militia forces, the group Human Rights Watch says.

It says hundreds of gay men have been targeted and killed in Iraq since 2004.

So-called honour killings also account for deaths where families punish their own kin in order to avoid public shame.

The report says members of the Mehdi Army militia group are spearheading the campaign, but police are also accused - even though homosexuality is legal.

Witnesses say vigilante groups break into homes and pick people up in the street, interrogating them to extract the names of other potential victims, before murdering them.

"Murder and torture are no way to enforce morality," said HRW researcher Rasha Moumneh, quoted in the report.

"These killings point to the continuing and lethal failure of Iraq's post-occupation authorities to establish the rule of law and protect their citizens."

In some cases, Human Rights Watch says it was told, Iraqi security forces had actually "colluded and joined in the killing".

Witch-hunt

Recently, posters appeared in Sadr City - a conservative, Shia area of Baghdad - calling on people to watch out for gay men and listing not only their names but also their addresses.

One gay man in Baghdad described the killing campaign as a witch-hunt.
Nearly 90 gay men have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of January and many more are missing, local gay rights campaigners say.

The report, called They want us exterminated: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq, says horrifically mutilated bodies of gay men have been left on rubbish tips.

Sometimes their bodies are daubed with offensive terms such as "pervert", or "puppy" which is a hate word for gay men in Iraq.

The report contains detailed testimonies of a range of brutal treatment of gay Iraqi men.

"We've heard stories confirmed by doctors of men having their anuses glued and then being force-fed laxatives which leads to a very painful death," says Ms Moumneh told the BBC. >>>

Listen to BBC audio: Iraqi gay rights campaigner Ali Hili says there was more sexual freedom under Saddam Hussein >>>

Irak: les violences contre les homosexuels en augmentation, selon HRW
lePARISIEN.fr: Les actes de torture et les exécutions sommaires visant des hommes soupçonnés d'homosexualité s'intensifient en Irak, et les autorités ne font rien pour mettre fin à ces violences, a affirmé lundi l'organisation de défense de droits de l'Homme, Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Selon un rapport de 67 pages présenté lors d'une conférence de presse à Beyrouth, des centaines d'hommes ont été enlevés, torturés et tués cette année dans le quartier chiite de Sadr City, à Bagdad, un bastion de l'Armée du Mahdi, la milice du chef radical chiite Moqtada Sadr.

Le rapport, intitulé "Ils veulent nous exterminer: meurtre, torture, orientation sexuelle et genres en Irak", affirme qu'il est impossible de connaître le nombre exact de morts, mais les estimations font état de centaines de victimes.

Selon ce rapport, des porte-parole de l'armée du Mahdi avaient suggéré que l'action militaire était un remède contre la transformation des hommes irakiens en personnes "efféminées".

"Il faut des preuves pour accuser. Il y a d'autres entités religieuses, politiques ou sociales qui partagent notre rejet de ce phénomène. Il n'y a donc aucune raison pour nous accuser sans preuve", a réagi auprès de l'AFP cheikh Salah al-Obeidi, porte-parole du mouvement Sadr dans la ville sainte irakienne de Najaf.

"Il est exact que nous sommes opposés à ce que phénomène se développe en Irak. Nous le considérons comme mauvais et étranger à la société irakienne. Nous organisons des séminaires et des réunions pour régler cela de manière civilisée", a-t-il ajouté.

Le HWR cite des blessés, qui affirment que les miliciens faisaient irruption dans les maisons et interrogeaient les victimes sur l'identité d'autres cibles potentiels, avant de les tuer.

Des médecins irakiens et des employés à la morgue ont également remarqué des marques de mutilation.

Les meurtres étaient justifiés, selon leurs auteurs, par "la menace pour la virilité des Irakiens", affirme l'organisation.

Certaines exécutions sont par ailleurs assimilables à des "crimes d'honneur", commis par des membres des familles des victimes. >>> AFP | Lundi 17 Août 2009

Related:

Investigating reports of the murder and torture of gay men in Iraq, Ashley Byrne found that some gays found Saddam Hussein's dictatorship preferable to the threat of violence they face today. Some readers will find parts of his report disturbing. Saddam’s Rule Better for Gay Iraqis >>> Ashley Byrne | Monday, July 06, 2009

Grainy footage taken on a mobile phone and widely distributed around Baghdad shows a terrified young Iraqi boy cowering and whimpering as men with a stick force him to strip, revealing women's underwear beneath his dishdasha (Arab robe). Iraqi Gay Men Face ‘Lives of Hell’ >>> Jim Muir | Saturday, April 18, 2009

Iraq: Queer Fear – Gay Life, Gay Death >>> | Friday, November 14, 2008

Afghanistan: Taliban wollen den Wählern "Finger abschneiden"
WELT ONLINE: Mit brutalen Einschüchterungen versuchen die Taliban, potentielle Wähler von der Stimmabgabe bei der Präsidentenwahl am Donnerstag fernzuhalten. Auf Flugblättern warnen sie vor dem Gang zu den Urnen: "Jeden Finger, der bei der Stimmabgabe mit Tinte markiert wurde, werden wir abschneiden."

Wahlplakate in Herat. Bild: Welt Online
Westliche Geheimdienste befürchten am Donnerstag bei der Präsidentenwahl in Afghanistan einen Gewaltausbruch der islamistischen Taliban. Auch Vertreter des afghanischen Geheimdienstes NDS äußerten in der afghanischen Hauptstadt Kabul die Befürchtung, dass besonders im Süden des Landes die Wähler beim Gang an die Urnen „in Lebensgefahr sein könnten“.

Ein NDS-Angehöriger wies auf Flugblätter hin, auf denen die Taliban „direkte Angriffe“ auf Wahllokale ankündigten. Sie drohten unverhohlen: „Jeden Finger, der bei der Stimmabgabe mit Tinte markiert wurde, werden wir abschneiden“. Mit der Markierung sollen Wahlfälschungen verhindert werden.

Auf den am Sonntag aufgetauchten Flugblättern heißt es, dass die „geachteten Einwohner“ darüber informiert sein sollten, „dass sie nicht an den Wahlen teilnehmen dürfen, weil sie sonst Opfer unserer Operationen werden“. Besonders sind die Geheimdienstler über die Drohung der Taliban, „neue Taktiken“ gegen Wahllokale anzuwenden, besorgt. Es sei den afghanischen Sicherheitskräften jetzt so gut wie unmöglich, sich auf neue Angriffsmodalitäten einzustellen, sagte ein Experte. Zynisch erklärten die Taliban, falls Bürger vor oder in den Wahllokalen verletzt würden, seien sie selbst dafür verantwortlich, „denn die Taliban haben sie vorher informiert“. >>> Von Friedrich Kuhn | Montag, 17. August 2009

La France obtient la libération de Clotilde Reiss
Clotilde Reiss (ici lors de sa comparution devant le tribunal de Téhéran, le 8 août) ne peut pas, pour l'instant, quitter l'Iran. Crédits photo : Le Figaro
LE FIGARO: La jeune universitaire française est sortie de prison dimanche soir après le versement d'une caution d'un «peu plus de 200.000 euros», selon une source diplomatique à Paris. Toujours sous contrôle judiciaire, elle est hébergée à l'ambassade de France à Téhéran.

«Soulagée.» C'est par ces mots que la Française Clotilde Reiss, détenue en Iran depuis le 1er juillet pour avoir participé à des manifestations postélectorales, a commenté dimanche soir sa sortie de prison lors d'une conversation téléphonique avec le président de la République, Nicolas Sarkozy, ainsi qu'avec son épouse, Carla Bruni. «Elle est en bonne santé et garde un bon moral», a commenté la présidence. Nicolas Sarkozy «lui a exprimé sa joie et son plein soutien ainsi que celui de tous les Français, qui ont suivi avec inquiétude son arrestation et la procédure judiciaire à laquelle elle est soumise. Il a relevé la dignité et le courage avec lesquels Clotilde Reiss a affronté cette épreuve», indiquait dimanche soir un communiqué de l'Élysée. Le chef de l'État s'est également entretenu avec Rémi Reiss, le père de la jeune femme de 24 ans. Le retour en France en suspens >>> Valérie Samson avec Bruno Jeudy et Delphine Minoui | Lundi 17 Août 2009

Victor Davis Hanson: What Went Wrong
NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: Piling up debt, gaffes, and hypocrisy, Obama & Co. are sinking.

We are witnessing one of the more rapid turnabouts in recent American political history. President Obama’s popularity has plummeted to 50 percent and lower in some polls, while the public expresses even less confidence in the Democratic-led Congress and the direction of the country at large. Yet, just eight months ago, liberals were talking in Rovian style about a new generation to come of progressive politics — and the end of both the Republican party and the legacy of Reaganism itself. Barack Obama was to be the new FDR and his radical agenda an even better New Deal.



What happened, other than the usual hubris of the party in power?

First, voters had legitimate worries about health care, global warming, immigration, energy, and inefficient government. But it turns out that they are more anxious about the new radical remedies than the old nagging problems. They wanted federal support for wind and solar, but not at the expense of neglecting new sources of gas, oil, coal, and nuclear power. They were worried about high-cost health care, the uninsured, redundant procedures, and tort reform, but not ready for socialized medicine. They wanted better government, not bigger, DMV-style government. There is a growing realization that Obama enticed voters last summer with the flashy lure of discontent. But now that they are hooked, he is reeling them in to an entirely different — and, for many a frightening — agenda. Nothing is worse for a president than a growing belief among the public that it has been had.

Second, Americans were at first merely scared about the growing collective debt. But by June they became outraged that Obama has quadrupled the annual deficit in proposing all sorts of new federal programs at a time when most finally had acknowledged that the U.S. has lived beyond its means for years. They elected Obama, in part, out of anger at George W. Bush for multi-billion dollar shortfalls — and yet as a remedy for that red ink got Obama’s novel multi-trillion-dollar deficits.

Third, many voters really believed in the “no more red/blue state America” healing rhetoric. Instead, polls show they got the most polarizing president in recent history — both in his radical programs and in the manner in which he has demonized the opposition to ram them through without bipartisan support. “Punch back harder” has replaced “Yes, we can.” Fourth... >>> Vitor Davis Hanson | Monday, August 17, 2009

How the West Was Lost: The Burkini
THE TELEGRAPH: The Burkini. You’d think it was a joke invention: a bit like the grotesque “Mankini” so hilariously sported by Sacha Baron Cohen on all those posters for Borat. What, after all, could be more absurd than melding the not-notably-sexy Muslim dress - the Burka - with the kind of achingly seductive kit worn by Brigitte Bardot in And God Created Woman?

But no, the Burkini is for real. It was designed by an [sic] Lebanese Australian Aheda Zanetti to enable women in thrall to extreme Saudi-style dress codes to go swimming on beaches and in public baths without incurring a beating or instant divorce from their characteristically tolerant and cosmopolitan menfolk.

“Practical and stylish,” is how they’re described on a BBC website. Hmm, up to a point. Practical if your primary goal is to protect yourself from box jellyfish stings; stylish, maybe, if your points of comparison are a gorilla outfit, or a Barbara Cartland pink dress, or a tent. But I do think we should be wary of viewing the burkini in terms of a fashion story or an amusing novelty, when it also represents something more sinister. I’m sure the designer didn’t intend this, but the Burkini has become yet another weapon in the Islamist assault on Western cultural values.

When most of us think of militant Islam, we tend to think in terms of suicide bombs on London buses, planes flying into Twin Towers and 19-year olds getting their limbs blown off by Taliban IEDs. But as any extremist Imam could tell you, there are at least two ways in which a good Muslim can further the ongoing struggle to convert the whole world from the House of War (that’s the non-Muslim world) to the House of Islam (ie global submission to the will of Allah): one (see above) is by poison or the sword; the other is by honey.

So the Burkini is part of the honey campaign: all those parts of the Islamist war on the West that have nothing to do with killing people. This campaign includes everything from schoolgirls fighting legal battles (with the help of one Cherie Blair) to fight for their inalienable right to go to school dressed like a sack, to Muslim supermarket workers trying to dictate the terms of their employment (refusing to sell alcohol), to the ongoing campaign (apparently endorsed by our own Archbishop of Canterbury) for certain civil decisions in the Muslim “community” to be made under Sharia law. The goal is to establish the view that Islam is a religion [that] should be allowed to trump everything, including the cultural norms of any non-Muslim society in which its adherents find themselves living.

Why should we care if women want to dress up in burkinis? Well we shouldn’t. It’s a free country. Where we should worry very much is when, in the name of weasel concepts like “tolerance”, “respect” and Multiculturalism, the wider society is bullied into adopting similar “Muslim” (ie Saudi-style, Wahhabist) dress codes too. >>> James Delingpole | Sunday, August 16, 2009

Burkinis Give Me a Sinking Feeling
THE TELEGRAPH: The freedom to wear a small, practical swimsuit without feeling self-conscious is hard-won, and fragile, says Jemima Lewis.

The Burkini is such a ludicrous garment that it is hard to take seriously. Designed to enable veiled Muslims to go swimming without compromising their modesty, it covers every inch of flesh except the feet, hands and face. It makes the wearer look like a cross between a Teletubby and an enormous condom.

In France it is banned from public pools, on the grounds that its copious material carries more germs than conventional swimsuits. In England, incredible though it may seem, it is becoming required wearing at some pools, during "Muslim-only" sessions.

It was not so very long ago that women were unable to take a dip in public without first donning an enormous mohair crinoline and being dragged out to sea in a bathing machine. The freedom to wear a small, practical swimsuit without feeling self-conscious is hard-won, and fragile. All it takes is for one burkini to appear at the poolside, and everyone else feels underdressed.

Wearing a burkini is not merely a personal choice, but a judgment on others. It says: I am modest, you are not. It is, in its own way, no less oppressive than a mohair crinoline. [Source: The Telegraph Jemima Lewis | Saturday, August 15, 2009

Pope Pius XII, the wartime pope. Photo: Google Images
Britain Knew about Extermination of Jews, Vatican Claims
THE TELEGRAPH: The Vatican's official newspaper has accused Britain and the United States of having detailed knowledge of Hitler's plans to exterminate the Jews but of failing to do anything to halt the Final Solution.

L'Osservatore Romano said the British and American governments ignored, downplayed or even suppressed intelligence reports about the Nazis' extermination plans.

They could have bombed Nazi concentration camps and the railways that supplied them but instead chose not to, the newspaper claimed.

It quoted from the diary of Henry Morgenthau Jr., the wartime US secretary of the treasury, who described London's alleged indifference to the plight of the Jews as "a Satanic combination of British chill and diplomatic double talk, cold and correct and adding up to a sentence of death".

British and American inaction was in contrast to the efforts made by the wartime Pope, Pius XII, who tried to save as many Jews as he could through clandestine means, L'Osservatore claimed in a lengthy article titled "Silence and omissions at the time of the Shoah (Holocaust)".

The editorial is the Vatican's latest effort to rehabilitate the reputation of Pope Pius, whose reluctance to denounce the Nazis publicly prompted accusations of anti-Semitism and earned him the title "Hitler's Pope".

L'Osservatore dismissed such claims as a "radically false" characterisation of the pontiff's wartime record.

It quoted Morgenthau as saying that as early as Aug 1942, the US government "knew that the Nazis were planning to exterminate all the Jews of Europe".

In his diary, Morgenthau cited a telegram dated Aug 24, 1942, and passed on to the US State Department, that relayed a report of Hitler's plan to kill between 3.5 million and four million Jews, possibly using cyanide poison.

L'Osservatore, which is regarded as the semi-official mouthpiece of the Holy See, reproduced a copy of the telegram.

American officials had "dodged their grim responsibility, procrastinated when concrete rescue schemes were placed before them, and even suppressed information about atrocities," Morgenthau wrote.

When the US government was finally convinced to try to rescue European Jews who had not already been sent to concentration camps, the British baulked, the editorial said.

It cited a British Foreign Office cable that warned of "the difficulties of disposing of any considerable number of Jews should they be rescued from enemy occupied territory" and advised against allocating money for the project.

While the British and Americans prevaricated, Pius was engaged in "the only plausible and practical form of defence of the Jews and other persecuted people" by arranging for them to be hidden in monasteries, convents and other Catholic Church institutions, the newspaper claimed.

L'Osservatore said that although the Nazis rounded up and deported from Rome more than 2,000 Jews, another 10,000 were saved.

Marking the 50th anniversary of Pius' death last year, Pope Benedict XVI described him as a great pontiff who worked "secretly and silently" during the war to "save the greatest number of Jews possible". >>> Simon Caldwell and Nick Squires in Rome | Monday, August 17, 2009

Ex-wife 'Admits Starting' Kuwait Wedding Party Blaze that Killed 43
TIMES ONLINE: A fire in a wedding party tent that killed 43 women and children in Kuwait was started deliberately by the ex-wife of the bridegroom, a Kuwaiti newspaper said today.

Al-Qabbas said that the 23-year-old former wife had admitted pouring petrol on the cotton tent and setting it on fire, furious at what she called her “bad treatment” by her former partner before their divorce. There was no official confirmation of the alleged confession.

Firefighters said that the blaze took less than three minutes to rip through the marquee, in which as many as 180 women and children were celebrating the wedding party. Many of those who died were killed in the stampede for the sole exit.

The men at the party celebrated in a separate tent, in line with the tradition of the conservative state. >>> James Hider, Middle East Correspondent | Monday, August 17, 2009

New Dark Age Alert! Row over Afghan Wife-starving Law
This is truly disgusting! Imagine treating women in this despicable way! – Mark

BBC: An Afghan bill allowing a husband to starve his wife if she refuses to have sex has been published in the official gazette and become law.

The original bill caused outrage earlier this year, forcing Afghan President Hamid Karzai to withdraw it.

But critics say the amended version of the law remains highly repressive.

They accuse Mr Karzai of selling out Afghan women for the sake of conservative Shia support at next week's presidential election.

The law governs family life for Afghanistan's Shia minority.

Sexual demands

The original version obliged Shia women to have sex with their husbands every four days at a minimum, and it effectively condoned rape by removing the need for consent to sex within marriage.

Western leaders and Afghan women's groups were united in condemning an apparent reversal of key freedoms won by women after the fall of the Taliban.

Now an amended version of the same bill has passed quietly into law with the apparent approval of President Karzai. >>> Sarah Rainsford, BBC News | Sunday, August 16, 2009

Why Is the Violence Most Intense in Northern Iraq?
Watch LA Times video here | Thursday, August 13, 2009

Miliband under Fire for Saying Terrorism Can Be 'Justified' in Some Circumstances
MAIL ONLINE: The Foreign Office leapt to David Miliband's defence last night after he triggered outrage by saying terrorism is justified in some circumstances.

The Foreign Secretary also said in an interview that there were circumstances where terror was 'effective'.

The remarks were condemned by Tories, who said they risked giving succour to the Taliban as the number of UK soldiers killed in Afghanistan passed the 200 mark.

Mr Miliband was speaking on a BBC Radio 4 Great Lives programme about anti-apartheid activist Joe Slovo.

Mr Slovo, a friend of Mr Miliband's academic-father Ralph, was one of the leaders of the armed wing of the ANC which carried out a series of fatal bombings in South Africa which killed civilians.

Asked by presenter Matthew Parris whether such terrorism was ever justified, Mr Miliband said: 'Yes, there are circumstances in which it is justifiable, and yes, there are circumstances in which it is effective.'

He added: 'The importance for me is that the South African example proved something remarkable: the apartheid regime looked like a regime that would last for ever and it was blown down. It is hard to argue that, on its own, a political struggle would have delivered. >>> Daniel Martin | Monday, August 17, 2009

Alan Duncan Faces Expenses Challenge from Terry Waite at Election
THE TELEGRAPH: Alan Duncan, the Tory front bencher who complained that MPs were forced to live on “rations,” faces an election challenge from anti-sleaze campaigners Terry Waite and Martin Bell.

Alan Duncan. Photo: The Telegraph
The former Beirut hostage and “the man in the white suit” have formed a political movement aimed at bringing down a number of MPs whose questionable expenses claims were disclosed by The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Bell, an ex-BBC journalist who became known for his sartorial taste after successfully challenging the Neil Hamilton, the Conservative MP at the centre of the “cash for questions” scandal, at the 1997 election, confirmed that Mr Duncan was in their sights.

Last week, the millionaire MP was forced to apologise after secret footage emerged of him complaining that MPs were treated like “****” and had been reduced to living on “rations” following the expenses scandal.

It seems that the somewhat stricter regime introduced following the expenses furore has not inhibited Mr Duncan’s lifestyle too significantly, however. He is currently said to be mid-way through a two week holiday in a luxury resort on the Indonesian island of Bali with his civil partner, James Dunseath, a press officer in the City.

The couple are thought to have flown business class with Singapore Airlines at a cost of around £3,000 each.

Mr Duncan, the shadow leader of the House who has represented the Leicestershire constituency of Rutland and Melton since 1992, is the main target of the “honest politics” alliance forged by Mr Bell and Mr Waite.

The ex-journalist said that up to 30 anti-sleaze candidates would be standing at the general election, with a shared cause of bringing "honesty" to the House of Commons.

“The common platform would be a return to honest politics,” he said. “That’s the thing that would unite everybody. Rutland and Melton has become vulnerable.” >>> Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Sunday, August 16, 2009

Related:
Alan Duncan: MPs Are Treated Like '****' and Have to Survive on Rations >>> Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Wednesday, August 12, 2009

MPs' Expenses: Alan Duncan Claimed £63,000 in Mortgage 'Flip' >>> Holly Watt | Friday, July 04, 2009

My big fat gay Tory wedding >>> Isabel Oakeshott | Sunday, March 09. 2009

Why Angela Merkel Is a Winner with the Germans
THE TELEGRAPH: Despite the recession and claims that she is "boring", the German Chancellor is on her way to a second term, report David Wroe in Berlin and Colin Freeman.

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is on her way to a second term. Photo: The Telegraph
The unfashionable bowl haircut has been shaped into an elegant bob, and the frumpy hausfrau dresses replaced with smart designer outfits. For someone who started out in office wearing less make-up than Tony Blair, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has certainly yielded to the image consultants over the years.

Yet in a political scene dominated by men, Germany’s first-ever woman leader has long made it clear that she prefers to be judged not on her looks or personality, but on her policies. So when a series of election posters appeared last week, showing her in a revealing low cut dress, the response from her office was as predictable as it was icy. The pictures, put up by a well-intended parliamentary candidate for Ms Merkel’s own party, were “not authorised”, said a spokesman - despite them enlivening a lacklustre campaign.

One item on the offending posters, however, might well have won Ms Merkel’s endorsement - the printed strapline across her bosom, declaring “We have more to offer”. After four years in office, the woman dubbed the Teutonic Margaret Thatcher is enjoying popularity ratings that are the envy of other European leaders - and is almost certain to secure a second term in next month’s elections.

The August break has not been the happiest of holidays for the rest of Europe’s largely male leadership. Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi is mired in sleaze allegations, France’s hyperactive Nicolas Sarkozy has suffered heart problems, and Gordon Brown barely has the confidence of his own party. Ms Merkel, 54, however, felt confident enough to take off on an extended mountain biking holiday in the middle of her election campaign, and when she returned from the Italian Tyrol last week, it was mainly to good news. >>> | Sunday, August 16, 2009

Related:
Deutschland: Dekolleté-Plakat sorgt für Ärger >>> Red. | Dienstag, 11. August 2009

Hausfrau Appeal >>> | Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Merkel Tops Forbes List of Powerful Women >>> Associated Press | Thursday, August 28, 2008

Angela Merkel as You’ve Never Seen Her Before! >>> | Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Why Must We Bow to the Intolerant Ways of Islam?
THE TELEGRAPH: Jim Fitzpatrick MP and his wife were quite right to leave a wedding because it was segregated by sex, says Alasdair Palmer.

When Jim Fitzpatrick MP and his wife decided to leave a Muslim wedding party after they discovered it was segregated by sex, he did not anticipate the controversy his decision would generate. "It reflects badly on him," said Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the former head of the Muslim Council of Britain. "It shows a lack of interest… to engage with people of different backgrounds." Tim Archer, the Tory who is standing against the minister of state at the next election, commented that "Fitzpatrick is playing a certain race card to save his skin at the next election".

All this because Mr Fitzpatrick did not want to imply that he endorsed sexual segregation by remaining at the party. Yet what can possibly be wrong with an MP, or anyone else, withdrawing from a celebration whose organisation suggests that women are not equal to men?

Some people claim that segregating the sexes is a matter of personal choice, like choosing between flavours of ice-cream. It has no implications in terms of your view of the equality of the sexes, any more than wearing the niqab or the hijab – the Islamic garments that cover women from head to toe – implies that you think women are inferior.

The Muslims who feel most strongly about sexual segregation, or about the importance of ensuring that women dress "modestly", see those customs as ordered by God. They are profoundly offended by the idea that they reflect merely human choices. That is why there is a vocal strain of Islam in Britain that insists that Muslims should be governed, not by British law, but by sharia.

Islamic law does not, of course, accept that men and women have equal rights. Sharia courts in Britain have already judged that a man may have up to four wives at any one time; that a wife has no property rights in the event of divorce; that a woman may not leave her home without her husband's consent; and that a woman cannot marry without the presence and permission of a male guardian. >>> Alasdair Palmer | Saturday, August 15, 2009

Related:
Jim Fitzpatrick, Government Minister, Condemns Traditional Muslim Wedding >>> Martin Beckford and Stephen Adams | Thursday, August 13, 2009

Gaza: Mehr als 20 Tote bei Kämpfen unter Islamisten
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Bei Kämpfen zwischen Sicherheitskräften der Hamas und einer radikalen islamistischen Gruppe, die Al Qaida nahestehen soll, sind am Wochenende im Süden des Gazastreifens 24 Person ums Leben gekommen und mehr als hundert verletzt worden. Neben sechs Polizisten und einem kleinen Mädchen starb nach Angaben des Innenministeriums in Gaza auch Abdel-Latif Moussa, der Anführer der Gruppe „Dschund Ansar Allah“ (Armee der Helfer Gottes).

Er habe am Samstagmorgen Selbstmord begangen, indem er einen Sprengstoffgürtel zündete, hieß es. Dabei sei auch ein ranghoher Hamas-Funktionär umgekommen: Abu Dschibril Schimali, der angeblich die Entführung des israelischen Soldaten Gilad Schalit organisiert hatte, war als Vermittler zu dem Prediger geschickt worden. >>> Von Hans-Christian Rößler, Jerusalem | Sonntag, 16. August 2009