Free Republic

If you want to know why I'm optimistic that home builders will eventually find sources of capital to replace bank financing for site acquisition and development of future projects, check this out... The Middle East's wealthiest private investors may seek to take advantage of collapsing real estate markets in the West by increasing their investments in the U.S. and U.K., according to research done recently by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch. Such investors now control about $1,700 billion in assets, a figure the researchers say will rise to $3,400 billion by 2012. "Our clients are asking us about U.S. distressed real...

PAKISTANI President Pervez Musharraf today called for a ban on the "defamation of Islam" in a speech to the UN General Assembly in which he took a veiled swipe at Pope Benedict XVI for his remarks linking the Muslim faith to violence. "We also need to bridge, through dialogue and understanding, the growing divide between the Islamic and Western worlds," General Musharraf told the 192-member assembly. "It is imperative to end racial and religious discrimination against Muslims and to prohibit the defamation of Islam." In an indirect reference to Pope Benedict XVI, he said, "It is most disappointing to see...

Full text: Muslim groups' letter Lives are being put at risk by UK policies, the letter says British Muslim groups have written to the prime minister calling for "urgent" changes to UK foreign policy. In an open letter they say British policy is putting civilians at increased risk in the UK and abroad. This is the text: "Prime Minister, As British Muslims we urge you to do more to fight against all those who target civilians with violence, whenever and wherever that happens. It is our view that current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in...

On 14 July 2005 the Times published a photograph of a thoughtful young man at work in a Yorkshire classroom. Mohammad Sidique Khan was pictured, purse-lipped and neatly bearded, in the school where he was employed as a teaching mentor. Khan’s CV was one of which any parent might be proud. The son of a foundry worker who had emigrated from Pakistan, Khan was born in Leeds, where he succeeded at school and went on to univer-sity. Happily married, and a regular worshipper at his local mosque, Khan’s work seemed designed to allow others to enjoy the British dream. His...

PARIS Very soon, France is going to have to figure out whether people like Kamel Hamza are its salvation or its worst nightmare. Barely 30, born in France of Algerian parents, Hamza recently launched a telecommunications business that works with Bouygues and MCI in one of France's worst neighborhoods. Seine St-Denis, just north of Paris, is the most violent departement in France. La Courneuve, where Hamza's company is headquartered above a nearly deserted mini-mall, is one of the bleaker corners of it. Seine St-Denis is marked by immigration (it's one-third Muslim), unemployment (30 percent in La Courneuve), and underclass violence...