Sarkozy Caught Swearing Whilst Glad-handing the Crowd at the Salon International de l’Agriculture

BBC: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been caught on camera swearing at a member of the crowd at the annual farming fair in Paris.

The video clip, which has been posted on the internet, shows a man at the Salon International de l'Agriculture refusing to shake the president's hand.

When offered Mr Sarkozy's hand, the man draws back and says: "Oh no, don't touch me, you'll dirty me."

Mr Sarkozy snaps: "Get lost then you bloody idiot, just get lost!"* Sarkozy outburst at farming fair >>> By Emma Jane Kirby, Paris

*“Casse-toi, pauvre con” — which can roughly be translated as “P*** off, stupid sod”, or “Get lost, silly b*****”. [Source: The Times]

TIMESONLINE:
Sarkozy loses his cool

TIMESONLINE:
Sarkozy loses cool and wants UN defence for French cooking

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Blame YouTube Outage on Pakistan
BBC: Pakistan's attempts to block access to YouTube has been blamed for an almost global blackout of the video website for more than an hour on Sunday.

BBC News has learned that the outage was almost certainly connected to Pakistan Telecom and Asian internet service provider PCCW.

A leading net professional said the global outage was "probably a mistake".

Pakistan ordered internet service providers to block the site because of content deemed offensive to Islam.

The BBC News website's technology editor, Darren Waters, says that to block Pakistan's citizens from accessing YouTube it is believed Pakistan Telecom "hijacked" the web server address of the popular video site.

Those details were then passed on to the country's internet service providers so that anyone in Pakistan attempting to go to YouTube was instead re-directed to a different address.

But the details of the "hijack" were leaked out into the wider internet from PCCW and as a result YouTube was mistakenly blocked by internet service providers around the word [sic][.] Pakistan 'sparks YouTube outage' >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

"Terrorism Is Islam” – Abu Izzadeen

Hat tip: The Jawa Report

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Serben-Demonstration eskaliert in Wien
NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Eine Demonstration von Tausenden Serben gegen die Unabhängigkeit des Kosovos ist am späten Sonntagnachmittag in Wien eskaliert. Eine Gruppe von etwa 500 Personen spaltete sich ab und fing an, Geschäfte zu demolieren. Die Polizei wurde mit Flaschen und Steinen beworfen.

(sda/dpa) Zwei Beamte wurden nach Angaben eines Polizeisprechers verletzt, mindestens vier Menschen wurden festgenommen. Am frühen Abend hatte die Polizei die Lage noch nicht unter Kontrolle. Serben-Demonstration eskaliert in Wien: Demolierte Geschäfte und Angriffe auf die Polizei >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Bishop of Rochester Reasserts 'No-Go' Claim
The man who should be made Archbishop of Canterbury!
Photo of Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, courtesy of The Sunday Telegraph
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: In his first interview since his controversial comments, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali vows not to be forced into silence

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, who received death threats for airing his views on Islamic issues, has vowed that he will continue to speak out.

His claim that Islamic extremism has turned some parts of Britain into "no-go" areas for non-Muslims led to fierce rows between political and religious leaders over the impact of multiculturalism on this country.

Those comments were followed soon after by the Archbishop of Canterbury's suggestion that the adoption of aspects of sharia law in Britain was "unavoidable".

The bishops' views in The Sunday Telegraph sparked a storm of criticism and raised questions over the role of the Church in society but, most seriously for Dr Nazir-Ali, led to threats that he and his family would be harmed.

Yet, in his first interview since the sinister calls were made to his home, the Bishop of Rochester remains steadfastly defiant. He will not be silenced. "I believe people should not be prevented from speaking out," he says. "The issue had to be raised. There are times when Christian leaders have to speak out."

He arrived in Britain in the 1980s and seems to have taken up the mantle for defending the country's values he fears are being threatened by a loss of its Christian heritage.

Dressed casually in a roll-neck jumper and sports jacket, he seems relaxed now as he walks around his study in Bishopscourt, but it has clearly been a stressful time.

Threats were made warning that he would not "live long" and would be "sorted out" if he continued to criticise Islam.

"If you disagree, that must be met by counter-arguments, not by trying to silence people. It was a threat not just to me, but to my family. I took it seriously, so did the police. It gave me sleepless nights."

However, it's not the first time that his life has been endangered.

Shortly after being made a bishop in Pakistan - at 35 he was the youngest in the Anglican Church - he was forced to flee to Britain to seek refuge from Muslims who wanted to kill him.

He says that he never expected to suffer the same treatment in Britain and expresses concerns over recent social developments.

"The real danger to Britain today is the spiritual and moral vacuum that has occurred for the last 40 or 50 years. When you have such a vacuum something will fill it.

"If people are not given a fresh way of understanding what it means to be a Christian and what it means to be a Christian-based society then something else may well take the place of all that we're used to and that could be Islam." Bishop of Rochester reasserts 'no-go' claim >>> By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH:
Have Your Say

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Obama Criticised Over ‘Cult-Like’ Rallies
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: For many it is simply a sign of his charisma. But for a growing number of Barack Obama sceptics, there is something disturbing about the adulation with which the senator and Democratic presidential frontrunner is greeted as he campaigns for the White House - unnervingly akin to the hysteria of a cult, or the fervour of a religious revival.

Thousands wait in line to see him wherever he stops. Members of the audience have taken to rushing the stage during campaign rallies, forcing the public-address announcer to plead with them to back off.

And when Mr Obama eventually takes the platform to rhythmic chants of his mantra-like slogan, “Yes we can, yes we can!” fans swoon with euphoria. 



Now critics are quietly voicing the fear that Mr Obama and his campaign have deliberately adopted the tone and tactics of an evangelical preacher, whipping up “Obamamania” at the expense of more serious discussion of policy and government. 



There is “something just a wee bit creepy about the mass messianism” deployed by the black senator and his supporters, observed Joe Klein, the veteran political commentator the first to latch on to the political potency of Bill Clinton, then an obscure Arkansas governor, early in the 1992 White House campaign. 



“The message is becoming dangerously self-referential,” he wrote in Time magazine. “The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is.” Barack Obama criticised over 'cult-like' rallies >>> By William Lowther in Washington

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Saudi Men Arrested for ‘Flirting’
BBC: Prosecutors in Saudi Arabia have begun investigating 57 young men who were arrested on Thursday for flirting with girls at shopping centres in Mecca.

The men are accused of wearing indecent clothes, playing loud music and dancing in order to attract the attention of girls, the Saudi Gazette reported.

They were arrested following a request of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

The mutaween enforce Saudi Arabia's conservative brand of Islam, Wahhabism. Saudi men arrested for 'flirting' >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Islam in Europe: When Muslims Ruled in Europe
There is no doubt that this is a series of fascinating videos. But do they convey the truth about Islam in Europe, or do they whitewash the period in Spanish history? You decide.

One has to ask oneself the simple question: If the Muslims’ civilization in Al-Andalus was so wonderful, and the achievements so great, why has so little in the way of inventions and discoveries come out of the Muslim world ever since?

Further, if their building ability in those days was so exceptional, why do Muslim countries today need so many Western companies to build their cities in places like the Gulf? And if their medicine was so advanced, why do their doctors have to come and train in the West?

Was this documentary produced, perchance, by the renowned, politically-correct BBC? - ©Mark


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Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Nucléaire: l'Iran rejette d'avance toute nouvelle résolution de l'ONU
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: MONDE | 17H29 L'Iran a rejeté d'avance samedi toute nouvelle résolution du Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU le sanctionnant pour ses activités nucléaires sensibles, au lendemain d'un rapport de l'AIEA déplorant le manque de coopération de Téhéran.

"Si le Conseil de sécurité veut adopter une nouvelle résolution (contre l'Iran), cette résolution sera sans fondement légal et juridique", a déclaré Javad Vaïdi, l'adjoint du responsable nucléaire, cité par l'agence Isna.

Le porte-parole du gouvernement, Gholamhossein Elham, a affirmé pour sa part qu'il n'y avait "aucune justification légale pour que le dossier nucléaire iranien reste au Conseil de sécurité". Nucléaire: l'Iran rejette d'avance toute nouvelle résolution de l'ONU >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

France 24 (EN): Archbishop Stirs Up Shari’ah Fury

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Shari’ah Law Row in the United Kingdom

Glenn Beck on Shari’ah Courts in England:


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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Ignoring Sharia's Advance Extremely Stupid
TOWNHALL.COM: The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne Jr. thinks there's "something peculiar" about conservatives who turn "Islamic extremism into a mighty ideological force with the power to overrun the world."

In a way, he's right. There is indeed something peculiar about portraying "extremism," Islamic or otherwise, as an ideological movement of sufficient mass and might to capture the world. After all, "extremism" is something "extreme" practiced by, well, "extremists." You know -- a few far-out kooks on the margins. Why worry? There's always that disclaimer that we, as a post-9/11 society, invoke when we talk about "Islamic extremism" (or, plain "extremism," as President Bush now prefers): Namely, that such extremism has nothing doctrinally or traditionally to do with Islam as practiced by the rest of the world's billion-plus Muslims. So much more reassuring to see things this way, at least as long as no one notes that Sharia (Islamic law) is advanced by "extremism" and Islam alike.

Of course, if Western society understands "extremism" merely as a marginal phenomenon, little wonder Dionne thinks it's odd that so many conservatives take it seriously -- specifically, he writes, "Osama bin Laden's lunatic claims that he will build a new caliphate." Isn't Bin Laden just an extremist fruitcake on Islam's fringe, who, naturally, makes "lunatic claims"? It should take not a war to subdue him, but a warden. Ignoring Sharia's Advance Extremely Stupid >>> By Diana West

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Clouds Gather as ‘Sulky’ Musharraf Retreats to Bunker
THE GUARDIAN: In some ways life has changed little for Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, since Monday's election. The retired general still trots out for afternoon tennis, aides say, and enjoys a game of bridge a few times a week. In the evenings he pulls on a cigar and, although he can't admit it, nurses a glass of whisky.

Visitors still call to see him at Army House, the marble-floored Rawalpindi residence of Pakistan's military chiefs, even though he retired three months ago. "It has been renamed Presidential Lodge," said spokesman Rashid Qureshi. "The normal routine is functioning."

But outside clouds are gathering. The spectacular rout of his Pakistan Muslim League (Q) party at the polls has shorn the retired commando of his political base, leaving him isolated and exposed.

"He's been sulking," said a senior party official. "He's retreated into a mental bunker, which is not healthy. He thinks everyone is out to get him and only listens to a small circle. It's a dangerous mindset to be in at this point in time. He could decide to hit back."

Musharraf's bad mood stems from the prospect of Nawaz Sharif, the rotund prime minister from Punjab he ousted in a 1999 coup and banished to Saudi Arabia a year later, returning to power. Sharif, who controls the second biggest party in parliament, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) has vowed to oust Musharraf at the earliest opportunity. "The nation has given its verdict. The sooner he accepts it the better," said Sharif.

But Musharraf, targeted at least twice by al-Qaida assassins, has a knack for survival. And he has at least one loyal friend left. Shortly after the electoral drubbing George Bush paused on a trip to Africa to pay warm tribute to him. He sounded less enthusiastic about Sharif's ascent. The message filtered quickly through the lines. In Washington the state department urged the opposition to work with Musharraf. In Islamabad American diplomats engaged in frantic talks with the opposition.

Senior officials from all parties told the Guardian they were trying to broker a deal that would ensure Musharraf stays in power. The PML (Q) official said his party was being pressured by US embassy officials hoping for a coalition between their party with Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's party, now led by her widower, Asif Ali Zardari.

"The Americans want a German-style grand coalition including the PPP," he said. "They want Musharraf to stick around, even if it's a diminished Musharraf." Clouds gather as 'sulky' Musharraf retreats to bunker: Despite US support, president is isolated in battle for power >>> By Declan Walsh in Islamabad

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Piggy Banks? No More!
THE TIMES: Knorbert the piglet has been dropped as the mascot of Fortis Bank after it decided to stop giving piggy banks to children for fear of offending Muslims.

The decision has been viewed in the Netherlands as the ritual slaughter of a popular pig by political correctness. To some, it is the latest sign of uncertainty in Europe's most tolerant country about how far it should go to accommodate the sensitivities of minorities. It comes as the country is braced for a backlash against the plans of Geert Wilders, a right-wing politician, to release a critical film about the Koran.

Pigs are considered an unclean animal by Muslims and Jews, and Knorbert was culled after seven years as the Fortis mascot. A spokesman told the Dutch media that “Knorbert does not meet the requirements that the multicultural society imposes on us”.

The bank added that there had been “a number of reactions to the pig” and that a new gift and character were being developed that would be “fun for children of any persuasion”. Children who had received a Knorbert piggy bank for opening a EuroKids account will be given a junior encyclopaedia instead.

The bank, which is based in the Netherlands and Belgium, was keen to play down the influence of cultural concerns on its decision. Lilian Tackaert, a spokeswoman, said that Knorbert had reached the natural end of his product life cycle. “The piglet was indeed being given to children opening a savings account but we ran out of stock, although some branches still had some,” she said. “Now we are looking for something else.” Piggy banks are given the chop as bank tries to attract young Muslims >>> By David Charter, Europe Correspondent

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Disney Characters and Adolf
Images courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: The director of a Norwegian museum claimed yesterday to have discovered cartoons drawn by Adolf Hitler during the Second World War.

William Hakvaag, the director of a war museum in northern Norway, said he found the drawings hidden in a painting signed "A. Hitler" that he bought at an auction in Germany.

He found coloured cartoons of the characters Bashful and Doc from the 1937 Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which were signed A.H., and an unsigned sketch of Pinocchio as he appeared in the 1940 Disney film.

Hitler tried to make a living as an artist before his rise to power. While there was no independent confirmation yesterday that the drawings were the work of the Nazi leader, Hitler is known to have owned a copy of Snow White, the classic animated adaptation of a German fairy tale, and to have viewed it in his private cinema.

Mr Hakvaag, who said he had performed tests on the paintings which suggested that they dated from 1940, said: "I am 100 per cent sure that these are drawings by Hitler. If one wanted to make a forgery, one would never hide it in the back of a picture, where it might never be discovered."

The initials on the sketches, and the signature on the painting, matched other copies of Hitler's handwriting, he claimed.
"Hitler had a copy of Snow White," he said. "He thought this was one of the best movies ever made." Did Adolf Hitler draw Disney characters? >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Hillary Clinton Versus Barack Hussein Obama in the Austin, Texas Debate
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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Government Wants personal Details of Every Passenger
THE GUARDIAN: Passengers travelling between EU countries or taking domestic flights would have to hand over a mass of personal information, including their mobile phone numbers and credit card details, as part of a new package of security measures being demanded by the British government. The data would be stored for 13 years and used to "profile" suspects.

Brussels officials are already considering controversial anti-terror plans that would collect up to 19 pieces of information on every air passenger entering or leaving the EU. Under a controversial agreement reached last summer with the US department of homeland security, the EU already supplies the same information [19 pieces] to Washington for all passengers flying between Europe and the US.

But Britain wants the system extended to sea and rail travel, to be applied to domestic flights and those between EU countries. According to a questionnaire circulated to all EU capitals by the European commission, the UK is the only country of 27 EU member states that wants the system used for "more general public policy purposes" besides fighting terrorism and organised crime.

The so-called passenger name record system, proposed by the commission and supported by most EU governments, has been denounced by civil libertarians and data protection officials as draconian and probably ineffective.

The scheme would work through national agencies collecting and processing the passenger data and then sharing it with other EU states. Britain also wants to be able to exchange the information with third parties outside the EU.

Officials in Brussels and in European capitals admit the proposed system represents a massive intrusion into European civil liberties, but insist it is a necessary part of a battery of new electronic surveillance measures being mooted in the interests of European security. These include proposals unveiled in Brussels last week for fingerprinting and collecting biometric information of all non-EU nationals entering or leaving the union. Government wants personal details of every traveler: Phone numbers and credit card data to be collected under expanded EU plan >>> By Ian Traynor

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

An Interview with Geert Wilders

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Pat Condell: The Shari’ah Fiasco

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Two Saudi Scholars Find Nothing Un-Islamic in Allowing Women to Drive
BBC: Two Saudi scholars have said there is nothing in Islamic law to prevent women from driving.

The senior religious figures said the issue depended on the context.

They say women would need to be protected from harassment and that steps would have to be taken to ensure there was no mingling of the sexes.

An opinion poll published by a leading English-language Saudi newspaper suggests that this is a view supported by most Saudi men and women.

The two scholars are Abdel-Mohsin al-Obaikan - one of Saudi Arabia's senior religious figures - and another well-known cleric, Mohsin Awaji.

Both say that, in principle, Islamic law does not prevent women driving.

Everything depends, they say, on the context.

There are road safety issues. Steps need to be taken to prevent harassment of women drivers. Saudi scholars back women drivers >>> By Roger Hardy

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Control Order on Muslim Convert Quashed by the High Court
DAILY EXPRESS: A control order restricting the movements of a British convert to Islam has been quashed by the High Court.

MI5 alleged that restrictions were still necessary because of a "reasonable suspicion" that Cerie Bullivant planned to travel to Iraq or Afghanistan to engage in terrorist activity.



But Mr Justice Collins, sitting at London's High Court, quashed the order after ruling: "There is no reasonable suspicion that establishes that." Islam Convert Control Order Quashed >>>

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Schwere Ausschreitungen und Plünderungen in Belgrad
Foto dank der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung
NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG Online: Nach der Grossdemonstration gegen die Unabhängigkeit Kosovos ist es in der serbischen Hauptstadt Belgrad zu schweren Ausschreitungen gekommen. Maskierte stürmten die amerikanische Botschaft und setzten ein Büro in Brand. In dem Gebäude wurde eine verkohlte Leiche gefunden.

(dpa) Nach dem Angriff von Randalierern auf die amerikanische Botschaft in Belgrad ist in dem Gebäude eine verkohlte Leiche gefunden worden. Das teilte die amerikanische Botschaft mit. Bei dem Toten handelt es sich laut den Angaben offenbar um einen der Randalierer, wie der Belgrader Fernsehsender Pink TV unter Berufung auf die Polizei berichtete. Eine Sprecherin der amerikanischen Botschaft sagte, vom Personal werde niemand vermisst.

Maskierte hatten am Donnerstagabend nach einer Massendemonstration von 150.000 Menschen gegen die Loslösung des Kosovos von Serbien die Botschaft gestürmt und ein Büro in Brand gesetzt. Der amerikanische Botschafter war zum Zeitpunkt des Angriffs nicht anwesend. Eine Elite-Einheit der Polizei fuhr mit Schützenpanzern vor, um die Menge zu zerstreuen. Der Brand in der Botschaft wurde von der Feuerwehr schnell gelöscht. Auch die Gebäude der Botschaften von Grossbritannien, Kroatien, Deutschland und der Türkei wurden angegriffen. Schwere Ausschreitungen und Plünderungen in Belgrad: Amerikanische Botschaft in Brand gesetzt - Fund einer Leiche im Gebäude >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Beveiled Muslims Test Tolerance in Secular Britain
Photo courtesy of the International Herald Tribune
Women covering themselves up is objectionable to many British people, and is seen as a sign of subjugation. British women, along with their sisters in other Western countries, fought long and hard for their liberation and equal rights. They view the veil, especially the full veil, as a step back in time, as a step back to a bygone age. Wearing it is also seen as a clear sign that Muslims do not wish to integrate.

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE - LONDON: Increasingly, Muslim women in Britain take their children to school and run errands covered head to toe in flowing black gowns that allow only a slit for their eyes.

Like little else, their appearance has unnerved Britons, testing the limits of tolerance in this stridently secular nation. Many veiled women say they are targets of abuse. At the same time, efforts are growing to place legal curbs on the full Muslim veil, known as the niqab.

The past year has seen numerous examples: A lawyer dressed in a niqab was told by an immigration judge that she could not represent a client because, he said, he could not hear her. A teacher wearing a niqab was told by a provincial school to go home. A student who was barred from wearing a niqab took her case to the courts, and lost. In fact, the British education authorities are proposing a ban on the niqab in schools altogether.

David Sexton, a columnist for The Evening Standard, wrote recently that Britain has been "too deferential" toward the veil. "I find such garb, in the context of a London street, first ridiculous and then directly offensive," he said.

Although the number of women wearing the niqab has increased in the past several years, only a tiny percentage of women among Britain's two million Muslims cover themselves completely. It is impossible to say how many exactly.

Some who wear the niqab, particularly younger women who have taken it up recently, concede that it is a frontal expression of Islamic identity, which they have embraced since Sept. 11, 2001, as a form of rebellion against the policies of the Blair government in Iraq and at home.

"For me it is not just a piece of clothing, it's an act of faith, it's solidarity," said a 24-year-old program scheduler at a broadcasting company in London, who would allow only her last name, Al Shaikh, to be printed, saying she wanted to protect her privacy. "9/11 was a wake-up call for young Muslims," she said. Head-to-toe Muslim veils test tolerance of secular Britain >>> By Jane Perlez

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)