Mark Alexander
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
TIMESONLINE: Muhammad is now second only to Jack as the most popular name for baby boys in Britain and is likely to rise to No 1 by next year, a study by The Times has found. The name, if all 14 different spellings are included, was shared by 5,991 newborn boys last year, beating Thomas into third place, followed by Joshua and Oliver.
Scholars said that the name’s rise up the league table was driven partly by the growing number of young Muslims having families, coupled with the desire to name their child in honour of the Prophet. Muhammad is No 2 in boy's names (more) By Helen Nugent and Nadia Menuhin
Mark Alexander
THE GUARDIAN: Putin's belligerence is the upshot of inept western diplomacy. Following cold war with cold peace may prove a historic error
Will history tell us we were fools? We worried about the wrong war and made the wrong enemies. In the first decade of the 21st century the leaders of America and Britain allowed themselves to be distracted by a few Islamist bombers and took easy refuge in the politics of fear. They concocted a "war on terror" and went off to fight little nations that offered quick wins.
Meanwhile these leaders neglected the great strategic challenge of the aftermath of cold war: the fate of Russia and its mighty arsenals, its soul tormented by military and political collapse, its pride undimmed. They danced on Moscow's grave and hurled abuse at its shortcomings. They drove its leaders to assert a new energy-based hegemony and find new allies to the south and east. The result was a new arms race and, after a Kremlin coup, a new war. Is that the path we are treading? This Russian risk could yet dwarf our blunder on Iraq (more) By Simon Jenkins
Mark Alexander
THE GUARDIAN: George Bush intervened yesterday in the worst dispute between Russia and the west since the end of the cold war, offering to cooperate with Vladimir Putin on the Pentagon's missile defence project.
With the row over the "Son of Star Wars" project threatening to derail the G8 summit, Mr Bush appealed to the Russian leader to relent in his fierce criticism of the missile shield. "The cold war is over, it ended. Russia is not the enemy," Mr Bush told journalists at Prague castle after discussing the Pentagon's plans with the Czech president and prime minister, Vaclav Klaus and Mirek Topolanek. Bush invited Russian generals to inspect Pentagon’s central European project (more) By Ian Traynor
Mark Alexander
KUWAIT TIMES: MIAMI: The Emir of Dubai has sought President George W Bush's help in getting US courts to dismiss a child-slavery lawsuit against him, according to court papers filed recently. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktum, ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates nation of which the city is part, wrote Bush in February about the lawsuit. The suit was filed in December by a group of parents charging the Emir of enslaving thousands of children to breed, train and ride camels for the racing circuit.
Warning that the lawsuit was "causing an unnecessary interference" in US-UAE relations, and recalling that the UAE is "a key partner in the global war against terrorism," the Sheikh asked for Bush to get involved in the case. "I would therefore appreciate your personal attention to ensuring the United States government's support for dismissal of the entire case," wrote the Emir of Dubai in a two-page letter that his defense lawyers presented in court on May 25. He said the lawsuit "may complicate our ongoing and already effective efforts to resolve the issues addressed in the litigation." Dubai emir asks Bush to dismiss slavery suit (more)
Mark Alexander
THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY: Speaking today at the 'Islam and Muslims in the World Today' Conference organised by the University of Cambridge, Conservative Party Leader, David Cameron, will say:
(Please check against delivery)
"I was unable to attend yesterday, but Sayeeda Warsi, Dominic Grieve and the chair of one of my policy group's, Pauline Neville-Jones, were, and have relayed to me some the key issues that were raised.
The need to define our common values.
The impact of modernity on traditional Islamic societies.
And the need to build greater understanding of Islam by others - and of Western society and culture by Muslims.
These are questions that fall under the wide-ranging disciplines of political science, theology, and sociology, but what underpins them all is a question as old as humanity itself: how do we live together?
In this country, there have been times when this question has been uppermost. While conflict between Catholics and Protestant in Britain was bloody, we were spared the worst excesses witnessed on the continent.
The Glorious Revolution and the two Jacobite rebellions were periods of crisis for the coherence of our country. Subsequent Catholic emancipation was a long and slow process, but ultimately successful. The incorporation of East European Jewish immigrants, particularly a 100 years ago, and the Ugandan Asians 30 years ago can also be regarded as successes in integration into a British identity.
Each time, Britain has been able to rise to the challenge and sustain our coherence and unity.
We have done so through a combination of a steadfast faith in our institutions and values, such as freedom under the rule of law, pluralism and tolerance…. ……and because society - not only the majority community but the minority community too - were prepared to stand together as one.
There is no reason to think we cannot do the same today. David Cameron: Islam and Muslims in the World Today (more)
Mark Alexander
DAILY MAIL: In a rare public discussion of her husband's infidelity, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said she probably could not have gotten through her marital troubles without relying on her faith in God.
"I am very grateful that I had a grounding in faith that gave me the courage and the strength to do what I thought was right, regardless of what the world thought," Clinton said during a rare forum where the three leading Democratic presidential candidates talked about faith and values.
She stood by her actions in the aftermath of former President Bill Clinton's admission that he had an affair, including presumably her decision to stay in the marriage.
"I'm not sure I would have gotten through it without my faith," she said. Hillary Clinton says faith in God got her through Bill’s infidelity (more)
Mark Alexander
TIMESONLINE: President Bush risked inflaming tensions with President Putin yesterday by declaring that Russia had derailed democratic reforms.
He said that Moscow’s failure to extend basic freedoms to its citizens was troubling.
His comments, delivered in the Czech Republic, part of the former Soviet Union’s sphere of influence, may widen the rift between Mr Putin and the West that is threatening to overshadow the G8 summit in Germany, which begins today. Bush defuses Cold War row, then attacks Putin’s record on democracy (more) By Tom Baldwin, Philip Webster, David Charter and Richard Beeston
Mark Alexander
TIMESONLINE: As the middle classes face a barrage of Government hectoring over how much alcohol they should drink, one writer [Sarah Vine] launches a fightback
Something is gravely amiss in the corridors of power. First, the French go and elect themselves a President who claims not to drink wine, which is a bit like the Scottish electing a First Minister with an allergy to haggis: peculiarly unnatural. Now our own Government in London is proposing a crackdown on drinking at the privacy of one’s own dinner table. Specifically, middle-class wine drinkers, “those that are maybe drinking one or two bottles of wine at home each evening”.
Yes, that’s right, you with the leftover half-bottle of red in the fridge from last night (I always find it keeps so much better than way, just remember to take it out half an hour before you drink it); looking forward to finishing it off later on, were you? Well, if this lot get their way, you won’t be able to. If you persist, you will be branded a foul drunk, an irresponsible drain on health resources, a blot on society. You might even find yourself in a labour camp (oh, sorry, haven’t they announced that yet? I’m reliably informed that it’s at committee stage).
Aside from the fact that such a directive is staggeringly hypocritical coming from an administration that introduced 24-hour drinking (it’s fine to get completely bladdered 24/7 as long as you’re contributing significantly to the health of the powerful brewery lobbies and the Exchequer), these proposals are intolerable. Not only do they intrude on the population’s fundamental right to privacy, they are also an attempt to add a moral burden to the shoulders of the already overworked and overtaxed middle classes. These plans have nothing to do with safeguarding the nation’s health and everything to do with eroding the boundaries between public and private life. Oh, do stop wining… (more) By Sarah Vine
Mark Alexander
THE TELEGRAPH: More than eight million people in Britain are considered problem drinkers, according to figures released yesterday by the Department of Health.
The startling statistic - equivalent to one adult in six - comes as the Government makes its latest attempt to challenge booze culture.
People also do not know they are drinking too much.
According to figures from the Office of National Statistics and HM Revenue & Customs, people drink twice as much alcohol as they think they do.
An alcohol strategy, published yesterday by the Home Office and the Department of Health, will target supermarkets selling cheap beers and wine. Ministers blame low prices for a rise in drink-related illnesses and city centre disorder. One in six adults classed as a ‘problem drinker’ (more) By Philip Johnston
THE DAILY EXPRESS:
Po-Faced New Puritanism Must Be Resisted By Us All
Mark Alexander
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Photo of Princess Diana courtesy of Google Images
Prince William and Prince Harry's private secretary wrote to the channel saying they felt it would be a "gross disrespect" to their mother's memory.
Channel 4 said it decided to run the images in the documentary on Wednesday after considering the princes' concerns against wider public interest. C4 rebuffs Diana photographs plea (more)
WATCH BBC VIDEO:
C4 rebuffs Diana images plea
Mark Alexander
Sodomy is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, but gay life flourishes there. Why it is "easier to be gay than straight" in a society where everyone, homosexual and otherwise, lives in the closet
YAWNINGBREAD.ORG: Yasser, a 26-year-old artist, was taking me on an impromptu tour of his hometown of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on a sweltering September afternoon. The air conditioner of his dusty Honda battled the heat, prayer beads dangled from the rearview mirror, and the smell of the cigarette he’d just smoked wafted toward me as he stopped to show me a barbershop that his friends frequent. Officially, men in Saudi Arabia aren’t allowed to wear their hair long or to display jewelry -- such vanities are usually deemed to violate an Islamic instruction that the sexes must not be too similar in appearance. But Yasser wears a silver necklace, a silver bracelet, and a sparkly red stud in his left ear, and his hair is shaggy. Yasser is homosexual, or so we would describe him in the West, and the barbershop we visited caters to gay men. Business is brisk.
Leaving the barbershop, we drove onto Tahlia Street, a broad avenue framed by palm trees, then went past a succession of sleek malls and slowed in front of a glass-and-steel shopping center. Men congregated outside and in nearby cafés. Whereas most such establishments have a family section, two of this area’s cafés allow only men; not surprisingly, they are popular among men who prefer one another’s company. Yasser gestured to a parking lot across from the shopping center, explaining that after midnight it would be "full of men picking up men." These days, he said, "you see gay people everywhere." The kingdom in the closet (more) By Nadya Labi [Source: The Atlantic Monthly, May 2007]
Mark Alexander
THE DAILY MAIL: Leader - Less than 20 years after the Berlin Wall came down, the menacing spectre of the Cold War looms once again over Europe.
At the start of an eight-day European tour, a swaggering George Bush talks up his plans to build a futuristic anti-missile defence shield in Russia's backyard.
Meanwhile, an intransigent Vladimir Putin warns he may take 'retaliatory steps', including aiming Russian nuclear weapons at targets in the West. Is this the start of a new Cold War (more)
DAILY MAIL:
A blundering Bush, Tsar Putin, and the question: will we, in this century, have to fight Russia? By Max Hastings
Mark Alexander
DAILY MAIL: Almost 60 per cent of British Muslims believe the Government has covered up the truth about the July 7 terror attacks, a survey reveals.
One in four believes the authorities or security services were in some way involved in the outrage.
A similar proportion say they do not believe that the four men identified as the suicide bombers were actually responsible, despite the fact that they were caught on CCTV and left 'martyrdom' videos.
The poll of 500 Muslims will come as a serious blow to Ministers on the day of a high-profile conference aimed at improving relations with the British Muslim community. 59pc of UK Muslims believe there was a cover-up over 7/7 By Rebecca Camber
Mark Alexander
TIMESONLINE: There is a nasty smell of Weimar in Russia nowadays. All the talk is of Russia’s need to reassert itself and show the world it is still a great power. On the streets, skinheads and racists beat up foreigners and attack dark-skinned Caucasians. Gays are attacked, liberals jeered and opposition protests forcibly disbanded. At home there is growing intolerance of anything except the government line, while abroad President Putin picks quarrels with his neighbours and threatens his erstwhile Western allies.
Is Putin leading Russia into fascism? That is now the accusation of Western critics. Is it not time, they say, to drop pretences of partnership, stand up to Russian bullying of its neighbourhood, denounce the clampdown on basic freedoms and chuck Russia out of the G8? Those who remember appeasement trumpet the dangers of Western drift. Is Putin the bully leading Russia into fascism? (more) By Michael Binyon
Mark Alexander
LE FIGARO: Le président américain a offert à la Russie de coopérer sur le projet de bouclier antimissiles. Une manière de calmer Moscou, violemment opposée à cette question.
«La guerre froide est terminée» : tel est le «principe général» que George W. Bush a tenu à rappeler mardi au sujet des relations américano-russes. Alors que Vladimir Poutine a ravivé le spectre de la grande confrontation géostratégique en menaçant de pointer de nouveaux missiles sur l'Europe, le président américain s’est voulu rassurant. Bush à Poutine : "La guerre froide est terminée" (more)
Mark Alexander
Photo of Blair with Imam courtesy of the BBC
Ministers hope the money, announced as a report criticised teaching quality, will help train more imams in the UK.
At a conference on Islam, Mr Blair also called for closer links between Islamic schools and mainstream state schools. Blair in moderate Muslims appeal (more)
WATCH BBC VIDEO:
Moderate Muslim teaching urged
The Whitewashing of Islam Continues Apace
Mark Alexander
Monday, June 04, 2007
BBC: Five members of the Saudi religious police, the Mutawaeen, have been arrested accused of being responsible for the death of a man in custody.
The man died at a Mutawaeen office in Tabuk, the Saudi authorities say.
Officials said the man had been questioned for allegedly associating with a woman who was not a relative. Saudis hold five religious police (more)
Mark Alexander
BBC: Russia's threat to aim weapons at Europe if the US sets up a missile defence shield there was "unhelpful and unwelcome", Nato has said.
The US says it wants missile defence in eastern Europe to counter threats from states like Iran and North Korea.
On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Iran was not a threat to the US, hinting that Russia was the target.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said he will have "frank" talks with Mr Putin this week about the threat. Nato condemns Putin missile vow (more)
WATCH BBC VIDEO:
Putin launches missile row
Mark Alexander
NEW YORK TIMES: In New York, Michael R. Bloomberg is known as the billionaire media mogul who became mayor. But in many parts of the country, he is the man who would take away your guns.
An editorial writer in Harrisburg, Pa., accuses him of “ranting” about illegal firearms. A conservative publication in Florida, NewsMax, asserts: “Bloomberg’s hatred of guns has twisted roots.” And on the Web site of The Wichita Eagle, one writer wonders why a New York mayor is “telling the people of Kansas what to do.”
In towns large and small across the country, Mr. Bloomberg, a Republican, has emerged as the face of gun control in America. Under his guidance, a coalition called Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown in little more than a year from a skeletal group of 15 into an organization of 225 leaders of towns and cities — many of them Democrats — who are pursuing legal, political and media strategies to stem gun crime. Bloomberg Cast as Enemy No. 1 of Gun Rights Advocates (more) By Diane Cardwell
Mark Alexander
The term "modern Islam" is an oxymoron. There is no such thing as modern Islam. Islam, by its very nature, is mediæval and its body laws - the Shari'ah - dark age and barbaric. Witness the stonings to death, the limb amputations, the beheadings, and all the other punishments for petty crimes which in the West would often go unpunished at all.
We are helping Islam to spread in this country by pandering to Muslims and bending over backwards to accommodate them. What we should be doing is telling them to get on with it and integrate. We should be telling them to stop bitching, moaning and whining! Then, perhaps, they'd have more chance of being liked!
My God, are we going to pay a heavy price for this stupidity in years to come.
I would say this: If these people don't like their nest, which the West has so generously provided, then they can return home. We, the people, don't want their backward religion in our backyards anyway. - ©Mark Alexander
TIMESONLINE: Universities must employ Muslim chaplains or advisers and join forces with Islamic schools to break down widening divisions between British society and its Muslim communities, according to a senior Government adviser.Mark Alexander
In a wide-ranging review of Islamic university syllabuses and the support available to Muslim students in England, published today, Ataullah Siddiqui, will tell institutions that their teaching of Islamic studies is “out of date” and for years has been conducted “in isolation and probably in complete ignorance of the [Muslim] community”.
Courses should be more job-related, departments should link up with seminaries and madrassas to reflect Islam in Europe post-9/11, they should have more qualified staff and provide better pastoral support for Muslim students, according to Dr Siddiqui. Universities ‘must improve help for vulnerable Muslim students’ By Alexandra Blair
Photo of Putin courtesy of THE TIMES
In comments that seemed calculated to cause consternation and division at Wednesday's meeting in Germany, the Russian leader said that American plans to erect a missile defence shield in eastern Europe had left him with no choice but to retaliate.
"It is obvious that if part of the strategic nuclear potential of the United States is located in Europe we will have to respond," he told reporters from G8 countries in Moscow at the weekend.
"What kind of steps are we are going to take in response? Of course we are going to acquire new targets in Europe." Putin in nuclear threat against Europe (more) By Adrian Blomfield
TELEGRAPH LEADER:
Kick the Russians out
TIMESONLINE:
Putin raises spectre of nuclear war in Europe
Mark Alexander
WELTONLINE: Die chinesischen Aktienmärkte haben erneut schwere Kursverluste erlitten. Die Börse von Shanghai schließt mit einem Minus von acht Prozent – der schwerste Absturz seit dem Schock von Ende Februar. Platzt nun eine Spekulationsblase?
Chinas Börsen haben weitere schwere Kursverluste erlitten. Die Börse in Shanghai, der wichtigste Handelsplatz auf dem Festland, verlor mehr als acht Prozent. Es war der schwerste Absturz seit Ende Februar, als Shanghai Aktienindizes auf der ganzen Welt mitgerissen hatte. Chinas Börsen schocken die Anleger (mehr)
Mark Alexander
Sunday, June 03, 2007
More Spencer Tunick moments:
Spencer Tunick
Spencer Tunick
Mark Alexander
NZZ: In Deutschland haben Politiker die Krawalle an der Demonstration gegen den G-8-Gipfel in Rostock scharf verurteilt. Bundeskanzlerin Merkel sagte, die Gewalt sei mit nichts zu rechtfertigen. Der bayrische Innenminister Beckstein forderte ein härteres Vorgehen der Polizei. Bei den Ausschreitungen vom Samstag waren über 1000 Personen verletzt worden, 50 davon schwer. Merkel verurteilt Krawalle in Rostock scharf: Politiker fordern härteres Vorgehen (mehr)
Mark Alexander
LE MONDE: Personne ne connaît Lina Joy et pourtant Lina Joy est, ces jours-ci, l'une des femmes les plus célèbres de Malaisie. Son nom s'étalait à la "une" de tous les journaux de Kuala Lumpur, jeudi 31 mai, mais son visage reste un mystère. Un photographe local rit encore de l'appel de ce grand magazine américain qui, la veille, lui commandait candidement un portrait de Lina Joy, comme s'il suffisait de décrocher son téléphone et de prendre rendez-vous...
Musulmane convertie au christianisme, Lina Joy se cache, en Australie si l'on en croit les familiers du dossier. Par l'intermédiaire de son avocat, Benjamin Dawson, elle a répondu, jeudi, à ceux qui se demandent si elle va s'exiler pour de bon : "Il me serait extrêmement difficile d'exercer ma liberté de conscience (en Malaisie) dans le climat actuel." La Cour fédérale de Malaisie, a-t-elle ajouté, "m'a refusé un droit individuel fondamental : celui de croire en la religion de son choix, d'épouser la personne de son choix et d'élever une famille dans le contexte malaisien". Devenue chrétienne, Lina Joy a tout perdu (encore)
Mark Alexander
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to target Europe with missiles, including potentially nuclear weapons, in a dramatic escalation of his Cold War-style showdown with the United States.
Mr. Putin, in an interview at his country residence outside Moscow, said he considers U.S. plans to build an eastern European anti-missile site to shoot down Iranian missiles a provocation aimed at Russia.
Asked what he might do to retaliate, he said he would return Russia to the Cold War status where missiles were aimed at European targets. Exclusice: Putin threatens to target Europe with missiles (more) By Doug Saunders
Mark Alexander
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: A "chilling" Islamic terrorist plot to blow up New York's John F Kennedy Airport was thwarted yesterday. The plotters had hoped it would be more deadly than the 9/11 atrocities.
Four members of a "sleeper cell" intent on exploding fuel dumps to destroy the airport terminal buildings and aircraft on the ground, were arrested after an FBI surveillance operation lasting more than 16 months.
In conversations bugged by American officials, one of the plotters claimed the resulting explosion would have resulted in the destruction of "the whole of Kennedy". He predicted there would have been few survivors. FBI thwarts Islamic plot to blow up JFK (more) By Tim Shipman
NZZ:
US-Behörden melden Schlag gegen Terrorkomplott: Schwerer Anschlag in New York geplant
LE FIGARO:
Un projet d’attentat déjoué à New York
Mark Alexander
WORCESTER TELEGRAM & GAZETTE: WASHINGTON — The United States will soon begin admitting a bigger trickle of the more than 2 million refugees who have fled Iraq, acknowledging for the first time the country may never be safe for some who have helped the U.S. there.
After months of agonizing delays and withering criticism from advocacy groups and lawmakers, the Bush administration has finalized new guidelines to screen Iraqi refugees, including those seeking asylum because helping the Americans has put them at huge risk.
The 2 million-plus people — the fastest growing refugee population in the world — have left Iraq, but Washington has balked at allowing them into the United States, for security reasons. U.S. to welcome more Iraqis: Nearly 7,000 refugees may arrive before Sept. (more) By Matthew Lee
Mark Alexander
Saturday, June 02, 2007
BBC: Iran's Interior Minister, Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, has started promoting temporary marriage as a solution to the country's social problems.
Shia Islam allows a man and woman to marry for a fixed period of time, ranging from an hour to a century. Iran talks up temporary marriages (more)
Mark Alexander
BBC: The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has given one of his sternest warnings against using military action to halt Iran's uranium enrichment programme.
Dr Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, described those wanting to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities as "new crazies". Nuclear watchdog’s attack warning (more) By Rob Broomby
NZZ:
Kein Plan zum Angriff Irans: Washington dementiert Pläne zu militärischer Attacke auf Teheran
Mark Alexander
Friday, June 01, 2007
Photo of Reinaldo Avila da Silva courtesy of THE DAILY MAIL
The peer, who was forced to resign from the oil giant last month after lying to a court about his relationship with rent boy Jeff Chevalier, has socialised a deux with Reinaldo.
The disclosure of the close links between multi-millionaire Lord Browne and Reinaldo follows reports that 53-year-old Mr Mandelson has become close to Italian fashion designer Marco Coretti.
A well-placed source, who is in contact with both Lord Browne, 59, and Reinaldo, who is 25 years his junior, said: "Reinaldo has seen John a couple of times. They are close friends and know each other well." Mandelson’s Partner Linked with Lord Browne (more)
Mark Alexander
NZZ: Das Passivrauchen soll in der Schweiz resolut bekämpft werden. Die Gesundheitskommission des Nationalrats schlägt ein nahezu lückenloses Rauchverbot für öffentlich zugängliche Räume und für Arbeitsplätze vor. Die Kommission hiess mit 14 zu 8 Stimmen ein Spezialgesetz gut.
(sda) Die Gesundheitskommission des Nationalrats will den Schutz vor dem Passivrauchen in einem Bundesgesetz festschreiben. Sie hat einen entsprechenden Entwurf mit 14 gegen 8 Stimmen verabschiedet. Im Zentrum stehen Rauchverbote in öffentlichen Gebäuden und in allgemein zugänglichen Räumen des Gastgewerbes. Spezialgesetz gegen Passivrachen: Nationalratskommission fordert lückenloses Rachverbot (mehr)
Mark Alexander
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: In presenting his own proposal to deal with greenhouse gas emissions just days before next week's G-8 summit, Bush is trying to look like a leader on climate change in the hope of outmaneuvering Europe and his critics. But his plan is purposely vague and his ideas stale.
Many Americans had no idea until today that their government and those of the other Group of Eight (G-8) countries were locked in a bitter battle over global warming. The US media has studiously avoided the issue. The New York Times has ignored it for weeks, the Washington Post covered it with one short article and USA Today contented itself with a wire report from the Associated Press. Meanwhile the television networks have apparently decided to run absolutely nothing on the issue. The Emperor’s Green Clothes (more)
Mark Alexander
BBC: Even as they struggle to find common ground on Iraq, are America and Iran locked in the escalating tensions of a new Cold War?
Many analysts saw their meeting in Baghdad on 28 May as a sign of a thaw.
The US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, described his four hours of talks with his Iranian counterpart as "positive".
But look at the bigger picture and there are serious and growing tensions on several fronts. Iran and the US: A new cold war? (more) By Roger Hardy
Mark Alexander
KUWAIT TIMES: DUBAI: Dubai will ban smoking in government buildings, schools and colleges from today, the first step in a plan to stub out smoking across the Gulf Arab trade and tourism hub by the end of 2009. "Tomorrow will be the launch of gradual steps to regulate smoking in public areas," Zohoor Al-Sabbagh, head of the clinic and community health section at Dubai Municipality, said. "We will start with government offices and educational establishments ... there will be a gradual ban on smoking in public areas," she told Reuters. Dubai to stub out smoking in public (more)
THE TELEGRAPH:
£80 fine for dropping a cigarette butt By Harry Wallop
TELEGRAPH LEADER:
Liberties go up in smoke
THE TELEGRAPH:
Smoke police: who enforces the ban?
THE TELEGRAPH:
Where you can and can’t smoke
THE TELEGRAPH:
Are smokers a persecuted minority?
THE TELEGRAPH:
Smoking maketh man By Andrew McKie
FOREST:
Forest: The Smokers’ Lobby Group
FOREST:
Forest’s Blog
Mark Alexander
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: A new study has found that many more women are leaving economically moribund Eastern Germany. The result is a new, frustrated and largely male underclass. And many of them find succor in the neo-Nazi scene.
The problem has been well known for years: Ever since the mid-1990s, young Eastern Germans have been fleeing the region due to a lack of economic opportunity, hoping to find jobs in the western part of the country. Some 1.5 million have already left the region -- roughly 10 percent of the population of East Germany when the Berlin Wall fell. Even worse, most of those who leave are under 35 and many of them have above average education or training.
But according to a new study released by the Berlin Institute for Population and Development, there is another problem that accompanies the migration. Since 1991, more than two-thirds of all those who have left Eastern Germany have been women. The result is that in many towns in the region, there are simply not enough to go around -- some places are missing up to 25 percent of their young women. Even worse, the young men who stay behind are often poorly educated, unemployed and frustrated -- perfect fodder for neo-Nazi groups looking for members. Lack of Women in Eastern Germany Feeds Neo-Nazis (more)
Mark Alexander
YNET NEWS: British academicians apparently unconcerned about occupation in Ireland
The British University and College Union (UCU) has decided to call on its members to "consider the moral implications" of ties with Israeli academic institutions, and even weigh the imposition of a boycott on those same institutions to protest Israel's policy towards the Palestinians.
Beyond the intolerable harm to academic freedom, this decision features grand hypocrisy; the Union, which sees fit to condemn Israel's "occupation" in its own country has no problem identifying with the British occupation of Ireland, which has lasted for hundreds of years now and led to violent struggles and peace deals that failed one after the other. British hypocrisy reigns supreme (more) By Ron Breiman
HAARETZ:
Boycotting Israel as moral masturbation By Bradley Burston
Mark Alexander
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