The latest from signandsight

Mohammed on the “straight path”

Did the Prophet Mohammed only become a power-conscious religious
politician in Medina, where he emigrated from Mecca in 622? Author of
a new Mohammed biography, Tilman Nagel has found much to indicate the
absence of any genuine break in the evolution of this religious
founder.

Bread-winning badante

Diana Ivanova travels to Tuscany to report on an Italian profession
attracting Bulgarian women in their thousands, and a unique European
trend: the outsourcing of suffering.

From the Feuilletons:

Beppe Grillo calls for an end to the order of Italian journalists.
Zimbawean author Chenjerai Hove describes the plague of power-lust
that has taken over his country while the elephant of ignorance looks
on. The NZZ looks at why Putin’s Duma refuses to recognise the
Ukrainian famine as genocide. The FR documents an open letter from
Chinese human rights activists Hu Jia and Teng Biao in the runup to
the Olympics. And we find out why the “Train of Commemoration” won’t
be stopping in Berlin.

Magazine Roundup:

The New Left Review introduces China’s most influential intellectual
magazine, Dushu. Outlook India would be embarrassed to be embarrassed
by the Dalai Lama. “Generation 1,000 Euro” has made into Italian
cinemas, Caffe Europa reports. In Nepszabadsag, philosopher Gaspar
Miklos Tama declares an end to the days of anti-Semitic journalism.
Folio is bowled over by the musical compositions of electronic
engineer William Sethares. The New York Times is transported back to
the founding of Liberia. And Vanity Fair picks apart Monsanto.