La Derniere Heure (Belgium)
"Obama escapes assassins"
Belgium newspaper La Derniere Heure has a chilling picture of 20-year-old Daniel Cowart brandishing a rifle. He’s one of two suspects arrested after US authorities uncovered a plot to assassinate Barack Obama.
The two young neo-Nazis are accused of amassing firearms and hatching a plot to shoot 88 people and decapitate 14 more before culminating their planned killing spree with the assassination of the Democratic presidential candidate.
It’s not the first plot to be foiled…Back in August at the Democratic Convention in Denver, authorities arrested three men for possessing firearms at Obama’s official investiture.
The New York Times (US)
"Arrests in Plan to kill Obama and Black Schoolchildren"
The New York Times carries the same story but goes into the threat to Obama in more detail. The US daily says that the two men are white supremacists who met through the internet and had planned to target black school children as part of their plan.
The article goes on to say that Obama’s status as the first black presidential nominee from a major party has led to increased fears about his safety. He was assigned Secret Service protection back in May last year, the earliest a candidate has ever had such protection in the run up to a presidential election..
Corriere della Sera (Italy)
“The Neo-Nazi galaxy”
Moving on to the Italian press and the Corriere della Sera talks about the rise of the white power movement and the role which the internet has played. It says that neo-Nazis frequently use the internet as a means to escape anti-terror laws and spread their violent messages.
The Irish Times (Ireland)
“For many evangelicals it will be the end of the world if Obama wins”
Staying with Obama, the Irish Times has an article on the evangelical community’s fears that “it will be the end of the world if Obama wins”.
James Dobson, one of the US’s most influential figures whose annual religious broadcasts reach upwards of 200 million conservatives, has been openly hostile towards John McCain.
But now, faced with the very real prospect of Obama becoming the next president, he has mobilised support behind the Republican candidate.
The article essentially asks how influential the evangelical hardliners really are and whether they could be the deciding factor when America goes to the polls.
Le Figaro (France)
“The Spanish economy experiences a hangover”
Business now and French daily Le Figaro focuses on the impact of the credit crunch on Spain….Inflation is rising by roughly 4 percent a year, while unemployment is now hovering around 11.3 percent representing 2.5 million people without jobs.
The article says that Spain’s housing crisis has been the hardest hit by the economic turmoil. The article casts its gaze upon El Quinon, a neighborhood in the middle of an industrial complex 40 kilometres south of Madrid, which was created back in 2003.
Some 13,000 homes were built. But five years on, many of the homes are empty and the project is in ruins…By the end of the year it’s estimated that 75 percent of the country’s estate agents will have shut up shop.












