Spionage-Vorwurf: Iran lässt US-Journalistin Roxana Saberi frei
WELT ONLINE: Die US-iranische Journalistin Roxana Saberi hat das Evin-Gefängnis in Teheran verlassen. Zuvor war in einem Berufungsverfahren ihre Haftstrafe in eine zweijährige Bewährungsstrafe umgewandelt worden. Nach Angaben ihres Vaters Reza Saberi soll die 32-Jährige so bald wie möglich in die USA zurückkehren.

In ihrem Leben vor dem Iran war Saberi Miss North Dakota und stand im Finale um Miss Amerika. Bild dank der Welt
Nach knapp viermonatiger Haft im Iran ist die US-Journalistin Roxana Saberi wieder auf freiem Fuß. Ein Berufungsgericht wandelte am Montag eine achtjährige Gefängnisstrafe in zwei Jahren Haft auf Bewährung um. Die 32 Jahre alte Journalistin wurde daraufhin bereits wenige Stunden später aus dem berüchtigten Evin-Gefängnis in Teheran entlassen.

Saberi, die sowohl die iranische als auch die amerikanische Staatsbürgerschaft hat, war Spionage vorgeworfen worden. Für die Journalistin, die unter anderem für den angesehenen US-Radiosender NPR arbeitete, hatte sich auch der amerikanische Präsident Barack Obama eingesetzt. Er hatte die Spionagevorwürfe als unbegründet zurückgewiesen und ihre Freilassung verlangt. >>> dpa/AFP/fsl | Montag, 11. Mai 2009

Benoît XVI neutralise 
la polémique à Yad Vashem
LEFIGARO: Le recueillement du pape allemand a surmonté la plupart des réticences suscitées par son passé.

Le Pape, Benoît XVI, et le président israélien, Shimon Pérès, lundi dans les jardins de la résidence présidentielle à Jérusalem. Photo grâce au Figaro
La visite de Yad Vashem par Benoît XVI, au Mémorial de l'Holocauste à Jérusalem, devait être le moment le plus lourd de symboles de la visite papale. Elle a finalement montré à quel point les relations entre l'Église catholique et les Juifs étaient apaisées.

Un pape allemand ? «Je ne le vois pas en fonction de sa nationalité. Je le vois comme le chef des Églises catholiques et je lui présente tout le respect qu'il mérite», dit Edward Mosberg, un rescapé de l'Holocauste qu'a rencontré lundi Benoît XVI. «Il n'y a rien de compliqué dans sa visite. Le Pape représente l'Église. Je représente mon peuple. Nous nous serrons la main», affirme Dan Landesberg, un autre rescapé.

Depuis l'établissement des relations diplomatiques entre Israël et le Vatican, et la visite de Jean-Paul II en 2000, beaucoup de malentendus ont été levés. Les récentes polémiques, qui ont accompagné le début du procès en béatification de Pie XII, puis la réhabilitation de l'évêque négationniste Mgr Williamson, sont presque retombées.

Les quatre ministres israéliens du parti ultra-orthodoxe séfarade Shass ont tout de même boycotté lundi la réception de Benoît XVI chez le président Shimon Pérès. «Ils ont choisi de ne pas participer à cette réception en raison du passé du Pape dans les Jeunesses hitlériennes et par respect pour les victimes de la Shoah», a affirmé le porte-parole du parti, Roï Lachmanovitch. Le président du mémorial de Yad Vashem, le rabbin Israel Meir Lau, lui-même rescapé de la Shoah, le seul de toute sa famille exterminée dans les camps, a aussi émis des réserves sur le discours du Pape. «Quelque chose manquait. Il n'a mentionné ni les nazis qui ont participé à la boucherie, ni prononcé un mot de regret.»

Mais ces voix sont restées relativement isolées. Un encart signé par les principaux rabbins israéliens, saluant l'arrivée du Pape, a été publié lundi dans les principaux journaux du pays. Jean-Paul II avait été l'artisan du rapprochement de l'Église avec les Juifs. Sa visite au mur des Lamentations est restée dans les mémoires. >>> De correspondant du Figaro à Jérusalem, Adrien Jaulmes | Mardi 12 Mai 2009

Une architecte pour la 1001e mosquée d'Istanbul
LEFIGARO: La designer Zeynep Fadillioglu a dessiné les formes de la mosquée Sakirin, inaugurée vendredi.

La mosquée Sakirin. Photo grâce au Figaro
Dans la ville aux mille minarets, la dernière-née des mosquées porte une empreinte résolument féminine. Dehors, avec sa coupole et ses formes architecturales courbes, l'édifice est tout en rondeur. À l'intérieur, des versets dorés du Coran ondulent le long des murs en verre, enveloppant les fidèles dans un cocon. Érigée sur la rive asiatique d'Istanbul, la mosquée Sakirin, qui a été inaugurée vendredi dernier, constitue une première en Turquie : commanditée par une riche famille turco-saoudienne, elle a été conçue par une femme.

Signe que le symbole est d'importance, Emine Erdogan, l'épouse du premier ministre, et Ali Bardakoglu, le président de la direction des affaires religieuses, ont assisté à la cérémonie d'ouverture. «À ma connaissance, dans le reste du monde, jamais une telle tâche n'a été confiée à une femme, raconte la responsable de l'ouvrage, Zeynep Fadillioglu. J'ai pleuré quand le projet m'a été proposé.» >>> Laure Marchand, à Istanbul | Lundo 11 Mai 2009

Dhimmitude Alert! BBC Appoints Muslim to Top Religious Post in Controversial First
The disgusting broadcasting organisation which calls itself the British Broadcasting Corporation has gone and done it again!

The BBC is nothing but an orgainisation which specializes in social engineering. If you are sick and tired of the way this company operates, then you will also be sick and tired of having to pay the licence fee.

It is high time that the licence fee were scrapped. Let the fat cats at the BBC forage for their fat salaries in the private sector as others have to do. We’ll see how much social engineering they’ll do then.

The BBC has outlived its usefulness. The organisation broadcasts mostly rubbish anyway. Their news broadcasts are hardly worth watching. Now even the religious programmes won’t be worth watching either. The new programmes are sure to whitewash Islam and portray the cult as a ‘religion of peace’. Doubtless, the Jihad – you know, the BIG push to take over the world – will be ignored. Brushed aside.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the United Kingdom as we knew and loved it is becoming a thing of the past. Our so-called leaders, corrupt as they are, haven’t got the balls to protect us from the backwardness that is Islam; and then we have the BBC pushing the cause of Islam whilst largely ignoring Christianity, thus helping to usher in the New Dark Age.

Sad story! – ©Mark

Aaqil Ahmed has been appointed the Head of Religion and Ethics. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: The BBC yesterday appointed a Muslim as its head of religious programming in a radical departure from broadcasting tradition.

The post - considered one of the most influential religious roles in the country - has gone to Aaqil Ahmed, who has been working as an executive at Channel 4.

The appointment will cause dismay among the Christian churches.

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams raised concerns over the prospect of a Muslim head of religious broadcasting during a meeting with the corporation's director general Mark Thompson in March.

It comes at a time of deepening worries among Christian leaders that their faith is being sidelined and downgraded by authorities.

Both Dr Williams and Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu have made repeated public complaints over the indifference and occasional hostility to Christianity shown in Whitehall and from other authorities.

Last year the BBC gave the job of producing its most popular and longrunning religious programme, Songs of Praise, to a Sikh, Tommy Nagra.

The Church of England points out that 70 per cent of the population of Britain professes to be Christian, but only 3 per cent are Muslims. >>> By Steve Doughty | Tuesday, May 12, 2009

City Bankers Are Already Lining Up for Bonuses Again
After helping the world get into its financial mess, bankers at HSBC are now lining up for renewed bonuses. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: HSBC bankers are in line for bumper bonus payouts after an 'encouraging' jump in profits.

While the company's performance added impetus to a day of good economic news, the re-emergence of the City's discredited bonus system will be an embarrassment for Gordon Brown, who has promised to outlaw reckless behaviour in the Square Mile.

Taxpayer-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland has already started offering 'guaranteed' bonuses to traders in defiance of promises it made to rein in no-strings-attached rewards.

And Barclays is gearing up for massive payouts after profits rose 15 per cent in the first three months of 2009.

The culture of extravagant bonuses encouraged bankers to take ever bigger risks, laying the ground for the gravest financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. >>> By Simon Duke | Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Indian MPs Grow Richer — But the Poor Still Survive on £1.30 a Day
Lal Krishna Advani. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: Indian MPs running in this year’s election have become almost 300 per cent richer on average since the last poll in 2004, and one is more than 90 times wealthier, according to the first detailed study of their financial assets.

The report by National Election Watch, a coalition of non-government organisations, proves for the first time what many had long suspected — that MPs have enriched themselves in office while life has remained a struggle for the 880 million Indians surviving on less than $2 (£1.30) a day.

Under a Supreme Court ruling in 2003, all election candidates must disclose their assets, educational qualifications and any criminal background.

The report takes the assets declared by 300 MPs running in this year’s month-long election, which ends tomorrow, and compares them with their declarations in 2004. It shows that 14 MPs disclosed a tenfold increase in their wealth over the past five years. Thirty, including a Cabinet minister, declared a fivefold increase and 175 reported a rise of more than 100 per cent.

“Politics has become a huge money-making business,” said Trilochan Sastry, the Dean of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, who led the study. Most members of the 543-seat Parliament — 128 of whom face criminal charges — had under- reported their wealth, he added. >>> Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent | Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI Seeks to End Jewish-Catholic Tension over Holocaust
THE TELEGRAPH: The Pope sought to end years of tension between Catholics and Jews when he called for the victims of the Holocaust never to be forgotten.

Pope Benedict XVI at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
Speaking at Yad Vashem, the memorial to the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis which crowns wooded hills in west Jerusalem, he specifically called for their suffering never to be denied.

But his remarks failed to satisfy the chairman of Yad Vashem. Rabbi Israel Meir Lau said there was "something missing'' in the Pope's remarks and complained the pontiff had not expressed an apology or even regret.

Speaking on the first day of his visit to Israel, Benedict said: "May the names of these victims never perish. May their suffering never be denied, belittled or forgotten.

"As we stand here in silence, their cry still echoes in our hearts. It is a cry raised against every act of injustice and violence."

His remarks were a clear attempt to draw a line under diplomatic tensions between the Vatican and Israel caused by his decision to lift the excommunication of a breakaway British bishop who has denied key aspects of the Holocaust. >>> By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem | Monday, May 11, 2009

Guess Whose Make-up Regimen This Is…
1. Transparent Brush. Foam all over.
2. Small pot under eyes, dimple, creases, blend in.
3. Clinique. Super balanced make-up. All over again, like painting a wall, and ears. Shut eyes over lids then with make-up pad smooth over liquid.
4. Powder (dark brush) terracotta Guerlain, all over. Answer here >>> The Telegraph | Monday, May 11, 2009

High Class Welfare!
THE TELEGRAPH: Senior Conservatives have subsidised their country estates at taxpayers’ expense, with the upkeep of swimming pools, clearance of moats and even the salaries of domestic staff, all claimed on parliamentary expenses.

The Daily Telegraph discloses how Tory grandees have received tens of thousands of pounds to maintain manor houses and stately homes. One claimed successfully towards the cost of a full-time housekeeper with a salary package of £14,000 a year, along with a claim including £2,000 for clearing the moat surrounding his manor house. Another was allowed to claim for a “helipad” to be maintained.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, was understood to be “appalled” by the latest allegations and was considering taking disciplinary action. Tories who have broken the rules on expenses could be sacked, Mr Cameron has suggested.

The disclosures will further alarm taxpayers and add to concern over the operation of the House of Commons fees office, which is supposed to police the parliamentary expenses system. MPs' Expenses: Paying Bills for Tory Grandees >>> By Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor | Tuesday, May 12, 2009

MAIL Online: MPs' EXPENSES: Lord Tebbit Defies Tories to Tell Voters: 'Don't Vote for ANY Party in European Elections'

Lord Tebbit. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
Lord Tebbit is risking expulsion from the Conservatives after urging voters not to back the party in next month's European elections.

The former Tory chairman said the vote gave anyone outraged by MPs' abuse of expenses an 'ideal opportunity' to send a message to all three main parties by not voting for any of them.

The call from a senior party grandee is an extraordinary challenge to David Cameron's authority in the run-up to the June 4 poll.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, 78-year-old Lord Tebbit said it was clear that Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs had been behaving like 'welfare junkies' addicted to abusing their Commons allowances.

'Local elections, the great British public should treat just as normal,' he said. 'But at the European elections, in my judgment they should send a very sharp message to the leaders of the three national parties by not voting for any of the national party candidates.'

Norman Tebbit, who was one of Margaret Thatcher's closest allies, refused to say which of the smaller parties he believed voters should back.

'I wouldn't seek to give any advice on that,' he said. 'But if there was an enormous fall in the vote for the major parties, the message might get through.' >>> By James Chapman | Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Austerity Britain: Why the Far Right Is Finding Converts in Barnsley
Pub-goers in Barnsley listening to a characteristically uncompromising Nick Griffin denounce privatisations and express sympathy for striking miners. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: Outside a large, modern pub on the edge of Barnsley, penned in by police, 150 demonstrators chant “Nazi scum off our streets” and “String ’em up like Mussolini”. Inside, Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, is whipping up 300 white, working-class supporters — men and women, young and old — with a speech tailor-made for these days of deepening recession, rising unemployment and profound disillusion with expenses-fiddling mainstream politicians.

“This country is full. It’s time to shut the doors and look after our own people,” he declares from a platform adorned with a huge Union Jack. Britain should leave the European Union so it can stop the “huge swamping wave of mass immigration from places like Poland which has put hundreds of thousands of our people out of a job”. Instead of bailing out “greedy, corrupt, incompetent banks”, Westminster’s “scumbag, thieving politicians” should be using those billions to rebuild British industry.

Mr Griffin expresses sympathy for the 1984 miners strike, triggered by the closure of the Cortonwood colliery in Barnsley. He denounces the Government’s privatisation programme. He accuses Labour of crushing ordinary people to ensure maximum profit for its corporate financiers. “It has sold out,” he thunders. “The old Labour Party is dead. Long live the new party for British workers — the BNP.” >>> Martin Feltcher | Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Al-Qaeda Chief Commits Suicide in Libyan Prison, Report Says
THE TELEGRAPH: A senior al-Qaeda commander in contact with British human rights workers has reportedly committed suicide in jail in Libya.

Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, whose real name was Ali Mohammed al-Fakheri, 46, took his own life in his prison cell, according to the Libyan newspaper Oea.

Information gained from the interrogation of al-Libi was cited on several occasions by the Bush administration as justification for the war in Iraq.

He told his CIA interrogators that al-Qaeda had sent two men to Iraq to seek training in chemical and biological weapons in December 2000. Classified documents added that the men did not return, so al-Libi did not know whether the training took place, and that, in any case, he was probably "intentionally misleading the debriefers".

Al-Libi recanted the story in January 2004, although George Tenet, the former director of the CIA, wrote later: "The fact is, we don't know which story is true, and since we don't know, we can assume nothing."

Noman Benotman, a Libyan who was once close to al-Libi, said two years ago that al-Libi had been sent to Libya, adding that he was "extremely ill, suffering from tuberculosis and diabetes". >>> By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | Tuesday, May 11, 2009

Tony Blair Has Helped Destroy One of the Oldest Churches on Earth
Arrogant, but stupid; know-it-all, but vacuous. Tony Blair – the man that screwed things up. Highly-paid because people are stupid and gullible. Photo: Google Images
TELEGRAPH BLOGS: If George Bush and Tony Blair were "crusaders", as Muslims insist, then they were the worst in history. Worst, that is, as in the most ineffective. What other Crusade has resulted in the Christian population of a country being almost totally destroyed?

Now that the Americans are leaving Iraq, the ancient Christian community, who converted in the second century while our ancestors were still worshipping rocks, and who still speak Aramaic, will pay the ultimate price. Nice one, Tony, you've helped to destroy one of the oldest Christian communities on earth and with it the language of Christ. Stick that on the wall of your inter-faith centre. >>> Ed West | Monday, May 11, 2009

Muslim Chef 'Refused to Cook Sausages and Bacon for Police Officers' Breakfasts'
Muslim chef Hasanali Khoja at the Employment tribunal in Watford. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
How much longer have the indigenous Brits got to put up with this nonsense? When will our leaders and politicians find their balls and do something to stop this incessant BS? Muslims do NOT fit in in any normal society. They never have, and they never will! Wake up and face the reality! These people are taking Britain and the rest of the West for a ride. They are playing us like a musician plays his banjo! This is all childish, senseless crap! And it should STOP! Grown men are not supposed to behave this way. – ©Mark

MAIL Online: A Muslim chef asked to cook sausages and bacon for '999 breakfasts' at his job with the Metropolitan Police is claiming damages for religious discrimination.

Hasanali Khoja, 60, accuses Scotland Yard of refusing to guarantee that he would not have to handle pork, which is forbidden in Islam.

He said even wearing gloves and using tongs to cook would not protect him from the risk of splashes, and that when he had raised the issue of pork handling at his interview in 2004 for the catering role he was told no food handling would be involved as it was a supervisory role.

He also alleged today that a human resources manager pulled faces and made racist gestures during a meeting to resolve the situation.

'I was very humiliated and stressed out and was unable to continue,' he said.

Mr Khoja, from Edgware, north west London, told the tribunal in Watford, Hertfordshire, that he had refused to handle pork products even if gloves and tongs were provided.

'The reason for this refusal is because of the fact it is well known that if you are cooking bacon or sausages, which I was asked to do, I was exposed to splash and contact with pork which I object to.

'Gloves and tongs would not make any difference.' >>> By Daily Mail Reporter | Monday, May 11, 2009

Why Should Italy Be a Multi-ethnic Society? Tell the Lefties and the Catholic Church to Go Sit on It!
TIMESONLINE: Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, today came under fire from the Catholic Church as well as the Left after declaring that Italy was not and should not be a multi-ethnic society.

Mr Berlusconi's centre Right coalition won power a year ago partly by vowing to crack down on crime and illegal immigration. This weekend he praised Libya for taking back 500 would be migrants who have been intercepted by Italian naval vessels over the past five days, under a new Italian-Libyan accord.

"The Left's idea is of a multi-ethnic Italy," Mr Berlusconi told a news conference. "That is not our idea, ours is to welcome only those who meet the conditions for political asylum."

Italy was once itself a country of emigrants, but now sees itself as in the front line of an assault by poor and often desperate African, Asian and other migrants trying to get into Europe. The centre Left opposition however condemned Mr Berlusconi's remarks as racist. Silvio Berlusconi under Fire over Anti-immigration Remarks >>> Richard Owen | Sunday, May 19, 2009

Journalist Roxana Saberi Freed by Iranian Appeal Court Verdict
THE TELEGRAPH: Roxana Saberi, an American journalist convicted in Iran on spying charges, is to be freed after an appeals court downgraded her sentence.

Lawyers for the 32-year old said the court had reduced the eight-year jail sentence to a suspended two-year term and she would soon be freed.

The Iranian-American television reporter had lived in Iran for six years before she was charged with "cooperating with a hostile state" after her arrest in January. The harsh sentence provoked an international backlash that prompted Iran's hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to express concern that she had received due process. After his intervention the head of the Iranian judicary asked for the appeal court review.

"The verdict of the previous court has been quashed," lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said. "Her punishment has been changed to a suspended two-year sentence and she will be out of prison." >>> By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Monday, May 11, 2009

Egypt: State-owned Media Hail Obama's Upcoming Visit
Obama in the front and a Cairo mosque in the background. Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The Egyptian press on Sunday celebrated President Barack Obama’s decision to deliver his address to the Muslim world from Egypt, hailing the move as an American acknowledgment of this nation's regional clout.

“The selection of Cairo stresses the fact that . . . Egypt is the heart of both the Arab and Muslim worlds and is the voice of reason and wisdom that helped the region overcome crises," wrote Osama Saraya, editor in chief of the semi-official Ahram daily. "Egypt is still with its Arabism and Islamic thought the most influential force. Its flag is still the most capable of bringing all Arabs and Muslims together.”

"This is a continuing effort of the president to engage the Muslim world," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. "The president has high hopes for a stronger relationship." Obama is expected to deliver his address on June 4. Some Muslim clerics have reportedly called upon the president to speak at al-Azhar, the oldest and most prestigious Sunni institution in the Muslim world. >>> Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo | Sunday, May 10, 2009

WORLDNETDAILY:
Obama Could Address Muslims from Top Mosque: Egypt's grand mufti invites president to speak at prominent sharia center >>> By Aaron Klein | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Un dialogo senza ambiguità
CORRIERA DELLA SERA: Benedetto XVI è giunto oggi a Tel Aviv dopo la sua prima tappa in Giordania. Questo lungo viaggio in Terra santa del Papa avrà certamente an­cora molti momenti sa­lienti ma un primo bilan­cio è reso possibile dal­l’accoglienza che gli è sta­ta fin qui riservata e dalle parole, forti e inequivoca­bili, che egli ha già pro­nunciato sui rapporti fra il cristianesimo, l'ebrai­smo e l'islam.



Il viaggio del Papa è di estrema delicatezza. Non solo perché si svolge nei luoghi che sono, oggi co­me mille anni fa, il terre­no di incontro/scontro fra le tre religioni mono­teiste. E non solo perché è proprio lì, in Medio Oriente, che si addensa­no, si sovrappongono e si intrecciano i più gravi ele­menti di conflitto che mi­naccino oggi la stabilità mondiale. E' di estrema delicatezza anche perché il Papa vi è giunto prece­duto da una lunga scia di polemiche e incompren­sioni che hanno fin qui segnato i suoi rapporti sia con l'ebraismo che con l'islam.

Sul Monte Nebo, in Giordania, Benedetto XVI ha colto l'occasione per ri­badire con solennità quanto ha peraltro già detto e scritto in molte oc­casioni. Ha affermato con enfasi quanto speciale sia il rapporto fra cristianesi­mo e ebraismo, quanto «inseparabile» sia il vin­colo che li unisce. Forse non tutte le incompren­sioni spariranno di colpo ma sono state poste le ba­si per un loro superamen­to. Benedetto XVI ha par­lato così agli ebrei ma an­che, contestualmente, ai cristiani. Ha voluto dire agli uni e agli altri che an­che gli ultimi detriti so­pravvissuti dell'antico an­tigiudaismo cristiano de­vono essere spazzati via senza indugio dalle co­scienze. Inoltre, la sua presenza in Israele oggi, nella condizione presen­te, vale più di mille rico­noscimenti diplomatici. E' un'implicita affermazio­ne del diritto all'esistenza dello Stato di Israele con­tro coloro che vorrebbero cancellarlo. >>> Angelo Panebianco | Lunedi 11 maggio 2009

German, French Leaders Emphasize Opposition to Turkey Joining EU
HÜRRIYET: ISTANBUL - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday reiterated their opposition to Turkey joining the EU as the two leaders geared up for next month's European Parliament elections.

Merkel, who has advocated having a vaguely defined partnership with Turkey, said at an event organized by her conservative Christian Democrats before the June 7 European Parliament vote that "we cannot take in everyone in Europe as a full member."

"We have to talk about the borders of this Europe," she was quoted by AP as saying. "It makes no sense if there are ever more members, and we can’t decide anything anymore," she added.

"It is right that we say to people in the European election campaign ... our common position is: a privileged partnership for Turkey, but no full membership," Merkel said.

Turkey began EU membership negotiations in 2005, but progress has since largely ground to a halt because of disagreements over the divided island of Cyprus and strong opposition in some member countries like France, Germany and Austria.

Neither country, however, has blocked the talks, and Germany's other main coalition party – the Social Democrats – supports EU membership for Turkey.

U.S. President Barack Obama has also urged the EU to embrace Turkey as a full member.

Sarkozy, a longtime opponent of Turkish membership, last week advocated discussing a common economic and security forum with Turkey as an alternative.

"When Angela Merkel says Europe must have borders, she is right – because a Europe without borders would be a Europe without a will, without identity, without values," he said at Sunday's event, where he was a guest of honor as France's leading conservative. >>> | Monday, May 11, 2009

An Opening for New Relations
HAARETZ Editorial: Pope Benedict XVI, who arrives in Jerusalem today, joins two of his predecessors who visited Israel in the past - Paul VI in 1964 and John Paul II in 2000. A visit by the head of the Catholic Church to Israel always generates interest because of Jews' dark history of persecution in Christian Europe and the unequivocal link between Christianity and Judaism. The pope's visit bears great importance for the strengthening of Israel's international standing and for improving ties between Jews and Christians.

The Vatican's stance on Jerusalem differs from that of the Israeli government, and this requires complex and sensitive arrangements in planning the pontiff's visit to the holy city. Yet the visit will highlight Israel's commitment to freedom of worship at the Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and the Galilee.

Benedict has been a controversial figure since assuming the papacy in 2005. As a German who was a member of the Hitler Youth and a soldier in the Wehrmacht, which he deserted before the Nazi regime fell, his actions and policies regarding Jews and the Holocaust have been subject to tight scrutiny. He touched off a torrent of criticism after he announced he would declare sainthood for Pius XII, who is accused of remaining silent in the knowledge that Jews were being slaughtered during World War II. >>> Haaretz Editorial | Monday, May 11, 2009

Sweden’s Greens: Opposition to Turkey Due to Islamophobia
Ms Ruwaida: Opposition to Turkey's accession to the EU has nothing to do with Islamophobia; rather, it has all to do with common sense! – ©Mark

TODAY’S ZAMAN: Some European countries such as Germany and France oppose Turkey's membership in the European Union because of their Islamopohobic stance, a senior member of Sweden's Green Party has said.

"What they do is xenophobic," said Yvonne Ruwaida, a member of the executive board of the Green Party (Miljöpartiet de Gröna), during a visit to Steg för Framtiden” (A step for the future), an association established by Turkish entrepreneurs, in Stockholm on Saturday. She was referring to objections to Turkey's membership raised by a small number of politicians in Sweden, as well as in France and Germany. "This is Islamophobia. They fear that the whole of Europe will be invaded by Islam and are therefore trying to stop Turkish accession," she said. "It is very sad that such things are being discussed. Membership of a country should be assessed on the basis of objective criteria."

Sweden, a firm supporter of Turkey's accession to the EU, is preparing to take over the EU's rotating presidency in June. The Swedish Green Party is one of the most consistent supporters of Turkey in the country. Mehmet Kaplan, son of a Turkish immigrant family, is in the leadership of the party. >>> Ramazan Kerpeten, Stockholm | Monday, May 11, 2009

Pope Underlines Support for a Palestinian State
Pope Benedict XVI with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (front row, 2nd L) and Israel's President Shimon Peres (front row, 2nd R) at a welcoming ceremony at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport Monday. Photo courtesy of The New York Times

THE NEW YORK TIMES: JERUSALEM — On the fourth day of his first trip to the Middle East as pope, Benedict XVI arrived Monday in Israel and immediately called for a solution to the conflict that would yield a “homeland of their own” for both Palestinians and Israelis.

While he did not use the word “state,” he made clear in a brief speech that he was underscoring the Vatican’s previous support for the creation of a Palestinian state, albeit with a stronger resonance imparted by the setting and timing of his remarks within minutes of arriving in Israel.

“The eyes of the world are upon the peoples of this region as they struggle to achieve a just and lasting solution to conflicts that have caused so much suffering,” he told Israeli leaders who met him at the airport in Tel Aviv when he arrived from Jordan.

“The hopes of countless men, women and children for a more secure and stable future depend on the outcome of negotiations for peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” he said. >>> By Rachel Donadio | Monday, May 11, 2009

U.S. Journalist to Be Freed Soon in Iran, Her Lawyer Says
Photo courtesy of The Independent
THE NEW YORK TIMES: TEHRAN— An Iranian-American journalist who was sentenced to eight years of jail on spying charges for Washington will be released Monday after an appeal court reduced the sentence, her lawyer said.

Saleh Nikbakht, one of the two lawyers who defended Roxana Saberi in an appeal hearing on Sunday, said the court turned down the eight-year jail term and issued a two-year suspended prison term, the ISNA Student News Agency reported.

“The verdict was given to me in person today,” Mr. Nikbakht was quoted as saying. “The appeals court turned down the original sentence.”

“She will be released today,” Mr. Nikbakht was quoted as saying. >>> By Nazila Fathi | Monday, May 11, 2009

Cheap Jibes, Braggadocio, and Harlequins: President Obama at the White House Correspondents' Dinner

'Torture' Techniques Kept US Safe: Cheney
Dick Cheney ... blasted Barack Obama. Photo courtesy of The Sydney Morning Herald
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Former US vice-president Dick Cheney says intelligence extracted from tough interrogations of suspected al-Qaeda militants had saved "perhaps hundreds of thousands" of US lives.

"No regrets. I think it was absolutely the right thing to do," he said on CBS television arguing that techniques decried by critics as torture were essential to break the resistance of captured extremists.

"I'm convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of lives," Cheney said, arguing again that al-Qaeda was bent on attacking a US city with a nuclear device.

But at the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents' Association late on Saturday, President Barack Obama skewered Cheney's doomsday view of the world for comic effect.

"Dick Cheney was supposed to be here but he is very busy working on his memoirs, tentatively titled How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People," he quipped.

In one of his first acts as president, Obama reversed predecessor George W Bush's approval of harsh interrogation methods such as "waterboarding", or simulated drowning.

Recently released memorandums detail the reasoning used by Bush administration lawyers to justify waterboarding and other techniques such as sleep deprivation, physical slaps and painful "stress positions".

Cheney reaffirmed his belief that Obama had made the US more vulnerable to attack, and condemned calls by Democratic lawmakers for the Bush legal officials to face prosecution. >>> AFP | Monday, May 11, 2009

Holy Land Visit a Minefield for Pope
GLOBEAND MAIL: Benedict aims to ease tensions with both Jews and Muslims

JERUSALEM — On a self-declared pilgrimage of peace, Pope Benedict XVI is walking into a minefield.

In the four short years of his papacy, he has succeeded in upsetting the Muslim world with his reference to an anti-Islamic tract, and in alienating many Jews by his resuscitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop and backing of the beatification of Nazi-era Pope Pius XII.

Yet, here he is today, hoping to make amends, wading into one of the holiest sites of both religions, with recent conflicts still smouldering and the eyes of the world upon him.

“The thing that worries me most is the speech that the Pope will deliver here,” said Fouad Twal, the Pope's Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem. “One word for the Muslims and I'm in trouble; one word for the Jews and I'm in trouble. At the end of the visit the Pope goes back to Rome and I stay here with the consequences.”

Regardless of the risks, the Pope began his homage to Judaism on Saturday at Mount Nebo, in Jordan. Looking across the valley at Moses's Promised Land, he spoke of the inseparable bond between his church and the Jewish people.

“From the beginning, the church in these lands has commemorated in her liturgy the great figures of the [Jewish] patriarchs and prophets, as a sign of her profound appreciation of the unity of the two testaments [of the Bible],” the Pope said.

With the ancient link established, the Pope, as his first order of business today, visits Yad Vashem, Israel's shrine to the victims of the Holocaust and touchstone of the modern Jewish state.

“We expect that Pope Benedict XVI's speech at Yad Vashem will include a reference to the memory of the Holocaust in the present as well as in the future,” Avner Shalev, Yad Vashem's chairman of the directorate, told reporters. Mr. Shalev recalled that the Pope, as Joseph Ratzinger, spent his childhood as a member of the Hitler Youth and later enlisted in the German army.

“It is impossible to claim that these things do not have an impact,” he said. “A person's habitat bears an influence on him, despite the fact that immediately after the war he disengaged from these things and devoted himself to studying religion.” >>> Patrick Martin | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Naturalized Citizens Are Poised to Reshape California's Political Landscape
Efren Curiel, 45, is sworn in as a naturalized U.S. citizen in March at the Quiet Cannon Country Club in Montebello. California’s 300,000 naturalized citizens accounted for nearly one-third of the nation’s total. Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES TIMES: The increase in naturalized Asian and Latino citizens -- 300,000 people took the oath of allegiance in 2008 -- could alter the state's policy priorities for years to come, analysts say.

More than 1 million immigrants became U.S. citizens last year, the largest surge in history, hastening the ethnic transformation of California's political landscape with more Latinos and Asians now eligible to vote.

Leading the wave, California's 300,000 new citizens accounted for nearly one-third of the nation's total and represented a near-doubling over 2006, according to a recent report by the U.S. Office of Immigration Statistics. Florida recorded the second-largest group of new citizens, and Texas claimed the fastest growth.

Mexicans, who have traditionally registered low rates of naturalization, represented the largest group, with nearly one-fourth of the total. They were followed by Indians, Filipinos, Chinese, Cubans and Vietnamese.

The new citizens are reshaping California's electorate and are likely to reorder the state's policy priorities, some political analysts predict. Several polls show that Latinos and Asians are more supportive than whites of public investments and broad services, even if they require higher taxes. >>> By Teresa Watanabe | Monday, May 11, 2009

New Dark Age Alert! Afghanistan und Pakistan: Wenn wir nicht zum Krieg gehen, kommt er zu uns
WELT ONLINE: Es wäre eine weltweite Apokalypse: Atomwaffen in der Hand von Osama bin Laden. Das zeigt, dass es in Afghanistan und Pakistan für den Westen um alles geht. Dort entscheidet sich in diesen Monaten, ob die Islamisten die Erde erben oder ob der Weltentwurf des Westens noch eine Chance hat.

Die Situation in Afghanistan und Pakistan zeigt dem Westen die Grenzen seiner Macht. Bild dank der Welt
Was als Blitzkrieg begann in den Bergen Afghanistans, Antwort auf die Zerstörung des World Trade Center in New York, ist zum Abnutzungskrieg geworden und reicht weit über das Land am Hindukusch hinaus. Deutschland kann sich dem nicht entziehen. Das neue Codewort der Obama-Strategie in Südasien heißt AfPak. Es zeigt an, dass der Afghanistan-Konflikt bei genauer Betrachtung aus vier Kriegen jeweils verschiedener Art besteht. Sie verschließen sich einfachen Lösungen, sind indessen für die Sicherheit der USA und der Alliierten, eingeschlossen Deutschland, entscheidend.

Da ist zuerst der Krieg in Afghanistan, wo die Isaf-Truppen noch immer hinreichend Unterstützung finden in der Bevölkerung, die allerdings ethnisch zerklüftet und zerrissen ist, der eigenen Regierung nicht traut und überleben will, notfalls durch Geschäfte mit beiden Seiten. Dahinter erstreckt sich der Grenzkonflikt in den unwegsamen, unregierbaren Regionen Westpakistans, wo die al-Qaida ihre Sanktuarien findet und die Amerikaner nicht kämpfen dürfen, die Pakistaner kaum können.

Damit verbunden ist, drittens, der Kampf auf Leben und Tod in Pakistan zwischen den Dschihadisten und einer schwachen Regierung, die Armee und Geheimdiensten kaum trauen kann. Zuletzt und vor allem geht es um den Kampf der USA an der Hightech-Front gegen die al-Qaida und deren gewalttätige Verbündete. Der Schlüssel liegt weiterhin in der Frage, wem Afghanistan gehört. Dort entscheidet sich in diesen Monaten, ob die Islamisten die Erde erben oder ob der Weltentwurf des Westens noch eine Chance hat.

„Graveyard of Empires“ (Totenacker der Imperien) nannten die Briten das unwegsame Land, als sie noch über Indien herrschten und den Khyberpass gegen die Russen behaupteten. Den Russen wurde Afghanistan zum Trauma, vor 30 Jahren Anfang vom Ende ihres Imperiums. Gegenwärtig entscheidet sich die Zukunft Pakistans in Afghanistan, die Zukunft Afghanistans in Pakistan. Für Amerika und die Verbündeten geht es um den höchsten Einsatz im zentralen Krieg des neuen Zeitalters. Damit verbunden ist der Preis aller Preise: etwa 60 nukleare Gefechtsköpfe, gegenwärtig noch unter verlässlicher Kontrolle der pakistanischen Armee – aber wie lang? In der Hand Osama Bin Ladens und seiner Leute würde daraus das Instrument der weltweiten Apokalypse. >>> Von Michael Stürmer | Sonntag, 10. Mai 2009

Sarkozy et Merkel relancent 
le couple franco-allemand
LE FIGARO: La chancelière allemande avait invité dimanche le président français à un meeting de la CDU, à Berlin, pour marquer la bonne entente entre les deux pays.

Nicolas Sarkozy, accompagné de Rachida Dati et Brice Hortefeux, lors du meeting commun avec Angela Merkel, dimanche à Berlin. Photo grâce au Figaro
Parfois soupçonné, outre-Rhin, de tiédeur à l'égard de l'Allemagne, Nicolas Sarkozy s'est livré à une offensive de charme à Berlin. Venu participer, dimanche, à un meeting commun avec Angela Merkel pour le scrutin européen du 7 juin, le président français a su trouver les mots pour témoigner de son amitié à la République fédérale, qui fête son soixantième anniversaire le 22 mai. Devant les jeunes de la CDU, le parti chrétien-démocrate de la chancelière allemande, il a défendu sa vision d'une «Europe qui agit» en soulignant l'importance de l'axe Paris-Berlin pour faire avancer les choses.

À leur arrivée, pour le premier meeting commun de deux dirigeants dans une campagne européenne, Merkel et Sarkozy ont été longuement ovationnés. Pour le président français, l'amitié entre la France et l'Allemagne est «le trésor le plus précieux pour l'Europe et le monde entier». «La France vous aime, la France vous admire, la France est votre amie, a-t-il lancé aux jeunes conservateurs allemands, rassemblés sur la Potsdammer Platz. La France ne vous craint pas. Elle veut vous ressembler dans l'excellence.» Interrogé par le quotidien populaire Bild, Sarkozy avait expliqué, dimanche, les raisons de son attachement à l'Allemagne, donnant ainsi de lui une image plus chaleureuse. >>> De correspondant du Figaro à Berlin, Patrick Saint-Paul | Lundi 11 Mai 2009

L’ÉDITORIAL DU FIGARO: Un couple franco-allemand en devenir

Après avoir eu longtemps du mal à se comprendre, Nicolas Sarkozy et Angela Merkel multiplient les gestes qui montrent que la France et l'Allemagne sont décidées à travailler ensemble.

Le meeting organisé hier soir à Berlin en vue des élections européennes était l'un de ces gestes. Le dîner en tête-à-tête qui a suivi, également.

Nicolas Sarkozy n'aime pas perdre son temps dans d'inutiles apparitions à l'étranger. S'il s'est prêté à cette réunion électorale à deux, qui sera suivie d'une autre, en France à la fin du mois, c'est parce qu'il a compris que rien en Europe ne pouvait se faire sans l'Allemagne.

La démarche est la même que celle de ses prédécesseurs. Depuis de Gaulle et Adenauer jusqu'à Chirac et Schröder, en passant par Giscard et Schmidt ou Mitterrand et Kohl, chacun des grands « couples » franco-allemands a connu des débuts difficiles avant de symboliser l'entente retrouvée et de porter la construction européenne.

En Allemagne, la personnalité de Nicolas Sarkozy intrigue. La manière dont il a mené la présidence française de l'Union européenne, au dernier semestre de l'an dernier, a séduit bien des hésitants.

Son volontarisme, sa détermination à obtenir des résultats sont des qualités appréciées outre-Rhin. Tous ceux qui trouvaient la chancelière un peu hésitante face à la crise y ont vu un aiguillon salvateur. Du coup, Nicolas Sarkozy est fondé à se faire l'avocat d'une Europe « qui agit » grâce à la coopération franco-allemande. Et Angela Merkel sort avantagée de son association avec le président de la République. >>> De Pierre Rousselin | Lundi 11 Mai 2009

The Warlords Casting a Shadow over Afghanistan
THE INDEPENDENT: They are brutal, bloodthirsty – and becoming increasingly influential in Afghan politics.

Gulbuddin Hekmetyar, Faryadi Zardad and Mohammad Qasim Fahim. Photo courtesy of The Independent
One of the most feared of the Afghan warlords, Faryadi Zardad, was notorious for robbing, raping, torturing and killing travellers on the road between Kabul and Jalalabad. He kept a savage assistant in a cave who would bite and rip the flesh of his victims; other captives were murdered or imprisoned until they died of their sufferings or bribes were paid for their release.

Uniquely among the warlords of Afghanistan, many guilty of actions similar to his own, Zardad is in prison for his crimes. In 1998, as the Taliban overran Afghanistan, he fled to Britain on a fake passport. He was running a pizza restaurant in south London in 2000 when he was unmasked by the BBC, and in 2005 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Britain.

Zardad must consider himself exceptionally unlucky. Other warlords, who were once his comrades in arms, are now part of the political elite in Kabul, prominent members of the government or multimillionaire owners of palatial houses in the capital.

At the time Zardad was torturing and killing at his much-feared checkpoint at Sarobi on the Kabul-Kandahar road in 1992-96, he was a valued military commander in the forces of Gulbuddin Hekmetyar, the leader of the fundamentalist Hizb-e-Islami party.

Rockets and shells fired into Kabul by Hekmetyar's soldiers devastated the city and killed thousands of people before it was captured by the Taliban. More recently, Hekmetyar's forces, who are particularly strong in Logar province just south of the capital, have been fighting as allies of the Taliban.

But in the latest twist in Afghan politics, in which leaders switch sides and betray each other as swiftly as any English duke in the Wars of the Roses, Hekmetyar is reportedly about to start negotiations to join the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai. Under a power-sharing deal, his party would supposedly fill several ministerial posts and governorships in return for abandoning the Taliban. He himself would go into exile in Saudi Arabia for three years at the end of which the US would remove him from its list of "most wanted" terrorists. >>> By Patrick Cockburn | Monday, May 11, 2009

Melanie Phillips: Our Democracy's Going Down the Plughole with the Home Secretary's Dirty Bathwater
Luton South MP Margaret Moran claimed £22,500 of taxpayers' money for treating dry rot in a house in Southampton, many miles from her constituency or Westminster. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: They still just don't get it, do they. With details continuing to pour out about the epic abuse of Parliamentary expenses, MPs are displaying about as much ethical sensibility as the lumps of meat they have charred on their ill-gotten barbecues.

The details and scale of what they were up to are beyond belief.

'Flipping' the designation of their main and second homes to manipulate the expenses system to their advantage and to avoid paying various taxes.

Claiming help with mortgage payments for houses that were already paid for.

Getting the taxpayer to reimburse them for eyeliner, plastic bags, nappies, mock Tudor beams, Maltesers, nail polish, plasma TVs, Christmas tree decorations, horse manure, bath plugs; and on and surreally on.

Yet in the face of such baroque dishonesty, MPs claim that the real villain is the media for publishing the leaked details. So they've set the police on to probing the disclosures. But if the police should be investigating anyone, it's surely the MPs themselves.

Outrageous

Not, it seems, in the parallel universe of Westminster. According to MPs, none of them has behaved immorally. Not one. None of them should be censured or lose the party whip, let alone be prosecuted.

Instead, utterly deaf to the mounting public fury this is causing, they are coming up with one excuse after another.

Apparently, something called 'the system' - which, it seems, has nothing to do with them - is to blame. But the 'system' is simply what the MPs themselves devised.

Like sheep, they all went along with these scams, so that's supposed to make them all right. 'It wasn't my fault, m'lud, that I claimed for a barbecue - it was the system.' Sounds awfully like 'I was only obeying orders' in another era.

In a kind of spivs' chorus, they whine in unison that it was all 'within the rules'. But rules can be manipulated for corrupt or otherwise indefensible ends.

Luton South MP Margaret Moran claimed £22,500 of taxpayers' money for treating dry rot in a house in Southampton, many miles from her constituency or Westminster. She justifies this on the outrageous grounds that her partner works in Southampton and it is 'her right' to have a family life with him.

Her right?

Other people cope with this kind of messy situation every day, paying for it out of their own pocket. Why should Ms Moran imagine it is her right to be paid for doing the same thing? >>> Melanie Phillips | Monday, May 11, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Alan Duncan Claimed Thousands for Gardening: MPs' Expenses

Alan Duncan, the senior Conservative MP who oversees the party’s policy on MPs’ expenses, claimed thousands of pounds for his garden – but stopped after agreeing with the fees office that his expenditure “could be considered excessive”.


Mr Duncan’s gardening claims raise serious questions about whether expenses by some MPs can be justified as entirely necessary for their parliamentary work. In a three-year period, he recouped more than £4,000. He has not been asked to repay the money despite later concerns over the garden claims.

The bill for £3,194 for gardening in March 2007 was not paid by the fees office, which wrote to Mr Duncan suggesting that the claim might not be “within the spirit” of the rules.

However, by then the multi-millionaire MP for Rutland and Melton had claimed £4,000 of gardening costs that were approved. In a letter to the MP, the office said that it expected gardening costs “to cover only basic essentials such as grass cutting”. Mr Duncan submitted receipts showing that his gardener was being paid £6 an hour for up to 16 hours a week in grounds of less than an acre.

In March 2007, Mr Duncan claimed £598 to overhaul a ride-on lawn-mower and then a further £41 to fix a puncture a month later.

Mr Duncan also claimed £1,400 a month for his mortgage interest on his home in Rutland. He bought the large detached house without taking out a mortgage on the property itself in January 1992, shortly before he was elected to parliament.

However, it was not until January 2004 that a mortgage was secured against the property. >>> By Holly Watt | Sunday, May 10, 2009

THE SPECTATOR: A Parliament of Thieves

Like any sensible person I've been thoroughly amused and appalled by the scandal of MPs expenses. Appalled because the extent of MPs' avarice is sufficient to shock even an iron-souled cynic; amused because watching MPs try to justify their gluttonous appetite for taxpayer-funded freebies affords a certain pleasure that one might consider vindictive if only it weren't so entirely merited. This isn't a tragedy, it's a stinking farce.

The dreary pretense - duly repeated by every sticky-fingered parliamentarian - that it is all ok because "no rules were broken" could hardly be more priceless. Nor could it do more to underline the essential fact that these people are fools who in turn treat the public as though they are fools themselves. Only the blindest dolt would think that boasting of obeying the rules might minimise the public's entirely-justified sense of outrage (a wrath that is, I suspect, under-appreciated at Westminster and in the media) when it is the laxness of the rules themselves that occasions so much incredulity and anger.

For it is now clear, if it weren't before, that we are governed by a parliament of thieves for whom no expense is too small or too trivial to be borne by the taxpayer. These knaves and charlatans are strangers to shame and decency. Astonishingly, they make journalists and estate agents seem paragons of probity by comparison. Who'd have thunk that possible? >>> Alex Massie | Monday, May 11, 2009

Opinion – Boris Johnson: Michael Savage Poses No Risk to British Security So Why Won't MPs Say So?
THE TELEGRAPH: It is shocking that not a single MP has stood up to defend free speech, says Boris Johnson.

About 10 years ago my brother-in-law was giving me a lift through the early morning Washington traffic when he suddenly gave a whoop of joy. "It's Howie!" yelled Ivo, turning up the radio. "We gotta listen to Howie!" And it was with mounting disbelief that I listened to the next 20 minutes of the Howard Stern show, a shameless and cynical attempt to scandalise the ear.

That morning Howard was appealing to his listeners to ring in with the most tear-jerking hard-luck story. In return he was offering a nude massage at the hands of an attractive nude masseuse. In a display of Oprah Winfreyesque exhibitionism, the audience was competing for that massage. We heard of divorces, and bereavements, and embarrassing disfigurements. But the winner (I advise sensitive readers to faint now) was a man who rang in to say that he had just been diagnosed with cancer, and might lose his gonads, but had not yet had the courage to tell his girlfriend.

Howard Stern pounced. "What's her number?" he said. With lightning efficiency his producers patched the caller through to his girlfriend, and soon she was being told – live on air – that there was good news and bad news.

The bad news was that her boyfriend had cancer, and the good news was that he was the winner of a nude massage. The poor woman gasped and sobbed. I sat there in exactly the state desired by the producers of the Howard Stern show – appalled, disgusted, but also thrilled by the horror of what was apparently (and I stress apparently) taking place on the radio.

We just don't have shows like this in Britain, I said to Ivo. That's right, he said, and he told me about the shock jocks. He explained the tactics of men such as Stern and Rush Limbaugh, how they shamelessly chased after ratings by causing outrage, how they goosed the secret prejudices of their listeners. Some people tuned in because they actually agreed with what was being said. Most people just enjoyed the theatre, the vehemence, the provocation.

These shock jocks were national institutions, with millions of weekly listeners. They were a new and important part of the American constitution, and that is my first objection to the utterly demented decision by Jacqui Smith's Home Office to announce that Michael Savage, America's third most popular radio show host, is banned from entering this country. It just makes us look so infantile, so pathetic. >>> By Boris Johnson | Monday, May 11, 2009

Kuwaiti Islamist: Homosexuals Should Be Tortured in Public Squares

Tampons, Barbecue Sets, and Bathrobes
THE TELEGRAPH: Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has condemned the "culture of abuse" surrounding MPs' expenses, warning that respect for parliament has reached a new low.

Lord Carey: 'clawing greed' of MPs. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
He said The Telegraph's revelations about the extent to which MPs of all parties have exploited the Westminster system of allowances and expenses had shown the "clawing greed" of MPs.

"The moral authority of Parliament is at its lowest ebb in living memory," Lord Carey wrote in the News of the World. "The latest revelations show it was not just a few MPs with their noses in the trough, but a culture of abuse."

The former archbishop is the latest independent figure to question the morality of MPs' expenses claims.

Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, has accused politicians of a "failure of moral leadership". Martin Bell, the former independent MP, has attacked "scandals of shamelessness".

"It is not just the clawing greed of painstaking claims for such minor items as tampons, barbecue sets and bathrobes, but also the egregious way some have transferred allowances from one second property to another – enabling them to refurbish homes at public expense, then sell them for profit," Lord Carey added, referring to practices that have been revealed by the Telegraph in recent days. MPs' Expenses: Lord Carey, Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Condemns 'Culture of Abuse' >>> By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Pope Visits Christ 'Baptism Site'
BBC: Pope Benedict XVI has visited the reputed site of the baptism of Jesus Christ in Jordan, on the third day of his Middle East tour.

The Pope arrived in a motorcade of electric vehicles to the site at Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan.

Earlier, the Pope held Mass for thousands of people at a football stadium in the Jordanian capital Amman.

Jordan's 200,000 Roman Catholics, and other Christians, were given a special holiday to enable them to attend.

The Pope was accompanied to the alleged baptismal site by King Abdullah of Jordan and his wife Queen Rania. He blessed the cornerstones of two churches on the site.

'Courage of conviction'

But the BBC's David Willey, travelling with the Pope, said the 20,000-seat stadium was not completely full.

Our correspondent says the situation for the dwindling Catholic minority in the Middle East has worsened considerably since the last Papal visit to Jordan nine years ago.

He says many Catholic families have emigrated. >>> David Willey | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Watch BBC video: The Pope addressed the issue of a region divided by conflict >>>

Israel Prepares Red Carpet Welcome for Pope Benedict XVI
HAARETZ: Israel is planning the visit by Pope Benedict XVI down to the last detail, even holding dress rehearsal Sunday to prepare for the pontiff's arrival at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Monday.

The rehearsal, orchestrated by the Israel Airports Authority, will involve all the relevant bodies, a red carpet, an honor guard and the Israel Defense Forces Orchestra.

The pope is scheduled to take off for Israel on a special Royal Jordanian flight from Amman at 10:30 A.M. Monday, and will arrive at Ben-Gurion about 45 minutes later.

The vice president of Royal Jordanian, Hussein Dabbas, who is in charge of the company's Israel office, will accompany the pope on the fight.

In addition to the pope's 40-person entourage, some 70 journalists will also be on the flight.

President Shimon Peres and senior government officials will be at the official welcome ceremony.

The Shin Bet security service's VIP protection unit is responsible for the immediate security for the pope and for the top officials present to welcome him.

From Ben-Gurion, Benedict will be flown by Israel Air Force helicopter to the helipad on Mount Scopus, to avoid closing the Tel Avic-Jerusalem road with a papal motorcade.

Benedict XVI will stay at the papal nuncio's residence on the Mount of Olives. >>> By Zohar Blumenkrantz and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies | Sunday, May 10, 2009

'No Jews' Policy Employed at Austria Hotel
HAARETZ: A hotel in the Austrian region of Tyrol that said it does not accept Jewish guests has caused shock in the local media and tourism industry, the daily Tiroler Tageszeitung reported Sunday.

A Vienna family of seven had had tried to make a reservation at the Haus Sonnenhof apartment hotel in the village of Serfaus, but the owner replied by e-mail that although the room was free, she did not want to take in Jewish guests because of "bad experiences" in the past. >>> By DPA | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Obama promette: "In Egitto un nuovo passo verso l'Islam"
LASTAMPA.it: Ma i Fratelli Musulmani minacciano: vuole ingannare gli arabi

Barack Obama sceglie l’Egitto per compiere un «nuovo passo verso l’Islam» ma dal Cairo i Fratelli musulmani lo accusano di preparare «un inganno per dividere la nazione araba». Il 4 giugno il presidente americano inizierà con un «discorso all’Islam» il viaggio che lo porterà nell’ex lager di Buchenwald, a Dresda e sulle spiagge della Normandia in un percorso studiato per sottolineare i valori che più ha a cuore in coincidenza con il 65° anniversario dello sbarco alleato che diede inizio alla liberazione dell’Europa dal nazifascismo. Aver inserito il «braccio teso verso l’Islam» in questo itinerario significa per Obama voler ribadire che «una delle sue missioni da presidente è il dialogo con i musulmani» come suggerisce il portavoce Robert Gibbs ricordando quanto disse nel giorno dell’insediamento, l’intervista ad Al Arabiya e il recente discorso ad Ankara sull’America «non in guerra con l’Islam». >>> Maurizio Molinari | Domenica, 10 maggio 2009

Taliban-Style Justice Stirs Growing Anger
THE WASHINGTON POST: Sharia Being Perverted*, Pakistanis Say

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 9 -- When black-turbaned Taliban fighters demanded in January that Islamic sharia law be imposed in Pakistan's Swat Valley, few alarm bells went off in this Muslim nation of about 170 million.

Sharia, after all, is the legal framework that guides the lives of all Muslims.

Officials said people in Swat were fed up with the slow and corrupt state courts, scholars said the sharia system would bring swift justice, and commentators said critics in the West had no right to interfere.

Today, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Swat and Pakistani troops launching an offensive to drive out the Taliban forces, the pendulum of public opinion has swung dramatically. The threat of "Talibanization" is being denounced in Parliament and on opinion pages, and the original defenders of an agreement that authorized sharia in Swat are in sheepish retreat.

The refugees are the "victims of ignorant cavemen masquerading as fighters of Islam," columnist Shafqat Mahmood charged in the News International newspaper Friday. He said that the "barbarian horde" that invaded Swat never intended to implement a sharia-based judicial system and that they just used it as cover. "This is a fight for power, not Islam," he wrote. >>> By Pamela Constable | Sunday, May 10, 2009

*Not so perverted! The Taliban are merely following the straight path (of Allah) – as-Sirat al-Mustaqim! – Mark

Jordan: The Pope’s Sunday Homily
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Radio Vaticana has published an English version of the homily given by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday morning in Amman, Jordan. He addressed a crowd of 20,000 during an open-air mass at a sports stadium. Today is his last day in Jordan.

"Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I rejoice that we are able to celebrate this Eucharist together at the beginning of my Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Yesterday, from the heights of Mount Nebo, I stood and looked out upon this great land, the land of Moses, Elijah, and John the Baptist, the land where God’s ancient promises were fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah, Jesus our Lord. This land witnessed his preaching and miracles, his death and resurrection, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church, the sacrament of a reconciled and renewed humanity. As I pondered the mystery of God’s fidelity, I prayed that the Church in these lands would be confirmed in hope and strengthened in her witness to the Risen Christ, the Savior of mankind. Truly, as Saint Peter tells us in today’s first reading, “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we are to be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Today’s joyful celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice expresses the rich diversity of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land. I greet all of you with affection in the Lord. I thank His Beatitude Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, for his kind words of welcome. With respect and gratitude I likewise greet His Royal Highness Prince Ghazi Bin Mohammad, who represents the King of Jordan, and I thank him for his presence in our midst. My greeting goes also to the many young people from Catholic schools who today bring their enthusiasm to this Eucharistic celebration. >>> Jessica Roy, Los Angeles Times | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Berlusconi's Anti-immigration Comments Spur Outcry
THE WASHINGTON POST: ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's open rejection of the vision of a multi-ethnic Italy sparked sharp debate Sunday, winning praise from far-right allies and accusations of racism from the left.

Berlusconi's conservative government has won public favor by cracking down on illegal immigration, allowing the premier to go a step further as he defended Saturday a new policy to deport migrants to Libya before they arrive on Italian shores.

"The left's idea is of a multi-ethnic Italy," Berlusconi told a news conference. "That's not our idea, ours is to welcome only those who meet the conditions for political asylum."

Long a country of emigrants, Italy in recent years has been grappling with an influx of poor African migrants arriving on its shores and Eastern Europeans seeking work, sparking fears over crime and a loss of national identity.

Opposition lawmakers denounced the premier's comments as racist and told him to accept Italy would inevitably become multi-cultural whether Italians liked it or not. >>> By Deepa Babington, Reuters | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Pope Disappoints Muslim Leaders
AFP: AMMAN — Pope Benedict XVI urged inter-faith reconciliation on the second day of a Holy Land tour but disappointed Muslim clerics by failing to offer a new apology for remarks seen as targeting Islam.

The pontiff in a keynote address to Muslim leaders in Amman's huge Al-Hussein Mosque bemoaned "ideological manipulation of religion" and urged Muslims and Christians to unite as "worshippers of God."

"Certainly, the contradiction of tensions and divisions between the followers of different religious traditions, sadly, cannot be denied," the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics told his audience.

"However, is it not also the case that often it is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence in society?"

Some clerics expressed disappointment however that the pontiff in his wide-ranging speech had made no new apology for a 2006 address in which he quoted a medieval Christian emperor who criticised some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman." >>> Copyright © 2009 AFP | Saturday, May 9, 2009

Foster to Ease Mecca Pilgrims’ Progress
THE SUNDAY TIMES: A new look for Islam’s holiest city - with hotels, flats and fast trains - has been likened to a ‘mini Dubai’

THE mountain is to move for Muhammad. Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid are involved in plans to transform the landscape around Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, to make way for a high-rise metropolis complete with high-speed rail link for pilgrims.

Architectural designs being considered by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia could see the mosque at the heart of the city expanded fivefold to hold 5m worshippers in one go.

However, much of the land around the historic site, including ancient mountains, is likely to be flattened to accommodate seven-star hotels and towering blocks of luxury flats.

Critics believe the 20-year redevelopment programme will turn Mecca into a “mini Dubai”, the Middle Eastern emirate that has become a byword for consumerism.

Hadid, the Iraqi-born architect who has designed the aquatics centre for the London 2012 Olympics, is believed to have submitted proposals to extend Mecca’s Haram mosque. At its centre lies the Kaaba, the black cube-shaped building which all Muslims face in prayer five times a day.

Although Hadid’s plans remain secret, she has previously produced bold designs for other mosque projects, including one in Strasbourg which featured a sweeping roof inspired by Islamic calligraphy.

Hadid is also thought to be involved in redesigning part of Mecca’s central district, which already boasts a Starbucks and chain stores such as Topshop. >>> Chris Gourlay | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Shock Jocks: Tuning in to Radio GaGa
THE SUNDAY TIMES: As one US shock jock is banned from Britain, Giles Hattersley* asks why millions love to listen to the ranterati

Last week Jacqui Smith forgot the first rule of dealing with shock jocks: never take the bait. On Tuesday the home secretary unveiled 16 names from a list of 22 undesirables the government has recently banned from entering the UK: Ku Klux Klan members, Russian skinheads, religious extremists . . . and Michael Savage, a 67-year-old American radio presenter with a dog called Teddy who can bark the tune of Jingle Bells.

Now, Savage (born Michael Alan Weiner) isn’t some lonely nutcase with a ham radio ranting about Hitler, but America’s third most popular chat show host with 8.5m weekly listeners. Think of an American Nicky Campbell — with a gun, a temper and some highly contentious views on immigration.

Take this gem from The Savage Nation, his nationally syndicated show, last summer: “The illness du jour is autism,” Savage fumed. “You know what autism is? In 99% of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, you idiot’.”

Or this on Muslims: “I said, ‘So kill 100m of them, then there would be 900m of them.’ What is it gonna take for you people to wake up? Would you rather we disappear or we die? Or would you rather they disappear and they die? Because you’re gonna have to make that choice sooner rather than later.”

Savage has also said the victims of the 2004 tsunami deserved it for harbouring terrorists, that children’s minds are “being raped by the homosexual mafia” and that a caller who mocked his teeth “should only get Aids and die, you pig”.

These soundbites were enough for Smith to label him as “someone who has fallen into the category of fomenting hatred, of such extreme views and expressing them in such a way that it is actually likely to cause inter-community tension or even violence if that person were allowed into the country”.

And then . . . what? Did she imagine that would be that? If so, she didn’t know her man. In full spit-fleck mode, Savage took to the airwaves later that day to call the home secretary a “witch” and a “lunatic”, adding if she didn’t remove him from the list he would sue for defamation. Since he hasn’t committed any crime, he might have a case. >>> Giles Hattersley* | Sunday, May 10, 2009

*The opinions expressed in this article are the opinions of the writer of the article, Giles Hattersley. They are his opinions, and his alone.

The Dalai Lama Shows No Understanding of Islam! His Holiness Had Better Stick to Tibetan Buddhism!
Photo of the Dalai Lama courtesy of The Boston Globe
THE BOSTON GLOBE: This is a scene that immediately captured my imagination: Last week, in the preacher's room at Memorial Church in Cambridge, the Dalai Lama, who received the Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy of nonviolence, turned to one of Harvard's leading scholars of Islam and asked him about the meaning of jihad.

The 73-year-old Dalai Lama had been to Harvard multiple times, and on a couple of occasions had met William A. Graham, a noted Koranic scholar who for the last several years has been the dean of Harvard Divinity School. The Dalai Lama, preparing to give his speech about the teaching of compassion, was apparently thinking about the role of a divinity school at an institution like Harvard when he turned to Graham and asked him about Islam.

"We were simply talking about the virtues of doing comparative religion studies, which he believes in, and he said so many things are misunderstood, like jihad," Graham told me a few days later by phone. "He said he was thinking about the differences between greater and lesser jihad in Muslim jurisprudence. He had a few things to say about it - I didn't get much of a chance to respond to anything - but he's quite correct that the word 'jihad' has been misused. Any traditionalist who knows his Islamic law knows that jihad is fundamentally defensive." Dalai Lama Asserts that Compassion Is Emphasized by Islam >>> By Michael Paulson | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Official Website of the Dalai Lama >>>

Gay Rights in Lebanon Gain Traction
Gay Pride flag: Google Images
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: BEIRUT -- In the Arab world, where several nations have seen killings of gay men in recent months, it can be startling to see a rainbow flag unfurled in public.

But the region's only overt gay rights organization, based in Lebanon, says it is slowly making progress in preventing discrimination and violence.

Now the group, Helem, is preparing for a campaign to overturn the law that makes homosexuality illegal.

In a dramatic step, Helem organized what may have been the only gay rights protest in the Arab world. In February, nearly two dozen gays and lesbians waved rainbow flags in a downtown Beirut square, carrying banners demanding homosexual rights.

They protested what they said was the beating of two gay men by police.

It has been several years since a man was thrown in prison for being gay, said Helem activist Charbel Maydaa. But Lebanon's Article 534, which prohibits having sexual relations that "contradict the laws of nature," remains a threat.

"One of the major problems we face is that some parents threaten their gay children with article 534," he said.

Helem is treading carefully. The group, founded in 2004, is talking with legal experts on how to approach lawmakers and lobby to have Article 534 abolished. Helem members would not comment on how they intend to carry out the campaign.

It's a delicate process, given the deep-seated taboo in Arab countries against even discussing homosexuality. Everyone from religious leaders to family members condemn homosexuality. Human rights groups in other countries, like Egypt, often avoid dealing with issues touching on persecution of gays and lesbians. >>> © Associated Press | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Iran Court Hears Reporter Appeal
BBC: A court in Iran is hearing an appeal from jailed US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi, two days earlier than originally expected.

Photo: Google Images
Ms Saberi's lawyer said it was not clear when a ruling would be announced, but that he was optimistic that the 32-year-old would be acquitted.

Ms Saberi was convicted of spying for the US - a charge she denied.

The case sparked international concern and US President Barack Obama has appealed on her behalf.

Appeal process

Unlike her original trial, the legal process this time has been arranged to appear fair and open, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran.

While Sunday's hearing is still not open to the public, Ms Saberi's appeal is being heard before a panel of three judges, and representatives of the Iranian Bar Association are being allowed to attend.

Her lawyer has also been given plenty of notice.

Abdolsamad Khorramshahi said he had submitted 15 pages of documents in support of the appeal for Roxana Saberi .

"I am optimistic she will be acquitted," he said. >>> | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Les espoirs secrets 
de la jeunesse saoudienne
Ahmed al-Omran, créateur de « Saudi jeans »,l'un des blogs les plus lus, revendique le port du jean et rêve de parfaire sa formation de pharmacien aux États-Unis : « Beaucoup de jeunes Saoudiens sont dans mon cas. Ils ont envie d'aller à l'étranger pour vivre un moment une vie de garçon ou de fille normaux. » Photo grâce au Figaro

LE FIGARO: Élevés dans une société aux règles figées, les jeunes adultes s'évadent grâce aux sitcoms et aux sites Internet de socialisation.

«Les jeunes se reconnaissent dans les personnages parce qu'ils parlent comme eux, explique Nayef. Certaines répliques sont difficiles à comprendre pour les moins de 40 ans» Une petite révolution dans une société compassée, gouvernée par des règles religieuses et patriarcales souvent étouffantes pour les adolescents et les jeunes adultes. Certes, les lignes rouges ne sont pas bien loin. La séquence la plus audacieuse met en scène un apprenti docteur obligé de se cacher sous un lit dans une salle de repos strictement réservée aux étudiantes. Il s'y était rendu pour faire réchauffer un plat au micro-ondes et a été surpris par l'entrée inopinée d'une jeune fille. Pas le moindre flirt en vue. Il y a pourtant une histoire d'amour, mais platonique.

«Mon personnage est amoureux d'une étudiante, mais n'ose jamais le lui avouer, et elle se marie avec un autre», explique Fayez.

Ciné-club informel

37 Degrés se permet toutefois quelques critiques de la société, comme ces scènes où les personnages pensent tout haut, pestant parfois contre le conformisme des aînés. Nayef y est pour beaucoup : c'est aussi lui l'auteur des scénarios. À 24 ans, ce surdoué, fils d'un attaché militaire et d'une éducatrice, vient de terminer ses études de médecine, dans la vraie vie cette fois. Il envisage de poursuivre une spécialité médicale aux États-Unis. Sans abandonner sa passion pour le cinéma.

Nayef tourne aussi des films plus personnels avec une petite caméra, dont les thèmes tournent autour du paradoxe du comédien. Il les présente au Festival des Émirats arabes unis, tout comme sa bande de co­pains, regroupés autour d'un ciné-club informel. Il trouve ses modèles dans un Who's Who mondialisé : «Comme acteur, Daniel Day-Lewis. Comme scénariste, mais pas comme metteur en scène, Pedro Almodovar. Comme metteur en scène, Akira Kurosawa.»

Des références bien éloignées des insolences prudentes de 37 Degrés. Dans la réalité, nombre de Saoudiens de moins de 25 ans secouent les normes sociales. Un phénomène qui ne reste pas cantonné aux rejetons des grandes familles commerçantes nomadisant entre Djedda, Londres et New York. Il commence à toucher les enfants d'une classe moyenne émergente, dont les parents sont professeurs ou cadres du pétrole. Accros à Internet et au portable, rêvant d'ailleurs et de liberté. Attachés à la religion - personne ici ne se dit ouvertement athée - et tentés par la modernité. >>> Par Pierre Prier, envoyé spécial du Figaro à Riyad | Jeudi 07 Mai 2009