Al Haqiqa al Douwaliya (Jordan)
Excuses, for peace, and for Muslims above all

Pope Benedict XVI starts a tour of the Holy Land in Jordan on Friday. Expectations are running high for the pontiff, who has repeatedly offended Muslims and Jews, to remedy the situation. The Jordanian press is all very institutional and dry, but Al Haqiqa al Douwaliya prints a sort of official letter from high religious dignitaries, calling on the pope to apologise for the comments he made in 2006 linking Islam with violence.


L’Orient le Jour (Lebanon)
La visite du pape en Jordanie, une bouée de sauvetage pour le tourisme
Pope’s visit to Jordan, a lifebuoy for tourism

The Lebanese paper L’Orient le Jour focuses on the benefits that the papal visit will have for Jordan's tourist industry. Ten thousand visitors are expected for this visit alone, and more broadly, there are hopes that it will help to kick-start of a wave of religious tourism as the pope provides publicity for Biblical sites in Jordan. The country is dependent on tourism for around 15 percent of GDP, and the sector has been hit very hard by the global economic crisis.


Ha’aretz (Israel)
How will the German-born pope address the Holocaust at Yad Vashem?

In Israel, Benedict XVI is on shaky ground. In Ha’aretz, Nadav Sharagai wonders what sort of speech he will make at the Holocaust memorial museum, Yad Vashem. The director of the centre, Avner Shalev, says he expects a strong message on the Holocaust. Shalev says we mustn’t forget that Benedict was in the Hitler Youth and was drafted into the Wermacht – these experiences must have affected the young Ratzinger, he says, even if he abandoned Nazism for Catholicism afterwards. Tension between the pope and Israel also centres on his lifting the excommunication on Richard Williamson, the Holocaust-denying bishop.


The Guardian (UK)
One papal visit – lots of excess baggage

As the British paper The Guardian puts it, the pope will be carrying a lot of excess baggage with him on this visit. The paper also focuses on the planned speech at Yad Vashem, noting how Benedict will not actually tour the museum – perhaps because inside, there is a picture of Pius XII with a caption that the Vatican contests. Jews regard Pius XII as being guilty of gross negligence (or worse) in letting the Holocaust happen on his watch and even condoning it. The Vatican disagrees, and would have the wartime pontiff canonised. Perhaps wisely, Benedict XVI seems keen to avoid the issue.


Daily Telegraph (UK)
The truth about the Cabinet’s expenses

There’s a scandal brewing in the British media as the Daily Telegraph publishes some embarrassing revelations about MPs’ expenses claims. The right-wing paper – the best-selling of Britain’s “quality” dailies – has got its hands on details of what sorts of things various members of Parliament claimed as expenses. They range from the absurd, such as a five-pence Ikea carrier bag claimed by one Scottish Labour MP, to the pricey, for example, the thousands of pounds’ worth of furniture and home improvements for many MPs, including Peter Mandelson after he had already announced his resignation. Some have been refused by the authorities – David Miliband, for example, was told he could pay for his own pram.

The claim to which the Telegraph is giving pride of place is an apparent payment of more than 6,000 pounds from Gordon Brown, the prime minister, to his brother – for cleaning services at his London flat. It seems unlikely that Andrew Brown was actually cleaning his brother’s flat, since he is busy being a senior executive at the French energy firm EDF.

In fact, the brothers employed the same cleaning lady. Andrew organised it and paid for the whole thing, and Gordon simply paid him back for his share. The Telegraph suggests that this was unwise of the prime minister, but the small print is clearly rather less shocking than the headline!

Still, even the Guardian admits that these revelations are likely to do further damage to Brown’s already ailing government.