Mussolini Audio Is Italy’s No. 2 iPhone Application
BLOOMBERG.COM: A collection of speeches by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is Italy’s second-most downloaded iPhone application on Holocaust Memorial Day.

The application, called iMussolini, is available on Apple’s online store for 79 euro cents ($1.11). It has been downloaded more than a video game based on the blockbuster film Avatar, according to Apple Inc.’s Italian iTunes store. A wallpaper application is the most downloaded item.

The Mussolini application makes 100 of the so-called Duce’s speeches available on the iPhone. Mussolini ruled Italy from 1922 until his death in 1945 at the end of World War II. His granddaughter, Alessandra Mussolini, is a politician and ally of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government. >>> Flavia Krause-Jackson | Wednesday, January 27, 2010

The Holocaust in Color: Nazi Rising Terror and Concentration Camps

Dachau Concentration Camp – Liberation

Netanyahu at Auschwitz: World Must Unite to Confront New Threats
HAARETZ: Holocaust teaches that murderers must be stopped before they act, says PM in apparent reference to Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told dignitaries gathered at the Auschwitz extermination camp on Wednesday that the world must learn from the Holocaust to unite against new threats.

In what was apparently a thinly veiled reference to Iran, Netanyahu called on the international community to come together to confront "impending dangers".

Israel believes Iran to be building a nuclear bomb and views the Islamic Republic as an existential threat. Iran insists its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes.

"We must warn of the impending danger to the rest of the world and at the same time to be ready to defend ourselves," Netanyahu said. "The most important lesson from the Shoah is that murderous evil must be stopped as soon as possible, before it can realize its schemes."

"We the Jewish people learned the lesson [of the Holocaust] well after we lost one-third of our people," Netanyahu said, adding that a strong state of Israel with a powerful army was the only guarantee of preventing a second Holocaust.

"I pledge as prime minister that we will never let the hand of evil harm our people and our state, never again," he said.

Netanyahu added: "All enlightened nations must absorb this lesson," pledging that as the head of the state of he would not to allow a "new Amalek" to threaten again to destroy the Jewish nation - a reference to a biblical king who waged war against the Jews.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI recalled the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, and event which revealed "the unprecedented cruelty," of the Nazi Holocaust.

The 82-year-old pontiff made the remarks in his native German during his weekly general audience.

"On 27 January 1945, the gates of the Nazi concentration camp near the Polish city of Oswiecim, better known by its German name of Auschwitz, were opened and the few survivors freed," Benedict said.

"That event, and the testimony of those who survived, revealed to the world the horror of the crimes of unprecedented cruelty committed in the extermination camps created by Nazi Germany," added the pope, who as a teenager - like most others at the time - had been a member of the Hitler Youth in the waning days of the war.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day which is being marked in several European nations, serves, according to Benedict, to recall "the planned annihilation of the Jews, and to honor those who, at the risk of their own lives, protected the persecuted and sought to oppose the murderous insanity." >>> Cnaan Liphshiz, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service, and News Agencies | Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Warnung vor Gleichgültigkeit: Mahnende Worte zum Holocaust-Gedenktag in Deutschland
«Der Mangel an Empathie, die Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber dem Schicksal des Anderen und die fehlende Bereitschaft, für die Werte einer demokratischen und toleranten Gesellschaft einzutreten, waren es, die dem verbrecherischen Hitler-Regime den Weg geebnet haben.» – Charlotte Knoblauch, die Präsidentin des Zentralrats der deutschen Juden
NZZ ONLINE: In Deutschland ist am Mittwoch der Holocaust-Gedenktag begangen worden. Während die Präsidentin des Zentralrats der deutschen Juden vor der Gleichgültigkeit warnte, sprach der israelische Präsident Peres von der Gefahr, die von Iran ausgehe.

Zum Holocaust-Gedenktag hat der Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland vor «Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber dem Schicksal des Anderen» gewarnt. «Es ist nicht hinnehmbar, dass Rechtsextremisten 65 Jahre nach dem Ende der nationalsozialistischen Schreckensherrschaft braunes Gedankengut verbreiten», monierte Präsidentin Charlotte Knobloch am Mittwoch. Sie versuchten, mit perfiden Strategien die Demokratie zu unterwandern. >>> ddp | Mittwoch, 27. Januar 2010

Avertissement de l'antisémitisme! Avertissement du fascisme! Cimetière juif profané à Strasbourg
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: TRISTE ANNIVERSAIRE | Dix-huit tombes du cimetière juif du quartier Cronenbourg de Strasbourg ont été marquées de croix gammées, vraisemblablement la nuit dernière, annoncent le Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France (Crif) et la police.

"Le cimetière juif de Cronenbourg a été profané, 18 stèles ont été taguées avec une croix gammée inscrite en couleur brune et 13 ont été renversées", a déclaré Patrick Roussel, commissaire principal de la Sûreté départementale du Bas-Rhin (est).

Laurent Schmoll, président de la communauté israélite de Strasbourg, a ajouté que l’inscription "Juden Raus" (Les Juifs dehors) avait également été relevée sur une tombe. >>> AFP | Mercredi 27 Janvier 2010

'We Are Not Really Germans': New Study Looks at Challenges Faced by Germany's Muslims
Many women in Germany who wear the headscarf say they experience barriers to employment, according to a new survey published by the Open Society Institute. Photograph: Spiegel Online International
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: It's no secret that many immigrants have a hard time in Germany. A new study has found that women wearing headscarves have a particularly hard time on the job market and a quarter of those with Turkish backgrounds face discrimination when looking for work.

It is early afternoon at Internet Treffpunkt, a convenience store in Kreuzberg, a neighborhood in Berlin that is home to many Turks and other minorities. Hedi Dashti, the store's proprietor, is busy. One customer hands over her parcel to send through his DHL counter. Another customer buys cigarettes. The door swings open, ushering in the blustery winter wind, and a third customer waves hello.

Dashti -- an immigrant from Iraq who fled to Germany 20 years ago with his family -- speaks to customers in English, German and his mother tongue, Kurdish. He has adjusted to life in Germany and made German friends, while also maintaining his religious identity: Dashti is a practicing Muslim, abstains from eating pork and observes Friday prayers.

And despite occasionally feeling like an outsider, he really wishes he had German citizenship. ''We are not really Germans, but Germany is our country,'' Dashti said.

It is a dilemma shared by many of Germany's approximately four million Muslims. And a new survey supports the widespread feeling of dislocation that many of them feel. >>> Sheila Lalwani in Berlin | Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Requiem for the Pain: 65 Years After Auschwitz Horror

L'hommage du monde aux victimes d'Auschwitz
L'entrée du camp. Auschwitz-Birkenau, seul camp d'extermination à avoir conservé des traces tangibles de la Shoah, est aujourd'hui très abîmé par le temps. Crédits photo : Le Figaro
LE FIGARO: Des dirigeants d'une vingtaine de pays commémorent la libération du camp, il y a 65 ans.

Une centaine d'anciens prisonniers - contre deux mille il y a cinq ans - participent ce mercredi au 65e anniversaire de la libération d'Auschwitz-Birkenau. Dans quelques années, les derniers témoins de l'Holocauste auront disparu. Sans eux, quelle mémoire en garderons-nous ? À quoi sert le Musée d'Auschwitz, puisque d'autres génocides ont montré qu'il avait échoué dans sa mission de prévention ? Comment donc enseigner Auschwitz à des générations qui n'ont ou n'auront plus de lien direct avec cette tragédie ? C'est sur ces questions que les ministres de l'Éducation des pays membres de l'Union européenne, réunis exceptionnellement à Auschwitz, sont invités à plancher ce mercredi matin, en marge des cérémonies officielles auxquelles assisteront le président et le premier ministre polonais, Lech Kaczynski et Donald Tusk, le chef du gouvernement israélien Benyamin Nétanyahou et les délégués d'une vingtaine de pays. En l'absence du ministre de l'Éducation Luc Chatel, la France est représentée par le secrétaire d'État à la Défense Hubert Falco, accompagné de Simone Weil, de l'historien Serge Klarsfeld, de parlementaires et d'une trentaine de lycéens. >>> D’envoyée spéciale du Figaro à Auschwitz, Arielle Thedrel | Mardi 26 Janvier 2010

Julian Kossoff – Holocaust Memorial Day: Pieces of a Puzzle
Photograph: The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: I have spent the last week wondering how to mark Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) on my blog and have failed to come up with a coherent idea. It’s a subject that plays tricks with the psyche.

So please excuse me if I just spill some ideas out on the page, pieces of my unfinished Shoah jigsaw.

- Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated internationally on 27th January each year. This date was chosen as it is the anniversary of the day in 1945 on which the Soviet Army liberated the largest Nazi concentration camp.

HMD aims to raise awareness and understanding of the events of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides as a continuing issue for all humanity, based on a recognition that it could happen again anywhere and at any time, unless we ensure that our society opposes discrimination, persecution and racism.

- If you have the opportunity, go to Auschwitz. It’s the great anti-wonder of the world. Part pilgrimage, part journey to the heart of darkness: apocalypse then. Wander its tombs, its mansions of horror.

There is the ‘room of hair’, great rotting mounds of the stuff, shaved from the 1.1m heads.

Another door opens on a pile of human spare parts. A grotesque, twisted sculpture of wooden legs, prosethic arms, trusses, metal hands, neck braces, rusting callipers, clunking fists – all hinges and brackets – that the crematoria could not devour.

There is the ‘playroom’, no nursery rhymes just ghost stories, no sweet dreams just nightmares. It stores the toys of all the ‘lost boys and girls.’

There among the broken animals and forgotten battalions tin soldiers sit forlorn teddy bears, last cuddled by tiny arms in a stinking cattle truck heading east one freezing night, while glassy eyed dollies stare into the abyss waiting for ‘mummy’ who will never return. >>> Julian Kossoff | Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Auch Italien will Gesichtsschleier verbieten
DIE PRESSE: "Burka ist kein religiöses Symbol", sagt Italiens Frauenministerin Mara Carfagna. Muslimen solle die Staatsbürgerschaft verweigert werden, wenn sie ihre Frauen zwingen, einen Schleier zu tragen.

Nach französischem Beispiel wird jetzt auch in Italien über ein Verbot des Ganzkörperschleiers für muslimische Frauen diskutiert. Die italienische Frauenministerin Mara Carfagna sprach sich für eine Revision des in Italien geltenden Vermummungsverbots aus, wonach man sich in Italien in der Öffentlichkeit nicht so stark verschleiern darf, dass das Gesicht nicht mehr zu erkennen ist.



"Man muss in das Gesetz auch ein ausdrückliches Verbot einführen, den Gesichtsschleier zu tragen, der nur Sehschlitze für die Augen offen lässt (Niqab; Anmerkung) oder diese sogar noch mit einem Gitter verdeckt (Burka; Anmerkung). Das Justizsystem hat sie in den Jahren legitimiert, weil sie mit der Religion zusammenhängen", sagte die Ministerin im Interview mit der Turiner Tageszeitung "La Stampa" am Mittwoch.

"Nur so kann es Integration geben"

Laut der Ministerin sollte man Muslimen die italienische Staatsbürgerschaft verweigern, wenn sie ihre Frauen zwingen, den Gesichtsschleier zu tragen. "Nur so kann es wahre Integration geben", meinte Carfagna. Die Burka sei kein religiöses Symbol, wie auch die geistlichen Führer des Islam anerkannt hätten, sondern "ein Akt der Unterdrückung der Männer gegenüber der Frau". "Auf diese Weise will man Frauen lebenslang unmündig halten. Den Gesichtsschleier zu verbieten, heißt die jungen Migrantinnen von den Ghettos zu befreien, in denen man sie halten will", erklärte Carfagna. >>> APA/Red. | Mittwoch, 27. Januar 2010

Steven Spielberg's Message for Yad Vashem's Visual Center


Spiegel Video anschauen: Auschwitz: 65. Jahrestag der Befreiung

Die Presse Bildergalerie: Hitlers Mordfabrik: Vor 65 Jahren wurde Auschwitz befreit >>>

Prime Minister Netanyahu at Yad Vashem: International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Peres at Bundestag: Never Again
YNET NEWS: In historic speech to German parliament on International Holocaust Day, Israeli president addresses dangers of past and future, focusing on Iranian nuclear program. ' No more ignoring blood-thirsty dictators hiding behind masks of demagogy and voicing slogans of murder,' he says, stressing that 'peace is needed to prevent another Holocaust'

President Shimon Peres delivered a historic speech to members of the German parliament in Berlin on Wednesday afternoon on the occasion of International Holocaust Day, 65 years after the end of World War II.

"No more ignoring blood-thirsty dictators hiding behind masks of demagogy and voicing slogans of murder. They are a threat to the entire world," Peres stressed.

The German parliament heard a translation of the speech, which was carried out in Hebrew. Peres said the Kadish prayer in honor of the Holocaust victims, which include his grandparents, who were burned alive in their town's synagogue.

"In the State of Israel and across the world, Holocaust survivors are slowly retiring from the world of the living. Their number is reduced every day. At the same time, those who were involved in the most despicable work on earth – genocide – are still living on German soil. Please do all you can to bring them to justice," Peres said.

The president referred to his memories from his hometown of Belarus when it was conquered by the Nazis, as well as to his grandfather's image, which has left a great mark on him to this very day. He went on to speak about the establishment of the State of Israel, saying that if the "delay in its establishment" had been prevented, the Holocaust could have been prevented as well.

"As an Israeli, I lament the tragic delay in the establishment of the Jewish state, which left my people without a haven of rest. I cannot accept the loss of a million and a half children – the biggest human and creative potential which could have changed Israel's fate. I am proud about Israel's revival, which is the moral and historic response to the attempt to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth," the president said.

Peres went on to direct his words at Iran. "We are now left with the crucial lesson: Never again. No more racist doctrine, no more feelings of superiority, no more so-called divine authority to incite, murder, break the law, deny God and the Shoah." >>> Roni Sofer | Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Spiegel Video anschauen: Gedenken an Holocaust-Opfer: Israels Präsident Peres im Bundestag

Grande-Bretagne : L’islam inquiète les Britanniques
LE TEMPS: Une étude révèle l’hostilité de la population à l’égard des musulmans. Le modèle multiculturel chancelle

Longtemps admiré pour ses capacités d’intégration de différentes communautés ethniques, culturelles et religieuses, le modèle multiculturel britannique est en train de chanceler. Selon l’enquête annuelle British Social Attitudes Survey, publiée mardi par le National Centre for Social Research, un centre de recherche indépendant, près de la moitié des Britanniques estiment qu’il a échoué. En effet, pour 45% d’entre eux, le pluralisme religieux a causé du tort au pays; 52% pensent que la religion est un facteur de division majeur dans le pays. L’islam est la religion qui suscite le plus de préoccupations. Seuls 23% des Britanniques ont des sentiments positifs à l’égard des musulmans, alors que 34% expriment une opinion hostile; 55% s’opposeraient à la construction d’une grande mosquée dans leur voisinage.

Selon David Voas, professeur spécialisé dans l’étude des populations à l’Université de Manchester, et coauteur du chapitre de l’enquête consacré à la religion, l’islam est perçu comme une «menace pour la cohésion sociale» et «l’identité nationale». Dans l’analyse des résultats de l’enquête qu’il a livrée pour le DailyTelegraph, il cite la «taille et la visibilité» des communautés islamiques comme des facteurs de préoccupation pour la société britannique. En conséquent, une majorité de la population se dit favorable à une limitation de la liberté d’expression. L’enquête constate une grande suspicion à l’égard des personnes qui expriment des points de vue très religieux et une large réticence envers l’intrusion des questions de religion dans la sphère publique.

Ces inquiétudes commencent à être prises au sérieux par les autorités britanniques. A la mi-janvier, le gouvernement a interdit un groupe islamiste radical, Islam4UK. Celui-ci projetait d’organiser une manifestation à Wootton Bassett, une ville située non loin de Londres, où sont rendus les hommages aux soldats tués en Afghanistan. >>> Patricia Briel | Mercredi 27 Janvier 2010

How Will Obama Handle Political Pressure?


THE GUARDIAN: Barack Obama admits mistakes have contributed to dive in approval rating: President says he is more interested in delivering on promises than re-election in interview before state of the union address >>> Chris McGreal in Washington | Tuesday, January 26, 2010

LE TEMPS: États-Unis: Vent de panique sur Washington : Changement de stratégie pour le président Barack Obama. Les thèmes liés à la santé et à l’environnement sont relégués. Retour à la discipline budgétaire,aux petits pas et aux accommodements >>> Luis Lema | Mercredi 27 Janvier 2010

Kommentar: Ein Gesetz kann das Burka-Paradox nicht lösen
WELT ONLINE: Kann man im Namen der Freiheit ein Gesetz erlassen, das die Freiheit beschneidet? Dieses Paradox schafft Frankreich mit dem geplanten Verbot von Burka oder Nikab in öffentlichen Einrichtungen. Ob es die Trägerinnen von Ganzkörperschleiern in Frankreich befreien oder noch stärker in die Isolation treiben wird, bleibt offen.

Bild: Welt Online
Die Kommission zum Ganzkörperschleier hat dem französischen Parlament empfohlen, eine „feierliche Resolution“ zu verabschieden, in der „das ganze Frankreich Nein sagt zum Ganzkörperschleier“. Ein Gesetz soll folgen, das die Verhüllung des Gesichts in öffentlichen Einrichtungen verbietet. Burka- oder Nikab-Trägerinnen werden dann künftig auf der Post nicht mehr bedient.

Damit bleibt die parteiübergreifend besetzte Kommission hinter den Forderungen einiger Vertreter der Regierungspartei UMP zurück, die sich für ein Verbot von Ganzkörperschleiern im gesamten öffentlichen Raum aussprechen.

Die Debatte wird munter weitergehen, denn wie ein Gesetz aussehen könnte, das anwendbar wäre, weiß niemand. Noch weniger, wie es sich auswirkt. Bringt es den betroffenen Frauen mehr Freiheit oder zwingt es sie in die völlige Isolation? >>> Von Sascha Lehnartz | Dienstag, 26. Januar 2010

Inquiry Condemns Burka as 'Un-French'
THE INDEPENDENT: Sarkozy calls for wearing of full-body veils to be banned in 'official' public places

The Islamic full-body veil should be banned from French public offices, hospitals, trains and buses, according to a parliamentary investigation which reported yesterday. In a bad-tempered final session, the committee of inquiry angered many members of President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling centre-right party by rejecting their demands for an outright ban on the burka or niqab. After a muddled and heated six-month investigation, the committee decided that such a ban might be declared unconstitutional under French and European law.

Instead, a narrow majority of the 32 members accepted a compromise suggested by Mr Sarkozy and the Prime Minister, François Fillon. They called for a solemn, but unenforceable, parliamentary motion declaring the full-length veil – a marginal but growing phenomenon in France – to be "un-French". They said that this should be followed soon by a law forbidding people to cover their faces in "official" public spaces, from hospitals to post offices. >>> John Lichfield in Paris | Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Gay Couples Should Be Allowed to ‘Marry’ in Church, Government Minister Says
THE TELEGRAPH: Homosexual couples should be allowed to “marry” in churches, a Government minister has said.

Baroness Thornton, a spokesman for the Government in the House of Lords, said she was “not unsympathetic” to plans to permit civil partnerships on religious premises.

She admitted there were many “complexities” to be addressed since the ceremonies are currently secular, and because the change will be opposed by some major faiths who believe only a man and a woman can be married.

But Lady Thornton went on: “We want this dialogue to move forward and we want all those with an interest in this issue to have their say. We believe that this careful consideration will pay off in how we proceed together to the next stage of resolving this issue.”

Under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, same-sex couples are allowed to form legal unions that entitle them to the same property and tax rights as men and women who marry in register offices. It is estimated that 35,000 homosexual couples have done so.

However these ceremonies must be entirely secular, as civil marriages must be, and they cannot take place in churches, mosques, synagogues or temples.

During a Lords debate on the Equality Bill on Monday night, Lord Alli tabled an amendment that would “allow civil partnerships to take place on religious premises”.

He withdrew it after Lady Thornton pointed out it would create an “anomalous” situation whereby homosexual couples could have prayers said at their event whereas heterosexual ones could not.

It would also require registrars to carry out religious services, and for priests to conduct ceremonies outside of their places of worship, she said.
The peer added: “We fully accept the fundamental importance of this issue to many same-sex couples, and we recognise the strength of feeling that some people have about the need for change.

“We also recognise, though, that any change would bring into play some fundamental issues and would risk undermining the parity that has been carefully established between civil partnership and civil marriage. >>> Martin Beckford | Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Obsession: A Documentary about Radical Islam

Change We Cannot Believe In!
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama will attempt to transform his presidency in a State of the Union address focusing on jobs, the economy and controlling mounting national debt.

Barack Hussein Obama. Photo: The Telegraph
The president will take the podium in the House of Representatives with grim forecasts in his wake. This year's deficit is set to be $1.35 trillion, only marginally lower than last year's. Unemployment is predicted to stay at 10 per cent throughout 2010 while the housing market remains stagnant.

"We're going to talk about how we can first of all, focus on job creation and growth," the president said in an interview with ABC.

"There are going to be a set of proposals that we put forward that help to stabilise the situation and deal with the growing insecurity and anxiety of people who, even if they haven't lost their job, are still feeling squeezed by their incomes shrinking and their costs going up."

Though he said there were no "magic solutions" to reducing the deficit, the president will outline a three-year freeze on domestic spending, excluding the military and homeland security, in his 2011 budget that would save $250 billion by 2020. State of the Union: Barack Obama to announce spending freeze >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Tuesday, January 26, 2010