I once dabbled in witchcraft, says Tea Party heroine Christine O'Donnell

The breakthrough of the far-right Swedish Democrats has the international press talking

Starting in Britain where the Pope has of course just left after his historic four day visit- the papers are summing up his trip this morning- 

-the Telegraph editorial is absolutely glowing in its praise- they say the pontiff demonstrated the abiding strength of Christianity within the nation

-it says he showed a clarity of thought to shame the woolly utterances of Britain’s politicians. 

It also says the Pope showed great moral courage over child sex abuse- you remember he offered his deep sorrow- which isn’t quite the same as an apology- but it’s certainly enough for the Telegraph. 

Not necessarily enough for the Guardian though.

Their editorial says the Pope’s visit was irrelevant to most Britons, the country is mostly secular and the paper says the Pope did not build any bridges with non believers, instead talked about atheists endangering Christmas

-they’re also critical of the people who protested against the visit, saying they should be more respectful of others’ faith

-but they conclude that the Pope didn’t connect his spiritual kingdom to modern Britain because he didn’t engage with modern realities.

The Independent is criticising other world leaders today- they’re talking about the millennium development goals- meeting today in New York of course

-the paper says the goals are completely the wrong approach to world poverty

-they say aid can’t solve everything so ploughing more money into charity projects won’t lift people out of poverty without political change- like changing international trade rules to favour poorer countries.

The paper says lots of money has been squandered and even if rich countries pledge lots more this week in New York there’s no guarantee it will be well spent.

The electoral break through of the extreme right Swedish Democrats is all over the international press too-

the Wall Street Journal has it on the front page

-they say it shows a Europe wide move to the far right, also seen in Denmark and Holland- because of widespread fear of Islamic influence and a growing individualism in society to Swedish voters are less keen to support the poor than they once were because modern life leaves us all feeling more alone.

But the Swedish press says foreign papers are making a fuss about nothing.

The editorial in left wing daily Dagens Nyheter says that while the Swedish Democrats are extreme this tendency has been in Swdeish politics for a long time, this no major break through and so nothing to get too worried about.

In the Guardian, Egypt has come up with a novel way of trying to stop women being harassed, catcalled, groped and so on in the street.

Now if this happens to you in Egypt you can text a number reporting the incident, you get a text back with some advice and using GPS the place you were hassled is plotted on an online map.

HarassMap is a private intiative aiming to prove to the Egyptian government that there is a serious problem with harsassment

-90% of women in Egypt say they’ve experienced it but the government denies it.

And finally- revelations are coming thick and fast in the American press about Christine O’Donnell, the very right wing Tea Party candidate who won the Republican primary in Delaware last week and has become famous after a series of old video clips of her were leaked online- including one where she said masturbation was a sin.

There are lots more of these clips, saying US feminist website Jezebel, which has been collecting revelations about O’Donnell- they’ve found video where she say she once dabbled in witchcraft and visited a satanic altar.

She’s a strict Catholic now of course, but these embarrassing old clips are certainly doing her campaign some damage.

She pulled out of a Fox News interview yesterday after the latest video came out.

The clips come from a 90s show called Politically Incorrect- irs former host Bill Maher says he’s going to release a clip every week until she agrees to appear on his current talk show on HBO.

Some might think she’s hilarious but among right wing Americans she’s becoming a heroine- the article points out her campaign has attracted a million dollars of donations in just few days since she won the Delaware primary last week.