Tuesday, October 19, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Saudi prince, Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud, faces a life sentence for beating and strangling his servant to death in the culmination of a campaign of "sadistic" abuse.Saud was found guilty at the Old Bailey of murdering Bandar Abdulaziz in a "brutal" assault at their five-star hotel suite.
The prince was fuelled by champagne and 'sex on the beach' cocktails when he bit the 32-year-old hard on both cheeks during the attack in February.
They had just returned from a Valentine's Day night out when Saud launched the ferocious assault.
When he was arrested he at first wrongly believed he had diplomatic immunity but his special status as a Saudi royal could not save him from British justice.
The 34-year-old, a member of one of the world's richest and most powerful dynasties, was found guilty of murder today by the jury after just one hour and 35 minutes of deliberation.
Saud showed no reaction as the decision was announced.
The verdict means a lengthy jail term for the prince and the end to his luxury playboy lifestyle, funded by his wealthy family, in which he dined in fine restaurants and secretly entertained gay escorts in his plush hotel room.
In court his lawyers tried to cover up evidence of his homosexuality.
If he ever returns to his home country he faces the possibility of execution - not because of the killing but because being homosexual is a capital offence there.
The murder of Mr Abdulaziz was the final act in a "deeply abusive" master-servant relationship in which the prince carried out frequent attacks on his aide "for his own personal gratification". >>> | Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Related here
THE TELEGRAPH: Protesters are due to hit the streets in France en masse in the sixth such demonstration in two months against Nicolas Sarkozy's unpopular pension reforms.
Airport staff, bus and train drivers, teachers, postal workers and armoured truck drivers who stock cash machines will join refinery workers and others in a day of nationwide strikes against Mr Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age.
Fuel shortages will worsen as refinery strikes go into an eighth day, and the authorities will be alert for any escalation of sporadic violence on Monday in some cities, with small groups of troublemakers torching vehicles and scuffling with police.
A school in Le Mans, northwest France, burned down in the early hours of Tuesday after an apparent arson attack but it was unclear if the apparent arson attack was linked to the protests.
Michele Alliot-Marie, the justice minister, told Europe 1 radio the situation was not a crisis, but warned protesters that "the right to demonstrate does not mean the right to smash things up."
Tuesday's protests are a last-ditch challenge to the centre-right government before a final Senate vote this week on the pension bill, which the government says is vital to rein in a ballooning pension shortfall as the population ages. >>> | Tuesday, October 19, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A parish in Kent is shifting allegiance to Rome and, with many more likely to follow, Anglicanism is feeling the strain. Tim Ross reports.
Shortly after eight o'clock one spring morning in 2007, an earthquake struck the parish church of St Peter in Folkestone, bringing down the gable-end of the south transept.
Three years later, the 19th-century church, which opened as a chapel for local fishermen, has caused tremors of its own, becoming the first parish in England to declare its intention to defect to Rome. Within hours of the news emerging last Friday, the Bishop of Fulham announced that he, too, will take up the Pope's offer to join a new structure within the Roman Catholic Church for disaffected Anglicans.
Some are now talking openly of an "exodus" from the Anglican Communion next year, with thousands following Folkestone's lead. The Archbishop of Canterbury, from whose back yard the revolt has sprung, can be in little doubt about the seriousness of the threat. >>> Tim Ross | Tuesday, October 19, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: If business leaders had to explain why they are worth their extravagant salaries, we might see an end to corrosive inequality
When an economy is booming, unjustifiable inequalities in pay can easily escape our attention. In these straitened times, with big cuts in public services about to hit the most vulnerable, it is time to look more carefully at how work is rewarded in our society. We need to realise that recognising the significance of incentives should not lead to acceptance of the daylight robbery that passes for executive compensation today. A good place to start is by looking at corporate governance.
The facts about income inequality in the UK are nothing less than mind-boggling. The average income of a FTSE 100 chief executive, according to the most recent Guardian survey of executive pay, is over £3m per year, including bonuses and pension contributions. This is more than 100 times median household income. It is not uncommon for CEOs to run 200 or 300 times as much as the median pay of their employees or, in the case of Terry Leahy's final year at Tesco, for a CEO to be paid 500 times the average take-home pay of his colleagues.
Moreover, executive pay continues to march relentlessly upwards, unconnected to skill, judgment or underlying profitability. While the FTSE lost a third of its value in the year to September 2009, executive pay rose 10% during the same period. According to the Work Foundation, the ratio of average CEO pay to average UK earnings rose from 10:1 in 1980 to 75:1 in 2006 (and has continued to grow since). In short, the gains of economic growth are becoming increasingly concentrated in a small number of hands, while the wages of ordinary people have stagnated.
Should we care? New Labour's answer, famously encapsulated by Peter Mandelson, is that we should be "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich". Looking at runaway top-pay with a clear eye on its social and political consequences, Mandelson's claim looks as short-sighted as it is wrong-headed. Read on and comment >>> Martin O’Neill | Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Whatever happened to conscience? No responsible chief executive would feel good about siphoning off the cream for himself and leaving the worker bees with the crumbs. But these days, it seems that 'responsible' and 'CEO' are mutually exclusive concepts.
Taken to the extreme, this situation could eventually lead to revolution. History shows this to be so. Revolutions occur where extreme wealth and extreme poverty collide. The British are very complacent people, especially by comparison with the French, who have currently taken to the streets. But even a worm will turn. The élite shouldn't push their luck. – © Mark
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THE TELEGRAPH: Iran has demonstrated its hold over the future of Iraqi politics, telling Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, to "get rid of America" as he arrived to ask Tehran's blessing for a second term in office.Mr Maliki, who is on a tour of Middle Eastern capitals to drum up support for his bid to stay in power, had an audience with Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Two weeks ago, the Iranian leadership negotiated backing for Mr Maliki from the militant Shia grouping, the Sadrists, who had previously been deeply opposed to his candidacy.
"The Iraqi nation is vigilant and aggressors cannot dominate this country again," Mr Khamenei told Mr Maliki, according to a statement put out by his office. "May God get rid of America in Iraq so that its people's problems are solved."
Mr Khamenei's aggressive stance, while seeming to give his blessing to Mr Maliki, whose secular Shia State of Law party came a close second in Iraqi elections in March, will alarm the Americans.
They already face losing their influence after their troops pull out of Iraq next year – an outcome that would once have been unthinkable after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the loss of so many American lives.
Now they risk seeing the creation of a government brokered by their greatest rivals in the region.
Iran has not overtly backed Mr Maliki, but officials on Monday said he would be a "suitable" choice. >>> Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Monday, October 18, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
WELT ONLINE: Falls die Regierung Forderungen des Islamgegners Wilders umsetze, werde das Land "Ziel einer Dschihadisten-Gruppe", so ein Taliban-Sprecher.Ein Anführer der afghanischen Taliban hat einem Zeitungsbericht zufolge die Niederlande vor einem Anschlag gewarnt, sollte die neue Regierung Forderungen des Islamgegners Geert Wilders umsetzen. „Wenn die Niederlande ihre Anti-Islam-Politik beibehalten oder intensivieren, werden sie mit Sicherheit das Ziel einer Dschihadisten-Gruppe werden“, zitierte die Tageszeitung „Volkskrant“ Sabjullah Mudschahed, der offizieller Sprecher der Taliban für Ost- und Nordafghanistan sein soll.
Wenn Wilders erfolgreich das niederländische Parlament „so manipuliert, dass es mehr Anti-Islam-Gesetze verabschiedet, gibt es keinen Zweifel, dass Muslime aus anderen Ländern aktiv werden, um ihren muslimischen Brüdern und Schwestern zu helfen“, sagte Mudschahed demnach weiter. >>> AFP/dpa/Reuters/cn | Montag, 18. Oktober, 2010
DAILY TIMES: Taliban warn Dutch against adopting anti-Islam agenda >>> Tuesday, October 19, 2010
THE CANADIAN PRESS: AMSTERDAM — Muslim witnesses said Monday that a Dutch lawmaker's anti-Islamic comments had led to attacks and intimidation, and they pleaded with judges to convict him and give him a symbolic fine of one euro ($1.40).
Geert Wilders is facing charges of inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims for statements that include comparing Islam with Nazism and calling for banning the Qur’an and taxing Muslim scarves, which he calls "head rags." His trial has been seen as testing the limits of free speech.
Prosecutors last week acknowledged they have failed to prove the case against him and called for his acquittal. But the judges may disagree, and their verdict is expected Nov. 5.
"Arson. Attempted arson. Vandalism. Disturbances. Incivility to people attending mosques. Obscenities. Intimidating behaviour — they have all become everyday occurrences" as a result of Wilders' public remarks, said Mohammed Enait, speaking for an alliance of Dutch mosques that had asked to testify as victims in the case.
Wilders denies inciting hatred of Muslims, and says he criticizes Islam because it's an ideology that rejects Western values. He says it is not a crime to state what many Dutch voters believe. >>> Toby Sterling | Monday, October 18, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Multiculturalism in Germany has 'utterly failed', claims Chancellor Angela Merkel: 'Too little required of immigrants' says tough-talking Christian Democrat leader >>> Alan Hall in Berlin | Monday, October 18, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Chancellor Angela Merkel says multiculturalism in Germany has 'failed utterly'. She tells a conference of the youth wing of her Christian Democratic Union party that Germans and foreign workers could not 'live happily side by side'. The speech has been interpreted as a dramatic shift to the right
Thursday, October 14, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, received a hero's welcome in Lebanon as he arrived in the country for a two-day visit designed to demonstrate Tehran's grip over the region's most perilous state.
Thousands held up flowers and Iranian flags as Mr Ahmedinejad waved through the open roof of an armoured car that carried him through the Shia Muslim strongholds of south Beirut, the Lebanese capital.
Hizbollah, Iran's local ally, mobilised its followers to throw rice and slaughter camels as the motorcade passed by.
It was, however, a welcome that ran just one street deep and normal life – bereft of Iranian flags – continued yards away from the old airport road used by the Iranian leader to reach a summit with his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Sleiman.
Maura Connelly, the US ambassador, expressed misgivings about the impact of the Iranian leader's visit and newspapers reported that America had unveiled a $22 million (£13.8 million) package of military aid to strengthen the Lebanese security forces. Continue reading and comment >>> Damien McElroy in Beirut | Wednesday, October 13, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Beirut gives Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a warm welcome: Iranian president's Lebanon visit seen as a boost for Hezbollah and described by White House as provocative >>> Hugh Macleod in Beirut and Ian Black, Middle East editor | Wednesday, October 13, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Sir Salman Rushdie has revealed he receives a reminder every year from Iranian extremists that they still want to kill him.
The author said the threat comes in the form of a 'sort of Valentine's Day' card each February 14th.
Mr Rushdie said the card was a reminder from Iran that it had not given up on its 21-year-old promise to kill him.
Rushdie revealed details about the unusual card when he told the New York Times he was penning a book about his life during the years he was forced into hiding. Salman Rushdie still receives death threats from Iranian extremists 21 YEARS after fatwa >>> Paul Thompson | Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
GERSON LEHRMAN GROUP: A recent online music video featuring Macedonians praising Osama bin Laden has fueled fears that Southeastern Europe could be emerging as the latest breeding ground for homegrown Islamist militants. It focuses attention on Muslim charities active in The Balkans since the wars in former Yugoslavia in the mid-1990s. Many of those charities are funded by oil-rich Saudi Arabia and propagate Wahhabism - the kingdom's austere and puritan interpretation of Islam. >>> GLG Expert Contributor | Tuesday, October 12, 2010
(IN) COHERENT >>>
THE TELEGRAPH: The ban on openly homosexual troops serving in the United States military was suspended, in what is seen as a victory for gay rights campaigners.
A judge in California ordered a worldwide injunction against the enforcement of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, which forced the expulsion of homosexual troops whose sexuality was disclosed.
The judge, Virginia Phillips, ruled last month that the 17-year-old rule was unconstitutional, as it violated America's First and Fifth Amendments, which guarantee free speech and proper legal process.
On Tuesday she rejected an attempt by the Government to limit this to military personnel who were members of the Log Cabin Republicans, a pro-gay rights group that filed the lawsuit against the rule.
Government lawyers had argued that an abrupt reversal of the rule could harm military operations at a time of war.
But Judge Phillips said the rule itself had a "direct and deleterious effect" on the armed forces because it damaged recruiting efforts during wartime and forced the discharge of valuable troops.
She said that the Log Cabin group had shown that the rule "irreparably injures servicemembers by infringing their fundamental rights" and therefore must be applied to US troops everywhere.
Dan Woods, a lawyer for the group, said: "The order represents a complete and total victory for the Log Cabin Republicans and reaffirms the constitutional rights of gays and lesbians in the military who are fighting and dying for our country."
The ruling comes soon after another federal judge, in Tacoma, Washington, ruled that a flight nurse discharged from the US Air Force for being homosexual should be reinstated. Read on and comment >>> Jon Swaine, New York | Wednesday, October 13, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Al-Qaeda has published a series of articles in its magazine giving would-be militants tips on how to kill Americans, including a section on how to mow people down with a pickup truck.
The 74-page online, English-language magazine, titled Inspire, which has a foreword by Osama bin Laden, encourages "individual jihad" to kill Americans and westerners.
It is an indication that the terrorist network is signalling a move away from terror "spectaculars", which are easier for intelligence agencies to foil, towards one-man operations.
In a graphic feature called The Ultimate Mowing Machine, it gives ideas for one-man operations, such as attaching blades to the front of a pickup truck which can then be used to "mow down" passers-by.
"To achieve maximum carnage, you need to pick up as much speed as you can while still retaining good control of your vehicle," it advises. "The ideal location is a place where there are a maximum number of pedestrians and the least number of vehicles." >>> Richard Spencer, Middle East correspondent | Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Saudi prince accused of murdering his manservant in a sexually motivated attack insisted they were “close friends” who only shared a double bed because the sofa bed was inferior, a court heard yesterday.Prince Saud Bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir Al Saud told police he was not homosexual and that he and Bandar Abdulaziz were equals who had spent four months travelling the world.
He said the detectives did not understand the Saudi Arabian culture, where men regularly travel together as companions.
The prince’s explanation of the relationship came during his murder trial at the Old Bailey, which has heard how the Saudi royal employed gay escorts and took compromising photographs of Mr Abdulaziz on his mobile phone.
He was arrested only hours after Mr Abdulaziz’s battered body was discovered in the room they shared at the five-star Landmark Hotel in London on February 15 this year.
A post-mortem examination showed that the 32-year-old died from a combination of strangulation and neck and abdomen injuries.
When his body was discovered, Prince Saud tried to explain his wounds by saying Mr Abdulaziz was robbed on the Edgware Road, three weeks before his death, the court heard.
However, as he led detectives on a false walking tour to show them where it happened, other police officers discovered cctv footage of Prince Saud beating up Mr Abdulaziz in the hotel lift.
He was immediately arrested on suspicion of murder but refused to answer questions, instead giving the police a statement in which he explained why the pair shared a room. >>> Caroline Gammell | Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Related: Homosexual Saudi prince in ferocious attack on his manservant >>>
THE TELEGRAPH: The Republican candidate for the governor of New York state has been condemned by both conservatives and Democrats for saying that he did not want his children "brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality" was "an acceptable option".
Carl Paladino, a property developer-turned-politician, was accused of raising the risk of attacks on homosexual men after several recent anti-gay crimes in New York, including an assault at the Stonewall Inn in the West Village and a brutal anti-gay gang attack in the Bronx.
Mr Paladino, 64, who has received strong support from conservative Tea Party activists, made his initial comments at a Brooklyn synagogue.
He was trying to strike a contrast between himself and Andrew Cuomo, his Democratic rival, who once took his young daughters to a gay pride parade.
In a television interview yesterday, Mr Paladino said that he did not discriminate against gays, and employed a gay nephew.
But he repeated his opposition to gay marriage and, referring to homosexuality, added: "That's not how God created us, and that's not the example that we should be showing our children."
He also said young children shouldn't be exposed to gay culture, and singled out pride parades. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Monoday, October 11, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Horst Seehofer calls for halt to immigration for Turks and Arabs, claiming they find it hard to integrate
A leading German politician has stoked a debate about foreigners and the workplace after calling for a halt to immigration for Turks and Arabs, citing the difficulties they have in integrating.
Horst Seehofer, premier of the conservative southern German state of Bavaria, stressed the urgent need to stem the flow of immigrants from Arab lands, and focus instead on cultures more similar to Germany's.
Seehofer, a member of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, told a German magazine it was time for the country to look elsewhere for qualified workers at a time when many parts of the labour market are facing grave shortfalls.
"It's clear that immigrants from other cultural circles like Turkey, and Arab countries have more difficulties. From that I draw the conclusion that we don't need any additional foreign workers from other cultures," he said.
He added that Germany should first "deal with the people who already live here" and "get tougher on those who refuse to integrate" before opening itself up to further immigration. >>> Kate Connolly, Berlin | Monday, 11. October 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
leJDD.fr: "Ma fille me désespère". Liliane Bettencourt a réagi dans un communiqué manuscrit, dimanche soir, à la saisine, mercredi, du juge des tutelles par sa fille, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers. Elle souhaite engager des poursuites judiciaires pour faire constater ce qu'elle nomme du "harcèlement". La milliardaire veut être "tranquille"."Je ne peux plus accepter un tel harcèlement, ni qu’elle abime l’image de L’Oréal au travers de moi ou de notre famille". Liliane Bettencourt a vivement réagi dimanche soir à la révélation, par le site ParisMatch.com , de la saisine mercredi d'un juge des tutelles par sa fille. Selon le site de l'hebdomadaire, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers se serait tournée vers un magistrat de Courbevoie pour faire constater la situation de faiblesse de sa mère. C'est la troisième fois qu'elle agit ainsi et les deux premières avaient été déclarées irrecevables en l'absence d'une expertise médicale à laquelle la milliardaire refuse de se plier. "Cette fois-ci, les avocats de Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers ont mandaté le gériatre Christophe de Jaeger, un expert agréé par le Tribunal de Nanterre", ajoutait le site de Paris Match. >>> V.V (avec Reuters) - leJDD.fr | Dimanche 10 Octobre 2010
KRONEN ZEITUNG: Ein offensichtlich religiös motivierter Sprayer hat in der Steirmark der Basilika in Mariazell einen nächtlichen Besuch abgestattet. Auf der Nordmauer der römisch-katholischen Wallfahrtskirche stehen in schwarzen Lettern die Sprüche "Der Koran ist dem Teufel seine Bibel" und "Am Horizont taucht der Teufel auf" zu lesen. Der Sachschaden ist laut Polizei "enorm".
Die Spray- Attacke dürfte nach Angaben der Exekutive in der Zeit zwischen Samstag, 21 Uhr, und Sonntag, 7.45 Uhr, passiert sein. Die Spruchfolge auf dem Granitsockel der Basilika ist rund 30 Meter lang und einen knappen Meter hoch. Den hohen Schaden erklärt die Polizei damit, dass sich die Farbe nicht durch einfaches Abwaschen entfernen lasse. Basilika Mariazell mit Anti-Koran-Sprüchen besprüht >>>
| Sonntag, 10. Oktober 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Aisha Gaddafi, defender of Saddam, supporter of the IRA and UN goodwill ambassador, talks to the Sunday Telegraph about life the Libyan way
To anyone in Britain who still thinks of her Dad as a tyrant, IRA quartermaster extraordinaire, and all-round Mad Dog of the Middle East, Aisha Gaddafi would like to extend a cordial invite.
"Come to Libya, you are all most welcome," she says, when asked about her father's unique talent for planting thorns in the side of successive British governments. "I know what is said in Britain about my father, and most of it is just following a political agenda. So I would give the British people this invite: find out the real facts by coming and meeting us Libyans in person."
First though, meet Aisha herself, the only girl among the eight children that Gaddafi has fathered in between his other duties as Brotherly Leader, self-appointed Saviour of Africa and Guide of the Revolution. Dubbed "The Claudia Schiffer of North Africa" in the Arab press for her striking good looks, the 33-year-old is arguably the most photogenic of Libya's First Family, yet she is still very much a chip off the old block. A lawyer by training, her father's regime is not the only contentious cause she has spoken up for over the years. In her youth, just like her Dad, she was a keen supporter of the IRA, and three years ago, she was on the legal team that defended that other controversial Arab leader, Saddam Hussein.
Her other passion, though, is promoting women's rights in Libya, which is why she agreed last week to a no-holds-barred interview at her home, a huge, high-walled villa in a Tripoli suburb. At first, it feels rather like being in a Gaddafi version of a Hello! shoot. Flawlessly turned out in peach jacket, white trousers and designer jewellery, Aisha holds court in a vast drawing room decked out with family pictures, and later poses for photos on a huge, mermaid-shaped settee worthy of her father's extravagant tastes. Meanwhile, her three young children wander in - one of whom, three-year-old Muammar, is named after Grandpa.
"People forget that as well as being a great leader, he is also my father," she smiles, as the pint-sized Gaddafis scuttle about. "We are very close as a family, and while he is always very busy, every day I insist that we have a gathering with him. My boys love being in his tent, and they enjoy drinking his camel's milk." >>> Colin Freeman in Tripoli | Sunday, October 10, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG – JAMES DELINGPOLE – AN EXTRACT: Dear Curt: When I first joined the American Physical Society sixty-seven years ago it was much smaller, much gentler, and as yet uncorrupted by the money flood (a threat against which Dwight Eisenhower warned a half-century ago). Indeed, the choice of physics as a profession was then a guarantor of a life of poverty and abstinence—it was World War II that changed all that. The prospect of worldly gain drove few physicists. As recently as thirty-five years ago, when I chaired the first APS study of a contentious social/scientific issue, The Reactor Safety Study, though there were zealots aplenty on the outside there was no hint of inordinate pressure on us as physicists. We were therefore able to produce what I believe was and is an honest appraisal of the situation at that time. We were further enabled by the presence of an oversight committee consisting of Pief Panofsky, Vicki Weisskopf, and Hans Bethe, all towering physicists beyond reproach. I was proud of what we did in a charged atmosphere. In the end the oversight committee, in its report to the APS President, noted the complete independence in which we did the job, and predicted that the report would be attacked from both sides. What greater tribute could there be?
How different it is now. The giants no longer walk the earth, and the money flood has become the raison d’être of much physics research, the vital sustenance of much more, and it provides the support for untold numbers of professional jobs. For reasons that will soon become clear my former pride at being an APS Fellow all these years has been turned into shame, and I am forced, with no pleasure at all, to offer you my resignation from the Society.
It is of course, the global warming scam, with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted so many scientists, and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should force himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare. (Montford’s book organizes the facts very well.) I don’t believe that any real physicist, nay scientist, can read that stuff without revulsion. I would almost make that revulsion a definition of the word scientist. Read on and comment >>> James Delingpole | Saturday, October 09, 2010
Friday, October 08, 2010
Thursday, October 07, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Palestinians who wish to become citizens of Israel are to be made to pledge allegiance to the country as a "Jewish state" under a controversial plan unveiled by Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday.
The Israeli prime minister's announcement, which threatened to sour the already hostile atmosphere blighting peace talks with the Palestinian leadership, ignited an immediate storm of protest.
Arab leaders holding Israeli citizenship denounced the proposal as "racist" and there was strong condemnation on the left of Mr Netanyahu's coalition government.
The move appeared to be a sop to Avigdor Lieberman, the hawkish foreign minister whose Israel Beiteinu party – the second largest in the coalition – has long accused the country's substantial Arab minority of being disloyal to the Jewish cause.
A fifth of Israel's 7.6 million people are Arab, the vast majority of whom were Palestinian until the creation of the state in 1948. The number does not include Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza or East Jerusalem.
Mr Lieberman has demanded that all Israel's Arab citizens, who are predominantly Muslim, be forced to swear loyalty to the state as Jewish.
The new proposal does not go that far, with only new citizens being required to recognise Israel as Jewish if the bill becomes law. At present, immigrants are merely required to be "loyal to the state of Israel". >>> Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem | Thursday, October 07, 2010
* Warning: You might find this discussion an insult to your intelligence!
PC BS from The Economist >>>
MAIL ONLINE: Italy is set to become the next European country to ban the burka after a government report ruled in favour of the proposed legislation.
MPs from the anti-immigration Northern League party, a member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s ruling right wing coalition, have presented the proposal in a bill.
It comes just weeks after France banned the wearing of burkas and other forms of face veils - a decision which prompted al Qaeda terrorists to vow revenge.
An Interior Ministry report now being considered by the Constitutional Affairs Commission says that if introduced the law should make clear burkas and other face coverings were being banned not for 'religious reasons but for security reasons.'
As part of their investigation the Interior Ministry heard from several leading Muslims on the use of the burka and several pointed out there was no mention of its use at all in the Koran.
Ejaz Ahmed, of the Italian Islam Committee said: 'The use of the burka and the niqab does not have its origins in the Koran - in fact it is not even mentioned in the Koran.
'The burka has nothing to do with religion and was being worn even before Islam was founded - it was worn by the Romans, Byzantines and Persians and wearing it is not a religious obligation.
'There is no connection between the burka and the niqab with the Islamic religion - the burqa should be banned to respect women’s dignity and the safety of the public given that in Pakistan many suicide bombers have hidden devices under burkas.'
However others from the Islam Committee ruled that the burka was part of Muslim culture. Italy to become next European country to ban burka after government report recommends forbidding it in public >>> Nick Pisa | Thursday, October 07, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Western democracies have been "outspent, outmanoeuvred and out-strategised" by violent Islamist extremists, Tony Blair has claimed.In a speech in New York, the former prime minister said that warnings over the past week of terrorist plots against Europe should remind people that they remained under threat.
Mr Blair said a "narrative" that Muslims were under attack from the US and its allies, who acted out of support for Israel, had been allowed to take hold, aided by "websites and blogs".
A fresh confrontation was needed because it would be impossible to defeat extremism "without defeating the narrative that nurtures it", he said.
"The practitioners of extremism are small in number. The adherents of the narrative stretch far broader into parts of mainstream thinking," Mr Blair told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"It is a narrative that now has vast numbers of assembled websites, blogs and organisations."
Mr Blair said it was "absurd" that some people were surprised at how powerful Islamist extremist groups were, given the amount of funding they received and indoctrination they spread.
"Measure, over the years, the paucity of our counter-attack in the name of peaceful coexistence," he said. "We have been outspent, outmanoeuvred and out-strategised." >>> Jon Swaine in New York | Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Blair said that we can't defeat radical Islam until we defeat the narrative that nurtures it. That's totally right. And what is that narrative that nurtures it? The Qur'an, of course. So let the battle commence. – © Mark
This comment also appeared here
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Mit der Bemerkung, der Islam gehöre zu Deutschland, hat der deutsche Bundespräsident Wulff vor allem bei den Christlichsozialen einigen Ärger ausgelöst. In Umfragen wird die Feststellung von rund zwei Dritteln der Bürger abgelehnt.
Der deutsche Bundespräsident Wulff hat für seine Rede zum Tag der deutschen Einheit zunächst viel Lob erhalten. Vor allem islamische Gruppen freuten sich über sein Plädoyer für kulturelle Offenheit gegenüber Immigranten. Der Vorsitzende des Zentralrats der Muslime in Deutschland, Mazyek, pries Wulffs Rede als Zeichen dafür, dass die Muslime keine Bürger zweiter Klasse seien. Der Staatschef habe klargemacht, dass Vielfalt und unterschiedliche Lebensentwürfe erwünscht seien. Lob kam auch von der Opposition. Skeptische Bürger >>> Ulrich Schmid, Berlin | Dienstag, 05. Oktober 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Donald Trump, the property magnate and reality television host, has declared his interest in running for president of the United States, saying that "somebody has to do something, because we are losing this country".The man with perhaps the one of the best known and most perplexing hairstyles in America has been tempted to spend a hefty portion of his estimated $2 billion fortune on a White House bid by a wide-open Republican field.
Despite the fierce opposition on the Right to President Barack Obama and his Democratic colleagues in Congress, no strong challenger has yet emerged for the 2012 election.
The early front-runners for the Republican nomination include Mitt Romney, who only came a distant third to John McCain in the 2008, and Sarah Palin, who may be a hero to conservatives but remains deeply divisive. A host of other senators and state governors with little name recognition are also jostling for position.
Speaking on morning television, Mr Trump said: "I've had so many people over the years ask me to do that and for the first time in my life I am absolutely thinking about it.
"I don't know that I'll do it. It's probable that I won't do it but I can tell you, I'm thinking about it. Somebody has to do something, we are losing this country. This country will not be great if something isn't done rapidly." >>> Alex Spillius, Washington | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The British terror suspect killed in a Pakistan drone strike last month had been elected leader of an al-Qaeda group called The Islamic Army of Great Britain, according to reports.
A senior Pakistani security source told BBC's Newsnight programme that Abdul Jabbar was a British citizen who has a British wife and was living in Punjab, Pakistan.
According to the source, Jabbar was living in Punjab, and was chosen as the leader of a new group, to be called The Islamic Army of Great Britain.
The decision was apparently made during a meeting in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan three months ago, attended by 300 militants and monitored by intelligence agencies. >>> | Wednesday, October 06, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: David Cameron hasapologised for failing to warn voters before the election that his government would cut child benefit for millions of households.
In an attempt to stop the row overshadowing his first party conference speech as Prime Minister, Mr Cameron expressed regret at the surprise announcement of a policy which will penalise stay-at-home mothers. >>> Robert Winnett, Andrew Porter and James Kirkup | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: • Lord Oakeshott calls for immediate tax • £7bn expected to be paid out in bonuses this year • RBS chairman says regulation the only route to reform
A new, more draconian tax on bonuses should be slapped on banks, a leading Liberal Democrat said tonight after the Royal Bank of Scotland chairman admitted that regulation was the only way to restrain the annual bonanza for bankers.
Amid estimates that the City would pay out £7bn in bonuses this year, Lord Oakeshott said the moment had now come to reintroduce a tax on bonuses which, when imposed on the banks last year, brought in £3.5bn for the exchequer.
Oakeshott, a Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, said that the situation was so grave that the government would need to act ahead of the report next year by its independent commission on banking – chaired by Sir John Vickers.
Speaking after David Cameron acknowledged the public's "anger" over bonuses, Oakeshott said: "As the prime minister has made clear, the banks are still paying ever bigger bonuses and not lending to small businesses.
"The answer must be to take immediate action on bonuses and the obvious way is to have a much tougher bonus tax than Labour's feeble feather-duster and much stricter net lending targets to small and medium-sized businesses while we wait for the banking commission to recommend more radical reform." >>> Jill Treanor | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: More taxpayer support is needed to ensure global financial stability despite the billions already pledged, the International Monetary Fund has warned, as banks remain the “achilles heel” of the economic recovery.
Lenders across Europe and the US are facing a $4 trillion refinancing hurdle in the coming 24 months and many still need to recapitalise, the Washington-based organisation said in its Global Financial Stability Report. Governments will have to inject fresh equity into banks – particularly in Spain, Germany and the US – as well as prop up their funding structures by extending emergency support.
“Progress toward global financial stability has experienced a setback since April ... [due to] the recent turmoil in sovereign debt markets,” the IMF said. “The global financial system is still in a period of significant uncertainty and remains the Achilles’ heel of the economic recovery.” Banks' $4 trillion debts are 'Achilles’ heel of the economic recovery', warns IMF >>> Philip Aldrick, Economics Editor | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Warren Buffett says in future Wall Street chiefs should go broke - and their wives: Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, has hit out at pay practices on Wall Street, attacking the lack of reform despite two years passing since the financial crisis struck. >>> Richard Blackden, US Business Editor | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Dutch Christian Democrat MPs unanimously approved a deal on Tuesday for the formation of a minority rightist government backed by the party of anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders.
"All 21 members (of parliament) will support the implementation of the governing agreement" between the Christian Democratic Action (CDA) and the rightist, pro-business Party for Freedom (PVV), CDA leader Maxime Verhagen told journalists after a party caucus meeting in The Hague.
The deal will see the controversial PVV remain outside of government but providing the majority support the minority coalition will need to pass decisions through parliament – in exchange for a say in policy-making.
Mr Wilders, who campaigns for a ban on the burka and an end to Muslim immigration, went on trial in Amsterdam on Monday on charges of inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims. >>> | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American man who attempted to kill dozens of people with a car bomb in Times Square, said the US should "brace yourselves" for war as he was sentenced to life in prison.
Shahzad, 31, was told at a hearing in a federal court in New York on Tuesday that he had no chance of parole.
Before being sentenced a defiant Mr Shahzad, who described himself as a "Muslim solider", delivered a warning to the judge, Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum.
"Brace yourselves because the war with the Muslims has just begun," he said.
"The defeat of the US is imminent and will happen in the near future." >>> Jon Swaine in New York | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
BLOOMBERG: The Amsterdam district court rejected a request by Freedom Party Leader Geert Wilders, who is on trial for inciting hatred and insulting Muslims, to replace the judges hearing his case because they may be prejudiced.
“There are no weighty indications that the judges have given the impression of being prejudiced,” Judge Frans Bauduin, who was brought in to rule on the impartiality question, said at the court today. The trial, which was halted yesterday, will continue with the current judges tomorrow at 9 a.m. local time. >>> Jurjen van de Pol | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG – DAVID HUGHES: Out of the smouldering wreckage of the child benefit announcement is emerging a view of the Tory leadership that will, if it takes hold, be immensely damaging. It is that they are so well-heeled that they simply do not have a clue about how most people live their lives. David Cameron and George Osborne have never had to worry about money, ever. It has never impinged on their charmed existences. Read on and comment >>> David Hughes | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A recruiting video produced by German militants and posted on an al-Qaeda website has cast fresh light on how European Islamists are joining insurgents fighting in Pakistan's mountainous tribal areas.
THE TELEGRAPH: A gay Saudi prince killed his servant in a murder of ''ferocity'' which had a ''sexual element'', a court heard today.Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud had previously subjected Bandar Abdulaziz to physical assaults and mistreatment, the Old Bailey was told.
The 32-year-old victim was found beaten and strangled in bed at the London hotel room he was sharing with the prince on February 15.
A series of injuries including bite marks to Mr Abdulaziz's cheeks revealed the ''ferocity of the attack to which he had been subjected'', a jury was told.
The prince at first claimed his aide had been robbed and attacked in Edgware Road three weeks before his death, the Old Bailey heard.
But CCTV footage from a lift at the Landmark hotel in Marylebone where they were staying showed the victim had been subjected to a ''really nasty assault'' by the defendant himself on January 22, said Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting.
It became clear to police that he had been killed ''in the privacy of the room he had shared with the defendant and when alone with him'', the court heard.
Further searches of CCTV footage revealed previous assaults on the victim by the defendant, Mr Laidlaw said.
The prince was arrested and detectives began trying to establish ''the true nature of the relationship'' between the men, he added.
Saud claimed they were ''friends and equals'' and that he was heterosexual, jurors were told.
But Mr Laidlaw said: ''The evidence establishes quite conclusively that he is either gay or that he has homosexual tendencies.
''It is clear that his abuse of Bandar was not confined simply to physical beatings. There is clear evidence, over and above the bite marks, that there was also a sexual element to his mistreatment of the victim.''
Mr Laidlaw said the covering up of his homosexuality might in other circumstances be explained by embarrassment or fear.
But he added: ''The defendant's concealing of the sexual aspect to his abuse of the victim was for altogether more sinister reasons and it tends to suggest that there was a sexual element to the circumstances of the killing.'' >>> | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
BBC: 'Sexual element' in Saudi prince's servant killing (+ video) >>> | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Die Reisen von Islamisten aus Deutschland in die Region Afghanistan und Pakistan haben stark zugenommen. Sie werden dort in terroristischen Lagern ausgebildet, sagt der Vorsitzende der deutschen Polizeigewerkschaft.Der Vorsitzende der Gewerkschaft der Polizei, Konrad Freiberg, nimmt die aktuellen Warnungen vor Anschlägen in Berlin sehr ernst. Der «Passauer Neuen Presse» sagte er, die Reisen von Islamisten aus Deutschland in die Region Afghanistan und Pakistan, teils in Terrorlager, hätten stark zugenommen. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben >>> ddp | Dienstag, 05. Oktober 2010
DUTCH NEWS.nl: Judges decide today if Wilders' inciting hatred trial can continue: A special court in Amsterdam will decide on Tuesday afternoon if new judges should be sworn in for the trial of anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders on charges of inciting hatred.
On Monday, Wilders’ lawyer Bram Moszkowicz challenged the legitimacy of the court after the presiding judge appeared to criticise Wilders’ decision not to answer any questions. >>> | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
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