This week sees the opening of a new permanent exhibition at the House of the Wannsee Conference  in time for the anniversary of the infamous discussion  of the Final Solution on January 20th.

The villa, which was built in 1914 by a Jewish architect, provides a terrifyingly  idyllic facade  to the horrific plans which were hatched inside: in 1942 15 high-ranking Nazi civil servants and SS officers met here and decided to send the Jews of Central Europe to their deaths. Today the house, which is beside  Lake Wannsee  on the outskirts of Berlin, is both a memorial and education center.

Can Married Muslims Do it in the Nude?

Everyone knows that conservative Muslims adhere to strict rules about what women are allowed to wear in public. But what about in private? That, at least, is the subject of a current debate in Egypt. Or, more precisely, do strict Muslims have to keep their clothes on when having sex? 

The debate  was kicked off by Dr. Rashad Khalil, an Islamic law -- or Sharia -- expert at al-Ahzar University in Cairo recently when warned that married couples who do it in the nude risk invalidating their marriages. Hogwash, say other religious scholars. Married couples can see each other in the buff as long as they don't let their eyes drift below the belly button. Suad Saleh, head of the university's Islamic studies department, goes even further. "Anything that can bring spouses closer to each other," is allowed. Even bloggers have gotten in on the "act".