Spain: Jews Receive Apology Over Spanish Inquisition Executions
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The leader of Majorca has become the first government official to apologise for the execution of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition – centuries after the events.

Francesc Antich, the regional president of the Balearic Islands, issued an official condemnation of the killings in what was heralded by Jewish groups as the first of its kind in Spain.

"We have dared to gather here to recognise the grave injustice committed against those Majorcans who were accused, persecuted, charged and condemned to death for their faith and their beliefs," Mr Antich said at a memorial service held in Palma de Majorca [Palma].

At the end of the 15th century King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella set up the Spanish Inquisition to root out remnants of Islam and Judaism after the reconquest of Spain. Over the following two centuries thousands of so-called heretics were burned at the stake. » | Fiona Govan, in Madrid | Friday, May 06, 2011

Rowan Williams Apologises for Claiming Catholic Church Has Lost 'All Credibility'
THE TELEGRAPH: The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has been forced into a humiliating apology after claiming the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland had lost all credibility over the child abuse scandal.

Following a torrent of criticism, Dr Williams admitted his "deep sorrow and regret" over his earlier comments in a telephone conversation with the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin.

A statement issued last night by the Dublin Archdioces said: "The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, this afternoon telephoned Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to express his deep sorrow and regret for difficulties which may have been created by remarks in a BBC interview concerning the credibility of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

"Archbishop Williams affirmed that nothing could have been farther from his intention than to offend or criticise the Irish Church." >>> Robert Mendick | Saturday, April 03, 2010

Serbia Issues Apology for Muslim Massacre


Related:

NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: Serbia Apologises for Srebrenica Massacre >>> AFP, NRC, Reuters | Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Pope's Apology

Brown-nosing! Arschleckerei! US Apologises Over Gaddafi Comments
BBC: The US State Department has apologised for comments made about Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's call for jihad, or holy war, against Switzerland.

Department spokesman PJ Crowley*, who made the dismissive comments, said they did not reflect US policy and were not intended to offend.

Col Gaddafi had criticised a Swiss vote against the building of minarets and urged Muslims to boycott the country.

Mr Crowley described it as "lots of words, not necessarily a lot of sense."

Libya and Switzerland are embroiled in a long-running diplomatic row.

Clarification

"I regret that my comments have become an obstacle to further progress in our bilateral relationship," Mr Crowley said.

Last week, Libya's National Oil Corporation warned US oil firms of possible "repercussions" over Mr Crowley's reaction. >>> | Tuesday, March 09, 2010

*Who is this sniveler? America has lost ALL of its dignity!

20MINUTEN.ch: USA macht sich die Nase braun! Affäre Gaddafi : USA entschuldigen sich bei Libyen >>> sda/ddp | Mittwoch, 09. März 2010

Swiss President Defends Apology in Libya Dispute
ASSOCIATED PRESS: BERN, Switzerland — Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz defended his apology to Libya for the arrest of Moammar Gadhafi's son, saying Friday it was the only way to secure the release of two Swiss citizens detained by Tripoli.

The apology was heavily criticized in the Swiss media, but welcomed by companies eager to do business in the oil-rich North African country.

"My mission was to ensure that we can work through what happened in Geneva, to get the two Swiss out of Libya — that was my primary aim," Merz told reporters in the capital Bern.

Tripoli cut business and diplomatic ties with the Alpine nation after Hannibal Gadhafi and his wife were arrested July 15, 2008, in a Geneva luxury hotel for allegedly beating up two of their servants. The servants later withdrew their complaint after receiving compensation from an undisclosed source.

Four days after the arrest Libya also detained two employees of engineering company ABB Ltd. — Max Goeldi and Rachid Hamdani — for alleged breaches of immigration rules. Swiss media have described them as "hostages" that Tripoli was using to force an apology from Switzerland. >>> Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press | Friday, August 21, 2009

NZZ ONLINE:
Flugzeug nach Libyen unterwegs: Landung in Tripolis vor 18 Uhr zu erwarten>>> sda | Dienstag, 25. August 2009

Cambridge Police Demand Apology from Barack Obama Over 'Stupid' Comments
THE TELEGRAPH: American police unions have demanded an apology from Barack Obama after he accused an officer of "acting stupidly" by arresting leading black scholar, Prof Henry Louis Gates.

Police representatives queued up at a press conference to insist race had played no part in the incident and the president should retract his "disgraceful" comments and apologise to Sgt James Crowley.

However Mr Obama refused to apologise at a hastily arranged White House press conference where he said: "In my choice of words, I unfortunately gave the impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically."

"My words didn't illuminate they only added to the media attention," he added.

He also revealed that he had telephoned Sgt Crowley.

Mr Obama criticised police earlier this week after the incident involving Prof Henry Louis Gates who was arrested after trying to force a jammed front door at his home near Harvard University. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Friday, July 24, 2009

Cameron Apologises to Gays
MAIL Online: David Cameron has issued an extraordinary apology on behalf of the Conservative Party for legislation banning the promotion of homosexuality in schools.

He said the party had 'got it wrong' when it introduced Section 28 in the late 1980s.

It is one of a series of apologies Mr Cameron has made for his party's actions in government.

The Scots received one in 2006 for having the poll tax imposed on them a year before it was introduced in England.

The Tory leader's latest remarks, during an appearance at a Gay Pride event, were attacked last night by traditionalists on the Right of his party.

They pointed out that as recently as 2003, when Tony Blair axed the clause, Mr Cameron voted for a Tory amendment described by gay rights groups as 'Section 28 by the back door'.

Former party chairman Lord Tebbit said he suspected the apology had been driven by 'focus group findings'.

The gay vote - estimated at 2.65 million people - will be a key political battleground ahead of an election expected next May.
Gordon Brown is hosting a gathering of leading gay and lesbian figures in Downing Street on Saturday, and his wife Sarah is joining a Gay Pride march.

Section 28 was introduced by Margaret Thatcher's government in response to evidence of Left-wing councils promoting gay relationships in schools.

It prevented councils and schools from intentionally promoting homosexuality, but became a focal point for anger for gay rights campaigners.

Mr Cameron insisted he was making his apology because the legislation had been ' offensive to gay people'.

'I'm sorry for Section 28. We got it wrong. It was an emotional issue. We have got to move on and we have moved on,' he said.

He insisted that under his leadership the party was embracing gay rights and predicted it would produce Britain's first gay Prime Minister. Cameron apologises to gays for Section 28: Law to ban promotion of homosexuality in schools was wrong, says Tory leader >>> James Chapman | Thursday, July 02, 2009

Zahra Rahnavard Demands Apology from Iran’s President Ahmadinejad
Zahra Rahnavard. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMES ONLINE: A diminutive 64-year-old grandmother who refuses to be bound by the rigid constraints imposed on women in Iran proved more than a match for the President of the Islamic Republic yesterday.

Zahra Rahnavard had already broken all precedent by actively campaigning for her husband, Mir Hossein Mousavi, a relative moderate who is President Ahmadinejad’s strongest challenger in Friday’s presidential election. Yesterday she went a step further by summoning the domestic and international media to a press conference at which she tore into the President for lying, humiliating women, debasing his office and betraying the principles of the revolution.

What sparked her fury was Mr Ahmadinejad’s televised debate with her husband last week in which he challenged Dr Rahnavard’s considerable academic qualifications, suggesting that they were earned not on merit, but through the patronage of a corrupt political elite.

“He wanted to destroy his rival through lies,” she declared in a 90-minute finger-wagging tour de force, and she vowed to sue the President if he did not issue a public apology within 24 hours.

It was a more forceful attack than any of Mr Ahmadinejad’s three male challengers have managed, and would have been remarkable in any election, let alone in male-dominated Iran. It also injected more uncertainty into a race that already has an outcome impossible to call. Dr Rahnavard’s boldness is likely to enrage conservatives, but should delight the women and young urban Iranians who must vote in great numbers if Mr Mousavi is to unseat the incumbent.

Dr Rahnavard offered further inducements. She promised that her husband, if elected, would appoint women to Cabinet posts for the first time, and name many female deputy ministers and ambassadors. He would end discrimination and ensure that women were no longer treated as second-class citizens. He would release women’s rights activists from prison and abolish the “morality police” who, during Mr Ahmadinejad’s first term, cracked down on women deemed to be dressed inappropriately. She even suggested that women should not be forced to cover their heads. >>> Martin Fletcher in Tehran | Monday, June 08, 2009

Pauline Hanson Loses Re-election Bid as Paper Apologies [sic] over Nude Photos
Photo of Pauline Hanson on the dance floor courtesy of The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
TIMESONLINE: The far-right Australian politician Pauline Hanson has received an apology over the publication of 30-year-old raunchy photographs of a near naked woman that local newspapers incorrectly claimed were her, a day after she lost a bid for re-election.

The apology - in which a Sunday newspaper admitted they were “conned” by Jack Johnson, who took the photos and claimed he was a former boyfriend of Ms Hanson - came as the political firebrand lost her bid for a seat in the Queensland parliament, ending her controversial 13-year political career.

Ms Hanson, the former leader of the One Nation political party, had vowed to quit politics for good if she failed to win a seat as an independent in the Queensland parliament during Saturday’s elections.

However on Sunday she declined to rule out running again. “Look, I don’t know,” Ms Hanson said. “I really need to think about this.” >>> Sophie Tedmanson in Sydney | Sunday, March 22, 2009

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Pauline Hanson Nude Photos Were a Con: JACK Johnson, the person at the centre of the controversial Pauline Hanson photographs affair, has emerged as a conman. >>> By Nick Leys Jennifer Sexton | Sunday, March 22, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Australia) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Australia) >>>

Turkish Academics in Apology to Armenians
THE INDEPENDENT: Intellectuals break taboo to acknowledge genocide by Ottoman Turks

Around 200 Turkish intellectuals and academics are to apologise on the internet today for the ethnic cleansing of Armenians during the First World War, in the most public sign yet that Turkey's most sensitive taboo is slowly melting away.

"My conscience does not accept the denial of the great catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915," the text prepared by the group reads. "I reject this injustice and ... empathise with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers. I apologise to them."

Turkey accepts that many Armenians were killed during the collapse of the Ottoman empire, but insists they were victims of civil strife and that Muslim Turks also died. Most Western historians agree that the ethnic cleansing that killed roughly 700,000 Armenians amounted to genocide. >>> By Nicholas Birch in Istanbul | December 15, 2008

BBC: Turkish PM Scorns Armenia Apology

Turkey's prime minister has criticised a Turkish internet petition which apologises for the "great catastrophe" of 1915 when Armenians were massacred.

The petition was launched by more than 200 Turkish academics and newspaper columnists earlier this week.

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "I find it unreasonable to apologise when there is no reason".

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman Turks in 1915. Turkey denies that it was "genocide". >>> | December 17, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Texan Sheriff Gives His Staff a Lesson on How to Be a Good Dhimmi
HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Reacting to the latest controversy about his office in recent months, Sheriff Tommy Thomas on Monday apologized in person to a local Muslim group for insensitive e-mails sent by members of his staff.

Monday's appearance before the Islamic Society of Greater Houston was Thomas' second apology in recent days over staff e-mails that surfaced in media reports last week, including one message from a top commander that mocks Islam's core tenets.

"I think we've opened some lines of communication that certainly may not have existed before," Thomas said of the meeting. "We will have a continuing dialogue." Harris Sheriff Apologizes to Muslims for Offensive e-Mails; He meets with Islamic Society members, vows to discipline deputy >>> By Matt Stiles and Rosanna Ruiz ©Houston Chronicle | June 30, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>