Tuesday, May 31, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran briefly closed its airspace to Angela Merkel's plane as she flew to India, delaying her arrival and sparking a diplomatic row with Germany.
The German chancellor was held up as she flew overnight for a meeting on Tuesday with Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister. Her plane was forced to circle for two hours over Turkey before receiving permission to cross Iran.
The Iranian ambassador in Berlin was summoned by Guido Westerwelle, the foreign minister, who said hindering Mrs Merkel's route was "absolutely unacceptable". » | Tuesday, May 31, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Manal al-Sharif, jailed after posting a YouTube video of herself driving, leaves Women2Drive movement
A Saudi Arabian woman who was jailed for driving a car has been released after nine days, having pledged to take no further part in a campaign to persuade the Saudi authorities to allow women to drive.
Manal al-Sharif, 32, was freed from the women's prison in Dammam on Monday. She was arrested after posting a video of herself driving around the eastern city of Khobar as part of the Women2Drive campaign of which she was a key organiser.
Her case attracted international attention after her lawyer said she had been charged with driving without a licence, prompting other women to do the same and provoking public debate in Saudi Arabia. Two other women associated with the campaign were also questioned by police and warned off further campaigning. One Muslim cleric even called for Sharif to be lashed.
"She wrote a pledge that she will not drive a car and after what has happened she has decided to give up the campaign and not be part of the protests," said Sharif's lawyer, Adnan al-Salah.
He said the authorities had not imposed the conditions, but Sharif had decided to make the pledge herself.
The climax of the Women2Drive campaign, a mass drive on 17 June partly inspired by demonstrations against restrictions on civil liberties across the Middle East, now appears to be in doubt.
On Tuesday, Sharif expressed "profound gratitude" to King Abdullah for ordering her release and appeared to abandon her call for women to be allowed to drive, according to a written statement published by the al-Hayat newspaper. » | Robert Booth | Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Saudi Arabia’s ‘Women2Drive’ Movement Reacts to Arrest »
FACEBOOK: Women2Drive »
TWITTER: @Women2Drive »
Related »
DIE PRESSE: Betteln müssen sie alle nicht. Trotzdem gibt es zwischen den Staatschefs dieser Welt dicke Gehaltsunterschiede. Ein Überblick über die Bestverdiener:
1. Singapur
Dieser Mann spielt in einer eigenen Liga, kein anderer Politiker verdient annähernd so viel Geld wie er: Umgerechnet 2,2 Mio. Euro casht Singapurs Premierminister Lee Hsien Loong im Jahr ab. Der Gehalts-Weltmeister findet daran nichts anrüchiges: "Unsere Einstellung ist: Wenn du die besten Leute willst, dann musst du dafür auch zahlen." »
"Blasphème". C'est le titre du livre qu'Asia Bibi, chrétienne pakistaniase [sic] condamnée à mort pour avoir bu l'eau d'un puits réservé aux musulmans, a co-écrit avec une journaliste depuis le fond de sa cellule. Dans ce témoignage, elle appelle à l'aide.
Pendant cinq mois, Anne-Isabelle Tollet, reporter à "France 24", a pu communiquer avec cette mère de cinq enfants, condamnée à la pendaison en novembre 2010 pour blasphème. Elle est la seule femme dans ce cas au Pakistan, selon les associations de défense des droits de l’Homme.
Depuis, elle attend dans sa cellule sans fenêtre de la prison de Sheikhupura son jugement en appel. » | AFP | Mardi 31 Mai 2011
LE POINT: Catherine Ashton, chef de la diplomatique de l'Union européenne, est "choquée" par l'usage de la force à Taëz.
La chef de la diplomatie de l'UE Catherine Ashton s'est dite mardi "choquée" par l'usage de la force à Taëz, au Yémen, et a de nouveau demandé au président Saleh de signer "sans délai" l'offre de médiation du Conseil de coopération du Golfe (CCG) prévoyant son départ. "Il est temps maintenant, sans nouvelles échappatoires, de signer et de mettre en oeuvre l'offre de médiation du Conseil de coopération du Golfe (CCG)", a souligné Mme Ashton dans un communiqué. » | Source AFP | Mardi 31 Mai 2011
Mubarak, overthrown on February 11 after a popular uprising, has been detained since mid-April in a hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh, rather than in a prison medical center, after it was reported that he suffered heart problems during initial questioning.
A medical team determined that Mubarak should not be transferred "outside of Sharm el-Sheikh hospital at the current time and to hire a specialized medical team to oversee his treatment," the prosecutor said in a statement.
"The committee examined the patient in his intensive care room and found that he is clearly frail and depressed and cannot leave the bed without assistance," it said.
It added that the Torah prison hospital on Cairo's outskirts was "unsuitable for a patient in a critical condition." » | Reporting by Dina Zayed; editing by Michael Roddy | CAIRO | Tuesday, May 31, 2011
REUTERS: Muammar Gaddafi is emphatic he will not leave Libya, South African President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday after talks with the Libyan leader that left prospects for a negotiated end to the conflict looking dim.
But new questions emerged over how long Gaddafi could hold on after a senior United Nations aid official said shortages of food and medicine in areas of Libya controlled by Gaddafi amounted to a "time bomb."
Within hours of Zuma's departure from Tripoli late on Monday, Libyan television reported that NATO aircraft had resumed attacks, striking what it called civilian and military sites in Tripoli and Tajoura, just east of the capital.
Zuma was in Tripoli to try to revive an African "roadmap" for ending the conflict, which started in February with an uprising against Gaddafi and has since turned into a war with thousands of people killed. » | Peter Graff | TRIPOLI | Tuesday, May 31, 2011
ZAWYA: MANAMA - Tanks have begun withdrawing from Manama's streets ahead of the planned lifting Wednesday of a state of emergency enacted amid a crackdown on demonstrators but mistrust still abounds in Bahrain.
Backed by Saudi-led Gulf troops, Bahraini forces in mid-March crushed the Shiite-led pro-democracy demonstrations that had paralysed central Manama, the capital of Sunni-ruled Bahrain, for a month.
Authorities continued with a crackdown on Shiites, who make up the majority of the kingdom's population, storming their villages and arresting hundreds of men and women, mostly for the mere accusation of supporting the peaceful protests.
But with the apparent gradual return to normality, stories are told behind closed doors of continued persecution of Shiites and mass dismissals from public-sector jobs for people accused of participating in the protests.
Sunnis, on the other hand, have been radicalised, with many of them welcoming the government's heavy-handed approach as a measure that saved the tiny kingdom from an Iranian-backed[A] Shiite plot to overthrow the regime.
Many do not trust the Shiites. » | Ali Khalil | Tuesday, May 31, 2011
ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL: Rome - Twenty-five Egyptian illegal immigrants were deported on a flight from the Sicilian city of Catania to Cairo, Italy's interior ministry said.
Most of the migrants had arrived last week on Italy's southernmost island of Lampedusa by boat from Libya, according to the ministry.
The migrants had claimed to be Iranian and minors under 18 years of age, but officials managed to establish that they were in fact Egyptian adults.
The interior ministry said. 412 Egyptian illegal immigrants have been repatriated from Italy since January. » | AKI | Monday, May 30, 2011
"This is a bureaucratic order from people who want the Muslim part of society to be represented by puppets," Abdul-Wahid Niyazov, the chairman and founder of the Islamic Cultural Center, told The Moscow Times on Friday, May 27.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court confirmed a decision from the Justice Ministry last fall to close the center for "multiple violations of financial regulations."
The court order said that 21 of the center's 54 regional branches lacked proper legal documentation. » | OnIslam & Newspapers | Friday, May 27, 2011
The government would like “Bismillah Rahman-ur-Rahim; meaning ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate’,” retained, Sheikh Hasina told a special parliamentary committee formed to study changes in the constitution in the light of Supreme Court verdicts on Monday.
Hasina’s aids explained that the decision was issued as the ethos of the majority of the population could not be ignored.
Bangladesh is the world's third-largest Muslim majority nation with a population of some 148 million.
The country has a secular legal system but in matters related to inheritance and marriage Muslims follow Sharia'h. » | OnIslam & News Agencies | Tuesday, May 31, 2011
He has bought himself freedom on bail and secured a luxury townhouse in Manhattan where he must drum his fingers until trial. But Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF chief accused of sexual assault, is busy investing in something more vital: the crack defence team he hopes will keep him out of prison for good.
Money is being spent quickly to win the services not only of braggadocio-filled lawyers like Benjamin Brafman, whose past clients have included P Diddy and Michael Jackson, but also figures more used to operating in the shadows. Former CIA spies may be on board, as well as a retired US diplomat, a secretive security and investigative firm in New York and some well connected PR pals from Paris.
The defendant, known around the world now by his initials, DSK, has denied the charges against him of a criminal sexual act, attempted rape, sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching, all arising from an encounter with a hotel maid in Manhattan on 14 May. Even so, with the trial still months away, he may want to test the premise that justice is blind to money and social stature.
His lawyers told a judge at his arraignment that he was worth "roughly $2m". But they added that Ann[e] Sinclair, his wife and the granddaughter of the art collector Paul Rosenberg, had "substantially greater assets". It is Ms Sinclair, who rushed to New York when her husband was arrested, who found the townhouse (monthly rental $50,000) and has led the hiring spree so preparations for the trial can begin. » | David Usborne | Tuesday, May 31, 2011
The speech recognized an inconvenient truth for Washington: Although the Assad regime has not yet reached a tipping point like that of the Ben Ali and Mubarak regimes, nearly three months of protests across Syria have shaken the Assad regime to its core.
Government forces have killed 1,000 protesters and arrested another 10,000, yet demonstrators continue to fill the streets demanding the fall of the government.
Assad is now caught in a dilemma: He can continue relying on his fellow Alawite security chiefs and the minority system they dominate to persecute the predominately Sunni protesters, or he can enact deep political reforms that could convince the protesters to return home but would end the Alawite-led system on which he so heavily relies. Either way, the Assad regime as it has existed for more than four decades is disintegrating.
Now, to follow through on his bold declaration last week, Obama and his advisers must plan for a Syria without the Assad regime as it currently exists. To do so, Washington should try to push Assad from power while pulling in a new leadership.
As a start of this “push” strategy, Obama must go even further than he did in his speech last week and publicly state that Assad must go. Such a move would signal that the United States will no longer deal with Assad. Put bluntly, high-level U.S. officials would no longer plead for Assad’s support on questions of U.S. interest in the region, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon. » | Mara Karlin and Andrew J. Tabler | Editorial | Monday, May 27, 2011
NOW LEBANON – BLOG: A “special relationship,” indeed.
Is it weird to be slightly turned on by an image of US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron kissing?
What’s the verdict, peeps: is this Photoshopped? Read on and comment » | Angie Nassar | Monday, May 30, 2011
Kuwait's proposed Mubarak al Kabeer port on the island of Bubiyan encroaches on its territorial waters says the Iraqi government.
It will also block two of its shipping lanes -lifelines for its crucial import and export trade.
Al Jazeera's Omar al Saleh reports from Baghdad.
Still reeling from the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund chief, on sexual assault charges, France's political class was struck by a fresh sex scandal on Sunday with the resignation of Georges Tron, the public works minister accused of molesting two former female staff members.
The massage enthusiast's "foot fetish", which two ex-town hall employees in their thirties claim morphed into full-blown abuse, has sparked a backlash from France's embattled female politicians. They are calling for an end to the "French exception" of "everyday machismo" among male peers often bordering on harassment. » | Henry Samuel in Paris | Monday, May 30, 2011
In a long interview with the TT news agency published late on Monday, Sweden's head of state denied recent reported claims from a former mafia member, Mille Markovic, that he had pictures in his possession showing the king in a sex club in the same shot as two naked women.
"No, it is impossible that they exist," the king insisted, stressing that "it is also difficult to comment on something one has not seen and no one else has seen either."
The royal court has demanded that public broadcaster TV4, which in a report two weeks ago about the alleged pictures said a journalist had seen them, show the shots to prove there is any substance to the claims.
The TV4 report and a new book about another shady figure from Sweden's underworld alleged friends of the king had been willing to pay large sums of money to block the publication of pictures of the monarch in compromising situations.
One of the king's childhood friends, Ander Lettstroem, admitted in a statement last week he had contacted people involved with organised crime, but insisted it was purely his own initiative and had nothing to do with Carl XVI Gustaf. » | Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
BBC: Eight senior officers who defected from Col Muammar Gaddafi's army have appealed to fellow soldiers to join them in backing the rebels.
One of the eight accused pro-Gaddafi forces of "genocide".
The men - who are said to include five generals - appeared as a news conference in Rome. » | Monday, May 30, 2011
A former bordello and music hall owned by one of Casanova's mistresses is perhaps an unlikely site for one of Britain's oldest Roman Catholic churches, St Patrick's, which sits amid the bright lights and fleshpots of London's Soho.
"It is not a conventional parish," observes Father Alexander Sherbrooke, who has overseen a 14-month, £3.5m project to restore the church and rid it of the damage caused by damp, dry rot, urban pollution, incense and candlelight. It reopens this week with a specially composed Magnificat from James MacMillan and a mass from Cardinal George Pell, who is flying in from Rome for the occasion.
The traditional nature of the celebrations – vespers and canticles – highlights the contrast between the orthodoxy of St Patrick's and what lies outside it.
Sherbrooke says: "You get a knock on the door and it can be someone who is successful in business, someone who wants a sandwich or someone caught up in the sex industry. We leave our SOS prayer line calling cards in telephone boxes – where you might see other services advertised.
"One man who called said he was a pimp and wanted to break out of his occupation but that it was too lucrative for him to leave. Do we just accept the way people are? People get into ruts they find it difficult to break out of. We can say, as Christians, that God can and does intervene." » | Riazat Butt | Monday, May 30, 2011
Asia Bibi avait 38 ans lorsque sa vie est devenue un cauchemar.
Le 14 juin 2009, elle travaillait dans le champ avec trois femmes. Asia est chrétienne, les femmes, musulmanes.
Elles se chicanaient parfois, mais elles finissaient toujours par se réconcilier. Elles vivaient à Ittanwalli, village pauvre perdu au milieu des champs. La route de terre est craquelée par le soleil, des ânes tirent des charrettes et des chiens dorment au milieu du chemin, tourmentés par les mouches. À Ittanwalli, le temps est suspendu.
En juin, le thermomètre frôle les 50 degrés. Asia travaillait, écrasée par la chaleur. Les femmes avaient soif, elles ont bu de l'eau. Asia a touché leur verre et bu à son tour. C'est à ce moment précis que tout a basculé. Ce geste inoffensif -une chrétienne qui touche l'eau d'une musulmane- a plongé le Pakistan dans une grave crise politico-religieuse.
Les musulmanes ont accusé Asia Bibi d'avoir souillé leur eau. Les femmes se sont chicanées, le ton a monté, Asia s'est énervée et elle a insulté l'islam et le prophète Mahomet. » | Michèle Ouimet, envoyée spéciale, La Presse | Lundi 30 Mai 2011
When President Obama announced his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines as the starting point for negotiations, he in effect adopted the PLO Phased Plan for the gradual destruction of Israel.
While Hamas adopted the position of destroying Israel in one step through constant armed struggle, the PLO, led by Fatah adopted in 1974 a new political method of achieving that goal through two steps. According to the plan, the first step is the establishment of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders; the second step is the liberation of all of Palestine by destroying the Jewish state through armed struggle or through the “the right of return” of millions of Palestinians to Israel, thus demographically and democratically causing Israel to lose its Jewish majority and character.
In his Middle East speech, Obama divided the core issues of the negotiations into two phases. According to the order set by the president, he in effect demanded of Israel to give up its only bargaining chip of land, based on the 1967 lines with “mutually agreed swaps” in the first phase, before negotiating t[he] other substantive questions such as the “right of return,” the Hamas-Fatah alliance, and recognition of Israel as the Jewish state.
Obama argued that by mentioning “land swaps,” he did not actually call for Israel to withdraw to the indefensible ‘67 lines, as Israel can trade off other land to avoid the ‘67 lines. But in reality the president handed the Palestinians a tremendous victory by embracing their assertion that they somehow have the implicit right to every square inch beyond the Green Line and thus must be compensated on a 1:1 basis for any adjustment. This means that if Israel wishes to keep the Western Wall or the Jewish Quarter in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians would have to agree first and then in return Israel would have to compensate them with a land swap from inside tiny Israel.
Furthermore, when the president mentioned in his speech “the fate of the Palestinian refugees”, he did not say that there will be no “right of return” to Israel proper and that the Palestinian refugees and their descendants will have to find their home in a future state of Palestine. » | Shoula Romano Horing | Sunday, May 29, 2011
ARAB NEWS: DAMMAM/JEDDAH: Detained motorist Manal Al-Sharif has reportedly written a letter of appeal to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah seeking her release.
The story was being widely discussed on websites and online editions of some Arabic newspapers on Sunday, but there was no official confirmation that she has written to the king. Repeated attempts by Arab News to get in touch with her lawyer, Adnan Al-Saleh, were unsuccessful.
A Jeddah-datelined AFP story quoted the lawyer as saying: “Al-Sharif hopes that the king will order her release and close her file.” Al-Sharif was arrested on May 21 while driving in Alkhobar, a day after she posted footage on the video-sharing website YouTube showing her behind the wheel.
Her father, Masoud Al-Sharif, initially spoke to the media after her arrest but has since declined to speak to any member of the media. “He is very upset at being misquoted and misrepresented in news reports,” a source told Arab News. “The father was particularly upset at the media for publishing baseless reports such as that of her breaking down in the women’s prison in Dammam.”
The other reason for the father not to speak to the media, according to the source, is to avoid unnecessary controversies.
“Some sections of the media have indeed tried to sensationalize the whole story without realizing the adverse impact it has on her case,” the source said.
Al-Sharif's father called on Eastern Province Gov. Prince Muhammad bin Fahd last week and explained his daughter's situation and change of heart.
“She has committed a mistake and has now realized her mistake and has since withdrawn from the so-called June 17 campaign through a social media website that incited women to take the wheel,” he was quoted as saying in the local Arabic media.
Ghazi Al-Shammari, a local official who met Manal Al-Sharif last week, also said that she feels remorseful.
“I made a mistake, and I’m a daughter of this nation. I have nobody but my family and the sons and daughters of my nation. I advise girls of my generation to rally behind our leadership and the Ulema. They know better than us about our condition. I’m confident about what I’m saying after sitting alone and contemplating,” Al-Shammari quoted Al-Sharif as saying in one Arabic newspaper. » | Siraj Wahab & Muhammad Humaidan | ARAB NEWS | Published: Sunday, May 29, 2011; Updated: Monday, May 30, 2011
A statement by the prime minister said Civil Service Minister Georges Tron had acted "in the general interest", and noted he denied the allegations.
His resignation comes in the wake of the US arrest of ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn earlier this month.
He is charged with sexually assaulting a chamber maid in a New York hotel.
In the wake of the Strauss-Kahn case, there has been speculation internationally over whether France is prepared to re-examine its strict observance of privacy laws to report scandals affecting politicians. » | Sunday, May 29, 2011
And according to Dr Wise, who has been using archival material to examine the Cameron family tree, the Tory leader could also be a direct descendent of the greatest ever Hebrew prophet, Moses.
Cameron is a descendent of banker Emile Levita, who came to Britain as a German immigrant in the 1850s. Emile Levita was himself a descendent of Elijah Levita, who lived from 1469-1549.
During the last years of his life Elijah Levita produced, among other works, two major books: the 1541 Translator’s Book, the first dictionary of the Targums or Aramaic commentaries on the Hebrew Bible.
His lexicon of 1542 explained much of the Mishnaic Hebrew language and was a supplement to two important earlier dictionaries.
Elijah Levita also wrote what is thought to be the first ever Yiddish novel - called the Bove-bukh (The Book of Bove) written in 1507 and printed in 1541.
The book is based on an Italian version of an Anglo-Norman tale about a queen who betrays her husband and causes his death.
Emile Levita, who was granted citizenship in 1871, is Cameron’s great great grandfather. Illustrious Jewish roots of Tory leader revealed » | University of Manchester | Friday, July 10, 2009
Adolf Hitler left no doubt about his goal before he ordered the invasion of Poland. Addressing generals and commanders at a reception he gave at his Berchtesgaden retreat on August 22, 1939, Hitler said he was not interested "in reaching a specific line or a new border." He wanted "the destruction of the enemy."
On September 1, 1939, German soldiers marched across the border into neighboring Poland. The vastly superior Wehrmacht forces advanced so quickly that the Polish government was forced to flee to Romania just 16 days later. On September 27, the defenders of the Polish capital, Warsaw, gave up. Nine days later, the last remaining Polish troops laid down their weapons.
Thus begun a nightmarish occupation that would last more than five years. In Poland, the Nazis had more time than in any other occupied country to implement their policies against people they classified as "racially inferior."
The task of implementing Hitler's plan fell to Hans Frank, a 39-year-old lawyer, Nazi Party member and brutal champion of the Nazis' vision of racial purity. Frank was named "Governor-General" of a large chunk of Poland, an area of about 95,000 square kilometers (36,680sq mi), with approximately 10 million inhabitants. This was the western part of Poland that had been annexed by the German Reich, while the eastern half of the country was occupied by the Red Army in accordance with the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, the 1939 non-aggression treaty between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. » | Michael Sontheimer | Friday, May 27, 2011
SPIEGEL ONLINE PHOTO GALLERY: The Horrific German Occupation of Poland »
Related Topics:
German-Polish Relations »
The Holocaust »
The Prime Minister has cut ties with the Jewish National Fund, which describes itself as Britain’s leading Jewish charity.
Downing Street insisted the decision was taken as part of a wider review of the Prime Minister’s involvement with charities.
But the move is a break with convention, as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both stayed on as patrons while at Number 10.
Mr Cameron has already experienced controversy when it comes to affairs in the Middle East – on a trip to Turkey last July he caused huge offence by calling Gaza a ‘prison camp’.
His latest move will be another disappointment to the government of Israel.
However, activist groups Stop the JNF and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign hailed Mr Cameron’s decision to step down. » | Gerri Peev | Monday, May 30, 2011
Professor Steve Jones, from University College London, said the common practice in Islamic communities for cousins to marry each other increased the risk of birth defects.
‘There may be some evidence that cousins marrying one another can be harmful,’ he told an audience at the Hay Festival.
‘We should be concerned about that as there can be a lot of hidden genetic damage. Children are much more likely to get two copies of a damaged gene.
‘Bradford is very inbred. There is a huge amount of cousins marrying each other there.’
Studies have shown that 55 per cent of British Pakistanis are married to first cousins – and in Bradford, this rises to 75 per cent.
Other research has found that children of first cousins are ten times more likely to have recessive genetic disorders and face deafness, blindness and infant mortality.
But Prof Jones’s comments provoked anger among some Muslim groups yesterday. 'Bradford Is Very Inbred': Muslim outrage as professor warns first-cousin marriages increase risk of birth defects » | Tom Kelly | Monday, May 30, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Mr Putin said that he finds it hard to believe that the sex charges against the Frenchman are true and that he may have fallen victim to a shadowy plot to discredit him.
"It is hard for me to evaluate the real political underlying reasons and I do not even want to get into that subject, but I cannot believe that everything is as it seems and how it was initially presented," he said. "It does not sit right in my head."
Mr Strauss-Kahn was arrested at JFK airport in New York on May 14 for allegedly sexually assaulting a hotel chambermaid.
Mr Putin's public support for Mr Strauss-Kahn comes days after a French politician alleged that the former IMF chief had said before his arrest that he thought Mr Putin was actively plotting his downfall.
The politician, Claude Bartolone, said: "He said the Russians and notably Putin had allied themselves with France to try to have him fired from the IMF to stop him running for (French) president." » | Andrew Osborn, Moscow | Sunday, May 29, 2011
My comment:
I have said all along that something doesn't seem right about this alleged crime. I am inclined to agree with Putin. DSK was the most successful politician in France. He was going to run for the office of president. It is quite possible that he was set up. – © Mark
This comment also appears here
FOCUS ONLINE: Nachdem eine junge Saudi-Araberin wegen unerlaubten Autofahrens verhaftet worden ist, hat sie nun Freilassungsgesuch bei König Abdallah gestellt. Wegen des Vorwurfs der Anstachelung von Frauen zum Autofahren droht ihr die Prügelstrafe.
Die 32-jährige Manal el Scharif habe mit König Abdallah telefoniert und hoffe nun, aus der Haft entlassen zu werden, sagte ihr Anwalt Adnane el Saleh am Sonntag. Die Informatikerin hatte vor gut einer Woche im Onlineportal YouTube ein Video eingestellt, das sie beim Autofahren in der Stadt Chobar im Osten des Landes zeigte. Sie wurde deshalb unter dem Vorwurf der Anstachelung von Frauen zum Autofahren angeklagt.
In Saudi-Arabien ist Frauen das Autofahren verboten. El Scharif sitzt derzeit in einem Gefängnis in der östlichen Stadt Dammam. Erst am Donnerstag wurde ihre Haft um zehn Tage verlängert. Ihr Anwalt sagte, seine Mandantin sei „in bester Verfassung und sich ihrer Sache sicher“. Saudi-arabische Medien hatten dagegen zuvor berichtet, El Scharif bereue ihr Handeln. » | it/AFP | Sonntag, 29. Mai 2011
SAPHIR NEWS: Rap et Islam. L’articulation de ces deux mots a soulevé de nombreuses interrogations chez la réalisatrice du film « Don’t Panik », Keira Maameri. Elle est allée chercher ses réponses auprès de six rappeurs. Artistes reconnus et engagés, tous se revendiquent musulmans et affichent leur identité dans leurs textes. La démarche était naturelle ; le rap réunit beaucoup de musulmans, tant dans le public que chez les rappeurs. Saphirnews s’est rendu à la première projection du film à l’Institut du Monde arabe, jeudi 26 mai. La salle était pleine et les rappeurs et la réalisatrice ont pu échanger avec le public. Reportage.
« Don’t Panik » est le troisième documentaire de la réalisatrice Keira Maameri. Passionnée par le mouvement hip hop, elle a déjà réalisé « A nos Absents » qui traite de la mort dans les textes de rap français et « On s’accroche à nos rêves », sur les femmes dans le milieu des cultures urbaines. Avec « Don’t Panik », Keira Maameri s’attaque à la question identitaire, qu’est ce qu’être rappeur et musulman dans le monde actuel ? Un film au-delà des clichés qui n’évite pas la question de l’interprétation des textes sacrés, alors la musique haram ou halal ? » | Rédigé par Pauline Compan | Samedi 28 Mai 2011
"I am looking forward to being a positive and active ambassador for this wonderful district," Naveeda Ikram told the BBC.
"I'm keen to see more participation and better confidence from all communities in the democratic process."
Councilor Ikram was installed on Tuesday as the new lord mayor of Bradford. Chosen as the first Muslim woman for the post, Ikram is a Labour councilor for Little Horton since 2004.
A mother of three, Ikram, a former Deputy Lord Mayor, is one of the first Pakistan-born females in Britain to take on the leading civic role.
A psychology and sociology graduate, she was one of the only two Bradford councilors selected in 2007 to take part in a national course designed to identify future leaders. » | OnIslam & News Agencies | Tuesday, May 24, 2011
NZZ am SONNTAG: Ein neues Selbstbewusstsein hat die saudischen Frauen erfasst. Sie wollen sich das Recht auf Autofahren erkämpfen. Das erzürnt die Konservativen.
Das neue Selbstbewusstsein arabischer Bürger hat auch die saudischen Frauen erreicht. Sie fordern die konservativen Kleriker in einem neuen Ausmass heraus und finden auch zunehmend Unterstützung ihrer männlichen Landsleute. Die jüngste Debatte im Internet, in den sozialen Netzwerken und in etablierten saudischen Medien löste die Aktivistin Manal al-Sharif aus. Sie fuhr verbotenerweise Auto in der Stadt al-Chubar und liess sich dabei auch von einer Freundin filmen. Dann veröffentlichte sie ihre Aktion auf dem Internetportal Wikipedia, mit der Aufforderung an alle saudischen Frauen, ihrem Beispiel zu folgen. In mehreren Fällen hatte die saudische Justiz in den vergangenen Jahren es einfach ignoriert, wenn sich Frauen ans Steuer gesetzt hatten. Al-Sharifs öffentlichen Aufruf empfanden die Behörden aber offenbar als nicht mehr hinnehmbar. Am vergangenen Wochenende wurde sie verhaftet. Al-Sharif besitzt laut ihrem Anwalt einen ausländischen Führerschein. Die Justiz begründet ihre Festnahme dennoch damit, dass sie ohne Führerschein gefahren sei, andere Frauen angestiftet habe, dasselbe zu tun, und die öffentliche Ordnung gestört habe. » | Max Borowski, Jerusalem | Sonntag, 29. Mai 2011
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Historische Entscheidung auf Malta: Auch in dem streng katholischen Inselstaat sollen zerrüttete Ehen künftig geschieden werden können. Mit einer Mehrheit votierten die Wähler des EU-Zwerg-staates für ein gesetzliches Scheidungsrecht. Bislang war Malta der einzige EU-Staat, in dem die Ehescheidung verboten war.
Auf Malta sollen nach dem Willen der Mehrheit der Bürger Scheidungen künftig möglich sein. Dies sei das Ergebnis des am Samstag zu der Frage abgehaltenen Referendums, teilte der Regierungschef der Mittelmeerinsel, Lawrence Gonzi, am Sonntag in Valletta mit. Gonzi erklärte, das Ergebnis entspreche nicht seinen Wünschen. Der Wille des Volkes müsse aber respektiert werden, und das Parlament werde deswegen ein Gesetz zur Einführung der Ehescheidung verabschieden. Malta ist der einzige EU-Staat, in dem die Ehescheidung verboten ist. Nun ist die Ehescheidung weltweit nur noch auf den Philippinen verboten. Fast drei Jahrhunderte beherrschte der katholische Malteser-Orden die Insel - und noch heute sind 95 Prozent der 400.000 Einwohner Maltas Katholiken, die Kirchen sind stark besucht. » | KNA | Sonntag, 29. Mai 2011
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Hundreds of suspected al-Qaeda gunmen have captured the southern Yemeni city of Zinjibar after heavy fighting with security forces.
Government officials said that the provincial capital was under the control of militants after fighting that began on Friday and had claimed 16 lives, including civilians.
The fighters "were able to gain control of the city of Zinjibar ... and took over all government facilities" a security official told AFP. Only the headquarters of the the 25th mechanised brigade was holding out, he added, but it was besieged by the gunmen.
A local resident said: "About 300 Islamic millitants and al-Qaeda men came into Zinjibar and took over everything on Friday." » | Sunday, May 29, 2011
So what, after all that, are we to make of the great Obama-Cameron concord? What message exactly are we supposed to take from the speeches, the statements, the press conference and the ecstatic briefings? There was certainly an over-arching theme that no one was intended to miss: as a former US president might have put it, the torch has been passed to a new generation. These two national leaders who inherit the most effective alliance in modern history are significantly different from their immediate predecessors: we are not, repeat not, Bush and Blair, but that does not mean that we are about to funk the responsibilities which those men saw as defining their world role. So the question is: when the similarities are added up and the differences subtracted, what is the sum that remains? Is this really a revival of liberal interventionism, or a retreat from it that is being obscured by a lot of high-flown rhetoric?
The commitment to upholding the values of liberty and democratic freedoms as universal human rights was reiterated again and again in terms as unequivocal as any that the previous holders of their offices could have wished. No patronising cynicism about certain races and certain regions of the globe being insufficiently rational to cope with the modern idea of a free and liberal society. (George Bush and Tony Blair were the ghosts at the barbecue, you might say.)
Certainly, the moral obligation to spread the doctrine of democratic government and to support the efforts of any people who seek to liberate themselves from tyranny sounded uncannily like a revival of the Bush doctrine. It would be easy to conclude, as Amity Shlaes puts it in the current issue of Standpoint magazine, “…the reality is that we are all neo-cons now”.
But in fact there was nothing in Mr Obama’s comment that “the longing for freedom and human dignity is not English or American or Western – it is universal” that was the least bit contentious in American terms: the principle that all men are created equal and are born with a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is written into the nation’s sacred founding documents. Read on and comment » | Janet Daley | Saturday, May 28, 2011
My comment:
Despite the rhetoric, the US is going to hell in a handbasket! The economy is in the tank, and Obama has little hope of doing anything meaningful to stop it disappearing into the abyss. Obama is a good-timer, a poseur, and is work-shy to boot. Instead of flitting here and flitting there, he should stay at home and do some real work for a change, in order to sort out the appalling mess that is the American economy.
Moreover, once upon a time, America was 'The Land of the Free.' Alas, no more! Everywhere you turn in the States these days there are restrictions. New York under Tyrant Bloomberg is the best example of how a people can lose its freedom to satisfy the prejudices of one physically-challenged dictator. To talk about America and freedom in the same breath when a smoker can't even light up in a park for fear of breaking the law (I write as a non-smoker), is absurd. Similar laws are being rolled out across the nation, from coast to coast. Then there are the restrictions on so many other things too.
And all this talk of democracy. Empty rhetoric when you don't have it yourself. In any case, the US is technically not a democracy; rather, it is a republic. The people have very little actual say in the day-to-day governance of their once great nation.
Dubya started spending the US into the ground; BHO's grand economic schemes and spendthrift ways have only accelerated the the process. With America's new-found propensity for over-governance, if the torch of freedom is not to be doused, then some other nation will have to take it and run with it. It's doubtful America will be able to keep it alight; Americans, it seems, have forgotten what freedom is. – © Mark
This comment also appears here
IPT: Egyptian leftist news portal Al-Badeel reports that a group of Egyptian activists will form a Nazi party for upcoming elections. The Egyptian Nazi group claims it will bring together prominent figures and ex-military officers, to promote fascist single-party rule.
Founding member Emad Abdel Sattar summed up the group's belief in single-party rule. The party "believes in vesting all powers in the president after selecting him or her carefully," and within the party "preparations are under way to choose the most competent person to represent the party." The appeal of authoritarianism comes from recent chaos in the streets, burning Coptic churches by Salafi Muslims, and random violence against civilians, according to the report. » | IPT News | Friday, May 27, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Britain is training Saudi Arabia's national guard – the elite security force deployed during the recent protests in Bahrain – in public order enforcement measures and the use of sniper rifles. The revelation has outraged human rights groups, which point out that the Foreign Office recognises that the kingdom's human rights record is "a major concern".
In response to questions made under the Freedom of Information Act, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed that British personnel regularly run courses for the national guard in "weapons, fieldcraft and general military skills training, as well as incident handling, bomb disposal, search, public order and sniper training". The courses are organised through the British Military Mission to the Saudi Arabian National Guard, an obscure unit that consists of 11 British army personnel under the command of a brigadier.
The MoD response, obtained yesterday by the Observer, reveals that Britain sends up to 20 training teams to the kingdom a year. Saudi Arabia pays for "all BMM personnel, as well as support costs such as accommodation and transport".
Bahrain's royal family used 1,200 Saudi troops to help put down demonstrations in March. At the time the British government said it was "deeply concerned" about reports of human rights abuses being perpetrated by the troops.
"Britain's important role in training the Saudi Arabian national guard in internal security over many years has enabled them to develop tactics to help suppress the popular uprising in Bahrain," said Nicholas Gilby of the Campaign Against Arms Trade.
Analysts believe the Saudi royal family is desperate to shore up its position in the region by preserving existing regimes in the Gulf that will help check the increasing power of Iran. » | Jamie Doward and Philippa Stewart | Saturday, May 28, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Bradley Manning, the man held over the leaking of confidential cables to WikiLeaks, was a 'mess of a child' who should never have been put through a tour of duty in Iraq, according to an investigative film produced by the Guardian | Teresa Smith, Maggie O'Kane, Guy Grandjean, Jacqui Timberlake, Jim Hedge, Chavala Madlena, Dan Ramirez, Bill Thomas, Richard Sprenger and Christian Bennett | Friday, May 27, 2011
JIHAD WATCH: For most Americans and those reading this, the nation of Malaysia--the country I call home--is likely nothing more but a mysterious, distant, small and relatively unimportant land. Some of you might be familiar with Malaysia's carefully cultivated public image of being some sort of harmonious multicultural tropical paradise, which is recycled endlessly in 30-second-long television spots both here and overseas.
But for anyone who may be trying to come to grips with the grim reality that is Islam, Malaysia may be one of the most important places on the planet. That's because anyone who still, despite all the evidence, feels that there really is a moderate, progressive, tolerant and peaceful Islam, need look no further than Malaysia. Once you do, you'll be thoroughly disabused of this notion.
My own awakening to Islam is mostly a tale of ignorance and more than whiff of denial, punctuated by sudden, shattering and irreversible epiphanies. I say 'shattering' because the ideas that I embraced as I grew up--that Islam is just one religion of many, and doesn't particularly pose a threat to anyone--does not withstand anything more than a cursory examination of the facts. And as the evidence piled up and my doubts grew, those old notions I had held previously, like a sheet of plate glass, came apart under the hammer blows of truth.
The first blow to my complacency was that dark day in Lower Manhattan nearly ten years ago. Like so many others reading this, I was horrified at the televised scenes of destruction and carnage in New York and Washington. How could any rational human feel otherwise? But as the days and months passed after September 11th, I starting hearing Malaysians say, over and over, that the US Government was lying about 9-11, that it was a 'set up' and a plot against Islam. And that the Jews were really behind it, of course. As I realised how sincere these Malaysians were in these outlandish ideas, I thought, "What makes so many people in this country prone to this nonsense?" At the time, the exact answers eluded me, but my budding doubts about Islam festered. » | Anti-Jihadist | Saturday, May 28, 2011
It was 1942 in Hitler's Austria, and there was no way of knowing who could have been paying her an unannounced visit.
But as she opned the door, rather than the terrifying sight of Gestapo officers, her Jewish fiance and his two brothers were on the doorstep, looking nervously over their shoulders.
The three had fled to Prague after the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938. But by 1942, that city too was in the hands of Hitler's henchmen.
They were told to pack essentials for deportation to a concentration camp.
They wrote suicide notes to make authorities think they were dead, and then did what no one thought any Jew would do - they took a night train straight to Vienna, back into the heartland of the Nazi Reich.
In deciding to protect them from the Nazis that night, Becher - now Edeltrud Posiles - embarked on a dangerous game of hide-and-seek that included some truly hairy moments: on one occasion the three jumped from a balcony to escape detection, and Walter, her future husband, pretended to be a waiter as the Gestapo stormed a cafe.
Walter Posiles as well as his brother Ludwig survived. Hans, the oldest brother, beat the odds of being found by the Nazis only to be killed by a Russian bomb during the dying days of the war.
Hiding Jews was punishable by death. But the feisty 94-year old says 'there was never a moment's doubt in my mind', when asked if she hesitated as she was asked by the brothers for sanctuary.
And - even though the marriage ended in divorce - 'I would do it again,' declares Posiles, the last one of 88 Austrians known to have saved Jews from the Holocaust who is still alive. » | Daily Mail Reporter | Saturday, May 28, 2011
At the pulpit of an inner-city Chicago mosque, the tall blond imam begins preaching in his customary fashion, touching on the Los Angeles Lakers victory the night before, his own gang involvement as a teenager, a TV soap opera and then the Day of Judgment.
"Yesterday we watched the best of seven.... Unfortunately we forget the big final; it's like that show 'One Life to Live,' " Imam Suhaib Webb says as sleepy boys and young men come to attention in the back rows. "There's no overtime, bro."
The sermon is typical of Webb, a charismatic Oklahoma-born convert to Islam with a growing following among American Muslims, especially the young. He sprinkles his public addresses with as many pop culture references as Koranic verses and sayings from the prophet. He says it helps him connect with his mainly U.S.-born flock.
"Are we going to reach them with an Arab message or with a Pakistani message? Or are we going to reach them with an American message?" asks Webb, 38, of Santa Clara. He is a resident scholar and educator with the Bay Area chapter of the nonprofit Muslim American Society, but reaches others in lectures and through his popular website, which he calls a "virtual mosque."
Webb is at the forefront of a movement to create an American-style Islam, one that is true to the Koran and Islamic law but that reflects this country's customs and culture. Known for his laid-back style, he has helped promote the idea that Islam is open to a modern American interpretation. At times, his approach seems almost sacrilegious. » | Raja Abdulrahim, Los Angeles Times | Friday, May 27, 2011
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