Gaza Aid Flotilla: Calls to Isolate Israel After Commando Killings
THE TELEGRAPH: Turkey has led international calls to isolate Israel after its army commandos shot dead as least 10 activists during a raid on a flotilla trying to deliver aid to the Gaza strip.



Government ministers defended the actions of its troops fiercely after the pre-dawn raid, alleging they had come under attack from violent forces allied to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Qaeda.

But as Israeli ambassadors were called into foreign ministries across Asia and Europe, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was forced to scrap a meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington, heading back home to deal with the crisis.

The deaths are likely to bring indirect peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, only restarted earlier this month, to a crashing halt.

Israel's relations with Turkey, once its only friend in the Muslim world, were described as irreparably damaged. At least six of the dead were Turkish citizens.

The UN security council held an emergency session and were expected to pass an draft agreement calling for an international inquiry into the incident. >>> Richard Spencer, Adrian Blomfield and Matthew Kalman in Jerusalem | Monday, May 31, 2010

Islam Rears Its Ugly Head Again! Al-Jazeera Presenters Quit Over 'Modesty' Dress Comments
THE TELEGRAPH: Five women presenters have resigned from the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera after being accused of not dressing modestly enough.

In a row which has split the channel, the five complained about harassment from a senior editor, whom they accused of making "offensive remarks" about their appearance.

After the channel refused to back them, the five women, some of the best-known faces in the Middle East thanks to the channel's popularity, quit. Three others have registered protests while staying with the station.

An internal inquiry has since cleared the official, the deputy editor-in-chief Ayman Jaballah, and asserted that the channel had the right to dictate how its presenters appeared.

The women concerned in the latest clash are Jumana Nammour, Lina Zahr al Deen Jullinar Mousa, Luna al-Shibl and Nawfar Afli, the first three from Lebanon, the other two from Syria and Tunisia res[p]ectively.

All are relatively liberal societies, and the five appeared with their hair uncovered, in contrast to some of Al-Jazeera's other women presenters, as well as heavily made up.

According to sources within the channel, there had been an escalating conflict between the two sides, with Mr Jaballah in particular making repeated comments about the women's "clothes and decency".

The issue is likely to refocus attention on the difficulties Al-Jazeera faces in trying to reconcile its mission to be the BBC of the Middle East with the conservativism of some of the societies in which it broadcasts. >>> Richard Spencer in Dubai | Monday, May 31, 2010

Benyamin Nétanyahou défend l'assaut d'Israël
Le premier ministre d'Israël, Benyamin Nétanyahou, a rencontré son homologue canadien, Stephen Harper, ce matin, à Ottawa. Photo : Cyberpresse.ca
LA PRESSE: (Ottawa) Le premier ministre d'Israël, Benyamin Nétanyahou, a défendu ce matin l'assaut d'une flottille de militants pro-palestiniens dans les eaux internationales par des commandos israéliens dimanche, affirmant que les soldats israéliens avaient le mandat de chercher si l'un des navires transportaient des armes.

Cinq des six navires ont collaboré avec les soldats israéliens, mais le sixième, qui était le plus gros et transportait une centaine de passagers, a refusé d'obtempérer aux ordres et ont même ouvert le feu sur les troupes israéliennes, a affirmé M. Nétanyahou.

«Ils ont non seulement refusé de collaborer, ils ont délibérément attaqué nos soldats. (...) Nos soldats devaient se défendre pour protéger leur vie. Il y a eu des échanges de coups de feu. C'est regrettable mais durant ces échanges, au moins dix personnes sont mortes. Nous regrettons la perte de ces vies. Nous regrettons toute forme de violence qui s'est produite. Je souhaite prompt rétablissement aux blessés, y compris nos propres soldats», a affirmé le premier ministre israélien, en visite officielle à Ottawa.

Commentant pour la première fois la crise qui prévaut au Proche-Orient à la suite ces événements, Benyamin Nétanyahou a ajouté que la bande de Gaza est en train de devenir une base pour «des terroristes du Hamas soutenus par l'Iran». La politique d'Israël à cet égard est de tout faire pour empêcher que ces «terroristes» obtiennent des armes et mènent des attaques contre son territoire. >>> Joël-Denis Bellavance,
La Presse | Lundi 31 Mai 2010

Attacke auf Hilfskonvoi: Erdoğan wirft Israel Staatsterrorismus vor
ZEIT ONLINE: "Das Recht wurde mit Füßen getreten": Türkeis Premier ist empört über Israels Angriff auf die Hilfs-Flottille. Der Sicherheitsrat kommt zu einer Sondersitzung zusammen.

Angesichts des israelischen Einsatzes gegen die internationale Hilfsflotte für den Gaza-Streifen hat der türkische Ministerpräsident Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Israel des Staatsterrorismus bezichtigt. "Es soll deutlich werden, dass wir nicht ruhig und teilnahmslos angesichts dieses inhumanen Staatsterrorismus bleiben werden", sagte er vor seiner Abreise aus Chile in die Türkei. "Internationales Recht wurde mit Füßen getreten." Die israelische Marine habe angegriffen, obwohl das Schiff die weiße Flagge gezeigt habe, sagte Erdoğan. Auf dem Schiff seien nur Hilfsgüter geladen gewesen und sei vorher kontrolliert worden. >>> Zeit Online, dpa, Reuters, AFP | Montag, 31. Mai 2010

L’ONU veut un Proche-Orient sans armes nucléaires
LE TEMPS: La conférence du TNP a adopté un texte par consensus. Les Etats-Unis ainsi que la France émettent des réserves. L’UE, par la voix de Catherine Ashton se dit «enthousiaste» alors qu’Israël dénonce cette nouvelle «hypocrisie» de l’ONU.

La conférence de suivi du Traité de non-prolifération nucléaire (TNP) est parvenue vendredi à un accord, le premier depuis 10 ans, portant notamment sur le désarmement et sur la création d’une zone exempte d’armes nucléaires au Proche-Orient.

La conférence a adopté par consensus une déclaration finale de 28 pages qui prévoit quatre plans d’action sur chacun des trois piliers du Traité - désarmement, vérification des programmes nucléaires nationaux pour assurer qu’ils sont pacifiques et usage pacifique de l’énergie atomique- ainsi que sur le Proche-Orient dénucléarisé. >>> LT/AFP | Samedi 29 Mai 2010

Gaza : Israël sous le feu des critiques après le raid contre la flottille humanitaire
LE TEMPS: Le premier ministre turc parle de terrorisme d’Etat, le Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU se réunit dans l’urgence et les condamnations continuent de pleuvoir après l’assaut des forces israéliennes contre une flottille d’humanitaires en route vers Gaza tôt ce matin. On ne dispose toujours pas de bilan officiel des victimes, au moins 10 selon un bilan revu à la baisse par une chaîne de TV israélienne. Le premier ministre Netanyahou qui devait rencontrer demain Barack Obama rentre d’urgence en Israël

Le Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU tiendra une réunion d’urgence lundi à 13H00 locales (19H00, heure suisse) sur le Proche-Orient après l’assaut israélien meurtrier contre une flottille humanitaire à destination de Gaza, a indiqué un diplomate occidental. La réunion donnera lieu à un débat public, a souligné ce diplomate.

Selon une chaîne de télévision israélienne, 19 passagers ont été tués et 36 autres blessés lors de l’assaut donné par des commandos israéliens contre la flottille internationale de militants pro-palestiniens qui tentait de forcer le blocus israélien de la bande de Gaza.

L’armée israélienne, elle, a fait état de 10 blessés dans ses rangs, dont deux grièvement.

Un peu plus tôt lundi, le secrétaire général des Nations unies Ban Ki-moon s’est dit «choqué» par l’assaut de l’armée israélienne. Depuis Kampala où il est actuellement en déplacement, M. Ban a également «condamné ces violences». «Il est vital qu’une enquête complète soit menée pour déterminer comment un tel bain de sang a pu avoir lieu», a souligné le chef de l’ONU. >>> AFP | Lundi 31 Mai 2010

Our Friends and Allies, the Saudis! Terror Link Alleged as Saudi Millions Flow into Afghanistan War Zone
TIMES ONLINE: Millions of dollars of Saudi Arabian money have flowed into Afghanistan over the past four years, the country’s intelligence officials say, with the sponsorship of terrorism its most likely use.

According to members of the Afghan financial intelligence unit, FinTraca, the funds, totalling more than £920 million, enter from Pakistan, where they are converted into rupees or dollars, the favoured currency for terrorist operations.

“We can trace it back as far as an entry point in Waziristan,” said Mohammed Mustafa Massoudi, the director-general of FinTraca in Kabul. “Why would anyone want to put such money into Waziristan? Only one reason — terrorism.”

The revelations illuminate the difficulties in dividing the Taleban from al-Qaeda influence and the continuing involvement of Saudi donors in sponsoring the insurgency. >>> Anthony Loyd, Kabul | Monday, May 31, 2010

Star comment:

Oil revenues have allowed the Saudis to spread Wahabbism, the fanatical, destructive form of Islam all over the Muslim world and among the Muslims in the West. One of the Five Pillars of Islam established in the Koran requires that all Muslims give 2.5% of their income to charity. These donations are known as zakat.The amount of zakat donated in Saudi Arabia has been estimated to be around $10 billion annually. Predictably, the Wahhabis have now co-opted this mainstream institution within Islam to promote jihadism.The Saudi government funds mosques, university chairs, Islamic study centres, and religious schools known as madrassas all over the world. The Saudi education system has played a central role in indoctrinating an entire generation of young men into a rabidly xenophobic ideology. – © Alec Paterson | [Source: Times Online Comments] | Monday, May 31, 2010

Netanyahu Cancels Obama Meeting Amid Raid Furore
TIMES ONLINE: Israel’s prime minister has cancelled a planned meeting with President Obama to deal with the escalating international crisis over an attack by the Israeli military on civilian aid ships that left at least 10 dead.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, is in Canada and had been due to visit the White House tomorrow after a series of increasingly fractious meetings with the US over the stalled Middle East peace process.

But after Israeli naval commandos stormed the ships of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla overnight, killing up to 19 according to some reports and leaving dozens wounded, Mr Netanyahu has found his country the target of international condemnation and protest.

He said he gave the Israeli military his “full backing” but after initially saying his trip would continue, his office said it had been cancelled. >>> James Hider, in Ashdod, and Judith Evans | Monday, May 31, 2010

Related article and video here

Memorial Day

America Is Still the Best Guarantor of Freedom and Prosperity
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The U.S. still possesses unprecedented power projection capabilities, and just as important, it is armed with the goodwill of countless countries that know the U.S. offers protection from bullies.

Much nonsense has been written in recent years about the prospects of American decline and the inevitable rise of China. But it was not a declining power that I saw in recent weeks as I jetted from the Middle East to the Far East through two of America's pivotal geographic commands — Central Command and Pacific Command.

The very fact that the entire world is divided up into American military commands is significant. There is no French, Indian or Brazilian equivalent — not yet even a Chinese counterpart. It is simply assumed without much comment that American soldiers will be central players in the affairs of the entire world. It is also taken for granted that a vast network of American bases will stretch from Germany to Japan — more than 700 in all, depending on how you count. They constitute a virtual American empire of Wal-Mart-style PXs, fast-food restaurants, golf courses and gyms.

There is an especially large American presence in the Middle East, one of the world's most crisis-prone regions. For all the anti-Americanism in the Arab world, almost all the states bordering what they call the Arabian Gulf support substantial American bases. These governments are worried about the looming Iranian threat and know that only the United States can offer them protection. They are happy to deal with China, but it would never occur to a single sultan or sheik that the People's Liberation Army will protect them from Iranian intimidation.

In the Far East, a similar dynamic prevails. All of China's neighbors happily trade with it, but all are wary of the Middle Kingdom's pretensions to regional hegemony. Even Vietnam, a country that handed America its worst military defeat ever, is eager to establish close ties with Washington as a counter to Beijing. Read on and comment >>> Max Boot*, Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times | Monday, May 31, 2010

*Max Boot is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a contributing editor to Opinion.

The New Poor: Blacks in Memphis Lose Decades of Economic Gains
THE NEW YORK TIMES: MEMPHIS — For two decades, Tyrone Banks was one of many African-Americans who saw his economic prospects brightening in this Mississippi River city.

A single father, he worked for FedEx and also as a custodian, built a handsome brick home, had a retirement account and put his eldest daughter through college.

Then the Great Recession rolled in like a fog bank. He refinanced his mortgage at a rate that adjusted sharply upward, and afterward he lost one of his jobs. Now Mr. Banks faces bankruptcy and foreclosure.

“I’m going to tell you the deal, plain-spoken: I’m a black man from the projects and I clean toilets and mop up for a living,” said Mr. Banks, a trim man who looks at least a decade younger than his 50 years. “I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. But my whole life is backfiring.”

Not so long ago, Memphis, a city where a majority of the residents are black, was a symbol of a South where racial history no longer tightly constrained the choices of a rising black working and middle class. Now this city epitomizes something more grim: How rising unemployment and growing foreclosures in the recession have combined to destroy black wealth and income and erase two decades of slow progress. >>> Michael Powell | Sunday, May 30, 2010

Recession’s Toll on Black Wealth in Pictures >>>

Prospective Catholic Priests Face Sexuality Hurdles
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Every job interview has its awkward moments, but in recent years, the standard interview for men seeking a life in the Roman Catholic priesthood has made the awkward moment a requirement.

“When was the last time you had sex?” all candidates for the seminary are asked. (The preferred answer: not for three years or more.)

“What kind of sexual experiences have you had?” is another common question. “Do you like pornography?”

Depending on the replies, and the results of standardized psychological tests, the interview may proceed into deeper waters: “Do you like children?” and “Do you like children more than you like people your own age?”

It is part of a soul-baring obstacle course prospective seminarians are forced to run in the aftermath of a sexual abuse crisis that church leaders have decided to confront, in part, by scrubbing their academies of potential molesters, according to church officials and psychologists who screen candidates in New York and the rest of the country.

But many of the questions are also aimed at another, equally sensitive mission: deciding whether gay applicants should be denied admission under complex recent guidelines from the Vatican that do not explicitly bar all gay candidates but would exclude most of them, even some who are celibate.

Scientific studies have found no link between sexual orientation and abuse, and the church is careful to describe its two initiatives as more or less separate. One top adviser to American seminaries characterized them as “two circles that might overlap here and there.” >>> Paul Vitello | Sunday, May 30, 2010

Italy's Coastal Palm Trees Under Attack by Army of Weevils
THE TELEGRAPH: They provide shade to sunbathers on scorching hot days and a stunning backdrop to some of Europe's most fabled coastal scenery, but Italy's palm trees are being devastated by a voracious bug.

Thousands of palm trees are dead or dying as a result of the insatiable appetite of an army of red palm weevils Photo: The Telegraph
From Sicily in the south to the Italian Riviera in the north, tens of thousands of palm trees are dead or dying as a result of the insatiable appetite of an army of red palm weevils.

The relentless advance of the tiny beetle is threatening parks, gardens and seafronts in Italy's best known tourist destinations, from the World Heritage-listed Cinque Terre villages of Liguria to the beach resorts of Tuscany, Sardinia and the Adriatic.

Palms are not indigenous to Italy, but were introduced in the 18th and 19th centuries by wealthy collectors and aristocrats keen to give their estates an exotic look.

The threat posed by the weevil in Italy is acute, because one of the country's most popular palms is a species native to the Canary Islands, Phoenix canariensis, which is particularly susceptible to the insect.

"It is really a disaster, there are tens of thousands of palms which are dead or dying," said Valeria Francatti, an entomologist who is researching ways of combating the weevils. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Sunday, May 30, 2010

Related here, here, and here

Gay Couple Keep Low Profile After Release from Prison in Malawi
THE TELEGRAPH: A gay couple from Malawi have kept out of the public eye after being pardoned and freed from prison, in what a relative said was a deliberate decision prompted by the conservative view of homo-sexuality in the southern African country.

Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were released on Saturday, hours after President Bingu wa Mutharika pardoned them without condition. But in giving his pardon, which he said was on "humanitarian grounds only," Mr Mutharika warned that homosexuality remained illegal in the country.

Activists said that they were searching for a safe house for the couple, fearing they could be attacked upon release.

The couple's lawyer, Mauya Msuku, said he had not seen either of the men since their release.

Maxwell Manda also said he had not seen Mr Chimbalanga, his brother-in-law. He said days earlier that Mr Chimbalanga wanted to leave Malawi upon his release. >>> | Monday, May 31, 2010

May 31 Declared 'Quit Facebook Day'

Bug Business Booms in Japan

A Bedbug Epidemic Bites New York
TIMES ONLINE: An epidemic of bedbugs in the Big Apple has brought panic, revulsion and a nasty little rash to rich and poor alike. Can the city cope

Photograph: Times Online
At first May thought that her husband had heat rash. “We were staying at a smart hotel in Cape Cod. Then I developed these hive-like welts on my back and legs.” May (not her real name; she is terrified of giving me that) is middle class, in her late fifties and lives on the Upper West Side, New York, in a well-maintained four-room apartment. When she and her husband returned to the city, one doctor prescribed antihistamines, surmising the couple had reacted to shellfish. She called a dermatologist. “He took one look and said, ‘You both have bedbug bites’. My husband turned our mattress over and we saw them. That’s when — no joke, no exaggeration, however ridiculous it may sound — our nightmare began.”

The infestation would last five months and cost May and her husband $15,000 (£10,200) to treat.

The cockroach has scuttled in retreat. Bedbugs have become New York, indeed America’s, latest bug noire. These tiny, yellowish creatures (which grow to 4-5mm long), fiendishly difficult to eradicate and understand, have become an obsession for landlords, renters, pest-control experts and scientists. Why do they feed so hungrily on human blood? Why have they proliferated? Why are they so hardy? How can you eradicate them?

“Don’t let the bedbugs bite” now has a particularly hollow ring to it: we are almost powerless to stop them. There has been a 71 per cent increase in bedbug infestations since 2001, according to the US National Pest Management Association. In 2004, there were a reported 537 complaints and 82 “violations” (verified infestations) for bedbugs in New York; in 2009, there were 10,985 complaints and 4,084 verified infestations. “That’s just the reported cases,” says Jeremy Ecker, of Bed Bug Inspectors, a firm that uses two specially trained dogs to sniff out the bugs in apartments before advising occupants and pest exterminators on the best action. “The problem is everywhere, it’s growing and it’s mostly invisible because of people’s embarrassment. People are too ashamed to say anything. If they admit to having bedbugs they’re frightened of losing their apartment, of being asked not to go into work, of getting rid of their possessions. We see people in extreme distress.” >>> Tim Teeman | Monday, May 31, 2010

The Bedbug Registry >>>

President Obama Is Right
YNET NEWS: Islam has indeed always been part of America’s story, when it comes to terror

More Muslim terrorist cells were exposed in the US in 2009 than in any year since 9/11. Islamic terrorism constitutes a real and present danger to the US in spite of – and inflamed by – President Obama’s appeasement of Islam, as demonstrated in his most significant speeches at the Turkish Parliament on April 6, 2010 and at Cairo University on June 4, 2009.

The intensification of the Muslim terrorist threat, despite Obama’s rough/critical/cold attitude toward the Jewish State, refutes the claim that the Arab-Israel conflict, the Palestinian issue or the US-Israel friendship are the root cause of anti-US Islamic terrorism.

Anti-US Islamic terrorism has been bolstered by the expansion of Hezbollah’s operational, financial and political infrastructures in Latin America, notwithstanding the contention by Obama and his advisors that supposedly there is no global Islamic terrorism (only Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorism), that ostensibly there is no Jihadist terrorism (“because Jihad means to purify oneself…”) and that terrorism has been seemingly a derivative of Western exploitation of the Third World.

President Obama was right when he declared – at Cairo University – that “Islam has always been part of America’s story.” Indeed, Islamic terrorism targeted US ships between 1776 and the beginning of the 19th century. In fact, John Quincy Adams, the 6th president of the USA, researched the causes of anti-Western Islamic terrorism, concluding that its core cause was endemic hostility toward the “infidel.” >>> Yoram Ettinger | Friday, May 28, 2010

Obama Bans Islam, Jihad from US Security Strategy
YNET NEWS: US president's aides to remove religious terms such as 'Islamic extremism' from document outlining national security strategy. 'Do you want to think about the US as the nation that fights terrorism or the nation you want to do business with?' National Security Council staffer Ramamurthy says

President Barack Obama's advisers will remove religious terms such as "Islamic extremism" from the central document outlining the US national security strategy and will use the rewritten document to emphasize that the United States does not view Muslim nations through the lens of terror, counterterrorism officials said.

The change is a significant shift in the National Security Strategy, a document that previously outlined the Bush Doctrine of preventative war and currently states: "The struggle against militant Islamic radicalism is the great ideological conflict of the early years of the 21st century."

The officials described the changes on condition of anonymity because the document still was being written, and the White House would not discuss it. But rewriting the strategy document will be the latest example of Obama putting his stamp on US foreign policy, like his promises to dismantle nuclear weapons and limit the situations in which they can be used.

The revisions are part of a larger effort about which the White House talks openly, one that seeks to change not just how the United States talks to Muslim nations, but also what it talks to them about, from health care and science to business startups and education.

That shift away from terrorism has been building for a year, since Obama went to Cairo, Egypt, and promised a "new beginning" in the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world. The White House believes the previous administration based that relationship entirely on fighting terror and winning the war of ideas. >>> Associated Press | Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Jeddah Coffee Shops Raided
SAUDI GAZETTE: JEDDAH – Truant schoolgirls in meetings with un-related males, large screens set up to show “scandalous films”, stages for music performances with light and lazer [sic] displays: Offenses too grave to be ignored by the authorities and too glaring to be continued on the sly for long.

It did not take much time for the Jeddah authorities to realize that a number of coffee shops were, in fact, places for dating and other offenses.

Officials from the Police, Passports Department, Civil Defense, the Labor Office, the Mayor’s Office and the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice raided suspect sites over recent days.

In one instance a 14-year-old girl was found in the company of two males in their twenties after reportedly sneaking out of her house without the knowledge of her family. In another, two sisters were found with six young men.

In a secluded corner of one coffee house a young man was found in the company of a woman with a computer screen before them displaying a pornographic website. The man confessed to officials that he hacked sites with the woman’s help and pirated material. >>> Ibrahim Alawi | Monday, May 31, 2010

Vatican Official Tells Paedophile Priests to Expect Damnation
THE GUARDIAN: Monsignor Charles Scicluna warns seminarians who exploit their office that their punishment in hell will be worse than death penalty on earth

Monsignor Charles Scicluna (centre) with Pope Benedict XVI. Photograph: The Guardian
The Vatican official in charge of catching paedophile priests has said their punishment in hell would be worse than receiving the death penalty on earth.

Monsignor Charles Scicluna issued the warning to seminarians at St Peter's basilica, in Rome, during prayers for abuse victims. >>> Tom Kington in Vatican City | Sunday, May 30, 2010

Israeli Troops Attack Ship Carrying Aid to Gaza Killing 16
THE TELEGRAPH: Israeli commandos have stormed a flotilla of ships carrying activists and aid supplies to the blockaded Palestinian enclave of Gaza, killing as many as 16 of those on board.



Fighting broke out between the activists and the masked Israeli troops, who rappelled on to deck from helicopters before dawn.

A spokeswoman for the flotilla, Greta Berlin, said she had been told ten people had been killed and dozens wounded, accusing Israeli troops of indiscriminately shooting at "unarmed civilians". But an Israeli radio station said that between 14 and 16 were dead in a continuing operation.

"How could the Israeli military attack civilians like this?" Ms Berlin said. "Do they think that because they can attack Palestinians indiscriminately they can attack anyone?

"We have two other boats. This is not going to stop us."
But an Israeli military spokeswoman said that there had been a planned and organised attempt to "lynch" the boarding party. She said the activists were armed with knives and guns.

The Israeli government's handling of the confrontation was under intense international pressure even as it continued. The Israeli ambassador to Turkey, the base of one of the human rights organisation which organised the flotilla, was summoned by the foreign ministry in Anakara, as the Israeli consulate in Istanbul came under attack.

One Israeli minister issued immediate words of regret. "The images are certainly not pleasant. I can only voice regret at all the fatalities," Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, the trade and industry minister, told army radio. >>> Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent and Matthew Kalman in Jerusalem | Monday, May 31, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Turkey condemns Israel over deadly attack on Gaza aid flotilla: The decision by Israeli troops to storm a flotilla of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, killing at least 15 people, was inhumane and unacceptable, Turkey has warned. >>> | Monday, May 31, 2010

Australians 'Don't Give a XXXX' as They Abandon Beer for Wine
THE TELEGRAPH: Beer consumption in Australia has dropped to a 60-year-low as the younger generation abandons the "amber nectar" in favour of wine.

Think of Australia and the immediate associations are beaches, kangaroos and, of course, beer.

The legendary love for lager Down Under has been perpetuated by cultural exports including Barry “Bazza” McKenzie and Paul “Crocodile Dundee” Hogan and reinforced by memorable marketing campaigns including the Castlemaine XXXX adverts featuring the tag-line: “Australians wouldn’t give a XXXX for anything else.”

But according to new statistics, the worship of the “amber nectar” has gone flat, as beer consumption has dipped to its lowest level in 60 years.

The party-loving nation has not gone teetotal, however. Instead, the younger generation has developed a more refined palate, swapping cans of lager for bottles of wine.

Australians drank 11.3 pints of lager per person in 1979, but last year consumption sank to just 7.9 pints, the lowest amount since the 1950s.

In contrast, wine consumption quadrupled between 1960 and 2000, and has maintained a steady increase of about four per cent per year since, according to the Wine and Brandy Corporation. >>> Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Friday, May 28, 2010

Duty-free Cigarette Ban Is On the Cards
THE TELEGRAPH: CEO of World Duty Free reveals plans to remove tobacco from stores as airport retail chain endures a £250,000-a-day sales hit from British Airways strike

Cigarettes will disappear from Britain's duty free shops after a period of being sold from "behind closed doors" as the Government tightens anti-smoking laws.

Mark Riches, chief executive of World Duty Free, Britain's biggest airport shopping chain, expects to set up closed-off areas for cigarette sales from 2013, in which the brands won't be on display. The company aims to replace its most profitable product ahead of an expected total ban.

"We're not kidding ourselves that we'll have the business forever," Mr Riches said. While such a move is not imminent, "that's the direction we're heading in," he added.

Such a development would come as a blow to smokers as cigarettes cost £2.50 for a packet of 20 from tax-free shops compared with £6 on the high street. The new Government is expected to review Labour's plans for a ban on displaying tobacco in all shops from 2013. Mr Riches said his business will take a total ban in its stride. Airport shopping has already been transformed "out of all recognition" since the end of duty free limits within Europe in 1999, he said.

At that time tobacco was by far the biggest seller. Now World Duty Free's (WDF) biggest business is beauty products, which account for around 50pc of sales. Among its most popular products are Gucci aftershave and Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle perfume.

WDF's cigarette sales are falling by around 5pc a year, while the company's sales rose 6.4pc last year and 8.7pc in the first quarter of 2010, with revenues at £126m. WDF has 85 shops in the UK, with a flagship store at London's Heathrow Terminal 5 which takes in £100m a year. >>> Amy Wilson | Saturday, May 29, 2010

Barack Obama's Credibility Hits Rock Bottom After Oil Spill and Sestak Scandal
THE TELEGRAPH: The combination of Obama's passivity over the Gulf oil spill catastrophe and his cynical political manoeuvrings could spell disaster for him, argues Toby Harnden

The first thing Barack Obama probably should have done was to order the livestreaming Oil Spill Cam to be turned off. As the President insisted to Americans that he was "singularly focused" on staunching the flow, there was that mesmerising image on their television screens of plumes of hydrocarbons gushing relentlessly into the Gulf of Mexico.

When any political leader feels they have to declare that they are "fully engaged" in an issue, it is clear that they are in trouble. Talking about it undermines the very point you are trying to make - not to mention that pesky Oil Spill Cam showing that, 38 days into the Deepwater Horizon disaster, not a whole lot had been achieved.

Even judging Obama by his words, he has fallen woefully short over what has now eclipsed the 1989 Exxon Valdez wreck as biggest oil spill catastrophe in American history. He may have described it as an "unprecedented disaster" in last Thursday's press conference but a week into the crisis he was blithely stating that "this incident is of national significance" and rest assured he was receiving "frequent briefings" about it.

George W Bush's unpopularity and perceived incompetence was encapsulated by the way he dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Candidate Obama branded it "unconscionable incompetence".

Central to Obama's appeal was his promise to be truly different. His failure to achieve that is now at the core of the deep disappointment Americans feel about him. At the press conference - the first full-scale affair he had deigned to give for 309 days - he appeared uncomfortable and petulant.

His approach to the issue was that of the law student suddenly fascinated by a science project. He displayed none of the visceral indignation Americans feel about pretty much everything these days - two-thirds now say they are "angry" about the way things are going - resorting instead to Spock-like technocratic language and legalese. "I'm not contradicting my prior point," he stated at one juncture. During those 63 minutes of soporific verbosity, about 800 barrels of oil poured into the Gulf.

Obama engaged in the obligatory populist bashing of Big Oil and, of course, demonstrated the Obama administration's version of Tourette's Syndrome, blaming the previous administration for the situation when, by my reckoning, it's a full 16 months since Bush left office. Read on and comment >>> Toby Harnden in Washington | Saturday, May 29, 2010

HT: Pastorius

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Von der Maske zum Gesicht – und umgekehrt: Nachdenken über die Burka
NZZ ONLINE: In der Diskussion um das Burka-Verbot prallen unterschiedlichste Argumentationsweisen und Interessenlagen aufeinander. Der auf beiden Seiten öfters spürbare missionarische Eifer droht den Blick dafür zu verstellen, dass ein Aufklärungsprozess nur wirksam sein kann, wenn er sich von innen heraus entwickelt.

Als Charles-Louis de Secondat, besser bekannt unter dem Titel des Barons de Montesquieu, im Jahr 1721 seine «Lettres Persanes» publizieren liess, leitete die europäische Aufklärung den Prozess ihrer kulturellen Selbstbefragung ein. Denn der Verfasser, der hier aus guten Gründen anonym bleiben wollte, richtete seinen kritischen Blick auf die Sitten und Gebräuche der Grande Nation, die sich damals schon gerne als den Nabel der Welt verstand. Montesquieus Kunstgriff machte Schule: Er bestand darin, dass zwei fiktive Perser in einer Reihe von Briefen untereinander und an Freunde in der Heimat darüber berichteten, was sie auf ihrer Reise erlebten. Die Route führte von Isfahan über Smyrna nach Italien und schliesslich rasch nach Paris. Rica und Usbek, begabt mit wachen Sinnen, fanden reichlich Stoff zur Verwunderung über das Leben der Franzosen wie über politische und religiöse Verhaltensweisen. Beiträge zur Selbstkritik >>> Von Martin Meyer | Samstag, 29. Mai 2010

Allah’s Displeasure*! Dr Zakir Naik: Minimum Length of the Beard


*I’m sure Allah will be devastated and very angry if you don’t grow your beard, especially to the right length! Question: If Allah is that small-minded, is he worth worshipping? – Mark

Dr Zakir Naik: Death Penalty for Apostates


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UK Chief Treasury Secretary Resigns Amid Scandal


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MAIL ONLINE: Muslim hate preacher is let into Britain despite Tories' pledge to keep out radicals: Home Secretary Theresa May faces outrage after her officials allowed an Islamic hate-preacher to enter Britain.

Zakir Naik, who has said ‘every Muslim should be a terrorist’ and claimed Western women are easy rape targets because of their revealing clothes, is to speak in a tour of the country. >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Sunday, May 30, 2010

Cinq enfants sauvages découverts en Colombie
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: BOGOTA | Le père, qui souffre apparemment de troubles mentaux, avait contraint sa famille à vivre dans une grotte.

Cinq enfants que leur père avait contraints de vivre dans des grottes depuis leur naissance ont été découverts dans le centre-est de la Colombie. Ces jeunes âgés de huit mois à 11 ans se portent bien.

«Comme ils n'avaient jamais été en contact avec le monde extérieur, il n'a pas été facile de les emmener et de leur faire leur toilette. Quand on a allumé la télévision, ils sont partis en courant», a raconté samedi au journal «El Tiempo» de Bogota, Alirio Garzon, un membre de la Protection civile qui a secouru les enfants. >>> AFP | Samedi 29 Mai 2010

Muslim Spain
To the video >>>

Spanish Town Bans Burka in Public Buildings
THE TELEGRAPH: The Spanish town of Lerida has become the first in the country to ban the Burka in municipal buildings.

The town council voted to prohibit the "use of the veil and other clothes and accessories which cover the face and prevent identification in buildings and installations of the town hall."

The vote, by 23 to one with two abstentions, is the first of its kind in Spain, a country where Islamic veils and the body-covering burqas are little in evidence despite a large Muslim population.

The move is aimed at promoting "respect for the dignity of women and values of equality and tolerance," the town hall said in a statement. >>> | Friday, May 28, 2010

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Italy’s Rude Awakening: Perhaps la Vita Isn’t Always So Dolce After All!
THE TELEGRAPH: Italy is the latest eurozone nation to be threatened by finacial woe - after Silvio Berlusconi assured his compatriots for months that they had weathered the crisis.

They were the advance guard of an army of Italians whose anger is rising as their country joins the rest of the continent struggling with the worst economic crisis of recent times.

Waving banners, blowing whistles and chanting "Shame!", hundreds of public service workers rallied outside Italy's parliament in Rome to protest against the austerity package announced by the centre-Right government of Silvio Berlusconi.

The measures aim to shave 24 billion euros off government spending in the next two years.

They include a crackdown on tax evasion and welfare fraud, a three year salary freeze for Italy's 3.4 million civil servants and substantial cuts to regional government which will almost certainly result in less money for hospitals and schools.

In pushing through the package with an emergency parliamentary decree, Italy joined Portugal and Spain in trying to fend off contagion from the crisis which has brought deadly riots to Greece and shaken confidence in the euro. The cuts are greater in scale than the £6 billion of immediate savings recently announced by Britain's new coalition government, but are comparable with what the UK may face over the next 12 months.

The protesters, mostly women, who had gathered outside Italy's lower house of parliament in Piazza di Montecitorio, a cobbled square lined with expensive hotels and boutiques, were stung by the announcement and fearful for the future.

For months Mr Berlusconi had been assuring his countrymen that Italy has weathered the global economic crisis much better than the rest of Europe.

The government's overnight switch from breezy optimism to dire warnings of "very tough sacrifices" in order to spare Italy from a Greek-style bailout, and associated international ignominy attached, made the announcement of the austerity package all the more shocking to those with most to lose. Advance guard of angry women lead Italians into European protests over austerity cuts >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Saturday, May 29, 2010

This Con-Lib Government Isn’t Doing Its Job! Muslim Preacher of Hate Is Let Into Britain
Why don’t hate speech laws apply to this so-called cleric? – Mark
Zakir Naik says the 9/11 attacks were an 'inside job' by the US. Photo: The Sunday Times
THE SUNDAY TIMES: THE home secretary, Theresa May, is facing a stiff test of the Conservative party’s claims to oppose radical Islam after her officials chose to allow a misogynist Muslim preacher into Britain.

Zakir Naik, an Indian televangelist described as a “hate-monger” by moderate Muslims and one Tory MP, says western women make themselves “more susceptible to rape” by wearing revealing clothing.

Naik, who proselytises on Peace TV, a satellite television channel, is reported to have called for the execution of Muslims who change their faith, described Americans as “pigs” and said that “every Muslim should be a terrorist”.

In a recent lecture, he said he was “with” Osama Bin Laden over the attacks on “terrorist America”, adding that the 9/11 hijackings were an inside job by President George W Bush.

In opposition, David Cameron and other senior Tories led criticism of the Labour government for allowing radical preachers into Britain to stir up hatred on lecture tours. While in opposition, Cameron also campaigned to get Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian radical, banned from Britain.

Cameron and May now face a political test over Naik, whose inflammatory comments have led some moderate Muslims to call him a “truth-twister”.

One well-placed insider said: “Zakir Naik is a nasty man who makes al-Qaradawi look like a participant at a teddy bears’ picnic. He shouldn’t be allowed into the country to stir up hatred.”

The Home Office indicated that it was not planning to ban Naik, however.

Although Naik makes it clear he does not support specific acts of terrorism, his inflammatory speeches have included one, currently on YouTube, in which he states: “Beware of Muslims saying Osama Bin Laden is right or wrong. I reject them ... we don’t know.

“But if you ask my view, if given the truth, if he is fighting the enemies of Islam, I am for him.

“I don’t know what he’s doing. I’m not in touch with him. I don’t know him personally. If he is terrorising the terrorists, if he is terrorising America the terrorist ... I am with him. Every Muslim should be a terrorist.” >>> David Leppard | Sunday, May 30, 2010

Pat Condell: What I Know About Islam

David Laws Resigns Over Expenses Claim
THE TELEGRAPH: David Laws has resigned from the Coalition Cabinet after revelations that he claimed £40,000 of taxpayers’ money to pay rent to his boyfriend.

David Laws and James Lundie. Photographs: The Telegraph
Government sources said the senior Liberal Democrat stepped down as Treasury Chief Secretary while parliamentary watchdogs investigated his expenses claims.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, were understood at first to have been willing to let Mr Laws remain in his key post, at least over the weekend.

However, The Sunday Telegraph learned that at least two Lib Dem Cabinet ministers, Vince Cable and Chris Huhne, believed that the circumstances of Mr Laws’s parliamentary expenses claims “did not look good at all”. They suggested that he was left with no choice other than to step aside.

The Lib Dem Scottish Secretary, Danny Alexander, will take over from Mr Laws, 44.

Mr Laws, a former banker, won his key Cabinet post after impressing Tory negotiators in the talks that set up the coalition.

He won praise for his assured start at the Treasury, where he was in charge of imposing proposed swingeing cuts to state spending.

However, on Friday night Mr Laws referred his own case to Parliament’s standards commissioner after The Daily Telegraph disclosed that he claimed as much as £950 a month in parliamentary expenses for eight years to rent rooms in two London properties.

The houses were owned by his partner, James Lundie, a political lobbyist. In 2006, MPs were banned from “leasing accommodation from a partner”. >>> Patrick Hennessy, Melissa Kite and Patrick Sawyer | Saturday, May 29, 2010

Sadly, Mr Laws Has Done the Right Thing
THE TELEGRAPH: The nature of David Laws's job made it impossible for him to remain in post.

The right move: David Laws's portfolio demanded that he be untainted by the MPs' expenses scandal. Photograph: The Telegraph
At a time when the country desperately needed an unusually able individual to fill the role of Chief Secretary to the Treasury, there had been almost unanimous agreement that David Laws, the Liberal Democrat MP for Yeovil, promised to be outstanding in the role. We face an unprecedented budget deficit. Painful cuts are necessary. Mr Laws had the financial background – he made a fortune as a successful banker before he became an MP – to understand the importance of reducing the deficit, and the political acumen to work out how to begin making the cuts in the fairest, most efficient and least damaging way possible.

Unfortunately, his frontbench career has now come to an untimely end. As The Daily Telegraph revealed on Friday night, Mr Laws claimed a total of £40,000 in rent for properties owned and inhabited by his partner. Although the newspaper would not have revealed it, Mr Laws volunteered the fact that his partner was a man, James Lundie. Changes to the rules on MPs’ expenses, introduced in July 2006, state that Parliamentary allowances “must not be used to meet the costs of… leasing accommodation from a partner or family member”. On Friday, Mr Laws promised to pay back the money. He said that he did not knowingly break the rules, because he did not think of Mr Lundie as his “partner”, or want to reveal his homosexuality, which he had kept secret from his friends and family. >>> Telegraph View | Saturday, May 29, 2010

Profile of David Laws: The Banker on the Frontbench
THE GUARDIAN: The chief secretary to the Treasury entered parliament in 2001 after quitting a career in the City that had made him a millionaire

The former investment banker David Laws, 44, has risen through the Liberal Democrat ranks since entering parliament in 2001, gaining a reputation as one of a breed of young Lib Dem MPs whose promotion of free market policies contrast with the party's left-leaning traditions.

Laws is co-author of the Orange Book, calling for a return to the "traditional building blocks of liberalism", including free trade and a belief in the effectiveness of the private sector.

He also believes in limits to EU powers and an end to the common agricultural policy. Although his perspective is more centrist than rightwing, when he first stood as a Lib Dem, the Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown thought he was a Tory mole. After quitting a career in the City that made him a millionaire, Laws took over Ashdown's Yeovil seat in 2001. He has since rejected overtures from the Tories to defect. >>> The Guardian | Saturday, May 29, 2010


David Laws: Yet Again, Hiding in the Closet Proves [to Be] a Politician's Undoing
THE GUARDIAN: It is hardly credible that in 2010, after all the progress that has been made, the gay liberation message still needs to be heard

The closet causes crises. It is an unhappy place to live and David Laws is not the first person who, on being forced out, immediately talked about the "relief" of no longer having to lie. It is tempting to blame Laws himself: a man who had the ability and determination to earn a fortune by the age of 28, and be in a senior government job at 44, is obviously no shrinking violet. Why wasn't he able to take control of his life and be honest and open with his friends and family and be proud of his relationship?

Laws grew up in the 1970s, a period of lingering bigotry that thrived long after the first partial decriminalisation of gay sex in 1967. His late teens and early adulthood, a time when people discover their sexuality, coincided with the long, dark night of Thatcher (to quote Derek Jarman) when the media were full of hatred, the Conservative leader of Staffordshire county council called for Aids to be dealt with by gassing gay men and police officers in gangs of 50 raided our pubs to check the licences but were too busy to investigate the murders of gay people in Britain's streets and parks or an arson attack on the gay newspaper I then edited. Conservative election posters and Margaret Thatcher derided lesbian and gay rights, while speakers at Tory annual conferences gave us such gems as: "If you want a queer for your neighbour, vote Labour" and, of course, there was Section 28.

Is it surprising that in this atmosphere, reflected in pulpits and playgrounds across the nation, a bright young man buried himself in work and focused his energies on making money?

Many people did come out even then; often, they were angry and demanding gay rights and gay liberation. And the one constant refrain of the lesbian and gay movement was to urge people to come out because the closet is a cold, lonely place that makes you lie again and again to those closest to you and always risks ending in tears. >>> Graham McKerrow | Saturday, May 29, 2010

I Wonder Where They Got This Title From?: A New Dark Age Is Dawning

Logbuch al-Qaida: Obama bricht mit Bushs Anti-Terror-Erbe
US-Präsident Obama: Anti-Terror-Strategie deutlich weniger aggressiv als unter Bush. Foto: Spiegel Online
SPIEGEL ONLINE: "Schurkenstaaten" haben ausgedient, auch "islamischer Radikalismus" und "globaler Krieg gegen den Terror" verschwinden aus dem Sprachgebrauch: US-Präsident Obama veröffentlicht seine erste Nationale Sicherheitsstrategie - und trennt sich von rhetorischen Erbstücken aus der Ära Bush.

Berlin - Das Verfassen und Veröffentlichen einer "National Security Strategy" ist für die US-Regierung in der Theorie eine Pflicht und in der Praxis reine Kür: Laut Kongressbeschluss von 1986 muss ein solches Dokument jährlich vorgelegt werden; faktisch belassen es die Präsidenten in der Regel bei einem Papier pro Legislaturperiode. George W. Bush etwa publizierte 2002 und 2006 jeweils eine solche Strategie.

Sein Nachfolger Barack Obama, ein gutes Jahr im Amt, ist nun erstmals dieser Pflicht nachgekommen: Am Donnerstag veröffentlichte das Weiße Haus das 52 Seiten lange Dokument.

Naturgemäß deckt die Sicherheitsstrategie, gedacht als Bezugsrahmen für Bundesbehörden ebenso wie als Informationsservice für den US-Kongress, die Wähler in den USA und alle Interessierten außerhalb des Landes, ein gigantisches Spektrum ab: >>> Von Yassin Musharbash | Samstag, 29. Mai 2010

Israël refuse de participer à l'accord de la conférence du TNP
Le premier ministre israélien Benyamin Nétanyaou et son directeur de cabinet Gabi Ashkenazi, le 11 mai. Photo : Le Monde
LE MONDE: Au lendemain de la signature d'un accord prévoyant de débattre sur l'interdiction totale des armes de destruction massive dans le Moyen-Orient, Israël a indiqué, samedi 29 mai, qu'il refusait de participer à sa mise en oeuvre, le qualifiant de "biaisé". Le gouvernement du premier ministre Benyamin Nétanyahou a qualifié la résolution signée par les 189 pays membres du traité de non-prolifération nucléaire (TNP) de "profondément hypocrite et défaillante" car elle "ignore les réalités du Proche-Orient et les vraies menaces auxquelles la région et le monde tout entier sont confrontés".

Le document final, le premier accord de révision du TNP en dix ans, propose d'organiser en 2012 une conférence internationale dont le but sera d'établir une zone dénucléarisée dans l'ensemble du Proche-Orient. Il obligerait notamment Israël à signer le TNP, qui date de 1970, à renoncer à son arsenal atomique, dont il n'a jamais reconnu ni démenti l'existence, et à placer ses installations nucléaires sous surveillance de l'Agence internationale de l'énergie atomique (AIEA). >>> LeMonde.fr avec AFP, Reuters | Samedi 29 Mai 2010

Portugal : La rue se mobilise contre le plan de rigueur du gouvernement
LE POINT: Des milliers de fonctionnaires et de salariés du privé se sont rassemblés, samedi après-midi, à Lisbonne pour participer à une grande manifestation nationale contre les mesures d'austérité annoncées par le gouvernement pour redresser les finances publiques. "Basta !", "Stop à la hausse du chômage", "Non à l'austérité" ou encore "Pour une stabilité de l'emploi", pouvait-on lire sur les pancartes et banderoles déployées au milieu de nombreux drapeaux syndicaux, tandis que des mégaphones crachaient : "Il faut que ça change !" "Nous ne voulons pas que la société portugaise tombe dans l'indifférence et se résigne", a déclaré à l'AFP Manuel Carvalho da Silva, secrétaire général de la CGTP, la principale confédération syndicale du pays, qui a appelé à cette journée d'action. >>> AFP | Samedi 29 Mai 2010

Malawi Frees Jailed Gay Couple
THE GUARDIAN: President pardons pair 'on humanitarian grounds' after meeting UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon

Steven Monjeza (l) and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, in court earlier this year. Photograph: The Guardian
A gay couple sentenced to serve 14 years in jail in Malawi have been pardoned after their country's president met Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general.

Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were tried and found guilty of sodomy and indecency earlier this month in a move that sparked international condemnation.

But after talking with Ban today, Malawi's president, Bingu wa Mutharika, announced the pair would be freed.

"These boys committed a crime against our culture, our religion and our laws," he said after the meeting, at the southern African country's State House. "However, as the head of state, I hereby pardon them and therefore ask for their immediate release with no conditions.

"I have done this on humanitarian grounds, but this does not mean that I support this."

He added: "We don't condone marriages of this nature. It's unheard of in Malawi and it's illegal."

Ban praised the decision, but said: "It is unfortunate that laws criminalise people based on sexuality. Laws that criminalise sexuality should be repealed."

He is due to address Malawi's national assembly later and is expected to ask legislators to look at this.

Although the order was immediate, a prison spokesman told The Associated Press they had not received notification to release the pair by Saturday afternoon.

Earlier this week, a cousin of Chimbalanga, Maxwell Manda, said that he wanted to leave Malawi upon his release.

Joseph Amon from Human Rights Watch said the president was responding to the international outcry following the couple's conviction and sentence.

"I hope that other leaders of African countries with anti-gay laws see that this is just not acceptable in the international community," he said. >>> Amy Fallon | Saturday, May 29, 2010

THE GUARDIAN: My friend, President Mutharika, show compassion: In the spirit of your fight against Aids, free Monjeza and Chimbalanga – an open letter to the president of Malawi >>> Elton John | Saturday, May 29, 2010

Malawi President Pardons Gay Couple After UN Pressure
THE TELEGRAPH: President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi has pardoned a homosexual couple who had been jailed for 14 years.

Mr wa Mutharika had been under international pressure to reconsider the convictions of Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20. They were arrested in December after they were united in a traditional wedding ceremony in the conservative southern African country, where homosexuality is illegal.

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary General, met the Malawian president on Saturday in the capital Lilongwe.

Speaking shortly afterwards, Mr wa Mutharika said: "These boys committed a crime against our culture, our religion and our laws.

"However, as the head of state I hereby pardon them and therefore ask for their immediate release with no conditions." >>> | Saturday, May 29, 2010

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Tensions Rise as Jobless Migrants Are Blamed for the Pain in Spain
TIMES ONLINE: The food bank in Vic, 40 miles north of Barcelona, occupies an old bakery in a side street. Each day hundreds of unemployed stream in to collect handouts of bread, milk, pasta and other necessities. The overwhelming majority are immigrants, predominantly Moroccans and sub-Saharan Africans who flocked to Vic in the past few years to work on building sites or in the huge pig farms and meat factories that surround the town and give it its distinctive smell.

At least 10,000 came, swelling Vic’s population by a quarter. They did the hard, dirty work and were welcomed. Not any more. Half lost their jobs when Spain’s construction bubble burst in 2008 and brought the good times to an abrupt end.

A deeply unpopular €15 billion (£12.7 billion) austerity package rushed through parliament yesterday will make life even harder. On top of that, the immigrants are now the target of Platform for Catalonia, Spain’s equivalent of the BNP, which is based in Vic. “Control immigration — stop the crisis,” its leaflets proclaim.

“They insult us. They say maybe we’re the cause of the crisis, that we take their jobs. It’s not fair and it’s not nice,” said Mercy Omoroagbon, 30, as she collected her handout. She arrived from Nigeria in 2002, lost both her cleaning jobs last year and now lives off the charity of friends.

“They say the Spanish can’t work because of the immigrants. It’s not true. We did the work the Spanish didn’t want or wouldn’t do,” said Joy Ekechukwu, 33, another Nigerian who came to Spain 11 years ago, lost her factory job and now struggles to support her two young children. Read on and comment >>> Martin Fletcher | Friday, May 28, 2010

Detroit to Bulldoze Thousands of Homes in Fight for Survival
THE TELEGRAPH: Tired of Detroit's status as the symbol of everything wrong with urban America, its new mayor has come up with a radical solution: to bulldoze the city.

David Bing, a businessman and former all-star basketball player who entered politics late in life, says he has no choice.

The 2010 census is expected to reveal a population of about 800,000, down from a peak of 1.8 million in the Motor City heyday of the late 1950s.

The long decline of the car industry and all its spin-off business has been exacerbated by the collapse of a housing market that has left prices close to what they were 50 years ago, when lifestyle magazines featured Detroit as the most desirable city in the United States.

Decent three-bedroom homes can be bought for $10,000, but no one wants to buy.

Decades of poor and at times corrupt administration have also taken their toll, and with the city facing a deficit of between $85 and $124 million this year, the answer, says Mr Bing, is to accept reality and reduce the size of the city.

"There is just too much land and too many expenses for us to continue to manage the city as we have in the past," he said. "If we don't do it, this whole city is going to go down."

Plans currently being devised would be the most revolutionary carried out by a major American city. >>> Alex Spillius in Detroit | Friday, May 28, 2010