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Iran Running Scared Of The Net
Numerous mainstream media commentators have discussed how recent events have left Iran in a position of strength. Oil prices are buoyant. Tehran's creature, Hizbollah, boasts of a victory against Israel in this summer's war; in Iraq, Iran's arch-enemy is increasingly tied up against warring factions, at least some of whom act with the blessing of some Iranian clerics. The theocratic state continues its work towards building a nuclear weapon, as the west looks powerless to stop it.
Why, then, is Iran's internal policy more suited to that of a terrified, failing dictatorship than of a cocky regional bruiser?
Try Some Sushi, Jacques
More on Vladimir Putin's embarrassing no-show at Jacques Chirac's birthday feast in Riga. Turns out Chirac didn't bother telling his hosts that he'd invited Putin to his "summit within a summit" - an incredibly insensitive move, considering that Chirac's Lativan counterpart Vaira Vike-Freiberga had been refused two visas to visit Russia herself recently.
Latvian officials even considered refusing Putin a visa to attend Jacques' bash. However, other EU and NATO leaders, including Germany's Angela Merkel, began voicing their displeasure at Chirac's enterprise.
Blog Politics
Not everyone is enjoying the success of some political weblogs. Iain Dale reports on how some blogs are making New Labour rather uncomfortable, while Guido turns his beady eye on the Home Office's attempts to monitor bloggers.
Would you believe that the Home Office has 12 blog "librarians" monitoring bloggers seven days a week? EURSOC gets through his Blogroll in half an hour and still has time to munch a croissant and coffee. What's the poor old British taxpayer forking out for here?
British Airways Unrepentant
British Airways have been forced into an embarrassing climb-down over the suspension of one of its employees, Nadia Eweida, who refused to remove her cross in the face of her employers' biased policies on symbols of faith and uniforms.
Unhappy Birthday
You have to hand it to Jacques Chirac. He's approaching to the end of his presidency, France remains locked in the low-level economic and social crisis that is largely his fault - yet he still finds time for one last snub to his arch-rival Tony Blair.
Terror In Afghanistan
Two conflicting readings of the Afghanistan conflict in the Telegraph and the Independent this morning. The Telegraph Telegraph that some Pakistani officials are urging NATO to "accept the Taliban" and work towards the creation of a new governing coalition in Afghanistan. Apparently, Pakistan's foreign minister, Khurshid Kasuri has even gone so far as to warn NATO government leaders that the Taliban will win and NATO should send no more soldiers.
NATO leaders and members of Afghan president Hamid Karzai's government claim that one of the main reasons the Taliban is so hard to hit is because its main bases are now across the border in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the Independent gives an idea of what sort of Afghanistan can be expected should NATO take this advice and declare defeat. It tells the horrifying story of Mohammed Halim, an Afghani teacher who broke Taliban taboos by teaching girls.
Sharia In Britain
The Telegraph has an interesting report on how sharia law is increasingly used by British Muslim communities instead of the "formal" legal system.
Band Of Boars
In the UK, it's gangs of drunken youths who rampage through town centres at night destroying property and terrifying locals; The small Bavarian towns of Veitshöchheim and Margetshöchheim have the same problem with wild boar.
Women In Black
The burqa debate continues. As the Economist noted this weekend, you are what you wear. Some younger members of western society prefer frayed baggy jeans, a t-shirt with a slogan and a New York-style baseball cap turned in the wrong direction. Their grandfathers, depending on their milieu, go for corduroy trousers, a worse-for-wear cardigan and a tweed cap.
The corollary of people expressing themselves either consciously or otherwise through their clothing is that you can often tell how diverse and tolerant a society is by the variety of different costumes on the streets. This goes, even if what some people wear seems deliberately styled to provoke a reaction in others.
Pope Visits Turkey
Street protests, tensions high before Benedict XVI's first trip to Muslim country
In the first Papal visit to the country side 1979, Benedict XVI lands in Turkey tomorrow amid multiple controversies over relation between the mainly Muslim country and the west.
Guilty Associations
Over at the Guardian, Victoria Brittain is recounting the unfortunate story of Mohammed Abdul Kahar, who was shot during a police raid on his home in London last June. Since his release - no charges were pressed against him - Kahar has been subject to what he and Brittain claim is a campaign of harassment in the police and in the media.
Tehran Tightens Grip
Iran continues to horrify. The Observer runs a story on the execution of Alireza Gorji, 23 and Hossein Makesh, 22, in July this year. Officials say the men were killed, the newspaper reports, because of "immoral" behavior. This would be worrying enough: In recent years, Iran has executed people for homosexuality and 'crimes against chastity'. However, the executions of Gorji and Makesh suggest that the fundamentalist regime is taking ever harsher steps against those it sees as a threat: anti-government campaigners say that the two are "among increasing numbers of political activists being executed by Iran on trumped-up charges."
Pot Calling Kettle
Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie is no stranger to controversy. However, she may have over-reached herself last week, when she told an audience of media students that journalists have "no professional morality," "no ethnics" and that "journalism is not a noble calling."
Mrs Blair has had her differences with the ladies and gentlemen of the press in the past: Her political views, her tastes in clothes, alternative therapy and financial advisers have hit the front pages in recent years. And, unlike the Independent, which published the report on her speech, EURSOC has no quarrel with her thoughts on journalists.
However, let's not forget that Cherie is a lawyer.
Quote Of The Day II
“Christianity is the very soil of this place. Look at what you did in the past, remember what you did.”
John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, on reconciling England with its Christian tradition. Quoted in The Sunday Times.
Quote Of The Day
"We want no more racists in the stadium, no more Nazi salutes, no more monkey calls when a player of colour touches the ball. 'There will be sections half-empty - that is not important. It's better to be alone than to be in such bad company."
- Nicolas Sarkozy on football crowd violence in France. One fan was shot dead by police following an assault by far-right Paris St Germain supporters on a Jewish fan after PSG were defeated by Israel's Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
It's All Rubbish
Remember when you had one dustbin, or in American terms, a trashcan, and you just dumped your garbage inside ?
These days are long gone.
With Friends Like These...
Jacques Chirac is helping Ségolène Royal become president. Why?
As we reported a week ago, Jacques Chirac is considering a crack at a third term as France's president. Only a tiny number of French people - and an even smaller slice of his own party's membership - would like the old anti-warhorse to run again. However, as the Independent reports, Chirac has come to believe that only a "grandfather figure" has any chance of saving France from Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal.
The Media Gap
More evidence that the best independent comment is on the blogs: EU Referendum looks at double standards, Hizbollah and France's green light to its soldiers to fire on Israeli plans swooping on their positions. One of the few British or European observers to challenge the consensus on Lebanon.
It's not only comment, though: EU Referendum's work on the MSM's complicity in broadcasting Hezbollah's version of this summer's conflict was first class.
Sail Away
The European court of justice has ruled against making it easier for European consumers to buy alcohol and cigarettes from countries where excise duties are low.
Tossing Tories
Britain's Conservative Party has revealed its latest scheme to get down with the kids: A perma-tanned Silvio Berlusconi lookalike, described as the "Inner Tosser", who encourages youngsters to rack up huge debts in pursuit of expensive clothes and jewellery.
Quote Of The Day
"(Events in Lebanon make) a mockery of Tony Blair's suggestion – articulated only last week during his Mansion House speech – that the West should engage in a constructive dialogue with both Syria and Iran in an attempt to resolve all the ills of the Middle East. What he singularly fails to understand is that, far from being interested in pursuing a dialogue with the West, the Syrian and Iranian regimes are engaged in an elemental battle with the West to define the future shape of the Middle East."
- Con Coughlin, The Daily Telegraph
Iran Sex Tape: "It Wasn't Me"
The actress at the centre of Iran's biggest (only?) sex scandal for years claims that a video alleged to show her having sex with her ex-boyfriend is a fake. If the authorities don't buy her story, Zahra Amir Ebrahimi faces a ruined career and possibly public lashing under Tehran's indecency laws.
The Fingerprint File
Not so very long ago, if you happened to be stopped by a police officer, depending on the circumstances, you would be asked for your driver number. No passport or ID card (They do not exist in the UK for the moment.)
The right to enquire was delineated by strict legal criteria.
No longer.
It's Just A Jump To The Left...
Do Tories read the Guardian? Well, they should, according to one of party leader David Cameron's closest advisers. According to today's top story, Greg Clark is going to tell Cameron today that the party should ditch its "Churchillian" ideas about poverty and the welfare state and instead start paying attention to left-wing commentators like the Guardian's columnist Polly Toynbee.
This is a little like telling Ulster unionists to forget their old-fashioned allegiance to the Queen and to take on board trendy ideas from interesting new thinkers like Gerry Adams.
Cold Turkey
Forget turkey and plum pudding at Christmas dinners at schools in England this year. The new menu is Halal chicken.
Instead of the usual Christmas dinner for this year's festivities, children at Oakwood comprehensive school in Rotherham, South Yorkshire were to be treated to chicken, prepared in the Islamic halal fashion.
Russian Spy Poisoned
Kremlin responsible for poisoning former spy, friends claim
Doctors in the London hospital treating former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko have given him a 50/50 chance of survival after he was poisoned with thallium.
Royal To UK: Fall Into Line Or Clear Off
France's far right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen came up with a snappy summary of his views on the integration of immigrants earlier this year: La France, Aimez-là ou quittez-là (France: Love it or leave it) will be one of the slogans of next year's presidential elections.
Who would have thought, then, that the office of Socialist Party candidate-elect Ségolène Royal would have come up with a similar sentiment - only this time, to apply to Britain's relationship with the EU?
To be fair to M Le Pen, Mme Royal's office, via her foreign adviser and spokesman Gilles Savary, is not asking Britain to love Europe. Rather, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Britain was advised to "Do things the French way or clear off."
A Better Taxman
Britain's chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown says he plans to make tax easier for business. The government's chief finance minister - and prime minister in waiting - is to promise a new 'tax-friendly' approach to investors in the UK.
EU Judges To Rule On Booze Cruises
It is easier to order alcohol or cigarettes in the EU by telephone, mail or via the internet than to cross a border and buy the goods.
On 23 November, this may change. On this date the European Court of Justice will deliver a verdict upon cross-border sales of booze and cigs.
Al-Qaeda's Double Bluff
Terrorist double agent reveals the conspiracy theorist's conspiracy theory
Al-Qaeda terrorists misled western intelligence agencies into believing Saddam Hussien had weapons of mass destruction, a Moroccan who has worked for European intelligence claims. Its reasoning? That the US would invade Iraq, throwing it into chaos and allow al-Qaeda to set up a base in the ruined country.
Iran Bans Da Vinci Code
Bestsellers and literary classics on Iran's Index Librorum Prohibitorum
Iran's extremist cultural ministry has announced a crackdown on publishing, banning a list of classic works as well as modern foreign and Iranian novels in an attempt to end what it describes as a "poisoned dish to the young generation."
It's Ségo!
Ségolène Royal has overcome a feared last-minute wobble at the polls and become the Socialist Party candidate for next year's presidential elections. While it's early days, opinion polls suggest she stands a good chance of becoming France's first female president.
Quote Of The Day
"This cull is not an act of God. It is a catastrophe aggravated by the ruthless, kleptocratic reign of Robert Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980. The Mugabe regime has succeeded in turning a country once fêted as the breadbasket of Africa into a famished and demoralised land deserted by its men of working age, with its women left to die a silent death."
- Daniel Howden writing in the Independent. Average life expectancy for women in Zimbabwe has fallen from 65 ten years ago to 34 today. World Health Organisation officials, off the record, fear it may be as low as 30.
One Percent Porn
A US government study claims that about one percent of websites covered by Google and Microsoft's net index contain sexually explicit material.
Iran Paper: "50 Percent Of Israel Destroyed"
Sometimes you hear of news reports that are so obviously the products of warped minds that you actually feel sorry for the poor mugs who have to read them. One such story, says MEMRI, appeared in two Iranian papers on October 20.
One paper, Kehyan, claimed in an editorial that Israel was "at least 50 percent destroyed" by Hizbollah in the 33-day war this summer. It added that "the hope of (Israel's) supporters for the continued life of this regime was broken... it is likely that in the next battle, the second half will also collapse."
Turkey Cuts Military Ties With France
Relations between Turkey and France took another downturn today when the head of Turkey's powerful army General Ilker Basbug announced that Ankara was cutting military ties with France. The General explained that the move is a protest against France's vote to prosecute anyone who denies the Armenian massacres were a genocide.
Taxing On The Runway
The European Commission is planning to charge airline passengers a tax to help address what Brussels considers is the problem of dreadful fuel tank stink by aircraft.
Unfriendly Skies
In the passenger airline business US plane manufacturer Boeing is back flying high.
All For One And None For All
The European single market is not a single market. In fact, it is not a market at all
A fantastic new piece of European legislation, the biggest in years, is set to be inaugurated: An attempt to enforce a maximum working week across Europe.
Plutonium Rock
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors have found traces of plutonium and highly enriched uranium dust at an Iranian waste facility - further evidence, perhaps, that Tehran is pushing ahead with its nuclear programme.
Chirac Might Run Again
Jacques Chirac's wife told reporters that the president is "in great shape" and hasn't ruled out running for a third term in April.
The Vatican And The Veil
Speaking of cultural sensitivity issues (see story below), a senior Vatican figure has entered the debate over the Muslim veil. Cardinal Renato Martino, who heads a Vatican committee on migration and immigration, said that immigrants must respect the traditions, culture and religion of the nations they go to.
Alcohol-Jazeera
British staff working for international channel of Arab news broadcaster al-Jazeera have been criticised for their heavy drinking. Staff at the Qatar-based network were ordered to attend lessons on "cultural awareness", and given instructions on how to behave in a Muslim country.
The New Age Of Rail
Good news for Euro Travellers with fear of flying - and, perhaps, for eco warriors concerned about the damage aeroplanes cause to the environment. Eurostar, which currently connects London with Paris, Lille and Brussels, revealed plans for a join-the-dots network connecting several more European cities via developing high-speed lines.
Make Hypocrisy History
Channel Four news presenter Jon Snow hit the headlines himself last week when he refused to take part in the media tradition of wearing a poppy to commemorate Britain's war dead while reading the news.
Snow complained of "poppy fascism" and said, "I am not going to wear it or any other symbol on air... I do not believe in wearing anything that represents any kind of statement."
Now that depends on the statement.
French Class
Charles Bremner has an excellent guide to French political terms in today's Times blog. Here are a few examples:
Anglo-Saxon = hegemonic power bent on promoting le libéralisme (see below) and harming France
blairisme = stealth conservative, alien, used as insult (see Anglo-Saxon, liberal)
déloyal = unfair, low cost (la concurrence déloyal = someone who charges less than you)
déclinologue = unpatriotic commentator, liberal
UK: Al-Qaeda Plans Nuclear Attack
While Blair makes overtures to Iran, Iran woos al-Qaeda?
More dark news from British intelligence: Terror network al-Qaeda is plotting a nuclear attack on Britain, and internet chatter from jihadi websites shows the organisation is desperately seeking materials to build nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
NK Nukes "Protect The South"
North Korea claims nuclear weapons defend South from US attack; Seoul backpedals on plans to stop and search NK cargo
The newspaper of North Korea's communist party has claimed that its "war deterrent" is designed not only to prevent a US invasion of the North, but as a sign of "warm compatriotism" which protects the South too.
Ségo Sails Into Teaching Storm
French presidential hopeful Ségolène Royal has run into her first serious obstacle to winning the Socialist Party's candidacy for president. In a video apparently smuggled out of a party meeting in her Poitou-Charentes département ten months ago, she appeared to insult a group that makes up much of the Socialists's support: Teachers.
Royal was filmed arguing that more must be done to keep teachers in schools. At present, they spend around 17 hours of the 35 hour week teaching. The remainder is spent supposedly preparing lessons, though Royal seems to claim that many teachers are off moonlighting for private academies.
Sixteen Years Later
Yesterday the Observer reprinted its leader column from March 18, 1990. The leader was written days after Saddam Hussein's Iraq hanged Observer journalist Farzad Bazoft, following his conviction on trumped-up spying charges.
Much has changed in the years since Bazfoft's murder. Most obviously, it's now Saddam himself who faces the noose. But the leader, sixteen years on, makes fascinating reading, coming as it does only two years after Saddam gassed thousands of Kurds in Halabja and only weeks before Iraq invaded Kuwait, launching the first Gulf War.
Nearly everything in the leader can be plucked out and pasted as a telling "Quote of the Week" - read the whole thing.
Iran Rewards Far-Right Cartoonist
No Pasaran leads with the news that a French cartoonist, Chard, won second place in Iran's challenge to come up with images that would test western sensitivities concerning the Holocaust. The competition was launched following Muslim outrage over depictions of Mohammed in Danish newspapers - Iran's leaders said they wanted to see how the west would react when one of its sacred beliefs, in this case what Iran's culture minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar-Harandi describes as "the myth" of the Holocaust was defiled.
Spooks Working Overtime
Britain's counter-espionage field officers are working double-shifts these days. The secret security service, better known as MI5, have their official HQ at Millbank, not far along the Thames from the Houses of Parliament.
Their Secret Intelligence Service counterpart, MI6, is across the river, opposite the Tate Gallery at Vauxhall Cross.
But the real work today, some would say, is conducted by MI5 - Although rival MI6 might disagree.
Passports, Please
Passports are a sensitive subject these days. The United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and Australia, amongst other countries, have begun to demand that their citizens have 'bio-electronic' passports.
Hard Times At Libération
The Independent reports today on the continuing strife at France's left-wing tabloid, Libération. The newspaper, which is a favourite of the nation's students and teachers, is losing an estimated €13 million a year. Despite a €20 million investment from Edouard de Rothschild, journalists, unions and shareholders have been unable to agree on a plan to save the paper.
Quote Of The Day
"Safety experts said yesterday that launching a rocket from the backside was a practice that contravened the firework code."
- The Times reports on a UK serviceman who decided to liven up a fireworks display and ended up with with fire in the hold.
French "Nearly Fired" On Israelis
French troops in Lebanon 'seconds away' from shooting at Israeli jets
France's defence minister Michele Alliot-Marie has told the French assembly that ground troops narrowly avoiding "catastophe" by holding their fire when Israeli jets swooped on UN positions in October.
Rumsfeld To Go
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is to step down, President George W Bush has announced following heavy losses for the Republicans in yesterday's mid-term elections. Mr Bush said that both he and Rumsfeld agreed that the US administration's Iraq policy was "not working well enough, fast enough" and that a new face was needed to bring a "fresh perspective" to the issue.
Uh-Oh
Republican or Democrat, you've got to admit that this sight must be one of the most depressing in politics... unless of course you're a lawyer.
Screenshot from the Drudge Report.
Quote Of The Day II
"This isn't social progress, in my view, social progress is our duty" - EU Employment Commissioner, Vladimir Spidla, on the failure of talks to bring an end to Britain's opt-out of Europe's Working Hours Directive. Quoted in the Independent.
How Mr Spidla, who is a Czech, came to the conclusion that the hours British workers choose to work is any business of the EU's is beyond us. His remarks follow yet another failure to agree on how European working practices should be centralised.
Quote Of The Day
"I'd rather be a friend of the American people than the poodle of George Bush"
- French presidential hopeful Laurent Fabius. Fabius was speaking at the third and final debate between Socialist contenders for the party's nomination. His opponents, Ségolène Royal and Dominique Strauss-Kahn also denounced Bush's politics.
Fabius, who is presenting himself as the champion of the party's left, is viewed as an outsider for the candidacy.
While all three spoke of their opposition to Iran's nuclear program, Fabius was the only candidate of the three who categorically ruled out inviting Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Elysee Palace.
America Votes
Final polls suggest Republicans closing gap in crucial mid-term elections
Voting began this morning in the US mid-term elections, with opposition Democrat supporters hoping that they can wrest control of at least one house of Congress from the Republicans.
The world's commentariat sees the election referendum on the performance of President George Bush and, more particularly, the progress of the war in Iraq.
Life Sentence For Terror Plotter
Plotted to bring "indiscriminate carnage, bloodshed and butchery" to US and Britain
Muslim convert Dhiren Barot was jailed for life today for plotting a series of devastating terror attacks in London, Washington, New York and Newark. Barot, 34, was told that his plans for mass murder followed "no noble cause" but were instead strikes aimed "at the very heart of democracy and the security of the state."
Olympic Bill Leaps Higher
The cost of hosting 2012's Olympic Games in London could rise by up to a billion quid because the government failed to include the cost of VAT on venue building budgets, British "Olympics Minister" Tessa Jowell admitted yesterday.
Unfriendly Fire
Wonder how popular the BBC's Alastair Leithead is among the Royal Marines he's embedded with in southern Afghanistan. It's a dangerous place, what with rogue Taliban fighters, flying mortars and regular machine gun attacks.
And then there's the other danger... clumsy journalists.
Click more for an extract from Leithead's diary:
No Oil For Ken
When a rich country takes oil from a much poorer country at well below the market rate, commentators are quick to attack the colonialist plunder of developing world natural resources. The usual suspects were strangely quiet, however, when London's Mayor Ken Livingstone arranged a deal to buy cheap oil from Venezuela's tough guy leader Hugo Chavez.
Not Hounded Out
The Guardian has a surprisingly balanced account of how England's fox hunters are getting round the ban parliament introduced 18 months ago.
By "balanced", we mean the reporter speaks to both sides and treats the hunting fraternity with respect, even riding with a hunt at one stage. Wonder why this issue has become suitable for even-handedness, after decades of being an emotive hot spot for Guardian's class warriors?
Don't be too disappointed, though. The reporter admits, at the end, that he doesn't have the stomach to watch a fox at the kill. He signs off with a recommendation that perhaps parliamentarians who spent 700 hours debating the hunting ban but only seven hours debating the invasion of Iraq might make more suitable prey.
Power Grab
Europe suffered one of its worst ever blackouts on Saturday night, blamed variously on chilly Germans turning up their heaters, lack of investment in electricity supply infrastructure, poor cross-border coordination of supplies and a Norwegian cruise liner sucking dry the Deutsche national grid.
Though the power cut was traced to Germany, its effect was felt as far away as Spain and Italy. Train lines across Europe were halted by the power cut. In France, 5 million were left without power and fireman were called to rescue around 40 people stuck in lifts.
It's shocking that Europe can be hit by blackouts like this - but does it really justify demands for a EU power grab from France's Socialist contender Ségolène Royal and Italy's PM Romano Prodi?
Saddam Sentenced To Death
Former president to hang: Protests and celebration in Iraq
Baghdad: Saddam Hussein has been found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging.
The former president of Iraq, captured by US forces in December 2003, was convicted of ordering the deaths of 148 people in the Shia town of Dujal in 1982, following an assassination attempt.
Sniffing Out The Truth
A new website plans to monitor BBC activity by noting every time a comment on the BBC's Have Your Say website is removed or "censored" by webmasters.
News Sniffer collects comments the BBC removes from its website, publishing the views the Beeb doesn't want you to read. As of 12.30 GMT today, News Sniffer's Watch Your Mouth page was monitoring 162,087 comments and found 3,464 censored.
Another News Sniffer service, Revisionista, counts and collects every version of each news story the BBC's site publishes, posting different versions side by side for readers to note updates.
Fright Night
The BBC notes that one of this week's top stories on its website was the news that the Hallowe'en festival is dying off in France. Anti-American sentiment is given as a major reason for the decline.
How much truth is in this? Is the BBC right to report that the French have once again revolted against commercialism and American influence - or should its reporters stay off the Scooby Snacks during the festival season?
Guardian Hoisted By Own Pet Toad
Melanie Phillips reports on the Guardian's delight that far-right BNP leader Nick Griffin approves of her views. Surely someone quoted approvingly by an extremist nutcase like Griffin must be beyond the pale?
But wait... is this the same Nick Griffin who "draws extensively and admiringly upon the Guardian, no less, to support his antisemitic fantasies about global Jewish power and the cabal around President Bush", as Melanie wonders?
News Round-Up
Egypt hates Denmark, Vatican virgins, Britain gets (more) Orwellian
Egyptians count Denmark among their deadliest foes, according to a poll published yesterday. A random sample of Egyptians told pollsters that only Israel (92 percent) was more hostile to Egypt than Denmark (60 percent).
72 Muslim Staff Barred At Paris Airport
72 workers at France's Charles de Gaulle airport have been stripped their security clearance for allegedly posing a "terrorist risk" to passengers. Airport authorities claim the staffers, who include cleaners and baggage handlers, spent time in terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. All but two are Muslims.
Quote Of The Day
“This is a left-wing university which has a social project... It is not an institution designed for professional training.”
- Daniel Filâtre, President of Toulouse II-Le Mirail university. From The Economist's survey of France.
Google Ads Set To Overtake TV
TV Chief compares internet to global warming
Search engine giant Google could become Britain's biggest recipient of advertising revenue by 2008, it was claimed today.
The speculation follows the release of advertising figures for the first six months of the year. With $712 million (£373 million) in the pot already, Google looks set to hit $1.57 billion (£824 million) by the end of the year. This would mean that for once an internet company outstripped a television broadcaster: Channel Four, Britain's second-largest commercial broadcast channel, is expected to take £800 million this year.
Poll: Scots Want Independence
An opinion poll carried out on the eve of the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union between Scotland and England shows that for the first time since 1998, a majority of Scots want to break away from the rest of the UK.
Here Is Le News
France's international broadcast news channel, designed to counter the "Anglo-Saxon" values of the BBC and CNN, finally launches in December.
France 24 opens on December 6th on the internet: It begins broadcasting to Europe, Africa, the Middle East and parts of the US two days later.
Smeg Head
Eighties-style political correctness is alive and well, at least in the mind of former CND head and Moscow apologist "Monsignor" Bruce Kent. Iain Dale reports on Kent's reaction to the fridge in the office of 18 Doughty Street. The patriotic boys at the new broadcaster had decorated their Smeg with a Union Jack: Kent rolled his eyes and asked if he was in the "National Front's headquarters."
