The EU should be stronger and more united. Great Britain should belong to the Union.
Die EU sollte stärker und geeinter sein. Großbritannien sollte der Union angehören.
L'UE devrait être plus forte et plus unie. La Grande-Bretagne devrait appartenir à l'Union.
Friday, May 07, 2010
Devastation of War: Archival Discovery Reveals a Ruined Berlin
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Forgotten for decades, a trove of post-war photographs from 1945 has recently been unearthed. The snapshots illustrate the devastation of the German capital and capture the desperation of the city in the weeks after the end of World War II. They also show glimpses of Berlin's resilience.
The soldier with the Iron Cross on his chest lies in the middle of the street. His steel helmet has rolled away. The Red Army soldiers are turning him onto his back and cleaning their weapons. They take no notice of the photographer kneeling to take the picture. He's already taken dozens of shots today -- this time he's just chosen a corpse for the foreground.
It's a scene from the final days of the World War II, taken somewhere in the center of Berlin. For decades this picture, along with thousands of others, lay in the archives of a Berlin publishing house. Unnoticed. It is only now that the collection has come to light. >>> Solveig Grothe | Friday, May 07, 2010
Kein Triumph für David Cameron: Bewährungsprobe und Besonnenheit
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Mit seinem Pyrrhussieg erreichte der Spitzenkandidat der britischen Konservativen den vorläufigen Höhepunkt einer Karriereleiter, die er rasch und entschlossen erklommen hatte. Ihm steht nun der schwierigste Schritt aber noch bevor.
David Cameron hat mehr errungen als einen Pyrrhussieg, doch ein Triumph ist es nicht geworden. Die Konservativen hätten unter seiner Führung einen höheren Zugewinn an Sitzen erlangt, als er einst der konservativen Heldin Margaret Thatcher bei ihrem ersten Wahlsieg gelungen sei, beeilten sich Camerons Helfer und Anhänger am Freitag zu versichern. Aber über die wichtigste Zielmarke, die absolute Mehrheit, hat ihn die Welle der Wechselwähler dann doch nicht getragen.
Damit wartet auf Cameron augenblicklich die größte Bewährungsprobe - bevor er noch die Hand auf den Preis seines Erfolges, das Amt des Premierministers, legen kann. Es kommt auf seine Argumentationskraft und Besonnenheit an, um die britische Öffentlichkeit - die über den von ihr verursachten Wahlausgang nun selber verunsichert zu sein scheint - an seiner Seite zu halten. Das Ringen mit der Labour-Partei um das Recht der Regierungsbildung wird mit moralischen und machttaktischen Griffen entschieden werden.
Das bedingt eine Handlungsfreiheit für den konservativen Parteichef, die sich Cameron, seit er vor fünf Jahren im Handstreich die Führung der Tories übernahm, zäh und geduldig in der eigenen Partei erworben hat. Er hat die Konservativen mit grünen Überzeugungen und einem sozialen Gewissen ausgestattet und ein paar im eigenen Lager umstrittene Wahlaussagen durchgesetzt - etwa den Verzicht auf eine neue Start- und Landebahn für den Londoner Flughafen Heathrow -, um diesen Wandel glaubwürdig zu illustrieren. Obwohl konservativ ein Erbe Blairs >>> Von Johannes Leithäuser, London | Freitag, 07. Mai 2010
Lawyers in Egypt Call for Arabian Nights to Be Banned
THE TELEGRAPH: A group of Islamist lawyers in Egypt has called for the book Arabian Nights to be banned because they believe it is obscene.
Chinese tenor Xin Wang performs during a rehearsal of the opera Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, written by Nino Rota, at a theatre in Colmar, France. Photo: The Telegraph
The literary classic, which features characters such as Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, was described by the group as a call to "vice and sin".
Known in the original Arabic as One Thousand And One Nights, the collection of folk tales and short stories was first published in medieval times.
But a recent republication triggered controversy and calls to ban the new version on the basis of depiction of sexuality and use of offensive language, according to Al Arabiya.
"I was shocked at the offensive phrases it contains," said Ayman Abdul-Hakim, member of Lawyers without Shackles, the non-governmental group that filed a complaint with Egypt's Prosecutor General calling for the withdrawal of the new edition from the market and for banning the book altogether.
Mr Abdul-Hakim said the book was "a waste of public money" and that several references to sex in the book and were "calls to sin". >>> | Friday, May 07, 2010
Greece: A Nation at War with Itself
THE TELEGRAPH: The attack on an Athens bank that left three dead stirred memories of the blood-spattered years of Greek civil war in the 1940s. Former correspondent Harry de Quetteville reports that many fear the violence has yet to run its course.
When 44-year-old Marie-Therese Iatrou, who lives in a comfortable suburb outside Athens, spoke this week to her mother, Renna Nezos, she detected a note of panic in the 78-year-old's voice.
"I want to come and live with you outside the city," said Mrs Nezos, whose childhood home was occupied by the Nazis and who has vivid memories of the bloodshed of the civil war that followed. "I've seen this before."
On the streets outside Mrs Nezos's window in the centre of Athens, tens of thousands of demonstrators were preparing to march against the extraordinary package of austerity measures imposed alongside the joint EU-IMF bailout that has saved the country from immediate bankruptcy.
To most observers of Greek street politics, there is nothing new, or particularly threatening, about the prospect of mass protest in this hot-blooded Mediterranean country, politically charged and potentially violent though such protest can be.
As a correspondent based for several years in Athens, I became used to the sight of demonstrators parading through the city. Stones are routinely hurled; the police routinely respond with tear gas. The British and American embassies, regular targets of demonstrators' ire, are not built like fortresses for nothing. Protests make for good television reports, before everyone forgets about them the next day.
Indeed, the very idea of protestors demanding rights and brandishing hammer-and-sickle flags (such as those draped from the Acropolis this Tuesday) can seem laughably anachronistic. Tame, almost. For years, many of Greece's wealthiest people – those in the northern suburbs of Athens with the swimming pools that they are now hiding from the taxman; those with the boltholes on Mykonos, built beautifully, but illegally, too close to the shoreline – may have regarded the man on the street with disdain, not fear. But on Wednesday that changed. >>> Harry de Quetteville | Friday, May 07, 2010
Jeremy Warner: Merkel Goes to War in Battle She Cannot Win
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has declared war – no, not on the Greeks or Poles, but on the markets.
Speculators are exaggerating the tensions in the eurozone, she has declared, and must be brought to heel. “To some degree this is a battle between the politicians and the markets,” she said in a speech in Berlin. “But I am firmly resolved – and I think all of my colleagues are too – to win this battle.”
Does not the German Chancellor think that economic fundamentals might have the teeniest, tiniest little bit to do with the sovereign debt meltdown, as in Greece has become about as credit worthy as an unemployed lorry driver?
Apparently not. Ms Merkel has placed herself firmly at the forefront of calls to set up a special EU credit rating agency, presumably with the intention of awarding a triple A rating to anyone the politicians deem appropriate.
When economics and politics collide, there is only ever one outcome. Despite what Ms Merkel says, the economics will always win through. European policymakers are determined to tame markets and bend them to their will. I wish them luck, but they won’t succeed. Read on and comment >>> Jeremy Warner | Friday, May 07, 2010
Eurozone Talks Battle to Stem Global Crisis Over Greek Rescue Plan
THE GUARDIAN: Turmoil in international markets hangs over emergency summit of European leaders
European leaders are battling a crisis of confidence in the euro single currency tonight, desperately seeking a formula to reassure the markets as the emergency triggered by Greece's huge debt levels and Europe's response threatened to go global.
An emergency summit of the 16 leaders of the countries using the single currency was held in Brussels, with chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and president Nicolas Sarkozy of France demanding tougher and quicker regulation of the financial markets in what looked like a doomed attempt to contain contagion from the Greek drama.
With the pace of developments outstripping the ability of political leaders to respond, what was initially called as a summit to bless a €110bn (£95bn) rescue package for Greece turned into a frantic exercise in global crisis management.
Alarm bells were ringing in major capitals across the world where leaders voiced their exasperation with European attempts to contain the fallout from Greece. In what may have been Alistair Darling's last part in trying to manage international financial turbulence, the chancellor took part in a phone conference of G-7 finance ministers discussing the implications for the international bond markets of the Greek debt debacle.
Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was scathing about the EU package for Greece over three years agreed last weekend by 15 eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund: "Markets have judged those arrangements to be inadequate," he [said]. >>> Ian Traynor, Brussels | Friday, May 07, 2010
U.K. Hung Parliament Explained
Royaume-Uni : Incertitude sur le futur gouvernement
LE TEMPS: C’est désormais officiel, les conservateurs gagnent les élections mais n’ont pas la majorité absolue au parlement, selon les résultats définitifs publiés dans 615 des 650 circonscriptions. Les tories emportent 36,2% des voix, les libéraux-démocrates 22,9%, soit beaucoup moins qu’attendu, et les travaillistes 29,1%, le pire score du Labour en termes de suffrages depuis 1983. Les chiffres officiels complets seront connus en fin d’après-midi. Des semaines de tractations politiques devraient suivre, Gordon Brown n’ayant pas l’intention de raccrocher. La Livre est en baisse ce matin, victime de la perspective d’un parlement sans majorité absolue, une première depuis 1974 >>> AFP | Vendredi 07 Mai 2010
Gordon Brown: Willing to Talk with Clegg
Nick Clegg: The Electoral System Is Broken
General Election 2010: Hung Parliament Is a Certainty as Final Results Trickle In
THE TELEGRAPH: A hung parliament is now a certainty as the final votes across the country are counted up.
It could be days before the final make-up of government is decided. Nick Clegg has offered few hints as to whether he would participate in a Labour or Conservative alliance. David Cameron is "happy to talk" with other parties, including the Liberal Democrat leader, according to Michael Gove the shadow education secretary.
He said: "It is certainly the case that David Cameron is happy to talk to people in other parties in order to ensure that we can have a strong, stable, Conservative-led government to provide the country with the change it needs."
He added: "I stress it is for David Cameron to decide with whom we should work. We do not yet know the basis on which the new Parliament will be constructed entirely, we don't know the precise arithmetic."
Meanwhile senior Labour ministers have begun making overtures to Gordon Brown themselves.
Asked if Labour would do a deal to stay in power, Lord Mandelson said: “The constitutional conventions are very clear. The rules are that if it’s a hung parliament, it’s not the party with the largest number of seats that has first go - it’s the sitting government.”
Pressed again on whether he would do a deal with the Lib Dems to hold on to power, he said: “I have no problem in principle in trying to supply this country with a strong and stable government.”
David Cameron called on Gordon Brown to stand aside today after the Tories made significant gains across England and Wales in the closest general election for a generation. >>> Andrew Porter and Robert Winnett | Friday, May 07, 2010
Britain Wakes Up to a Hung Parliament
Gordon Brown arrives back at Downing Street. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: Gordon Brown was back in Downing Street today as Britain woke to the uncertainties of its first hung Parliament for 36 years.
As counting wrapped up in the few dozen seats yet to declare, David Cameron's Tories were on course to become the largest party in the Commons but about 20 seats short of the 326 needed for a majority.
Mr Brown made clear that he had no intention of giving up power easily – his passage through Britain's most famous front door at 7am was a symbolic reminder that he remains Prime Minister and has the constitutional right to form a government.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, admitted that his party had had a disappointing night, losing seats to both the Tories and Labour despite the excitement it had generated during the campaign.
He may yet emerge as a kingmaker, however, from a wildly unpredictable night in which the biggest dramas were in seats held against the odds rather than trophy scalps. >>> Philippe Naughton and Roland Watson | Friday, May 07, 2010
Russian Politician Claims He Met Aliens on Moscow Balcony
THE TELEGRAPH: A senior Russian politician claims to have met aliens on the balcony of his Moscow apartment, prompting critics to question his suitability to head up the World Chess Federation and run an internal Russian republic.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the President of the republic of Kalmykia, made the extraordinary comments on Russian state TV last week, claiming he spent several hours in the company of aliens in 1997.
He said he was relaxing at his Moscow apartment when he heard his balcony door being opened and someone calling him. "I went there and looked. There was a semi-transparent pipe. I went into this pipe and saw people in yellow spacesuits."
He claims to have communicated with the aliens/humanoids through brain waves. "I was shown around their spaceship," he said with no apparent sign of irony, adding that the aliens explained that they were collecting samples. "I would probably have not believed this if there had not been three witnesses – these were my driver, a minister and my assistant." >>> Andrew Osborn in Moscow | Thursday, May 06, 2010
Euro-Krise: Experte empfiehlt "Kern-Euro" als Ausweg
DIE PRESSE: Der Euro ist am Donnerstag mit einem Kurs von 1,2738 Dollar auf den tiefsten Stand seit März 2009 gefallen. Ein Experte empfiehlt einen radikalen Schritt. Er schlägt einen "nordischen Euro" der stabilen Länder vor.
Der Euro ist angesichts der Griechenland-Krise schwer unter Druck geraten. Am Donnerstag fiel die europäische Gemeinschaftswährung auf bis zu 1,2738 Dollar und damit den tiefsten Stand seit März 2009. Ein Kurs von 1,20 Dollar ist in naher Zukunft durchaus realistisch. "Bis zum Jahresende könnte ich mir eine Parität zum Dollar vorstellen, da die Märkte ja bekanntlich gern übertreiben", beschreibt der Präsident des deutschen Exportverbands, Anton Börner, den schlimmsten Fall. Ein Euro wäre dann nur noch einen Dollar wert, berichtet "Spiegel Online".
Das eigentliche Drama des Kursverfalls liegt laut dem Online-Portal aber woanders: "Die Finanzmärkte trauen den Europäern schlicht nicht mehr zu, dass sie die Schuldenkrise in den Griff bekommen", sagt Manfred Jäger, Finanzmarktexperte beim Kölner Institut der Deutschen Wirtschaft.
Experten sehen die Glaubwürdigkeit der Europäischen Zentralbank zunehmend gefährdet, wie DiePresse.com am Dienstag berichtete. Denn die Notenbank verzichtet für Griechenland auf ihre eigenen strengen Bonitätsregeln und akzeptiert griechische Ramschanleihen. "Die EZB hat eines ihrer hehren Prinzipien über Bord geworfen. Das zeigt, dass die Lage sehr, sehr ernst ist", sagte dazu Thorsten Polleit, Chefvolkswirt von Barclays Capital. >>> Ag./Red. | Donnerstag, 06. Mai 2010
In Britain, It Feels Like Election Day 1974
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: With 40 per cent of voters undecided and the resurgent third-place Liberals likely to keep either the Conservatives or Labour from a majority, PM Gordon Brown faces a frighteningly familiar situation
The British Prime Minister, devastated by an economic meltdown that has left his country swimming in debt, scarred by rising fuel prices and a series of strikes, has found his re-election hopes sideswiped by a young, charismatic Liberal whose third-place party has suddenly risen to big-party popularity levels. The Prime Minister, desperate to hold onto power, prepares to form a coalition government with the Liberals even if his party comes in second.
That was Britain in 1974 – an amazingly familiar scenario that terrifies British voters as they go to the polls Thursday.
With almost 40 per cent of voters undecided on election eve and a resurgent third-place Liberal Democratic Party likely to prevent either the Conservatives or Labour from winning a majority, there is a good chance that Friday morning will be a jarring repeat of 1974.
And voters know how that story goes. The Liberal Leader, in exchange for backing the minority government, demands a referendum to switch to a proportional-representation voting system, which would prevent the big parties from ever having majorities again. The pact collapses after days, there’s another election, followed by five years of disarray and misery.
Back then, it was Tory Prime Minster Edward Heath who tried to turn his second-place finish into a coalition government, failed, and punted the country into the long grass. Liberal Leader Jeremy Thorpe turned his centrist party into coalition kingmakers – or spoilers, depending on your perspective – for the rest of the 1970s, an era that saw Britain spiral into near-total economic shutdown, unmanageable debt, and a Greek-style bailout from the International Monetary fund. >>> Doug Saunders | Published Wednesday, May 05, 2010; Updated Thursday, May 06, 2010
Gulf of Mexico Oil Slick: Sarah Palin Fuels Anti-British Sentiment
THE TELEGRAPH: Sarah Palin has fuelled growing anti-British sentiment over the Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster by saying "foreign" oil companies like BP were not be trusted.
The former Alaska governor and potential 2012 presidential candidate attacked the British oil giant over the recent Deepwater Horizon spill and a previous one in her state in 2006.
Her comments came despite the fact her husband Todd Palin worked for BP for 18 years, as a production supervisor, and only left the company last year to spend more time with his family.
Mrs Palin urged those in the Gulf of Mexico to "learn from Alaska's lesson with foreign oil companies." She added: "Don't naively trust – verify." As an oil slick the size of Luxembourg loomed off the US coast her intervention added to growing anger at BP among environmentalists and those who face losing their livelihoods. >>> Nick Allen in Louisiana | Thursday, May 06, 2010
Greek Crisis: Tourists Told to 'Exercise Extreme Caution'
THE TELEGRAPH: Tourists visiting Greece have been warned to exercise "extreme caution" as the country's parliament prepares to vote on austerity cuts to tackle the financial crisis.
The Foreign Office advice came a day after three bank workers died in a petrol bomb attack as demonstrations against the hefty cuts turned violent.
President Karolos Papoulias warned that Greece was on the "brink of the abyss" hours before the parliament was due to vote on the austerity measures.
Bank workers went on strike on Thursday to protest the fatal attack that left three dead in the worst clashes Athens has seen since the country disclosed that it had covered up a black hole of £272 billion in debt.
Mr Papoulias's government has promised to carry out strict spending cuts - a condition of a 110 billion euro (£95 billion) bailout by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, which is aimed at preventing the spread of the debt crisis throughout Europe.
The Greek parliament will vote on Thursday night on proposed wage freezes, pension cuts and tax rises. >>> | Thursday, May 06, 2010
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Leading Conservative Claims Muslim Politicians Lack 'Principles'
THE TELEGRAPH: Baroness Warsi under fire for comments made at dinner in honour of the visiting president of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir
A leading member of the Conservative shadow cabinet has argued against more Muslims going into Parliament because they lack "principles", a video obtained by The Independent reveals.
Baroness Warsi, the party's spokeswoman for community cohesion, was recorded saying that she did not want to see more Muslim MPs or Muslim Lords because "Muslims that go to Parliament don't have 'asool'". Asool is Urdu for "morals" or "principles".
A Conservative spokesperson said her remarks were take out of context. They said the word "asool" should have been translated as "Muslim principles" and wasn’t intended to imply that Muslim parliamentarians were immoral.
They also acknowledged that "this may not have been the best way of making her point" but insisted that she had been taken out of context.
"She was saying you shouldn't vote for a Muslim MP on the basis of their Muslim principle, you should vote for an MP based on their ability to represent the community regardless of their ethnic tick box." >>> Billy Kenber | Thursday, May 06, 2010
Comment Merkel et Sarkozy veulent sauver l'euro
LE FIGARO: Dans une lettre commune adressée aux présidents de la Commission européenne et de l'Union européenne, la chancelière allemande et le chef de l'Etat souhaitent «renforcer la surveillance budgétaire».
Angela Merkel et Nicolas Sarkozy reprennent l'initiative à la veille du Conseil européen des chefs d'Etat et de gouvernement. La chancelière allemande et le chef de l'Etat français ont appelé jeudi dans une lettre commune à «aller plus loin» et à «tirer les leçons de la crise» grecque afin «d'éviter qu'une crise de cette nature ne se reproduise».
Dans ce texte adressé à Herman Van Rompuy, président de l'Union européenne, et à Jose Manuel Barroso, président de la Commission européenne, ils détaillent comment «renforcer la gouvernance économique». L'enjeu ? «Préserver les acquis de la création de l'euro».
Les deux dirigeants réclament une véritable remise à plat du fonctionnement de la zone euro. D'abord sur la réforme du pacte de stabilité et de croissance qui a fait la preuve de son inefficacité : «Renforcement de la surveillance budgétaire», «élargissement» des critères de Maastricht «aux questions structurelles et de compétitivité» mais aussi «un cadre robuste pour la résolution des crises». >>> Par Guillaume Guichard | Jeudi 06 Mai 2010
Griechenland Desaster: Merkel und Sarkozy wollen die Eurozone retten
WELT ONLINE: In einem gemeinsam Brief an EU-Kommissionschef Barroso, der WELT ONLINE vorliegt, drängen Kanzlerin Merkel und Frankreichs Präsident Sarkozy auf radikale Maßnahmen zum Schutz der Eurozone. Helfen soll dabei der von Frankreich lange geforderte Ausbau einer europäischen Wirtschaftsregierung.
Unmittelbar vor dem EU-Gipfel am Freitag in Brüssel haben Kanzlerin Angela Merkel und Frankreichs Staatspräsident Nicolas Sarkozy die Initiative an sich gerissen: Nach dem Griechenland-Desaster wollen sie die Eurozone stabiler und krisenfester machen. >>> Von Christoph B. Schilz | Donnerstag, 06. Mai 2010
