Arnold Schwarzenegger vole au secours des fumeurs
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le gouverneur Schwarzenegger a mis son veto à une loi qui visait à interdire la cigarette sur les plages et parcs naturels de l'Etat, estimant qu'elle constituerait une "intrusion du gouvernement dans la vie des citoyens".

Le gouverneur républicain Arnold Schwarzenegger qui avait notamment signé par le passé une loi interdisant de fumer dans une voiture en présence d'un enfant, estime cette fois "qu'il y a quelque chose de fondamentalement gênant dans l'idée que l'Etat puisse empiéter de façon tellement énorme sur (la vie privée) des gens".

Il préfère laisser de telles initiatives à la discrétion des autorités locales qui, pour certaines d'entre elles, interdisent déjà la cigarette. >>> AFP | Jeudi 06 Mai 2010

Greece on Brink of Abyss as Three Bank Workers Killed in Riots
A riot policeman falls after being hit by a molotov cocktail near the Greek parliament in Athens. Photograph: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: The President of Greece warned last night that his country stood on the brink of the abyss after three people were killed when an anti-government mob set fire to the Athens bank where they worked.

“I have difficulty in finding the words to express my distress and outrage,” President Papoulias said. “The big challenge we face is to maintain social cohesion and peace. Our country came to the brink of the abyss. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that we don’t step over the edge.”

Violence flared as tens of thousands of striking workers and civil servants took to the streets of the capital and the northern city of Salonika to protest against the Government’s austerity measures.

The demonstrators gathered as George Papandreou, the Prime Minister, was trying to push through parliament tough budget cuts demanded by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a ¤110 billion aid package.

“We are all deeply shocked by the unjust death of three workers, three of our fellow citizens, who were victims of murderous attacks,” he told MPs. >>> Philip Pangalos in Athens | Thursday, May 06, 2010

BNP Man Punches Asian on Campaign Trail as Online Chief Denounces Griffin
TIMES ONLINE: British National Party's election campaign descends into violence as a top official is filmed attacking an Asian man

The British National Party’s election campaign descended into violence yesterday when one of its top officials was filmed attacking an Asian man. Robert Bailey, the far-right party’s group leader at Barking and Dagenham Council, was shown punching the man and trying to kick him in the head. Mr Bailey had retaliated after he was spat on during canvassing.

Earlier The Times revealed that the head of the party’s online operation had resigned, taking its website down with him. Simon Bennett directed BNP traffic to his personal site, which contained a diatribe against Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, and other senior figures. A day before the election, Mr Bennett, 41, depicted an amateur operation and an organisation that, he claimed, wasted membership fees and donations. He accused Mr Griffin and James Dowson, the BNP election fundraiser, of being “pathetic, desperate and incompetent”.

It is understood that Mr Bennett took the website down briefly on Tuesday afternoon. It was reactivated quickly, but his comments had already gone viral on a number of websites. >>> Fiona Hamilton, London Correspondent | Thursday, May 06, 2010

José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission, Photo: Google Images
Barroso Pledges to Take on Speculators as Euro Hits 14-month Low
TIMES ONLINE: The President of the European Commission lashed out at speculators and threatened more regulation yesterday after the euro plunged to its lowest level for 14 months and stock markets suffered another battering.

Investors dumped stocks and bonds in a mass flight from risk as demonstrators in Athens clashed with police. Three people died after buildings were set alight in protests against cuts to pay and pensions in Greece.

A threat by Moody’s rating agency that it might downgrade Portugal fuelled the market mayhem. In London, leading shares joined the rout and the FTSE 100 index shed 70 points, its second day of decline. Madrid suffered worse pain, with the Ibex index of leading shares down 2.25 per cent as money fled to havens, such as the dollar and US Treasury bills.

José Manuel Barroso, the Commission President, said that it would act swiftly with further market regulation and accused credit rating agencies of pandering to the market mood. “The Commission will do whatever is necessary to ensure that financial markets are not a playground for speculation,” he said.

Michel Barnier, the Internal Market Commissioner, has already threatened regulation of rating agencies, and Mr Barroso joined the attack. He called the agencies’ working methods deficient and said that they were “too cyclical, too reliant on the general market mood rather than on fundamentals — regardless of whether market mood is too optimistic or too pessimistic”.

Investors raced to the exit, ignoring pleas from politicians to support the €110 billion rescue package for Greece. Instead they scoured the market for indications that Greece’s insolvency virus might spread to other Mediterranean eurozone states burdened with high debt, excessive spending and low growth. >>> Carl Mortished, Ian King | Thursday, May 06, 2010

The Outsider Says He’s Ready for One Hell of a Job
Illustration: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: Nick Clegg tells The Times that, despite his opposition to a like-for-like replacement for Trident, he still wants Britain to punch above its weight. And he wishes he’d taken a bet on shortened odds on his occupying No 10

Nick Clegg does not appear to be a betting man. If he were, he might have taken a punt on the rank outsider that no one saw coming. What appeared a reckless bet a couple of weeks ago now looks interesting; what would have been an absurd question is now just a straight-forward one. Is he worried about becoming Prime Minister? The odds on such an outcome from May 6 are down from 100-1 to 10-1.

“Really?” He looks surprised. “I should have put a bet on.”

Instantly, the brow furrows as he calculates how off- message he has just veered. “Joking aside, joking aside . . .” Equally quickly, he relaxes. “More to the point, why didn’t I put any money on earlier?”

With one fence to go, the self-styled outsider is, remarkably, in with a shout. If this debate-dominated campaign is a three-act play, the first saw Mr Clegg storm the stage; in the second he showed he was there to stay. The third, tomorrow in Birmingham, will help to dictate the shape of the next government in which it is anything but fanciful to expect him to be playing a part.

The scale of his insurgency, or Cleggmania to give it its official title, is such that there is more than one scenario that would see him addressing the nation from in front of the door to Number 10.

Is he ready for it, the immensity of it? “I honestly wouldn’t have put myself forward and put my family, with everything it implies to have a politician as a husband and a father, if I didn’t genuninely feel that what I believe or what I represent are big changes that would genuinely make a big difference.” But it’s a hell of a job >>> Roland Watson and James Harding | Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Tories Scent Victory as Poll Lead Widens
David Cameron at his final camapign rally in Bristol. Photograph: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: David Cameron has the keys to No 10 almost within his grasp, with the final poll of the campaign for The Times indicating that the Conservatives will make sweeping gains from Labour.

But the Conservatives cannot yet be sure of winning an overall Commons majority unless they perform even better in key Labour marginals to compensate for the likelihood of a strong Liberal Democrat showing.

The Populus poll of 2,250 voters puts the Tories on 37 per cent, up one point on a week ago. Labour is up one point at 28 per cent and the Lib Dems down one point at 27 per cent.

This would represent a swing since the 2005 election of just over 6 per cent — the biggest to the Tories since 1945 and second only to Labour’s advance in 1997. The findings point to an additional 91 Tory MPs, 25 seats short of an overall majority.

A key obstacle to the Conservatives’ ambitions may be the success of the Liberal Democrats, who are on course, despite a small last-minute squeeze, to turn in the best performance for a third party since the 1920s. >>> Peter Riddell, Jill Sherman and Roland Watson | Thursday, May 06, 2010

Christian Preacher Arrested for Saying Homosexuality Is a Sin
THE TELEGRAPH: A Christian street preacher was arrested and locked in a cell for telling a passer-by that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God.

Dale McAlpine was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after a homosexual police community support officer (PCSO) overheard him reciting a number of “sins” referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same sex relationships.

The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Workington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God. >>> Heidi Blake | Sunday, May 02, 2010

Barack Obama Wants to Overhaul US Immigration System
THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama wants to begin working this year on legislation overhauling the US immigration system following the controversial law passed in Arizona.

Mr Obama's comments at a Cinco de Mayo celebration at the White House reaffirmed his long-held support for immigration reform. He went a step further than he has in the past by calling for the work to begin this year.

Latino groups have been urging Mr Obama to deliver on his campaign promise of making immigration reform a top priority, with some activists and lawmakers in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus complaining he was not doing enough.

Mr Obama acknowledged immigration reform would be difficult to achieve and would require bipartisan support, which is lacking in the Senate right now. And he made no commitment to finishing the process this year. >>> | Rgursday, May 06, 2010

Faisal Shahzad: Accused Times Square Bomber 'Gave Up American Dream for Jihad'
THE TELEGRAPH: Faisal Shahzad seemed like a perfect embodiment of the American Dream but, US prosecutors allege, gave it up for jihad.

The quiet, privately-educated son of an retired air force officer had enjoyed almost textbook success since moving to America in 1998 on a student visa.

He earned a degree in computer applications and, after working at Elizabeth Arden, the cosmetics maker, he found a well-paid job for a financial services company.

Having secured his future in the US by finding an American wife, Huma Mian, the couple and their two young children appeared destined for a life of stable, suburban life in Connecticut. >>> Tom Leonard in New York and Ashfaq Yusufzai in Muhib Banda | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

LE TEMPS: La crainte d’un «nouveau modèle» terroriste : Si on ignore encore si l’auteur de l’attentat manqué à Times Square a agi seul ou en lien avec les talibans pakistanais, les actions de ce type sont de plus en plus difficiles à repérer >>> Luis Lema | Jeudi 06 Mai 2010

Crisis in Greece Leaves EU Future in Balance, Warns Angela Merkel
THE GUARDIAN: German leaders issue stark warnings and insist on punitive new regime for euro countries if monetary union is to survive

Europe was threatened with its gravest modern crisis tonight as Germany warned that the EU's future was on the line in the Greek emergency.

The spiralling tension over Greece's ballooning debts and Europe's first ever bailout of a country in the single currency has exposed fundamental questions about the EU and Germany's pivotal role as the union's biggest power.

In Berlin, where Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a groundswell of hostility to sending the Greeks a €22bn lifeline next week, leaders issued stark warnings about the prospects for the EU and insisted on a punitive new regime for the 16 euro countries if the monetary union is to survive.

The leaders of the eurozone's 16 nations are to assemble for an emergency summit on the Greek crisis in Brussels on Friday evening, with the mood bleak and the stakes high.

"Europe is at a crossroads," Merkel declared to the German parliament in Berlin today. "This is about no more and no less than the future of Europe and about Germany's future in Europe."

Her sombre tone was echoed by the opposition leader and former foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who said the Greek crisis presented the EU with its biggest challenge since the union was created in the 1950s. >>> Ian Traynor in Brussels | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Vorzeitiger Abgesang auf Gordon Brown: Der Premierminister wird nun auch in den eigenen Reihen verschmäht
NZZ ONLINE: Rastlos reisen die britischen Parteichefs noch durch die Lande, um letzte Wählerstimmen zu gewinnen. Gordon Brown erscheint immer mehr auf verlorenem Posten. Ein Kandidat der eigenen Partei nennt ihn gar den «schlechtesten Premier» aller Zeiten.

Gordon Browns Chancen auf einen Sieg sind gesunken. Bild: NZZ Online
Am letzten Tag vor den britischen Parlamentswahlen legen die Parteiführer noch den üblichen Endspurt hin und hasten von Rede zu Rede, schütteln unzählige Hände und beantworten Bürgerfragen. Der Vorsitzende der Konservativen, David Cameron, soll die Nacht durchgemacht haben, Labour-Parteichef Gordon Brown und der Liberaldemokrat Nick Clegg waren schon im Morgengrauen auf den Beinen. >>> Ruth Spitzenpfeil | Mittwoch, 05. Mai 2010

Anti-dhimmitude! Burqa, niqab, hidjab, quelles différences?
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVES: DÉFINITIONS | La réflexion est lancée en Suisse: faut-il interdire la burqa? Quelques définitions utiles.

Le parlement argovien a adopté hier mardi une motion demandant une interdiction de la burqa dans l'espace public en Suisse. Le débat qui est né en France il y a neuf mois s'est rapidement étendu au reste de l'Europe. Les députés belges ont ainsi approuvé la semaine dernière à une très large majorité le principe de l'interdiction de cette tenue.

Le voile, dont de nombreuses musulmanes à travers le monde se couvrent la tête, comporte de nombreuses versions et se retrouve dans de nombreuses traditions. Avant d'entamer la réflexion sur le sujet, voici des éléments de définitions utiles. >>> AEC | Mercredi 05 Mai 2010

Canton d'Argovie / Kanton Aargau / Canton Aargau >>>

Nein zur Burka, Ja zur Frau – Gegen Vermummung im öffentlichen Raum: Die heutige Debatte des Grossen Rates begann sehr emotional.
Das Thema Burkaverbot stand auf der Traktandenliste. Das aargauische Parlament will, dass eine Standesinitiative zu Handen des Bundes ausgearbeitet wird mit dem Ziel, gesamtschweizerisch ein Verbot der Burka im öffentlichen Raum zu erreichen. >>>

Greece Anti-austerity Protests Escalate

General Election 2010: New Government Must Tackle Rising Debt, Says EU
THE TELEGRAPH: The new Government must tackle the country's rising debt level as a top priority, the European Commission has warned, as figures show public borrowing is the highest in the EU.

Europe's economic and monetary affairs Commissioner, Olli Rehn, was speaking after unveiling EU economic forecasts which show the stirrings of an economic recovery across Europe.

Latest forecasts show Britain's debt at 88% of GDP in 2011/12, well above the eurozone permitted maximum of 60%.

Britain's annual deficit is also running at more than four times the eurozone permitted ceiling of 3% of GDP. >>> | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Greek Crisis: Clashes Turn Deadly as Thousands Protest Against Cuts
THE TELEGRAPH: Greek protests turned deadly on Wednesday as three died in an Athens bank set alight while tens of thousands demonstrated against harsh new spending cuts aimed at saving Greece from bankruptcy.



Protesters set a bank in the Greek capital on fire as scores of demonstrators tried to storm parliament, throwing chunks of marble at police, who responded with volleys of tear gas and stun grenades. The fire brigade said at least three people had died in the fire.

The clashes took place during a march against austerity measures, the largest since the country was gripped by a debt crisis in October last year.

Violence also broke out in the northern city of Thessaloniki, with youths smashing windows of stores and fast food restaurants.

The demonstrations came as Greece ground to a halt on Wednesday, paralysed by a nationwide general strike in the first major test of the socialist government's resolve to push through unprecedented austerity cuts needed to avert a fiscal meltdown. >>> | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Greece: Bail-out Money Is 'Reparation' for Second World War
THE TELEGRAPH: While high-finance will – or maybe not – save Greece, it is the low-ground that people both there and in Germany are scrabbling over to play the blame game.

Greece is already into a boycott of German goods and services, ranging from Miele fridges to VW cars to pharmaceutical products.

But it is the war, and the brutal German occupation of Greece, that really gets up the noses of Teutons whose leader pledged 22 billion euros this week to save them from themselves.

An altered picture from the 'Eleftheros Typos' newspaper showing the statue of Victoria in Berlin holding a swastika was the forerunner for Greeks to mention the war.

The mayor of Athens, Nikitas Kaklamanis, led the call for Germany to pay reparations for the conquest and occupation, saying; "You owe us 70 billion euros for the ruins you left behind."

Greece's deputy prime minister, Theodoros Pangalos, also dragged up the war, stating; "The Nazis took away the Greek gold that was in the Bank of Greece, they took away the Greek money and they never gave it back."

A Greek magazine also last month carried a 10-page article detailing for its readers Germany's Nazi past. >>> | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Pop Star Claims Bible Written by Drunks
THE TELEGRAPH: One of Poland's most famous and controversial pop stars faces two years in gaol after suggesting that the Bible was written by drunks and people with a fondness for "herbal cigarettes".

Dorota Rabczewska, famed for an unabashed attitude when it comes to flaunting her flesh, and a string of hits, has been charged by Warsaw prosecutors with insulting religious feeling for comments she made in a television interview a year ago. >>> Matthew Day in Warsaw | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

The Independent Endorses Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems
THE INDEPENDENT: For five years this paper has fought for electoral reform. Britain now has a historic chance to end our unfair and discredited voting system for ever

This election campaign has felt almost like a liberation. The prison walls – the stultifying, spirit-crushing assumptions of the long era of two-party politics – have crumbled. The surge in support for the Liberal Democrats has unlocked something precious: a feeling among the public that, for the first time in a generation, a radical overhaul of our political settlement could be possible.

That feeling – combined with the enduring uncertainty over the result of the election – is a tonic for our democracy. The public sense that their vote matters. When one considers that this campaign began against a backdrop of rampant cynicism and apathy, stirred up by MPs' abuse of their expenses, this transformation looks all the more remarkable. And welcome. Leading article: This historic opportunity must not be missed >>> Editorial | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

North Korea Masses 50,000 Troops on Border
THE TELEGRAPH: North Korea has completed deployment of about 50,000 special forces along the border with South Korea, amid high tensions over the sinking of a Seoul warship.

The deployment began two or three years ago and seven 7,000-strong divisions are now in place, an unidentified senior government official told Yonhap news agency.

"The threat that North Korea may infiltrate special forces for limited warfare has become real," the agency quoted a separate senior defence ministry official as saying.

The defence ministry refused to confirm the Yonhap report, but President Lee Myung-Bak discussed the North's special warfare capabilities at an unprecedented meeting Tuesday with 150 top officers from all armed services. >>> | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: New Sanctions 'Will Mean Iran US Relations Will Never Be Improved'
THE TELEGRAPH: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned that more UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme would not stop them but could permanently wreck its ties with the United States.

The United States and five other major powers are negotiating a fourth set of UN Security Council sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. They expect the resolution to go through within the next few weeks. >>> | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

‘We’re in the Final Days of White Life in South Africa’
TIMES ONLINE: The gunman leant forward and pushed the pistol hard into Manie Potgieter’s neck. “Listen, you white bastard,” he whispered, his breath heavy with alcohol. “I have Aids. We are now going to rape your wife and give her Aids too. Then, we kill you, got it?”

From his position on the floor, hands tied behind his back, he could hear his assailant’s three accomplices pulling the tracksuit bottoms off his wife, Helena, 28.

“I was sure they were going to shoot me, but I just prayed she would be OK. She was telling me in Afrikaans not to worry. I just prayed,” Mr Potgieter, 30, a blond giant of a man, told The Times.

Suddenly, a clang of metal echoed through the early morning air — and the attackers took fright. They had been in the remote farmhouse for an hour and dawn was fast approaching. “Let’s go, someone is coming,” one of them shouted in panic. Without firing a shot they were suddenly gone.

The Potgieters’ nightmare was over — but it was one of the very few happy endings to a spate of attacks on South Africa’s white Afrikaner farming communities in which an estimated 3,000 people have been killed since 1994. >>> Jonathan Clayton in Vredefort | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Angela Merkel: EU Future at Stake in Greek Crisis
THE TELEGRAPH: Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has warned that the future of the Europe Union is at stake as the crisis over the Greek bailout pushed the euro to a 13-month low against the dollar.

Ms Merkel on Wednesday defended her decision to back the unpopular measure and called on fellow politicians to give their support.

"The future of Europe and the future of Germany within Europe is at stake," Ms Merkel told the parliament, which will vote on Friday on a package that would see Germany lend 22.4 billion euros (£19 billion) in taxpayers' money to Greece.

As Ms Merkel attempted to calm fears in Germany, the euro fell on Wednesday to $1.2937 - the lowest level for more than a year.

The slide was the latest sign of continued loss of investor confidence in European economies. >>> | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Merkel Links Europe's Future to Greek Aid Plan
THE INDEPENDENT: An international rescue plan for debt-stricken Greece must succeed or other European countries may suffer the same fate, threatening the bloc's future, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today.

In an impassioned speech to the Bundestag lower house of parliament, Merkel said Germany was now convinced of the need to bail out Greece and confident the Greek government would carry out the swingeing cuts it had pledged to tackle its deficit.

"We're at a fork in the road," Merkel told the assembled lawmakers. "This is about nothing less than the future of Europe - and with it the future of Germany in Europe."

"There is no alternative to the aid to be agreed for Greece if we want to secure the financial stability of the euro area."

"It must come to avoid a chain reaction in the European and international financial system and the risk of contagion of other euro member states," she added.

At the weekend, officials from the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) revealed details of a 110-billion euro ($147 billion), three year aid package conditional on strict austerity measures that have led to mass protests in Greece.

"Europe today is looking to Germany. Without us, or against us, there cannot or will not be a decision that is economically sustainable," she said to a Bundestag session in which she was regularly interrupted by shouts from opposition lawmakers. >>> Reuters | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Pakistanis React to NYC Bomb Plot

Who Is Nick Clegg?

Nouriel Roubini: Forget Sub-prime Mortgages. It's the Sub-prime Financial System We Need to Fix
THE TELEGRAPH: Here's an exclusive extract from Nouriel Roubini's new book.

For the past half century, academic economists, Wall Street traders, and everyone in between have been led astray by fairy tales about the wonders of unregulated markets and the limitless benefits of financial innovation. The crisis dealt a body blow to that belief system, but nothing has replaced it.

That’s all too evident in the timid reform proposals currently being considered in the United States and other advanced economies. Even though they have suffered the worst financial crisis in generations, many countries have shown a remarkable reluctance to inaugurate the sort of wholesale reform necessary to bring the financial system to heel. Instead, people talk of tinkering with the financial system, as if what just happened was caused by a few bad mortgages.

Throughout most of 2009, Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein repeatedly tried to quash calls for sweeping regulation of the financial system. In speeches and in testimony before Congress, he begged his listeners to keep financial innovation alive and “resist a response that is solely designed to protect us against the 100-year storm”.

That’s ridiculous. What we’ve experienced wasn’t some crazy once-in-a-century event. Since its founding, the United States has suffered from brutal banking crises and other financial disasters on a regular basis. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, crippling panics and depressions hit the nation again and again. The crisis was less a function of sub-prime mortgages than of a sub-prime financial system. Thanks to everything from warped compensation structures to corrupt ratings agencies, the global financial system rotted from the inside out. The financial crisis merely ripped the sleek and shiny skin off what had become, over the years, a gangrenous mess. The road to recovery will be a long one. >>> | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Global Shares Tumble on Greece Debt Fears
THE TELEGRAPH: Global stock markets tumbled on growing fears that a rescue package for Greece might not be enough to prevent a debt crisis from spreading in Europe.

Stock markets in Europe and the US fell heavily on Tuesday, hit by continued jitters over Greek debt. Photograph: The Telegraph
Asian markets mirrored heavy falls in the United States and Europe, extending the biggest fall in global shares in three months.

It came at Greece was paralysed by a nationwide general strike on Wednesday - the first major test of the socialist government's resolve to push through unprecedented austerity cuts needed to avert a fiscal meltdown.

The euro continued to weaken against the dollar in Asian trading, hitting $1.2958, as investors doubted whether €110bn (£95bn) of loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund could stop contagion to other vulnerable countries such as Spain and Portugal.

Investors are worried that these countries may need even larger debt bailouts. >>> | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Euro Plunges as Club Med Debt Fears Spread
THE TELEGRAPH: Fleeting relief over the EU-IMF bail-out for Greece has given way rapidly to a fresh bout of investor panic across southern Europe, pulling the euro down to its lowest level against the dollar in over a year.

Yields on German two-year debt reached a record low, falling to 0.71pc on safe-haven demand in echoes of credit stress at the height of the financial crisis. This is below the European Central Bank's short-term rate of 1pc. "This is very unusual and indicates concern about systemic risk from sovereign debt," said Stephen Lewis from Monument Securities.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told ARD television that banks and creditors should be forced to share the pain if further rescues are ever needed, suggesting "an orderly restructuring" of debt in future.

The words were an icy warning to investors that the €110bn (£95bn) aid package for Greece is a one-off case. Banks, insurers, and pension funds with high exposure to Club Med debt cannot count on a second rescue to protect their portfolios if the crisis spreads. >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Trust Me, I'm Nick Clegg: How the Also-ran Stole the Show
THE GUARDIAN: Nick Clegg has one great advantage over his Tory rival: no one raises the question of his sincerity

Nick Clegg, pictured in Liverpool with Kay Cummins, who has leukaemia, has drawn large, enthusiastic crowds. Photograph: The Guardian
Spend a few weeks following the leaders of the three main parties and you soon realise that – regardless of the results of tomorrow's vote — a hierarchy has emerged in this campaign. When Gordon Brown turns up somewhere, he's lucky if there's more than a smattering of party faithful ready to greet him, perhaps two dozen souls holding the odd placard. That could be a function of his security arrangements, with details of his travel not released in advance, or it could be a commentary on his public standing. But the harsh truth is that a visit from Brown generates little hoopla.

Next up the pecking order comes David Cameron. There's always a healthy number of people at his events, usually arranged photogenically – white men in suits nudged out of shot; those who are young, female, black or Asian ushered to the front – and reliably ready with a cheer. But the suspicion lingers that the crowd has not exactly gathered spontaneously, that it has been convened through diligent advance work.

And then there's Nick Clegg. When he pops up, there can be up to 400 people waiting for him – even on a rainy morning in Lewisham, south London. Sure, that's a tribute to the Liberal Democrats' famous knack for pavement politics and, admittedly, the local party had a week to organise its people. But that doesn't explain the large number standing in the cold who are neither party members nor even past Lib Dem voters. Nor does it explain the crowd of onlookers across the street, waiting for the speaker to arrive, nor the people in the flats overlooking the common who open their windows to see the show. >>> Jonathan Freedland | Wednesday, May 04, 2010

Defence Debate: How Should Britain Deal with the Threat Posed by Al-Qaeda?
THE TELEGRAPH: Yemen has blamed al-Qaeda for a failed assassination attempt on the country's British ambassador, which took place yesterday. It's another example, the Telegraph says, "of the escalating terrorist threat posed by Islamist militants based in the Arabian Peninsular". How should Britain prepare for this threat? And is military action inevitable? Join the debate >>>

R.O.P. Strikes Again*! Times Square Car Bomb: Security Slip Let Faisal Shahzad Board Plane
THE TELEGRAPH: The suspect in the failed car bomb attempt on Times Square was allowed to board a plane and almost make it out of the country despite being on a no fly list, it has emerged.



Faisal Shahzad had boarded a jetliner bound for the United Arab Emirates before federal authorities arrested him. Although under surveillance since midafternoon, he had managed to elude investigators and head to the airport.

The night's events, gradually coming to light, underscored the flaws in the nation's aviation security system, which despite its technologies, lists and information sharing, often comes down to someone making a right call.

As federal agents closed in, Mr Shahzad was aboard Emirates Flight 202. He reserved a ticket on the way to John F. Kennedy International Airport, paid cash on arrival and walked through security without being stopped.

By the time Customs and Border Protection officials, using a no-fly list updated on Tuesday, spotted Mr Shahzad's name on the passenger list and recognised him as the bombing suspect they were looking for, he was in his seat and the plane was preparing to leave the gate.

At the last minute, the pilot was notified, the jetliner's door was opened and Shahzad was taken into custody.

After authorities pulled Mr Shahzad off the plane.

He later claimed to have been trained at a terror camp in Pakistan's lawless tribal region of Waziristan, according to court documents. That raised increased concern that the bombing was an international terror plot.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that Mr Shahzad was cooperating with investigators and had waived his Miranda rights, which grant him the right to a lawyer and full US constitutional legal rights. >>> | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

*But Bloomberg wants Americans not to connect the dots! Fighting the Jihad this way, the West is going to need infinite resources, to say nothing of immeasurable patience and understanding. He wants the people of New York – and the rest of the West, I suppose – to “turn the other cheek”, indefinitely! So keep on turning that cheek folks! – © Mark

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Terrorism Suspect, Charged, Said to Admit to Role in Plot : A Pakistani-American man arrested in the failed Times Square car bombing has admitted his role in the attempted attack and said he received explosives training in Pakistan, the authorities said Tuesday. >>> Mark Mazzetti, Sabrina Tavernise and Jack Healy | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Related:

Obama appoints two devout Muslims to Homeland Security posts. Presumably to keep Americans safe! Go figure! >>>

Statement by Secretary Napolitano on President Obama's Intent to Nominate David Heyman as Assistant Secretary for Policy and her Appointment of Arif Alikhan as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development >>>

General Election 2010: Tony Blair Says Don't Vote Tactically
THE GUARDIAN: Ferocious attack on Lib Dems by former prime minister / Tony Blair accepts poll is also referendum on his own record

Tony Blair has flatly rejected calls for Labour supporters to vote tactically to prevent the Tories getting into power, insisting that people should make up their own minds and back the party they believe in.

Speaking on a day when several cabinet ministers suggested that Labour voters should cast their ballot for the Liberal Democrats in some seats, the former prime minister set himself against the tactic, and was contemptuous of Nick Clegg's party and its claim to represent real change. He described the Lib Dems as "the old politics masquerading as the new", and said their entire history as a party showed them incapable of facing up to hard choices.

Voters, he said, should follow their instincts. "It is simple," he told the Guardian. "Vote for what you believe in. If you think their polices are good, vote for them, but if you don't, don't. The Lib Dems are not going out to people and saying 'vote Labour' – they are trying to take seats off us." >>> Patrick Wintour, political editor | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Iran Civil Rights Activist Could Face 'Honour Killing' If Deported from UK
THE GUARDIAN: Bita Gheadi fled from Iran to escape forced marriage / Fears of 'honour killing' from own family or state execution

Bita Ghaedi, an Iranian dissident, faces deportation on 5 May 2010, having fled to the UK in 2005 to escape forced marriage and the threat of sharia law. Photograph: The Guardian
An Iranian civil rights activist who is due to be deported from the UK tomorrow could face the death penalty and fears being murdered by her family in an "honour killing" if she is sent back to Iran, according to her British partner.

Bita Ghaedi, 34, fled Iran to the UK in 2005 to escape a forced marriage and in fear of her family discovering she had a secret lover. She has since spoken out against sharia law, forced marriage and human rights abuses in her homeland and has been filmed criticising the regime for TV channels widely available across the Middle East. She is currently in Yarl's Wood detention centre awaiting deportation, which is scheduled for 7pm tomorrow following the failure of a fresh asylum claim.

Her partner, Mohsen Zadshir, from Barnet, a member of the Iranian opposition who gained political asylum in 1999, said that if deported, her life is "finished".

Ghaedi has transgressed the strict traditional code under which Iranian women are supposed to adhere. Not only has she brought "shame" on her family by having a relationship with a man who was not her husband, but she has participated in the anti-government protests which have grown more vociferous after the disputed 2009 presidential election result. Each of these transgressions would be enough to put her life in danger if she is deported, according to Zadshir, a former Iranian politician who is now a British citizen. >>> Karen McVeigh | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Let’s Not Make This Complicated! There Is But One Good Reason to Despise Ed Balls. It’s This: He Talks Balls!
>>>

Nationalité et polygamie: Eric Besson propose de changer le droit
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: FRANCE | Dans une réponse à son collègue Brice Hortefeux, le ministre de l'Immigration propose ses solutions. Radicales.

Le ministre de l’Immigration Eric Besson propose de faire évoluer le droit français afin de pouvoir déchoir de sa nationalité les coupables d’«atteintes caractérisées aux valeurs fondamentales de notre République», comme la polygamie ou l’excision, dans une lettre à son collègue de l’Intérieur Brice Hortefeux, rendue publique mardi par «Le Figaro».

Le 23 avril, le ministre de l’Intérieur Brice Hortefeux avait écrit à son collègue de l’Immigration pour lui demander d’étudier l’éventuelle déchéance de sa nationalité française du conjoint de la femme verbalisée en niqab au volant à Nantes, le soupçonnant de polygamie et de fraude aux aides sociales. >>> AP | Mardi 04 Mai 2010

Hartes Sparprogramm: So ungemütlich wird das Leben in Griechenland
WELT ONLINE: Die griechische Regierung lässt sich von den gewalttätigen Protesten nicht abschrecken – und setzt bei der eigenen Bevölkerung die Daumenschrauben an. Die Mehrwertsteuer wird erhöht, Firmen zahlen eine einmalige Krisen-Sondersteuer, frei werdende Beamtenstellen werden kaum mehr besetzt. Und das ist längst nicht alles.

Griechenlands Regierung beginnt trotz anhaltender Proteste mit Maßnahmen zur Sanierung der Staatsfinanzen. Während vor dem Parlament in Athen streikende Beamte demonstrierten, reichte das Finanzministerium drinnen einen Entwurf ein, der Einschnitte bei Gehältern und Renten und zahlreiche Steuererhöhungen festschreiben soll. Spätestens am Donnerstag soll das Gesetz beschlossen werden. >>> Von Florian Hassel | Dienstag, 04. Mai 2010

Pat Condell: What I Know About Islam


HT: The Anti-Jihadist @ Pedestrian Infidel >>>

Marchés : Craignant une contagion à l'Espagne, les Bourses européennes plongent
La majorité des places boursières européennes a dévissé, mardi. Photo : Le Point
LE POINT: Le plan d'aide à la Grèce à peine bouclé, la crainte d'une contagion de cette crise de la dette au reste de l'Europe, et particulièrement à l'Espagne, a entraîné un mardi noir sur les Bourses européennes et fait rechuter l'euro. Des rumeurs selon lesquelles d'autres agences de notation allaient dégrader la note de l'Espagne et selon lesquelles Madrid pourrait demander une aide financière colossale au FMI ont fait plonger les places européennes. À la clôture, la Bourse de Madrid a lâché 5,41 %, Lisbonne 4,21 %, Milan 4,70 %, Dublin 3,97 %, Amsterdam 3,19 %, Paris 3,64 %, Londres 2,56 % et Francfort 2,6 %. La Bourse d'Athènes a, elle, cédé 6,68 %. Avec le Portugal, l'Espagne est l'un des pays de la zone euro qui inquiète le plus les marchés. >>> AFP | Mardi 04 Mai 2010

NZZ ONLINE: Griechenland-Krise belastet die Börsen weltweit: Bankentitel stark unter Druck - Unsicherheit um Spanien >>> chs./(sda/Reuters/afp/dpa) | Dienstag, 04. Mai 2010

Cameron: 'If You Vote Tory, You Are in Charge'

Nick Clegg in Quotes: On Labour, the Conservatives and Coalitions
THE GUARDIAN: The Liberal Democrat leader keeps his options on his political rivals and possible coalition partners open

Attacking Labour

25 April 2010: "It is just preposterous the idea that if a party comes third in the number of votes, it still has somehow the right to carry on squatting in No 10 ... I think a party which has come third – and so millions of people have decided to abandon them – has lost the election spectacularly [and] cannot then lay claim to providing the prime minister of this country."

27 April 2010: "I think, if Labour do come third in terms of the number of votes cast, then people would find it inexplicable that Gordon Brown himself could carry on as prime minister. As for who I'd work with, I've been very clear – much clearer than David Cameron and Gordon Brown – that I will work with anyone. I will work with a man from the moon, I don't care ... with anyone who can deliver the greater fairness that I think people want." >>> | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Kim Jong-il to Meet with Hu Jintao in China
THE TELEGRAPH: The reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is expected to arrive in Beijing later today for talks with China's president Hu Jintao as he seeks to shore up his country's bankrupt economy and negotiate a way out of the international diplomatic isolation of recent months.



Neither Beijing or Pyongyang has confirmed the visit, but Mr Kim, with his easily recognisable sunglasses and frizzy hair, was photographed in the port city of Dalian where he arrived on Monday from North Korea in his 17-carriage armoured train.

This visit came as South Korea moved closer to blaming the Pyongyang for the sinking of one of its warships last March in an incident that has further raised tensions between the two Koreas in recent weeks.

The South's president Lee Myung-Bak told a televised meeting of his chiefs of staff that it was clear that the sinking was not a "simple accident" and ordered a thorough review of Seoul's military readiness in light of the apparent attack on the 1,200 tonne corvette Cheonan.

Analysts said the sinking, which Pyongyang has denied, was expected to be on the agenda of talks with Chinese leaders along with the North's desperate need for economic aid, including food and fuel.

A disastrous attempt to reform the North Korean currency last November is thought to have deepened the country's economic woes, raising the threat of a repeat of the famines of the mid 1990s. >>> Peter Foster in Beijing | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

'Age of Measurement' Harming Schools, Says Eton Head
THE TELEGRAPH: Boarding schools have entered an ''Age of Measurement'' where only results are valuable, the headmaster of Eton has suggested.

Areas of schooling that cannot be measured are seen as worthless, Tony Little said.

Addressing the Boarding Schools' Association (BSA) annual conference in Torquay, Mr Little said: ''It is a sad thing, it seems to me, that where once men were able to speak of sweeps of history such as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason, we now seem to inhabit the Age of Measurement.

''Our day-to-day lives are circumscribed by a variation of the McNamara fallacy: only that which can be measured has worth, if it cannot be measured it can have no worth. This kind of thinking cuts to the heart of everything I believe in as the head of a boarding school.'' >>> | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: France to build £3.8bn super university: France is spending 4.4 billion euros (£3.8bn) on a new modern university campus designed to rival Cambridge and Harvard as one of the world's best. >>> | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Ayn Rand's Ideas: An Introduction - Ayn Rand Center


These videos are presented to you merely as food for thought. I am NOT an Objectivist. – Mark

1959 – The Mike Wallace Interview: Ayn Rand
Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:



These videos are presented to you merely as food for thought. I am NOT an Objectivist. – Mark

Anti-dhimmitude: Muslim Woman Fined £430 for Wearing Burka in Italy
THE TELEGRAPH: A Muslim woman in Italy has been fined 500 euros (£430) for wearing a burka in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.

The Tunisian immigrant, Amel Marmouri, 26, was fined by police in the city of Novara, in the north-eastern Piedmont region.

The town council is controlled by the right-wing Northern League, which has pushed for much tougher immigration controls and at a national level forms part of Silvio Berlusconi's coalition government.

Mrs Marmouri was in a post office when police officers stopped her and issued her with the fine.

"As far as I know this is a first in Italy," said police officer Mauro Franzinelli.

Her husband, Ben Salah Braim, 36, said the family would struggle to pay the penalty.

He said his wife would continue to wear the full-length item of clothing because he did not want her to be seen by other men, but in future she would be forced to stay at home most of the time.

Novara introduced an ordinance in January that prohibits the wearing of burkas. The regulation invokes a 1975 anti-terrorism law, which prohibits people from wearing anything that obscures their faces and impedes identification. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Greece: Mob Madness
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here

Juncker: The Future of Europe, Van Rompuy, Greece's Economic Situation, and the UK Joining the Euro

Muslim Immigrants Make Anti-Semitism an Issue for Sweden

RUSSIA TODAY: Muslim immigrants make anti-Semitism an issue for Sweden: Sweden is normally considered to be a peaceful haven in Europe. But this Scandinavian stability is being shaken up by a wave of anti-Semitic attacks. >>> | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Related:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD: Welcome to Ramallmö >>> By Paulina Neuding | Friday, March 13, 2009

STOCKHOLM NEWS: New Report about Islamism in Sweden >>> Tommie Ullman | Friday, January 30, 2009