This Fragile Church
THE TELEGRAPH: A powerful coalition of conservative Anglican leaders is preparing to create a parallel Church for conservatives in America in defiance of the Archbishop of Canterbury, provoking the biggest split in Anglican history, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

According to sources, at least six primates are planning the consecration of a prominent American cleric as a bishop to minister to Americans who have rejected their liberal bishops over the issue of homosexuality.

The move will send shock waves through worldwide Anglicanism and may prove to be a fatal blow to the efforts of Dr Rowan Williams to hold together what he described last month as a "very vulnerable, very fragile" Church. Anglican coalition to force through breakaway (more) By Jonathan Petre

Mark Alexander

The Undeclared War on Iran
BBC: The United States is waging an undeclared financial war on Iran as part of efforts to persuade the Tehran government to abandon alleged plans to acquire nuclear weapons.

It is being run from an ornate, grey building located close to the White House in Washington - the headquarters of America's finance ministry, the Treasury Department.

"What we're trying to do is make it difficult for Iran to use the global financial system to pursue illicit conduct," explains Stuart Levey. America’s financial war on Iran (more) By Mark Gregory

Mark Alexander

Herr Doktor! Ich habe Ihnen 'was zu erzählen: Kettenraucher, Helmut Schmidt, Raucher seit 70 Jahren, ist immer noch mit 88 Jahren am Leben! Zudem glaubt er nicht mehr an Gott! Was sagen Sie dazu?

Foto von Hemut Kohl dank dem SpiegelOnline

“Mit dem Rauchverbot werde es kommen wie mit der Prohibition. Irgendwann werde es wieder aufgehoben” - Helmut Schmidt

SPIEGELONLINE: Rauchende Köpfe gab es nicht, dafür einen dauerqualmenden Helmut Schmidt. Beim Maischberger-Talk traf er auf Richard von Weizsäcker. Gemeinsam genoss man den Dunst politischer Nostalgie.

Es gab Anlass, sich auf ein Gespräch über die grundlegenden Dinge des Lebens einzustellen: "Helmut Schmidt glaubt nicht mehr an Gott", lautete die Botschaft, die die Kommunikations-Agentur von "Menschen bei Maischberger" gestern bereits um 17.58 Uhr per Mail an die "lieben Medienkollegen" verschickte. Das habe der "ehrwürdige Politiker" der Gastgeberin in ihrer soeben aufgezeichneten Sendung "gebeichtet".

Wer die Talkshow dann um 22.45 Uhr in der ARD verfolgte, den musste freilich zunächst mal etwas anderes fesseln: das unbeirrbare Kettenrauchen des 88-jährigen Altbundeskanzlers. "Ich wäre wahrscheinlich längst tot, wenn ich noch im Amt wäre", erklärte Schmidt qualmend zur Eröffnung, um rasch ein klarstellendes "aus Gründen der Überarbeitung" hinterherzuschieben. Auf die erste Zigarette folgte Schnupftabak, auf den Schnupftabak die nächste Kippe. Bald konnte sich auch die Regie einer gewissen Faszination nicht mehr erwehren und blendete ein: "Helmut Schmidt, Raucher seit über 70 Jahren". Viel Rauch um nichts (mehr) Von Peter Luley

Mark Alexander

Dutch Go Soft on Illegal Immigrants
BBC: The Dutch parliament has agreed to an amnesty for some 30,000 illegal immigrants, reversing the previous government's policies.

The move means residence permits will be given to people who applied for and failed to get asylum before 2001. Dutch MPs back immigrant amnesty (more)

Mark Alexander

Honourless Killings; Shameful Killings
THE TELEGRAPH: Would Mahmod Mahmod pass Ruth Kelly's proposed citizenship points-based test? Once he had named the longest river in the United Kingdom, correctly identified the Queen's great-grandfather, ticked the box marked cucumber sandwiches and earned the correct number of credits for civic and voluntary work, the chances are, yes, he would.

Yet since Mahmod brought his family here 10 years ago, after successfully seeking political asylum from Iraq, his integration into British society and appreciation of British values seems to have been slight.

Certainly, in the dock at the Old Bailey this week, Mahmod showed no emotion when he was found guilty of ordering his daughter's murder, but why would he? His family's honour was more important to him than Banaz Mahmod's 20-year-old life, so he arranged to have her killed to restore his good standing in his south London Kurdish community. Where is the honour in killing your daughter? (more) By Jan Moir

Mark Alexander

Ahmadinejad Comes Under Attack from Iranian Economists
BBC: Fifty-seven Iranian economists have launched a scathing attack on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

They have accused his government of ignoring the basics of economics.

The university professors say mismanagement is inflicting a huge cost on the economy, the brunt of which will be borne by people with modest means.

This comes as the price of housing has almost doubled in the last year and food is getting more expensive by the week in Iran.

In an open letter to the media, the economists warned that the government of Mr Ahmadinejad had been making hasty and unscientific decisions, and that if this continued Iran would be pushed into a complex economic crisis.

They say instead of analysing the situation, the government just argues official statistics are wrong, and presents its own questionable figures to say the economy is prospering. Economists attack Iran policies (more) By Frances Harrison

Mark Alexander

Despite Being in the Doldrums Over Immigration, Bush Seeks the Support of His Own Party Senators
BBC: President George W Bush is to make a personal appeal to his own party's senators in an attempt to win support for controversial immigration reforms.

He will attend a weekly policy lunch with Senate Republicans for the first time in six years to push his case.

A proposed immigration law bill stalled last week after the Senate failed to vote to make progress on the measure.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Mr Bush had to convince conservative sceptics that it was a sound bill.

Most Democrats voted in favour of proceeding with the legislation in the Senate last week, whereas only a handful of Republicans backed the move.

This followed a series of amendments to the proposed bill, which undermined a fragile bipartisan compromise.

The bill would have tightened border controls, but given 12 million illegal immigrants already in the US a way to legal status and citizenship. Bush to seek immigration support (more)

BBC:
Dutch MPs back immigrant amnesty

Mark Alexander

Bush in Albania: His Watch Is Stolen
With thanks to Jihad Watch for drawing this to my attention:


Rätselraten um Bushs verschwundene Uhr

Mark Alexander

The Islamization of Europe
PART 1:


Part2:


Part 3:


Mark Alexander

Democracy Cannot Be Brought to an Islamic Country. It is a Contradiction in Terms
The war is lost. Americans should begin to deal with what that means.

LA TIMES: LOSING HURTS MORE than winning feels good. This simple maxim applies with equal power to virtually all areas of human interaction: sports, finance, love. And war.

Defeat in war damages societies quite out of proportion to what a rational calculation of cost would predict. The United States absorbed the loss in Vietnam quite easily on paper, for example, but the societal effects of defeat linger to this day. The Afghanistan debacle was an underrated contributor to Soviet malaise in the 1980s and a factor in perestroika, glasnost and eventually the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Defeats can have unintended, seemingly inexplicable consequences.

And as any sports fan can tell you, the only thing that feels worse than a loss is an upset. An upset demands explanation and requires that responsible parties be punished.

The endgame in Iraq is now clear, in outline if not detail, and it appears that the heavily favored United States will be upset. Once support for a war is lost, it is gone for good; there is no example of a modern democracy having changed its mind once it turned against a war. So we ought to start coming to grips with the meaning of losing in Iraq. Post-traumatic Iraq syndrome (more) By Christopher J Fettweis*

*CHRISTOPHER J. FETTWEIS is assistant professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College.

Mark Alexander

Mormons Demand Recognition of Polygamous Marriages
REUTERS: CENTENNIAL PARK, Arizona (Reuters) - When Ephraim Hammon returns home from a day of working construction near Arizona's border with Utah, he's greeted by his wife SherylLynne. And then by his wife Leah.

Polygamy, once hidden in the shadows of Utah and Arizona, is breaking into the open as fundamentalist Mormons push to decriminalize it on religious grounds, while at the same time stamping out abuses such as forced marriages of underage brides.

The growing confidence of polygamists and their willingness to go public come at an awkward moment for mainstream Mormons, who are now in the spotlight as Republican Mitt Romney, a prominent Mormon, seeks the U.S. presidency. Fundamental Mormons seek recognition for polygamy (more)

Mark Alexander

Change of Muftis for Australia
THE AUSTRALIAN: After years of vitriol, it's time for a change

MUSLIMS in Australia deserve much better than Taj Din al-Hilali, and so it is with a profound sense of relief that we note that his inglorious reign as grand mufti of Australia and New Zealand has finally come to an end. After two decades of his virulent anti-Semitism, support for suicide bombers and offensive misogyny, the mufti has declined an invitation from the Australian National Imams Council to be reappointed. Sheik Hilali has done great damage to the reputation of Muslims in Australia and it is a disgrace that he continued to receive the council's endorsement despite the embarrassment and anger he caused the Australian community, both Muslim and non-Muslim. Editorial: Australians deserve a moderate mufti (more)

Mark Alexander

Australia’s ‘Grand Mufti’ Refuses to Link Al-Qaeda to 9/11
GULF NEWS: Canberra: Australia's top Muslim cleric riled critics on Tuesday by questioning Osama Bin Laden's role in the September 11 attacks on the United States, a day after being appointed to repair strains with non-Muslim Australians.

Shaikh Fehmi Naji El Imam, a moderate member of Prime Minister John Howard's Muslim advisors' group, was named the new Mufti of Australia on Monday, replacing controversial Sydney-based cleric Shaikh Taj El Din Hilaly.

"What evidence?" Fehmi said on Tuesday when reporters pressed him on whether he would drop his past reluctance to to link Al Qaida leader Bin Laden to the September 11, 2001 airliner attacks. New Australian Mufti sparks row on debut (more)

Mark Alexander

Sunnis Fighting Al-Qaeda
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The Sunni insurgency in Iraq is splitting, with loyalists to the old Baathist regime now fighting al-Qaida-backed Islamists. Could it be a turning point in the country's civil war? AL-QAIDA VERSUS THE ISLAMIC ARMY: Insurgents in Iraq Turn on Each Other By Bernhard Zand

Mark Alexander

Democrats Move Closer to God
TIMESONLINE: When Rudy Giuliani was asked about his stance on abortion at the latest Republican presidential debate on Tuesday night, thunderbolts from a summer storm raging outside cut off his microphone twice.

The former New York mayor, whose pro-choice position puts him at odds with the Christian Right and leaders of his Roman Catholic Church, pointed a finger upwards and said: “For someone who went to parochial schools all his life, this is a very frightening thing that’s happening right now.”

His rivals laughed and pretended to back away from the apparent object of such heavenly displeasure, who said: “I guess I’m here by myself.”

Indeed, he is alone in the top tier of presidential candidates in refusing to say whether – or how often – he goes to church. “The mayor’s personal relationship with God is private and between him and God,” his campaign told a recent survey. Democrats set out to close the ‘God Gap’ (more) By Tom Baldwin

Mark Alexander

Business Leaders Criticise Blair for Voicing Concerns Over Putin’s Russia
FINANCIAL TIMES: British business leaders have criticised the UK prime minister for expressing concerns over the investment climate in Russia even as Moscow steps up moves to take control of energy assets belonging to foreign companies.

At an investment forum in St Petersburg over the weekend, where dozens of global chief executives paid homage to Russia’s growing economic might, Hans Jörg Rudloff, the chairman of Barclays Capital, said the British government was mistaken when it expressed public concern last week over the growing risks of investing in Russia.

“Their approach looks unbalanced,” Mr Rudloff said. “Russia’s transition to a market economy has been successful and cannot be undone.” Blair criticised for voicing Russia fears (more) By Catherine Belton and Neil Buckley

Mark Alexander

Blair Attacks the ‘Feral’ Media
THE TELEGRAPH: Tony Blair hinted today at new restrictions to curb an increasing sensationalist media, while admitting that New Labour's obsession with "spin" had fuelled press cynicism.

In a farewell lecture on public life, he said the British media behaved like a "feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits".

He said senior figures in public life had become "totally demoralised" by the completely unbalanced nature of reporting.

The outgoing Prime Minister said relations had always been fraught, but now threatened politicians' "capacity to take the right decisions for the country''. Blair launches attack on UK media 'beast' By George Jones

Full text of Blair’s speech on politics and the media

Mark Alexander

Pressure Mounts on Ministers After Claims MoD Administered Payments to Prince Bandar
THE GUARDIAN:
· BBC says officials processed payments
· Goldsmith refuses to answer questions
Pressure was mounting on ministers for full disclosure of the government's role in Britain's biggest arms deal last night after claims that the Ministry of Defence directly administered payments of more than £1bn to Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia.

The MoD refused to address the specific allegations, made in BBC's Panorama, while the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, continued to stonewall questions over his role in the affair. BAE, the weapons manufacuturer at the centre of the controversy, remained silent. MoD accused over role in Bandar's £1bn (more) | David Leigh and Rob Evans

Mark Alexander

Lifers Start Requesting Death
THE GUARDIAN: For the growing prison population of lifers trapped in a black hole of hopelessness, even death might seem a better alternative, says Erwin James.

In 1979 the average time a "lifer" spent in prison in the UK was nine years. Now it's around 15 or 16, although minimum terms of 30 years plus are regularly handed down by the courts to those who commit the most serious offences.

As a consequence, "doing life" in a British prison has never been more arduous. Nobody outside is complaining, however, although the lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, did comment a while ago that the increasingly long fixed terms given to those whose crimes merit a life sentence means that we are in danger of creating a whole generation of "geriatric lifers".

Most victims of life-sentenced prisoners would be hard pressed to be concerned, I guess. The idea that people who cause suffering to others deserve all they get is a perfectly reasonable one, and there is a still a significant number of the law-abiding majority who believe that life should mean life. Journey to nowhere (more)

Mark Alexander

Der Wirbel um ‘Sarko’, der nicht wegwirbeln will!
WELTONLINE: Der Wirbel um Nicolas Sarkozys Luxusurlaub nach seiner Wahl zum französischen Staatsoberhaupt reißt nicht ab. Jetzt wirbt das Tourismusbüro der Insel im Internet mit dem Präsidenten-Konterfei - gerade rechtzeitig vor der zweiten Parlamentswahlrunde.

In den letzten Wochen machte „Speedy-Sarko“ – der Name wurde ihm durch französische Medien aufgrund seines Arbeitstempos verliehen – mit seinem prallen Terminkalender und seinen außenpolitischen Auftrittten auf sich aufmerksam. Am Wochenende gewann seine Partei UMP zudem die erste Runde der Parlamentswahlen. Das waren Nachrichten, die Sarkozy von sich hören und lesen wollte. Doch nun holt ihn ein umstrittener Kurzurlaub, den er sich nach der Wahl zum Präsidenten gönnte, wieder ein. "Kommen Sie wie der Präsident nach Malta" (mehr)

Yacht Paloma

Yach Paloma: Interior

Yacht Paloma: Specifications

Vincent Bolloré - der Gastgeber Sarkozys: Der Unternehmer will einer der wichtigsten Medien-Macher Frankreichs werden - mit Sarkozys Hilfe

Mark Alexander

Savers Will Gain; Debtors, Lose. Interest Rate Set to Rise Again
THE TELEGRAPH: Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, last night issued a stark warning to indebted households, fuelling fears that borrowing costs could soon rise to six per cent.

He said that families should borrow on the assumption that interest rates were going to rise further.

The warning came amid growing evidence that many thousands of households have over-extended themselves, with consumer debt and insolvencies at record levels. Bank chief hints at rate rise to 6pc (more) By Edmund Conway and Harry Wallop

Mark Alexander

Strategie des États-Unis en Irak plein de risques
LE FIGARO: Armer d’anciens ennemis pour combattre les nouveaux : c’est le pari controversé de l’armée américaine.

C’est une stratégie risquée mais que l’Etat-major américain espère payante. L’armée américaine a décidé d’étendre une expérience réussie dans la province d'Anbar, à l’ouest de Bagdad, qui consiste à rallier et armer des responsables tribaux sunnites pour lutter contre al-Quaida.

Les coalitions tribales qui ont déjà été approchées par les Etats-Unis «sont formées en partie d'anciens insurgés qui ont entretenu, par le passé, certains liens avec al-Qaida mais qui ont peu à peu désapprouvé les tactiques extrémistes des terroristes islamistes, notamment les attaques suicides qui ont tués des milliers de civils irakiens», selon le New York Times. Ces sunnites ont parfois également accepté de prévenir les GI’s des pièges tendus par l’insurrection, comme par exemple, des bombes dissimulées sur leur passage. La nouvelle stratégie à haut risque des Etats-Unis en Irak (encore) Par Maïté Sélignan

Mark Alexander

Paying the Price of Illegal Immigration
DAILY MAIL: An illegal immigrant is being questioned over the death of a policeman in a high street knife rampage.

PC Jonathan Henry, a married man with a baby daughter, was killed just after going on duty at breakfast time yesterday.

The 36-year-old officer and his colleagues had responded to 999 calls reporting a man going berserk with a knife and went to tackle the suspect close to the Marks & Spencer store in Luton town centre. Illegal immigrant is quizzed over PC's knife murder (more)

Mark Alexander

Honour Killing: 20 Year Old Banaz Mahmod Strangled with Bootlace

Photo courtesy of Google Images (UK)

DAILY MAIL: As a teenager's father and uncle are found guilty in 'honour killing' case, police face an investigation for failing to respond to her desperate warnings. These reports from Fiona Barton and Stephen Wright.

Five police officers are under investigation after a series of terrible blunders left a young Muslim woman at the mercy of killers in her own family.

Banaz Mahmod, 20, was strangled with a bootlace on the orders of her father and uncle, both Iraqi Kurds who ruled their families with violence and fear. Murder girl's five cries for help that were ignored (more) By Fiona Barton and Stephen Wright

Mark Alexander

’Slave-Driving’ Our Children to Perform
THE TELEGRAPH: It was Charles Dickens who gave us the eternal image of the child-hating beadle who screws up his face with revulsion at the sight of a child in need, but that facial expression is greatly in evidence nowadays. Britain's disadvantaged children are, according to a major report on Sunday, a year behind in education by the age of three.

Only a few weeks ago, we heard of schools that proposed to ban break-time, and now news arrives of a massive survey conducted by researchers from the Institute of Child Health at University College London, which suggests that a quarter of Britain's children are obese before school age. Might I be permitted to put up my hand and ask a question: what are we doing to our children?

Some we exploit, some we pollute. Some we spoil and others we ignore. Some we nurture and some we fear and some we mess up and others we enthral. But mainly what we do is subject children to an excessive number of examinations.

Too often we forget that childhood should be a magical place, a zone of enchantment, discovery and - most of all - a kind of freedom many people will never see again. Yet, increasingly, we subject these children to tests and exams and score charts and point averages, as if we can't wait to throw them into the rat race of adult competition. I thought we’d abolished the workhouse (more) By Andrew O’Hagan

Mark Alexander

Slob 'Culture'
TIMESONLINE: Mothers wearing pyjamas on the school run prove that the codes that once governed how we got dressed in the morning have all but disappeared. But it is still disrespectful to make no effort, says our correspondent

Times2 is confused. We’re on the phone to Vogue magazine and Vogue magazine is telling us that the whole country is smartening up: “The ladylike look is back,” Vogue says. “Even jeans are sort of passé now.”

But what about pyjamas? Now Vogue is confused. Times2 explains that last week a headmaster publicly appealed to women who take their children to and from school while still dressed in nightwear to show some respect. “People don’t go to see a solicitor, bank manager or doctor dressed in pyjamas, so why do they think it’s OK to drop their children off at school dressed like that?” Joe McGuinness, the principal of St Matthew’s primary in Belfast, told his local paper.

And bear in mind that this latest sartorial bombshell comes on top of a lot of other things: on top of the revelation by the Lonely Planetguide to Great Britain that we are known the world over for our slovenliness; on top of the fact that even the Savoy has given in to the cult of comfort-dressing, which means that guests are now allowed to pad about in the legendary hotel’s foyer in flip-flops or shorts; on top of the fact that we’re on the brink of another record-breakingly hot summer – a summer that, because of global warming, may decide never to go away – and we all know what happens to the way people in Britain dress when the temperature skyrockets. Isn’t the pyjama plague just another sign that we have become a nation of irredeemable slobs? A casual affair (more) By Stephanie Marsh

Mark Alexander

Bush Returns to US ‘Lame’
TIMESONLINE: After a hero’s welcome in Albania, President Bush returned to Washington last night faced with a slew of domestic problems and the sober reality that his influence is fading rapidly at home.

His embattled Attorney-General, Alberto Gonzales, was facing a Democrat-led vote of no confidence; his plans for immigration reform are on the verge of collapse and there is growing conservative anger over his failure to pardon Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Dick Cheney’s former Chief of Staff. Libby was sentenced to 30 months last week in connection with the CIA leak scandal.

The no-confidence motion in Mr Gonzales was expected to fail in the Senate last night, and was little more than a political stunt by Democrats. But the vote revealed how the issues of Mr Gonzales, immigration and Libby are all linked in one crucial respect: growing conservative disgust with Mr Bush who, on the domestic front at least, appears to have truly entered lame-duck status. From hero to zero, Bush comes back to earth (more)

Mark Alexander

”Sleazeballs”
The Saudi royal family rules Saudi Arabia as a private enterprise: Each and every contract that comes into the country, they get a cut on. We turn a blind eye to all this, yet when Ciaucescu in Roumania did the very same thing, he was disparaged. It was said that he ran the country as a private enterprise, as though the country belonged to him! He took cuts on all business deals coming into the country. This was, rightly, considered to be a dreadful thing. His wealth, of course, was as nothing in comparison with the wealth of the Saudi royal family. Why do we have these double standards? What, I wonder, is the difference? Why is it so different for the Saudis to behave this way than for the then Roumanian élite? We in the West have such a peculiar way of looking at things! Is it any wonder why we have the enemies we do? - ©Mark Alexander

WATCH THE PANORAMA PROGRAMME ON THE ALLEGED BAE CORRUPTION
BBC: For 21 years allegations of kickbacks have swirled round the biggest arms deal in history - Al Yamamah, the 'dove of peace'

Ever since Mrs Thatcher stepped off her plane resplendent in a Tory blue suit and veiled hat to greet the Saudi King and seal the Tornado warplane sale, the story has generated acres of speculation in newsprint and hours of broadcast time.

Rumours about her own son, Mark's role as a broker have featured large in the headlines.

But until Panorama broke the story of secret payments into accounts controlled by Prince Bandar, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States, no journalists had got to the heart of the matter. Princes, Planes and Pay-offs (more) By Jane Corbin (Panorama)

Al-Yamamah Inquiry: Statements

Goldsmith denies BAE cash claim

Mark Alexander

We're in a hole with Islam, but we keep on digging
EDITORIAL: Isn't it funny how politicians, the leaders of the Western world, people who should know an awful lot about the history of Western civilization, know nothing about it, and if they do, they refuse to heed history's caveats? Isn't it funny how these same politicians find it unnecessary to learn about Islam and the history of its relentless growth since its inception 1400 years ago? And isn't it funny how these politicians, knowing we're in a God awful mess with Muslims because of our own folly and weakness, can think of no strategy except one that will get us further and deeper into the mire? The fact of the matter is that we're in a hole - a deep hole! And the hole is getting deeper by the week! Why? Because we refuse to stop digging!

In an article entitled ’Straw urges Turkey EU membership’, dated Sunday, October 2, 2005, Jack Straw predicted that EU nations risk driving Christians and Muslims apart if Turkey is not brought into the fold. No Jack, no! This, on the face of it, seems logical enough; I believe, however, that this is a perfect example of a logical fallacy!

What we need to do to avoid a clash of civilizations is this: We need to give these two worlds their space. Each 'world' has a different Weltanschauung, a different worldview. Therefore, these two civilizations need to learn to respect each other more, but each ‘world’ must be allowed its space to live.

The way that politicians such as Jack Straw are trying to manipulate things, they risk bringing about the clash of civilizations - here in our own backyard!

The Christian world and the Islamic world have always had their great differences. What people like Jack Straw proposes is to bring those two sides together in order to bring about harmony. How logical is that?

Anyone who has ever lived in a household in which two people who can't get on are under the same roof, will know that the sparks fly! If this is true for two people, how truer it will be for millions of people.

The sparks will start flying as soon as Turkey becomes part of Europe. Western Europeans can look forward to the rough ride. Our only hope of some common sense prevailing is with Nicolas Sarkozy. Thankfully, he remains committed to stopping Turkey’s accession. Long live Nicolas Sarkozy! Long live common sense!

©Mark Alexander

Kardinal Lehmann möchte Reziprozität in Sachen Religion: Er will die Freiheit haben, in Saudi Arabien Gottesdienst halten zu dürfen

Foto von Kardinal Lehmann dank Google Images (Deutschland)

SPIEGELONLINE: Kardinal Karl Lehmann will wissen, wie es um die Religionsfreiheit in muslimischen Ländern bestellt ist. Wenn in Europa repräsentative Moscheen gebaut werden könnten, dann wolle er auch in Saudi-Arabien Gottesdienst halten dürfen, sagte er auf dem Evangelischen Kirchentag.

Köln - Der Vorsitzende der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Kardinal Karl Lehmann, hat nachdrücklich Religionsfreiheit für Christen in islamischen Ländern gefordert. Wenn heute in europäischen Ländern repräsentative Moscheen gebaut werden könnten, "dann möchte ich in Saudi-Arabien Gottesdienst halten dürfen, ohne verhaftet zu werden", sagte der prominente katholische Kirchenführer am Samstag beim Deutschen Evangelischen Kirchentag in Köln. Es sei nicht hinnehmbar, dass etwa Kirchengemeinden in der Türkei keine Grundstücke für ihre Gotteshäuser erwerben dürften. Wirkliche Religionsfreiheit könne nur wechselseitig praktiziert werden. Kardinal möchte in Saudi-Arabien Messe lessen (mehr)

Mark Alexander

US Set to Put BAE Through Its Paces
THE TELEGRAPH: Defence giant BAE Systems is to set up an independent committee to probe its ethics in an attempt to head off a possible investigation by the United States' Congress into allegations it paid bribes to win contracts.
Senior Washington sources said the risk of a political backlash against Britain's biggest defence company in the US was growing.

They said it was likely BAE would have to attend Congressional hearings to answer questions about whether it made illegal payments to win a £40 billion deal, known as Al-Yamamah, with Saudi Arabia in the 1980s.
One source said: "America's defence industry will use this to move on BAE. BAE faces US inquiry into bribery allegations (more) By Katherine Griffiths

Anger at BAE move to set up scrutiny body By Katherine Griffiths

Why BAE wants to attack Saudi bribe claim By Russell Hotten

WATCH BBC VIDEO: BAE payments to Saudi prince

Timeline: BAE corruption probe

Mark Alexander

Has Verheugen Had a ‘Wolfowitz Moment’? Scandal in the EU
TIMESONLINE: Suspicious sleepovers, naked beach games and public holding of hands: is it true love for Günter Verheugen, the most powerful German in Brussels, or simply a creative new approach to shaping EU industrial strategy? And has he been bending the rules?

Mr Verheugen, Vice-President of the European Commission, says that everything is above board but pressure was piling on him last night to come clean about his relationship to his chief of staff – or to step down.

Photographs, taken furtively through a rose bush, show the stooped figure of the Commissioner entering the house of Petra Erler, his 48-year-old chef du cabinet. A second photograph shows him leaving the Brussels flat the next morning with Ms Erler. Mr Verheugen is taking legal action against Bunte, the glossy magazine that published both pictures this week.

The accusation against the Commissioner is that he promoted Ms Erler – a skilled bureaucrat and one of the few East Germans at the upper levels of the Commission – while conducting an affair with her. This he has been vehemently denying for the past nine months. “There was no relationship beyond friendship at the time of the promotion,” Mr Verheugen said in October. “And that remains the situation today.” Germany’s naked EU chief faces Wolfowitz charges over his ‘friend’ (more) By Roger Boyes

Mark Alexander

Guantánamo sollte geschlossen werden, so Powell
NZZ: Früherer US-Aussenminister für Aufgabe des Gefangenenlagers auf Kuba

Der ehemalige amerikanische Aussenminister Colin Powell hat sich im amerikanischen Fernsehsender NBC für die Schliessung des Gefangenenlagers in Guantánamo Bay ausgesprochen. Powell fordert Schliessung von Guantánamo (more)

Mark Alexander

American University of Egypt Cannot Ban Niqab!

Photo courtesy of the BBC

BBC: A court in Egypt has ruled that the American University of Cairo cannot ban women from wearing the niqab - the full Islamic face covering - on campus.

The ruling comes after a lengthy legal battle between the university and a female student, who was told she had to remove the niqab for security reasons.

Supporters of the niqab greeted the ruling as a victory for freedom.

But officials at the university have said it indicates a drift towards Islamic extremism. Cairo campus veil ban struck down (more)

Mark Alexander

Victory Seems to Be Assured for Sarkozy

Photo of Sarkozy courtesy of the BBC

BBC: Projections after the first round of France's parliamentary elections suggest President Nicolas Sarkozy's party is heading for a landslide.

Polling firms predicted that Mr Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party would increase its majority in the lower house, the national assembly.

Analysts say a big majority would allow the new president to press ahead with his sweeping economic reforms. Sarkozy party ‘set for landslide’ (more)

Mark Alexander

Hero’s Welcome for Bush in Albania
BBC: President George W Bush has become the first US leader to visit Albania, where he enjoyed a hero's welcome. Bush greeted as hero in Albania (more)

WATCH BBC VIDEO:
Bush met as a hero in Albania

Mark Alexander

Jonathan Edwards, the Athlete, Loses Faith

Photo of Jonathan Edwards courtesy of Google Images

THE MAIL ON SUNDAY: Jonathan Edwards has spoken for the first time about his crisis of faith and how it plunged his family into despair.

Just four months ago the former athlete - whose father is a vicar - quit as a presenter of the BBC’s Songs Of Praise, saying he no longer believed in God. I lost my faith in God when I retired, says Olympic hero Jonathan Edwards (more) By Malcom Folley

Mark Alexander

Blair to Make ‘Highly Significant’ Trip to Vatican Before Leaving Office
THE MAIL ON SUNDAY: Tony Blair has discussed becoming a Roman Catholic deacon when he quits office.

The revelation comes as he prepares to meet the Pope amid speculation that he will use the audience in the Vatican to announce his conversion.

In his last foreign engagement, just days before he leaves Downing Street for the final time, the Prime Minister will visit Pope Benedict XVI in what officials say will be a "highly significant" personal mission. Blair ‘may become a Catholic deacon’ (more) By Jonathan Oliver and Martin Delgado

Mark Alexander

Drugs, Sex, and Booze Ensure that the Princes’ Parties Get Into Full Swing!
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: To Western eyes, Saudi Arabia's super-rich royal princes appear a confusing mix of pious Muslims and decadent playboys. But it is their distinctive approach to doing business that is now giving Britain a headache. David Harrison reports

Long after midnight, the party is in full swing, the music loud, the whisky and champagne flowing. In the penthouse suite at a five-star London hotel, six attractive young British women in short, tight dresses that leave little to the imagination, sashay between wealthy princes from Saudi Arabia, flirting and laughing more loudly than the Arabs' witticisms merit.
A silver dish of white powder, with matching spoon, is passed around. From time to time, a couple slips out of the suite only to reappear half an hour later and seek new friends. Others do not feel impelled to leave in order to share intimate moments and settle on a sofa or the four-poster in the main bedroom, oblivious of their fellow party-goers. We did it their way (more)

Mark Alexander

Bandar Lobbied Number 10
THE SUNDAY TIMES: A SAUDI prince, who is alleged to have received £1 billion in payments in the BAE Systems arms deal, personally lobbied Downing Street to get it to drop a criminal inquiry into the contract, claim senior Whitehall officials, writes David Leppard.

Prince Bandar bin Sultan, head of Saudi Arabia’s national security council, met Tony Blair last July at the height of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) inquiry into claims that BAE had illegally paid huge sums to members of the Saudi royal family.

Bandar is said by a second senior government official to have told Jonathan Powell, Blair’s chief of staff, that the Saudis would pull out of the arms deal, which involved the sale of 72 Typhoon jets, unless the investigation was stopped. He also said intelligence ties in the war on terror would be cut. Bandar lobbied No 10 to drop Saudi bribes inquiry (more)

Mark Alexander

“Mr Blair's last act of dictatorial hubris”
TELEGRAPH LEADER: For the past two elections, Labour's manifesto has been admirably clear on the issue of a constitution for the European Union: "We will put it to the British people in a referendum and campaign whole-heartedly for a Yes vote."

Tony Blair's final act as Prime Minister is likely to be to break that commitment. As we report today, he will sign the new European constitution just before he leaves 10 Downing Street. There will be no referendum. His signature alone will be enough to bind the United Kingdom in perpetuity to the constitution's strictures.

Mr Blair will justify this blatant perfidy by claiming that the document is not a constitution: it is just a "treaty". This is utterly false, as he and his Cabinet know very well. Britain must vote on this 'treaty' (more)

Mark Alexander

For a Change, Something Refreshing Coming Out of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia!

Photo of Heba Jamal courtesy of Arab News

ARAB NEWS: In the age of modern science and technology, having a specific relevant skill is an edge. Such expertise is usually acquired through hard work and dedication, yet there are a few who may not have invested the time necessary to be imbibed with rare skills. All they need is an inspiration and a good environment. Fashion Beyond Tradition

Heba Jamal

Mark Alexander