So When Will British Politicians Find Their Balls? Nicolas Sarkozy Ally 'Received Death Threats' Over Muslim Veil Ban
THE TELEGRAPH: A French conservative politician at the forefront of a campaign for a full ban on Islamic veils has been placed under police protection after reportedly receiving death threats.

Jean-François Copé, who leads the parliamentary group of President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party, has had a security officer accompanying him since January, it emerged on Friday.

Mr Copé submitted a proposed bill on banning the veil in public in January, on grounds of security and women's equality. On Wednesday, the government announced its intention to push through a full ban as early as this summer.

Mr Sarkozy, who has said that full veils oppress women, chose to defy France's highest administrative body, which says a full ban could be declared unconstitutional.

In a sign the French are already clamping down on the wearing of the garment, it emerged on Friday that a woman driver wearing an Islamic face veil had been fined 22 euros (£20) by French police for not having a clear field of vision.

Traffic police in the western city of Nantes fined the 31-year-old woman in early April. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Friday, April 23, 2010

Hypocrisy! Nick Clegg Interview - On the Smoking Ban and Drug Policy

The Leaders On the Pope’s Visit


THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: Pope Benedict XVI floored the party leaders during the Sky debate. What will they do when he’s really here? >>> Will Heaven | Friday, April 23, 2010

Infographie : Les différents types de voile musulman
Pour les voir, cliquez ici >>> LeMonde.fr | Mercredi 24 Juin 2009

France’s Model Muslim: 'Imam for Peace' Sows Discontent
Hassen Chalghoumi. Photograph: Spiegel Online International
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: What happens when a Muslim cleric embraces the values of the West? In France, President Sarkozy is using the teachings of one imam for his own purposes. Hassen Chalghoumi, who has backed calls for a burqa ban, now faces threats from his own community.

Hassen Chalghoumi is the best-known imam in France and easily the most controversial, even though he preaches peace instead of hate. Police cars are stationed in front of his mosque during Friday prayers, and he has two bodyguards with him at all times when he goes out in public. Sometimes, when it all becomes too much for him, he takes his wife and their five children and goes away for a week or two, in the hope that all the excitement over him and the ideas he preaches will calm down again,. But the tactic hasn't worked so far, because the whole thing flares up again as soon as he returns home. Chalghoumi has led a hectic life in recent weeks.

There are 5 million Muslims in France, although there could even be as many as 8 million, no one knows for sure. Some have been there for a long time while others are recent immigrants. Within this population, there are believed to be 1,400 women who wear either the large full-body veil, the burqa, in black or blue, or the niqab, the full veil that covers the face apart from the eyes, although that number could also be as low as 400. In any case, Chalghoumi dared to publicly condemn the wearing of the full veil, and he welcomed the idea of outlawing it -- something that may have been ill-advised.

Chalghoumi's is a man who doesn't reveal much about himself, while others seem to think that they know everything about him. What is indisputable is that he was born in Tunis in 1972, immigrated to France in 1996 and became a French citizen in 2000, or perhaps it wasn't until two years later. Sometimes Chalghoumi contradicts himself, or he doesn't remember the details correctly, or he is quoted out of context. It isn't easy to figure him out, but it is easy to like him. He is a gentle person, a man with the grace of a professional dancer. Journey Into a Different World >>> Ullrich Fichtner, Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan |Friday, April 23, 2010

Nick Clegg: Faith Schools Should Teach Children That Homosexuality Is ‘Normal’
THE TELEGRAPH: Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, has said that children attending faith schools should be taught that homosexuality is "normal and harmless".

In a pitch for the “pink vote,” he called on all the parties to prove that they supported full equality for homosexuals, and accused David Cameron, the Conservative leader, of being untrustworthy on the issue.

The Liberal Democrats support measures forcing teachers, including those working in faith schools, to implement policies to combat homophobic bullying, with lessons teaching that same-sex relationships are “normal”.

Mr Clegg said: “Crucially faith schools should have a requirement to have an anti-homophobic bullying policy at their school.”

In an interview with Attitude magazine, the Liberal Democrat leader also called for lesbians and homosexual men who have undergone a civil partnership ceremony to be given the formal and symbolic status of a “married” couple.

Rules which bar homosexual men from giving blood should be scrapped, and refugees who flee persecution on the grounds of their sexuality should receive an automatic right of asylum in the United Kingdom. >>> Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Greece Calls for Activation of Financial Rescue Package
Prime Minister George Papandreou announces in a televised address on Friday from the island of Kastelorizo that Greece has requested international bailout funds. Photograph: The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: ATHENS — Describing his country’s economy as “a sinking ship,” the Greek prime minister formally requested an international bailout on Friday, an unprecedented step that will test the bonds of the European Union.

In a nationally televised address, Prime Minister George Papandreou said two waves of austerity measures introduced by the government over the past few months “had failed to convince the markets” that Greece would get its finances under control or be able to avert defaulting on a mountain of debt.

“There is the risk of the sacrifices of the Greek people being lost as rates of borrowing continue to rise,” he said, speaking from the Aegean island of Kastellorizo.

“The time has come for us to ask our partners in the E.U. to activate the mechanism we formulated together,” he said, referring to an emergency aid package arranged two weeks ago. The plan foresees up to €30 billion, or $40 billion, in loans from Greece’s euro-zone partners, as well as up to €15 billion from the International Monetary Fund.

The activation of the E.U.-I.M.F. rescue plan, Mr. Papandreou said, “will send a strong message to the markets that the E.U. is not playing their game and will not leave its currency at risk.”

The announcement means that funding from the I.M.F. can be expedited once the board of the fund has approved the terms. The fund is expected to provide €12 billion, according to E.U. officials.

“We are prepared to move expeditiously on this request,” Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the I.M.F. managing director, said in a statement issued in Washington. >>> Niki Kitsantonis and Matthew Saltmarsh | Friday, April 23, 2010

Obama Slams Wall Street in Push for More Regulation
MAIL ONLINE: President Barack Obama rebuked fat cat executives for shady dealings as he pushed last night for sweeping reforms to stop another financial meltdown.

Without laws imposing stronger scrutiny of the financial industry America is doomed to repeat the past, the Presidents believes.

In a speech today at New York's Cooper Union college, near Wall Street, Mr Obama was outlining the need for new financial regulations and explaining what the nation would be risking if the existing framework is allowed to remain in place unchanged.

Echoing remarks he made in the same place two years ago, he said: 'A free market was never meant to be a free licence to take whatever you can get, however you can get it.

'That is what happened too often in the years leading up to the crisis. 'A free market was never meant to be a free licence to take what you can get': Obama slams Wall St in push for more regulation >>> Mail Foreign Service | Friday, April 23, 2010

Roman Polanski Loses Bid to Be [sic] Avoid Extradition
TIMES ONLINE: Oscar-winning film director Roman Polanski has lost his latest bid to be sentenced while outside the United States for having unlawful sex with a minor more than three decades ago.

Affirming the decision of a Los Angeles judge in January, a state appeals court ruled Polanski must return to California before he can be sentenced and bring his 33-year-long legal saga to a close.

The decision clears the way for Swiss authorities to extradite the 78-year-old fugitive filmmaker to the US. >>> Times Online | Friday, April 23, 2010

David Cameron Edges Second Leaders’ Debate, According to Times Poll
Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: David Cameron scored a narrow victory over Nick Clegg in the second leaders’ debate last night after an impassioned contest turned personal.

The Tory leader scraped a win — on 37 per cent to Mr Clegg’s 36 per cent — according to a Populus poll for The Times. Some 27 per cent gave the verdict to Gordon Brown as the pressure of tightening polls saw the trio trading ill-tempered barbs.

A series of aggressive exchanges over Trident, Europe, the expenses scandal and election tactics replaced last week’s more consensual style as all three responded to the Liberal Democrat surge by taking their performances up a gear.

Mr Clegg, who took the election by storm last week, gave an edgier performance, playing it anything but safe. “You’re the boss,” he told voters as he urged them to seize the opportunity to change British politics. >>> Roland Watson, Political Editor | Friday, April 23, 2010

Future of Belgium Under Threat Over Language Row
THE TELEGRAPH: The "survival" of Belgium as a unified country was called into question last night after a row between French and Dutch speakers brought the government to the verge of collapse.

The wrangle has already brought down the government four times in the past three years but the latest spat is the gravest yet and threatens to split the country into Flemish areas and French-speaking areas.

King Albert II warned politicians that the political crisis "seriously threatens" the country's role in Europe, after the Prime Minister, Yves Leterme tendered his resignation. >>> Henry Samuel, Paris | Thursday, April 22, 2010

An Artist Has Not Been Doing Naughty Things with the French Flag! And He’s Going to Have to Pay for It
THE TELEGRAPH: A photograph of a man wiping his bottom with the French flag has prompted the government to demand criminal proceedings against the artist that produced it.

The image, one of the winners in a photo contest organised by the book and record shop FNAC in the southern city of Nice, sparked a controversy after it appeared last month in a free national newspaper, Metro.

Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie "has demanded that criminal proceedings be launched against this unacceptable act," according to justice ministry spokesman Guillaume Didier. French government calls for punishment for flag-bottom wiping artist >>> | Wednesday, April 21, 2010

US Abuse Victim Sues Pope to Gain Access to 'Secret Files'
THE TELEGRAPH: The alleged victim of a US priest accused of being a serial pedophile is suing the Pope and the Vatican in an attempt to gain access to secret files containing internal investigations into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.

"There is a painful and long history of the Vatican and the top officials... muffling and suppressing the truth and protecting themselves and their own reputation instead of protecting the children," lawyer Jeff Anderson said at a press conference.

"This suit demands further action by the Vatican and the removal of every single priest that has offended a single child and every single bishop and cardinal that has been complicit in those crimes."

Mr Anderson, who has spent decades pursuing justice for victims of child sex abuse, said the case was "unprecedented" in its scope and demands.

That case is currently before the Supreme Court to determine whether the Vatican, which claims sovereign immunity, can be sued in a US court. >>> | Friday, April 23, 2010

TIMES ONLINE: US court action accuses Pope of failing to protect children from priest: The Pope was named in a lawsuit in a new court action in America yesterday by a man who says that he was abused as a child by a Roman Catholic priest. >>> Ruth Gledhill, Roger Boyes and David Sharrock | Friday, April 23, 2010

BBC: Vatican says US lawsuit against Pope 'without merit': The Vatican says a lawsuit brought against Pope Benedict and two Church officials by a US man who says he was abused by a priest is "without merit". >>> | Friday, April 23, 2010

Self-censorship and Dhimmitude! Comedy Central Censors South Park Mohammed Episode
Image: The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: Comedy Central, the television network, has censored the latest episode of South Park, following threats by a radical Muslim group that its producers could be killed.

The second episode of a two-part storyline contained further references of the Prophet Mohammed, but his body was purposely blocked out while all audio mentions to him were bleeped out.

Comedy Central also censored 35 seconds worth of a conversation towards the end of the show between the characters Stan, Jesus Christ and Father Christmas.

It led to speculation that Parker and Stone had censored themselves as part of a joke or a wider commentary, but they issued a statement in response to Comedy Central's decision to alter the episode.

It said: "In the 14 years we’ve been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn’t stand behind. >>> | Thursday, April 22, 2010

South Park Episode Featuring the Prophet Muhammad Blocked by Network
The episode included a character representing Muhammad, who spoke from inside a giant bear suit. Image: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: An American television network has blocked global internet broadcasts of an episode of South Park featuring the Prophet Muhammad after death threats from a radical Islamic group.

The 201st edition of the satirical animation was aired on Comedy Central last night but only after the channel had introduced a slew of audio and visual obfuscations in addition to the self-censorship applied by the programme’s makers.

A spokesman confirmed that the network had not granted permission to play the episode online and that producers had edited the programme before it was broadcast. >>> Nico Hines, Washington | Thursday, April 22, 2010

South Park Censored After Threat of Fatwa Over Muhammad Episode
South Park, the animation created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, is well known for its satirical attacks. Photo: The Guardian
THE GUARDIAN: Extremist group's death warning leads TV network to censor 201st episode, to fans' dismay

They have depicted the Queen blowing her brains out after a failed attempt by the British army to reinvade America, Saddam Hussein as Satan's gay lover, and Jesus as a trigger-happy superhero. Mormons, Scientologists, Catholics, Jews, politicians and film stars have all been skewered on the razor-sharp wit of South Park.

Now the caustic animated satire appears to have reached its limits within the confines of mainstream US television. Fans and pundits alike were taken aback last night when an episode featuring the prophet Muhammad purportedly dressed in a bear costume had bleeps and "Censored" blocks slapped liberally throughout to remove all audio and visual reference to the prophet.

The censorship followed a warning from a New York-based group of extremist Muslim converts that could be construed as a death threat. The group, through its website Revolutionmuslim.com, had reacted to last week's episode of South Park which first depicted Muhammad dressed as a bear by saying its originators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, "will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh".

To underline the point, the website carried a picture of Van Gogh, the Dutch film-maker killed in 2004 after he made a documentary on the abuse of women in Muslim countries, with his throat cut and a knife in his chest. They also listed the New York headquarters of Comedy Central, the cable television channel that broadcasts the show, and South Park's production company, adding: "You can pay them a visit at these addresses."

In the aftermath of the show's censorship, the chatrooms on South Park's website hummed with the indignation of its fans. "Do you seriously think that will appease the extremists from more terrorism?" one wrote.

As controversy raged, Comedy Central confessed that it was responsible for the cuts. "I can't go into the thinking behind it, but I can confirm it was Comedy Central that inserted the bleeps and not South Park," a spokesman for the station said. >>> Ed Pilkington in New York | Thursday, April22, 2010

Clarifying the South Park Response and Calling on Others to Join in the Defense of the Prophet Muhammad – RevolutionMuslim.com >>>

Try also Revolutionmulim.blogspot.com

THE GUARDIAN: South Park Muhammad episode censored: US Muslim group warns creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker they could 'wind up like Van Gogh' for depiction of prophet >>> Alexandra Topping and agencies | Thursday, April 22, 2010

Related:

South Park Creators Warned by Islamic Website >>> Nick Allen in Los Angeles | Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Benjamin Netanyahu Defies Barack Obama's Demands Over East Jerusalem
THE TELEGRAPH: Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has formally defied a US call to halt Jewish construction in East Jerusalem, according to officials in Washington.

Benjamin Netanyahu with Barack Obama in the Oval Office last month. Photo: The Telegraph
Mr Netanyahu is said to have written to Barack Obama over the weekend officially rejecting his demand to freeze settlement expansion in the city – a move that takes relations between Israel and its superpower patron into uncharted territory.

The Israeli prime minister's response came nearly a month after a tempestuous meeting at the White House in which he was instructed to make a series of confidence-building measures towards the Palestinian leadership.

Until now, Mr Netanyahu has equivocated as he tried to balance the demands of his coalition's right-wing, which urged him to make no compromises, against the intense pressure of the US president.

Although he offered to make some concessions, such as releasing a number of Palestinian prisoners, Mr Netanyahu held firm on the issue of East Jerusalem, which Israel captured and annexed after the Six-Day War of 1967.

Israeli officials, however, denied that their prime minister had made any formal reply to Mr Obama's demands.

"The idea that there was some formal response is just not true," one said.

Mr Netanyahu has made his feelings on East Jerusalem clear in recent days. Stopping construction in the city's Jewish settlements is "totally, totally a non-starter", he told the US television network ABC on Sunday. >>> Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem | Thursday, April 22, 2010

Binyamin Netanyahu Tells US: We Won't Stop East Jerusalem Settlement Building
THE GUARDIAN: Israeli prime minister defiant ahead of visit from US special envoy, George Mitchell, despite deadlock in peace talks

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has reportedly told the US administration that his government will not stop settlement construction in east Jerusalem, despite US pressure and long-running deadlock in peace talks.

The message was delivered to US officials at the weekend, according to reports by AP and the Wall Street Journal, and comes ahead of a visit to the Middle East by George Mitchell, the US special envoy, later today.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, would not discuss the details of Israel's talks with the US administration but he said: "We want this process to succeed and to see the restart of talks. We hope that this is possible soon."

Earlier this week Netanyahu insisted again that construction in east Jerusalem would continue. "The Palestinian demand is that we prevent Jews from building in Jewish neighbourhoods in Jerusalem. That is an unacceptable demand. If we made it in London or made it in New York or in Paris, people would cry foul," he told US television network ABC.

He admitted there were outstanding issues with the US. "We're trying to resolve them through diplomatic channels in the best way that we can," Netanyahu said. >>> Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem | Thursday, April 22, 2010

Obama’s Smarm >>>

Clegg Reveals His Smoking Habit
POLITICS.co.uk: Nick Clegg is an occasional smoker, he has admitted.

The Liberal Democrat leader revealed his habit during a half-hour interview with politics.co.uk, conducted in association with Yahoo!.

Asked if he would repeal the ban on smoking in public places, Mr Clegg admitted the ban made him miss the days of smoking in pubs, but insisted he believed it was the right thing to do.

"I have a confession to make," he told politics.co.uk. "I do take the occasional puffs of cigarettes myself.

"I understand that if you do, the days of sitting in a pub drinking a pint and having a cigarette is something you feel very attached to."

But the Liberal Democrat leader insisted the ban confirmed to his liberal philosophy.

"One of the first principles of a liberal is that you allow people to do what they want as long as it doesn't harm others," he said. >>> Ian Dunt | Friday, April 02, 2010

Live Coverage - General Election 2010
Watch BBC video here or on a larger screen via The Telegraph here
Where They Stand: Guide to party election policies >>>

Full Text of Letter from Ronald S. Lauder to President Obama
WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS:

Dear President Obama:

I write today as a proud American and a proud Jew.

Jews around the world are concerned today. We are concerned about the nuclear ambitions of an Iranian regime that brags about its genocidal intentions against Israel. We are concerned that the Jewish state is being isolated and delegitimized.

Mr. President, we are concerned about the dramatic deterioration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Israel.

The Israeli housing bureaucracy made a poorly timed announcement and your Administration branded it an “insult.” This diplomatic faux pas was over the fourth stage of a seven stage planning permission process – a plan to build homes years from now in a Jewish area of Jerusalem that under any peace agreement would remain an integral part of Israel.

Our concern grows to alarm as we consider some disturbing questions. Why does the thrust of this Administration’s Middle East rhetoric seem to blame Israel for the lack of movement on peace talks? After all, it is the Palestinians, not Israel, who refuse to negotiate.

Israel has made unprecedented concessions. It has enacted the most far[-]reaching West Bank settlement moratorium in Israeli history.

Israel has publicly declared support for a two-state solution. Conversely, many Palestinians continue their refusal to even acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.

The conflict’s root cause has always been the Palestinian refusal to accept Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. Every American President who has tried to broker a peace agreement has collided with that Palestinian intransigence, sooner or later. Recall President Clinton’s anguish when his peace proposals were bluntly rejected by the Palestinians in 2000. Settlements were not the key issue then.

They are not the key issue now.

>>> Ronald S. Lauder, President, World Jewish Congress | Thursday, April 15, 2010

The New Star of British Politics: Nick Clegg
Nick Clegg. Photo: The Globe and Mail
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: From fringe candidate to the most popular politician in Britain, it’s been quite a week for Liberal Democrats Leader Nick Clegg

week ago this morning, it was still possible to refer to Nick Clegg as a fringe candidate, the nerdy leader of a third-place British party who could walk down city streets without being recognized.

What has happened to him in the past seven days has no precedent in British politics, and few in elections anywhere. You probably have to reach to the world of reality television, where fellow Briton Susan Boyle rose, in similar one-night fashion, from spinsterdom to celebrity.

As of Thursday, Mr. Clegg, leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats, is the most popular politician in Britain, with his party either leading or tied with the Tories throughout the week. An Ipsos MORI poll Wednesday showed his party tied with the Conservatives at 32 per cent, with Labour at 28 per cent – a doubling of the Liberal Democrat standing last week. Other polls had his party ahead.

“We have never seen anything like this sort of an instant rise before in the history of British elections, and it means that the entire system has changed, quite literally overnight,” said Bobby Duffy of the London office of polling firm Ipsos MORI. “What had been a fairly staid election to choose between Gordon Brown and David Cameron has suddenly sparked into life, and nobody knows where things will go now.” >>> Doug Sanders | Wednesday, April 22, 2010

British Far Right Party Told to Stop Using Marmite in Ads
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Maker of the yeasty spread says it did not authorize the use of Marmite's image by the anti-immigration British National Party

The maker of Marmite spread is demanding that a far-right party stop using the product's image in election ads.

Marmite's owner, Unilever NV, says it did not authorize the use of Marmite's image by the British National Party. A jar of the yeast spread appears without explanation in the upper left corner of the online broadcast. >>> The Associated Press | Thursday, April 22, 2010