Lib Dem Calls for a Vote on Europe
SUNDAY EXPRESS: ONE of Nick Clegg’s most senior advisers last night called for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.

Tim Farron, the president of the Liberal Democrats, said Britain’s relationship with Brussels had become so “poisonous” that voters deserved the chance to express their views.

The MP, who is tipped to be the party’s next leader, said spats with EU partners reminded him of a “bad marriage” in which vows needed to be either renewed or annulled.

He said the EU had changed enormously since Britons were last given a say in 1975 and that the referendum pledge should form part of the Lib Dems’ next general election manifesto.

The question to be put to voters could be as simple as, “Should Britain remain in the EU?” he suggested. » | Ted Jeory | Sunday, May 15, 2011

La première dame accouchera à l’automne
GALA.fr: L’entourage du couple présidentiel n’a jamais démenti la rumeur qui court maintenant depuis des semaines: Gala vous l’annonce de source sûre, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy accouchera en octobre, et vous livre tous les détails d’une grossesse tellement désirée. Dans Gala en kiosque dès demain, découvrez comment la première dame prépare l’arrivée de son deuxième enfant. » | J.S, J.B | Mardi 10 Mai 2011

La première dame accouchera à l’automne
GALA.fr: L’entourage du couple présidentiel n’a jamais démenti la rumeur qui court maintenant depuis des semaines: Gala vous l’annonce de source sûre, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy accouchera en octobre, et vous livre tous les détails d’une grossesse tellement désirée. Dans Gala en kiosque dès demain, découvrez comment la première dame prépare l’arrivée de son deuxième enfant. » | J.S, J.B | Mardi 10 Mai 2011

Exclusive: Salaries for Top Executives Are Rocketing 'Out of Control'
THE INDEPENDENT: A new investigation shows pay inequality is accelerating in Britain, with top bosses set to earn 215 times the average wage by 2020. It also demolishes the arguments they put forward to support their astonishing incomes

Britain's bosses are pocketing an increasing portion of the nation's income, according to a report from the High Pay Commission to be published tomorrow. As the majority of people in the country face the largest drop in household income for three decades, a tiny minority at the top are awarding themselves a growing slice of the UK's wealth.

The top one thousandth of the British working population currently receives 5 per cent of the country's earnings, a ratio equivalent to that in the 1940s, the report says. If these trends continue, income for the highest paid will account for 14 per cent of the country's total by 2030 – the same proportion as in 1900.

The independent commission was set up in November to scrutinise the rising pay of those at the top. Its first report concludes that during the decade Labour was in power, income at the top grew by 64.2 per cent, while that of an average earner increased by 7.2 per cent over the same period.

The study accuses businesses and governments of having "failed to tackle the dramatic growth in pay at the top" despite growing public anger at the gulf between soaring rewards for executives and tightening circumstances for the rest of the country.

The conclusions will be a blow to David Cameron's attempts to emphasise that "we're all in this together". The Government has appeared flat-footed in its attempts to persuade senior executives and bankers to curb the pay and bonuses they award themselves, particularly as the effects of the recession are still being keenly felt by the rest of the country. » | Emily Dugan | Sunday, May 15, 2011

Dominique Strauss-Kahn risque 26 ans de prison
LE POINT: Tentative de viol, agression sexuelle et séquestration, les chefs d'inculpation visant DSK mèneront-ils à un procès ?

C'est dix minutes avant le décollage de l'avion qui devait le conduire à Paris que Dominique Strauss-Kahn a été interpellé par les autorités portuaires de l'aéroport JFK de New York. Il a été remis aux officiers de police de Manhattan. Direction un commissariat de Harlem, spécialisé dans les affaires de délinquance sexuelle, où DSK a été interrogé. La "victime", une femme de chambre de 32 ans travaillant à l'hôtel Sofitel où DSK résidait, a porté plainte contre lui pour agression sexuelle. Strauss-Kahn devait être présenté dimanche à un juge (l'équivalent du juge de la liberté et de la détention français). Ce dernier devait décider de son placement en détention provisoire ou de sa libération sous caution.

Le patron du FMI a été inculpé de tentative de viol, une infraction punie de 15 à 20 ans de prison, de séquestration, punie de 3 à 5 ans, et d'agression sexuelle, passible d'un an. Cela peut donc aboutir théoriquement à un total de 26 ans si le juge décide d'additionner les peines. "La procédure pénale américaine permet, contrairement à la procédure française, de cumuler les délits ; en fait, tout dépend de ce que décideront le parquet et le juge new-yorkais", précise Ron Soffer, avocat aux barreaux de Paris et de New York. DSK est en outre privé de son immunité diplomatique, limitée aux "actes accomplis par les fonctionnaires ou employés du FMI dans l'exercice officiel de leurs fonctions", précise l'article 9 des statuts du FMI. » | Par Laurence Neuer | Dimanche 15 Mai 2011

Dignitas-Gründer erfreut über Zustimmung zur Sterbehilfe
Deutliche Abfuhr für die zwei Volksinitiativen der EDU: Die Zürcher Stimmberechtigten wollen die Sterbehilfe und den Sterbetourismus nicht verbieten und lehnten beide Vorlagen mit grossen Nein-Stimmenanteilen ab. Ludwig A. Minelli der Sterbehilfe-Organisation Dignitas zeigt sich in «Schweiz aktuell» hocherfreut über das klare Resultat.

SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Der Gründer und Generalsekretär von Dignitas, Ludwig A. Minelli, sagte, das Zürcher Volk habe seine Schätzungen gar übertroffen. Er fühle sich in seiner Arbeit bestätigt. »

Das Video wurde in Schwyzertüütsch (Schweizerdeutsch) übertragen.

Dorothy's Family Talk to Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera journalist Dorothy Parvaz has been missing since April 29, when she travelled to Syria to report on the uprising there.

There have been conflicting reports about what has happened to her. Syrian authorities first said she was being held in Damascus, but Syrian officials later said they had deported her to Iran.

Dorothy's father, Fred Parvaz, and Todd Barker, her fiancé, spoke to Al Jazeera and said they hoped she was being treated "with dignity and respect, mercy and compassion".


FACEBOOK: FREE DOROTHY PARVAZ »

La reine de Suède lance une enquête sur les liens de son père avec les Nazis
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: La reine Silvia de Suède, d’origine allemande, a lancé une enquête sur la nature exacte des liens très controversés que son père Walter Sommerlath avait avec le régime nazi, a annoncé la Cour dimanche.

La reine Silvia de Suède, d’origine allemande, a lancé une enquête sur la nature exacte des liens très controversés que son père Walter Sommerlath avait avec le régime nazi, a annoncé la Cour dimanche.

«La reine a pris l’initiative, avec la famille Sommerlath, de rassembler les faits concernant les activités de Walter Sommerlath au Brésil et en Allemagne au cours des années 1930 et 1940», indique le palais royal dans un communiqué. » | ATS / AFP | Dimanche 15 Mai 2011

Inside Story - Turkey's Changing Tunes on Syria

Killer Who Beheaded British Woman in Tenerife Is Detained Indefinitely in Secret Hearing
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The killer who beheaded the British woman Jennifer Mills-Westley in a Tenerife supermarket has been detained indefinitely in a secret hearing.

Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, 28, was taken before a legal team on the Spanish island at around 1am on Sunday and taken to a psychiatric unit.

Spanish sources said he was unlikely to face another hearing for at least four years.

British expatriate locals who lived near where the homeless Bulgarian slept rough said he had become increasingly aggressive in recent weeks and had split up with his girlfriend recently.

One man, who gave his name as Mike, said Deyanov had been shouting abuse at passers-by until four in the morning and had even flicked lighted cigarettes at female holidaymakers.

"Everyone had started to avoid him," he said. » | Andy Bloxham, Fiona Govan in Los Cristianos, Tenerife andDavid Barrett | Sunday, May 15, 2011

IMF Head Strauss-Kahn Charged Over New York 'Sex Crime'
BBC: The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has been charged by New York police over an alleged sex attack on a hotel maid.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, was taken off an Air France plane at JFK airport just minutes before it left for Paris.

Police say he faces three charges, including attempted rape. His lawyers say he denies the claims.

The married former French finance minister is also considered a possible Socialist candidate for the presidency.

The BBC's Hugh Schofield, in Paris, says Mr Strauss-Kahn has been riding high in the polls and was seen as having a genuine chance of beating President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Martine Aubry, leader of France's Socialist Party, described news of his arrest as a "thunderbolt" which left her "astounded".

Mr Strauss-Kahn is expected to appear before a New York state court later on Sunday, Reuters reports.

He had been scheduled to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday, but that meeting has now been cancelled, reports say.

On Monday he had planned to attend a meeting of European Union finance ministers in Brussels on Monday to discuss the bailouts of Portugal and Greece.

Correspondents say his detention is likely to complicate ongoing efforts to stabilise the finances of struggling eurozone member states.

In a brief statement posted online on Sunday, an IMF spokeswoman acknowledged Mr Strauss-Kahn's arrest and said the organisation would not comment on the case.

"The IMF remains fully functioning and operational," she added. » | Sunday, May 15, 2011

Trichet: Es gibt keine Euro-Krise
REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Berlin - EZB-Chef Jean-Claude Trichet hat Befürchtungen zurückgewiesen, der Euro sei angesichts der anhaltenden Schuldenkrise in einigen Mitgliedstaaten der Währungsunion in Gefahr.

"Es gibt keine Krise des Euro", schrieb der Präsident der Europäischen Zentralbank in einem vorab veröffentlichten Gastbeitrag für die Zeitung "Bild am Sonntag". "Was wir derzeit in einigen Ländern des Eurogebiets beobachten, ist in erster Linie eine Schuldenkrise der öffentlichen Haushalte." Mehrere Mitgliedstaaten des Euroraums müssten ihre Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik rigoros ändern, nachdem in der Vergangenheit Fehler gemacht worden seien. Grundlegende Reformen seien erforderlich, damit wirtschaftspolitische Regeln verbessert und von allen eingehalten würden. "Wir können stolz darauf sein, dass unsere Währung stabil und glaubwürdig ist." » | Sonntag, 15. Mai 2011

Anklage gegen Strauss-Kahn: Ende einer Dienstreise
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Es ist nicht der erste Übergriff: Beim letzten Skandal kam IWF-Chef Strauss-Kahn noch mit einer öffentlichen Entschuldigung davon. Mit der Festnahme in New York steht die Karriere des Sozialisten und hoch gehandelten Kandidaten für die französische Präsidentschaftswahl 2012 nun vor dem Aus.

Bis zum Sonntagmorgen war die Welt für Dominique Strauss-Kahn noch in Ordnung. Der Generaldirektor des Internationalen Währungsfonds (IWF) war ein international geschätzter Finanzexperte und eine wichtige Figur in der Sozialistischen Partei (PS). Der Wirtschaftsprofessor, in seiner Heimat nur bekannt als DSK, hatte allenfalls die Qual der Wahl: Antreten als Spitzenkandidat seiner Partei für die Präsidentenwahlen im nächsten Jahr oder Verbleib im bequemen, wohl dotierten IWF-Job in Washington.
Jetzt dürfte die politische Zukunft des geachteten Parteisoldaten, nur einen Monat vor der Bekanntgabe seiner Kandidatur, zu Ende sein. Er wurde in New York wegen sexueller Übergriffe und versuchter Vergewaltigung festgenommen, nur Minuten bevor er an Bord einer Air-France-Maschine nach Berlin fliegen sollte, wo ein Treffen mit Kanzlerin Angela Merkel geplant war.

Es droht mehr als das Ende einer Dienstreise, das Ende einer Karriere.

Bisher hatte sich Strauss-Kahn mit Äußerungen zu einer möglichen Bewerbung für die Präsidentenwahl zurückgehalten, denn der Währungsfonds verlangt von seinen Spitzenleuten strikte politische Zurückhaltung. Dennoch galt als sicher, dass der 63-Jährige sich längst für eine Kandidatur in seiner Heimat entschlossen hatte: In allen Erhebungen lag DSK gegenüber Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy an erster Stelle; der "Journal de Dimanche" sah in seiner jüngsten Meinungsumfrage den Sozialisten als Sieger über den amtierenden Staatschef. Angesichts der Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise galt der ehemalige Professor für Ökonomie, fließend in Englisch und Deutsch, für 2012 als Hoffnungsträger der Opposition.
» | Von Stefan Simons, Paris | Sonntag, 15. Mai 2011

La classe politique française sidérée et prudente sur DSK
REUTERS FRANCE: PARIS - L'inculpation de Dominique Strauss-Kahn pour agression sexuelle aux Etats-Unis a sidéré la classe politique française, qui souligne dimanche la présomption d'innocence due au patron du FMI tout en s'inquiétant des probables dégâts politiques et personnels de cette affaire.

Marine Le Pen, présidente du Front national, a été la plus virulente en estimant que la mise en cause de l'ancien ministre socialiste, favori des sondages pour l'élection présidentielle de 2012, portait "un coup d'arrêt définitif" à sa candidature.

"DSK", 62 ans, figurait au nombre des prétendants probables à la primaire socialiste qui se déroulera en octobre. Au vu des sondages d'opinion, il était considéré comme la meilleure chance des socialistes face au président sortant Nicolas Sarkozy.

Au sein même de son camp, certains estiment que ce scénario est compromis même si les proches du directeur général du Fonds monétaire international soulignent que cette affaire ne lui ressemble pas. » | Sophie Louet | REUTERS | Dimanche 15 Mai 2011

IMF Chief Arrested in NY
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund, is questioned in the U.S. over an alleged sex assault on a hotel maid. Paul Chapman reports

Russian Academicians Demand Ban of Protocols of the Elders of Zion
RUSSIA TODAY: The Russian Public Chamber is pushing to ban the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a controversial book which is considered to be one of ideological justification of the Holocaust.

Secretary of the Public Chamber academician Evgeny Velikhov sent a formal request to the Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to acknowledge the book as extremist literature aimed at igniting inter-ethnic and religious hatred.

Earlier, a group of prominent historians filed a complaint to the prosecutor’s office of Moscow’s northern district demanding to impose a ban on the book. However, the body declined it citing the results of a certain psychological expertise.

Velikhov asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to check why, in response to calls from the public, the prosecutor’s office of Moscow’s northern district concluded that Protocols “are of political and educational character” and “do not contain information urging for action against other nationalities.” » | Friday, May 13, 2011

Hundreds Flee to Lebanon amid Violence in Syria
Residents flee border town as army enters following protest

Maldives 'Trashing' an Island
In a bid to battle a growing waste problem, The Maldives has been dumping almost all of its rubbish on a single one of its some 1,200 islands.

Thilafushi island has turned into a dump, and environmental activists say the bad practices adopted there are causing contaminants to seep into the country's once pristine sea water, and then into the food chain.

Al Jazeera's Steve Chao reports from Thilafushi Island, The Maldives.

Patrick Cockburn: Bahrain Is Trying to Drown the Protests in Shia Blood
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: World View: Claiming that the opposition is being orchestrated by Iran, the al-Khalifa regime has unleashed a vicious sectarian clampdown

"Let us drown the revolution in Jewish blood" was the slogan of the tsars when they orchestrated pogroms against Jews across Russia in the years before the First World War. The battle-cry of the al-Khalifa monarchy in Bahrain ever since they started to crush the pro-democracy protests in the island kingdom two months ago might well be "to drown the revolution in Shia blood". Just as the tsars once used Cossacks to kill and torture Jews and burn their synagogues, so Bahrain's minority Sunni regime sends out its black-masked security forces night after night to terrorise the majority Shia population for demanding equal political and civil rights.

Usually troops and police make their raids on Shia districts between 1am and 4am, dragging people from their beds and beating them in front of their families. Those detained face mistreatment and torture in prison. One pro-democracy activist, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, brought before a military court last week with severe facial injuries, said he had suffered four fractures to the left side of his face, including a broken jaw that needed four hours' surgery.

The suppression of the protests came after Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Co-operation Council – also known as the "kings' club" of six Gulf monarchs – sent 1,500 troops to Bahrain to aid the crackdown, which began on 15 March. It soon became clear that the government is engaged in a savage onslaught on the entire Shia community – some 70 per cent of the population – in Bahrain.

First came a wave of arrests with about 1,000 people detained, of whom the government claims some 300 have been released, though it will not give figures for those still under arrest. Many say they were tortured and, where photographs of those who died under interrogation are available, they show clear marks of beating and whipping. There is no sign yet that King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa's declaration that martial law will end on 1 June is anything more than a propaganda exercise to convince the outside world, and foreign business in particular, that Bahrain is returning to normal.

The repression is across the board. Sometimes the masked security men who raid Shia villages at night also bulldoze Shia mosques and religious meeting places. At least 27 of these have so far been wrecked or destroyed, while anti-Shia and pro-government graffiti is often sprayed on any walls that survive. » | Patrick Cockburn | Sunday, May 15, 2011

Florida Imams Arrested for Aiding Pakistani Taleban
ARAB NEWS: MIAMI: The imam of a Florida mosque and his two sons, one also a Muslim spiritual leader, were arrested on Saturday on charges of financing and supporting the Pakistani Taleban, US officials said.

The three Pakistan-born US citizens were among six charged in a US indictment that accused them of “supporting acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming in Pakistan and elsewhere” carried out by the Pakistani Taleban, which Washington calls a terrorist organization.

The indictment, announced by US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Wifredo Ferrer and the FBI, charged the six with creating a network that transferred funds from the United States to Pakistani Taleban supporters and fighters in Pakistan, including for the purpose of buying arms.

If convicted, each faces up to 15 years in prison for each count of the indictment.

The charges were revealed as US relations with Pakistan are strained over the US raid that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s parliament on Saturday condemned the raid that killed Bin Laden and called for a review of relations with the United States. » | Kevin Grey | REUTERS | Sunday, May 15, 2011

Osama bin Laden Dead: Angry Pakistan Drops Intelligence Sharing with West
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Pakistan's intelligence services are refusing to share details of suspects or plots with their American counterparts in protest at the US operation to kill Osama bin Laden, raising the potential threat of attacks on Western cities.

In the past, Pakistani agents have been credited with helping identify targets for drone strikes and providing data to the CIA on plans being hatched in its lawless tribal areas.

Now buffeted and embarrassed by being kept in the dark for months as the US closed in on the al-Qaeda leader's bolthole, little more than 30 miles from the Pakistani capital Islamabad, agents with the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate have begun to withhold crucial operational details about militants on its territory.

At the same time, new details have emerged about bin Laden's extensive support network inside Pakistan, reaching all the way to the sprawling port city of Karachi.

The revelations will heap more pressure on to an administration already accused of helping shelter the world's most wanted man.

The Sunday Telegraph has learned that the ISI, which prides itself on arresting a series of key terrorists including the 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has now broken off relations with the Central Intelligence Agency. » | Rob Crilly, Islamabad | Saturday, May 14, 2011

Denmark's Defiance over Frontier Controls Has Left European Union Bordering on Crisis
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Will Denmark reinstating border controls help to stop crime, or will it be a first stop on the road to dismantling the EU?

For 50 years as he kept watch over Denmark's border with Germany, Carl Jorgensen knew all about frontier problems. The former border guard tracked down drug dealers with his sniffer dog, cycled every inch of the boundary, and stopped hundreds of trouble-makers from entering his country with dubious intentions.

But the latest struggle for control over Denmark's frontier is not being waged on these flat farmlands of northern Europe, which Mr Jorgensen and his fellow border guards once policed.

Instead, it is being fought in the offices and chambers of Brussels, asDenmark takes on the European Union in a bitter row over the right to police its borders.

Last week Denmark announced that it was resuming checks along its frontiers with Germany and Sweden - having suspended them in 2001 when it joined the Schengen agreement, which allows passport-free travel throughout 22 of the EU's 27 member states, plus four others.

The Danish government says the resumption of border checks is needed to help prevent cross-border crime, illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Soren Pind, Denmark's integration minister, said that the EU needed a frank discussion about the "dark side" of open frontiers.

Copenhagen warned that, within the next three weeks, it will rebuild border stations; employ more customs officials; begin extensive video surveillance of cars crossing Danish borders; and make rapid police assistance available if the customs officers need them.

"We are trying our best to take measures that will secure the best aspects of freedom of movement, and at the same time, not let criminal activity pass through freely," said Mr Pind. » | Harriet Alexander, Tonder, southern Denmark | Sunday, May 15, 2011

Muslim Prisoner Campaign Group Publishes Barack Obama Mock Execution
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A campaign group for Muslim prisoners, partnered by Amnesty International, has published a mock execution of President Obama.

CagePrisoners, run by Moazzam Begg, the former Guantánamo detainee, published a fake picture of Mr Obama with head wounds and headlined it: "Breaking news: Barack Obama is dead."

The article underneath, which has been duplicated on Muslim forums across the internet, described the US president as a war criminal and claimed he had been killed by Pakistani security forces at a compound near Camberley, Surrey, not far from Sandhurst. Mr Obama's wife Michelle was also said to have been killed when she was used as "a shield".

"Obama was cremated at the stake after a Christian funeral on board an aircraft carrier," the article said, mocking the Muslim funeral given to Osama bin Laden.

The article, by Fahad Ansari, criticised Mr Obama for the campaign of drone attacks against al-Qaeda in the tribal areas of Pakistan and claimed Pakistan believed his killing was "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat the CIA". » | Duncan Gardham | Friday, May 13, 2011

IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn Arrested in New York over Alleged Sex Attack on Manhattan Hotel Maid
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, is being questioned by police in New York over an alleged sex attack on a hotel maid, after he was arrested and removed from a plane on the tarmac of John F. Kennedy airport.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, a prominent French Socialist politician who was expected to challenge Nicolas Sarkozy for the country's presidency next year, allegedly attacked the 32-year-old maid in his room at the Sofitel, near Times Square.

The 62-year-old is said to have emerged naked from his bathroom and forced himself on the woman, who had entered to clean his room at about 1pm on Saturday. He then "attempted to sexually assault her", Paul Browne, a New York Police Department spokesman, said on Saturday night.

Unconfirmed reports alleged that Mr Strauss-Kahn had forced the maid to perform oral sex on him, before she left the room and alerted colleagues, who called 911. Mr Strauss-Kahn then departed for JFK airport, leaving his mobile phone in the hotel room.

He was apprehended in the First Class cabin of Air France Flight 23, which was 10 minutes away from taking off for Paris, at about 4.40 on Saturday afternoon. He was escorted off the plane by two plainclothes detectives, who did not need to use handcuffs. » | Jon Swaine, New York | Sunday, May 15, 2011

NEW YORK POST: IMF Head Strauss-Kahn Pulled Off Plane, Arrested in Alleged Sodomy of Hotel Maid: The French political bigshot who heads the International Monetary Fund was arrested for allegedly sodomizing a Manhattan hotel maid today — hauled off an Air France flight just moments before takeoff from Kennedy Airport, police sources said. » | Philip Messing, Jamie Schram, Larry Celona and Bill Sanderson | Saturday, May 14, 2011

LE FIGARO: DSK arrêté à New York pour agression sexuelle : Le directeur du FMI devrait être inculpé d'«agression sexuelle et de tentative de viol» après la plainte d'une femme de chambre d'un hôtel de Manhattan. Il a été interpellé alors qu'il s'apprêtait à s'envoler pour Paris. » | Par lefigaro.fr | Dimanche 15 Mai 2011

leJDD.fr: DSK arrêté dans une affaire d’agression sexuelle : Dominique Strauss-Kahn a été arrêté et accusé d'agression sexuelle ce samedi. Le patron du FMI et potentiel candidat socialiste pour 2012 a été appréhendé par les forces de l'ordre américaines à l'aéroport JFK de New York. Il est en garde à vue et "va être inculpé d'agression sexuelle, de séquestration de personne et de tentative de viol", a affirmé samedi soir à la presse un responsable de la police de New York. » | Vivien Vergnaud - leJDD.fr | Dimanche 15 Mai 2011

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: IWF-Chef Strauss-Kahn festgenommen: Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Direktor des Internationalen Währungsfonds, ist auf dem New Yorker Flughafen festgenommen worden. Die Behörden gehen Vorwürfen nach, er solle versucht haben, ein Zimmermädchen zum Oralsex zu zwingen. » | dapd | Sonntag, 15. Mai 2011

Silvio Berlusconi Accuses His Political Opponents of Not Washing
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Silvio Berlusconi, the president of Italy, has launched a bizarre personal attack on his opponents accusing them of not "washing themselves enough."

Mr Berlusconi, 74, who has been charged with having underage sex with a prostitute, accused the centre left of being smelly as tensions rose ahead of local elections this weekend.

The billionaire media tycoon is currently involved in four separate trials with charges also including abuse of office and corruption. The the election was being seen as a test of his popularity.

During a final rally in the southern Italian city of Crotone, Berlusconi said: "The leaders of the Left don't wash themselves much. When they go into the bathroom, and they don't go often since they don't wash much, they look in the mirror when they shave and surprise themselves."

Mr Berlusconi has a reputation for disliking beards, seeing them as sign of left leaning political sympathies. His obsession with hygiene has also emerged from intercepts of his infamous "bunga bunga" parties.

The phrase is said to refer to a crude after-dinner sex game and from the wire taps girls invited to the parties reveal how Berlusconi asked them to wash before performing sexy stripteases and lap dances for him. » | Nick Pisa in Rome | Saturday, May 14, 2011

Image: Google Images
Gladiator: Now We Are Free
Watch/Listen to YouTube video here

Acid Blinding Sentence of Iranian Man Postponed
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The blinding of an Iranian student by having acid dripped into his eyes has been reportedly postponed, just hours before the punishment was due to be carried out.

The procedure was planned for Tehran at midday on Saturday in the presence of Ameneh Bahrami, the young woman he attacked and blinded, under a sentence called qesas (retribution in kind) imposed by a court in 2009.

She had demanded that the blinding be carried out after her university classmate Majid Movahedi threw a bucket of acid over her when she spurned his repeated offers of marriage. The punishment had been due to be carried out at the judiciary hospital in Tehran, under the supervision of a doctor and with representatives of the coroners' office and the prosecution present.

Miss Bahrami, who now lives in Spain, was 24 when she first met Mr Movahedi in Iran. » | Agencies in Tehran and Telegraph reporter | Saturday, May 14, 2011

Iran to Blind Criminal with Acid in 'Eye for an Eye' Justice » | Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Friday, May 13, 2011

Gaddafi: "I'm in a Place Where You Can't Get Me"
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Colonel Gaddafi has said in an audio recording that he is alive following Nato attacks, and "in a place where you can't get me".

Watch Telegraph video here | Saturday, May 14, 2011

Pat Condell: The Trouble with Christianity

Richard Dawkins Accused of Cowardice for Refusing to Debate Existence of God
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Richard Dawkins has made his name as the scourge of organised religion who branded the Roman Catholic Church “evil” and once called the Pope “a leering old villain in a frock”.

But he now stands accused of “cowardice” after refusing four invitations to debate the existence of God with a renowned Christian philosopher.

A war of words has broken out between the best selling author of The God Delusion, and his critics, who see his refusal to take on the American academic, William Lane Craig, as a “glaring” failure and a sign that he may be losing his nerve.

Prof Dawkins maintains that Prof Craig is not a figure worthy of his attention and has reportedly said that such a contest would “look good” on his opponent’s CV but not on his own.

An emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, Prof Dawkins last year supported a plan to charge Pope Benedict XVI with crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in the cover-up of sex abuse by Catholic priests.

Prof Craig is a research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, in California, and the author of 30 books and hundreds of scholarly articles on Christianity. Continue reading and comment » | Tim Ross, Religious Affairs Editor | Saturday, May 14, 2011

Gunther Sachs: Playboys of the World RIP
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Taki Theodoracopulos mourns the passing of Gunther Sachs – and an era when gentlemen played hard and died young

The cliché “end of an era” is always used when a stalwart of a period passes away. I read it in most reports about Gunther Sachs’s suicide last week. The trouble is that Gunther’s era ended long ago, during the late Sixties, when the word “playboy” was considered a badge of honour among those of us who preferred playing rather than working.

It was a sleepy, unhurried, bygone age, yet most of the famous playboys died violently: Alfonso de Portago, a Spanish marquis of impeccable credentials, died at 27 driving his Ferrari in the Miglia Mille race in May 1957 in Italy. Prince Aly Khan, son of the Aga Khan, a diplomat, second husband of Rita Hayworth, and a fabled seducer, died aged 49, driving his Lancia to a Paris party when he hit an oncoming car and was given le coup du lapin by his chauffeur, whom Aly had placed in the back seat.

The greatest playboy of them all, the Dominican diplomat and sportsman Porfirio Rubirosa, five-times married, husband of three of the world’s richest women and two of the most beautiful, died in the park of St Cloud near Paris, returning from a party following a polo game in which I had played. It was 5am and Rubi was driving a Ferrari at full speed. The date was July 6 1965 and he was 56 years old.

Juan Capuro, a South American diplomat perennially posted in Paris and a Don Juan sans pareil, as well as the best-looking man of his generation, died in 1966 driving a Porsche, after an all‑nighter, needless to say. Prince Raimondo Lanza, a nephew of the great Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, and the model for Prince Tancredi in Lampedusa’s elegiac lament for a lost Sicilian world, The Leopard, threw himself out of an Excelsior Hotel window in Rome in 1958, having ingested too much Bolivian marching powder. » | Taki Theodoracopulos | Friday, May 13, 2011

My comment:

Excellent article! Thank you, Sir! It makes a great change from politics, religion, and all the problems of the world. You are obviously a man who appreciates style and class! You, Sir, describe a life most charming. Would that I could have sampled such an enchanting life, if only for a short time. We have degenerated so much as a civilization that people now regard those with tattoos and piercings as “style icons,” the more tattoos, the more piercings the merrier! You, by contrast, describe a very different life. You describe la belle vie pour ceux qui ont apprécié la beauté dans la vie et l'esthétique. Hélas, pour nous aujourd'hui, c’est une epoch passé. – Mark

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New Dark Age Alert! British Woman Beheaded in Tenerife Named
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The British woman beheaded in a Tenerife supermarket has been named as Jennifer Mills-Westley.

Jennifer Mills-Westley, a retired 60-year-old from Norwich, was stabbed to death and beheaded in the horrific attack on Friday.

In a statement, her daughter Sarah, said: "Mum retired a number of years ago and was fully enjoying her retirement travelling between Tenerife and France where she spent time visiting her daughter and grandchildren, and her other daughter in Norfolk.

"She was full of life, generous of heart, would do anything for anyone. We now have to find a way of living without her love and light and we would ask at this difficult time for some privacy as we try to come to terms with our loss.”

Mrs Mills-Westley was said to have reported the threatening behaviour of her attacker, a 28-year-old Bulgarian named Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, to a security guard.

Minutes later the Bulgarian reportedly hacked her to death claiming to be a "prophet of God". » | Fiona Govan, Los Cristianos, Tenerife | Saturday, May 14, 2011

The sadness of this case is unquantifiable. That such a lovely lady in the prime of her life should be attacked in this barbaric way, and here in the West, really does beggar belief. This awful incident can only touch any normal, feeling person to the very fibre of his/her being. May the poor lady rest in peace. – Mark

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Cannes Film Festival – Unlawful Killing: Film about the Death of Diana Likens Prince Philip to Fred West
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Given that its entire £2.5 million budget was paid for by Mohamed Fayed, the conclusions of a new documentary about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales were not entirely unexpected.


The film, called Unlawful Killing, asserts that the Duke of Edinburgh is a “psychopath” in the mould of Fred West, that the Princess was murdered by the Establishment and that the Queen and other members of the Royal family are “gangsters in tiaras”.

As the film was premiered at Cannes, its director, Keith Allen, tried to defend the “ludicrous” slurs on the monarchy as he was accused by the Princess’s closest friend of cashing in on her death.

Allen, best known for playing the Sheriff of Nottingham in the BBC’s Robin Hood TV series, had already upset those closest to the Princess by including a photograph of her lying fatally injured in the back of a car moments after it had crashed in Paris in 1997.

And the astonishing comments about the Royal family which are made in the film have provoked fresh contempt.

Rosa Monckton, the Princess’s best friend, said: “Why is he doing this?

“The only reason he could be doing it is to make money by appealing to the conspiracy theorists.

“I also think he’s an attention seeker.” » | Anita Singh, in Cannes and Gordon Rayner | Friday, May 13, 2011

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FACEBOOK: Unlawful Killing - The Film - Princess Diana's Death »

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Iran vs. Saudi Arabia in Bahrain?
THE HUFFINGTON POST: The Iranian meddling in Bahrain was temporarily to be put to a hold. However, the prey, albeit small in acreage, is too lucrative to be let go, and Iranian clandestine intervention continues. Bahrain, a small island kingdom in the Gulf, is coveted by Iran, its neighbor across the bay, as it has a lot to covet. Strategically located near the Hormuz straits, through which 20% of the world's oil passes, with its own production of 40,000 oil barrels a day, and with huge gas reserves, Bahrain is definitely in the sights of the Iranian regime. What makes the Iranian move to indirectly swallow Bahrain a real risk is the fact that 70% of the Bahraini population is Shiite, such as 80% of Iran's population, and the Bahraini Shiites look up to Iran for guidance, or even instructions. » | Haggai Carmon, International Attorney & Author | Friday, May 13, 2011

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The International Labour Organisation says that over 2,000 mainly Shia workers have either been sacked or suspended from their jobs following a government crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
In the fourth part of Al Jazeera's exclusive series on Bahrain, our correspondent Charles Stratford reports on the mass sackings from Manama

Army to Ditch Danish Bacon
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Army could soon be marching on a breakfast made from entirely British ingredients for the first time in over 40 years, after an innovative experiment involving pig farmers.

Any member of the Armed Forces who is fighting on the front line is entitled to a full English every morning. However, for generations the bacon has not been British because it has been too expensive; instead troops have been offered cheap Danish or Dutch bacon.

The Conservative party, when in opposition, vowed to end this scandal. But latest Ministry of Defence figures indicated that not a single rasher of the £1.5 million-worth of bacon consumed by the Armed Forced over the last year was British.

Now, pig farmers have started an innovative trial with the MoD to ensure that solely British bacon is supplied to troops, even though this country consumes so much bacon it is forced to import more than half of what it eats.

The experiment involves turning 4-year old sow pigs into rashers. Bacon has historically always been made from young male, or boar, pigs. Sows, whose sole purpose is to breed, have been considered tough and inedible in Britain and their meat is sold to German bratwurst makers and Italian salami makers. Long-standing butchers said the only time sow meat, which tends to be very fatty and dark in colour, has been sold as a cut of meat was during rationing in the Second World War. » | Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor | Saturday, May 14, 2011

My comment:

I suspected it all along, know this article has proved it: David Cameron is a 'Little Englander.' What a hare-brained idea this is! What on earth is shameful about our military men consuming Danish bacon? We're in the EU, don't you know?! And even if we weren't, there'd still be nothing "shameful" about it.

Were I to be in the forces, having to consume sow bacon would be enough to put me off my full English. Who the hell wants to breakfast on dark, tough, sow bacon? Good God, it's enough to drive a man to Islam – in earlier times I might have said 'to drink,' but I'm sure some nutcase out there would object on the grounds of political correctness, so 'to Islam' will do – I think I'd rather make do with toast and marmalade.

Give me high-quality Danish bacon every time if good quality British bacon isn't available. Cameron can stuff his sow's bacon! Anyway, why can't we afford the best British bacon for our troops? Why does the British government always have to behave like a bunch of cheapskates? I'd bet you dollars to doughnuts that Cameron hasn't been raised on cheap alternatives, so why push them on our military – the men who risk their lives to keep us safe? – © Mark

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British Tenerife Tourist Beheaded by 'Prophet of God' Attacker
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A British woman has been beheaded in front of horrified tourists in a supermarket on the Spanish holiday island of Tenerife, allegedly by a man who claimed he was a 'Prophet of God'.


The woman, who was described as being in her 60s, was in a shop in the town of Arona, about 10 miles from the popular beach resort of Los Christianos [sic], when she was stabbed and then decapitated.

According to witnesses, the attacker, who is thought to be a homeless man of Bulgarian origin, entered the store, grabbed a knife and launched a frenzied and unprovoked assault.

The attacker, who apparently had a history of violent behaviour, then decapitated her before leaving the store carrying her head. Today Spanish newspapers said police had arrested a 28-year-old man named locally as "Deyan Valentinov D", declining to give his full surname.

It was also claimed that he had spent time in a psychiatric hospital and thought he was a "Prophet of God". Local news website site CanariasalDia.com quoted the local mayor, José Reverón, as saying that the man, who lived in a semi-derelict house, had shouted: "God is on Earth".

Mr Reverón added that the attacker was known to local police for his often threatening behaviour in the street, and had once knocked a man's teeth out, raising questions as to why he had not been kept him under closer supervision. » | Andy Bloxham, and Martin Evans | Saturday, May 14, 2011

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The ‘Prophet of God’ Was Known to Be Violent »

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EL PAÍS: Un hombre decapita a una mujer en una tienda en Tenerife: El presunto agresor, con antecedentes, entró en el establecimiento y asesinó a la mujer, con la que no consta que tuviera relación » | Pedro Murillo | TENERIFE | Viernes, 13 de mayo 2011

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