Sunday, February 22, 2009

Geert Wilders’ Rome Speech

Signore e signori, molte grazie. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.

I feel very honoured to have been invited to speak here in Rome, to speak here in this splendid city, the cradle of our Western civilization.

As you perhaps know, Oriana Fallaci is one of my heroes. She definitely was one of the greatest examples of bravery and honesty. Her brilliant books ‘The Rage and the Pride’ and ‘The Force of Reason’ are my guidelines that inspire me day after day. Mr. Manocchia, Una via per Oriana, thank you very much for remembering the great Oriana Fallaci. The world should remember her forever.

Ladies and gentlemen, following in the footsteps of Oriana Fallaci, I want to warn you for a great threat. This great threat is called Islam.

Islam is build [sic] on two rocks. First there is the Koran, Allah’s personal word, with orders that need to be fulfilled by Muslims regardless of place and time. As you know, the Koran calls for hatred, violence, submission, murder, terrorism, war, Jihad. The Koran calls upon Muslims to kill non-Muslims and he Koran considers Jews to be monkeys and pigs. That is why the great German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer called the Koran inferior. That is why former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Oriana Fallaci compared the Koran to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

Second, there is the so called perfect man: Muhammad. His deeds have to be imitated by all Muslims, and since Muhammad was a warlord and executed prisoners of war we know exactly what to expect. The brave American apostate dr. [sic] Wafa Sultan said: “The problem is that the Koran clearly says that Muhammad should be a role model for every Muslim. You are not allowed to criticise him, but you should follow in his footsteps. As a Muslim it is your mission to spread Islam by the sword”.

Please, ladies and gentlemen, let no one fool you: Islam means submission, so there cannot be any mistake about its goal. There are moderate Muslims, but there is no moderate Islam.

A total of 54 million Muslims live across Europe. In less than half a century the number of Muslims has increased rapidly. The Islamization of Europe affects the European achievements of the last century. The question is: Are we prepared to defend our achievements? Are we prepared to defend the equality of men and women? Are we prepared to defend the equality of homo- and heterosexuals? Are we prepared to defend the separation of Church and State? Are we prepared to defend freedom of speech?

Ladies and gentlemen, I would not qualify myself as a free man. Four and a half years ago I lost my freedom. Since then I am under 24-hour police protection. As if that is not enough, the most radical Dutch Imam claimed 55.000 euros in compensation for his hurt feelings because of ‘Fitna’. The State of Jordan is possibly going to issue a request for my extradition to stand trial in Amman. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal ordered my criminal prosecution for making ‘Fitna’ and for my political views on Islam. And last week the British government refused my entrance into the United Kingdom because me showing ‘Fitna’ in the British House of Lords at the invitation of a British parliamentarian would be a threat to British public security. This is the alarming state of freedom of speech in today’s Europe: Criticizing Islam has become a dangerous activity, criticizing Islam has apparently become a criminal act.

You just saw ‘Fitna’. My name is on the credit roll, but like you have seen, ‘Fitna’ is actually not made by me, but is made by radical Muslims, the Koran and Islam itself. If ‘Fitna’ is considered to be hate speech, then what is the Koran? If I am considered to be a threat to public security, then what is Islam?

The Court’s decision and my ban by the British government are two major victories for Islam. Both institutions have sided with Islam. The first Soviet leader, Lenin, once labelled ignorant people that unknowingly aided his cause as ‘useful idiots’. Well, the Court and the British government are the ‘useful idiots’ of today, and I think they are even proud of it.

The Court’s decision and my ban by the British government are also two major victories for all those who hate freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech — the dearest of our liberties — is under attack in today’s Europe. Oriana Fallaci herself had to live in fear of extradition to Switzerland because of her book ‘The Rage and the Pride’. Recently, Susanne Winter, an Austrian politician, was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence for telling the truth about Muhammad. The Dutch cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot was arrested by ten police men because of his drawings, and on top of all that, we now have the decisions of the Inquisition-like Court in Amsterdam and the Dhimmi British government.

Freedom of speech is no longer a given in Europe. What we once considered to be a natural component of our existence is now something we have to fight for. That is what is at stake. Whether or not I end up in jail is not the most important issue. The question is: Will free speech be put behind bars?

I repeat the words inscribed on the headstone of the murdered Dutch anti-Islam politician dr. [sic] Pim Fortuyn, who lies buried here in Italy and would have celebrated his birthday today: ‘loquendi libertatum custodiamus’, let us guard freedom of speech.

That is why I propose the withdrawal of all hate speech legislation in Europe. I propose a European First Amendment. Freedom of speech is the keystone of our Western civilization, it is the keystone of our democracies and the keystone of our freedom. That is why freedom of speech should be extended instead of restricted. Salman Rushdie’s ‘The Satanic Verses’, Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s and Theo van Gogh’s film ‘Submission’, Kurt Westergaard’s cartoons and my documentary ‘Fitna’ should never be banned, but should be protected. As George Orwell once said: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear”.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is five to twelve. In Europe, our freedom is at stake. Islam is Europe’s Trojan Horse. The differences between Saudi-Arabia and the Netherlands, between Iran and Italy are blurring. The first Islamic invasion of Europe was stopped at Poitiers in 732. The second Islamic invasion was halted at the gates of Vienna in 1683. Now we have to stop the current — stealth — Islamic invasion. Ladies and gentlemen, once Islam conquered Constantinople, now it wants to conquer Rome. We have to stop the Islamization of Europe, because if we don’t, Europe will become Eurabia.

Fortunately there is some hope. This hope does not come from governments, but from the people. In the Netherlands, 60 percent of the population considers mass immigration to be the number one policy mistake since the Second World War. Another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat to our national identity. I am convinced that the public opinion in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and here in Italy isn’t much different.

We have to maintain our values. We have to maintain our liberties. We have to maintain our civilization. We have to maintain the heritage of Rome, because we owe it to our children.

As Oriana Fallaci once said: “The moment you give up your principles, and your values, you are dead, your culture is dead, your civilization is dead”.

Thank you very much.

Hat tip: Gates of Vienna

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Interview mit Ihrer kaiserlichen Majestät Farah Pahlavi, Shahbanu von Iran (2009)


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Dubai: Marnie Pearce Hands Herself In

MAIL ON SUNDAY: A British mother who was on the run in Dubai after being found guilty of adultery has been jailed after handing herself into police.

Teaching assistant Marnie Pearce now faces the prospect of never seeing her two young children again.

Marnie, 40, originally from Bracknell in Berkshire, insists she never cheated on her ex-husband Ihab El-Labban and has been framed so he could win custody of their sons Laith, seven, and Ziad, four.

Once she has served her three-month sentence, Marnie is set to be deported to the UK without her children. Dubai 'Adultery Case' Wife Hands Herself in to Spare Children >>> Mail On Sunday Reporter | Sunday, February 22, 2009

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Saturday, February 21, 2009

EU-Kommission will Bonus-Zahlungen begrenzen

TAGES ANZEIGER: Die Europäische Kommission bereitet laut Kommissionspräsident José Manuel Barroso eine Initiative zur Begrenzung von Bonuszahlungen an Manager vor.

«Exzessive Bonuszahlungen verleiten Finanzmanager dazu, unvertretbare Risiken einzugehen. Die Folgen sehen wir jetzt in der Finanzkrise», sagte Barroso in der Samstagsausgabe des «Hamburger Abendblatt». Daher solle ein System geschaffen werden, das die Gier nach schnellen Gewinnen zügele und das Scheitern nicht belohne. >>> mbr/ap | Samstag, 21 Februar 2009

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Iran blockiert Khatami-Webseiten

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Foto von Mohammed Khatami dank dem Tages Anzeiger

TAGES ANZEIGER: Der Wahlkampf für das Präsidentschaftsamt geht bereits los. Die iranischen Behörden haben nach Angaben von Reformern zwei Webseiten zur Unterstützung von Mohammed Khatami blockiert. >>> oku/ap | Samstag, 21. Februar 2009

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Hillary Clinton China Visit Blamed for the Detention of Activists

THE TELEGRAPH: Hillary Clinton has come under fire for her attitude to China's human rights record after it emerged that a dozen dissidents were placed under house arrest during her trip.

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Photo of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the new American Secretary of State, courtesy of The Telegraph

Before travelling to the People's Republic on Friday for a two day visit, the new American Secretary of State, said she would not let the issue "interfere" with efforts to resolve the global economic crisis and combating climate change.

Human rights groups claimed her comments lifted the pressure on Beijing to address the issue, making it easier for the Chinese to justify fresh restrictions on dissidents.

"I am under house arrest because Hilary Clinton came," said Zeng Jinyan, the wife of China's most prominent activist Hu Jia, via an email message.

Mrs Zeng said she had been told by the police who monitor her that she and her baby daughter would not be allowed outside. Her husband is serving a three-and-half-year prison sentence.

Mrs Clinton's failure to press Beijing on human rights appears to contradict the desire of President Obama to restore America's reputation, after the Bush administration was criticised for flouting international law by torturing terrorist suspects and detaining them indefinitely.

Last month, President Obama was hailed for his decision to close the controversial Guantanemo Bay detention facility in Cuba, where some prisoners have been held without trial for more than seven years.

The Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a group comprising some of China's most determined activists, said the authorities had told dissidents that they would not be allowed to move freely during Mrs Clinton's visit.

They were either placed under increased surveillance or locked in their homes and barred from receiving visitors.

Some activists were reported to have been detained by police at guesthouses outside Beijing. >>> By David Eimer in Beijing | Saturday, February 21, 2009

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Barack Obama under Fire for Picking a Crony Fundraiser as His Ambassador to Britain

THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama has been embroiled in a cronyism row after reports that he intends to make Louis Susman, one of his biggest fundraisers, the new US ambassador in London.

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Photo of President Barack Hussein Obama courtesy of The Telegraph

The selection of Mr Susman, a lawyer and banker from the president's hometown of Chicago, rather than an experienced diplomat, raises new questions about Mr Obama's commitment to the special relationship with Britain.

American commentators denounced the selection of a rich friend to the plumb post, regarded as one of the most prestigious in the president's gift, as worthy of a "banana republic".

They said it was proof that Mr Obama has turned his back on his campaign pledge to end politics as usual.

A source with knowledge of the negotiations told The Washington Post that the appointment is "likely to happen" but is "not final".

A British diplomat told The Sunday Telegraph they [are] aware of the reports and are watching the situation but stressed they remain neutral about the appointment.

Others are not so sanguine. Critics said that it would have been more appropriate to dispatch a high profile diplomat at a time when there are fears in British government that Mr Obama is not as attached to the special relationship as his predecessors.

And they pointed out that there is little difference between handing a major diplomatic post to a fundraiser and the "pay to play" scandal in which disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich apparently auctioned off Mr Obama's senate seat to the highest bidder.

Mr Susman's reputation for hoovering large amounts of cash from deep pockets saw him nicknamed "the vacuum cleaner" when he raised more than $240million for John Kerry's White House bid in 2004. >>> By Tim Shipman in Washington | Saturday, February 21, 2009

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Binyamin Netanyahu Warns of Iranian Nuclear Threat

TIMES ONLINE: Israel was set for the return to power of Binyamin Netanyahu after the Likud leader was invited to form a coalition government yesterday.

Immediately after he was invited to become the next prime minister by President Peres, Mr Netanyahu lost no time in restating his warnings about a nuclear-armed Iran, calling it the greatest existential threat faced by Israel since its creation. His words came a day after the UN announced that Tehran had acquired sufficient uranium to build a nuclear bomb — a “red line” development Israel has said it will not tolerate.

Likud came second in last week’s elections to the Kadima party, led by Tzipi Livni, but Mr Netanyahu’s chances of forming a government are significantly greater. However, he may find himself at the head of a narrow, far-right coalition that is at war with itself and at loggerheads with the US.

His main partner will be the hardline nationalist party Yisraeil Beitenu, led by Moldovan Avigdor Lieberman. With the support of the remaining parties on the right — the ultra-Orthodox and settler factions — the new coalition will be able to count on 65 MPs in the 120-seat Knesset. >>> James Hider in Jerusalem | Saturday, February 20, 2009

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Al-Qaeda Founder Launches Fierce Attack on Osama bin Laden

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Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, also known by the nom de guerre Dr Fadl, has launched a fierce attack on Osama bin Laden. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph

THE TELEGRAPH: One of al-Qaeda's founding leaders, Dr Fadl, has begun an ideological revolt against Osama bin Laden, blaming him for "every drop" of blood spilt in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, who goes by the nom de guerre Dr Fadl, helped bin Laden create al-Qaeda and then led an Islamist insurgency in Egypt in the 1990s.

But in a book written from inside an Egyptian prison, he has launched a frontal attack on al-Qaeda's ideology and the personal failings of bin Laden and particularly his Egyptian deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Twenty years ago, Dr Fadl became al-Qaeda's intellectual figurehead with a crucial book setting out the rationale for global jihad against the West.

Today, however, he believes the murder of innocent people is both contrary to Islam and a strategic error. "Every drop of blood that was shed or is being shed in Afghanistan and Iraq is the responsibility of bin Laden and Zawahiri and their followers," writes Dr Fadl.

The terrorist attacks on September 11 were both immoral and counterproductive, he writes. "Ramming America has become the shortest road to fame and leadership among the Arabs and Muslims.

But what good is it if you destroy one of your enemy's buildings, and he destroys one of your countries? What good is it if you kill one of his people, and he kills a thousand of yours?" asks Dr Fadl. "That, in short, is my evaluation of 9/11." >>> By David Blair in Cairo | Friday, February 20, 2009

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Schröder kritisiert in Iran Holocaust-Leugnung: Privatmann ohne politischen Auftrag trifft Präsident Ahmadinejad

NZZ Online: In Teheran hat der frühere deutsche Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder Tendenzen zur Leugnung der Judenvernichtung zur Nazizeit kritisiert. Er nahm damit Bezug auf frühere Äusserungen des iranischen Präsidenten.

«Der Holocaust ist eine historische Tatsache. Es ist nicht sinnvoll, dieses einmalige Verbrechen, für das Hitler-Deutschland verantwortlich gewesen ist, zu leugnen», sagte der SPD-Politiker am Samstag in Teheran vor der iranischen Industrie- und Handelskammer, kurz vor einem geplanten Treffen mit dem iranischen Präsidenten Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Dieser hatte die Tatsache der Judenvernichtung in Europa wiederholt in Zweifel gezogen.

Weiter sagte Schröder, diese «unnötigen Diskussionen» lenkten auch von der zentralen Frage für den regionalen Frieden ab, nämlich wie die Sicherheit aller Staaten der Region gewährleistet werden könne. Der komplette Redetext lag der Nachrichtenagentur AP am Samstag vor; Schröder hielt sich bei seiner Ansprache nach Angaben seines Büros wortgetreu an das Manuskript. >>> ap | Samstag, 21. Februar 2009

WELT ONLINE: Schröder kritisiert Ahmadinedschad vor Treffen

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Gerhard Schröder, der Altkanzler Deutschlands, hat vor iranischen Wirtschaftsvertretern dessen israelfeindliche Rhetorik und die Holocaust-Leugnung kritisiert. Foto dank der Welt

In wenigen Stunden soll Gerhard Schröder eigentlich den iranischen Präsidenten Mahmud Ahmadinedschad in Teheran treffen. Zuvor hat er nun allerdings vor iranischen Wirtschaftsvertretern dessen israelfeindliche Rhetorik kritisiert. Die iranische Seite reagierte prompt auf die Rede des Altkanzlers.

"Der Holocaust ist eine historische Tatsache und es macht keinen Sinn, dieses einmalige Verbrechen zu leugnen“, sagte Schröder vor der iranischen Industrie- und Handelskammer in Teheran. Der Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland hatte Schröder wegen des Treffens mit Ahmadinedschad scharf kritisiert. „Herr Schröder fügt dem Ansehen der Bundesregierung und der Bundesrepublik Deutschland schweren Schaden zu“, sagte der Generalsekretär des Zentralrats, Stephan Kramer, der in Hannover erscheinenden „Neuen Presse“.

Ahmadinedschad hatte vor zwei Jahren die Entfernung Israels aus dem Nahen Osten und dessen Verlegung nach Europa oder Amerika gefordert. Außerdem hatte der iranische Präsident die historischen Dimensionen des Holocaust geleugnet und sie als „Märchen“ bezeichnet.

Falls der Iran als Regionalmacht international ernst genommen werden wolle, so Schröder, sollte das Land auch Verantwortung übernehmen und internationale Regeln respektieren. Bemerkungen über den Holocaust würden nur von der zentralen Frage im Nahen Osten und der Suche nach einer gemeinsamen Lösung für den Konflikt zwischen Israel und Palästina ablenken, sagte Schröder weiter. >>> dap/AP/AFP/str | Samstag, 21. Februar 2009

HAARETZ: Ex-German Chancellor Tells Iranians 'Holocaust a Fact'

Visiting former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder criticized on Saturday Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for casting doubt over the Holocaust, saying the slaughter of 6 million Jews by Nazis was a fact.

Since coming to power in 2005, Ahmadinejad has provoked international condemnation for saying the Holocaust was a "myth" and calling Israel a "tumor" in the Middle East.

"The Holocaust is a historic fact and there is no sense in denying this unparalleled crime," Schroeder told the Iranian Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

"Iran needs to take responsibility and respect international rules, if it wants to be taken seriously as a regional power."

Schroeder, due to meet Ahmadinejad in Tehran later on Saturday, also criticized the hardline leader for his views on Israel which Iran has refused to recognize since its 1979 Islamic revolution.

Schroeder arrived in Tehran on Thursday for a four-day unofficial visit.

Ahmadinejad, who often rails against Israel and the West, said in January the subject of the Holocaust had been used to expand the international influence of the United States and Britain after World War Two. >>> Reuters | Saturday, February 21, 2009

HAARETZ: German Politicians, Jewish Leaders Slam Schroeder for Ahmadinejad Meet

German politicians and Jewish community representatives harshly criticized former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Saturday.

Schroeder, who is a senior manager at the Russian energy giant Gazprom, arrived in Tehran on Thursday for an unofficial four-day visit, facilitated by an Iranian doctor who heads a Hanover-based neurobiology research institute.

By meeting with Ahmadinejad, "Schroeder has harmed the image of the German government and of the whole of Germany," said Stephan Kramer, secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. >>> By Assaf Uni | Sunday, February 22, 2009

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En mémoire du Chah d'Iran, Farah Pahlavi sort du silence

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Photo de Farah Pahlavi, la dérniere imperatrice d’Iran, grâce à la Bunte

LE FIGARO: Elle a voulu parler à l'occasion des 30 ans de la révolution islamique. Pour défendre son mari, le Chah d'Iran, pas pour parler d'elle. Farah Pahlavi, la chahbanou, ne sort que rarement de son silence. L'entretien qu'elle a accordé à Frédéric Mitterrand, diffusé samedi soir sur France 3, est le premier depuis 2003.

La dernière impératrice n'oublie pas l'Iran, où elle n'est jamais retournée depuis le 16 janvier 1979, quand elle a quitté l'aéroport de Téhéran au bras du chah en pleurs. Trente ans après, elle garde toujours le maintien et la dignité d'une reine, en pensant à son règne passé et à ses compatriotes. Elle s'interdit de boire de l'alcool en public. Si elle accepte les invitations à des soirées, à des premières ou des galas, elle fait en sorte de n'être pas photographiée en train de s'amuser. Elle a récemment fêté ses 70 ans dans la discrétion. La chahbanou vit principalement à Paris, où elle bénéficie d'une surveillance policière discrète. Elle se rend aussi régulièrement à New York, où réside son fils aîné, Reza, 48 ans, héritier du trône, qui n'a pas abandonné l'espoir de fédérer une opposition autour de sa personne. >>> Pierre Prier | Vendredi 20 Février 2009

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Friday, February 20, 2009

Revealed: The Full Extent of Labour's Curbs on Civil Liberties

THE INDEPENDENT: Audit report highlights 'permanent erosion' of freedoms since 1997

The full extent of state powers to detain people without charge, cover up Government errors, hold the DNA of the innocent and share personal data between public bodies has been revealed in a devastating analysis of the erosion of civil liberties in Britain over the past decade.

Almost 60 new powers contained in more than 25 Acts of Parliament have whittled away at freedoms and broken pledges set out in the Human Rights Act and Magna Carta, according to a new audit of laws introduced since Labour came to power in 1997. The dossier, compiled by the Convention on Modern Liberty, criticises police powers to detain terror suspects for 28 days without charge, new stop-and-search powers handed to police (allowing them to stop people without reason at airports and other designated areas), and restrictions on the right of peaceful protest.

It is the first time such a picture of the erosion of rights under Labour has been published. The rise in surveillance in Britain is also documented, including new laws allowing individuals to be electronically tagged, and the legal interception of letters, emails and phone calls. >>> By Michael Savage, Political Correspodent | Friday, February 20, 2009

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Surprise! Surprise!

MAIL Online: Some Islamic schools are promoting fundamentalist views and encouraging children to despise Western society, a report warns.

An investigation by the Civitas social policy think-tank found websites of some of the UK’s 166 Muslim schools are spreading extreme teachings, while a handful had links to sites promoting jihad, or holy war.

Examples include web forums forbidding Muslims from reading Harry Potter books, playing chess or cricket and listening to Western music.

The Civitas report, entitled Music, Chess and Other Sins, claims Ofsted inspectors are incapable of scrutinising Muslim faith schools properly, and demands an inquiry by MPs.

Many of the websites featured in the report were shut down or edited in the hours before it was published.

Islamic schools educate thousands of Muslim children. Most operate in the private sector although increasing numbers are seeking state funding. Some Muslim Schools 'Make Children Despise the West': Ban on Cricket and Harry Potter >>> By Matthew Hickley | Friday, February 20, 2009

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Thursday, February 19, 2009

Le papa de Zohra n’est pas qatarien

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Photo de Rachida Dati grâce au Mail Online

GALA.fr: «Je ne suis pas le père de l’enfant de Rachida Dati». Le son vient du Moyen-Orient et fait écho aux insinuations de deux journalistes. Fin des ragots et du bruit médiatique. Ali Bin Fetais al-Marri, procureur général du Qatar est le nouveau père putatif à se désister publiquement.

La liste des géniteurs potentiels se transforme en pavé. Les démentis ricochent dans la mare peopolitique. Et la paternité de la petite Zohra reste un secret bien gardé.

Si la bambine a les yeux bleu pétrole, ce ne sont pas ceux d’un émir arabe. >>> Justine Boivin | Mardi 17 Février 2009

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Williamson doit quitter l'Argentine

LE FIGARO: L'Argentine somme l'évêque britannique négationniste Richard Williamson de quitter le pays avant dix jours sous peine d'être expulsé, a déclaré aujourd'hui le ministère de l'Intérieur argentin.



"Le ministre de l'Intérieur Florencio Randazzo a annoncé aujourd'hui que la Direction nationale des Migrations sommait Richard Williamson de quitter impérativement le pays dans un délai de dix jours sous peine d'être expulsé", selon le communiqué du ministère. >>> AFP | Jeudi 19 Février 2009

WELT ONLINE: Argentinien weist Holocaust-Leugner aus

Der Streit um den Holocaust-Leugner Richard Williamson geht in die nächste Runde: Argentinien hat den Piusbruder jetzt zur Ausreise aufgefordert. Sollte der Bischof das Land nicht innerhalb der nächsten zehn Tage verlassen, werde er ausgewiesen, sagte das Innenministerium. >>> AP/AFP/dpa/ab | Donnerstag, 19. Februar 2009

TIMES ONLINE: Bishop Richard Williamson Ordered to Leave Argentina

An English bishop who denies the holocaust has been ordered to leave Argentina.

Bishop Richard Williamson has been give ten days to leave the country or face expulsion after global controversy over his views and the Vatican’s attitudes towards them.

The Argentine Interior Ministry said Bishop Williamson’s statements on the Holocaust “profoundly insult Argentine society, the Jewish community and all of humanity by denying an historic truth”. >>> Chris Smyth | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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Iran: Händeschütteln mit Frauen könnte Khatami Wahl kosten

DIE PRESSE: Der Iran diskutiert über ein Foto, auf dem der Herausforderer von Präsident Ahmadinejad einer Europäerin die Hand gibt. Islamische Politiker dürfen fremde Frauen in der Öffentlichkeit nicht berühren.

Kopfschütteln über das Händeschütteln: Im iranischen Präsidentschafts- Wahlkampf sorgt derzeit ein Foto für Aufregung, auf dem der Reformer Mohammad Khatami einer Europäerin die Hand gibt. Das berichtete die Agentur Fars am Donnerstag. Khatami ist Herausforderer von Präsident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Reformer befürchten, dass das vermutlich vor zwei Jahren in Italien aufgenommene Foto jetzt im Wahlkampf gegen Khatami benutzt werden könnte.

Nach den strengen Regeln des Islam dürfen Männer im Iran, allen voran Beamte und Politiker, fremde Frauen in der Öffentlichkeit nicht berühren. Das Händeschütteln fällt auch unter dieses Tabu. "Nur wenn es um nationale Interessen geht, ist das Händeschütteln mit ausländischen Frauen kein Thema, auch nicht für die islamischen Sittenwächter", sagte Mostafa Koakabian, Chef einer kleineren Reformpartei. >>> DiePresse.com | Donnerstag, 19. Februar 2009

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Obama's Attorney General Plays the ‘Race Card’ – in Reverse!

THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama's attorney general Eric Holder has branded the United States a "nation of cowards" who are "voluntarily socially segregated" along race lines.

Mr Holder, the first African American to hold the post of top justice official, said that although the US was integrated in the workplace, its people spent their weekends and private lives in "race-protected cocoons".

"Saturdays and Sundays, America in the year 2009 does not in some ways differ significantly from the country that existed almost 50 years ago. This is truly sad," said Mr Holder

Speaking to members of his department to mark Black History Month, an annual national celebration of African American achievement, he added: "Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot in things racial, we have always been, and we, I believe, continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," he added.

His comments took some of the sheen off the celebratory mood America has felt since electing its first black president in November.
But Mr Holder was echoing a plea President Barack Obama made to the nation during his campaign last year to break a "racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years".

The president, the son of Kenyan and a white Kansan, has described himself as "post-racial", but Mr Holder clearly thought the nation has a long way to go before it meets that goal.

Mr Holder, 57, who was born in New York to parents hailing from Barbados, cited the president's words and urged his colleagues to loosen their inhibitions about discussing race. Obama's Attorney General Claims US Is 'Voluntarily Segregated' >>> By Alex Spillius in Washington | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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French Children of Nazi Soldiers to Be Offered German Citizenship

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Photo courtesy of The Telegraph

THE TELEGRAPH: Germany is to offer citizenship to tens of thousands of 'war children' fathered by Nazi soldiers in France during the Second World War.

The move is being offered in recognition of the suffering of those who became known as the "bastards of the Boche" and often suffered discrimination

The German interior ministry said the move was a "symbolic gesture to make up for past wrongs" suffered by the children who are now in their 60s.

A spokesman said: "The German government is aware of the difficult fate of the French 'war children' accommodate those who want to apply for German citizenship. We will act generously with applications. For example, we will not levy fees."

The German foreign ministry has worked "intensively" with its French counterpart on the subject, he added.

Nevertheless, each of the offspring would have to apply for German citizenship individually, he said. >>> | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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Between the Vatican and a Hard Place!

TELEGRAPH BLOGS: It is a facet of human nature that, when in a deep jam, even people who are non-believers sometimes turn to religion ("Please, God, get me out of this and I swear I'll be in the front pew next Sunday - and every Sunday!"). It appears that Gordon Brown, erstwhile son of the manse, is no exception to this trait. With his government and economy in deepest doo-doo, he is trying to use the Pope as a buffer between himself and an electorate that is fast metamorphosing into a lynch mob.

Today he visited Benedict XVI at the Vatican (one hopes the exorcists are currently doing a thorough job on the polluted premises) and invited the Pope to visit Britain. That is the politics of distraction. "He was very welcoming of the invitation," reported Gordon. That did not entirely chime with the Vatican version: "For the moment, no travel by Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom is scheduled or under consideration."

When it comes to a factual contradiction between the Pope's official spokesman and the snake-oil salesman with a track record of mega-porkies ("No return to boom and bust"), even the staunchest Ulster Orangeman would probably feel he must reluctantly give credence to Rome. But the Number 10 spin machine remains undaunted, insisting it knows the Pope's mind better than he himself does. "There isn't a date in the diary - we just made the invitation a few hours ago. But they are definitely looking at it." Oh, yeah? Gordon Brown Tries to Spin the Pope - Vatican Response: 'Spin on This!' >>> Gerald Warner | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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Keep the Hate-Mongers OUT! NOT WANTED in the United Kingdom!

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Extreme American 'Christians' of the Westboro Baptist Church, the ‘God Hates Fags’ variety, have been banned from the United Kingdom. These vile, disgusting, intolerant, intolerable people are not wanted this side of the Pond. They can peddle their hate where they are – in their own little, narrow, self-serving world: on the dark side of darkness! Photo courtesy of The Times – Mark

TIMES ONLINE: The Home Secretary has banned two extremist anti-gay preachers from entering Britain, a move that follows a decision to refuse entry to Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Muslim MP.

Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who belong to the US Westboro Baptist Church, were planning to come to the UK to protest outside a performance of a youth play called The Laramie Project, which recounts the death of gay university student Matthew Shepard who was killed in Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998.

It was due to be performed at Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke, Hampshire, tomorrow.

The pair have been known to picket US soldiers’ funerals, holding up banners with phrases such as "God Hates Fags" because they believe that their deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are punishment for America’s tolerance of gays. Anti-gay Preachers Fred Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper Banned from Britain >>> David Byers | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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Liberty in Britain Is Facing Death by a Thousand Cuts. We Can Fight Back

THE GUARDIAN: It is shocking how many curtailments of freedom have been imposed. Each one may be small but the cumulative loss is vast

For 30 years I have been travelling to unfree places, from East Germany to Burma, and writing about them in the belief that I was coming from one of the freest countries in the world. I wanted people in those places to enjoy more of what we had. In the last few years, I have woken up - late in the day, but better late than never - to the way in which individual liberty, privacy and human rights have been sliced away in Britain, like salami, under New Labour governments that profess to find in liberty the central theme of British history.

"Oh, these powers will almost never be used," they say every time. "Ordinary people have nothing to fear. It affects just 0.1%." But a hundred times 0.1% is 10%. The East Germans are now more free than we are, at least in terms of law and administrative practice in such areas as surveillance and data collection. Thirty years ago, they had the Stasi. Today, Britain has such broadly drawn and elastic surveillance laws that Poole borough council could exploit them to spend two weeks spying on a family wrongly accused of lying on a school application form. The official spies reportedly made copious notes on the movements of the mother and her three children, whom they referred to as "targets", and watched the family go home at night to establish where they were sleeping. And this is supposed to be modern Britain?

Let's be clear: though the Stasi headline is irresistible, such Stasi-nark methods do not yet make a Stasi state. The political context is very different. We don't live in a one-party dictatorship. But nor is this just "an isolated case", as ministers always protest. Almost every week brings some new revelation of the way in which our government has taken a further small slice of our liberty, always in the name of another real or alleged good: national security, safety from crime, community cohesion, efficiency (ha ha), or our "special relationship" with the United States.

Liberty comes last. As Dominic Raab writes in his excellent book The Assault on Liberty, this government "has hyperactively produced more Home Office legislation than all the other governments in our history combined, accumulating a vast arsenal of new legal powers and creating more than three thousand additional criminal offences". At a press conference today, the organisers of next week's Convention on Modern Liberty - whose moving spirits include the columnist Henry Porter and the democratic activist Anthony Barnett - will present a first attempt to catalogue the liberties we have lost, in a list compiled by the University College London Student Human Rights Programme.

Other free countries, including the US, have overreacted to the threat of terrorism, violating their own basic constitutional principles and legal standards. The peculiarity of Britain is that we have nibbled away individual liberty on so many different fronts. We have been complicit in American-led torture of our own people; at the same time we have eroded free speech in ways unthinkable in the US; and we have become what Privacy International calls "an endemic surveillance society". >>> Timothy Garton Ash | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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The Banality of Evil

ARUTZ SHEVA (ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS): A resurgence of the oldest of ancient hatreds.

”According to British police, Jews are four times more likely to be attacked because of their religion than are Muslims.”

Anti-Semitism never really died after the Holocaust, it simply went underground for a while. In the wake of the Gaza War, a disturbing series of events are occurring in Britain - events that should give us all cause for concern. Zionism has not only become a dirty word; it has become a cover for a resurgence of the oldest of ancient hatreds.

According to the Observer, there is an average of seven anti-Semitic attacks every single day in the United Kingdom - attacks that have come in the form of graffiti, vandalism, arson, violent assaults on Jews in the streets, and hate e-mails. Jewish schools have been granted extra protection and the Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Jewish racism in British society, issues frequent advice and warnings. According to British police, Jews are four times more likely to be attacked because of their religion than are Muslims. Every synagogue service and virtually every Jewish communal event now requires guards on the lookout for violence from both neo-Nazis and Muslim extremists. Orthodox Jews have become particular targets; some have begun wearing baseball caps instead of skullcaps and concealing their Star of David jewelry for fear of being physically assaulted.

The war in Gaza has revealed a darker side to British society, as demonstrated by the extent to which the British media, intelligentsia and political class have simply buckled in the face of the global Islamic jihad. Melanie Phillips, writing in the Wall Street Journal (Europe) put it this way: "Years of demonizing Israel and appeasing Islamist extremism within Britain have now coalesced, as a result of the media misrepresentation of the Gaza War as an atrocity against civilians, in an unprecedented wave of hatred against Israel, and a sharp rise in attacks on British Jews" - and the authorities have done little or nothing to stop such incitement to hatred. In one case, the police even told pro-Israel demonstrators to put away their Israel flags because they were "inflammatory," yet they allowed anti-Israel demonstrators to scream support for Hamas, and even to dress up as hook-nosed Jews "drinking" the blood of Palestinian babies. >>> By Mark Silverberg | ednesday, February 18, 2009

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Barack Obama Admits He Doesn’t Understand the Stock Market


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Memo to Barack Hussein Obama: Why Not Just Admit It?


”My Muslim faith” >>>

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Sharia Law: Tearing the West in Two

CBNNEWS.COM: Sharia, or Islamic law, is gradually working its way into public life in Islamic and non-Islamic nations around the world.

What is it and what does sharia mean for Christians and others forced to abide by it?

"Sharia law is a legal system on the teachings of the Qur'an, the Sunna and the Hadith of Mohammed applied into the community as the legal basis for life," Jeff Hammond, with Bless Indonesia, said.

Hammond is a Christian who has lived and worked in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, for 35 years. He says Indonesian Christians are concerned about creeping sharia law, now in place in half of the country's 32 provinces.

"It's going from one province to another, it's not something that's happening all at once, but step by step," Hammond said.

Cruel and Usual Punishment

For example: even Christian school girls are forced to cover their heads in Padang province. Elsewhere in Indonesia, children attending public schools are required to learn the Qur'an.

In Indonesia's Bandeh Aceh province, shariah police make nightly patrols to ensure that unmarried or non-related couples are not seen together in public.

"Christians are very concerned, not only because of what is happening here in Indonesia, they also see reports that are coming from other countries," Hammond explained.

In Islamic nations like Somalia, devotion to Sharia law caused vigilantes to behead a 25-year old aid worker for converting from Islam to Christianity.

In Iran, women are legally stoned to death for committing adultery.

In Afghanistan, prostitutes are executed for their behavior.

In Pakistan, the government apparently has accepted the imposition of sharia law in the Taliban controlled Swatt Valley of the northwest frontier province. It's a place where violators of sharia are often subjected to lashes.

Enforcement of Pakistan's blasphemy laws have led to the imprisonment of Christians, like 20-year old Sandal Bibi and her father Gul Sheer on charges of blasphemy against the Qur'an. Ripping the West in Two >>> By Gary Lane, CBN News Reporter | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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Islamic Circle of North America Kicks Off Bus Ad Campaign

CBS5.COM: San Francisco – The Bay Area Chapter of the Islamic Circle of North America will launch a bus ad campaign in San Francisco on today to encourage people to break stereotypes about Muslims.

People can expect to see the hot line (877) WHY-ISLAM and the Web site www.whyislam.org on the sides of more than 140 buses because the ICNA wants to make a point.

"This is our complaint: We want to give the right picture of Islam. It is not about terrorism. It is about peace,'' ICNA representative Mariam Chan said.

Between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. eastern time, anyone can call the hot line with questions about Islam. The Web site also offers free brochures. Chan said a common misconception is that Muslims are terrorists.

"If one Muslim person is not right, don't blame Islam from the few number of presentations,'' Chan said. "So many Christians have problems. You would not say it's allowed in Christianity.''

The campaign is a national educational outreach program. The ICNA has also paid for billboards and other bus ads throughout the country to encourage a more authentic point of view on the faith.

The kick-off will take place near Justin Herman Plaza at 77 Steuart Street in San Francisco at 11 a.m. [Source: CBS5.com] Thursday, February 19, 2009

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Freedom Dies as Radical Islam Advances

THE DC EXAMINER: Halfway through “Fitna,” the short film about radical Islam made by Dutch MP Geert Wilders, we see an angry imam, speaking Arabic and telling how it will be.

“We have ruled the world before, and by Allah the day will come when we rule the entire world again!” the translation scrolls, “The day will come when we will rule America! The day will come when we rule Britain and the entire world!”

Score one for the Islamists, where Britain is concerned. The cringing bureaucrats of Gordon Brown’s Labour government barred Wilders from entering the country last week to attend a screening of “Fitna” at, of all places, Britain’s Houses of Parliament.

The 17-minute movie, which has been out for a year and is easily viewed online, seeks to make the case that Islam is dangerously in the ascendant in the Netherlands.

The film is composed almost entirely of scenes where Muslims are doing the talking, but it includes images of terrorist attacks and violent passages from the Quran.

It features clips of radical Islamist preachers calling for the murder of Jews and the defenestration of gays. It shows dead female victims of honor killings, a kneeling woman in a burqa being executed, and a captured Westerner being beheaded by masked Islamic militants.

Now, Wilders didn’t write the Quran, he didn’t bomb the Twin Towers, and where his narrative voice comes in, it’s not even saying anything very extraordinary – not in a world where a lot of people say a lot of things.

With the same material, one suspects that a practiced polemicist like Michael Moore could have made something even more shocking.

But Britain’s first Muslim peer, Lord Ahmed, warned that 10,000 Muslims would march on Parliament if Wilders appeared at the screening.

So the government caved. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith banned the Dutchman for fear his presence “would threaten community security and therefore public security.”

See how easily old freedoms are revoked? You would think that there’s no point in freedom of speech if you can’t use it to say unpopular things.

Yet in Britain – and in the Netherlands, where Wilders faces trial and a jail term for making “Fitna” – that freedom is gone. >>> By Meghan Cox Gurdon, Examiner Columnist | Thursday, February 19, 2009

FRONTPAGEMAG.COM:
Wilders Coming to America >>> Robert Spencer | Thursday, February 19, 2009

Geert Wilder’s English website >>>

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Bridges TV Had Ties to Both U.S. Muslim Brotherhood And U.S. Government

FAMILY SECURITY MATTERS: Further details are available on connections between the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood, the U.S. government, and an Islamic cable TV station whose founder has been charged in the beheading of his wife. As reported yesterday by the New York Times:
A man who founded a Muslim-American television station to help fight Muslim stereotypes is to appear on Wednesday in a suburban Buffalo court on charges that he decapitated his wife last week. The man, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, went to a police station in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Thursday to report that his wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan, was dead, Chief Andrew Benz said on Tuesday. Mr. Hassan told the police that her body could be found in the nearby office of the television station, Bridges TV. The police later arrested him on charges of second-degree murder, Chief Benz said.
According to investigative research posted on GMBDR, in April 2004 national media reported on the start-up of Bridges TV, described as "the first English-language cable television channel aimed at U.S. and Canadian Muslims." The report indicated that the programming was available on satellite and internet and had plans to expand to cable. Chairman of Bridges TV was identified as Muzzammil Hassan, said to be a Pakistani-born ex-banker with no television industry experience who got the idea from his wife after she listened to a radio program with "a sharp, derogatory tone against Muslims." The report described Bridges programming as ranging from "Koranic and Islamic religious content to news, documentaries, soap operas and shows geared toward women and children, in a bid to reflect many facets of life." In April 2006, a press release stated that Bridges TV had "transitioned from a premium pay channel to basic cable on several cable and satellite systems." >>> The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report | Thursday, February 19, 2009

YOUTUBE: Muslim Cable Channel Founder Beheads Wife at Studio



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Binyamin Netanyahu Gets Green Light from Avigdor Lieberman to Lead Israel

TIMES ONLINE: The Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu was in pole position to become Israel's next Prime Minister despite narrowly failing to win the country's general election, after an ultra-nationalist political leader pledged to back his coalition today.

Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Yisrael Beitenu party, which finished third, said he would only support a government led by Mr Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, but which also included the centrist Kadima party led by the election-winner, Tzipi Livni.

Whether Ms Livni, whose party narrowly won the February 10 poll by 28 seats to 27 for Likud, would agree to serve in a government with Mr Netanyahu as Prime Minister remains to be seen.

However, she has previously said that she would be prepared to lead a government which included Likud as a junior partner, with Mr Netanyahu presumably in a senior Cabinet role.

A right-leaning Netanyahu-led government would be regarded with gloom by President Obama and the so-called Quartet of international mediators, who had hoped to accelerate the Middle East peace process. >>> David Byers | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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British Tourist Kidnapped by Islamic Extremists in Sahara Desert

MAIL Online: An Islamic extremist group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a group of tourists in west Africa, including a Briton. According to SITE Intelligence, a US group which monitors extremist websites, the claim comes from al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

The tourists - a Briton who was working in Austria, two Swiss citizens and a German woman - were seized near the border between Niger and Mali on January 22.

The group released images of some of the captives and also said it was holding two Canadian diplomats seized two months ago.

AQIM spokesman Salah Abu Muhammad made the claim in an an audio message, SITE said.

He reportedly said: "We announce to the general public that the mujahideen reserve the right to deal with the six kidnapped according to Islamic Shariah (law).

"On the other hand, the mujahideen will announce later, Allah willing, their conditions in exchange for the release of the kidnapped." >>> By Mail Foreign Service | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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Neue Vermutungen über bin Ladens Versteck

WELT ONLINE: Der Frage, wo sich Osama bin Laden aufhält, haben US-Forscher eine Studie gewidmet. Die Geografen werteten unter anderem Satellitenbilder aus. Das Ergebnis: Sollte der Terrorführer noch am Leben sein, versteckt er sich vermutlich in Pakistan – anders als oft vermutet aber nicht in einer Höhle.

Wissenschaftler der Universität von Kalifornien in Los Angeles wollen geschafft haben, was den US-Geheimdiensten bisher nicht gelungen ist: Sie glauben, dass sie mit Hilfe von Satellitenbildern, geografischen Prinzipien und gesundem Menschenverstand das Versteck von Terroristenführer Osama bin Laden gefunden haben. Demnach hielte sich der Al-Qaida-Chef in einem von drei Gebäuden im pakistanischen Ort Parachinar nahe der afghanischen Grenze auf. >>> dpa/cn | Donnerstag, 19. Februar 2009

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Brit Ban for Hate Preachers

THE SUN: TWO American hate preachers were banned tonight from entering Britain by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

Extremist Christian leaders Fred Phelps and daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper had planned to jet into the UK to protest against a play being put on by a gay youth group on Friday.

The fanatics are both members of the US Westboro Baptist Church - a sick sect which calls for homosexuals to be killed and CELEBRATES soldiers' deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Picket

Phelps, 79, and his daughter Shirley, 51, had targeted a performance of The Laramie Project, about the death of an American man killed for being gay.

They had boasted they would picket the play, due to be held at a school arts centre in Basingstoke, Hants.

But the pair will now be stopped by immigration officials on arrival and placed straight on a flight back to the US.

Home Office sources said other church members could also be flagged and stopped if they tried to enter Britain. >>> By Tom Wells | Wednesday, February 18, 2009

PINK NEWS: Labour's Gay Group Asks for Ban on God Hates Fags Church Members

LGBT Labour has written to the Home Office asking that members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church be refused entry into the UK.

The church, a tiny sect with around 60 members, often picket funerals in the US.

They claim God is punishing the world because homosexuality is tolerated.

The group said on their website GodHatesFags.com that they would be protesting at a performance of a gay-themed play in Basingstoke on Friday.

In a letter to Immigration Minister Phil Woolas, LGBT Labour co-chair Simon Wright referred to the Home Office decision to ban a Dutch MP who is critical of Islam from entering the UK because he would harm community relations.

"As the government refused entry to the UK to Geert Wilders last week, it is hoped that the same laws can also be used to prevent this family from entering the UK to spread their hated of homosexuality," said Mr Wright.

At least one Labour and one Tory MP have written to the Home Secretary about the issue. It is highly unlikely that WBC members will try to picket in the UK.

The publicity-hungry group have previously threatened protests in Canada, Australia and Sweden but never turned up. [Source: Pink News] Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk | Thursday, February 19, 2009
Gold Hits Record against Euro on Fear of Zimbabwean-style Response to Bank Crisis

THE TELEGRAPH: Gold has surged to an all-time high against the euro, sterling, and a string of Asian currencies on mounting concerns that global authorities are embarking on a "Zimbabwe-style" debasement of the international monetary system.

"This gold rally is driven by safe-haven fears and has a very different feel from the bull market we've had for the last eight years," said John Reade, chief metals strategist at UBS. "Investors are seeing articles in the press saying governments should deliberately stoke inflation, and they are reacting to it."

Gold jumped to multiple records on Tuesday, triggered by fears that East Europe's banking crisis could set off debt defaults and lead to contagion within the eurozone. It touched €762 an ounce against the euro, £675 against sterling, and 47,783 against India's rupee.

Jewellery demand – usually the mainstay of the industry – has almost entirely dried up and the price is now being driven by investors. They range from the billionaires stashing boxes of krugerrands under the floors of their Swiss chalets (as an emergency fund for total disorder) to the small savers buying the exchange traded funds (ETFs). SPDR Gold Trust has added 200 metric tonnes in the last six weeks. ETF Securities added 62,000 ounces last week alone.

In dollar terms, gold is at a seven-month high of $964. This is below last spring's peak of $1,030 but the circumstances today are radically different. The dollar itself has become a safe haven as the crisis goes from bad to worse – if only because it is the currency of a unified and powerful nation with institutions that have been tested over time. It is not yet clear how well the eurozone's 16-strong bloc of disparate states will respond to extreme stress. The euro dived two cents to $1.26 against the dollar, threatening to break below a 24-year upward trend line.

Crucially, gold has decoupled from oil and base metals, finding once again its ancient role as a store of wealth in dangerous times. >>> By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Wednesday, February 18, 2009

SKY NEWS: Bank To 'Print Money' To Tackle Recession

The Bank of England could begin 'printing money' next month in a bid to tackle the recession.

Minutes of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) showed members were in agreement that more radical measures were needed to ward off deflation.

The committee voted 8-1 in favour of the half point rate reduction of the interest rate to an historic low of 1%.

The Bank of England does not actually print money when it moves to increase the amount of cash in the economy.

Instead it engages in a process known as quantitative easing, whereby it creates money to buy up Government securities - gilts - and private sector assets. >>> | Wednesday, February 18, 2009

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Fed Offers Bleak Economic Outlook

The Federal Reserve cut its economic outlook for 2009 on Wednesday and warned that the United States economy would face an “unusually gradual and prolonged” period of recovery as the country struggles to climb out of a deep global downturn.

In gloomy economic projections released by the central bank, the Fed’s Open Market Committee said it expected that the economy would contract by 0.5 percent to 1.3 percent this year, that unemployment would rise to 8.5 to 8.8 percent and that inflation would remain under greater pressure.

Bleak economic data reflecting a sharpening slide in housing, trade, industrial production, spending and employment rates “more than offset” any potential impact from an economic stimulus plan, the Fed said, forcing it to cut its economic outlook. >>> By Jack Healy | Wednesday, February 18, 2009

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Inside the Saudi Kingdom

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Part 2

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Saudi TV Journalist Nadine Al Bedair on Women in Saudi Arabia


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Clerics Urge New Jihad over Gaza

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Photo courtesy of the BBC

BBC: At a weekend meeting in Istanbul, 200 religious scholars and clerics met senior Hamas officials to plot a new jihad centred on Gaza.

The BBC's Bill Law was the only Western journalist at the meeting.


In a hall crowded with conservative Sunni Muslim sheikhs and scholars, in a hotel close to Istanbul's Ataturk Airport speaker after speaker called for jihad against Israel in support of Hamas.

The choice of Turkey was significant. Arab hardliners were keen to put aside historic differences with the Turks.

As one organiser put it: "During the past 100 years relations have been strained but Palestine has brought us together."

Many delegates spoke appreciatively of the protest by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who stormed out of a Davos debate on Gaza two weeks ago.

The conference, dubbed the Global Anti-Aggression Campaign, also gave impetus to Sunni clerics concerned about the growing power of Hezbollah, the Shia movement backed by Iran, which rose to international prominence in its own war with Israel in 2006.

"Gaza is a gift," the Saudi religious scholar Mohsen al-Awajy told me. He and other delegates repeatedly referred to the Gaza war as "a victory".

"Gaza," he continued, "gives us power, it solves our differences. We are all now in a unified front against Zionism." >>> Bill Law | Tuesday, February 17, 2009

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Autonome attackieren Fernsehsender in Athen: Experten befürchten weitere Verschärfung der Gewalt

NZZ Online: In der griechischen Hauptstadt Athen haben Unbekannte den viertgrössten privaten Fernsehsender Griechenlands angegriffen. Mindestens vier Täter fuhren mit Motorrädern vor das Gebäude des Senders und feuerten danach mehrere Schüsse ab, eine Brandbombe explodierte nicht.

In Griechenland dauert die Serie von Anschlägen an: Unbekannte feuerten am Dienstagabend mehrere Schüsse auf das Gebäude des viertgrössten Fernsehsenders Griechenlands, «Alter», in Athen ab. Verletzt wurde nach übereinstimmenden Berichten griechischer Medien niemand. >>> sda/dpa | Dienstag, Februar 17, 2009

LE FIGARO: Nouvelle vague de violences 
à Athènes

Après une attaque contre une chaîne de télévision et la découverte d'une bombe devant une banque, la police est sur la piste d'un nouveau groupe terroriste.

En à peine vingt-quatre heures, la capitale grecque a semblé retomber dans une série noire. Mardi soir, quatre hommes cagoulés ont tiré à une dizaine de reprises contre les locaux de la chaîne de télévision privée Alter, sans faire de victime.

Mercredi matin, la police a localisé et désamorcé un engin explosif placé dans une voiture garée devant une succursale de la banque américaine Citibank, à Kifissia, banlieue chic d'Athènes. Quelques heures plus tard, un professeur de criminologie, Giannis Panousis, célèbre pour ses analyses dans les médias, a été agressé par quinze inconnus en cagoules, venus interrompre une conférence dans le centre-ville.

Aucune de ces trois actions n'a été revendiquée, mais la police enquête sur la piste de la Secte des révolutionnaires. Ce nouveau groupe terroriste, apparu il y a dix jours lors d'un mini-attentat perpétré contre un commissariat d'Athènes, menace d'exécuter aveuglément des policiers et dénonce la ligne suivie par les médias dans le pays. Dans leur dernier communiqué, envoyé au quotidien Ta Nea, ses membres annonçaient ne pas vouloir «faire de la politique, mais mener une guérilla». Les armes utilisées, un pistolet de 9 mm et un pistolet-mitrailleur de type Skorpion, seraient, selon les premiers éléments de l'enquête, les mêmes que lors d'un précédent attentat contre le commissariat. >>> Alexia Kefalas, Athènes | Mercredi 18 Février 2009

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Clinton will Beziehungen zu Muslimen verbessern

WELT ONLINE: US-Außenministerin Hillary Clinton ist im Rahmen ihrer einwöchigen Asienreise in Indonesien eingetroffen und besucht damit das Land, in dem Barack Obama vier Jahre seiner Kindheit verbracht hat. Der Besuch soll dazu dienen, die angeschlagenen Beziehungen der USA mit der muslimischen Welt zu verbessern.

US-Außenministerin Hillary Clinton ist im Rahmen ihrer ersten Auslandsreise in Indonesien eingetroffen. Am Flughafen von Jakarta wurde sie mit amerikanischen und indonesischen Flaggen von knapp 50 Kindern aus der Grundschule empfangen, die einst der junge Barack Obama besucht hatte. Der US-Präsident lebte als Kind vier Jahre in Indonesien. Clinton will sich bei ihrem zweitägigen Besuch darum bemühen, die Beziehungen zur muslimischen Welt sowie zu den Staaten Südostasiens zu verbessern.

Indonesien ist mit rund 235 Millionen Einwohnern das bevölkerungsreichste muslimische Land der Erde. Die meisten der 190 Millionen Muslime gelten als gemäßigt, die Politik von Expräsident George W. Bush hatte jedoch viele verärgert und mehrfach zu Protesten geführt. Clinton kann bei ihrem Werben für eine Verbesserung der Beziehungen zur Regierung in Jakarta nach Meinung von Beobachtern auf einen Vertrauensvorschuss bauen, den die Indonesier der Regierung Obamas entgegenbringen. >>> AP/dpa/lk | Mittwoch, 18. Februar 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Hillary Clinton Reaches Out to Muslims in Indonesia

THE TELEGRAPH: Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, has pledged a new willingness to work with the Muslim world during a visit to Indonesia.

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Hillary Rodham Clinton at a press conference in Indonesia. ASEAN Secretary, General Surin Pitsuwan, is speaking. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph

Small and scattered protests were held in several cities, with some Islamic hardliners setting tyres on fire and others throwing shoes at caricatures of Mrs Clinton, but her message was warmly received by the country's officials.

She said her choice of Asia for her first overseas trip as President Barack Obama's top diplomat was "no accident" and a sign of the new administration's desire for broader and deeper relations with the continent on regional and global issues. Indonesia and southeast Asia often felt overlooked by the George W Bush administration.

With President Barack Obama wishing to "reach out to the entire world", Mrs Clinton said Indonesia would be an important partner in that effort.

"Certainly Indonesia, being the largest Muslim nation in the world, the third-largest democracy, will play a leading role in the promotion of that shared future," she said. >>> By Alex Spillius, Washington Correspondent | Wednesday, February 18, 2009

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Une thèse de doctorat sur l'enseignement de l'islam crée un tollé en Autriche

LE MONDE: Le contenu d'une thèse doctorale sur l'enseignement de la religion islamique ébranle l'Autriche. Sur les quelque 400 enseignants de l'islam, 22 % rejetteraient la démocratie. Ce n'est certes que le travail d'un étudiant, mais la presse s'enflamme, le personnel politique monte au créneau, on demande la tête du président de la communauté islamique. Après cinq jours de tempête, la ministre de l'enseignement, Claudia Schmied, calme le jeu en passant un pacte avec la communauté : l'enseignement de la religion islamique sera désormais contrôlé par l'Etat autrichien.

L'islam est une des treize religions reconnues depuis l'annexion de la Bosnie par l'Empire austro-hongrois en 1912. A ce titre, elle est enseignée depuis 1982 à environ 40 000 élèves de secondaire de confession musulmane. Les enseignants rétribués par l'Etat sont nommés par la Communauté islamique autrichienne, responsable du programme et de l'élaboration du matériel pédagogique.

L'Etat autrichien a-t-il fait preuve d'un trop grand laxisme en accordant à cette religion les mêmes prérogatives qu'à d'autres ? La thèse de cet étudiant à l'institut de pédagogie de l'université de Vienne, Mouhanad Khorchide, lui-même de confession musulmane et enseignant de religion, a mis le feu aux poudres.

Sur les 210 enseignants ayant répondu à son questionnaire, 22 % rejetteraient la démocratie, jugée incompatible avec l'islam, 29 % tiendraient pour impossible de s'intégrer dans la société autrichienne sans perdre son identité religieuse, 28 % considéreraient qu'être européen et musulman est une contradiction. >>> Vienne correspondance | Mardi 17 Février 2009

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The British Are Insane!

A nation which refuses to uphold its values and traditions will soon cease to exist! – ©Mark

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The Bible courtesy of Google Images

Librarians are being told to move the Bible to the top shelf to avoid giving offence to followers of Islam.

Muslims have complained of finding the Koran on lower shelves, saying it should be put above commonplace things.

So officials have responded with guidance, backed by ministers, that all holy books should be treated equally and go on the top shelf together.

This means that Christian works, which also have immense historical and literary value, will be kept out of the reach and sight of many readers.

The guidance was published by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, a quango answering to Culture Secretary Andy Burnham.

It said Muslims in Leicester had moved copies of the Koran to the top shelves of libraries, in keeping with the belief that the Koran is the all-important word of God.

The report said the city’s librarians consulted the Federation of Muslim Organisations and were advised that all religious texts should be kept on the top shelf.

‘This meant that no offence is caused, as the scriptures of all the major faiths are given respect in this way, but none is higher than any other,’ the guidance added.

Critics said such a move implied religious works should be treated as objects of veneration rather than as books to be read. Robert Whelan of the Civitas think-tank said:

‘Libraries and museums are not places of worship. They should not be run in accordance with particular religious beliefs.

‘This is violating the principles of librarianship and it is part of an insidious trend.’

He said the principle that books should be available to everyone was established in Europe in the Middle Ages.

‘One of the central planks of the Protestant Reformation was that everybody should have access to the Bible,’ he added.

Simon Calvert of the Christian Institute said: ‘It is disappointing if the policy of libraries is dictated by the practices of one group.

‘It is particularly disappointing if this is done to put the scriptures beyond reach.

‘I hope there will be a rethink. I understand that Muslims revere their own text, but in public libraries there should not be a policy of putting religious texts out of reach.’ Libraries Put Bible on Top Shelf in a Sop to Muslims >>> By Steve Doughty | Wednesday, February 18, 2009

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Adolf Hitler Had 'Shocking' Table Manners

The Fuhrer's [sic] behaviour shocked those who dined with him, an intelligence report marked “Destroy in 48 Hours” said

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Hitler dining with his wartime companions. Photo courtesy of The Times

Adolf Hitler's uncouth behaviour and shocking table manners appalled his wartime dining companions, according to a secret intelligence report discovered during a house clearance.

The papers, marked “Must be destroyed within 48 hours of reading”, include a psychological profile of the Nazi dictator based on the interrogation of one of his closest aides.

The aide, an officer who kept the appointments diary at Wolf's Lair, Hitler's military headquarters at Rastenburg in East Prussia, described how the Führer bit his nails during meals, gorged on cakes and was often lost in his own thoughts, paying little attention to the conversation around him. He also spoke about the rages that kept Hitler's senior officers in a state of constant terror.

The papers are part of an intelligence summary prepared as the war neared its end and are believed to have been saved by a British officer. They were found at a house in the South West and are to be sold at auction next month.

The unnamed German officer, a lieutenant colonel referred to as PW — prisoner of war — was based at Wolf's Lair for several months in 1943. He dined with Hitler at least 30 times and observed his daily routine. He told the Allies that Hitler would eat only vegetables and stewed fruit and banned smoking in his presence. His meals would be accompanied by one or two glasses of beer.

“Hitler eats rapidly, mechanically, for him food is merely an indispensable means of subsistence,” PW said. Conversation at the dinner table relaxed Hitler and stimulated his thoughts. When he spoke it was “in mellow baritone, without that raucous, unpleasant stridency of his public speeches”.

But the informant added: “At the table and in his speech he shows many facets of rather uncouth behaviour. He abstractedly bites his fingernails, he runs his index finger back and forth under his nose, and his table manners are little short of shocking.” >>> Simon de Bruxelles | Wednesday, February 18, 2009

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