RT.COM: Read the article here »
Thursday, November 08, 2012
It came after a night of rain, tear gas and clashes. But after four months of tortuous negotiations and a rancorous parliamentary debate, the Greek parliament finally announced late on Wednesday night that it had passed the most draconian package yet of austerity measures needed to keep Europe's weakest economy afloat.
Following heady scenes inside and outside the 300-seat house, 153 MPs supported the €13.5bn (£10.8bn) package in a vote that will be remembered as perhaps the most electrifying in the history of the three-year Greek debt crisis.
Approval of the spending cuts, tax rises and labour reforms was given with a weakened majority – seven rebels voted against the measures – but on trade markets around the world there were signs of relief. Mandarins in Brussels said the ballot would pave the way to the release of €31.5bn in EU and IMF sponsored rescue funds – desperately needed to keep bankruptcy at bay.
"Greece today has taken a big, decisive and optimistic step. A step towards recovery," said prime minister Antonis Samaras after the cliffhanger vote. "I am very pleased," he told reporters before emphasising that the "next step" was passage of the 2013 budget in a vote on Sunday. » | Helena Smith in Athens | Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Verwandtes Video »
«Obama semble être un homme sympathique. Et c'est précisément le problème», a estimé Julian Assange dans une interview par téléphone, accordée depuis l'ambassade d'Equateur à Londres où il est réfugié depuis la mi-juin.
«C'est mieux d'avoir un agneau habillé en loup qu'un loup déguisé en agneau», a-t-il ajouté. «Toutes les actions contre WikiLeaks ont été engagées par l'administration Obama», a-t-il encore dit, faisant notamment allusion à l'incarcération depuis mai 2010 du militaire Bradley Manning soupçonné par la justice américaine d'avoir été la «taupe» de WikiLeaks. » | afp/Newsnet | mercredi 07 novembre 2012
RT.COM: Assange: Reelected Obama a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' » | Thursday, November 08, 2012
BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK: The California man linked to the “Innocence of Muslims” YouTube video that sparked riots in the Middle East and North Africa admitted to violating the terms of his probation and was sent back to prison for a year.
U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder in Los Angeles yesterday sentenced Mark Basseley Youssef after he confessed to using a name other than his true legal one, which violated the terms of his supervised release following a 2010 conviction for bank fraud.
Youssef, as part of an agreement with prosecutors, admitted to four allegations, including falsely telling his probation officer that he hadn’t used the name Sam Bacile, the name attached to the YouTube account that posted the video. Snyder denied a request by Youssef’s lawyer, Steven Seiden, to sentence him to home confinement. » | Edvard Pettersson | Thursday, November 08, 2012
Romney correctly identified America’s burgeoning entitlement culture as a major obstacle to a Republican winning back the White House.
‘There are 47 per cent of the people who will vote for the President no matter what . . . who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe they are entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you name it.’
Striking an almost defeatist note, he concluded: ‘I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their own lives.’
Romney’s leaked remarks caused a predictable storm of confected outrage, but his analysis was bang on the money. Just as Gordon Brown cynically constructed a client state in Britain to maximise Labour’s electoral advantage, so the Democrats deliberately drain the public purse to feed their supporters’ insatiable appetite for handouts.
When 47 per cent of the electorate depends to a greater or lesser degree on government largesse, the Democrats have only to target another four or five per cent of voters to secure a majority.
With the overall result pivoting on a handful of battleground states, Obama’s supporters concentrated successfully on turning out the Democratic base and convincing sufficient wavering independents that they would be hurt financially by a Romney victory.
This wasn’t a ‘hope and change’ election like 2008. Obama’s campaign this time was based on fear and loathing. » | Richard Littlejohn | Wednesday, November 07, 2012
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, warned Britain not to turn its back on Europe just before heading to London on Wednesday night for a crunch meeting with the prime minister David Cameron.
Merkel is visiting the UK in the hope of resolving a growing dispute about the EU budget, with Downing Street raising the implicit threat that it could veto any increase in spending. In a speech to the European parliament in Brussels before leaving for London, the German leader issued a veiled warning that Britain would struggle alone.
"I want to have a strong UK in the EU," said Merkel in a question and answer session after her address to MEPs. "The UK was with us when we were liberated from national socialism. We still have British soldiers in Germany. I can't imagine that the UK [would] not be part of Europe.
"I think it is good also for the UK to be part of Europe. If you have a world of seven billion, and if you are alone in that world, I don't think that is good for the UK. So I will do everything to keep the UK in the EU as a good partner, and that is why I'm going to London and I will ask the inhabitants of the wonderful island to reflect that they will not be happy if they are alone in this world.
"With a strong Europe with 500 million we are in favour of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion and democracy. Look around the world at where this isn't the case and be happy that we are together". » | Juliette Jowit, Mark Rice-Oxley and Ian Traynor in Brussels | Wednesday, November 07, 2012
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Charmeoffensive in London – Merkel blitzt bei Cameron ab: In Europa stehen wichtige Entscheidungen über EU-Haushalt und Bankenunion an, Kanzlerin Merkel war deshalb auf diplomatischer Mission in Brüssel und London. Doch die Charmeoffensive verpuffte, der britische Premier Cameron bleibt vorerst auf Veto-Kurs. » | Von Carsten Volkery, London | Mittwoch, 07. November 2012
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
SAPHIRNEWS.COM: Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed refait parler de lui. Le président fondateur de l’association Homosexuels musulmans de France (HM2F) avait créé la polémique en s’unissant religieusement avec un autre homme musulman en mars dernier. Aujourd’hui, il annonce l'ouverture, fin novembre, d'une mosquée « inclusive » en Île-de-France, permettant aux gays, lesbiennes, bisexuels et transsexuels de prier dans un lieu sûr et de se marier. Réel besoin pour HM2F, son initiative s'apparente surtout à nouvelle provocation pour une majorité de musulmans. Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed s’en explique à Saphirnews.
Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed ne comprend pas tout l’étonnement que sa proposition suscite. Pourtant, elle est bien loin d’être banale pour les musulmans pratiquants. En effet, le fondateur de l’association Homosexuels musulmans de France (HM2F) a annoncé, lundi 5 novembre, l’ouverture d’un lieu de culte musulman « inclusif », ouvert aux « homosexuels, lesbiennes, bisexuels et transsexuels » et qui permettra de « marier religieusement des couples du même sexe ».
Dans un premier temps, c'est un dojo bouddhiste zen de la banlieue Est de Paris qui hébergera le culte du vendredi, mais le président de H2MF est actuellement à la recherche active d'un lieu de culte sûr, qui aura pour vocation première d’accueillir les fidèles de son association « au moins une fois par semaine » lors de la prière du vendredi. Un lieu de prière sûr pour les homosexuels » | Rédigé par Maria Magassa-Konaté | mardi 6 novembre 2012
REUTERS.COM: (Reuters) - Saudi judges who enforce sharia (Islamic law) have condemned what they see as "the stench of Western ideas" in sweeping legal reforms pushed by King Abdullah, underscoring friction between government modernizers and religious hardliners.
In a letter to Justice Minister Mohammed al-Issa seen by Reuters, eight judges complained about foreign trainers who shave their beards contrary to purist Islam, the minister's meetings with diplomats of "infidel" states and plans to let women practice as lawyers.
The authenticity of the letter, which did not directly criticize either the king or Issa, was confirmed by a source in the Justice Ministry who said it was sent late last month.
Saudi lawyers and political analysts say the judicial reforms announced by King Abdullah in 2007 and supported by Issa are needed to make the legal system more efficient and modern. » | Angus McDowall | RIYADH | Tuesday, November 06, 2012
HT: Robert Spencer @ Jihad Watch »
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Bahraini authorities have revoked the citizenships of 31 Shia activists, among them two former members of parliament, for having "undermined state security," according to state news.
The names of the 31 activists, including brothers Jawad and Jalal Fairuz, both ex-MPs who represented the major Shiite Al-Wefaq bloc, were listed in the BNA report, which quoted an interior ministry statement.
Also named was Ali Mashaima, son of prominent activist Hassan Mashaima who is head of the radical Shiite opposition movement Haq and who is serving a life sentence for allegedly plotting against the monarchy.
The government move comes after Bahrain late last month banned all protests and gatherings to ensure "security is maintained," after clashes between Shia-led demonstrators and security forces in the Sunni-ruled country.
The Gulf state has experienced unrest since March last year when the authorities crushed protests led by the Shia Muslim majority. » | Source: AFP | Wednesday, November 07, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A screen will separate genders on the country's main advisory body to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah when women join it for the first time.
Following a decision by Abdullah, women will be allowed to join the Shura Council, his main group of advisers expected to reconvene early next year. The format is seen as a compromise with hardline Islamic factions that oppose even small reforms in the ultraconservative kingdom, where sex segregation is a widespread custom. » | Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Brandissant sa canne en l'air et tout sourire, la grand-mère par alliance de Barack Obama a fêté mercredi la réélection de son petit-fils à Kogelo, au Kenya, le village d'origine du père du président américain. "Prends cet excellent travail qui t'a été donné par les gens et dirige-les bien. Ils t'ont montré un immense amour en votant pour toi", a conseillé à son petit-fils Sarah Obama, seconde épouse de feu le grand-père paternel du locataire de la Maison-Blanche.
Devenu le premier président afro-américain des États-Unis en 2008, Barack Obama, aujourd'hui âgé de 51 ans, est né à Honolulu d'une mère américaine blanche et d'un père kényan noir, tous deux décédés à présent. Il mentionne sa "Mamie" dans son autobiographie intitulée Les rêves de mon père et y raconte sa rencontre avec elle lors d'un voyage au Kenya en 1988. » | Source SIPA | mercredi 07 novembre 2012
It was simply un-Islamic to broadcast Christian songs, Talaat explained.
"Egypt is Islamic and so we all have to accept Islamic rules to halt any strife," he said by telephone.
Four months since Egypt elected veteran Muslim Brotherhood politician Mohamed Mursi as president, human rights activists say hardliners are trying to impose Islamist ways on society.
Although reliable data on social trends is hard to find in Egypt, many people believe that cases of religious intimidation have increased.
"There is no doubt that the rate of strange and violent practices by strict Islamists has increased tremendously since the election of Mursi," said Gamal Eid, founder of The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, a human rights group.
"We have in a few months seen many more of such incidents than we have seen in years before Mursi," he said.
Seemingly sporadic incidents are turning into what rights activists describe as an emerging pattern of abuses in the street by radicals, defying both the authority of the state and Mursi's own promises to protect personal freedoms.
From the fatal stabbing of a young man who was out with his fiancée to the case of a conservative teacher who cut schoolgirls' hair because it was uncovered, the examples are stacking up. » | Yasmine Saleh | CAIRO | Wednesday, November 07, 2012
The generally liberal moves were decided among more than 170 ballot initiatives and referendums held across the country, as it re-elected Democratic President Barack Obama for four more years.
Mr Obama came out in favor of gay marriage months before the election which pitted him against Republican rival Mitt Romney, who insists that marriage should be reserved for a relationship between a man and a woman.
During his first four-year term Mr Obama had also fulfilled a pledge to repeal the controversial Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) law banning openly gay servicemen and women from serving in the US military.
Three states voted Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage, including Maine - which voted in a referendum against it in 2009, but reversed that decision with 54 percent in favor to 46 percent against.
Washington state and Maryland also appeared set to approve the move, which had already been passed by state lawmakers. Both states voted 52-48 percent in favor, according to CNN projections based on partial results. » Source: AFP | Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Die alte Dame ist die dritte Frau von Obamas Grossvater väterlicherseits. Auch ohne Blutsverwandtschaft sprach der Amtsinhaber stets liebevoll von seiner «Mama Sarah», die in der Grenzregion zu Uganda wohnt.
Die prominente Oma wagte sich kurz vor der Wahl kaum aus ihrem Haus und wurde rund um die Uhr von einem Polizisten bewacht. Sie sei «glücklich» mit dem, was ihr Enkel erreicht habe, sagte sie. Den ganzen Artikel hier lesen » | Von Simon Knopf | Dienstag, 06. November 2012
LE POINT: VIDÉO. Les Frères musulmans semblent tenir le haut du pavé dans la nouvelle Égypte. Pourtant, dans les années 50, ils faisaient rire.
Nous sommes en 1953. Nasser est le chef incontesté de l'État égyptien. Soucieux de la concorde nationale, il tend la main aux Frères musulmans. Il espère qu'ils sauront convenir d'un "pacte social". Mais le responsable de ce parti exige un préalable non discutable. Que l'Égypte impose à ses femmes de porter le voile ! Non seulement Gamal-Abdel Nasser, alors chef de file du monde arabe, refuse d'accéder à la demande du parti religieux, mais en plus il se permet de se moquer ouvertement, avec humour, ironie et un solide bon sens de cette extravagante demande. La salle écoute d'abord religieusement avant de rire de bon coeur du pilonnage en règle mené par le Colonel. » | Par Jérôme Béglé | mardi 06 novembre 2012
WIKI: Gamal Abdel Nasser »
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that he will not allow Iran to continue its progress towards nuclear armament if he is re-elected in January.
"I am of course ready to press the button if necessary," he told Israel's Channel 2 in an investigation aired on Monday evening.
"As long as I am prime minister, Iran will not have the atomic bomb. If there's no other way, Israel is ready to act."
The report revealed that the prime minister had in fact ordered his armed forces to prepare a unilateral strike on Iran's nuclear facilities in 2010, only to pull back from the brink of war.
Two years ago, Mr Netanyahu, supported by Ehud Barak, his defence minister, issued an order raising the military alert level to "P-Plus" – a rarely issued command signalling imminent war. » | Phoebe Greenwood, Tel Aviv | Tuesday, November 06, 2012
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Germans see the US election as a battle between the good Obama and the evil Romney. But this is a mistake. Regardless of who wins the election on Tuesday, total capitalism is America's true ruler, and it has the power to destroy the country.
The United States Army is developing a weapon that can reach -- and destroy -- any location on Earth within an hour. At the same time, power lines held up by wooden poles dangle over the streets of Brooklyn, Queens and New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy ripped them apart there and in communities across the East Coast last week, and many places remain without electricity. That's America, where high-tech options are available only to the elite, and the rest live under conditions comparable to a those of a developing nation. No country has produced more Nobel Prize winners, yet in New York City hospitals had to be evacuated during the storm because their emergency generators didn't work properly.
Anyone who sees this as a contradiction has failed to grasp the fact that America is a country of total capitalism. Its functionaries have no need of public hospitals or of a reliable power supply to private homes. The elite have their own infrastructure. Total capitalism, however, has left American society in ruins and crippled the government. America's fate is not just an accident produced by the system. It is a consequence of that system.
Obama couldn't change this, and Romney wouldn't be able to either. Europe is mistaken if it views the election as a choice between the forces of good and evil. And it certainly doesn't amount to a potential change in political direction as some newspapers on the Continent would have us believe. » | A Commentary by Jakob Augstein | Monday, November 05, 2012
The monumental National Mall in Washington, DC, 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) long and around 1,586 feet wide at its broadest point, is a place that showcases the United States of America is in its full glory as a world power. A walk along the magnificent swath of green space, between the white dome of the Capitol to the east and the Lincoln Memorial, a temple erected to honor former president Abraham Lincoln, at its western end, leads past men in bronze and stone, memorials for soldiers and conquerors, and the nearby White House. It's a walk that still creates an imperial impression today.
The Mall is lined with museums and landscaped gardens, in which America is on display as the kind of civil empire that promotes the arts and sciences. There are historic sites, and there are the famous steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King once spoke of his dream, and of the dreams of a country to be a historic force, one that would serve the wellbeing of all of mankind. Put differently, the National Mall is an open-air museum for an America that, in 2012, is mostly a pleasant memory.
After a brilliant century and a terrible decade, the United States, in this important election year, has reached a point in its history when the obvious can no longer be denied: The reality of life in America so greatly contradicts the claim -- albeit one that has always been exaggerated -- to be the "greatest nation on earth," that even the most ardent patriots must be overcome with doubt.
This realization became only too apparent during and after Hurricane Sandy, the monster storm that ravaged America's East Coast last week, its effects made all the more devastating by the fact that its winds were whipping across an already weakened country. The infrastructure in New York, New Jersey and New England was already in trouble long before the storm made landfall near Atlantic City. The power lines in Brooklyn and Queens, on Long Island and in New Jersey, in one of the world's largest metropolitan areas, are not underground, but are still installed along a fragile and confusing above-ground network supported by utility poles, the way they are in developing countries. » | SPIEGEL ONLINE Staff | Monday, November 05, 2012
TIME – EXTRACT: Shenouda’s ultimate legacy is probably twofold. He made it nearly impossible for Coptic married couples to divorce within the church; and he made a strategic decision to ally his church with Mubarak’s government as a means of assuring his community’s safety. That last stance often led Shenouda into embarrassing situations like repeated public endorsements of Mubarak — including one in the midst of the 2011 revolution that ended Mubarak’s reign.
Under Shenouda, the Coptic Church struck a common Middle Eastern bargain: the religious or ethnic minority allies itself with an authoritarian ruler as protection against the Muslim majority. But in Egypt and elsewhere, that bargain is now obsolete. Secularist dictators like Mubarak have been replaced and Christian communities must fend for themselves — often with elected Islamist governments. With Morsy, a lifelong Muslim Brotherhood official, occupying the presidential palace and a new constitution being drafted by a council dominated by Islamists, one of Tawadros’ first challenges will be managing this redefined relationship between church and state.
It will be a daunting task. Even before the revolution, a younger generation of politicized Copts had long since stopped expecting political courage or leadership from the church. They regarded Shenouda’s policies as far too conciliatory — desperately dedicated to staying on the good side of the Mubarak government, no matter what the cost was. Read the whole article here » | Ashraf Khalil | Monday, November 05, 2012
Nicolas Sarkozy will this week appear before a judge to answer allegations that he accepted illegal cash from France’s richest woman, it emerged today.
In a humiliating process which could end with the former president being jailed, Mr Sarkozy has been summoned to a court in Bordeaux.
Mr Sarkozy, 57, is said to have personally accepted brown envelopes full of cash from the multi-millionaire’s family.
They were paid to help fund Mr Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign, in return for massive tax breaks when he came to office, it is alleged.
Fraud squad officers have already raided the Paris home Mr Sarkozy shares with his former supermodel wife, Carla Bruni. » | Peter Allen | Monday, November 05, 2012
FOX NEWS: CAIRO – Egypt's new Coptic pope said Monday the constitution now being drafted will not be acceptable if it is overtly religious, a sign he would campaign with his Christian minority and secular groups against increasing Islam's role in the new charter.
In an interview aired Monday, a day after he was selected patriarch of Egypt's Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II said the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak last year has opened the way for a larger Coptic public role.
He said as pope, he will encourage the Christian community to participate more in political and public life, as well as elections. He charged that the country's Christian minority has been "intentionally" marginalized for years.
"After tens of years of marginalization and fake democracy, this has made some Copts isolated," he said in the interview aired on the private TV station ONTV.
"This is changing bit by bit, and it will take time. It needs encouraging, and so long as society is fair, and democracy is built fairly, you will see participation."
Tawadros said Egypt's richness lies in its cultural mix between Muslims and Christians. » | Associated Press | Monday, November 05, 2012
Monday, November 05, 2012
Iain Duncan Smith praised his record as a governor and businessman and complained that the Republican presidential candidate had been wrongly portrayed as "stupid".
He also pointed out that under Barack Obama the US deficit had "gone from something like 4-500 billion dollars to three or so trillion dollars", and suggested the superpower's economy was stagnating.
Although Mr Duncan Smith stressed he did not know Mr Romney personally, and was not necessarily a "fan", the remarks appeared to risk breaching the convention against ministers taking sides in foreign elections.
"The demonisation of Mitt Romney over here has been appalling really," the Work and Pensions Secretary told BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics. "He may have faults. All politicians have faults. But this is a guy who ran a state very well.
"He got their debts and deficit down. He's turned around businesses. Whatever else you may say about him, he is not stupid, and he is made out to be stupid over here." » | pa.press.net | Monday, November 05, 2012
Lübeck - Angela Merkel ist Protestantin und Pastorentochter - und hat sich nun auf der Synode der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland (EKD) im Ostseebad Timmendorfer Strand klar positioniert: Keine Glaubensgemeinschaft werde weltweit stärker verfolgt als Christen, sagte die Bundeskanzlerin. Der Schutz verfolgter Christen sei deshalb ein wichtiger Teil deutscher Außenpolitik.
Die CDU-Chefin bezeichnete die Religionsfreiheit als elementares Menschenrecht und beklagte, dass dieses nicht überall geachtet werde. "Fanatismus, Einschränkung von Glaubensfreiheit, Geringschätzung von Glauben - das ist Teil unserer Welt", sagte Merkel vor den Protestanten. » | fab/dpa/dapd | Montag, 05. November 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: An Austrian entrepreneur has announced plans to open Europe's biggest brothel, with a complex boasting a 147 rooms and coach parking.
When opened in 2014 the giant brothel, officially dubbed the "FunMotel", will have capacity for 1,000 "guests" a day with around 150 sex workers employed in the £12 million project. Along with room for buses it will also have 350 parking spaces and a three-metre high perimeter wall to ensure privacy.
Peter Laskaris, the businessman behind the project who already operates a brothel in Vienna, said that the glitzy bordello's "four-star hotel" facilities will be the sex industry's shift from "grocer to supermarket".
The FunMotel will offer "swinger parties, gangbangs" and "porn stars" along with more mundane hotel attractions such as restaurants, beauty salon and gym. But 8Quadrat Developers, the Vienna-based company developing the project, claim that "the number of females" and the "affordable prices" will "ensure absolute satisfaction for male customers".
The brothel will be built at a still undisclosed location in the north-eastern state of Lower Austria, which surrounds the Austrian capital. » | Matthew Day, Warsaw | Monday, November 05, 2012
DER STANDARD: Das Mega-Laufhaus vor den Toren Wiens: Für 15 Millionen Euro planen Wiener Rotlicht-Größen das größte Laufhaus Europas in Niederösterreich. Der genaue Standort ist noch geheim, die Option auf ein Grundstück wurde bereits bezahlt » | Julia Herrnböck | Freitag, 02. November 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Selling arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is "legitimate and right" as autocratic countries have a right to self defence, David Cameron has said.
The Prime Minister defended military deals with Gulf states, as he launched a major push to equip them with British-made Typhoon fighter jets on a three day visit to the region.
Mr Cameron's candid stance on arms sales - which is un[u]sual for Prime Ministers - was criticised by human rights campaigners. Amnesty International UK's head of policy and government affairs Allan Hogarth said: "Selling arms to countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE should only be considered if there are absolutely watertight guarantees over them not being used to commit human rights violations.
"Saudi Arabia has been the recipient of record-breaking arms deals involving the UK, yet these have been highly secretive and there's been little or no follow-up over how the weaponry was used."
Amnesty said that in 2009 the Saudi air force used "UK-supplied Tornado fighter-bombers in attacks in Yemen which killed hundreds -possibly thousands - of civilians".
But speaking in Dubai before later visits to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Mr Cameron said: "We have one of the strictest regimes anywhere in the world for sales of defence equipment but we do believe that countries have a right to self-defence.
“We do believe countries have a right to defend themselves. And we do believe Britain has important defence industries that employ over 300,000 people and so that sort of business is completely legitimate and right." » | Monday, November 05, 2012
REUTERS.COM: (Reuters) - In a telephone call with evangelical voters Sunday night, U.S. Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan told potential voters that President Barack Obama's path for the United States compromises Judeo-Christian values.
The comment came during the final sprint for the U.S. election on Tuesday.
Speaking to the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a leading group of Christian conservatives, Ryan attacked Obama's vision in stark terms.
In the campaign's last week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Ryan, his running mate, have argued that if elected, they would end partisan divisiveness and work with Democrats to find solutions in Washington.
"It's a dangerous path," Ryan said of Obama's plan for the United States. "It's a path that grows government, restricts freedom and liberty, and compromises those values, those Judeo-Christian, Western civilization values that made us such a great and exceptional nation in the first place." » | Samuel P. Jacobs | CASTLE ROCK, Colorado | Sunday, November 04, 2012
LE POINT: Un policier tunisien a été arrêté alors qu'il préparait avec quatre Libyens l'enlèvement d'un jeune juif pour obtenir une rançon.
La communauté juive en Tunisie a réclamé dimanche sa protection par l'armée après l'arrestation de quatre Libyens et d'un policier tunisien préparant l'enlèvement d'un jeune juif tunisien pour obtenir une rançon, a déclaré le président de cette communauté à Djerba (sud). "Après l'implication d'un policier dans cette affaire, nous voulons que notre protection soit aussi assurée par l'armée", a précisé Perez Trabelsi, ajoutant que la communauté juive a "une grande confiance en l'armée". » | LePoint.fr | dimanche 04 novembre 2012
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has found himself at the centre of a social media storm over insulting remarks he is reported to have made about football player David Beckham.
Mr Key appeared on television on Monday parrying questions over whether he had, as reported in New Zealand media, branded David Beckham, who plays for LA Galaxy and was a celebrity ambassador for the London 2012 Olympics, "thick as bat ----"
The media said Mr Key made the remark last week when telling school pupils about Beckham's visit to New Zealand in 2008 for an exhibition match between the LA Galaxy and the Oceania All-Stars in Auckland.
Radio New Zealand said Mr Key described Beckham as handsome and "a really nice guy" but "thick".
He was repeatedly asked on breakfast TV about his alleged comments.
"That is someone that thinks they have overheard a conversation I have had. I am not going to engage in that because otherwise I am engaging in every conversation that someone thinks I have," Mr Key said.
THE GUARDIAN: New Zealand PM accused of calling David Beckham 'thick': John Key reported to have insulted former England football captain during a school visit in Auckland » | Press Association | Monday, November 05, 2012
Lien en relation avec cette vidéo »
Une équipe suisse s’est rendue lundi à Ramallah pour examiner la tombe de Yasser Arafat, ont indiqué des sources officielles palestiniennes sous couvert de l’anonymat. Elle doit effectuer des prélèvements sur la dépouille du dirigeant historique palestinien.
La délégation de l’Institut de radiophysique de Lausanne est arrivée lundi à Ramallah et a discuté «des prochaines étapes» avec les ministres de la Santé et de la Justice, Hani Abdine et Ali Mhanna, ainsi que le chef de la commission d’enquête palestinienne sur la mort d’Arafat, Taoufiq Tiraoui, selon ces responsables.
La délégation a visité le mausolée où repose Yasser Arafat. Les enquêteurs français chargés d’une instruction sur la mort du dirigeant palestinien historique et les experts du laboratoire suisse sont attendus à Ramallah le 26 novembre, selon une source proche du dossier. » | ats / afp / ap/Newsnet | lundi 05 novembre 2012
RADIO AUSTRALIA: Australia's Foreign Minister Bob Carr has announced an exchange programme between Australia and Malaysia, which he says aims to foster moderate Islam.
Under the programme, six Australians with Islamic backgrounds will travel to Malaysia and their counterparts will visit Australia.
A prominent Islamic moderate in Malaysia has applauded the proposed programme.
Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa, who's a cardio-thoracic surgeon by profession, is also director of the Islamic Renaissance Front.
He says Islamic radicalism poses a real threat to Malaysia and the region, and that some people are using it for political ends.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa, director of the Islamic Renaissance Front. Dr Farouk is also a cardio-thoracic surgeon at the Monash University Medical School, Malaysia (+ audio) » | Monday, November 05, 2012
L'évêque Tawadros, 60 ans, a été choisi dimanche comme nouveau patriarche des Coptes orthodoxes d'Égypte, la plus grande communauté chrétienne du Moyen-Orient, inquiète face à la montée de l'islamisme.
Les yeux bandés, le petit Bichoy Girgis Masaad a tiré le nom de Tawadros au sort dans un calice de verre au cours d'une cérémonie religieuse à la grande cathédrale Saint-Marc du Caire, conformément aux règles de cette Église. L'évêque Pachomius, qui assure l'intérim depuis la mort de Chenouda III, en mars, après quatre décennies à la tête de cette communauté, a pris le papier choisi par le jeune garçon et l'a brandi en proclamant "évêque Tawadros". Les deux autres papiers, portant les noms des deux autres candidats encore en lice - l'évêque Raphaël, 54 ans, du Caire et le moine Raphaël Ava Mina, 70 ans -, ont ensuite été montrés à la foule et aux caméras de télévision. » | Source AFP | dimanche 04 novembre 2012
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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall arrived in Australia today as they begin the second leg of their Diamond Jubilee tour.
Prince Charles and Camilla landed at Longreach Airport, Queensland, where the heir to the throne named a new plane used by the Royal Flying Doctor Service, before joining a traditional Australian barbeque.
In Australia the royal couple have set themselves the task of visiting four major cities - Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and the capital Canberra - and the island state of Tasmania in just six days.
A royal aide said: "The theme of the Jubilee is service to others and their royal highnesses are determined to meet as many people as possible in the time available which is why we're trying to get around so many states and territories as we possibly can." » | Telegraph reporters | Monday, November 05, 2012
ARUTZ SHEVA: Winston Churchill was honored in Jerusalem with a statue proclaiming him a friend of the Jewish people and supporter of Zionist aspirations.
Almost half a century after his death, Winston Churchill was honored in Jerusalem on Sunday with a statue and tribute proclaiming him a friend of the Jewish people and supporter of Zionist aspirations.
A large bronze bust, constructed by renowned sculptor Oscar Nemon, was unveiled at Mishkenot Sha'ananim, outside of the Old City walls, in recognition of the wartime British leader, who remains arguably one of the most outstanding historical personalities.
The ceremony was attended by the former prime minister's great grandson, Randolph Churchill, as well as Israeli and British diplomats and politicians.
While many argue that Churchill's failure to bomb the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz outweighed his support for the Jewish people, he is widely regarded as a friend of the Jewish nation and the state of Israel. » | Rachel Hirshfeld | Monday, November 05, 2012
FREE MALAYSIA TODAY: A dark humour piece on a perceived puritan Islamic state which PAS is insistent on championing one day in the future.
The Muslims in this country have certainly come of age. Lovingly protected by the government against the pitfalls of sin and eternal damnation, today a growing majority of Muslims are attracted to the beautiful notion of being governed by the hudud penal code and becoming a true Islamic nation.
It is wonderful to know that a Muslim NGO has called for the banning of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s “My Name Is Khan” movie which confuses Muslims as it promotes liberal Islam and religious pluralism. It has also warned Malaysian broadcasters against airing the hit film and called for the blocking of the distribution of the film CD.
Malay right-wing group Perkasa also called for Muslims nationwide to boycott award-winning singer Jaclyn Victor for singing the Malay-language Christian song “Harapan Bangsa”.
PAS Youth has done its bit to ban Valentine’s Day, a well-known Western celebration and live concerts which promote a loose lifestyle. And now it wants to meet the King, because the MCA president refuses to apologise for purportedly insulting Islam.
PAS is also ready to hold a discussion with former Perlis mufti Prof Madya Mohd Aszri Zainul Abidin on the “Ayatollah” issue should it ever come to power.
Malay bibles have been banned in the Peninsula and the government is serious to disallow Allah’s name to be uttered by non-Muslims.
Maybe, the time is ripe for the Muslims in this country to have an Islamic state.
Umno and PAS
Umno has been instrumental in the past to Islamise this nation, and it is satisfied that Malaysia is already a thriving Islamic state. It has even planned a mandatory mosque law to build a mosque in every new housing estate.
PAS, however, feels that more should be done and that the hudud penal code be part and parcel of an Islamic state.
Both parties agree that Muslims in Malaysia are weak and open to the temptations of the world. Some form of “state control” is needed to ensure that Muslims do not breach religious etiquette or go over the line.
Weak Muslims cannot be allowed to go through life without the state monitoring their progress and to provide them spiritual guidance. » | Iskandar Dzulkarnain | Monday, November 05, 2012
AUSTRALIA NETWORK NEWS: Australia's Foreign Minister Bob Carr says six young Australians with Islamic backgrounds will be able to hone their leadership skills during an exchange program with Malaysia.
Senator Carr and his Malaysian counterpart, Anifah Aman, signed off on the Australia-Malaysia Young Muslim Exchange Programme after recent talks in the Malaysian state of Sabah.
Under the programme - which is based on a model Australia has run with Indonesia and Thailand - participants from Malaysia will also travel to Australia.
Senator Carr says fostering cultural understanding is important for the future of both countries.
"I think it's one of the most important challenges we face today - getting a dialogue with the forces of moderate Islam," he said.
"To a large extent, the clash we see in the world today reflected in the forces of terrorism and unrest is a clash within Islam and we want to be engaging with the forces of moderate Islam." (+ audio) » | ABC | Monday, November 05, 2012
David Cameron will embark on a low-key arms trip to the Gulf on Monday in an attempt to persuade regional powers upset by Britain's response to the Arab spring to buy more than 100 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets. The deals could be worth more than £6bn to Britain.
The prime minister will fly to a major UAE military airbase on a mission to patch up relations with leaders in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where major British businesses such as BP and BAE have important interests.
Cameron will join forces with senior political and military figures from the UAE to inspect Typhoons at Al Minhad airbase, which is used as an air bridge for British forces flying between the UK and Afghanistan. Britain hopes to persuade Gulf leaders to buy 100 Typhoons on top of the 72 bought by Saudi Arabia.
The looming confrontation between Iran and its regional adversaries will also feature heavily in Cameron's talks with leaders in the Sunni-dominated Gulf countries. Britain could base Typhoons, built by a European consortium that includes BAE Systems, in the UAE if relations with Tehran deteriorate.
The prime minister, who is irritated by claims that he uses his overseas trips to sell defence equipment to countries with questionable human rights records, has made arrangements to minimise the media coverage of the trip. » | Nicholas Watt and Ian Black | Monday, November 05, 2012
Sunday, November 04, 2012
Le président français François Hollande s'est entretenu dimanche à Jeddah, sur la mer Rouge, avec le roi Abdallah d'Arabie saoudite de la crise syrienne et de l'Iran, après avoir exprimé son soutien au Liban au cours d'une brève étape à Beyrouth. "Le président a discuté avec le roi Abdallah du processus de paix au Proche-Orient, de la question du nucléaire iranien et de la crise syrienne ainsi que de la coopération entre les deux pays", a déclaré un porte-parole de François Hollande après un entretien de deux heures.
Cette première visite en Arabie saoudite "est avant tout politique", a déclaré François Hollande aux journalistes, dans l'avion qui l'amenait de Beyrouth à Jeddah, sur la mer Rouge. "La France joue un rôle actif dans la région du Moyen-Orient. Nous sommes le pays le plus actif sur les dossiers de la Syrie, du Liban et du processus de paix" au Proche-Orient, a-t-il encore dit. "L'Arabie saoudite est extrêmement inquiète des agissements iraniens" pour se doter de l'arme nucléaire, avait en outre souligné l'Élysée, tandis que François Hollande a déclaré cette semaine être prêt à voter de "nouvelles sanctions" contre Téhéran. » | LePoint.fr | dimanche 04 novembre 2012
BBC: The governor of New York state, Andrew Cuomo, has said that tens of thousands of people affected by the superstorm a week ago could soon need housing because of an expected cold snap.
Hundreds of thousands of people remain without electricity supplies and the authorities say fuel shortages will continue for a number of days.
Mr Cuomo made the comments at a news conference after meeting other officials involved in the relief effort. Watch BBC video » | Sunday, November 04, 2012
Où les juifs de France doivent-ils vivre? La question a été posée mercredi au président français et au Premier ministre israélien, qui tenaient une conférence de presse commune après un entretien à l'Elysée. En visite de deux jours à Paris, Benjamin Netanyahou était interrogé par un journaliste sur le climat d'antisémitisme en France. Après avoir souligné la "détermination" et la "tolérance zéro" des autorités françaises à l'égard des actes antisémites, le dirigeant a répondu en souriant : "En ma qualité de Premier ministre d'Israël, je le dis toujours aux juifs où qu'ils soient : venez en Israël et faites d'Israël votre chez vous." » | A.F. (avec AFP) - leJDD.fr | mercredi 31 octobre 2012
WIKI: Oskar Freysinger »
So Sandy arrived right in the last act, smashing and thrashing, killing and ripping. Has this latest tempestuous eruption, following the storms Beryl, Florence, Joyce and Nadine, been the deus ex machine — or the deus ex Atlantic — to settle one of America’s most extraordinary and bitterly fought presidential elections?
It won Obama a gold-plated endorsement from one of America’s most popular Republicans, the New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who fears that climate change is to blame; and an embrace from another admired Republican governor, Chris Christie of New Jersey.
But will the Sandy Effect really sway votes in swing states thousands of miles away? Obama has not had a good campaign. His hugs and his rousing words after the hurricane were one thing, but his low-energy, stumbling performance in the first presidential debate left supporters aghast and Mitt Romney’s team suddenly emboldened.
It has been a savage campaign, and for good reason. America’s culture wars have never been angrier. The country remains mired in debt — $16 trillion, up $6 trillion under Obama — of which $1.4 trillion is owned by America’s new existential rival, China. The US Treasury says that the legal debt ceiling will be hit by the end of the year.
Jobs have been exported in huge numbers. The middle classes have been getting poorer for years. Only the super-rich have experienced a rise in real incomes.
As a passionate admirer of the US, I have to admit that to visitors, America no longer feels quite like the future. There are the potholed roads, tired-looking airports and malls, and what seems from a British perspective a strange dearth of wi-fi. Natural disasters aside, this is beginning to feel like a nation needing a lick of paint. Read on and comment » | Andrew Marr | Sunday, November 04, 2012
THE OBSERVER: Many Rohingya people are attempting dangerous voyages to Bangladesh and Thailand, but most are sent back on arrival
First one body appeared, floating in the waters of the Bay of Bengal, then another, and another, until those on board the little fishing boat that had gone to their rescue began to lose count.
Those bobbing lifeless among the waves had set out the night before, so desperate to escape the growing sectarian violence in Burma that they were prepared to risk boarding the dangerously overcrowded boat.
At least 130 had clambered aboard, but the boat foundered – whether it capsized because of the weight of bodies or because it struck rocks remains unclear.
The sinking last week was the worst reported incident resulting from the outbreak of violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in western Burma. The death toll is continuing to rise amid reports of a deepening humanitarian crisis.
"The situation is dire. The UN is doing its best, but it is trying to find more funding to help them," said Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, an NGO working with the Rohingya. » | Gethin Chamberlain | Sunday, November 04, 2012
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