Inspiration for The English Patient Had Gay Nazi Lover
THE TELEGRAPH: The Second World War spy who inspired the womanising hero in the Oscar-winning film The English Patient was actually homosexual and in love with a young soldier, according to letters discovered in Germany.

Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas appear in The English Patient. Photograph: The Telegraph
Intimate correspondence penned by Hungarian-born adventurer Count Laszlo de Almásy shows he had a relationship with a soldier called Hans Entholt.

The Heinrich Barth Institute for African Studies in Cologne has made the claim after discovering love letters but has yet to publish the details.

A member of the institute's staff told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine the letters show he had several homosexual relationships: "Egyptian princes were among Almásy's lovers." >>> Allan Hall in Berlin | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Geheimdienstbericht – "Englischer Patient" in Wahrheit hässlicher Nazi-Spion: Das Leben des Wüstenforschers Graf László de Almásy war Vorbild für das Kinodrama "Der Englische Patient" mit dem attraktiven Ralph Fiennes in der Hauptrolle. In Wirklichkeit war Almásy jedoch ein Spion der Nazis. Und ein hässlicher noch dazu. >>> | Freitag, 21. Mai 2004

After Attacks in Russia, Fears of Xenophobia
Lilya Paizulayeva, a Chechen in Moscow, worries about profiling and said, “This whole week I have felt like a stranger in this city.” Photo: The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: MOSCOW — Lilya Paizulayeva descended into the subway anxiously, trying to keep her distance from the crowds and the newly deployed and heavily armed police officers. She cringed at the train’s loud metallic shriek, pressing herself to the wall.

She was not scared of suicide bombers — she feared being taken for one herself.

With her jet-black hair and large dark eyes, Ms. Paizulayeva, a 26-year-old native of Chechnya, looks very much the daughter of Russia’s fiery North Caucasus region, from where, investigators say, two young women traveled to Moscow to blow themselves up last week in the rush-hour throngs, killing at least 40 people.

While for many the attacks are an unsettling reminder of the female suicide bombers who have terrorized this city for years, women from the Caucasus, particularly from Chechnya, say they worry about the return of the arbitrary arrests, xenophobic attacks and open hostility that many experienced after similar terrorist attacks in the past.

“Psychologically, I feel a kind of alarm inside,” said Ms. Paizulayeva, who was born in Chechnya’s capital, Grozny, and fled to Moscow in 1995 with her family when the war there started. “Though I’m dressed like a local, I think that perhaps someone could attack me in the metro,” she said. “This whole week I have felt like a stranger in this city.”

Though Russian citizens, Chechens and others from the North Caucasus are often seen as foreigners in Russia, especially here in the capital, and are frequently associated with immigrants from the countries of Central Asia that were former Soviet republics. More than 1,000 miles from Moscow, Chechnya has its own language, religion and customs, as well as a history of violent separatism that many in the rest of the country find alien in the best of times and threatening in the worst.

There have already been several reports of revenge attacks against people from the Caucasus in the wake of the bombings. Last week a brawl broke out on a subway train when a group of passengers insisted on inspecting the bags of several people who appeared to be from the Caucasus, according to the Sova Center, an organization that tracks xenophobic violence.

Attacks against people with darker skin and hair typical of those from the Caucasus are not uncommon in Russia. >>> Michael Schwirtz | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The Kremlin's Helplessness – Discontent Grows over Moscow's Impotency in Dealing with Terror: Following last week's terrorist attacks on the Moscow metro, Russians are now fearing a fresh wave of violence. Many feel the Kremlin has been hopeless in dealing with Caucasus terror and that the government does more to protect its own power than the people. >>> Matthias Schepp in Moscow | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Chris Grayling: Support For Conservatives Among Gays Drops Sharply After B&B Row
THE TELEGRAPH: Support for the Tories among the gay community has fallen sharply after the row about turning away gay couples from bed and breakfast establishments.

A poll conducted by the website PinkNews.co.uk found that support for the Conservative party had 'fallen markedly' among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender readers after the comments from Chris Grayling. Photograph: The Telegraph
Chris Grayling, the shadow Home secretary, was under fire at the weekend after it emerged that he had said bed and breakfasts run by Christians should be allowed to turn away gay couples because of their sexuality.

A poll conducted by the website PinkNews.co.uk found that support for the Conservative party had “fallen markedly” among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender readers after the comments.

It found that just 20 per cent in a survey of 1,193 gay men and women would vote Conservative at the next general election, down from 25 per cent last month.

In the poll support for Labour remained unchanged at 28 per cent, while support for the Liberal Democrats increased by 5 per cent to 29 per cent.

The survey also found that 30 per cent of its readers felt “less favourably” towards Mr Cameron following an interview in which he was unable to answer questions about the decision to give MPs and peers a free vote issues relating to gay rights.

A spokesman for PinkNews.co.uk said: "Just one difficult interview has[,] it appears[,] seen a significant drop in the support that the Conservative party and Mr Cameron in particular has enjoyed within the gay community." >>> | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

India’s Muslims, Lack of Jihadists

Family Jihad Tour: European Parents Are ‘Taking Children to Terror Training Camps’
MAIL ONLINE: German intelligence is warning of a new breed of terrorist - whole family groups travelling to training camps on the Afghan-Pakistan border where they learn how to use explosives and raise funds.

Parents travelling with children have in the past raised less suspicion than single men or women travelling to and from Germany.

Now officials have the names of 100 suspects they believe may be radicalised and ready to strike.

Germany is braced for a terror attack after repeated threats because of its involvement in Afghanistan. >>> Allan Hall | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

The Third Generation: German Jihad Colonies Sprout Up in Waziristan
Islamist Cüneyt Ciftci, a former employee for Bosch, who hailed from the quiet southern German town of Ansbach, carried out a suicide bombing in Afghanistan in March 2008. Photograph: Spiegel Online International
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: A wave of Germans traveling to training camps for militant jihadists has alarmed security officials back in Europe. The recruits are quickly becoming radicalized and, in some cases, entire families are departing to hotbeds for terrorism. It is even believed that colonies catering to German Islamists have taken shape in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It was a Sunday in September when they lost their son Jan*. He gave his parents a particularly tight hug, his father recalls, a long and intense embrace. The father says that he could sense that this was no normal goodbye, and that it was about more than the supposed vacation trip to celebrate the couple's first wedding anniversary -- which was the story that Jan, 24, and his wife Alexandra* had cooked up for him.

It was the day of the German parliamentary elections in 2009, and the autumn sun was shining in Berlin, but Jan and Alexandra weren't interested in who would govern the country. They were going to leave Germany. They had rejected this society and this state. Jan and Alexandra packed their things into a rental car, picked up another couple, and the four friends headed off into exile. One of their traveling companions was 17 years old and six months pregnant -- her husband had just turned 20. Their child would not be born in Germany.

The two married couples headed to Budapest, where they boarded a plane for Istanbul. Jan placed one last call to his parents from a hotel.

Since then there have been only sporadic e-mails. These have been loving messages to his father and mother. But he also writes things that frighten his parents. He is living among brothers and doesn't need much money, Jan writes. No, they can't visit him -- it would be too dangerous, he says. And no, he can no longer imagine returning to Berlin, to a life among the kuffar, the infidels.

Then, in December, he wrote that he didn't know if he would live to see the next summer. Since then his parents have been looking in their mailbox every morning -- and every morning it's the same: nothing. They can hardly bear the uncertainty. Extremist Expats >>> Yassin Musharbash, Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

* Editor's note: Name has been changed by the editors.

Translated from the German by Paul Cohen

Middle-class Muslims Fuel French Halal Boom
THE GUARDIAN: Retailers and restaurants cash in on rapidly expanding and highly profitable market in halal food and drinks

Halal butchery and poultry shelves in a supermarket in Illzach, eastern France. Photograph: The Guardian
Few things define the traditional good life in France better than champagne and foie gras, but few would have thought them symbols of social integration – until now.

A boom in sales of halal products, including alcohol-free bubbly and goose liver paté approved by Islamic law, is being driven by the emergence of an affluent middle class of young Muslims.

Known as the bourgeois – a play on bourgeois and the word beur, slang for a French person of North African descent – these new consumers are behind a rapidly expanding and highly profitable market in halal food and drinks.

With spending power worth an estimated €5.5bn a year, according to the opinion pollsters Solis, these under-40s are forcing international food suppliers to cater for their demands.

Yanis Bouarbi, 33, an IT specialist who started the website paris-hallal.com, which lists restaurants in France serving halal food, says young Muslims are at the heart of a mini social revolution.

"When our parents and grandparents came to France they did mostly manual work and the priority was having enough to feed the family," said Bouarbi, who arrived from Algeria at the age of three.

"But second or third-generation people like me have studied, have good jobs and money and want to go out and profit from French culture without compromising our religious beliefs. We don't just want cheap kebabs, we want Japanese, Thai, French food; we want to be like the rest of you."

The demand for halal products, currently increasing by an estimated 15% a year, has captured the attention of food giants such as the supermarket group Casino, which has stocked an increasing variety of halal foods – mostly meat products – for the last three years. >>> Kim Willsher in Paris | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Related:

Various articles on halal foods, etc. >>>

Pope Calls on Priests to Behave Like 'Angels and Jesus Christ's Messengers'
THE TELEGRAPH: The Pope called on Catholic priests to behave like "angels and Jesus Christ's messengers" in his Easter Monday address, as new cases emerged of the Church failing to report abuses by paedophile clergy.

Benedict XVI said all Christians, but particularly priests, should be like angels and messengers of Christ's "victory over evil and death, the bearers of his divine love."

The 82-year-old pontiff was addressing hundreds of pilgrims at Castel Gandolfo, his summer residence outside Rome, at the end of an Easter Week which has been overshadowed by the sex abuse crisis.

While senior Vatican figures have denounced criticism of the Church as a smear campaign against the Pope, fresh evidence is emerging almost daily of the Catholic hierarchy's failure, or refusal, to adequately deal with priests found guilty of molesting or raping children in their charge.

In Paris, a retired French bishop admitted that he had made a mistake when he accepted a convicted Canadian paedophile priest back into his diocese in the 1980s, but said the practice was at the time an accepted part of the Church's handling of abusive priests. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Violent Clashes at EDL Demonstration in Dudley


English Defence League: Dudley Clashes At Right-Wing Demo
Watch video here

Labour Is 'Worst Government Ever', Says Mark Serwotka
THE TELEGRAPH: The Labour government has been branded the "worst in the history of this country” by the head of one of Britain’s biggest trade unions.

Mark Serwotka Photo: The Telegraph
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said the government’s poor treatment of public sector workers meant it was a worse employer than the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher or John Major.

In a bitter attack, he called for unions to take “united industrial action” as a last resort to defend jobs, pensions and services.

The comments – in an address to the National Union of Teachers’ annual conference in Liverpool – drew an extraordinary response from activists.

In scenes reminiscent of union rallies of the 60s and 70s, teachers chanted “the workers, united, will never be defeated” as they gave Mr Serwotka a standing ovation.

It was a further signal that the incoming government is likely to face a bitter battle with public sector unions over major cuts imposed to reduce Britain’s multi-billion pound deficit.

The move came as the NUT – Britain’s biggest classroom union – passed an emergency resolution rejecting plans by “all major parties" for cuts which they claim will impact on children’s education.

It called for a “coordinated campaign of action, up to and including strike action where needed” to oppose pay freezes, threats to pensions and cuts to jobs.

One NUT member said the union should be put on a "war footing". >>> Graeme Paton, Education Editor | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Sexueller Missbrauch: Geheimprotokoll belastet wichtigsten Mitarbeiter des Papstes
ZEIT ONLINE: Bis zu 200 Kinder hat Pater Murphy in den USA missbraucht. ZEIT ONLINE liegt ein geheimes Dokument vor, das zeigt: Kardinalstaatssekretär Bertone wollte den Fall klein halten.

Kardinalstaatssekretär Tarcisio Bertone, der wichtigste Mitarbeiter von Papst Benedikt XVI. Bild: Zeit Online
Im Konflikt zwischen dem Vatikan und der New York Times um die Verwicklung des Papstes in die Vertuschung eines Missbrauchsfalles aus den USA in den späten Neunziger Jahren wächst der Druck auf den wichtigsten Mitarbeiter des Papstes, Kardinalstaatssekretär Tarcisio Bertone. ZEIT ONLINE liegt ein geheimes Sitzungsprotokoll des Vatikans vor, das Bertone belastet. Das Protokoll ist Teil eines Briefwechsels zwischen dem Vatikan und dem damals für die Ermittlungen zuständigen Erzbischof von Milwaukee, Rembert Weakland, im sogenannten Fall Murphy. Der Briefwechsel ist der ZEIT von Anwälten früherer Opfer des Direktors einer katholischen Gehörlosenschule, Pater Lawrence Murphy, zur Verfügung gestellt worden, der zwischen 1950 und 1974 bis zu 200 gehörlose Kinder sexuell missbraucht haben soll, unter anderem auch während der Beichte. >>> Von Patrik Schwarz | Montag, 05. April 2010

Étude – Pâques : Le chocolat, définitivement bon pour le coeur
La consommation quotidienne d'un carré de chocolat noir réduirait d'environ 40 % les risques cardiovasculaires. Photo : Le Point
LE POINT: En ce lundi de Pâques, les amateurs de chocolat ont toutes les raisons de ne pas résister à leur plaisir favori. Une étude allemande, menée par l'équipe de chercheurs de Brian Buijsse (épidémiologiste à l'Institut allemand de Nutrition humaine) et Heiner Boeing - très récemment publiée en ligne par l'European Heart Journal - révèle en effet que la consommation quotidienne d'un carré de chocolat noir (soit 6 grammes) réduirait d'environ 40 % les risques cardiovasculaires, donc ceux d'infarctus du myocarde et d'accident vasculaire cérébral. Mais attention, pour ceux qui dépassent largement cette dose, le bénéfice disparaît. >>> Par Anne Jeanblanc | Lundi 05 Avril 2010

Attentats – Réactions : Les frappes terroristes au Pakistan "inquiètent" Washington
Robert Gibbs, porte-parole, a exprimé la "profonde inquiétude" de la Maison-Banche, après les attaques meurtrières de lundi dans le nord-ouest du Pakistan. Photo : Le Point
LE POINT: La Maison Blanche a exprimé lundi sa "profonde inquiétude" après l'attentat suicide qui a visé le consulat des Etats-Unis à Peshawar. Les Etats-Unis condamnent cette attaque, a déclaré le porte-parole du président Barack Obama, Robert Gibbs. L'attentat a fait six morts selon la police, tandis que l'ambassade américaine, directement visée par dix à 15 hommes lourdement armés, faisait état du décès de deux gardes de sécurité pakistanais de la représentation diplomatique. >>> LePoint.fr | Lundi 05 Avril 2010

Le Web catholique unanime pour dénoncer la "papophobie"
LE MONDE: "Cathophobie", "acharnement", "généralisations"... c'est aussi par le biais de leurs blogs et de leurs sites personnels que les catholiques francophones se dressent pour réclamer un apaisement autour du scandale des prêtres pédophiles. Ils dénoncent dans leur grande majorité un traitement médiatique inégal et les attaques portées contre le pape Benoît XVI, perçu comme un bouc émissaire. Dans la ligne de mire de la plupart de ces blogs : l'impossible dialogue entre les catholiques et les médias, accusés de privilégier un traitement à charge de toutes les affaires liées à la religion. Néanmoins, la plupart des auteurs de blog évoquant le sujet reconnaissent la nécessité pour l'Eglise de s'attaquer de front aux abus sexuels perpétrés en son sein.

Sur son blog, le journaliste catholique Patrice de Plunkett appelle à la nuance et dénonce le climat de "papophobie" qui règne actuellement, tout en reconnaissant qu'elle trouve sa source dans "le dossier affreusement réel des prêtres pédophiles", "scandale métaphysique que les croyants doivent assumer avec courage et douleur". Selon lui, l'emballement médiatique dont Benoît XVI et l'Eglise en général font l'objet provient du fait que cette dernière "incarne la seule résistance à la vision matérialiste mercantile, idéologie du système occidental". Il encourage les croyants à "rester fidèle au message du Christ", à "assumer" tous les actes dont l'Eglise a pu se rendre coupable, sans "parader" : "l'on n'évangélise pas si l'on est vus comme des négationnistes", souligne-t-il. >>> Audrey Fournier | Lundi 05 Avril 2010

Carla Bruni Loses Out to Marion Cotillard in Woody Allen Film
THE TELEGRAPH: Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has been beaten to the role of leading lady in Woody Allen's new film set in Paris.

Marion Cotillard, left, has beaten Carla Bruni to star in Woody Allen's new film. Photos: The Telegraph
Marion Cotillard, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of French singer Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, has been chosen instead.

The French president's wife had been hoping to land the role after the director told her last year she would be a "natural" choice for one of his films.

However, last week Allen admitted: "Carla Bruni is not a woman who earns her living as an actress. She is a first lady.

"She could be taken away at any moment by other duties, like a political crisis or an important event. I have to take account of the risks that there could be, and hiring her is far from certain." >>> Peter Allen in Paris | Easter Sunday, April 04, 2010

Zuma Calls for Calm Over Terre'Blanche Murder


MAIL ONLINE: Stephen Robinson: Drunken Racist Buffoon Who Bewitched A Blonde Liberal >>> Stephen Robinson | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Furcht vor neuen Rassenkonflikten in Südafrika: Zuma nach Tod von Rassist Terre'Blanche um Ruhe vor Fussball-WM besorgt
NZZ ONLINE: Zehn Wochen vor der Fussball-WM droht der gewaltsame Tod eines bekannten Apartheid-Befürworters Südafrika wieder zu polarisieren. Präsident Zuma bemühte sich stark, die Lage zu entspannen.

Südafrika fürchtet neue Rassenkonflikte: Nach dem tödlichen Anschlag auf den Rechtsextremisten Eugene Terre'Blanche am frühen Samstagabend warnte Südafrikas Präsident Jacob Zuma vor neuem Rassenhass. «Die schreckliche Tat» dürfe nicht dazu missbraucht werden, «Rassenhass anzustacheln oder anzuheizen», betonte der Führer des Afrikanischen Nationalkongresses (ANC).

«Niemand darf das Gesetz in seine Hände nehmen», sagte der Präsident im sichtlichen Bemühen, zehn Wochen vor der Fussball-WM in Südafrika die Lage zu entspannen. Auch der ANC, hervorgegangen aus der schwarzen Befreiungsbewegung, verurteilte den Anschlag «auf das Schärfste». >>> sda/Reuters/dpa/afp | Sonntag, 4. April 2010

7.2 Magnitude Earthquake Shakes California

A Free Spirit in New York's Hudson Valley

Hummus Recipe From Dede's Mediterranean Kitchen

Too Tipsy to Drive? There's an App for That

Taliban Attempt to Storm US Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan
THE TELEGRAPH: Taliban militants armed with guns and suicide vests targeted the US consulate in Pakistan's northwestern capital and unleashed carnage at a political rally on Monday, killing 43 people.



The apparently co-ordinated attacks were the deadliest so far this year in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where the government is closely allied to the US-led war against al-Qaeda and in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The ability of heavily-armed militants to get so close to the US mission and other military installations, such as the provincial headquarters of Pakistan's premier spy agency, will raise further questions about endemic insecurity.

Up to 15 militants armed with explosives and driving in two vehicles targeted the heavily guarded US consulate in Peshawar, a city of 2.5 million on the edge of Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, setting off multiple explosions.

"The target was certainly the American consulate but they didn't succeed in getting there," said Pakistani police officer Ghulam Hussain.

"One of the suicide bombers blew himself up close to the gate. Police guarding the US consulate started retaliatory fire. More blasts took place. We have recovered unexploded material from four different points," he said.

Three powerful explosions and bouts of gunfire echoed through the area, where the attacks occurred at a checkpoint about 20 yards from the US consulate where heavy thick smoke spewed into the sky.

"We can confirm there has been an attack on the US consulate Peshawar facilities," US embassy spokeswoman Ariel Howard told AFP, unable to provide any details about the nature of the attack, possible damage or casualties. >>> | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Cristina Odone: Finally, Even Archbishop Rowan Williams Admits Christians Are Under Attack
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: It’s Easter and Christians have come out of hiding. In fact, they are very much in the limelight: the Archbishop of Canterbury was on Start the Week, Richard Harries is in The Times, Nicky Campbell presented a BBC documentary on the persecution of Christians in this country. In what is a startling departure, the claim by Christians that they are discriminated against, and often attacked, by virtue of their religion, has been investigated – and legitimised.

No one has been killed or tortured, Rowan Williams and Richard Harries remind us; no one could seriously claim that their lot compares with that of Christians in Iran or Nigeria. But finally even the clergy and the BBC acknowledge that Christians are a target of abuse from a relativist culture that thinks to distinguish between wicked and good is to be judgemental, and to believe in the One True Faith is to be smugly superior. Unless, that is, you are a Muslim and maybe a Jew. Read on and comment >>> Cristina Odone | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

"Not Even Jesus Could Reverse the Decline in the US"

WIKI: F. William Engdahl >>>

“The US Economy Will Not Recover For At Least Another Decade” – Engdahl

RUSSIA TODAY: “The US economy will not recover for at least another decade” – Engdahl: American bankers see themselves as the gods of money, a class above mere mortals, and they can do what they wish, said renowned economic researcher and historian William Engdahl in an interview with RT. >>> | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

WIKI: F. William Engdahl >>>

Peter Hitchens: Our Nice, Furry Archbishop... Lost in a Barbarous World
MAIL ONLINE: Do we have to wait until the hate-filled mobs storm into Canterbury Cathedral and drag him from the pulpit before the Archbishop of Canterbury grasps that Christianity is in danger in this country? Nice, furry, mild and useless, Dr Rowan Williams chose this Easter week not to protect his Church, but to rebuke several bishops who had rightly warned of the swelling rage against the Church.

No doubt he is right to point out that Christians elsewhere suffer more. I would like to hear more protests from 'human rights' campaigners against the nasty treatment of Christians in the Muslim world, not least under the rule of the Palestinian Authority which many leftist Christians idiotically admire.

But so what? In those rough neighbourhoods, under the grudging scowl of Muslim so-called 'tolerance', this has been the case for centuries. Here, things are and ought to be different. Dr Williams is the head of the Established Church in England. The laws of this country, the shape of its cities and countryside, its language, morals, literature, architecture, family structure and politics are all based upon Christianity.

Take it away and it will be like removing the mortar from a great building, leaving its bricks and stones loose and trembling in the storm to come. And yet there are many people who want to do this. In this Century of Selfishness, Christianity is an annoying obstacle, with its infuriating insistence on active unselfishness and its unalterable rules which say that there are some things you just cannot do, like for instance murder unborn babies and walk out on your marriage.

Last week, there was yet another case of someone being in trouble for being a Christian, in an officially Christian country. I collect these incidents: preachers arrested and fined; nurses disciplined for offering to pray for patients; registrars disciplined for declining to officiate at homosexual civil partnerships; adoption societies forced to close because they will not place children with same-sex couples. Just 30 years ago, they would have been unthinkable. Another few decades and Christianity will be against the law. >>> Peter Hitchens | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Stephen Robinson: Drunken Racist Buffoon Who Bewitched A Blonde Liberal
Photo: Mail Online
MAIL ONLINE: For the self-styled Boer warrior, this was the ultimate humiliation.

Death came to Eugene Terreblanche not with his boots on, rifle in hand, defending the volk from the heathen hordes, but tucked up in bed in his pyjamas, probably passed out with the drink, and bludgeoned to death by two of his own black staff.

His supporters must today be asking themselves how such an advanced student of South Africa's racial peril could have left himself so vulnerable to ambush.

More than 3,000 farmers have been murdered in South Africa in the past 16 years, and no real man of the soil would go to bed without a pistol under his pillow.

If you're a white farmer in South Africa these days you learn to spot black faces at your window with the easy facility of a bushman sensing a juicy kudu in the veld.

Perhaps we should not be surprised, for Eugene Terreblanche was always the mountebank neo-Nazi, posing as a descendant of the great Afrikaner heroes such as Piet Retief and Paul Kruger.

For those of us who reported from his rallies in South Africa's platteland during the dying days of apartheid in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the most striking thing about him was not his shabby anti-black or anti-Semitic bombast, but the fact he could barely ride a horse.

I have seen sacks of coal more elegantly mounted astride a black stallion, and one of the funniest images I hold in my mind from those old battles was of Terreblanche riding to a political meeting in Pretoria, and promptly falling off his horse on to his well-padded back-side.

'Ach man, he's not a farmer, he's just a drama student,' one neighbour explained, noting that Terreblanche's small-holding extended to no more than 80 acres, which in South African terms is equivalent to tending a few marrows and runner beans on a suburban allotment.

Terreblanche was a risible-figure to all but his inner coterie even before he struck up an extraordinary liaison in the late 1980s with a bottle blonde temptress from a liberal South African newspaper named Jani Allan.

Miss Allan was famous in South African journalism as the plain-speaking voice of reason. Sending her to interview him was like asking some lefty from the Guardian 
to stitch up Nick Griffin of the BNP.

But it did not turn out as her editors expected. Rather than denounce this racial separatist, Miss Allan fell for him like a neo-Nazi falling off his horse.

'Right now I've got to remind myself to breathe,' she wrote of their encounter. 'I'm impaled on the blue flames of his blowtorch eyes.' >>> Stephen Robinson | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

CNN: Video: Eugene Terreblanche Killed >>> | Easter Sunday, April 04, 2010

Russie : Nouvel attentat-suicide dans une république instable du Caucase russe
LE POINT: L'insécurité s'installe dans le Caucase. Deux policiers ont été tués lundi dans un attentat perpétré par un kamikaze qui a déclenché sa ceinture d'explosifs devant un bâtiment de la police en Ingouchie, république instable du Caucase russe, a annoncé le comité d'enquête du parquet général russe. Cette attaque intervient après une série d'attentats meurtriers la semaine dernière en Russie (plus de 50 morts).

"Lundi matin à Karaboulak, un inconnu a déclenché sa ceinture d'explosifs au moment où des policiers en voiture entraient dans l'enceinte d'un bâtiment du ministère de l'Intérieur", a raconté le parquet dans un communiqué. "Le kamikaze a été tué sur place, deux policiers ont succombé à leurs blessures et trois ont été blessés", a-t-il ajouté. Moins d'une heure après l'attaque, la police a découvert une bombe dans un véhicule stationné à l'extérieur de l'enceinte de la police de Karaboulak (centre de l'Ingouchie) et l'a désamorcée, provoquant une explosion qui n'a pas fait de victime, a indiqué à l'AFP une source au sein des forces de sécurité. >>> LePoint.fr avec AFP | Lundi 05 Avril 2010

Hallelujah! Archbishop Speaks Up For Christians: This Bias Against Us Must Stop, Says Dr Rowan Williams
MAIL ONLINE: The Archbishop of Canterbury used his Easter sermon to launch an extraordinary pre-election attack on a 'sustained effort' to discriminate against Christians.

Dr Rowan Williams, who has faced criticism for his reluctance to defend traditional values, blamed ' wooden-headed bureaucratic silliness' for Christians being barred from wearing religious symbols at work.

He said there was now a 'strange mixture of contempt and fear' towards Christianity in Britain.

The Anglican leader's remarks came as senior churchmen mount a campaign to put Christian values at the heart of the election campaign.

Thirty-five religious leaders have unveiled a U.S.-style 'declaration of conscience' setting out policies that unite British churches, including opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia.

They also appear to back Conservative proposals to support marriage in the tax system, which David Cameron is expected to give further details of this week.

While colleagues have been increasingly vocal in their protests, Dr Williams has up to now said little about discrimination against Christians.

But yesterday he highlighted the case of nurse Shirley Chaplin, who took the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust to an employment tribunal claiming discrimination.

She refused to remove a necklace bearing a crucifix, saying it would undermine her faith. The trust claimed there were health and safety issues and a ruling is expected this week.

Addressing a congregation at Canterbury Cathedral, Dr Williams referred to 'yet another legal wrangle over the right to wear a cross in public while engaged in professional duties'.

He said: '[This is] one more small but significant mark of what many Christians feel is a sustained effort to discriminate against them and render their faith invisible and impotent in the public sphere.

'One more mark of the curious contemporary belief that Christians are both too unimportant for their convictions to be worth bothering with and too dangerous for them to be allowed to manifest those convictions. >>> James Chapman | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Islamic Terrorism: Second 'Black Widow' Moscow Metro Bomber Named as Maryam Magomedov
TIMES ONLINE: A 28-year-old computer science teacher has been identified by her family as the second of two female suicide bombers who killed dozens of people on the Moscow metro a week ago, a newspaper has reported.

Rasul Magomedov recognised his missing daughter Maryam after being shown photos of the remains of the unidentified suicide bomber, the novayagazeta.ru website said.

More than 50 people have been killed in suicide attacks in Russia over the past week, both in the Moscow metro by bombers Russian media have dubbed “black widows”, and in a town in the turbulent North Caucasus region of Dagestan.

Fears of a new bombing campaign against the Russian heartland increased after a double bomb attack on a railway line on Sunday which security forces said was linked to the earlier attacks.

“My wife and I immediately recognised our daughter Maryam. When my wife last saw our daughter she was wearing the same red scarf we saw in the pictures,” Mr Magomedov, a teacher from the village of Balakhany in Dagestan, told Novaya Gazeta.

Mr Magomedov said his daughter graduated with a degree in mathematics and psychology from the Dagestan Pedagogical University in 2005. She returned to her village, lived at home and taught computer science at a local school.

“I would really like the investigation to uncover the true picture of what happened. We cannot even suggest how Maryam could get to Moscow. Yes, she was religious. But she never expressed any radical beliefs,” he said. >>> Foreign Staff | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Atomstreit: Iran lädt zu Abrüstungskonferenz – China sagt zu
WELT ONLINE: China wird nach iranischen Angaben an einer Abrüstungskonferenz in Teheran teilnehmen. Der Iran hatte 60 Staaten zu dem Treffen unter dem Motto "Atomenergie für Jedermann – Atomwaffen für Niemanden" eingeladen. Auch Kuba und Venezuela haben ihr Kommen zugesichert. Die Konferenz findet wenige Tage nach Gipfel in Washington statt.

Der iranische Präsident: Mahmud Ahmadinedschad. Bild: Welt Online
Irans Präsident Mahmud Ahmadinedschad – den der Westen verdächtigt, heimlich an der Atombombe zu arbeiten – hat zu einer internationalen Abrüstungskonferenz eingeladen.

„Der Iran als ein Anwalt nuklearer Abrüstung wird die Konferenz abhalten, um alle Länder zum Vernichten ihrer nuklearen Arsenale aufzurufen“, sagte Chef-Atomunterhändler Said Dschalili der Nachrichtenagentur Irna. Bereits zugesagt hätten die Außenminister von Kuba, Venezuela, Syrien, Oman und Turkmenistan. Auch China wolle teilnehmen. Der Iran hatte 60 Staaten zu dem Treffen unter dem Motto "Atomenergie für Jedermann – Atomwaffen für Niemanden" eingeladen. >>> dpa/Reuters/fas | Montag, 05. April 2010

BNP 'Sacks' PR Accused of Coup Bid
YAHOO! NEWS: The British National Party has sacked its publicity chief after he was arrested on suspicion of threatening to kill its leader Nick Griffin, according to reports.

Party bosses also accused Mark Collett, 29, who appeared in a documentary called Young, Nazi and Proud while a student in Leeds, of trying to launch a "palace coup" against Mr Griffin.

Mr Collett was responsible for producing the far right group's publicity material and edited its newspaper.

A leaked copy of the BNP organisers bulletin stated the party had run "an extensive and long-running" investigation into financial irregularities.

It stated: "We are able to say that Mark Collett was conspiring with a small clique of other party officials to launch a 'palace coup' against our twice democratically elected party leader, Nick Griffin, and that in order to create the artificial climate of disillusionment necessary for this to stand any chance of success, lies and unfounded rumours have been spread, and were planned to be spread much further.

"Mr Collett has therefore been relieved of all positions within the party with immediate effect." >>> Press Association | Easter Sunday, April 04, 2010

”Petty Gossip” Indeed! This, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Is Anything But “Petty Gossip”!
THE TELEGRAPH: Cardinal tells Pope Benedict XVI not to be distracted by 'petty gossip': A senior Vatican cardinal used the Easter Mass to say the Catholic Church should not be distracted by "petty gossip" about child sex-abuse allegations. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Easter Sunday, April 04, 2010

Sex Abuse Scandal Continues to Rock Catholic Church


Catholic Church: Sex Abuse Scandals


Victim of German Catholic Priest Sex Abuse Speaks Out

Meaning of Easter Symbols 'Confused' to Most
BBC: There is growing concern over the commercialisation of Easter and widespread confusion over the meaning of the symbols used to mark the holiday, a survey has found.

Research from Durham University also showed less than 60% of people could name more than three of the Ten Commandments, with most admitting their knowledge of the Bible comes from films.

Gerry Jackson reports. BBC video >>> | Easter Sunday, April 04, 2010

Queen Attends Easter Service at Windsor
BBC: The Queen, Prince Philip, and members of the Royal Family have attended the traditional Easter Sunday service at Windsor Castle.

Afterwards the monarch was handed flowers by young well wishers [sic]. BBC video >>> | Easter Sunday, April 04, 2010

Le pasteur qui ne croit pas en Dieu
LE TEMPS: Klaas Hendrikse est ministre de l’Eglise protestante des Pays-Bas. Son athéisme affiché attire les foules

Après la mort, il n’y a rien. La résurrection n’est qu’un mythe provenant d’antiques croyances liées au lever et au coucher de l’astre solaire. Jésus est certes une figure historique, il a sans doute été un personnage marquant, mais il n’a rien d’unique. Dieu n’existe pas, tout le démontre. Toutefois, il est possible de croire en un Dieu qui n’existe pas.

Le pasteur protestant qui professe ce credo sulfureux s’appelle Klaas Hendrikse. Agé de 63 ans, il est divorcé et père de deux enfants. Grand, mince, d’allure sportive, les cheveux blancs encadrant un visage bronzé – il revient d’Espagne où sa sœur a une maison –, c’est un homme posé et réfléchi. Ne craignant pas le potentiel explosif de l’oxymoron, il se définit comme un «croyant athée», et vit à Middelbourg, une charmante petite ville de 46 000 habitants, chef-lieu de la province de Zélande aux Pays-Bas. Depuis qu’il a fait son coming out mécréant dans un livre* publié en 2007, il est devenu un phénomène de société. Des journaux ont comparé sa situation à celle d’un boucher qui serait végétarien, ou d’un boulanger sans farine. On vient de tous les Pays-Bas, parfois par cars entiers, pour l’écouter prêcher à Middelbourg, ou à Zierikzee, l’autre paroisse dans laquelle il est actif.

La première édition de son livre s’est envolée en une journée. La treizième sera bientôt disponible. 34 000 exemplaires ont été vendus. Un succès considérable pour un ouvrage de théologie. >>> Patricia Briel | Dimanche 04 Avril 2010

Conversation avec Klaas Hendrikse en néerlandais (Gesprek met Klaas Hendrikse) >>>

Abus sexuels: mutisme du pape lors de la bénédiction pascale
La messe de Pâques était présidée par Benoît XVI. Photo: Le Temps
LE TEMPS: Benoît XVI est resté muet dimanche sur les cas d’abus sexuels au sein de l’Eglise catholique lors de sa traditionnelle bénédiction urbi et orbi à l’occasion de Pâques. Fait rarissime, le doyen du collège des cardinaux a pris publiquement la défense du pape

«Saint Père, le peuple de Dieu est avec vous et ne se laissera pas détourner de sa voie par les ragots sans importance du moment, par les épreuves qui frappent parfois la communauté des fidèles», a déclaré Mgr Angelo Sodano en s’adressant au souverain pontife.

Ancien secrétaire d’Etat et proche collaborateur de Jean Paul II, Mgr Sodano a salué en Benoît XVI un roc inébranlable sur lequel l’Eglise s’appuie fermement. «L’Eglise est avec vous», a-t-il dit au pape, sous les acclamations des milliers de fidèles massés sur la place Saint-Pierre.

C’est, a priori, la première fois dans l’histoire récente que le rituel presque immuable de la messe de Pâques est modifié de façon à permettre à quelqu’un de s’adresser au pape. Cette entorse au protocle dénote à quel point le Vatican est sur la défensive devant les accusations dont il fait l’objet depuis plusieurs semaines.

Aucune allusion

L’air las et fatigué, Benoît XVI n’a fait aucune allusion lors de sa bénédiction pascale à la vague de scandales qui déferlent sur l’Eglise, accusée de dissimulations, et semblent viser le pape lui-même, qui était cardinal en Allemagne au moment où des cas d’abus sexuels ont eu lieu dans ce pays.

Depuis le balcon de la basilique, le souverain pontife a évoqué dimanche la crise «profonde» que vit la planète. Le chef de l’Eglise catholique a affirmé que l’humanité a «besoin» d’une «conversion spirituelle et morale» et de «changements profonds, à commencer par celui de la conscience».

Dans un message prononcé en 65 langues, deux de plus que l’an dernier (islandais et kazakh), il a appelé à la paix au Moyen-Orient, notamment en Terre Sainte et en Irak, ainsi qu’en Afrique, particulièrement en République démocratique du Congo, en Guinée et au Nigeria. «Campagne de dénigrement» >>> ATS | Dimanche 04 Avril 2010

Pope Silent on Scandal

Eugene Terreblanche Killed


THE TELEGRAPH: Terreblanche murder is 'declaration of war' by blacks: South African President Jacob Zuma has called for calm as supporters of white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche said his murder was a "declaration of war" by blacks. >>> Sebastien Berger in Ventersdorp | Easter Sunday, April 04, 2010

Flight Attendants Pose Nude in Protest

Suicide Car Bombs Rock Baghdad


Blasts Target Embassies in Baghdad

The Uphill Battle for Health-Care

A Long Line for iPad


iPad More Than an Oversized iPod Touch

Missing Link Between Man and Apes Found
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: A "missing link" between humans and their apelike ancestors has been discovered.

Homo habilis lived 2.0-1.6 million years ago and had a wide distribution in Africa. Image: The Telegraph
The new species of hominid, the evolutionary branch of primates that includes humans, is to be revealed when the two-million-year-old skeleton of a child is unveiled this week.

Scientists believe the almost-complete fossilised skeleton belonged to a previously-unknown type of early human ancestor that may have been a intermediate stage as ape-men evolved into the first species of advanced humans, Homo habilis.

Experts who have seen the skeleton say it shares characteristics with Homo habilis, whose emergence 2.5 million years ago is seen as a key stage in the evolution of our species.

The new discovery could help to rewrite the history of human evolution by filling in crucial gaps in the scientific knowledge. >>> Richard Gray, Science Correspondent | Saturday, April 03, 2010

L'homophobie dénoncée par quatre hommes de religion
SAPHIR NEWS: L’homosexualité et la transsexualité dans les religions sont bel et bien des questions sensibles et font l’objet de beaucoup de controverses. Pour celles et ceux qui sont gays et lesbiennes, c’est un vrai parcours du combattant que de s’intégrer pleinement dans la société ou encore dans la communauté religieuse de leur choix. La recrudescence des violences homophobes en est le résultat. Loin d'approuver les pratiques homosexuels, plusieurs hommes de religion, dont Tareq Oubrou, imam de Bordeaux, ont tout de même signé le 17 mars, un appel contre l’homophobie et la transphobie au nom des règles universelles des droits de l’homme.

Tareq Oubrou (1), Rivon Krygier (2), Jean-Claude Guillebaud (3) et Olivier Abel (4)... qu'ils soient musulman, juif, catholique ou protestant, ils disent non à l'homophobie. Photos : Saphir News
Être juif, chrétien ou musulman et homosexuel, est – pour le moins que l’on puisse dire – difficile. Les trois religions monothéistes proscrivent formellement l’homosexualité aussi bien que la transsexualité. L’immense majorité des religieux, y compris bouddhistes et hindouistes, condamnent sans appel ces pratiques.

Ce n’est pas la création de l’association Homosexuels musulmans de France (HM2F), créée voilà deux mois, qui changera les dogmes et les principes religieux. Celle-ci, qui réunit près de 40 membres à ce jour, veut permettre aux gays et aux lesbiennes de confession musulmane de concilier leur homosexualité et leur foi, à l’image de David & Jonathan, un mouvement homosexuel chrétien crée en 1972, et Beit Haverim, groupe juif des homosexuels de France fondé en 1977.

« On ne choisit pas d'être homo, en revanche on choisit d'avoir des croyances religieuses. On n'en est pas moins des êtres humains », a déclaré à ce titre Ludovic Zahed, le fondateur de HM2F au magazine spécialisé des gays et lesbiennes Têtu.

Il ne revient qu’à Dieu de juger. Cet adage si cher aux musulmans est bien connu. Cependant, ne pas accepter l’homosexualité ne signifie nullement nier son existence et surtout approuver, voire autoriser l’homophobie religieuse. Le respect de la dignité de l’Homme, quels que soient sa religion, ses origines, son sexe et son orientation sexuelle, est commun à toutes les religions, y compris l’islam. Un appel des religieux contre l’homophobie >>> Hanan Ben Rhouma | Vendredi 26 Mars 2010

Leben am Persischen Golf: So luxuriös wohnt Familie Federer in Dubai
Roger und Mirka Federer mit den Zwillingen Myla und Charlene. Foto: Sonntag Online
SONNTAG ONLINE: Der beste Tennisspieler aller Zeiten ist ein Schweizer – doch leben will Roger Federer mit seiner Familie vor allem nur in Dubai: Der «Sonntag» zeigt exklusiv wie und wo.

Der Tennis-Superstar und das Emirat am Persischen Golf – zwei Giganten. Roger Federer (29) lebt mit seiner Frau Mirka (31) und den beiden süssen Zwillingen Myla Rose und Charlene Riva mehrere Monate im Jahr in der «City der Rekorde». Seit mehr als vier Jahren besitzt das Traumpaar in der steuerfreien Wüstenstadt eine Wohnung der Superlative – an bester Lage in Dubai Marina. 



Im direkt am Meer gelegenen Stadtteil wurden in den letzten sechs Jahren rund 200 Wolkenkratzer und Hochhäuser gebaut. Dubai Marina gilt mit seinem eigenen Stadthafen und den unzähligen Luxusgeschäften und Hotels als einer der modernsten und sichersten Stadtteile der Welt. 



Der «Sonntag» weiss: King Roger, der schon 16 Grand-Slam-Turniere im Einzel gewann und Multimillionär ist, kaufte sich und seiner Mirka 2006 im luxuriösen Hochhaus «Le Rêve» ein so genanntes «Presidential Apartment». Eine 5-Zimmer-Traumwohnung mit mehr als 200 Quadratmeter Wohnfläche. Eigenes Fitnesscenter, Tennisplatz und 24-Stunden-Concierge-Service inklusive. 



Gemäss der exklusiven Verkaufsbroschüre gibts im exquisiten 50-stöckigen Turm keine Wohnung unter umgerechnet zwei Millionen Schweizer Franken zu kaufen – auch jetzt während der Immobilienkrise nicht. «Es geht nicht um Geld oder Luxus, hier sind die Trainingsbedingungen optimal und wir fühlen uns sehr wohl», sagte Federer einst in einem Interview mit der «Schweizer Illustrierten». Wo er genau wohnt, verriet er bisher nie. «Ich gehe aber auch ganz gern in Dubai mit Mirka shoppen.» >>> Von Sacha Ercolani | Samstag, 03. April 2010

”Tribal Capitalism”
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The death of Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, controller of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, has thrown the spotlight on one of the world's most powerful families.

Mourners at the funeral of Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. The two in the centre of the pic are Crown Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince (L) and Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, Ruler of Abu Dhabi, President of the UAE. On the far right is Sheikh Mansur, deputy prime minister and owner of Manchester City. Photograph: The Sunday Telegraph
He was a multi-billionaire, and scion of one of the world's most powerful families. But until his microlight aircraft crashed into a Moroccan lake last weekend few outside the narrow confines of the Gulf, and the even narrower confines of sovereign wealth finance, would have heard of Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

To some extent, that is understandable. In the world of Gulf princes, he was one among a secretive cast of thousands. As managing director of the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund, discretion was his watchword.

He himself was one of 19 brothers, led by the eldest, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, Ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates. With his close-trimmed beard and standard-issue white robes and kaffiyeh, he could pass for any one of the powerful royals who run the emirates and neighbours such as Saudi Arabia.

Even so it was odd that his death at the age of 41 attracted only a few passing newspaper paragraphs in the West. The Nahyan family, Abu Dhabi's hereditary emirs, are significant players on the world stage, and their ability to avoid the limelight is itself beginning to attract attention.

"They are not interested, they don't want it," says one Abu Dhabi insider. "They don't give interviews, they just get on with it."

But in terms of publicity, Sheikh's Ahmed's death is likely to be just the start of it. What they are "getting on with" nowadays is running boardrooms, influencing geopolitics and - above all - growing the richest family business in the world. Slowly, they are becoming aware that as the spotlight turns on them, they will become fodder for front-page headlines and, no doubt, gossip columns too.

Sheikh Ahmed, 41, died after apparently fouling up a landing in a microlight he was learning to pilot. He had been holidaying at a Nahyan family palace by a lake in the Moroccan hills. His instructor survived and got ashore; Sheikh Ahmed's body was eventually found on Tuesday.

Immediately, the whispers started. No-one in authority suspects anything other than an accident, but his half-brother, Sheikh Nasser bin Zayed, also died in a crash when the helicopter he was piloting plunged into the Gulf two years ago.

It was an unfortunate coincidence: could the Nahyans be suffering the "curse of the Khaleej Kennedys", asked one gossip - Khaleej being the Arabic for Gulf.

Comparison with the Kennedys would cause the conservative Nahyans to shudder with horror. But if the United Arab Emirates is not yet the United States, the Nahyans are just as handsome as the Kennedys and much, much richer. Inside the world of the 'Kennedys of the Gulf' >>> Richard Spencer in Abu Dhabi | Easter Sunday, April 04, 2010

SWALK
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: A Dubai appeals court has upheld a one-month prison sentence for a British couple convicted of kissing in a restaurant.

British pair caught kissing in public in Dubai, Charlotte Adams and Ayman Najafi. Photos: The Sunday Telegraph
Ayman Najafi and Charlotte Adams – both in their 20s – were arrested after an Emirati woman claimed they exchanged a passionate kiss in a restaurant where she and her daughter were having dinner.

The pair landed in court after she complained about the public kiss, which the couple insisted was just a peck on the cheek. They were arrested in November and convicted of inappropriate behaviour and illegal drinking.

Cosmopolitan Dubai has the most relaxed social codes in the conservative Gulf, but authorities enforce strict decency laws and regularly crack down on people accused of pushing the limits, which can include everything from wearing a mini skirt to losing one's temper in traffic.

Najafi and Adams attended Sunday's hearing, but did not speak. Their lawyer, Khalaf al-Hosany, told the court in a previous hearing that they kissed on the cheek as a greeting and "never intended to break the law."

Appeals court judge Iysar Fouad upheld the conviction, the jail time and a fine of 1,000 dirhams – about £180 – each. They will be deported after serving their sentences. Dubai court upholds one-month jail sentence for kissing couple >>> | Easter Sunday, April 04, 2010

Dubaï : Un mois de prison pour une bise
20MINUTES.ch: Une cour d'appel a confirmé dimanche à Dubaï la peine d'un mois de prison prononcée contre un couple britannique accusé de s'être embrassé en public.

Ayman Najafi et Charlotte Adams, qui ont tous deux entre 20 et 30 ans, ont été arrêtés en novembre dernier lorsqu'une femme des Emirats les a accusés d'avoir échangé un baiser passionné dans un restaurant où elle dînait avec sa fille.

Ils ont été inculpés de comportement inapproprié et de consommation illégale d'alcool.

Ayman Najafi et Charlotte Adams ont simplement échangé une bise sur la joue pour se saluer et «n'ont jamais eu l'intention de violer la loi», avait déclaré leur avocat Khalas al-Hosany lors d'une audience précédente. >>> ap | Dimanche 04 Avril 2010

Papst predigt in der Osternacht Erneuerung: Forderung nach Liebe, Frieden und Selbstbeherrschung
NZZ ONLINE: Papst Benedikt hat Samstagnacht das Osterlicht in den nur mit Kerzen erleuchteten Petersdom getragen. In seiner Predigt forderte Benedikt dazu auf, die vom Apostel Paulus aufgezählten «alten Gewänder» wie Unzucht, und Unsittlichkeit abzulegen.

Im stimmungsvoll erleuchteten Petersdom hat Papst Benedikt XVI. am Samstag vor Tausenden von Gläubigen die Osterwache geleitet. Bei der feierlichen Zeremonie wird in der Vorhalle das Osterlicht angezündet und in den Petersdom gebracht.

Die Kerze, die die bis dahin im Halbdunkel liegende Basilika erhellte, symbolisiert die Auferstehung Jesu von den Toten. Während der Osterwache taufte der Papst, einer Tradition folgend, fünf Erwachsene und ein Kind aus [aus] fünf Ländern, darunter vier Frauen.

Die Osterfeiern werden vom Missbrauchsskandal in der katholischen Kirche überschattet. In seiner Predigt forderte Benedikt dazu auf, die vom Apostel Paulus aufgezählten «alten Gewänder» wie Unzucht, Unsittlichkeit, Götzendienst, Eigennutz und Missgunst abzulegen. >>> sda/dpa | Sonntag, 04. April 2010

Es wäre Zeit für ein «Mea culpa» des Vatikans
NZZ ONLINE: Die Enthüllungen über sexuellen Missbrauch durch Kirchenleute reissen nicht ab. Doch die Kirche setzt den Anschein ihrer Makellosigkeit über alles , schreibt Klara Obermüller

Das Fünf-Jahr-Jubiläum seines Pontifikats hatte Benedikt XVI. sich zweifellos anders vorgestellt. Statt mit Genugtuung Rückschau halten zu können, muss er zusehen, wie seine Kirche und auch er selbst immer tiefer in den Strudel des Missbrauchsskandals geraten.

Fast im Tagestakt lösen Anschuldigungen und Stellungnahmen sich ab, und der Vatikan, ohnehin langsam in seinen Reaktionen, kommt nicht nach mit Ausreden und Beschwichtigungen. Schon im Falle Irlands hatte der Papst Jahre gebraucht, bis er sich zu einem Hirtenbrief und einer halbherzigen Entschuldigung durchrang. Von den sexuellen Übergriffen im Bistum Milwaukee und anderswo auf der Welt will man entweder nichts gewusst haben oder aber an deren Vertuschung nicht beteiligt gewesen sein. Dabei ist bekannt, dass es vatikanische Dokumente gibt, die für sexuelle Vergehen zwar eine Meldepflicht an die Glaubenskongregation vorsehen, diese gleichzeitig aber der päpstlichen Geheimhaltung unterstellen und so verhindern, dass es zu einer Anzeige kommt. Chef der Glaubenskongregation war von 1981 bis 2005 Joseph Ratzinger, der heutige Papst Benedikt XVI. >>> Klara Obermüller | Sonntag, 04. April 2010

Tourmente pascale au Vatican
leJDD.fr: Alors que deux milliards de catholiques fêtent Pâques, le Saint-Siège est la cible d’une nouvelle controverse.

A l'heure de prononcer sa bénédiction à la ville et au monde, Benoît XVI est confronté à de nombreuses polémiques. Photo : leJDD.fr
On est loin de "la joie triomphante et la résurrection" en ce dimanche pascal. Après les scandales de pédophilie, l’Eglise catholique se retrouve au coeur d’une nouvelle polémique: le prédicateur du Vatican a risqué un parallèle douteux entre les critiques à l’encontre du pape et les persécutions dont le peuple juif a été victime, vendredi soir, en présence de Benoît XVI, suscitant un véritable tollé.

Marvin Hier, rabbin et fondateur du Centre Simon Wiesenthal a exigé les "excuses" du pape pour ces "remarques blessantes", "honteuses, hors de propos" et cette "déformation totale de l’Histoire", s’indignant de la comparaison entre des siècles d’antisémitisme qui ont mené à "la mort des dizaines de millions de personnes innocentes avec des criminels qui renient leur foi et leur vocation en agressant sexuellement des enfants". "Cela fait mal au coeur de voir un responsable de haut rang du Vatican faire des remarques aussi dures, qui sont une insulte aussi bien pour les victimes d’agressions sexuelles que pour les juifs", a renchéri David Clohessy, qui dirige SNAP, groupe de défense des victimes de prêtres pédophiles.

Vendredi soir, pendant la liturgie de la passion du Christ, le père Raniero Cantalamessa, prédicateur de la maison pontificale, a lu une lettre de "solidarité" que lui aurait adressée un "ami juif": "Je suis avec dégoût l’attaque violente et concentrique contre l’Eglise et le pape. L’utilisation du stéréotype, le passage de la responsabilité et de la faute personnelle à la faute collective me rappellent les aspects les plus honteux de l’antisémitisme." Pour le rabbin Gary Greenebaum, chargé des relations interreligieuses au sein de l’American Jewish Comittee, s’il est "compréhensible que l’Eglise se sente sous pression", les responsables catholiques "doivent veiller à ne pas pratiquer l’hyperbole". La présidente du Conseil central des juifs d’Allemagne, Charlotte Knobloch, s’était déjà insurgée contre un sermon de l’évêque de Ratisbonne, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, qui avait comparé les critiques de la presse à des méthodes nazies. Le rabbin de Rome: "Un propos complètement déplacé" >>> Christel de Taddeo - Le Journal du Dimanche | Dimanche 04 Avril 2010