Sunday, January 09, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Row erupts after former home secretary says grooming for sexual abuse is a problem among some Pakistani menThe former home secretary Jack Straw has been accused of stereotyping Pakistani men in Britain after he accused some of them as regarding white girls as "easy meat" for sexual abuse.
The Blackburn MP spoke out after two Asian men who raped and sexually assaulted girls in Derby were given indefinite jail terms.
Straw said there was a "specific problem" in some areas of the country where Pakistani men "target vulnerable young white girls".
His comments were criticised by Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, who said it was wrong to "stereotype a whole community".
Yesterday Mohammed Liaqat, 28, and Abid Saddique, 27, were jailed at Nottingham crown court after being found guilty at a trial in November of charges including rape.
The judge in the case said he did not believe the crimes were "racially aggravated", adding that the race of the victims and their abusers was "coincidental".
Speaking on the BBC's Newsnight programme yesterday, Straw said: "Pakistanis, let's be clear, are not the only people who commit sexual offences, and overwhelmingly the sex offenders' wings of prisons are full of white sex offenders.
"But there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men ... who target vulnerable young white girls.
"We need to get the Pakistani community to think much more clearly about why this is going on and to be more open about the problems that are leading to a number of Pakistani heritage men thinking it is OK to target white girls in this way."
Straw called on the British Pakistani community to be "more open" about the issue. "These young men are in a western society, in any event, they act like any other young men, they're fizzing and popping with testosterone, they want some outlet for that, but Pakistani heritage girls are off-limits and they are expected to marry a Pakistani girl from Pakistan, typically," he said.
"So they then seek other avenues and they see these young women, white girls who are vulnerable, some of them in care ... who they think are easy meat.
"And because they're vulnerable they ply them with gifts, they give them drugs, and then of course they're trapped." >>> David Batty and agencies | Saturday, January 08, 2011
NZZ am SONNTAG: In den Bergen von Dagestan hat die Scharia das weltliche Gesetz längst abgelöst. Extremisten verbreiten von dort aus Terror. Korruption und staatliche Willkür geben ihnen Auftrieb.
Balachani ist ein verschlafenes Nest in den Bergen Dagestans. Im Schritttempo kämpft sich der Lada auf der Schotterpiste ins Hochtal hinauf. Frauen im schwarzen Ganzkörperschleier huschen über die staubige Dorfstrasse, bevor sie wie Schatten in den Höfen verschwinden. Nur ein paar Kühe sind sonst unterwegs. Balachani liegt im schroffen Vorgebirge des kaukasischen Hauptkammes, vier Autostunden von der dagestanischen Hauptstadt Machatschkala am Kaspischen Meer entfernt. Im März erlangte der 1000-Seelen-Ort traurige Bekanntheit, nachdem sich zwei Selbstmordattentäterinnen in der Moskauer Metro in die Luft gesprengt und 40 Personen in den Tod gerissen hatten. Eine dieser sogenannten schwarzen Witwen, Mariam Scharipowa, war in Balachani zu Hause. >>> Klaus-Helge Donath, Machatschkala | Sonntag, 09. Januar 2011
THE SCOTSMAN: NO-ONE should be surprised that the banks are expected to defy public opinion and once again pay multi-million pound bonuses.
Difficulties in controlling the bonus culture have been made plain by the frustrations felt by politicians across the spectrum and were highlighted here as far back as August 2009 after the then shadow chancellor George Osborne demanded that bonuses should be banned altogether in banks that had been bailed out by the taxpayer.
Well, he's moved a long way from that particular argument and now doesn't even see eye-to-eye with the bite-your-legs business secretary Vince Cable, who has found himself muzzled over the issue.
The bankers believe the Lib Dems who have been making most of the noise on this issue are now a bit of a spent force in the debate and that the slightly more banker-friendly tone emanating from Osborne and Prime Minister David Cameron will leave them free to award themselves the sums they see as their right.
The banks argue that they contributed towards the £53.4 billion paid in taxes last year by the financial services industry, equal to 11.2 per cent of Britain's total tax receipts. No wonder the Treasury should consider it inappropriate to bite the hand that feeds it.
Before Christmas there were more threats of a new bonus tax, an idea revisited by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and warnings from Cable that the banks would be punished if they didn't change their ways. But opinion in the City is that there is not much substance behind them.
The bankers are now said to feel so confident of getting away with paying large bonuses that they see no further need for Project Merlin, the initiative led by Barclays former chief executive John Varley to repair relations with the government. Expect the next round of bonuses to be trimmed, but only marginally, and as an acknowledgement of, rather than a concession to, public outrage. >>> Terry Murden | Sunday, January 09, 2011
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Lib Dems tear into Tories on bonuses: Ministers are furious at George Osborne’s apparent cave-in over unacceptable bank bonuses in a time of austerity >>> Marie Woolf, Whitehall Editor | Sunday, January 09, 2011 (£)
THE OBSERVER: Britain's best-paid bank boss set for showdown with MPs over huge bonus: Barclays chief Bob Diamond is under intense pressure to lead by example and give up payout >>> The Observer | Sunday, January 09, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: In the home village of the Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, there was little sympathy for the politician who was assassinated for supporting her
Aasia Bibi isn't at home. Children play at the blue gate of her modest home in Itanwali, a sleepy Punjabi village. Bibi, the woman at the heart of Pakistan's blasphemy furore – which triggered the murder of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer last week – is in jail, desperately praying that she won't be executed. Her neighbours are hoping she will be.
"Why hasn't she been killed yet?" said Maafia Bibi , a 20-year-old woman standing at the gate of the house next door. Her eyes glitter behind a scarf that covered her face. "You journalists keep coming here asking questions but the issue is resolved. Why has she not been hanged?"
Maafia was one of a group of about four women who accused Bibi, also known as Aasia Noreen, who is Christian, of insulting the prophet Muhammad during a row in a field 18 months ago. But she will not specify what Bibi actually said, because to repeat the words would itself be blasphemy. And so Bibi was sentenced to hang on mere hearsay – a Kafkaesque twist that seems to bother few in Itanwali, a village 30 miles outside Lahore.
A few streets away Maulvi Muhammad Saalim is preparing for Friday prayers. The 31-year-old mullah, a curly-bearded man with darting, kohl-rimmed eyes and woolly waistcoat, played a central role in marshalling the blasphemy charge. When a court sentenced Bibi to death last November – the first woman in Pakistan's history – he "wept with joy", he says. "We had been worried the court would award a lesser sentence. So the entire village celebrated."
The young cleric excuses himself: it is time for Friday prayers. Padding across the marble floor in his socks, he plugs in a crackly speaker, and issues a droning call that rings out across the village. A madrasa student shoos a stray goat out of the mosque courtyard. Villagers wrapped in wool blankets shuffle in.
Judging by the sermon it is not Christianity that was preoccupying Saalim this Friday. For 30 minutes he rails against the evils of drinking, gambling, kite flying, pigeon-racing, cards and, oddly enough, insurance. "All of these are the work of the devil," he says, before launching into a fresh recitation. >>> Declan Walsh, in the village of Itanwali, Pakistan | Saturday, January 08, 2011
Saturday, January 08, 2011
WELT ONLINE: Die Mitarbeiter von "Jyllands-Posten" leben wegen der Mohammed-Karikaturen mit einem ständigen Gefühl der Bedrohung. Ein Besuch.
Kurt Westergaard hat sich schick gemacht. Schwarze Hose, schwarzes Hemd, schwarze Lederweste, dazu ein farbiges aber dezentes Halstuch. In der rechten Hand hält er einen schwarzen Stock mit einem Knauf aus Silber. Seit zwei Wochen hat er einen Herzschrittmacher, den ihm seine Frau Birgitta zu Weihnachten geschenkt hat. „Der ganze Eingriff hat nicht mal eine Stunde gedauert“, staunt Westergaard, „kaum war ich aus der Narkose aufgewacht, durfte ich nach Hause gehen.“
Vor einem Jahr, am 1.Januar 2010, wurde Westergaard in seinem Haus von einem somalischen Islamisten heimgesucht, der ihn mit Hilfe einer Axt belehren wollte, dass man den Propheten Mohammed nicht ungestraft karikieren darf. Westergaard hatte Glück, die Tür zum Badezimmer hielt den Axthieben stand, bis die Polizei eintraf, ihn befreite und den Besucher abführte. Damals nahm er sich vor, alt zu werden und auf seine Gesundheit zu achten. Jetzt, witzelt Westergaard, schlage „ein Peacemaker“ in seiner Brust. „Die hätten dir besser einen Troublemaker einsetzen sollen“, sagt Erik Guldager, der Westergaard als Agent und Galerist betreut. „Hab ich nicht nötig, bin selber einer“, antwortet der Künstler mit einem Anflug von Trotz.
Guldager ist 47, Westergaard 75 Jahre alt. Der eine könnte der Sohn des anderen sein. Westergaard hat 25 Jahre als Lehrer an einer Grundschule unterrichtet, bevor er Karikaturist wurde. Guldager hat „absolut nichts“ gelernt, aber viel unternommen. Er war Vertreter von BASF, Kellog's und Kodak in Dänemark, 2005 machte er sich mit einer Galerie für zeitgenössische dänische Kunst in Skanderborg bei Aarhus selbstständig.
Auch für Westergaard war 2005 ein Schicksalsjahr. Am 30. September druckte „Jyllands-Posten“, Dänemarks größte Tageszeitung, zwölf Mohammed-Karikaturen. Eine davon hatte Westergaard gezeichnet: Der Prophet mit einer im Turban versteckten Bombe auf dem Kopf. Es dauerte ein paar Wochen, bis Millionen von Muslimen in aller Welt bewusst wurde, dass sie beleidigt worden waren, von einem Mann, dessen Namen sie nicht aussprechen konnten, und von einer Zeitung, die sie bis dahin nicht einmal zum Anzünden von offenen Feuern benutzt hatten.
Während die anderen Zeichner auf Tauchstation gingen, stellte sich Westergaard der Welle der Empörung entgegen. Heute ist er der bekannteste Däne zwischen Nordkap und Kap Horn, ein Symbol der „bürgerlichen Anarchie“, die das Rückgrat der dänischen Leitkultur ausmacht. „Wir lassen uns nicht gerne sagen, was wir machen sollen oder nicht machen dürfen.“ Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben >>> Autor: Henryk M. Broder | Samstag, 08. Januar 2011
FOX NEWS: Rep. Giffords in Intensive Care After Being Shot in the Head at Public Event: Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is in an intensive care unit following surgery for a gunshot wound in the head at close range, the University of Arizona Medical Center announced Saturday afternoon. >>> | Saturday, January 08, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: After the murder of liberal politician Salman Taseer, Pakistan's moderate, educated classes are growing ever more fearful.
With her frilly black hijab, eyeliner and Macbook, Sana Saleem does not look like a doughty human rights campaigner. Yet every day she shrugs off death threats and anonymous text messages promising to rape her in the street, in order to champion progressive causes on her blog.
Even she, though, was unprepared for the outpouring of hate that has engulfed Pakistan this week, with the murder of a high-profile politician who was leading a campaign to reform the country's draconian blasphemy laws.
"I was devastated, really shocked," said the 23-year-old medical student. "They were celebrating his death, showering the killer with rose petals. I never expected this, [sic]" >>> Rob Crilly, Karachi | Saturday, January 08, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Islamic militants in southern Somalia have banned unrelated men and women from shaking hands, speaking or walking together in public.
People who break the rules could be imprisoned, whipped or even executed.
Al-Shabab, the Islamic extremists, have already banned women from working in public, leaving many mothers with a terrible choice: risk execution by going to sell some tea or vegetables in the marketplace, or stay safely at home and watch the children slowly starve.
"It's an awful rule. I feel like I'm under arrest. I've started to ignore the greetings of the women I know to avoid punishment," said Hussein Ali, a resident of the southern Somali town of Jowhar. The edict is also being enforced in the town of Elasha.
Gunmen are searching buses for improperly dressed women or women travelling alone, said student Hamdi Osman in Elasha. She said she was once beaten for wearing Somali traditional dress instead of the long, shapeless black robes favoured by the fighters.
The Islamists' insistence that women wear the long, heavy robes also forces many women to stay at home because they can't afford the new clothing. >>> | Saturday, January 08, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Al-Qaeda is plotting car bomb, suicide and Mumbai-style attacks on crowds at British airports and train stations, a secret government memorandum discloses.
An alert issued by the security services warns of plots against transport hubs by al-Qaeda's "international operations wing" designed to cause "a large number of casualties".
The "restricted" document, seen by The Daily Telegraph, details plans for "one or more attacks against Europe, including the UK", aimed at "high-profile Western targets".
It warns of attacks against British airports and the London transport network – including the Underground – with the aim of inflicting "political, economic and psychological" damage.
Terrorists, it says, could use "vehicle-borne" or "hand-delivered" bombs and firearms. >>> Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | Saturday, January 08, 2011
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: In Berlin ist ein Brandanschlag auf eine Moschee verübt worden. Die Täter hätten versucht, die Eingangstür des Gotteshauses im Bezirk Wilmersdorf anzuzünden, teilte die Berliner Polizei mit.
Abermals hat es in Berlin einen Brandanschlag auf eine islamische Einrichtung gegeben. Unbekannte Täter versuchten in der Nacht zum Samstag, die Tür der Ahmadiyya-Moschee im Stadtteil Wilmersdorf anzuzünden, wie die Polizei mitteilte. Das Gotteshaus aus den 1920er Jahren gilt als eine der ältesten erhaltenen Moscheen in Deutschland. Verletzt wurde bei dem Brandanschlag auf die Moschee niemand. >>> AFP/dpa | Samstag, 08. Januar 2011
THE SPECTATOR: The control orders fiasco shows that our political class still isn’t serious about security
For a jihadi, Britain is one of the very best places in the world. In Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, overhead drones kill terrorists on a regular basis. In most democratic countries, politicians try to limit their enemies’ ability to operate — so one runs the risk of being thrown into prison, if caught mid-jihad. But not in Britain. Here, the Islamist insurgents have found that there are a hundred ways to run rings around our police and justice system. Nothing demonstrates this more spectacularly than the control orders farce.
Control orders are an inelegant system for putting restrictions on terror suspects, either because the evidence which could convict them is too sensitive to be used in a criminal court, or because European human rights laws prevent them from being deported. Eight people are being detained under control orders, with the suspects under curfew, electronic tagging, a travel ban or other restrictions. The system is understandably popular, but it seems certain that David Cameron will allow his Lib Dem colleagues to claim victory by altering the name and tinkering with the terms.
If this happens, it might be seen as a Lib Dem victory. But it will be the clearest possible evidence that the coalition government, like the Labour government before it, remains unwilling to deal with the problem which made control orders necessary in the first place: the fact that this country has been systematically failed by its legal, political and immigration systems. Once, foreign nationals who posed a threat could be deported. The European Convention on Human Rights has put a stop to that. >>> Douglas Murray | Saturday, January 08, 2011
LE POINT: Au Maghreb, les jeunes manifestent violemment contre une situation économique insupportable dans un contexte politique en crise.
Le Maghreb s'enflamme. Les moins de 30 ans (70 % de la population) sont dans la rue et veulent tout casser pour se faire entendre. Surtout en Algérie, où les manifestations ont un air de déjà-vu. En octobre 1988, les émeutes d'Alger, commencées par une manipulation politique et poursuivies par le soulèvement d'une population excédée par des conditions de vie difficiles, un chômage énorme et le mépris d'une classe politique sclérosée dominée par le FLN, avaient débouché sur un éphémère "printemps d'Alger". En 1991, des élections pluripartistes avaient montré que le FIS, le principal parti islamiste, risquait d'emporter la majorité au Parlement. L'armée avait alors annulé le second tour du scrutin, prenant le risque d'une guerre civile qui a fait plus de 100.000 morts. La situation politique est différente. Mais les causes du mécontentement social sont les mêmes. >>> Par Mireille Duteil | Samedi 08 Janvier 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Leading Right-wing organisations in the United States have pulled out of a major conservative conference because of the participation of a gay Republican group, exposing a schism among conservatives over the direction of the movement.
At least half a dozen groups have announced they will not attend the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac) next month, which will attract thousands of activists to Washington and feature most of the Republican hopefuls for the party's 2012 presidential nomination.
They have objected to the status of GOProud as a co-sponsor of the event, though the group does not advocate actively for gay marriage, believing it is an issue that should be resolved by states and not the federal government. GOProud, whose name is derived from the Republican Party's nickname Grand Old Party, did however strongly support the recent repeal of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy on military recruitment of gay people.
"The baseline reason is that homosexuality is not a conservative value," said Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association. "It's the conservative Pac, not the libertarian Pac."
Brent Bozell, head of the Media Research Centre, which tracks liberal bias in the mainstream media, said: "We've been there 25 years, since our inception. To bring in a 'gay' group is a direct attack on social conservatives, and I can't participate in that."
The Family Research Council, which has participated in the conference for several years, said in a statement: "Organizations whose whole reason for existence is to promote the forced public affirmation of homosexual conduct should not be welcomed at Cpac, because that is not by any stretch of the imagination a 'conservative' agenda." >>> Alex Spillius, Washington | Friday, January 07, 2011
Friday, January 07, 2011
I’ll be WC and Always On Watch’s guest on this week’s Gathering Storm Radio Show. The upcoming show will be today, Friday, January 7, 2011 at 12 noon PST and 3.00 PM EST. That’s 8.00 PM UK time, and 9.00 PM CET.
Please come along. All are welcome. If you wish to call in, the number is (1) 646 915 9870.
To the show >>>
WELT ONLINE: In der Türkei empört eine TV-Serie über den Sultan. Szenen mit Vielweiberei und Sklaven stören Islamisten, Nationalisten und Feministinnen
Die Türkei erlebt seit einigen Jahren eine Osmanen-Renaissance, eine allgemeine Rückbesinnung auf das geistige und politische Erbe jenes Großreiches, mit dem die Türken zwischen 1299 und 1922 zur Weltmacht wurden. Da ist es nur passend, dass der Sender Show TV vor einigen Tagen mit der Ausstrahlung einer Serie zum größten, glorreichsten aller Sultane begann: Süleyman der Prächtige, den die Türken den „Kanuni“, also Gesetzgeber nennen. Geboren irgendwann zwischen 1494 und 1496, eroberte er nach dem Balkan auch Ungarn, stieß bis nach Wien vor, und bis er 1566 bei einer Belagerung starb, verwandelte er Istanbuls Antlitz mit Prachtbauten, die bis heute bewundert werden, und gab seinem Volk einfacher Krieger ein zivilisatorisches Gesetzeswerk.
Das ist der Süleyman, den die Türken sehen wollen: gut, stark und gerecht, der Inbegriff all dessen, was auch die Türkei gerne wäre. Die TV-Serie aber hat eine Welle der Empörung ausgelöst. Statt den Mythos zu verherrlichen, versucht sie zu zeigen, dass die Realität auch voller Ungerechtigkeiten war. Da werden Sklaven behandelt wie, nun ja, Sklaven; Haremsfrauen wie, nun ja, Haremsfrauen, also für fleischliche Liebe, und überdies fließt wahrhaftig Blut in einer Welt, in der das Schwert regierte. >>> Autor: Boris Kálnoky | Freitag, 07. Januar 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Christians in the Middle East are the victims of "religious cleansing", President Nicolas Sarkozy of France warned yesterday following a string of attacks on churches in the region.
Mr Sarkozy made the statement while giving his annual address to religious leaders as Coptic Christians were due to celebrate Christmas yesterday, according to the eastern Orthodox church calendar.
"We cannot accept and thereby facilitate what looks more and more like a particularly perverse programme of cleansing in the Middle East, religious cleansing," said the French president.
An attack on a Coptic church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria on January 1 killed 21 people. While noon has claimed responsibility, it followed online threats against Copts from an al-Qaeda-linked group which had said it was behind an attack on a church in Baghdad in October.
Some 68 people died in the attack on a Syriac Catholic church, one of a number of strikes against Christians in Iraq.
Those who died in Alexandria and Bagdad were "collectively our martyrs", said Mr Sarkozy. "They are the martyrs of the freedom of conscience." "The rights that are guaranteed in our country to all religions must be reciprocally guaranteed in other countries," he said. >>> Henry Samuel, Paris | Friday, January 07, 2011
LE FIGARO: En présentant ses vœux vendredi matin aux représentants des religions, le président de la République est revenu sur les attentats qui ont visé, en Égypte et en Irak, des chrétiens.
«Nous ne pouvons pas non plus admettre et donc faciliter ce qui ressemble de plus en plus à un plan particulièrement pervers d'épuration religieuse du Moyen-Orient». Vendredi matin, en présentant ses vœux aux représentants des religions, le président Nicolas Sarkozy - qui avait tenu cette année à inviter tous les représentants des Églises chrétiennes d'Orient présentes en France - a tenu à faire une «mise au point» liée à «la gravité de la situation internationale» à propos de l'actualité tragique de l'attentat contre des Coptes en Égypte.
«Ils venaient de recevoir et de se donner la Paix, ils ont été tués à l'arme de Guerre» a-t-il lancé en mémoire de ceux qui ont été «sauvagement assassinés» pour le «crime» de «pratiquer leur religion». Adressant les condoléances «de la France» à cette communauté chrétienne établie en Égypte depuis le début du christianisme, le chef de l'État est aussi revenu sur l'assaut contre la cathédrale syriaque de Bagdad, en affirmant: «Si je pouvais, ici, utiliser le mot de martyr, alors je dirais que les martyrs d'Alexandrie ou de Bagdad, ne sont pas uniquement des martyrs coptes, syriaques, ou maronites. Ils sont collectivement nos martyrs. Ils sont les martyrs de la liberté de conscience. Les Français n'acceptent pas, la France n'acceptera jamais que l'on puisse impunément prendre des innocents en prière pour cible d'un terrorisme délirant et barbare.» >>> Par Jean-Marie Guénois | Vendredi 07 Janvier 2011
ÉLYSÉE : Voeux du Président aux autorités religieuses pour l'année 2011 >>> | Janvier 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Drugs were “readily available” at global financial company JP Morgan, the Old Bailey has heard.
Personal assistant Emily McMillan stole thousands of pounds from the company after getting into debt buying narcotics from a drug-dealing colleague.
McMillan, 28, used corporate credit cards belonging to senior executives to steal the money.
She then spent it on a friend’s breast enhancement operation, a girls’ holiday in Ibiza and to make a repayment on her brother’s mortgage.
The Old Bailey heard that she began stealing after she fell into debt through taking drugs supplied by a colleague at JP Morgan. She had access to corporate credit cards to make travel and other arrangements on behalf of senior staff. But she was caught after a routine audit and later admitted four counts of fraud and one of theft, totalling £10,633, all committed between March and May last year. >>> Andy Bloxham | Friday, January 07, 2011
DIE PRESSE: In Graz ist die Zahl der Austritte sogar um 67 Prozent gestiegen. Allein in den beiden Städten sind knapp 20.000 Katholiken ausgetreten. Am kommenden Dienstag stellen die Bischöfe die Zahlen für ganz Österreich vor.
Die Kirchenaustritte sind in Wien und Graz im Jahr 2010 dramatisch in die Höhe geschnellt. Laut aktuellen Daten der zuständigen Magistratsabteilungen (MA 62, MA 5) gab es im abgelaufenen Jahr in Wien (Stadt, nicht Erzdiözese) um 47 Prozent mehr Austritte als im Jahr davor. In Graz verließen um 67 Prozent mehr Personen die römisch-katholische Kirche. Am 11. Jänner [Januar] wollen die heimischen Bischöfe die Austrittszahlen für ganz Österreich präsentieren. >>> APA | Freitag, 07. Januar 2011
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: MAGHREB | A Alger, dans le quartier populaire de Belouizdad (Belcourt), des groupes de jeunes ont affronté avec des pierres et des bouteilles en verre des policiers déployés en masse et lourdement armés.
Les policiers se sont opposés aux manifestants en faisant usage de canons à eau et de gaz lacrymogènes.
A Annaba, épargnée jusqu’à présent par la contestation qui s’est étendue depuis son début à une dizaine de départements, de violents incident ont éclaté après la grande prière du vendredi dans le quartier populaire dit "gazomètre".
Les incidents ont commencé vers 15H00 (14H00 GMT) quand des centaines de jeunes se sont mis à lancer une pluie de pierres contre des policiers déployés depuis la veille, notamment autour des bureaux de la wilaya (département). >>> AFP | Vendredi 07 Janvier 2011
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Tunisien – Hohe Arbeitslosigkeit schürt Unruhen: In Tunesien überschatten wütende Bürgerproteste den Start ins neue Jahr. Seit sich Mitte Dezember ein arbeitsloser Akademiker selbst verbrannte, kommt das Land nicht zur Ruhe. Demonstrationen und Streiks nehmen zu. Die Regierung reagiert mit harter Hand. >>> ler/dpa/AFP | Freitag, 07. Januar 2011
WELT ONLINE: Linken-Chefin Gesine Lötzsch irritiert mit ihrem Bekenntnis zum Kommunismus. Trotz der Kritik hat sie ihre Ansichten jetzt nachdrücklich verteidigt.Linken-Chefin Gesine Lötzsch hat ihre heftig kritisierten Äußerungen zum Kommunismus nachdrücklich verteidigt. Der "Berliner Zeitung“ sagte Lötzsch: "Natürlich ist der Begriff Kommunismus belastet. Wir sollten uns aber keine Denkverbote auferlegen lassen.“ Sie sei von den Veranstaltern der Rosa-Luxemburg-Konferenz gebeten worden, "über Wege zum Kommunismus nachzudenken und dieser Bitte bin ich nachgekommen“. Das bedeute aber nicht, dass sich die politische Zielsetzung ihrer Partei verändert habe. "Das Ziel der Linken bleibt der demokratische Sozialismus“, sagte Lötzsch. >>> dapd/mac | Freitag, 07. Januar 2011
Verbunden >>>
ZEIT ONLINE: Der Verfassungsschutz beobachtet ein Erstarken der Linksextremen. Auch in dieser Szene gibt es jetzt Bands, die mit Musik zur Gewalt aufrufen.
Die linksextreme Szene in Deutschland wird stärker. Das Potenzial sei im vergangenen Jahr, nach Abzug von Mehrfachmitgliedschaften, um 600 Personen auf 32.200 gewachsen, sagten Verfassungsschützer dem Tagesspiegel. Den deutlichsten Anstieg, um 500 Personen auf jetzt 25 800, verzeichnete das Spektrum der "Marxisten-Leninisten und anderen revolutionären Marxisten", wie der Nachrichtendienst die in der Regel nicht zu Gewalt neigenden Organisationen nennt.
Auffallend ist vor allem die weitere Zunahme beim Verein Rote Hilfe, der Linke unterstützt, die mit dem Gesetz in Konflikt geraten sind. Im Jahr 2010 sei die Zahl der Mitglieder auf 5500 gestiegen (2009: 5300, 2008: 5000). Die Rote Hilfe sei "strömungsübergreifend" für Linksextremisten attraktiv, hieß es. >>> Von Frank Jansen | Freitag, 07. Januar 2011
Verbunden >>>
LE POINT: De nombreux fidèles ont assisté à la messe de minuit, rassurés par la sécurité renforcée après l'attentat du 1er janvier.
Il n'y a pas eu d'attentat en Égypte durant la nuit du 6 au 7 janvier, et les coptes-orthodoxes ont pu assister aux offices de Noël en toute quiétude, mais non sans tristesse. C'est un Noël de deuil tant la tragédie du 1er janvier - l'explosion d'une bombe qui a fait 22 morts et plus de 80 blessés à l'église des Saints à Alexandrie - est présente dans les coeurs. Du reste, dans divers gouvernorats, la messe de Noël est célébrée à l'intention des victimes du nouvel an.
Le calme qui a régné durant les cérémonies religieuses était prévisible. L'État avait adopté des mesures de sécurité exceptionnelles pour protéger les chrétiens lors de la messe de minuit, au Caire comme dans tout le pays. Plus de 70.000 policiers étaient en fonction à travers l'Égypte, et, dans les grandes villes, des barricades empêchaient toute voiture de stationner devant la façade des lieux de culte. Près de l'église des Saints, à Alexandrie, un camion anti-émeute laissait entrevoir des canons de mitraillettes à travers ses fenêtres étroites. Des centaines de fidèles avaient tenu à assister aux offices dans cette église où une main criminelle avait semé la mort le jour de l'an. Colère >>> Par Denise Ammoun, la correspondante du Point au Caire | Vendredi 07 Janvier 2011
LE POINT: En France, Noël copte sous haute sécurité >>>
WELT ONLINE: Islamisten bestrafen wachsenden Mut der Christen: In der islamischen Welt werden alteingesessene Christengemeinschaften zum Ziel von Terror. Ein Theologe hat dafür eine Erklärung. >>> Autor: Till-R. Stoldt | Freitag, 07. Januar 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Nick Clegg has said that key elements of control orders are to be reformed, but admitted that they would not be removed altogether.The Deputy Prime Minister said the controversial restrictions would be kept because a "small number" of dangerous terror suspects could not be dealt with by the traditional justice system.
The comments came after intense wrangling within the coalition over what to do about control orders. The Liberal Democrats promised to scrap them at the General Election, but many Tories believe they are necessary to keep the public safe. >>> | Friday, January 07, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A suicide bomber killed 17 people and wounded another 21 in assassinating a police commander at a public bath in a southern Afghan town on the border with Pakistan, the local government said.
A nine-year Taliban insurgency is concentrated in southern Afghanistan, but suicide attacks targeting civilians in public places are relatively rare.
"A suicide bomber blew up explosives strapped to his chest at a public bath in Spin Boldak," border police official General Abdul Razaq said.
He put the death toll at 13, but the provincial government spokesman later confirmed that at least 17 people had died in the attack.
"Twenty-one people were also wounded," said the spokesman, Zalmay Ayoubi, from the provincial capital, Kandahar. >>> | Friday, January 07, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Germany shut down more than 4,700 farms and related businesses late on Thursday after tests showed animal feed had been contaminated by a cancer-causing chemical.
"4,709 farms and businesses are currently closed," including 4,468 in the state of Lower Saxony, northwest Germany, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.
The farms will be closed until they are found to be clear of contamination by dioxin, a toxic chemical compound that can cause cancer, and will not be allowed to make any deliveries, the ministry added. >>> | Friday, January 07, 2011
Verbunden >>>
THE GUARDIAN: German contaminated egg scare spreads to British supermarkets: Food agency confirms liquid egg containing illegal levels of dioxins has been used in cakes and quiches sold in UK >>> Kate Connolly in Berlin and Matthew Weaver | Friday, January 07, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman has likened Turkey to Iran on the eve of its 1979 Islamic revolution, saying Ankara's policies were to blame for the breakdown of ties with the Jewish state.Writing in Thursday's edition of the Jerusalem Post under the headline "We will not be Turkey's punching bag," Mr Lieberman offered to meet his Turkish counterpart as part of a "frank and honest dialogue" on how their alliance might be restored.
But in the latest rhetorical broadside to follow Israel's deadly interception of a Turkish-sponsored aid flotilla that tried to breach its Gaza blockade in May, far-rightist Mr Lieberman put the onus on the Islamist-rooted government in Ankara. >>> | Thursday, January 06, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Israel will 'not be Turkey's punching bag', foreign minister claims >>> Mark Weiss in Jerusalem | Thursday, January 06, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: German ministries considered prosecuting dog's Finnish owner or ruining his business for insulting Hitler, wartime records reveal
Germany's Nazi government was so angry about a dog trained to imitate Hitler that it started an obsessive campaign against its Finnish owner, according to newly discovered documents.
In the middle of the second world war, the foreign office in Berlin commanded its diplomats in Nazi-friendly Finland to gather evidence on the dog, and even came up with plans to destroy the pharmaceutical wholesale company of the dog's owner.
Historians had not been aware of the strange footnote to the Nazi period before some 30 files containing parts of the correspondence and diplomatic cables were recently found by a researcher in the political archives of the German foreign office. >>> Associated Press | Friday, January 07, 2011
NZZ ONLINE: Der Bischof von Arabien, der Schweizer Paul Hinder, hat die Politik im Westen zu mehr Einsatz für die Religionsfreiheit in der Golfregion aufgefordert. Leider würden Menschenrechtsfragen oft wirtschaftlichen Interessen untergeordnet. Der Anschlag in Alexandria spiegele keinesfalls das Verhältnis zwischen Christen und Muslimen wider. >>> Interview: Stefan Reis Schweizer | Donnerstag, 06. Januar 2011
LE MONDE: Les coptes de France célèbrent jeudi 6 janvier un réveillon du Noël orthodoxe sous tension : la surveillance a été renforcée autour des dix-neuf édifices coptes du pays, dont certains figurent sur une liste de lieux de culte désignés début décembre comme cibles par un site d'Al-Qaida. Sobhy Gress, secrétaire général de l'Association internationale solidarité copte-Europe, revient sur les sentiments de la communauté. >>> LeMonde.fr | Jeudi 06 Janvier 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Train stations across London have been put on high alert amid fears of a terrorist attack on transport hubs.
British Transport Police cancelled leave and called in extra officers after intelligence was received that terrorists could be planning attacks.
A security source said there was no “imminent” threat and the overall threat level had not changed but there was activity from one of a “handful” of extremist cells that cause concern at any time, leading to an adjustment in policing levels.
It is understood that “intelligence chatter” suggested that transport hubs in London could be a target. >>> Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | Thursday, January 06, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Christian woman is on death row under blasphemy laws that Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer had condemned before his assassination
Salmaan Taseer meets with Aasia Bibi after she was sentenced to hang for blasphemy in Punjab province, where Taseer was governor until his assassination on Wednesday. Photograph: The Daily TelegraphHuman rights workers say they fear for the immediate safety of Aasia Bibi, the Christian woman at the heart of Pakistan's blasphemy furore, following the assassination of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer this week.
"None of us feel safe, least of all her," said Shahzad Kamran, a Christian charity worker who has visited Bibi in jail several times since last November when she was sentenced to hang for blasphemy.
Bibi, a mother of four who has been sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the prophet Muhammad, has been in solitary confinement for the past month. But since Taseer was shot multiple times by his own guard in Islamabad on Tuesday, Kamran said he feared Bibi could be killed by a zealot.
"There are many chances. The prison guards could also kill her because they are Muslims and we cannot trust them," he said.
Kamran said he expected that Bibi's "heart was broken" at the death of Taseer, her most prominent defender, and that her plight had reverberated across Pakistan's embattled Christian community.
"Taseer died for the Christians and now we are feeling broke and scared. If they can kill the governor of Punjab then who am I?" >>> Declan Walsh in Islamabad | Thursday, January 06, 2011
Thursday, January 06, 2011
BBC NEWS EUROPE: It is less than a year since her marriage in a fairytale setting in Stockholm, and now it seems Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria has replaced her father in the people's affections.
An opinion poll for a leading Swedish newspaper suggests nearly two thirds of the country want the King, Carl Gustaf the Sixteenth, to abdicate.
Dominic Kane reports. Watch BBC video >>> | Thursday, January 06, 2011
I’ll be WC and Always On Watch’s guest on this week’s Gathering Storm Radio Show. The upcoming show will be tomorrow, Friday, January 7, 2011 at 3.00 PM EST. That’s 8.00 PM UK time, and 9.00 PM CET.
Please come along. All are welcome. If you wish to call in, the number is (1) 646 915 9870.
To the show >>>
THE INDEPENDENT: The suicide of Alireza Pahlavi, the youngest son of the former Shah of Iran, is a reminder of the futility of the dream that one day the royal family may be restoredWhatever it was that sustained Alireza Pahlavi – his money, perhaps, his good looks or even a lingering nostalgia for luxuries and status lost – it ran out this week. With a single squeeze of the trigger, the youngest son of the former Shah of Iran, aged 44 and living in a well-to-do corner of Boston, took his own life on Tuesday.
Neighbours in the South End district of Boston won't miss him much, even if they liked to gossip about his royal lineage every once in a while. Almost no one knew the man who always looked debonair in pressed jeans and a blazer, climbing from his Porsche before disappearing into his brownstone home, its windows obscured by interior shutters.
That he generated pavement chit-chat was hardly surprising. He was different. He had been raised as the second in line to the ancient Peacock Throne of Persia, accustomed once to unimaginable privilege. As an adult in Boston he seemed accomplished – he attended Ivy League universities – and had once been touted as the city's most eligible bachelor. But to wonder at the man and his pedigree was to ignore the demons burrowed inside. >>> David Usborne | Thursday, January 06, 2011
BBC NEWS MIDDLE EAST: The younger son if the Shah of Iran, Alireza Pahlavi, was "extremely affected" by his family's exile, former Iranian minister Mahnaz Afkhami says.
Alireza Pahlavi killed himself in the US after a long battle with depression.
Ms Afkhami, who was minister for women's affairs during the Pahlavi era, told the BBC World Service that the fall of the Shah was a "traumatic experience" for Alireza, who was 13 years when his father fled the country in 1979. Listen to BBC audio >>> | Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Related >>>
NATIONAL POST: A British right-wing group responsible for a wave of violent anti-Islamist street protests in the United Kingdom will attempt to spread its message to Canadians at a rally in Toronto next week.A "support rally" for the controversial English Defence League is scheduled to take place at the Toronto Zionist Centre on Tuesday night. The event is being organized by the Jewish Defence League of Canada.
Tommy Robinson, the EDL leader, will speak at the rally through an online hookup. It is believed to be the first Canadian rally for the EDL, repeatedly linked to violence since it formed in 2009 to counter Islamist militancy in Britain.
"I am disappointed that the JDL would support an organization whose record in the U.K. is one of violence and extremism," said Bernie Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress. "This is more than unwise and I sure hope they reconsider this decision.”
Dozens have been arrested at EDL protests, including Mr. Robinson, an alias used by Stephen Lennon. He was charged in November with assaulting a police officer at a confrontation with Islamists who burned poppies during a two-minute silence for veterans.
"The root cause of the problem is the Koran, it's Islam," he told the BBC on Nov. 19. "And no one has got the balls to admit it and say it and talk about it. We will. We're not creating these divisions and this extremism. It's already there. That's why we formed. If there was no militant Islam there would be no EDL." >>> Stewart Bell, National Post | Thursday, January 06, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Hall Talayan, 55, arrested in north-west Iran near the border with Armenia
Iran has arrested an American woman on charges of spying after she illegally entered the country on foot, reports from the country said today.
According to the Iran newspaper, the US national, named as Hall Talayan, had spying equipment hidden on her body when customs authorities held her in the border town of Nordouz, 370 miles (600km) north-west of Tehran.
Khabaronline, a conservative news website, also named Talayan, saying she had a small microphone hidden between her teeth. The woman reportedly crossed by land from Armenia, and did not have a visa. >>> Peter Walker and agencies | Thursday, January 06, 2011
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
BBC: The 112th US Congress has convened in Washington, starting a new legislative session in which resurgent Republicans aim to cut the size of the US government and its spending.
The new Congress is being sworn in two months after mid-term elections which saw President Barack Obama's Democrats suffer heavy losses to the opposition.
Republican John Boehner has taken over the key role of House speaker.
A BBC correspondent says the stage is now set for ideological battle.
Mr Boehner, a Midwestern conservative, was confirmed as House speaker on Wednesday afternoon, replacing liberal San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi.
Ms Pelosi passed the speaker's gavel, which she called a "strong symbol of peaceful democracy", to Mr Boehner in an official exchange of power.
In his opening remarks, Mr Boehner said the objective of Republicans was to give government back to citizens of the US and provide honesty and accountability.
"No longer can we fall short, no longer can we kick the can down the road. The people voted to end business as usual, and today we begin to carry out their instructions," Mr Boehner said. (+video) >>> | Wednesday, January 05, 2011
BBC: One thing is not in doubt: there will be tears before it's over.The man who will be sworn in on Wednesday as speaker of the House, Republican John Boehner, cried when his party won in November, cried afterwards when he explained he had been at that moment thinking of his modest background, helping out in his dad's bar, and then cried again on TV when he was asked why he'd cried.
Whether he'll weep again now, I cannot say, but it may be a moment when all Republicans may feel like getting out the hanky. The scale of their achievement is enormous: two years after the election of Barack Obama on a huge wave of abstract ideals like hope and change, they won the mid-term election hands down. Today they take charge of one of the most important components of American government, the House of Representatives. They have cut the Democratic majority in the Senate too.
In this fluid mix comes not just tears, but tea.
There will be many new faces in Congress. Fresh faces, steeped in the fiscally conservative Tea Party movement. They really are different. Many of them took not the tired old route of a little light lawyering and then a stint in the city council or state government. Here are car salesmen, pizza restaurant owners, opticians - people who've never before been politicians.
They are filled with a sense of mission and mandate, a belief that they have been elected by the American people to overturn what they see as Mr Obama's socialist agenda. Read on and comment >>> Mark Mardell | Tuesday, January 04, 2011
MAIL ONLINE: The question of whether it is acceptable for an African-American person to use the 'n' word in a workplace but not a white person is to be decided by a federal jury.U.S. District Judge Barclay Surrick has ruled that former Fox29 reporter-anchor Tom Burlington's claims against the station of double standards and racial discrimination will go to trial on January 18.
But the judge ruled out Burlington's claim of a hostile work environment.
Burlington, who is white, was dismissed after using the 'n' word during a staff meeting in June 2007.
He made the comment while discussing a story about about the symbolic burial of the word by the Philadelphia Youth Council of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Burlington, who is now working as a real estate agent, was suspended within days and then fired after the incident was published in the Philadelphia Daily News. White TV reporter fired for using the ‘n-word’ accuses station of racial discrimination >>> Daily Mail | Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Related >>>
NZZ ONLINE: In der iranischen Provinz Teheran sind mehrere christliche Missionare festgenommen worden. Missionsarbeit steht in Iran unter Strafe.
In Iran sind mehrere christliche Missionare festgenommen worden. Die Anführer einer «korrupten» und «fehlgeleiteten» Bewegung seien in der Provinz Teheran festgenommen worden und weitere Festnahmen stünden bevor, sagte der Gouverneur der Provinz Teheran, Mortesa Tamaddon, am Dienstag. >>> sda/afp | Mittwoch, 05. Januar 2011
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Mark Twain wrote that “the difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter.” A new edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer will try to find out if that holds true by replacing the word “nigger” with the word “slave” in an effort not to offend readers.Twain scholar Alan Gribben, who is working with NewSouth Books in Alabama to publish a combined volume of the books, said the racially offensive slur appears 219 times in Huck Finn and four times in Tom Sawyer. He said the word puts the books in danger of joining the list of literary classics that Twain once humorously defined as those “which people praise and don't read.”
“It's such a shame that one word should be a barrier between a marvellous reading experience and a lot of readers,” Gribben said.
Yet Twain was particular about his words. His letter in 1888 about the right word and the almost right one was “the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” >>> The Associated Press, Montgomery, Ala | Wednesday, January 05, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – CHRISTOPHER HOWSE: There is a great fuss in America about a new edition of Huckleberry Finn from which the word nigger has been excised. It occurs in the novel 217 times, or 219 (tallies vary, and I have lost count), so its loss makes quite a difference. It is like The Merchant of Venice without the word Jew.
Indeed Jew is far more pejorative in the mouths of Shakespeare’s characters than nigger is in the mouths of some of Mark Twain’s. Launcelot Gobbo, Shylock’s servant, resolves to run away, and declares: “I am a Jew if I serve the Jew any longer.”
We readers of Shakespeare and Mark Twain do not dislike black people or Jewish people. Yet we can be more certain that Twain did not hate blacks than that Shakespeare was not anti-Semitic. Anyone would have to be not only stupid but a fool to miss the fact that Mark Twain was on the side of Jim, the runaway slave in Huckleberry Finn.
Even if we cannot be sure that Shakespeare wasn’t anti-Semitic, should it mean that teenagers at school must never read The Merchant of Venice again? Or, if we are doubtful about Thomas Carlyle’s attitude to emancipated slaves, does that mean nobody should peruse his discourse from 1853, On the Nigger Question?
Striking out the word nigger every time it appears in Huckleberry Finn is a kind of ethnic cleansing, a pretence that in the land of the free no one referred to black people by a demeaning term once the Civil War had been won. >>> Christopher Howse | Wednesday, January 05, 2011
LA PRESSE: Le film britannique Joue-la comme Beckham (Bend It Like Beckham) est devenu le premier film occidental diffusé à la télévision nord-coréenne le 26 décembre dernier.
Les films occidentaux sont interdits en Corée du Nord, parce que censés promouvoir la culture «impérialiste». >>> Cyberpresse | Mercredi 05 Janvier 2011
YNET NEWS: Survey finds US, Israel seen by Turkish citizens as top threat, followed by Iran; only 27.9 percent say ties with Jewish state should be improved
The United States and Israel top the list of countries that Turks see as a threat, according to an opinion poll seen by AFP Wednesday. The survey, conducted by the Ankara-based Metropoll research company last month, found that 42.6 percent saw the United States as "the greatest external threat," with another 23.7% singling out Israel.
Turkey's eastern neighbor Iran ranked third, listed by three percent of the respondents, while another neighbor and traditional rival Greece come fourth with 2.3%.
In response to another question, 63.6% said relations with Israel should be frozen, as opposed to 27.9% who said ties should be improved. >>> AFP | Wednesday, January 05, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Hundreds of Pakistan's religious leaders have publically applauded the murder of a prominent politician gunned down because of his campaign to reform the country's blasphemy laws.
In a statement released hours before the funeral of Salman Taseer, a liberal politician close [to] President Asif Ali Zardari, 500 scholars from the Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat group praised his assassin and ordered their followers not to grieve or they would suffer the same fate.
"We pay rich tributes and salute the bravery, valour and faith of Mumtaz Qadri," the statement said referring to the man now in police custody, before going on to warn politicians and academics to learn lessons from Mr Taseer's death.
"Also, there should be no expression of grief or sympathy on the death of the governor, as those who support blasphemy of the Prophet are themselves indulging in blasphemy."
Mr Taseer, the governor of Punjab, was shot dead in Islamabad on Tuesday by a member of his own protection detail.
He had become a hate figure among hard-line clerics for taking on the case of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, an issue that has illustrated the country's deep religious divide between a small, liberal elite and conservative mullahs who draw huge followings. >>> Rob Crilly, Islamabad | Wednesday, January 05, 2011
ARAB NEWS – EDITORIAL – AN EXTRACT: Taseer was murdered by one or perhaps more bigots who believed that he wanted to repeal the country’s blasphemy law. But he was the true face of tolerance that Islam represents. He worked for the good of his country trying to promote tolerance and understanding and peace between its different communities. He stood up against extremism and violence. It cost him his life and his heartless, grinning murderer is an ignorant instrument of evil. >>> Editor | Wednesday, January 05, 2011
MAIL ONLINE: The number of Americans worried about the economy has reached its highest level since the darkest days of the recession two years ago, according to a new survey published today.
The Rasmussen poll showed that 87% of voters view the economy as by far the most important issue facing the government.
The percentage is five points up from an October poll and underlines the task still faced by President Obama to restore confidence in the shell-shocked financial system.
Improving the economy is seen as the highest priority since August 2008, when the scale of the financial crisis was first becoming clear.
Only 24% of voters agree with Mr Obama’s claims that his policies have the economy moving in the right direction. However, halfway into the Obama presidency more voters still believe the Bush White House was more to blame for the financial collapse than the current administration. Welcome home, Mr President: Poll reveals fears over economy at highest level since recession as Obamas return from Hawaii
>>> David Gardner | Wednesday, January 05, 2011
LE TEMPS: Les violences contre les chrétiens s’intensifient au Moyen-Orient et les poussent à l’exil. Elles se heurtent au silence de la communauté internationale. Cette christianophobie croissante coïncide avec une réislamisation des pays arabo-musulmans où les chrétiens sont assimilés à l’Occident conquérant
«Nous n’avons plus de repères. Nous ne pouvons plus dire que l’Egypte est notre terre. Beaucoup de coptes songent à partir définitivement.» Atef Michael vit depuis 27 ans en Suisse. Membre de l’Eglise copte orthodoxe de Suisse romande, il s’inquiète pour le sort de ses coreligionnaires en Egypte, où il se rend régulièrement pour revoir ses amis et administrer l’héritage de son père. «Dans un siècle, il n’y aura plus de chrétiens dans ce pays, prédit-il. Le gouvernement ne protège pas les coptes et laisse faire les islamistes. Le président Hosni Moubarak a condamné l’attentat contre l’église d’Alexandrie, mais ce ne sont que des mots. En réalité, il s’en fiche. Le gouvernement n’assure pas la sécurité des coptes, qui sont victimes de vexations et de discriminations au quotidien.» >>> Patricia Briel | Mercredi 05 Janvier 2011
WELT ONLINE: Die Vorsitzende der Linkspartei veröffentlichte in der "Jungen Welt" einen Text über "Wege zum Kommunismus" – und erntet heftige Kritik.
Die Linkspartei-Vorsitzende Gesine Lötzsch ist mit Spekulationen über die Zukunft des Kommunismus in die Kritik geraten. Der Direktor der Stasiopfer-Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, Hubertus Knabe, griff Lötzsch wegen eines am Montag in der linken Zeitung „Jungen Welt“ veröffentlichten Textes an, in dem sie sich über „Wege zum Kommunismus“ geäußert hatte. „Wenn die Linken-Vorsitzende öffentlich darüber sinniert, welches der beste Weg zum Kommunismus ist, kann einem nur angst und bange werden“, sagte Knabe. Für die Opfer des Kommunismus seien solche Gedankengänge „schmerzhaft und unerträglich“. >>> dapd/dpa/sam | Mittwoch, 05. Januar 2011
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Linke-Chefin erklärt Kommunismus zum Ziel der Partei: Klartext bei der Linken: Mitten in der Programmdebatte bekennt sich Parteichefin Gesine Lötzsch zum Kommunismus. Im Marxisten-Blatt "Junge Welt" hat sie einen Text platziert - darin fehlt jedes kritische Wort über die Verbrechen, die im Namen der Ideologie begangen wurden. >>> Von Stefan Berg | Dienstag, 04. Januar 2011
NZZ ONLINE: Albaniens blockierte Aufarbeitung der Geschichte: Die Auseinandersetzung mit dem kommunistischen Regime hat noch kaum begonnen >>> Daniel Ursprung | Mittwoch, 05. Januar 2011
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