'Briton Killed' and '40 BP Workers Held Hostage' in Algeria Attack
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Al Qaeda-linked hostage takers claiming to hold 41 foreigners hostage at a gas field partly operated by British Petroleum in Algeria have reportedly threatened to blow themselves up after killing a Briton.

Algeria's official APS news agency cited provincial officials for news of the death, which came after an early morning attack by Islamists.

The militants say they are holding an [sic] seven Americans and an unspecified number of British, Japanese and French amongst other nationalities, a spokesman is cited as saying by two Mauritanian news agencies - Agence Nouakchott information et Sahara Medias. A security source quoted by Algeria's El Watan newspaper quoted the same figure.

"A second person, a British national, died in the terrorist attack carried out early on Wednesday morning in Tigantourine," the APS news agency said, citing local officials. Six other people have been wounded.

Prime Minister David Cameron will chair a meeting of the Government's crisis committee Cobra on the incident later on Wednesday.

The natural gas complex, the third largest in the country, is a joint venture of British Petroleum, Norway's Statoil and the Algerian Sonatrach company located some 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) south of the capital near the Libyan border.

The Algerian Interior Ministry said heavily armed gunman in three vehicles attacked the complex early on Wednesday morning. » | Barney Henderson, and Henry Samuel in Paris | Wednesday, January 16, 2013

US Condemns Mohammed Morsi Anti-Semitic Remarks

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The White House has condemned anti-Semitic remarks by Mohammed Morsi, the Egyptian president, who once described Israelis as the “descendants of apes and pigs”.

Mr Morsi’s slurs, which emerged in recordings from 2010, were termed “deeply offensive” by Jay Carney, Mr Obama’s press secretary, who said concerns had been raised with Egyptian officials.

Mr Carney urged Mr Morsi, who has promised to respect Egypt's decades-old peace treaty with Israel, to promptly state publicly that he respects people of all faiths.

“This type of rhetoric is unacceptable in a democratic Egypt," he said during a briefing at The White House, adding: “It is counter to peace."

The intervention from Washington came amid growing controversy over the three-year-old comments, in a speech and subsequent television interview, which were unearthed by researchers.

Mr Morsi, then a Muslim Brotherhood opposition politician, urged Egyptians to “nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred” for Jews and Zionists.

He also described Zionists as “these bloodsuckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs.” » | Jon Swaine, Washington | Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Barack Obama 'Says Benjamin Netanyahu Doesn't Know What Is Good for Israel'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama sees Benjamin Netanyahu as a "political coward" whose policies pose a greater threat to Israel's existence than Iran's nuclear programme because he does not know what is in the country's best interests, it has been claimed.

The damning assessment of the Israeli prime minister, relayed by senior White House officials to an American journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, is the most graphic sign yet of the toxic relationship between the two men, who have clashed continually over the stalled Middle East peace process.

Writing on the Bloomberg website, Goldberg quoted Mr Obama as repeatedly saying, "Israel doesn't know what its own best interests are" in response to a spate of recent announcements for thousands of new Jewish settler homes in east Jerusalem and the West Bank on land the Palestinians want for a future state.

Mr Obama did not even bother getting angry after hearing of Israel's decision to build in a highly-sensitive West Bank area called E1 – previously considered off-limits in deference to American pressure.

Instead, he told aides it was the kind of self-defeating behaviour he had come to expect from Mr Netanyahu, according to Goldberg, who is renowned for having close ties to both leaders.

The president believes each new settlement announcement is driving Israel towards a "near total" international isolation that presents a greater long-term threat to its survival than Iran's nuclear programme, which American and Israeli officials believe is aimed at producing a bomb.

"If Israel, a small state in an inhospitable region, becomes more of a pariah – one that alienates even the affections of the US, its last steadfast friend – it won't survive," Goldberg writes, paraphrasing Mr Obama's words. "Iran poses a short-term threat to Israel's survival; Israel's own behaviour poses a long-term one." Mr Obama also believes the Israeli prime minister is a "political coward" who is incapable of making concessions to the Palestinians because he has "become captive of Jewish settler lobby". » | Robert Tait, Jerusalem | Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Christian BA Worker: Cross Victory 'A Tough and Lonely Battle'
After winning the right to wear a cross at work at the European Court of Human Rights, British Airways employee Nadia Eweida says she is "jubilant" after what has been a "tough and lonely" journey.

Read the short article here | Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Inside Story - The Plight of Migrant Workers in Saudi Arabia

Mali Campaign Alters Image of François Hollande
Crisis talks are continuing in France over the decision to intervene in Mali, and President Francois Hollande has been meeting members of his Cabinet. The decision to intervene in the West African nation came swiftly, and French leaders have said they are satisfied with how the mission is going. Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Paris.

Al Jazeera Speaks to Family of Executed Sri Lankan Maid
Al Jazeera has spoken to the family of the Sri Lankan maid beheaded last week in Saudi Arabia for killing an infant. Her family continues to say that she was only 17 and not capable of hurting anyone. The Saudi government has condemned world reaction to the beheading, saying the maid had plotted and killed the infant by suffocation. Minelle Fernandez reports.

Germans United in Regret over Britain's EU Stance
BBC: HANOVER, GERMANY: At a campaign gathering held by Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU) a garrulous man slapped me on the shoulder and asked, "How does this compare with your Conservative Party?" It was a knowing question, delivered with wink.

The CDU drive to get their man, David McAllister, re-elected to run the state government of Lower Saxony, is well funded, confident (despite the closeness of opinion polls) and united on the question of Europe.

There is no real dissent across the German political spectrum on the issues of integrating the European Union (EU) more closely, apart from on the extreme right.

Indeed talking to people across northern Germany during three days of filming, it is apparent that there is a broad degree of consensus both on the EU and on Britain's position within it - from the CDU election event we attended, to the floor of the Sennheiser microphone factory or from the Hamburg students' union.

Firstly, people express regret that, faced with the faltering of Germany's traditional EU partnership with France (socialist President Francois Hollande is too much the tax and spend type for Chancellor Angela Merkel and her CDU), that it is not possible to make common cause with the UK in the council chambers of Brussels.

From Ralph Brinkhaus, a local member of the German parliament, the Bundestag, to Christine Lemster, a chemistry student at Hamburg University, we heard a similar refrain - the UK and Germany ought to be natural allies, and it is too bad that they cannot unite around EU issues. » | Mark Urban, Diplomatic and defence editor, Newsnight | Monday, January 14, 2013

Muslim Brotherhood Taking Root in America
THE JERUSALEM POST – BLOG: The big question these days in Washington DC among political leaders in certain Republican circles is ‘are Muslims infiltrating the US government?’ US Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a member of the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, is so convinced that the Muslim Brotherhood is placing its members in key spots in the American government that she called for an investigation on June 13, 2012. Her concern is based on the way that the Obama administration has focused so much attention on the Middle East and why the administration is empowering the Muslim Brotherhood and its front groups. It is no secret that Muslims serve in the White House and other governmental offices.

The mission of Islam is “to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet” according to Andrew McCarthy’s book, “The Grand Jihad.” This is to be accomplished by infiltration, education, appointments and elections. They plan to supplant the American Constitutional Democracy by Islamic Law. Their plan is sabotage, to gradually eat away from within, abrading both the system and the will to preserve it.

Although America is the great melting pot of people from all around the world, there is a vast difference between people who come to America seeking the American way of life versus those who want to infiltrate in order to change the American way of life and this is exactly what the Muslim Brotherhood has been doing since the 60’s or even earlier.

The Muslim Brotherhood started the Muslim Student Association (MSA) in the 60s. Now there are hundreds of chapters at colleges and universities across the U. S. Many of the Muslims are members simply for social reasons, but without them the organization could not serve as a “front." The MSA is a stronghold of the Brotherhood’s brand of Islamic supremacism and has an alarming record of its alumni going on to Islamic activism and even to violent jihad. Read on and comment » | Earl Cox | Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Christian Wins Right to Wear Cross at Work
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Christian airline check-in clerk has won the right to wear a cross at work in a landmark case set to define religious freedom in Britain and across Europe.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the UK had failed to protect Nadia Eweida's freedom to manifest her faith in the workplace.

But it rejected a similar legal challenge from Shirley Chaplin, a nurse, ruling that the hospital where she worked should be able to refuse permission to wear a cross on “health and safety” grounds.

Both women lost employment tribunal cases in Britain after being refused the right to wear a cross as a symbol of their faith under their employers' uniform policy.

And in a hearing in Strasbourg last year the UK Government argued that this was not a breach of their human rights and wearing a cross is not an essential tenet of Christianity. But in its judgment the court said that manifesting religion is a "fundamental right".

It added: "[This is because] a healthy democratic society needs to tolerate and sustain pluralism and diversity; but also because of the value to an individual who has made religion a central tenet of his or her life to be able to communicate that belief to others."

The ruling in favour of Mrs Eweida represents a humiliation for David Cameron who promised to change the law to enshrine workers' right to wear the cross – even as lawyers for his Government were actively fighting the women in court.

It led to accusations of hypocrisy.

But, in a decision which could have even wider long-term implications, the court also rejected parallel challenges brought by two other Christians who lost their jobs for taking a stand on what they saw as a matter of conscience. » | John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor | Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie to Work as UK Trade Ambassadors

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are to follow in their father’s footsteps by working as trade ambassadors for Britain.

On Thursday the Princesses will drive a Mini from the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to the British Embassy in the city to kick off a year-long promotion of British Industry.

They will continue their first joint overseas engagement on Friday with a visit to Hanover, the home of their royal ancestors, to promote British brands. » | Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter | Monday, January 14, 2013

What a joke! What do these two know about trade or promoting it? Talk about ‘jobs for the boys’, this is it! Couldn’t the UK find someone – anyone/people – more qualified for this/these position(s) than these two young, inexperienced lasses? They are going to Germany to promote trade first. Do they even speak German? What a pathetic country the UK has become!

PS: I hope they choose better hats to promote British trade. Especially if that trade is related to the fashion industry. Their taste in hats is, by now, notorious. – © Mark

The Hidden Origin of Islam

The Fall of "Great" Britain to Islam Is Imminent!

Kauf von Current TV: Al-Jazira in Amerika
NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Der arabische Nachrichtensender al-Jazira hat den erfolglosen amerikanischen Fernsehkanal Current TV gekauft. Damit versucht al-Jazira, sich stärker in den USA zu positionieren.

Mit dem Kauf der amerikanischen Fernsehstation Current TV versucht der katarische Nachrichtensender al-Jazira, ein Standbein in den USA aufzubauen und auf dem amerikanischen Markt mit den grossen Sendern CNN und BBC World zu konkurrieren. Laut Reuters kostete der Kauf 500 Millionen Dollar. Ungefähr 60 Prozent der Programme sollen in den USA produziert werden, den Rest übernimmt al-Jazira in Katar.

Der künftige Sender mit dem Namen al-Jazira America wird voraussichtlich seine Sichtweise der internationalen Politik der amerikanischen Öffentlichkeit zu vermitteln versuchen. Der Generaldirektor von al-Jazira, Ahmed at-Tani, wird in der Presse mit den Worten zitiert, man wolle einen zusätzlichen Beitrag an die amerikanischen Nachrichten leisten und die Geschichten erzählen, die andere vernachlässigten. » | Nina Fargahi | Montag, 14. Januar 2013

David Cameron's Europe Speech Brought Forward
David Cameron’s speech on Europe has been brought forward after officials inadvertently planned it to coincide with an anniversary marking 50 years of Franco-German friendship.

Read the article here | Peter Dominiczak, Political Correspondent | Monday, January 14, 2013

Somalie : les islamistes publient des photos du cadavre d'un soldat français
lePARISIEN.fr: Les insurgés islamistes somaliens shebab ont publié lundi sur leur compte Twitter une photo ducadavre d'un homme, présenté comme le chef du commando français ayant échoué à libérer samedi l'otage Denis Allex.

La rédaction du Parisien a décidé de ne pas diffuser ces photos.

«Le commandant français tué durant l'opération de secours bâclée à Bulo-marer», indique la légende de l'image, sur laquelle apparaît un jeune homme aux cheveux courts, du sang séché sur le visage, vêtu d'un pantalon clair et d'une chemise sombre, dont dépasse une chaîne et une croix chrétienne en argent. Le message du tweet est explicite : «François Hollande, est ce que cela en valait la peine?»

Sur un autre cliché publié sur le même compte, le visage du commando présumé apparait en gros plan, sa croix mise en avant, avec la macabre légende : « Un retour aux croisades mais la croix n'a pas pu le sauver de l'épée». Enfin, une autre photo montre l'équipement du soldat comme un trésor de guerre pour les terroristes. » | LeParisien.fr avec l’AFP | lundi 14 janvier 2013

Mali: Frankreich greift in Kampf gegen Islamisten ein
Frankreich schickt Soldaten, um Malis Regierungstruppen gegen die Islamisten zu unterstützen. Schon kann ein erster Erfolg vermeldet werden: Konna ist wieder in der Hand der Regierung.

Saudi Arabia Shreds Bibles

Colin Powell Accuses GOP Of Racism: They 'Still Look Down On Minorities

New Law Eases Travel Restrictions on Cubans
For decades, Cuba has been derided by human rights advocates as a "prison island" because of its tough travel restrictions. But a new set of reforms will make it easier for Cubans to leave the country. Al Jazeera's Adam Raney reports from Havana.

Indigenous Canadians Demand Government Action
Hundreds of Indigenous Canadians have continued their protests in the capital and other major cities. They're calling for more rights and better living conditions on reserves, and one protest leader has been on hunger strike for weeks. Al Jazeera's Daniel Lak reports from Ottawa.

France Hit by Anti-gay Marriage Protests
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Paris in protest against a proposed law that would legalise gay marriage in France. People travelled from all over France for the demonstration supported by leaders of the centre-right opposition, the Catholic church and the Muslim community. Al Jazeera's Rory Challands reports from Paris.

LE POINT: Di Rupo : "Je suis fier de la modernité de notre pays, où tous les couples ont le droit de se marier" : Le Premier ministre belge a rappelé lundi que le mariage entre couples de même sexe était autorisé depuis dix ans en Belgique. » | Source; AFP | lundi 14 janvier 2013

Egyptian Court Orders Re-trial for Mubarak
Egypt's top appeals court has ordered former President Hosni Mubarak and his security chief be retried. They were sentenced to life in prison last June for failing to prevent the killing of protesters during the revolution in 2011. Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reports from Cairo.

Saudi Arabia Rejects Maid Beheading Criticism
AL JAZEERA: Saudi Arabia 'deplores' international condemnation over beheading of a Sri Lankan maid convicted of killing baby.

Saudi Arabia criticised world reaction to its beheading a Sri Lankan maid convicted of killing her employer's baby, the official Saudi news agency SPA reported.

Riyadh "deplores the statements made... over the execution of a Sri Lankan maid who had plotted and killed an infant by suffocating him to death, one week after she arrived in the kingdom," the government spokesman said.

Rizana Nafeek was beheaded on Wednesday in a case that sparked widespread international condemnation, including from rights groups which said she was just 17 when she was charged with murdering the baby in 2005.

Nafeek was found guilty of smothering the infant after an argument with the child's mother.

The case soured diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka which on Thursday recalled its ambassador to Saudi Arabia in protest.

The government spokesman condemned what he called "wrong information on the case," and denied that the maid was a minor when she committed the crime. » | Source: Agencies | Monday, January 14, 2013

Mosque Buster Gavin Boby’s Mission Statement

MAIL ON SUNDAY: 'Mosque buster' claims he can stop 'tide of Islam' by giving free advice on how to block building plans for new places of worship » | Larisa Brown | Sunday, January 13, 2013

Egypt's Coptic Christians Fleeing Country After Islamist Takeover

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Tens of thousands of Egyptian Christians are leaving the country in the wake of the Egyptian revolution and subsequent Islamist takeover of politics, priests and community leaders say.

Coptic Christian churches in the United States say they are having to expand to cope with new arrivals, as priests in cities like Cairo and Alexandria talk of a new climate of fear and uncertainty.

"Most of our people are afraid," Father Mina Adel, a priest at the Church of Two Saints in Alexandria said. "Not a few are leaving - for America, Canada and Australia. Dozens of families from this church alone are trying to go too."

Father Mina's church has an important place in the history of the Arab Spring. It was struck by a car bomb on New Year's Eve 2010, Egypt's worst sectarian attack in recent decades, in which 23 people were killed.

After the bombing, liberal Muslim groups staged protests in support of Christians, printing posters showing the cross and the crescent interlinked which then went on to be symbols of inter-faith unity during the Tahrir Square protests three weeks later.

But the victory of the Muslim Brotherhood in parliamentary and presidential elections has changed the mood - particularly as the biggest opposition party is the even more hardline Salafist movement which wants strict Sharia law implemented.

"Salafis meet Christian girls in the street and order them to cover their hair," Father Mina said. "Sometimes they hit them when they refuse." » | Richard Spencer, Alexandria | Sunday, January 13, 2013

Michael Hauri: Und dann wurde ich Muslim
Then I became a Muslim »

Ben Alis Güter an den Meistbietenden
NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: In Tunesien findet zurzeit eine Versteigerung der besonderen Art statt. Der Staat verkauft die Besitztümer des früheren Machthabers Ben Ali und von dessen Frau Leila Trabelsi.

Am 14. Januar begeht Tunesien den zweiten Jahrestag der «Revolution für Würde und Freiheit, 17. Dezember 2010 – 14. Januar 2011», wie seit Mitte Dezember der offizielle Name für den Sturz des Diktators Ben Ali lautet. Am 14. Januar vor zwei Jahren verliessen Ben Ali und seine Frau Leila Trabelsi nach Massenprotesten fluchtartig das Land. Sie leben seitdem im Exil in Saudiarabien. Inzwischen sind Ben Ali und seine Frau zu je 35 Jahren Haft wegen illegaler Bereicherung verurteilt worden. » | Annette Steinich, Tunis | Donnerstag, 10. Januar 2013

Hollande : l'opération militaire au Mali "n'a pas d'autre but que la lutte contre le terrorisme"

LE MONDE: Au lendemain du début de l'intervention des forces françaises sur le territoire malien, François Hollande a justifié sa décision, affirmant qu'elle "n'a pas d'autre but que la lutte contre le terrorisme" et qu'il a "toute confiance" dans la réussite de l'opération, baptisée "Serval". "La France ne défend aucun intérêt particulier", a--t-il déclaré. Le chef de l'Etat a souligné que les moyens militaires déployés doivent être limités au soutien de l'intervention africaine au Mali, qui doit prendre forme en début de semaine. Il s'est félicité que "l'action de la France soit saluée par l'ensemble de la communauté internationale et les pays africains".

M. Hollande a souligné qu'un "coup d'arrêt" avait été porté aux islamistes avec "de lourdes pertes infligées à nos adversaires". Selon l'armée malienne, plusieurs centaines de combattants islamistes ont été tués lors de raids menés samedi. Enfin, et alors que les islamistes ont promis "des conséquences, non seulement pour les otages français, mais aussi pour tous les ressortissants français où qu'ils se trouvent dans le monde musulman", M. Hollande a annoncé un renforcement du plan Vigipirate en France, actuellement au niveau "rouge", "dans les meilleurs délais". Le chef de l'Etat, ainsi que plusieurs ministres, participeront à un nouveau conseil de défense, dimanche, le troisième en trois jours. » | Le Monde.fr avec AFP, AP et Reuters | samedi 12 janvier 2013

Peking versinkt in Rekord-Smog
Dichter Smog hat am Samstag das öffentliche Leben in Peking massiv beeinträchtigt. Die Stadtverwaltung schränkte den Straßenverkehr ein und rief die Menschen auf, ihre Wohnungen nicht zu verlassen.

Aufregung um Porträt: Kate mit Augenringen
Nun ist es enthüllt: Das erste Porträt von Herzogin Kate wurde am Freitag in der Londerner National Portrait Gallery präsentiert. Doch die Reaktionen auf das Öl-Gemälde sind durchwachsen.

Gay Marriage Could Signal Return to ‘Centuries of Persecution’, [ - ] Say 1,000 Catholic Priests
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: More than 1,000 priests have signed a letter voicing alarm that same-sex marriage could threaten religious freedom in a way last seen during “centuries of persecution” of Roman Catholics in England.

In one of the biggest joint letters of its type ever written, they raise fears that their freedom to practise and speak about their faith will be “severely” limited and dismiss Government reassurances as "meaningless".

They even liken David Cameron’s moves to redefine marriage to those of Henry VIII, whose efforts to secure a divorce from Katherine of Aragon triggered centuries of bloody upheaval between church and state.

They claim that, taken in combination with equalities laws and other legal restraints, the Coalition's plans will prevent Catholics and other Christians who work in schools, charities and other public bodies speaking freely about their beliefs on the meaning of marriage.

Even the freedom to speak from the pulpit could be under threat, they claim.

And they fear that Christians who believe in the traditional meaning of marriage would effectively be excluded from some jobs – just as Catholics were barred from many professions from the Reformation until the 19th Century.

The comments are contained in a letter to The Daily Telegraph, signed by 1,054 priests as well as 13 bishops, abbots and other senior Catholic figures. » | John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor | Friday, January 11, 2013

As Hugo Chavez Fights for His Life, Cuba Fears for Its Future
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Venezuela is not the only Latin American nation that is monitoring every moment of president Hugo Chavez's illness. His ally Cuba has relied on him for economic help, and that could soon come to an end.

Away from the constitutional wrangles and impassioned crowds of Caracas, the future of Venezuela after Hugo Chavez is being plotted this weekend in an elegant pre-revolutionary mansion in Havana's old playboy quarter.

The firebrand Venezuelan president is fighting for his life in a nearby hospital, stricken by severe respiratory problems and a lung infection after his latest round of surgery for cancer.

His illness left him unable to be sworn in for his fourth term as president last Thursday, having won a close-fought election in October.

But for his Cuban hosts, much more is at risk than simply the loss of a fellow left-wing Latin American radical who has long venerated Fidel Castro. His death would also put at risk the remarkable oil-fuelled largesse that has allowed Cuba to cling to its experiment in tropical communism.

Thanks to the close personal relationship between Mr Chavez and Mr Castro, energy-rich Venezuela supplies more than 100,000 barrels of dirt-cheap oil a day to Cuba - an estimated 50 per cent of the island's petroleum needs.

Venezuela also hires tens of thousands of Cuban doctors and teachers to work in its barrio slums, propping up the Cuban economy to the tune of some $6 billion a year in total. Without that subsidy, Havana would have long ago been forced to introduce market reforms to its communist regime. » | Philip Sherwell, and Andrew Hamilton in Havana | Saturday, January 12, 2013

A Gift for the Hackers - Netherlands

The Dollar Bubble

End of Liberty

Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis

Französische Soldaten kämpfen in Mali

He's Taken Millions from Dictators and Cosied Up to Warlords. As Its Reported 'Teflon Tony' Is Plotting an Alliance with a Super-rich Financier, a Devastating Critique of the... Man Who Turned Amorality into an Art Form

MAIL ONLINE: When Tony Blair visited Beijing a few weeks ago to open a prestigious conference on philanthropy, he showed he had lost none of the evangelical fervour that once dazzled British voters.

Giving an impassioned sermon to an A-list audience on the crucial role of compassion, the former Prime Minister spoke of how societies should be measured not just by what people do for themselves, but by what they do for others.

‘The best philanthropy is about changing the world,’ he proclaimed. ‘Flourishing philanthropy is an essential part of a flourishing society.’

Blair told well-heeled listeners paying nearly £1,500 a head how he found a new role after politics doing good deeds around the globe. He had seen how people’s lives had been improved through his efforts, he said.

It was the perfect start for China’s first major forum on philanthropy, where guests included Bill Gates, the multi-billionaire Microsoft founder who is giving away much of his fortune, and Andrew Forrest, Australia’s richest man and another generous charity donor.

‘We need philanthropy to lessen hostility towards the rich,’ Blair warned them. Heartfelt words for a man said to have raked in nearly £20 million last year, big chunks of it by delivering platitudes dressed up as profundities to gullible global paymasters.

It was the sort of event the former Labour leader seems to love: a private jet to take him there, a £3,000-a-night hotel suite, and networking with the super-rich. Yet his sanctimonious speech was little more than hypocritical hogwash coming from a man who, to my mind, has turned amorality into an art form.

For all his honeyed words about serving humanity, this is a man who used his contacts book from Downing Street to launch a lucrative career advising absolute monarchs, wealthy bankers and despots. Read on and comment » | Ian Birrell | Saturday, January 12, 2013

Daring to Believe - Tunisia

Tourism on Trial - Egypt

White Britons Are Now a Minority in Leicester, Luton and Slough and Birmingham Is Set to Follow by End of Decade
MAIL ONLINE: All three communities have a white British population of less than 50%, 2011 UK census shows, and Birmingham will be the same by 2020 / Slough has the lowest proportion of white Britons in the UK outside London - 35 per cent / Immigration from Eastern Europe since 2004 a major cause, say academics

Three towns and cities have joined London in having a minority white British population.

Researchers say more than 50 per cent of people living in Leicester, Luton and Slough are either foreign or from an ethnic minority.

Birmingham is expected to have a similar make-up by 2020.

The findings are based on the 2011 national census, in which residents were asked which ethnic group they were in.

The census also broke the white population down into those who see themselves as white British and those who consider they are ‘white other’ – a group that will include immigrants from Europe as well as Australasia and America.

London has already been shown to have a white British population of only 45 per cent.

Yesterday’s breakdown showed that those who call themselves white British amount to 45 per cent of the population of Leicester, 45 per cent of the population of Luton and only just over a third, 35 per cent, of the people of Slough. » | Steve Doughty | Thursday, January 10, 2013

Shimon Peres: Israel's Government Does Not Want to Make Peace with Muslim World

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Shimon Peres, the Israeli president and Nobel laureate, has attacked the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming it is unwilling to make peace with the Muslim world and instead risks the outbreak of a new Palestinian uprising.

Intervening in the country’s general election campaign, Israel’s elder statesman warned of the perils of his country isolating itself from America.

President Barack Obama was “not convinced” that Israel’s current leaders truly wanted peace, he said.

“If there is no diplomatic decision, the Palestinians will go back to terror. Knives, mines, suicide attacks,” Mr Peres said in an extensive interview with the New York Times Magazine.

“The silence that Israel has been enjoying over the last few years will not continue, because even if the local inhabitants do not want to resume the violence, they will be under the pressure of the Arab world. Money will be transferred to them, and weapons will be smuggled to them, and there will be no one who will stop this flow.”

Most of the world would then blame Israel for the violence and brand it a “racist state”, warned Mr Peres. » | Robert Tait, in Jerusalem | Thursday, January 10, 2013

The Abortion of Unwanted Girls Taking Place in the UK
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Illegal abortion on the grounds of gender may be taking place in Britain within immigrant communities, ministers have admitted for the first time after an official analysis of birth statistics.

The Government was on Thursday night urged to open an inquiry after officials found signs that birth rates for girls and boys vary noticeably according to where their mothers were born.

A health minister said that these differences in rates of male and female births among mothers of certain nationalities may “fall outside the range considered possible without intervention”.

It forms the first official statistical evidence potentially backing up concerns that sex-selection abortions are being carried out in Britain.

Andrew Lansley, the former health secretary, last year criticised the “illegal and morally wrong” practice following a Daily Telegraph investigation into the issue.

After this newspaper received information that the procedures were becoming increasingly common for cultural and social reasons, undercover reporters filmed doctors offering women terminations based on gender. » | Rowena Mason, Political Correspondent | Thursday, January 10, 2013

I wonder which community this might be. And I wonder, too, why we should not be surprised. – © Mark

Tribal Savagery! Saudi Arabia Defies International Protests with Beheading of Sri Lankan Maid

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Saudi Arabia defied international protests yesterday by beheading a Sri Lankan maid convicted of smothering an infant child, despite her being aged just 17 at the time of the offence.

A sword-wielding executioner carried out the death sentence on Rizana Nafeek in the town of Dawadmy, near Riyadh, just hours after the country's Interior Ministry ratified the court verdict against her.

Nafeek was given the death sentence in 2007 for smothering the infant while working as the child's nanny. She had been accused of killing the four-month-old boy two years earlier following an argument with his mother.

Nafeek however, who was aged only 17 at the time of the alleged offence, insisted that the child had choked to death on milk during a bottle field [sic].

The Sri Lankan government appealed against the death penalty but the Saudi Supreme Court upheld it in 2010. Despite an international campaign for clemency, that verdict was finally ratified by the country's Interior Ministry yesterday.

The announcement the execution had taken place shocked Nafeek's supporters who had expected the government of Sri Lanka to enter into negotiations to pay blood money for clemency. » | Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Wednesday, January 19, 2013

US Warns Britain Against Leaving European Union

THE GUARDIAN: Intervention from senior US official comes as UK position on EU membership is criticised in Brussels and Dublin

The US has issued a blunt warning to the UK not to leave the European Union, saying Britain would undermine its influence in Washington by trying to renegotiate membership.

The forthright American intervention in the European debate, from a senior US official, came on a day David Cameron's campaign to reset the terms of Britain's EU membership also came under concerted assault from Brussels and Dublin, with senior figures warning the prime minister against renegotiating the European treaties to secure a new deal and signalling bluntly that this was not on the agenda.

"We have a growing relationship with the EU as an institution, which has an increasing voice in the world, and we want to see a strong British voice in that EU," Philip Gordon, the US assistant secretary of state for Europe, said on a visit to London "That is in America's interests. We welcome an outward-looking EU with Britain in it."

Gordon stressed that it was up to the UK define its own interests, but in what appeared a clear reference to the government's proposal to renegotiate membership and repatriate some powers from Brussels, he stressed that an inward-looking EU, preoccupied with its own internal procedures would be seen as a lesser ally by Washington.

"Every hour at a summit spent debating the institutional make-up of the European Union is one hour less spent on how to deal with the common issues of jobs, growth and international peace around the world," he said, in remarks first reported by the Financial Times. » | Julian Borger and Ian Traynor | Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Slowenien versinkt in Korruption
DIE PRESSE: Premier und Oppositionschef sollen laut Ermittlern über beträchtliche undeklarierte Vermögen verfügen. Koalition forderte sofort den Rücktritt von Premier Janez Janša.

Belgrad/Ljubljana. Das neue Jahr beginnt für Slowenien mit einem Paukenschlag: Gerade hat sich die wirtschaftliche Situation in dem Krisenland etwas zu stabilisieren begonnen, da bringen Ermittlungen der Antikorruptionsbehörde die Regierung an den Rand des Kollapses: Der konservative Premier Janez Janša könne die Herkunft von 210.000 Euro auf seinem Konto nicht erklären, so der Rapport. Zwei Koalitionspartner Janšas, Gregor Virants Bürgerliste und die Pensionistenpartei, forderten sofort den Rücktritt des Premiers. » | Von Thomas Roser | Mittwoch, 09. Januar 2013