President Obama has a peculiar talent for enraging his critics while deflating the enthusiasm of his friends, on full display in the Manhattan mosque controversy.

His first intervention, at a White House dinner for Ramadan on Friday, was an unqualified defense of both religious liberty and religious tolerance, implying that opposition to a mosque near Ground Zero violated both. In his second intervention, in an unplanned exchange with a reporter on Saturday, he insisted that he was not commenting "on the wisdom" of building the mosque, merely affirming the right to a construction permit. It was not a contradiction, but it was a marked change in tone. Obama managed to collect all the political damage for taking an unpopular stand without gaining credit for political courage.




But being hapless does not make the president wrong.

Though columnists are loath to admit it, there is a difference between being a commentator and being president. Pundits have every right to raise questions about the construction of an Islamic center near Ground Zero. Where is the funding coming from? What are the motives of its supporters? Is the symbolism insensitive?

But the view from the Oval Office differs from the view from a keyboard. A president does not merely have opinions; he has duties to the Constitution and to the citizens he serves -- including millions of Muslim citizens. His primary concern is not the sifting of sensitivities but the protection of the American people and the vindication of their rights.

By this standard, Obama had no choice but the general path he took. No president, of any party or ideology, could tell millions of Americans that their sacred building desecrates American holy ground. This would understandably be taken as a presidential assault on the deepest beliefs of his fellow citizens. It would be an unprecedented act of sectarianism, alienating an entire faith tradition from the American experiment. If a church or synagogue can be built on a commercial street in Lower Manhattan, declaring a mosque off-limits would officially equate Islam with violence and terrorism. No president would consider making such a statement. And those commentators who urge the president to do so fundamentally misunderstand the presidency itself.



An inclusive rhetoric toward Islam is sometimes dismissed as mere political correctness. Having spent some time crafting such rhetoric for a president, I can attest that it is actually a matter of national interest. It is appropriate -- in my view, required -- for a president to draw a clear line between "us" and "them" in the global conflict with Muslim militants. I wish Obama would do it with more vigor. But it matters greatly where that line is drawn. The militants hope, above all else, to provoke conflict between the West and Islam -- to graft their totalitarian political manias onto a broader movement of Muslim solidarity. America hopes to draw a line that isolates the politically violent and those who tolerate political violence -- creating solidarity with Muslim opponents and victims of radicalism.

How precisely is our cause served by treating the construction of a non-radical mosque in Lower Manhattan as the functional equivalent of defiling a grave? It assumes a civilizational conflict instead of defusing it. Symbolism is indeed important in the war against terrorism. But a mosque that rejects radicalism is not a symbol of the enemy's victory; it is a prerequisite for our own.

The federal government has a response to American mosques taken over by advocates of violence. It investigates them, freezes their assets and charges their leaders. It does not urge zoning decisions that express a general discomfort with Islam itself.

Here again, this debate illustrates a gap in perspective. A commentator can speak with obvious sincerity of preventing American hallowed ground from being overshadowed by a mosque. A president not only serves Muslim citizens, not only commands Muslims in the American military, but also leads a coalition that includes Iraqi and Afghan Muslims who risk death each day fighting Islamic radicalism at our side. How could he possibly tell them that their place of worship inherently symbolizes the triumph of terror?

There are many reasons to criticize Obama's late, vacillating response to the Manhattan mosque, and perhaps even to criticize this particular mosque. But those who want a president to assert that any mosque would defile the neighborhood near Ground Zero are asking him to undermine the war on terrorism. A war on Islam would make a war on terrorism impossible.

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        My name is Elizabeth and I really don't remember much before my seventh birthday.  The only thing I really have to go on, is the diary and stories Grandma used to tell me and Evan; my older Brother.  Sometime in the fall of Twenty-Sixteen, right before the November elections, a small but vocal part of the citizenry began to take matters in their own hands. Angry because attempts to get their representatives on the ballots had failed miserably, they were not willing to concede that their beliefs were not those of the majority of Americans.  Already armed more heavily than 90% of the population, they broke into cells scattered throughout the states and embarked on a wave of DEATH and DESTRUCTION, never seen within our shores. 

       Grandma told us that at the time things started happening, it seemed as though the country was just experiencing some terrible and unfortunate events.  First the Oakland Raiders Football team perished in a plane crash just outside the fences of LAX airport.  Three days later, a fire brokeout in "The Stable Club", a popular D.C. restaurant and meeting place for high ranking Democrats in and out of office.  That fundraiser took the lives of 6 seated Senators, the Chairman of Party, and 3 house representatives, while 11 others where rushed to the hospital, seriously burned and near death.  Arson was ruled the cause after excelerants were found and the fact emergency doors were chained together from the outside.  The media kept incident reporting buried in the back pages of the paper, while broadcasters relegated it to the wee hours of the morning.  The following week 4 democratic Governors were shot dead in their offices, while 11 more received threats that they were next, prompting some elected Democrats to start resigning out of fear.  National Guard was dispatched in each state to protect those in office, but it was too little to late, according to Grandma, because the powers that be in our country had never really taken our homegrown terrorists seriously until now.  The nation was ill prepared for what lay ahead.
        October 17, celebrated in past years as "International Day for the Eradication of Poverty", took on a whole new meaning to the Teabag militia, and those of us on the receiving end of their wrath.  Starting at 5:00am EST, critical Infrastructure ranging from Interstates and crucial bridges, to electrical power stations and remote Satellite installations were blown to bits, along with anyone in the way.  Airport control towers were leveled, leaving planes circling until they dropped from the sky as their fuel ran out.  Within the hours, armies of bulldozers and commandeered tanks entered city after city that had voted for Democrats and began leveling their houses, schools, churches, day-cares, and shops.  Shooting to kill anyone that didn't flee the destruction.  Grandma told me that neighborhoods of color, mainly Hispanics and African American, were targeted first, followed by trailer parks full of poor whites, believing that making the poor and minorities homeless, living day to day hungry and fearful, would keep them from voting that November, thus ensuring a victory in the upcoming election for the Teabaggers candidates.

Her diary entry at 3:00 pm that day, of how word had spread like fire through Grandma's neighbors that the bulldozers had already flattened the east side and were within 45 minutes of their houses.  How she cried as she loaded blankets, clothes, food, and her dog and two cats in the back of her truck.  Hearing the machines approaching, she hurriedly filled jugs with water, loaded a trash bag with matches, soap, a frying pan, cups and a couple towels, plus a notebook full of addresses and her purse, and took one final glance as she ran from her house to the truck.  In the rear view mirror she watched as house after house behind her fell in a cloud of dust as she drove away.  She hoped her neighbors too were able to escape, she probably would never know for sure though.  Speeding through stop signs and lights, she asked the trucks built in phone to dial my Dad.  Finally, after 3 rings he answered.  "Leave work and head home now", she later wrote in her diary, as the words she uttered to my father. "Stay off the interstates, tell your employees, most of the city is gone. Bye, I'll see you soon, be careful". 

    Grandma wrote that she

spotted Harvey's 

grown children with granddaughter in tow, running with a crowd of people being chased by gun wielding men in cars and pick up trucks, who were slowly picking them off one by one.  As she came alongside them, she wrote that she yelled to them to get in, and they did.  The next entry told of bodies littering the street behind her speeding truck as men, women and children screamed in utter terror as she drove past them.  A few miles down the road she wrote that she pulled over into an old shopping center lot, abandoned long ago, to allow her passengers to get themselves more secured in the bed of the truck.  Moments later, she once again hit the road, her sights set on locating Harvey.  After spending 30 minutes detouring around the ribbons of gravel and concrete chunks once known as highway that encircled the city, Grandma wrote that she pulled into the parking lot of the printing firm were he worked as a designer.  The lot was empty save one car with a flat tire.  Just as she was about to drive off, she spotted him, jumping up out of the tall grass and running towards the truck.  Once he was inside the cab, she could see the relief on his face, and even more so as he turned to see his family safely in the back.  She wrote that she told him she was heading to my Dad's.  Hopefully, we all would be safe their, at least for a little while.  His only response was "Go".  She told him to try and phone him but by now all radio's, televisions, phones, and computers were eerily quiet as communications had ceased across the continental U.S.

        The next entry in the diary, written at 8:00pm tells of driving miles out of route, avoiding roadblocks were people were pulled from their vehicles if they were the wrong color, shackled, and loaded into police transport vans.  Resistors were shot or set on fire as onlookers laughed.  Finally arriving at my Father's, Dad rushed outside and helped carry the supplies into the his house.  He gathered everyone in Evan and I's toy room.  All the vehicles were parked around back, tails to the house, fueled and ready to go.  We pulled all the shades, locked all the doors, and boarded the up the lower windows.  Grandma penned that by midnight, with the house secured, everyone shared a small meal, taking turns talking about what they had been through during the day.  Later while the children and younger adults rested, Harvey and Grandma sat guard with the only rifle we had among us, cloaked in light from an oil lamp.  Dad, would go upstairs every hour or so and look out the curtains to see if anyone was approaching or roaming around outside. The next morning, a hard series of knocks landed on the front door or our home.  According to Grandma, Dad thought it best to have Harvey and his family, hide down in the basement.  Just as Dad locked the downstairs door, the knocks came again, only harder.  Grandma walked to the front door, unchained it and peered through the small opening.  The man at the door smiled into the door opening and said, it was safe to come out, turn your telly back on for further information, and then walked off the porch with his comrade and headed to the house next door.  Grandma wrote that she wasn't sure she believed the uniformed man, as she didn't recognize the outfit he was wearing.  

        Dad opened the door wider, and peered out at the men walking away, then shut the door.  They're British, Dad said to Grandma.  They both stepped out on the porch, and watched the men go to each house on the block.  Back inside, her diary said that Dad turned on the television and we all huddled around it as the Reporter showed pictures of the British forces arriving in America, and stopping the overthrow.  As the footage of leveled cities, and bodies strewn about the streets ran across the screen, Grandma brought Harvey and family up from the basement to share in the good news.  Slowly, we all filed outside, dropping to kiss the ground and thank God above for sparing us.      

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Representative Eric J. J. Massa (D-NY)......his disgraceful behavior is only because he is another politician who will not tell the truth.  No one will ever know whether or not he is gay, or straight, because the tongues of liars tend to tell lies.  But the evidence is squarely on the side, that he is not what he seems to be.  From the racism of men like Mitch McConnell; Senator from Kentucky and House Republican Leader John A. Boehner; whose sole purpose seems to be where is the tanning bed, hypocrisy reigns supreme.  They continue to make a mockery of this Presidency, with lies, half truths, and division.  They seem to be hell bent on not only making this President fail, but proving that what we would see in the future is more of them.  The face we would see is a bunch of liars, cheats, and frauds.  There are moments in history where brave men were called to battle, to fight for something that the flag and this Country is supposed to stand for.  But charlatans are forever knocking on the door of sanity.  These men have no grace under fire.  Republicans and Democrats have always had their scoundrels, but there will always be hero's on both sides of the aisle.  And to forget that is to forget your history.  "Those who forget history, are doomed to repeat it", so STARGATE, WATERGATE and GITMO will always come around.   If our leaders lie to themselves, then what kind of leadership do we have?  We have to remember the sins of the past, in order to seize the victories of the future! 

ECCLESIASTES, 14:  I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

        ARTWORK C.MCPHERSON

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This is OUR COUNTRY, Senator Bunning !

     Finally, the Senate came together for the benefit of the people it represents and voted to extend help for the jobless and keep federal highway dollars flowing. .  How one very old Republican could believe that cutting off what little life sustaining money, millions of individuals were receiving was the right thing to do, I'll never understand.  Here is a Senator, who by his very own background as a player in Major League Baseball, should understand how to work as a team to achieve what's best for all concerned, made it clear Friday in his own words "that he didn't give a shit" about anything but his own agenda.  What a pathetic excuse of a man he is.  Was it any wonder his phones never stopped ringing, and worse yet, there were bomb threats.  Personally, I believe he relented and voted for the stopgap legislation solely due to mounting pressure and assaults by Democrats and Republicans alike, and not from having a change of heart for the people of this country. 

      He, like a few others in the Senate are so out of touch with everyday Americans and the seriousness of the struggles they face daily in this economy, trying to house and feed themselves and their families.  Until the Jim Bunnings of the world actually experience being broke, homeless, and hungry, wondering the streets exhausted,  because the shelters are full beyond capacity, they'll never feel compassion for those that are out there now, or are one unemployment check away.  

       It is a shame that we, the people of the United States of America, who employ you to represent our best interests, have to suffer your incompetence until someone else is elected to your seat to replace you.  Were you acting like a buffoon and making these decisions as a member of the private sector, you would have been fired and out on your ass immediately.  Maybe its time to end this type of grandstanding within "our" House and Senate through procedural or rule changes, or maybe better yet, we as citizens, just need to elect a higher caliber of individuals to the offices that affect our lives so directly.  Senator Bunning we will be keeping a watchful eye on you, and counting down the minutes until leave office.  I would call it retirement, but we all know the only reason you won't be back for another term, stems from the inability to attain funding for a re-election campaign from within your own party.  Like a dinosaur, you and your kind are facing extinction within politics.  The American people can't and won't tolerate your holding their lives hostage.    

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Ah, what better way to honor OPPOSITE DAY, January 25th

    The members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives have decided to sit with lawmakers from the other party when President Obama delivers his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.  The shootings in Tucson, AZ, and the national stock-taking that have followed, persuaded Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colorado, to propose that lawmakers sit with members of the opposite party during the State of the Union Address.  The idea has caught fire, even with partisans.

       Senator Murray will be sitting with members of the Republican leadership.  Just a few months ago, GOP leaders were recruiting and raising money for her opponent Dino Rossi.  Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., will keep company with moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. The collaboration goes beyond one night. Cantwell and Collins are cosponsors of the CLEAR Act, a climate-energy bill that has sought to break the Congressional logjam over cutting greenhouse gas emissions. 
     Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., who fought a years-old legal battle with House Speaker John Boehner, will either sit with veteran GOP Rep. Tom Petri of Wisconsin or Rep. Kevin Brady, a very conservative Texas Republican.  Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., will sit with Rep. Charlie Bass, R-New Hampshire, who last November captured a Democrat-held House seat.  Adam Smith, D-Wash., will sit with Rep. Buck McKeon, R-California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.  The dean of Washington's congressional delegation, Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., may sit with Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., its longest serving Republican.
     The cross-aisle seating has taken hold in all regions of the country. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the Republicans' 2008 presidential nominee, will join Sen. Tom Udall, D-New Mexico.  Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, Senate Democratic Whip, will join Republican Sen. Mark Kirk, who embarrassed Democrats last November by winning President Obama's old Senate seat.  The real union of opposites will be Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate's brassiest Democrat, sitting with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, the Republican who constantly puts a "hold" on Obama administration legislation.
     The only way to finish the night would be to join hands and sing the old Girl Scout song "Make new friends, but keep the old".  Who knows, if this works, maybe they could give it a try at the U.N.

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This is the first time in the history of the United States that a sitting President not only hosted a Diwali ceremony but was also present at the function.Indian government and Indian people are very happy on this Diwali as the American president Barack Obama himself celebrated the Indian lights festival.

"This coming Saturday, Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists, here in America and around the world, will celebrate this holiday by lighting diyas, or lamps, which symbolise the victory of light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance," said Obama at a ceremony in the East Room.

Obama said at his ceremonial speech in white house. It was previous president George .W Bush who actually started that tradition but he never took part himself but now Obama has taken a step ahead of litting the lamp and of taking part in ceremony by himself. Obama went to Indian treaty room and lit lamp with a candle then he listen the speech of “pandit” who was reciting from the sacred book Upanishads. Obama also had a “tilak” on his head.

Obama then lit the traditional lamp with a candle as a Hindu priest with a three-forked tilak on his forehead chanted "Asatoma Sadgamaya" (Lead us from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to liberation) from the Upanishads.

Obama listened intently as the priest ended his invocation with "Om Shanti Shanti", returned the priest's namaste with folded hands and then shook his hands before leaving with greetings of "Happy Diwali and Saal Mubarak" to everyone.

"Thank you Mr President for being the first president to come to the Diwali ceremony," a journalist called out to Obama. "Yeah, isn't that something?" the president shot back.

Obama's White House also did not forget to leave the traditional box of Indian sweets on some 150 chairs for the guests.

The half-hour East Room celebration was attended by a crowd of Indians and other Asians. India's Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Ambassador Meera Shankar dropped by, and several Indian-Americans in administrative positions in Washington attended.

The brief ceremony began with a performance by the well-regarded Hindi a-capella group Penn Masala.

The White House kept it light and simple. A box of Indian mithai (sweets) was placed on some 150 chairs that filled the East Room but there was no food fest or song and dance.

After his remarks, much of which was devoted to the Asian-American initiative, there was a single lamp that Obama lit from a candle. The Siva-Vishnu temple priest, dressed in ceremonial togs with an enormous three-forked tilak on his forehead, kept his invocation short -- chanting ''Asatoma Sadgamaya'' (Lead us from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to liberation) from the Upanishads.

Obama, having lit the White House diya (a word he handled with aplomb) and wished everyone a ''Happy Diwali and Saal Mubarak,'' listened intently as the priest ended with ''Om Shanti Shanti.'' He returned the priest’s Namaste and then shook his hands before striding out to attend to the business of war.

''Thank you Mr President for being the first president to come to the Diwali ceremony,'' a gadabout journalist called out to Obama. ''Yes, how about that,’’ the President shot back.

Also, the event was always held in the Indian Treaty Room at the Old Executive Office Building, which is adjacent to the White House, and serves as an administrative office of the White House.

Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar and visiting Commerce Minister Anand Sharma were special guests of the White House at the event.

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Just three months after the Sri Lankan government declared the country liberated from the Tamil Tigers, video footage has emerged apparently showing government troops summarily executing Tamils.

The Sri Lankan High Commission denied its army was involved in atrocities against the ethnic Tamil minority after British television aired video Tuesday allegedly showing a soldier executing two men.

Channel 4 News showed disturbing footage of a man dressed in army uniform shooting a naked, bound and blindfolded man in the back of the head, while the bodies of several other men were seen nearby in a muddy field.

Another man was also shot in the same way towards the end of the video.



Tonight, the Sri Lankan High Commission denied the government had carried out atrocities against the Tamil community.

The Sri Lankan government launched a large scale military offensive in January capturing the Tamil Tiger held town of Kilinochchi. The army then steadily pushed the rebels into an small area of the north-east.

Be warned - there are extremely disturbing scenes in this report from our foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Miller.

The United Nations has estimated that between 80,000 and 100,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka's drawn out Tamil separatist conflict which the security forces declared ended in May.

The decades-long ethnic conflict ended after the military took control of all rebel-held territory and killed the group's leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Journalists were barred from the conflict zone in the country's northeast where rights groups said a "humanitarian crisis" unfolded without a media presence.

Sri Lanka High Commission response:-

"The High Commission of Sri Lanka categorically deny that the Sri Lankan armed forces engaged in atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamil community. They were only engaged in a military offensive against the LTTE.

"The High Commission has noted that in many instances in the past, various media institutions used doctored videos, photographs and documents to defame the Sri Lankan government and armed forces. Therefore, we request you to verify the authenticity of the video footage before the telecast".

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President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill giving the government historic powers to curb cigarette makers, declaring the move emblematic of the change he is bringing to Washington.Mr Obama affixed his signature to the measure with a nod to his own struggles to kick the habit, and lamented the fact that 1,000 people under the age of 18 become regular smokers every day,
courting a range of grave health risks.

"I know, I was one of these teenagers, and so I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it's been with you for a long time," he said."I also know that kids today don't just start smoking for no reason – they're aggressively targeted as customers by the tobacco industry.

"They're exposed to a constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn, and where they play."

The law grants the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a regulatory body, the authority to ban flavorings added to some tobacco products and require tough new warning labels, in a bid to lessen tobacco use among young people.Mr Obama argued that the bill's passage was just the latest sign that he was living up to his promise to forge fundamental political reform.

"When I ran for president, I did so because I believed that, despite the power of the status qua and the influence of special interests, it was possible for us to bring change to Washington," he said.

"And today, despite decades of lobbying and advertising by the tobacco industry, we passed a law to help protect the next generation of Americans from growing up with a deadly habit that so many of our generation have lived with."

Under the new law, the FDA will create a new Center for Tobacco Products to oversee the science-based regulation of tobacco products in the United States.It bans cigarettes dominantly flavoured with candy, fruit and spice by October this year, and forces tobacco firms and importers to submit information to the FDA about ingredients and additives in tobacco products.
The measure places strict limits on tobacco advertising in publications with a significant teenage readership, and bans the use of words like "mild" or "light" in advertisements that make tobacco products seem safer.The FDA will now be required to enforce a rule banning all outdoor tobacco advertising within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds, and the bill ends all tobacco-brand sponsorship of sport and entertainment events.

Under the measure, tobacco companies must disclose to the FDA the ingredients in their products, and allow the agency to require changes to protect public health, though not to reduce nicotine content to zero or ban a class of tobacco products.Larger and more specific health warnings will now have to cover the top third of the front and rear panels of tobacco product
packages and the FDA will have the power to require graphic warning labels that cover half of the front and rear panels.

The bill was backed by health groups like the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association for its curbs on smoking, the number one cause of preventable death in the United States.

Under the legislation:

1. Cigarette packages will have warning labels that cover 50 percent of the front and rear. The word "warning" must be included in capital letters.

2. Any remaining tobacco-related sponsorships of sports and entertainment events will be banned, as will giveaways of non-tobacco items with the purchase of a tobacco product. A federal ban will be imposed on all outdoor tobacco advertising within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds.

3. Point-of-sale advertising will be limited to adults-only facilities, and remaining vending machines will disappear except in places restricted to adults. Retailers who sell to minors will be subject to federal enforcement and penalties.

4. Smokers, particularly the younger crowd, will find they can no longer buy cigarettes sweetened by candy flavors or any herb or spices such as strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon or vanilla. Cigarettes advertised as "light" or "mild," giving the impression that they aren't as harmful to health, will no longer be found on store shelves.

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Hitler's secretary, Christa Schroeder, with Hitler, 1939

WHO WAS CHRISTA SCHROEDER?

Working as Hitler’s secretary from 1933 until his suicide in 1945, the young Christa Schroeder never knew a private life. In 1938, she became engaged to Yugoslav diplomat Lav Alkonic. When Hitler refused to give his blessing to the liaison, Schroeder raised the possibility of leaving his employment. Hitler replied: ‘I would know how to prevent that.’ The engagement was broken off in 1941.

After the collapse of the Third Reich Schroeder was arrested by the US Army Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC). Initially convicted as a war criminal, she was later reclassified as a collaborator and released days later, on 12 May 1948. Dr Karl Brandt, formerly Hitler’s emergency surgeon, described Schroeder under interrogation at Nuremberg: ‘Clever, critical and intelligent, she had a turnover of work which no other secretary matched, often spending several days and nights almost without a break taking dictation. She would always express her opinion openly...and in time became sharply critical of Hitler himself. Her boldness undoubtedly put her life in grave danger.’ In civilian life, she worked in the metal and insurance industries, retiring at 59, and living in Munich until her death, aged 76, on 28 June 1984.

Christa Schroeder was never a National Socialist in the true sense: ‘I was told I had to join the Party since only NSDAP members could be employees. I suppose I went a few times to the big assemblies, but I felt nothing in common with the speakers or the masses and I must have appeared terribly stupid.’

An alternative view of her appears in a US Army intelligence report of May 22 1945: ‘Mr Albrecht… interrogated her. She was rather stupid, dumpy and an ardent Nazi.’ Schroeder wrote of this event: ‘After the interrogation was over, Lt Albrecht...had a very friendly conversation with me. When I expressed regret that my whole life, all the years, had been for nothing, he replied, “No, everything has a purpose, nothing is wasted”.’

As Hitler's right-hand woman, Christa Schroeder had a unique insight into his intelligence, his temper, and his quirks. In this exclusive extract from her memoir, she describes her time at his side

When replying to a tiny job advertisement in the German newspaper, Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten, I had no premonition that it was to determine the future course of my life.

It was 1930, and aged 22, I had just arrived in Munich from Bavaria, eager to explore a new part of Germany. The post was a secretarial one and I was invited by an unknown organisation, the 'Supreme SA leadership (OSAF)' to present myself in the Schellingstrasse. In this almost unpopulated street the Reich leadership of the NSDAP, the Nazi Party, was located at No. 50 on the fourth floor of a building at the rear.

In the past, the man who would later become Adolf Hitler's official photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, had made his scurrilous films in these rooms. The former photographic studio was now occupied by the Supreme SA-Führer, Franz Pfeffer von Salomon and his chief of staff, Dr Otto Wagener. Later I learned that I had been the last of 87 applicants. That the post was awarded to me, someone who was neither a member of the NSDAP nor interested in politics nor aware of whom Adolf Hitler might be, must have resulted purely from my being a 22-year-old with proven shorthand/typing experience who could furnish good references.

Once Hitler had become Reich Chancellor, stenotypists were requested to volunteer for the NSDAP Liaison Staff in Berlin. In March 1933 I arrived in the capital.

Tea with the Führer

After seizing power, Hitler had installed himself in Berlin's Radziwill Palace. His study, the library, his bedroom and later, alongside it, Eva Braun's apartment were all on the first floor.

Directly opposite the door to Hitler's study a couple of steps led to a long corridor, beyond which was the so-called adjutancy wing with the rooms for Hitler's aides. The first room was the Staircase Room (Treppenzimmer), where at least one of us would be permanently on standby, regardless of the hour, should Hitler need to give a dictation. Then came the rooms of Julius Schaub, Hitler's rather unprepossessing factotum, Dr Dietrich (Reich press officer), Sepp Dietrich (commander of SS-Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, Hitler's personal bodyguard unit) and Hitler's chief adjutant, Wilhelm Brückner.

If one descended the staircase beyond these one came to the so-called ladies' saloon, actually the reception room, to the left of which wing doors, always pegged open, led into the film room. To the right was the Bismarck Room, also known as the smoking room. The dining hall was next to it and annexed to the Winter Garden, which ended in a fine semicircular path. Breakfast was taken in the Winter Garden and in the afternoon Hitler held most of his talks strolling its length.

One day Hitler happened to pass the Staircase Room at teatime, saw us sitting there and asked if he might join us. This hour of easy chatter was so much to his liking that he later came to tea almost daily. The Staircase Room was a place where he felt unburdened and I always had the impression that what he said there came from a secret memory box which at all other times he kept locked shut.

He would often recall pranks played in late childhood, for example, the time as a 12 year-old when he wagered his classmates that he could make the girls laugh during a religious service. He won the bet by intently brushing his non-existent moustache whenever they glanced at him.

He also spoke of his mother, to whom he was very attached, and of his father's violence: 'I never loved my father,' he used to say, 'but feared him. He was prone to rages and would resort to violence. My poor mother would then always be afraid for me. When I read Karl May once that it was a sign of bravery to hide one's pain, I decided that when he beat me the next time I would make no sound. When it happened – I knew my mother was standing anxiously at the door – I counted every stroke out loud. Mother thought I had gone mad when I reported to her with a beaming smile, "Thirty-two strokes father gave me!" From that day I never needed to repeat the experiment, for my father never beat me again.'

Hitler's tailor

For Hitler, clothing was purely functional. He hated trying things on. Since he made lively hand and arm movements to emphasise points he was making in his speeches, and also liked to extend his body while strolling in conversation, especially when the subject was one which excited him and which he did mainly by raising the right shoulder, he had an aversion to a close fit. His tailor had to shape all uniforms and suits for comfort in this regard. This occasional raising of the right shoulder may have been due to the left shoulder being stiff. During the putsch of November 9 1923 Hitler fell to the pavement, dislocating his left shoulder. Dr Walter Schultze, the leader of the SA medical corps, could not convince Hitler to have it X-rayed. Hitler feared being 'bumped off' at the hospital. The shoulder was therefore never properly fixed and remained stiff ever afterwards.

'Imagine my face without a moustache!'

I found Hitler's eyes expressive. They could look friendly and warm-hearted, or express indignation, indifference and disgust. In the last months of the war they lost expressiveness and became a more watery, pale light blue, and rather bulging. One could always tell his mood from his voice. It could be unusually calm, clear and convincing, but also excited, increasing in volume and becoming overwhelmingly aggressive. Often it would be ice-cold. 'Ice-cold' or 'Now I am ice-cold' were much-used phrases of his. 'I am totally indifferent to what the future will think of the methods which I have to use,' I heard frequently. 'Ruthless' (rücksichtslos) was common in his vocabulary: 'Force it through ruthlessly, whatever the cost!'

Hitler's nose was very large and fairly pointed. I do not know whether his teeth were ever very attractive, but by 1945 they were yellow and he had bad breath. He should have grown a beard to hide his mouth. During the years of his friendship with Ada Klein, who worked on the Nazi party newspaper, Völkischer Beobachter, he told her: 'Many people say I should shave off the moustache, but that is impossible. Imagine my face without a moustache!' and at that held his hand below his nose like a plate. 'My nose is much too big. I need the moustache to relieve the effect!'

His face turned to stone'

Hitler set great store on hygiene. He bathed daily, often several times a day, particularly after meetings and speeches, from which he would return sweating. Harsh and inflexible as Hitler could be with others, he did not exempt himself. He would reject tiredness and would call upon endless reserves of energy. No wonder that the trembling left hand was such an embarrassment to him. The knowledge from 1944 onwards that he was no longer master of his own body was a heavy burden. When surprised visitors saw his trembling hand, he would cover it instinctively with the other. Yet to the end he remained master of his emotions. Should bad news arrive during a private conversation the only clue would be a movement of his jaw. I remember him receiving the report about the destruction of the Möhne and Eder dams, which flooded much of the Ruhr. As he read it his face turned to stone, but that was all. Nobody could have gauged how deeply the blow had struck him. It would be hours or days before he would refer to such an event, and then give full vent to his feelings.

Memory man

From his youth onwards Hitler had a great lust to read. He told me one day that during his youth in Vienna he had read through all 500 volumes at the city reference library. I was always amazed at how precisely he could describe any geographical region or speak about art history or hold forth on very complicated technical matters. In the same way he could describe with amazing detail how theatres, churches, monasteries and castles were built. The Oberbürgermeister of Munich, with whom Hitler enjoyed discussing the expansion and beautification of the city, related how surprised he was when Hitler recalled the minute details of a conversation they had had months previously. Hitler had reproached him: 'Six months ago I told you I wanted it done this way!' and then repeated word for word their conversation, a fact confirmed by architects Speer and Giesler post-war.

It is confirmed that from his youth onwards Hitler had the gift of an unusual memory, but his secret was that he trained and expanded it every day. He said that when he was reading he tried to grasp the essence of a thing and fix it in his mind. It was his practice or method during the tea hours and when chatting at the hearth over a subject he had been reading about to repeat it several times in order to anchor it more firmly in his memory. Despite the effort Hitler made to surprise people with his rich trove of knowledge, and to show them his superiority, he made sure he never let them know the sources of this knowledge. He was expert at convincing his listeners that everything he said was the result of his own deliberations and critical thinking. Nearly everybody was convinced that Hitler was a profound thinker, and a wonderfully sharp, analytical spirit.

Once I began working for him, I wanted to get the thing straight. One day Hitler launched into a philosophical dissertation on one of his favourite themes. To my astonishment I realised that he was reciting a page from Schopenhauer, which I had just finished reading myself. Summoning all my courage I drew the fact to his attention. Hitler, taken a little aback, threw me a glance and explained in fatherly tones: 'Do not forget, my child, that all knowledge comes from others and that every person only contributes a minute piece to the whole.'

Dictation with the dictator

Back in the Staircase Room I would wait on standby until a valet shouted through the wing door: 'The chief is asking you to come for dictation!' He would open the door to the library and shut it as he withdrew, hanging a notice on the latch: 'Do not disturb.' As a rule Hitler would be standing at or bent over his desk, working on the punch lines for a speech, for example. Often he would appear not to notice my presence. Before the dictation I would not exist for him, and I doubt whether he saw me as a person when I was at my typist's desk. A while would pass in silence. Then he would close in on the typewriter and begin to dictate calmly and with expansive gestures. Gradually, getting into his stride, he would speak faster. Without pause one sentence would then follow another while he strolled around the room.

Occasionally he would halt, lost in thought, before Lenbach's portrait of Bismarck, gathering himself as it were before resuming his wandering. His face would become florid and the anger would shine in his eyes. He would stand rooted to the spot as though confronting the particular enemy he was imagining. It would certainly have been easier to have taken this dictation in shorthand but Hitler did not want this. Apparently he felt himself as if on wings when he heard the rhythmic chatter of the typewriter keys.

The typewriter had its own mechanical noise. As Hitler would never be seen wearing spectacles in public, typewriters were later manufactured with 12mm characters so that he could read the script in public without glasses. The 'Silenta' brand machines had the advantage of typing quietly but the keys tended to tangle if one typed over a certain speed. Since Hitler did not – or did not want to – notice this and kept on dictating, this was naturally very unsettling for the typist and often made her very nervous. One became anxious that while unscrambling the keys a sentence might be missed and the text would not flow.

On one occasion I did not like the way he had phrased something. When I dared mention it, he looked at me, neither angry nor offended, and said: 'You are the only person I allow to correct me!' From the outbreak of war Hitler would never deliver a speech without a manuscript. 'I prefer to speak, and I speak best, from the top of my head,' he told me, 'but now we are at war I must weigh carefully every word, for the world is watching and listening. Were I to use the wrong word in a spontaneous moment of passion, that could have severe implications!'

The smoking ban

The day at FHQ Wolfsschanze had been as dull as any other. After dinner I saw a film in the hope of relieving my boredom, then I went to the officers' mess from where Hitler's manservant winkled me out just as I was getting comfortable. In the hope that the tea session would perhaps not last too long, I promised to return to the mess afterwards. Torn from a convivial environment, I now came to a Führer who wore a frown. I knew that he would be in a bad mood, for the situation at the Russian Front was not good.

Today's theme was that old chestnut, smoking. He would start out with special reference to narrowing of the arteries caused by smoking. How awful a smoker's stomach must look. Smokers lacked consideration for others, forcing them to breathe in polluted air. He had really toyed with the idea of outlawing smoking anywhere in Germany. The campaign would begin by having a death's head printed on every cigarette pack. 'If I should ever discover,' he often said, emphasising the depth of his antagonism to smoking, 'that Eva were secretly smoking, then that would be grounds for me to separate from her immediately and for ever.'

At that time I was a heavy smoker. Hitler said that because tobacco products were distributed to them freely, even young soldiers who had not been smokers previously had now taken up the habit.

They should be given chocolate, not cigarettes. Everybody nodded in agreement, but I, already in a rather spirited frame of mind from my visit to the officers' mess, chipped in and declared: 'Ah, mein Führer, let the poor boys (I might even have used the word 'swine' here) have this pleasure, they don't get any others!' Ignoring my idiotic outburst, Hitler went on to explain how nicotine and alcohol ruined people's health and addled the mind. Now I brought up the big gun and said, referring to photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, 'One cannot really say that, mein Führer. Hoffmann smokes and drinks all day yet is the most agile man in the shop.' At that Hitler clammed up.

Without another word he rose quickly and took his leave – 'ice-cold' and with an aggrieved expression, from which I finally saw what I had done.

Next afternoon when I inquired of the manservant in what mood the boss found himself today, Hans Junge gave a colleague and myself a long look and said that tea would be taken today without the ladies. Albert Bormann had been told to inform us officially. When I asked him, Bormann admitted in embarrassment that the boss was annoyed with me and would not be requiring the ladies' company at tea.

I no longer existed for him. It was to be many months before Hitler forgave my faux pas.

'You are sentimental'

In 1978, Henriette Schirach [the wife of Baldur Benedikt von Schirach, head of the Hitler youth and Reich Governor of Vienna during the Nazi occupation] reminded me of an encounter she had with Hitler on Good Friday, 1943. I remember that evening Eva Braun had sat at Hitler's right before she went upstairs, and to the left of Henriette.

While the other guests were talking, an argument developed between Henriette and Hitler, the subject of which was an occurrence in Amsterdam a few days previously. She had been awoken at night by an unusually loud disturbance and had watched from a hotel window as some weeping women were ordered forward across a bridge and disappeared into the night.

The next day she learned from her friends that this had been a deportation of Jewish women. She promised to bring the matter to the attention of Hitler, which she was now doing. Hitler answered her in a very brusque manner: 'Be silent, Frau von Schirach, you understand nothing about it. You are sentimental. What does it matter to you what happens to female Jews? Every day tens of thousands of my most valuable men fall while the inferior survive. In that way the balance in Europe is being undermined,' and here he moved his cupped hands up and down like a pair of scales.

'And what will become of Europe in one hundred, in one thousand years?' In a tone which made it evident that he considered the matter closed, he declared: 'I am committed by duty to my people alone, to nobody else!'

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It is the most widely anticipated appointment of Barack Obama’s new administration and today, after months of fevered speculation, the White House welcomed the new First Dog.

With one hand round his youngest daughter Sasha, the President used his other hand to pet Bo, a six-month-old Portuguese Water Dog, as the First Lady Michelle and their other daughter Malia looked on.

The lucky canine is a gift from Senator Edward Kennedy and his wife Victoria to the President's daughters.

The dog was bred at the kennels in Texas and sold to someone who returned it.

The First Pet is here: President Barack Obama pets Bo, a six-month old Portuguese Water Dog, as the First lady Michelle Obama (L), and daughters, Sasha and Malia (R) look on in the White House in Washington, DC

A source said: ‘The dog is six months old, a boy and a mass of black curls. His former owner decided they couldn’t cope with such a boisterous animal. He was originally called Charlie.’

Ever since Mr Obama announced on election night last November that he would be buying his daughters a dog, America has been obsessed by the type of puppy the family would choose.

The Obamas opted for a Portuguese Water Dog because their eldest daughter Malia, ten, suffers from allergies and, rather than fur, the breed has hair it does not shed.

Its distinctive curly coat is similar to a poodle’s and needs trimming every couple of months, particularly around the eye area.

Sasha and Malia now have a new friend in the White House.

In an interview with People magazine in February, First Lady Michelle Obama confided she favoured the Portuguese breed and that a dog would be moving in after the Easter holidays.

She said the family had discussed names with Malia and her seven-year-old sister Sasha but had rejected Moose and Frank.

Senator Kennedy has owned three Portuguese Water Dogs, including his current dog Cappy – short for Captains Courageous.

The 77-year-old, who is battling brain cancer, is said to have persuaded the Obamas that the breed was ‘perfect’ for the White House.

Political Animal: Cappy, Senator Kennedy's dog - the perfect breed for the White House, he said

The source said: ‘Senator Kennedy got his dogs from the same kennels and they have been robust, healthy and very good-natured animals.

‘They are excellent with children but do need lots of exercise which is good because the President is a fitness buff.’

The speculation about the arrival of the First Dog reached fever pitch after a public event in the new White House vegetable garden last Thursday.

David Frei of the Westminster Kennel Dog Show, America’s Crufts, said: ‘I’m not surprised by the intense interest in the First Family’s pet. It’s something everyone can relate to.’

Previous White House pets have become mini celebrities. George W. Bush’s dog Barney, a Scottish terrier, even had his own website.

Meanwhile, it was revealed yesterday that a British ancestor of Mr Obama left 12 pence to his son in his will.

Farm labourer Peter Blossom, from Stapleford, near Cambridge, left the sum – equivalent to £7.66 today – to his son, Thomas, who sailed to America around 1620, writing, ‘I can give unto him no more.’

Historian Alan Bullwinkle, 88, from Stapleford, who collected the will from his local record office, said: ‘I don’t think leaving him 12 pence was a snub. He gave what he could.’

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He was one of the youngest men ever to be sworn in as president of the United States.

Yet Barack Obama apparently believes he did not look youthful enough.

While his wife Michelle rises at 5.30am every day to hit the gym and maintain her toned arms, Obama seems to have adopted a new grooming routine of his own.

Before and after: Obama on the campaign trail in September last year, left, looks noticeably more grey than today, right

Recent photographs of the new president reveal almost jet black hair, while in pictures taken during the campaign trail Obama sports many grey hairs on the top and sides of his head.

Unless the president has discovered the fountain of youth in the Oval Office - or installed extremely flattering lighting - the change could only be down to the skills of a hairdresser or a home dye kit.While grey hair during the election campaign may have helped Obama refute Republican claims of inexperience, he could now be keen to a appeal to a younger audience.

Where's the grey gone? :) Obama smiles alongside British Prime Minister Gordon Brown during their meeting in the Oval Office.

The youth vote was instrumental in Barack's selection as Democratic candidate and eventual victory, so perhaps the 47-year-old feels the need to update his look to maintain his hold with the younger generation.

Obama, the 44th president, is the fifth youngest person to assume the office of president, behind Theodore Roosevelt , at 42, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Ulysses S. Grant and Grover Cleveland.

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Jamaal Young was watching Barack Obama and his family greet an ecstatic crowd in Chicago, Illinois, on Election Night when he realized that something seemed wrong.


Obama didn't shout at his wife, Michelle, to shut up. The first lady didn't roll her eyes and tell Obama to act like a man. No laugh track kicked in, no one danced, and no police sirens wailed in the background.

Young had tuned in to celebrate the election of the nation's first African-American president. But he realized that he was witnessing another historic first. A black family was being featured as the first family, not the "problem family" or the "funny family."

"They are not here to entertain us," says Young, a New York Press columnist. "Michelle Obama is not sitting around with her girlfriends saying, 'My man ain't no good.' You're not seeing this over -sexualized, crazy black family that, every time a Marvin Gaye song comes on, someone stands up and says, 'Oh girl, that's my jam.' "

The nation didn't just get a glimpse of its new first family when Obama and his family waved to the crowds on Inauguration Day. The Obamas are offering America a new way to look at the black family, Young and other commentators say.

America has often viewed the black family through the prism of its pathologies: single-family homes, absentee fathers, out of wedlock children, they say. Or they've turned to the black family for comic relief in television shows such as "Good Times" in the '70s or today's "House of Payne."

But a black first family changes that script, some say. A global audience will now be fed images of a highly educated, loving and photogenic black family living in the White House for the next four years -- and it can't go off the air like "The Cosby Show."

A new vision of black intimacy :

The new first family could inspire some of their biggest changes within the black family itself, some say

In 1965, the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democratic senator from New York, warned the nation about the rise of fatherless black families. He concluded that many black families were caught in a "tangle of pathology." The pathology persists. The U.S. Census Bureau said that 69 percent of black women who gave birth in 2005 were unmarried (it was 31 percent for white mothers).

The relationship between Obama and his wife may help untangle some of that pathology, some black commentators say.

It could start with black intimacy. The American public is routinely exposed to sexually charged relationships between black men and women. "Street lit" books with titles such as "Thugs and the Women Who Love Them," and "A Project Chick" now crowd bookstores and public library shelves.

Yet the new first couple offers America an example of a black, passionate, marital relationship, says Jennifer Brea, a writer for EbonyJet.com.

"They are the most natural and accessible first couple this country has ever had," Brea says. "You see a politician give a peck on his wife's cheek after a speech and often it looks staged. When you look at them, you feel like that there's this chemistry and spark."

Several black women actually sighed as they talked about how much Obama seems to touch his wife and exchange soulful glances with her in public. They said Obama will show young black men how to treat women -- and young black women how they should be treated.

"We don't get to see black love," says Heidi Durrow, the prize-winning author of the forthcoming novel, "Low Sky Dreaming."

"But every time you see them [the Obamas] on stage, it's been super," she says. "It's an amazing image to see these dynamic, smart, progressive people just openly affectionate. I'm all for it."

Obama's apparent closeness to his wife may help untangle another pathology -- the preoccupation with skin color and "looking white," Bowles, president of Jack and Jill, says.

Bowles says some powerful black men marry women who are white or fair-skinned. Obama's decision to marry a darker-skinned woman like Michelle Obama shows black women that black can indeed be beautiful.

"Too often successful black men look for other things ... a white woman or someone who is light, bright and darn near white," Bowles says. "She [Obama] is a true sister, and she makes no bones about it."

Source

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No. 1: Warren Buffett :
( Berkshire Hathaway )
Value of stake: $35.9 billion

There aren't many people who can lose $25 billion in four months and still top the list of the world's wealthiest CEOs, but this year Berkshire Hathaway Chief Warren Buffett returns to the winner's circle, locking in his victory by a landslide.
Berkshire Hathaway has dipped 37% since the fall, yet the Omaha businessman still bests his nearest competitor by $16.2 billion.

No. 2: Lawrence Ellison :
( Oracle )
Value of Stake: $19.7 billion

Business software titan Lawrence Ellison has lost an estimated $5.3 billion on paper since we locked in prices for our 2008 Forbes 400 rankings. Still, Oracle is weathering the storm better than most, falling just 15% in the past 12 months and growing its revenues by 10% in the six months ended Nov. 30, 2008. The Chicago native has been Oracle's front man since the software giant was founded in 1977.

No. 3: Mukesh Ambani :
( Reliance Industries )
Value of stake: $16.8 billion

The elder of the two Ambani brothers makes the list at No. 3 despite a 62% drop since last January in the shares of his petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries. Founded in 1966 by Mukesh's father Dhirubhai Ambani, Reliance today accounts for roughly 3% of India's gross domestic product with revenues of $28.5 billion. Mukesh took full control of Reliance Industries when his late father's holding company split in 2005 following a bitter battle between Mukesh and his estranged brother, Anil, who remains on the list at No. 6.

No. 4: Lakshmi Mittal :
( ArcelorMittal )
Value of stake: $13.2 billion

Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal used a slew of acquisitions to parlay ArcelorMittal into the world's leading steelmaker by output. The 58-year-old consistently has ranked among the top five wealthiest people in the world, but his public holdings of ArcelorMittal took a dive in the second half of 2008, falling 73% since June.

No. 5: Bernard Arnault :
( LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton )
Value of stake: $12.2 billion

Since buying luxury house Christian Dior in 1985, French billionaire Bernard Arnault has dominated the luxury market by accumulating la crème de la crème of the fashion and wine and spirits worlds. The 59-year-old impresario ranks as our fifth-wealthiest CEO despite LVMH's 38% decline over the past 12 months. LVMH currently boasts 60 top-shelf brands, including Louis Vuitton, Dom Perignon, Moët & Chandon, Dior, Tag Heuer and Marc Jacobs.

No. 6: Anil Ambani :
( Reliance Communications, Reliance Power, Reliance Capital, Reliance Natural Resources, Reliance Infrastructure )
Value of stakes: $9 billion

In the four years since a spat with older brother Mukesh led to the break-up of their family's assets, Anil, the younger of the two, has grown his telecom, energy and infrastructure businesses apace--only to see his shares decimated by the global economic slowdown. Reliance Communications, his biggest holding, is down 78% since the beginning of 2008.

No. 7 (Tie): Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair :
( Mashreq )
Value of stake: $7 billion

As the head of Mashreq, one of the largest banks in the Arab world, Al Ghurair oversees $25.6 billion in assets. A citizen of the United Arab Emirates, he also serves as president of the Federal National Council, the country's equivalent of congress.

No. 8 (Tie): Steven Ballmer :
( Microsoft )
Value of stake: $7 billion

Microsoft's intrepid chief executive is no stranger to upheaval: Replacing Bill Gates in 2000, Ballmer guided Microsoft through a tech implosion that ravaged some of its competitors and bankrupted others. Nevertheless, the company's lackluster second-quarter results, released last week, have some analysts grumbling about petering growth and a tepid outlook for computer sales.

No. 9: Sunil Mittal :
( Bharti Airtel )
Value of stake: $6.9 billion

Sunil Mittal (no relation to Lakshmi) oversees Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile phone operator. The self-made 51-year-old founded the company in 1995, along with his two brothers, and has since seen its customer base swell to some 88 million subscribers. With his family, he owns a dominant stake in Bharti Airtel, which is down 30% over the past year.

No. 10: Tadashi Yanai :
( Fast Retailing )
Value of Stake: $6 billion

Forget haute couture--Japanese CEO Tadashi Yanai made his billions selling discount apparel to the masses. His holding company Fast Retailing's premier brand, UNIQLO, has been building momentum in Asia as the premiere destination for affordable fashion and has recently expanded with branches in Paris and New York.

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