La France, deuxième cible d'al-Qaida après les États-Unis ?
LE POINT: Le directeur central du renseignement intérieur Bernard Squarcini estime que les intérêts français peuvent être attaqués "à l'intérieur".

La France est "la cible numéro deux d'al-Qaida" mais ne fait pas l'objet de menaces spécifiques depuis la mort d'Oussama Ben Laden, déclare Bernard Squarcini dans Le Monde. Le directeur central du renseignement intérieur (DCRI), qui s'exprime également dans Libération vendredi, estime que les intérêts français, qui sont pour l'instant "attaqués à l'extérieur", peuvent l'être "à l'intérieur". » | Source AFP | Vendredi 06 Mai 2011

Pläne für eigene Währung: Griechenland erwägt Austritt aus der Euro-Zone
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Die Schuldenkrise in Griechenland spitzt sich zu. Die Regierung des Landes überlegt nach Informationen von SPIEGEL ONLINE, die Euro-Zone zu verlassen. Die Finanzminister der Währungsunion und Vertreter der EU-Kommission treffen sich am heutigen Freitagabend zu einer geheimen Krisensitzung.

Berlin - Die wirtschaftlichen Probleme Griechenlands sind gewaltig, fast täglich protestieren Bürger gegen die Regierung. Nun sieht Ministerpräsident Georgios Papandreou offenbar keine andere Möglichkeit mehr: Nach Informationen von SPIEGEL ONLINE überlegt seine Regierung, den Euro aufzugeben und wieder eine eigene Währung einzuführen.

Alarmiert durch die Bestrebungen hat die EU-Kommission für den Freitagabend zu einem Krisentreffen nach Luxemburg geladen. Das Treffen findet im Château de Senningen statt, das von der luxemburgischen Regierung für offizielle Termine genutzt wird. Neben dem möglichen Austritt Griechenlands aus der Währungsunion steht auch eine baldige Umschuldung des Landes auf der Tagesordnung. Ein Jahr nach Ausbruch der Griechenland-Krise bedeutet dies für die Europäische Währungsunion einen existentiellen Wendepunkt - unabhängig davon, für welche Variante sie sich entscheidet. » | Von Christian Reiermann | Freitag, 06. Mai 2011

Syrie: 14 manifestants et cinq policiers tués, un opposant arrêté à Damas
LE POINT: Quatorze manifestants ont été tués et plusieurs autres grièvement blessés vendredi par les forces de sécurité syriennes dans trois villes de Syrie tandis que Riad Seif, l'une des principales figures de l'opposition, a été arrêté à Damas, selon des militants.

Les autorités ont annoncé de leur côté la mort d'un officier de l'armée et de quatre policiers à Homs, une importante cité industrielle à 160 km au nord de la capitale.

"Huit personnes ont été tuées et plusieurs autres ont été grièvement blessées par les tirs de forces de sécurité sur une manifestation à Homs", a déclaré un militant local des droits de l'Homme.

Selon lui, les forces de sécurité ont ouvert le feu sur une manifestation alors que le défilé arrivait à Bab Dreib, dans le centre-ville.

Plus au nord, cinq manifestants ont été tués également par les forces de l'ordre à Hama, selon des militants. » | AFP | Vendredi 06 Mai 2011

Spain: Jews Receive Apology Over Spanish Inquisition Executions
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The leader of Majorca has become the first government official to apologise for the execution of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition – centuries after the events.

Francesc Antich, the regional president of the Balearic Islands, issued an official condemnation of the killings in what was heralded by Jewish groups as the first of its kind in Spain.

"We have dared to gather here to recognise the grave injustice committed against those Majorcans who were accused, persecuted, charged and condemned to death for their faith and their beliefs," Mr Antich said at a memorial service held in Palma de Majorca [Palma].

At the end of the 15th century King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella set up the Spanish Inquisition to root out remnants of Islam and Judaism after the reconquest of Spain. Over the following two centuries thousands of so-called heretics were burned at the stake. » | Fiona Govan, in Madrid | Friday, May 06, 2011

Universität Bayreuth: „Guttenberg hat vorsätzlich getäuscht“
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Die Universität Bayreuth wirft Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg vor, bei seiner Dissertation „vorsätzlich getäuscht“ zu haben. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt die Kommission „Selbstkontrolle in der Wissenschaft“. Guttenberg habe wissenschaftliche Standards „evident grob verletzt“.

Den Vorwurf eines vorsätzlichen wissenschaftlichen Fehlverhaltens bei der Doktorarbeit des früheren Verteidigungsministers zu Guttenberg (CSU) sieht die Kommission „Selbstkontrolle in der Wissenschaft“ der Universität Bayreuth nach Abschluss ihrer Untersuchung bestätigt. „Nach eingehender Würdigung der gegen seine Dissertationsschrift erhobenen Vorwürfe stellt die Kommission fest, dass Herr Freiherr zu Guttenberg die Standards guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis evident grob verletzt und hierbei vorsätzlich getäuscht hat“, heißt es in einer Zusammenfassung des Berichts, die am Freitag in Bayreuth veröffentlicht wurde.

Guttenberg hatte dagegen am 23. Februar im Bundestag gesagt: „Ich habe die Fehler unbewusst und ohne Täuschungsabsicht gemacht.“ Und: „Ich habe in allen meinen Stellungnahmen deutlich gemacht, dass ich weder bewusst noch vorsätzlich getäuscht habe.“ » | F.A.Z./oll. | Freitag, 06. Mai 2011

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Plagiat confirmé d'un ex-ministre d'Angela Merkel
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: ALLEMAGNE | L’Université de Bayreuth a confirmé vendredi les accusations de plagiat qui ont contraint à la démission en mars de l’ex-ministre de la Défense Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.

La Commission universitaire chargée de clarifier le bien-fondé de violentes accusations contre l’ancien ministre-star du gouvernement d’Angela Merkel a conclu, après trois mois de travaux, que le baron avait plagié à dessein en rédigeant sa thèse de Droit, selon l’Université.

"Il a selon toute évidence bafoué les standards de la pratique scientifique et a intentionnellement fraudé", indique le rapport de la Commission. » | AFP | Vendredi 06 Mai 2011

Ahmadinejad Allies Charged with Sorcery
THE GUARDIAN: Iranian power struggle between president and supreme leader sees arrests and claims of undue influence of chief of staff

Close allies of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been accused of using supernatural powers to further his policies amid an increasingly bitter power struggle between him and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Several people said to be close to the president and his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have been arrested in recent days and charged with being "magicians" and invoking djinns (spirits).

Ayandeh, an Iranian news website, described one of the arrested men, Abbas Ghaffari, as "a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds".

The arrests come amid a growing rift between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei which has prompted several MPs to call for the president to be impeached. » | Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Thursday, May 05, 2011

Spanish Civil War Victims' Bodies Finally Removed from Mass Grave
THE GUARDIAN: Spain's government publishes first country-wide map of locations of more than 2,000 mass graves from the civil war

The bones of 62-year-old Severina Gómez and 23 others whose remains had lain together for 75 years, surrounded by bullet cases and with hands tied behind backs, have finally been removed from their mass grave in countryside near the central Spanish village of Loma de Montija.

Anxious family members watched last week as forensic archaeologists and volunteers scraped through layers of mud to uncover evidence of a crime committed in the heat of a civil war that still haunts parts of Spain – and that served as a curtain raiser to the bloodshed of the second world war.

After a decade of bitter debate over how to heal the wounds left by conflict and dictatorship without stoking ancient hatreds, Spain's government on Thursday published on the internet the first countrywide map showing the location of more than 2,000 mass graves from the civil war.

The map is part of a series of measures, including a searchable database of victims and graves, designed to satisfy the demands of people such as Gómez's grandson, Agustín Fernández, who led a local campaign to dig up the Loma de Montija grave. » | Giles Tremlett in Madrid | Thursday, May 05, 2011

Evan Bayh Reacts to Bin Laden Photo Controversy

Report: Al Qaeda to Release Bin Laden Audio Tape
May 6, 2011 – Website says tape was recorded inside Pakistan compound a week before his death

Bin Laden Was 'Completely Confused'
May 5, 2011 – Two sources inside the mission speak

How Did U.S. Get Bin Laden's DNA?
May 6, 2011 – Because You Asked: Where did original DNA used to confirm death come from?

Osama bin Laden Death Confirmed in Al-Qaida Statement
THE GUARDIAN: Terror group posts message on extremist websites saying it will remain 'a curse chasing the Americans and their agents'

Al-Qaida has confirmed the death of its leader, Osama bin Laden, and vowed vengeance, pledging in a statement posted on militant websites that his blood "will not be wasted".

In what is apparently the first official reaction from the militant Islamist group since Bin Laden was gunned down by US special forces troops who raided his hideout in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad, the group called on the people of Pakistan, "where Sheik Osama was killed", to rise up against their leaders.

The group would soon release an audio message from Bin Laden recorded a week before his death, said the statement, dated 3 May and signed by "the general leadership of al-Qaida". There was no independent confirmation that the message was authentic but it was posted on websites through which al-Qaida habitually issues statements.

It continued: "We stress that the blood of the holy warrior sheikh, Osama bin Laden, God bless him, is precious to us and to all Muslims and will not go in vain.

"We will remain, God willing, a curse chasing the Americans and their agents, following them outside and inside their countries. Soon, God willing, their happiness will turn to sadness, their blood will be mingled with their tears." » | Peter Walker and agencies | Friday, May 06, 2011

Salmond Hails 'Historic' Victory as SNP Secures Holyrood's First Ever Majority
THE GUARDIAN: Salmond leads party to series of dramatic victories over Labour and Lib Dems, resulting in a majority in the Scottish parliament


The Scottish National party has won a majority in the Holyrood elections – a dramatic result that will allow its leader, Alex Salmond, to hold a historic referendum on independence for Scotland.

After a series of astonishing victories over Labour and a collapse in the Liberal Democrat vote, the SNP leader saw a landslide for his party take it beyond the 65-seat mark. Holyrood has 129 seats.

After a night of defeats for some of Labour's best-known figures and a near defeat for the Scottish Labour leader, Iain Gray, Salmond declared he would stage an independence referendum within five years.

Jubilant at the "historic" scale of the SNP's victories, he added that he would first demand much greater economic freedom for the Scottish parliament, including the right to set its own corporation tax and increase borrowing powers to £5bn. Then he would hold his referendum.

"Just as the Scottish people have restored trust in us, we must trust the people as well," he declared. "Which is why, in this term of the parliament, we will bring forward a referendum and trust the people on Scotland's own constitutional future." » | Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent | Friday, May 06, 2011

Election Results Analysis: Bitter Nick Clegg Tries to Blame Margaret Thatcher
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: It was that bad. Yes, Nick Clegg was forced to blame Margaret Thatcher for his party’s pitiful showing in not-so-super Thursday’s elections.


The Deputy Prime Minister’s bitter response to the Liberal Democrat thumping was to claim that voters had turned away from him because of fears that the Coalition was heading towards replicating the 1980s and all its horror.

The Lib Dem leader has had quite a long time to think of an excuse and in the end he pathetically reached for one trotted out by his party’s pigmy president Tim Farron last week.

Mr Clegg committed to redoubling his efforts to illustrate why the Lib Dem influence in the Coalition will halt the dastardly Tories from implemented their neo-Thatcherite plans. Good luck with that.

It is difficult to overstate what a shocker Mr Clegg has presided over – and today it is unlikely to get any better. If he has been slumped on the ropes by the council results, he is likely to be dropped to the canvas by the inevitable No vote in the Alternative Referendum that will be announced this evening. Continue reading and comment » | Andrew Porter, Political Editor | Friday, May 06, 2011

Inside Story: Palestinian Reconciliation
After four years of rift and rivalry; the two Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah signed a long awaited reconciliation agreement in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Wednesday.

How did the new regime in Egypt achieve in two months what the previous adminsitration had failed to do in years?

Inside Story, with presenter Nick Clark, discusses with Gamal Abdel Gawad, from the Al Ahram Centre of Strategic Studies; Mustafa Barghouti, head of the Palestinian Initiative; and Yaakov Katz, a military and defence analyst from the Jerusalem Post.

This episode of Inside Story aired from [sic] Thursday, May 5, 2011.

Al Jazeera English Live

Pakistan Wants US Military Out
RUSSIA TODAY: The Pakistani army has ordered reductions in the number of US military personnel operating inside Pakistan in what is being seen as a response to the unilateral US raid which killed Osama Bin Laden.

The nation’s army has faced heavy domestic criticism for allowing US forces to enter and unilaterally operate within Pakistan – many calling it a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. In addition, many argue the army may have been harboring Bin Laden all along.

The Pakistani army has called on the US to reduce its forces to the minimum essential levels. Currently, the US bases around 275 declared military personnel in Pakistan. » | Thursday, May 05, 2011

NATO Discusses Ground Operation, Libya Promises Hell

NATO Pressing for Libyan Ground War