FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: In britischen Hofkreisen gilt es als üble Nachrede, dass man Orden kaufen kann. Enge Berater von Prinz Charles lassen daran nun aber keinen Zweifel mehr.
Großbritannien ist als Land der sogenannten self-deprecation bekannt, also des humorvollen Herunterspielens der eigenen Bedeutung. Das heißt aber nicht, dass Orden nicht äußerst beliebt wären. Das gilt auch und besonders für Ausländer, die schon lange im Königreich leben – erst recht, wenn sie gerne einen britischen Pass hätten. Der saudische Geschäftsmann Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz etwa sparte nicht mit Bemühungen um einen Orden und steckte in den vergangenen Jahren Hunderttausende Pfund in die Renovierung königlicher Besitztümer und Wohltätigkeitsprojekte.
In Hofkreisen gilt es natürlich als üble Nachrede, dass Orden sich erkaufen lassen, aber nun veröffentlichten zwei Zeitungen eindeutige E-Mails aus den Jahren 2014 bis 2017. Darin ließen enge Berater von Mahfouz und von Prinz Charles keinen Zweifel daran, dass hier Geld gegen Orden getauscht wurden. Am Wochenende ließ sich die langjährige rechte Hand des Kronprinzen, Michael Fawcett, von seiner Funktion entbinden, bis eine interne Untersuchung abgeschlossen sei. Ein früherer Minister kündigte sogar an, Scotland Yard einzuschalten. » | Jochen Buchsteiner, London | Sonntag, 5. September 2021
Des partisans du président Jair Bolsonaro, le 6 septembre dernier à Brasília. ADRIANO MACHADO / REUTERS
LE FIGARO : Le président a appelé ses partisans à se réunir ce mardi à Brasília et à Sao Paulo, où deux millions de personnes sont attendues. Les opposants descendront aussi dans la rue.
Des manifestations de soutien à Jair Bolsonaro sont prévues mardi à l'occasion d'une fête nationale à haut risque dans des centaines de villes du Brésil, mais aussi de l'opposition soucieuse de frustrer le président d'une démonstration de force.
La tournure que prendront les mobilisations est incertaine et a monopolisé le débat public au Brésil, avec notamment des alertes pour éviter un événement similaire à l'invasion du Capitole des États-Unis en janvier dernier par des partisans du président de l'époque, Donald Trump, un modèle pour Jair Bolsonaro. » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | mardi 7 septembre 2021
Emmanuel Macron avait fait l'acteur grand officier de la Légion d'honneur en novembre 2019. VALERY HACHE / AFP
LE FIGARO : L'acteur est décédé lundi à l'âge de 88 ans. Emmanuel Macron a fait part de ses condoléances «à sa famille et à ses proches, ainsi qu'à tous les Français qu'il a fait rire et qu'il a émus durant plus de 60 ans».
«En lui, nous nous retrouvions tous», a salué sur Twitter Emmanuel Macron en hommage à Jean-Paul Belmondo, décédé ce lundi à l'âge de 88 ans. «Il restera à jamais Le Magnifique. Jean-Paul Belmondo était un trésor national, tout en panache et en éclats de rire, le verbe haut et le corps leste, héros sublime et figure familière, infatigable casse-cou et magicien des mots», a-t-il écrit.
L'Élysée a annoncé mardi matin qu'un hommage national à l'acteur serait rendu jeudi 9 septembre aux Invalides. » | Par Le Figaro | Publié : lundi 6 septembre 2021 ; mis à jour : mardi 7 spetembre 2021
MONACO LIFE: Princess Charlene is in a “reassuring state” after being admitted to hospital in South Africa and later released, the Palace has confirmed.
Just days after saying goodbye to her husband Prince Albert and children Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella who were in South Africa for a brief visit, Princess Charlene was rushed to hospital on Wednesday night after collapsing.
Following widespread media reports of the late-night dash to the emergency room, the Prince’s Palace issued a statement Friday evening confirming the Princess’ health situation: » | Cassandra Tanti | Saturday, September 4, 2021
THE GUARDIAN: From plummeting trade to drastic shortages of workers, needlessly leaving the single market has been disastrous
‘The sensible path now would be for Boris Johnson to eat humble pie.’ Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images
It was the big Brexit lie. No, not the £350m a week to spend on the NHS or the “bonfire” of red tape. The lie was that the shambles now enveloping British trade with Europe was an unavoidable price worth paying to leave the EU. That was rubbish.
In order to further his chances of becoming Tory leader Boris Johnson made two commitments. One was to resign from the EU, the other was to depart Europe’s customs union and single market, aspects of which embrace other non-EU states such as Norway. The second decision was an almost casual gesture to make him look macho to the party’s hardline Brexiters. It was not put to referendum and was beyond stupid.
No news item today is free of the consequences. Earlier this year, the effects of leaving the single market could be seen in plummeting trade with the continent, even accounting for the pandemic. Additional red tape is awesome. HMRC estimates traders will be handling 215m more import/export documents a year, at an estimated bureaucratic cost of £7.5bn a year. Tariffs may not apply but rules of origin and health standards do. Every truck, every cargo requires inspection.
As for migration, the overall shortage of seasonal farm labour, according to BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today, is 20% and often more. Fruit will rot in fields, pigs cannot get to abattoirs and Christmas turkeys will be a “nightmare”. Meanwhile, care homes in England are short of 170,000 staff, and delivery firms short of 100,000 drivers. Hotels have abandoned rooms and restaurant tables. Creative industries – worth £110bn to the UK economy – were forgotten by the Brexit negotiators and are now virtually isolated from Europe. » | Simon Jenkins | Monday, September 6, 2021
Our decision to leave the European Union was as stupid as it is showing to be economically disastrous. The once great and respectable Conservative Party has been hijacked by fools – self-serving fools!
I was raised in a Conservative-voting household; indeed, the very word ‘socialism’ in my family was a dirty word! In fact, I myself have been a Conservative voter. I voted Conservative all my adult life – until Cameron came along! I took one look at him and smelled trouble (my instincts proved to be dead right!); so, I voted for Nick Clegg (LibDem) instead. But that was the very first time in my life that I deviated from the Conservative cause.
After the fiasco of Brexit, however, I shall never vote for the Conservatives again. The 1 percenters in the Conservative Party have manipulated the masses in order to fill their own pockets, fill their own banks accounts. But in so doing, they have taken people’s rights as European citizens away; and many of us resent that. I know I certainly do.
Much of it started with Trump. It was he who stoked the fires of anti-EU politics in this country. The man who neither knew nor understood anything about geopolitics. What Trump knew about geopolitics, or economics, you could write on the back of a cigarette packet!
Boris Johnson is a Trump clone. He is also a Trump-like clown. The only difference between Trump and BoJo is that Johnson has a posh accent and a better education, much of which, incidentally and ironically, was paid for by the EU! (His father worked for the EU for years.) Such hypocrisy!
Margaret Thatcher must be turning in her grave! Although she was against a federal Europe, which I most certainly am not, she was very pro-EU trade and bringing down all barriers to trade. Indeed, ‘Maggie’ was one of the Single Market’s principal architects: she worked tirelessly to bring it about. Now BoJo and his band of über-rich nation-destroyers have undone all her hard work. These people can indeed be thought of as nation-destroyers, because in all my adult life, I have never seen this country so divided. Even friendships and family ties have been destroyed by Brexit. And this is true right across the country. The cracks and fault-lines in British society have been laid bare. One now has cause to doubt whether they will ever heal. This Brexit nonsense could quite possibly lead to the break-up of the once so united, United Kingdom.
May 16, 2021 • Vous rêvez d’apprendre à parler avec le délicieux accent de l’aristocratie anglaise ? Petite leçon de prononciation avec David Castello-Lopes et en guest-star… La reine d’Angleterre !
May 1, 2015 • Brigitte Bardot, Grace Kelly, Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Kim Novak, Frank Sinatra, Pablo Picasso - die "Hauptdarsteller" des irischen Fotografen Edward Quinn (1920 – 1997) waren vor allem Stars und große Künstler.
Ort der Handlung war die Côte d’Azur der 50er und frühen 60er Jahre, deren Glanz und Grandezza Edward Quinn mit unvergleichlichem Blick auf über 100 000 Negativen verewigt hat. Quinn war Einzelgänger und entschiedener Anti-Paparazzo: hartnäckig zwar, aber immer korrekt; manchmal ironisch, doch nie verletzend. Weltstars schätzten ihn und seine Bilder genauso wie sein Freund Pablo Picasso, der ihm einzigartige Einblicke in seine Arbeitswelt und sein Privatleben gewährte.
Edward Quinns schwarz/weisse-Welt – so farbig und lebendig, als gäbe es kein THE END.
This chicken tagine with olives and preserved lemons is a staple in every Moroccan home.
INGREDIENTS:
1.5 kg chicken cut into pieces, or just thighs
For the marinade:
Saffron water: A large pinch of saffron + 1 cup of warm water. You can store up to 1 month in the fridge. We will use 1 teaspoon of saffron water.
The pulp of 1 large preserved lemon, or 2 small ones.
A handful of fresh cilantro and parsley.
2 large garlic cloves
2 teaspoons ground paprika
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
2 tablespoons of olive oil
For the tagine:
2 onions (grated)
2 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of salt and ground turmeric
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
A handful of green olives
The skin of 1 preserved lemon, cut into quarters
METHOD:
Preparing the ingredients:
1. Prepare saffron water: Soak the saffron threads in some warm water for 10 minutes. This method boosts the saffron flavors and is economical as you can store this flavored water and use it when needed.
2. Quarter the preserved lemon. Separate the pulp from the skin. Finely chop the pulp and reserve the skin for later.
3. Finely chop the parsley and cilantro.
4. Grate the garlic cloves
Marinating the chicken:
5. Now we are ready to make the chermoula. In a large bowl combine: the chopped parsley and cilantro, chopped preserved lemon pulp, garlic, ground paprika, ginger, cumin, pepper, saffron water, and olive oil. Mix well.
6. Place the chicken in the chermoula marinade and massage into the flesh. I use only chicken tights, but you can use any other chicken parts.
7. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Setting the tagine:
8. Peel and grate the onions. Finely chop the leftover onion pieces.
9. Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of the tagine and cover with the onions.
10. Sprinkle a little bit of salt and turmeric over the onions.
11. Add the chicken over the onion bed, and cover with any leftover chermoula.
Cooking the tagine:
12. When cooking in a traditional tagine over the stove, use a heat diffuser to avoid burning and cracking the bottom of the tagine. It’s a must!
13. On low-medium heat, place the diffuser first, then the tagine on top of it. Cover and cook for around 15-20 minutes until the onions and chicken release their juices and the liquids start simmering.
14. Then, reduce the heat to low, cover the tagine, and cook until the chicken is tender. This can take 1 hour or more, depending on the chicken parts and quality of your tagine. Very important! Make sure that the heat is low.
15. Add the lemon juice and green olives to the sauce.
16. Top the chicken with the preserved lemon skins
17. Taste your sauce and add salt if necessary – we wait until the end to add salt, because the preserved lemons in the chermoula are already salty!
18- Do not cover the tagine, and continue cooking for another 15 minutes or so, until the liquids have evaporated and the sauce has thickened. Serve immediately with crusty bread.
Jean-Paul Belmondo, une gueule de boxeur au sourire d'ange, est apparu dans près de 85 films. AFP
LE FIGARO : DISPARITION - Héraut de la Nouvelle Vague puis héros aussi rigolard qu'invincible, l'acteur est décédé le lundi 6 septembre comme l'annonce son avocat.
L'enfant gâté du cinéma français s'est éteint. Acteur, producteur, directeur de théâtre, il avait interprété avec panache, au cinéma comme sur les planches, une foule de personnages au cours d'une carrière longue de plus de cinquante ans. De Pierrot le Fou à L'Homme de Rio ou L'As des as, il incarnait le cinéma français.
Comment devient-on le champion du box-office français pendant des années, attirant dans les salles quelque 130 millions de spectateurs ? En restant soi-même, en faisant de quelques films des classiques (À bout de souffle, Le Doulos, Le Magnifique, L'As des as, Le Cerveau, Peur sur la ville) et en tournant avec les plus grands réalisateurs, Godard, bien sûr, mais aussi Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Resnais, Gérard Oury, Claude Chabrol, François Truffaut, Philippe de Broca, Louis Malle, Claude Sautet, Georges Lautner. » | Par Jean-Luc Wachthausen | lundi 6 septembre 2021
À Kaboul, samedi, aux abords du palais présidentiel, un milicien armé intervient alors que des femmes manifestent pour réclamer le maintien de leurs droits au travail et à l’éducation. BILAL GULER/Anadolu Agency via AFP
LE FIGARO : REPORTAGE - Les femmes se rassemblent en secret et manifestent face au nouveau pouvoir pour réclamer leurs droits.
Malgré la chaleur étouffante et la présence tout aussi oppressante de combattants talibans, un petit groupe de femmes aux tenues bariolées arpente une rue de Kaboul. Direction: le palais présidentiel, vidé depuis trois semaines de ses occupants et solennellement gardé par des membres du mouvement extrémiste qui s’est emparé du pays trois semaines plus tôt.
Munies de haut-parleurs et de pancartes sur lesquelles elles ont rédigé des slogans en persan et en anglais, elles interpellent leurs nouveaux dirigeants et la communauté internationale: «Éducation, travail, liberté!», «Nous voulons des droits humains», réclament-elles en chœur.
Lunettes de soleil sur le nez, voiles chatoyants posés sur l’arrière de la tête révélant des chevelures aux teintes blondes ou cuivrées, elles se passent un micro: «Les femmes ont des droits politiques, économiques et sociaux !» Résonnent ces quelques voix, sous l’œil curieux des passants, masculins pour la plupart, dont certains ont pris l’initiative de laisser pousser leur barbe afin de se prémunir contre d’éventuelles représailles. » | Par Margaux Benn, Envoyée spéciale à Kaboul | Publié : dimanche 5 septembre 2021 ; mis à jour : lundi 6 septembre 2021
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Militants posted images apparently taken in Bazarak, the capital of Panjshir Province in Afghanistan, where opposition forces have fought against their rule.
Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban, during a news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
The Taliban claimed on Monday to have captured the Panjshir Valley, the last bastion of Afghanistan not firmly under their control, even as representatives of the opposition forces there maintained that they still had control over strategic positions in the region and vowed to fight on.
The conflicting accounts of what was happening on the ground in the area 70 miles north of Kabul, the country’s capital, were hard to verify because internet and telephone service into the region has been cut off.
If the Taliban has gained control over the rugged region and manages to keep it under its rule, it would be both a final strategic victory in its lightning-quick conquest of the country and a deeply resonant moment.
The Taliban never managed to control Panjshir the last time they ruled Afghanistan, from 1996 to 2001, and it was the launching point for the U.S.-led invasion after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
Soviet forces, during their occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, made advances into the territory on at least nine occasions, only to be repelled each time, sometimes after suffering brutal casualties.
The Taliban have always been bitterly opposed to the fighters of the Panjshir and were complicit in the assassination of their storied commander Ahmad Shah Massoud 20 years ago.
While rumors of the Taliban’s having taken over in Panjshir swirled this past weekend, it was not until Monday morning that the group officially claimed control. » | By Sami Sahak, Wali Arian and Jim Huylebroek | Monday, September 6, 2021
THE GUARDIAN: Former world leaders and public figures say nationwide marches are modelled on US Capitol insurrection
Jair Bolsonaro warned on 21 August that the rallies were a ‘necessary counter-coup’ against Congress and the supreme court. Photograph: Adriano Machado/Reuters
THE GUARDIAN: Former world leaders and public figures say nationwide marches are modelled on US Capitol insurrection
The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his allies could be preparing to mount a military coup in Brazil, according to an influential group of former presidents, prime ministers and leading public figures on the left.
They assert the nationwide marches by Bolsonaro supporters against the supreme court and Congress, involving white supremacist groups, military police, and public officials at every level of government, are “stoking fears of a coup in the world’s third largest democracy”. » | Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor | Monday, September 6, 2021
THE GUARDIAN: In speech marking 20 years since 9/11 attacks, former British PM warns that non-state actors may turn to bio-terrorism
The west still faces the threat of 9/11-style attacks by radical Islamist groups but this time using bio-terrorism, Tony Blair has warned.
Blair also challenged the US president, Joe Biden, by urging democratic governments not to lose confidence in using military force to defend and export their values.
In a speech to the defence thinktank Rusi marking the 20th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 al-Qaida terrorist attacks on the US, Blair, who was British prime minister at the time , and supported military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, insisted the terrorist threat remained a first order issue.
He suggested “the pressure of short-term political imperatives is giving both allies and opponents of liberal open societies the belief that ‘our time is over’”.
He said he found it deeply depressing to hear western opinion claim “that we are foolish in believing that western notions of liberal democracy and freedom are exportable or will ever take root except in the somewhat decadent terrain of western society.”
He insisted that “despite the decline in terrorist attacks, Islamism, both the ideology and the violence, is a first-order security threat; and, unchecked, it will come to us, even if centred far from us, as 9/11 demonstrated. Covid-19 has taught us about deadly pathogens. Bio-terror possibilities may seem like the realm of science fiction; but we would be wise now to prepare for their potential use by non-state actors.” Read all the article and watch the video » | Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor | Monday, September 6, 2021
Photo : A screenshot taken from the accompanying video.
Sep 5, 2021 • Le Premier ministre hongrois Viktor Orban a annoncé le 3 mars que son parti quittait le groupe du Parti populaire européen (PPE) au Parlement européen, en réaction à un vote des eurodéputés sur une réforme des statuts ouvrant la voie à une exclusion. Une décision qui met un point d'orgue à une crise qui oppose la Hongrie de l'ultra-conservateur Viktor Orbán à l'Union européenne sur la question de l’État de droit. Ce documentaire revient sur cette série d'événements.
Depuis l’été 2020, la bataille fait rage au Parlement européen : alors que le futur plan de relance post-Covid, fruit d’âpres négociations entre les États membres, prévoit de conditionner l’attribution des aides européennes au respect des règles démocratiques, la Hongrie de Viktor Orbán a opposé un veto ferme à ce projet. Soutenu par le gouvernement polonais, le dirigeant ultraconservateur a précipité une crise politique de plusieurs mois, mettant en exergue les tensions à l’œuvre dans une Union qui achoppe sur la question des valeurs fondamentales et de l’État de droit. Face à l’obstruction d’Orbán, l’Allemagne, à la tête du Conseil de l’UE jusqu’à la fin de l’année 2020, s’est résolue à négocier un compromis, permettant la levée du veto polono-hongrois. L’Union cède-t-elle aux autocrates ? Michael Wech se lance dans un road-movie à travers l’Europe pour décrypter cette crise inédite.Erratum : Gergely Karácsony a été élu maire de Budapest en octobre 2019 et non en décembre de cette année comme il est dit dans le film.
Documentaire de Michael Wech (Allemagne, 2020, 1h29mn)
Des membres du Front national de résistance (FNR) en observation sur une colline dans la vallée du Panchir. NATIONAL RESISTANCE FRONT OF AFG / REUTERS
LE FIGARO : Les nouveaux maîtres de l'Afghanistan auraient pénétré 25 km à l'intérieur de la vallée, longue de 115 kilomètres, contrôlée par les troupes d'Ahmad Massoud et de l'ancien vice-président Amrullah Saleh.
Les talibans ont affirmé dimanche avoir gagné du terrain dans la vallée du Panchir, dernier gros foyer de résistance armée aux nouveaux maîtres de l'Afghanistan. Depuis le 30 août et le départ des dernières troupes américaines du pays, les forces du mouvement islamiste ont lancé une série d'offensives contre cette vallée enclavée et difficile d'accès, située à 80 km au nord de Kaboul. Un responsable taliban a affirmé sur Twitter que plusieurs parties de la région étaient désormais sous contrôle des forces du régime. Côté résistance, Ali Maisam Nazary, porte-parole du FNR, a assuré sur Facebook que la résistance «n'échouerait jamais». » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | dimanche 5 septembre 2021
L'image ci-dessus est une capture d'écran de la vidéo.
Sep 5, 2021 • Au début du XXe siècle, trois graphistes germanophones, les Allemands Lucian Bernhard et Ludwig Hohlwein, ainsi que l’Autrichien Julius Klinger ont révolutionné le monde de la publicité.
L'art de la publicité, dont l'essor récent est intimement lié à celui de l’industrialisation, a connu un tournant majeur à Berlin, Munich et Vienne, au début du XXe siècle. Trois graphistes, les Allemands Lucian Bernhard et Ludwig Hohlwein, ainsi que l’Autrichien Julius Klinger décident alors de mettre leur talent au service des industriels de l’automobile, du tabac ou de la mode. Simplifiées à l’extrême, leurs Sachplakaten (affiches-objet) ne ressemblent plus en rien aux publicités de style Art nouveau : désormais, les biens de consommation et leur marque sont placés au centre des affiches publicitaires. Une révolution.
THE GUARDIAN: Britain urgently needs to repair its relations with its neighbours but Boris Johnson’s government is singularly ill-equipped to do so
Boris Johnson with Joe Biden at the G7 summit in June. ‘The display of beach bonhomie looks all the more phoney after the US president’s brutal refusal to consult Britain over Afghanistan.’ Photograph: Leon Neal/PA
After the rout, the recriminations. British fingers furiously jab at the Americans for a shaming scuttle from Kabul that will embolden the west’s adversaries. Sir John Major yesterday called the withdrawal of western forces a “strategically very stupid” decision. Tony Blair, the prime minister who sent British forces into Afghanistan 20 years ago, goes so far as to call the precipitous exit “imbecilic”. Number 10 has been forced to deny that Boris Johnson refers to the US president as “Sleepy Joe”, the insult minted by Donald Trump. Supporters of Joe Biden counter-accuse the British and other European countries of expecting the US to continue to expend its blood and treasure in Afghanistan when most Nato members had wound down their commitments long ago.
In Whitehall, an ugly three-way blame game rages between the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office about why the government didn’t anticipate the swiftness of the fall of Kabul or make timely preparations to help vulnerable people to whom Britain owes obligations. We’d be in a better place if they’d devoted as much energy to planning for the evacuation as they are expending on excoriating each other. There will be more finger pointing when the Commons returns tomorrow. Yet it is not buck-passing between politicians desperate to save their careers that this country needs if anything useful is to be learned from this debacle. What is required is a cool reassessment of where this leaves Britain in a perilous and unpredictable world.
This humiliating episode has shattered assumptions that have been central to elite thinking about foreign policy. That was very evident when the Policy Exchange thinktank convened a panel of speakers who were notable for their credentials and their anxieties about the future. Sir Mark Sedwill, the former cabinet secretary who also served as national security adviser, was certain that the return of Taliban rule would have an “inspirational” effect on jihadists that will fuel terrorism worldwide. Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative MP who served in Afghanistan and chairs the foreign affairs select committee, worried that we have moved closer to a hot conflict between America and China because Beijing will read the west’s defeat as an encouragement to flex its muscles more aggressively. I was also struck by a contribution from George Robertson, who was defence secretary during New Labour’s first term and Nato general secretary at the time of 9/11. He has always been staunchly in the Labour Atlanticist tradition established by Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin after the Second World War. It was arresting to hear such a vigorous champion of the alliance with America as Lord Robertson suggest that Britain and other Europeans would have to do more for themselves “to keep our people safe” because “we cannot any longer rely on the American umbrella being there in all situations at all times”. » | Andrew Rawnsley | Sunday, September 5, 2021
This is what I wrote on the matter yesterday. Read my thoughts here. We are being led by clowns and fools! – Mark
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The boom in companies offering cryptocurrency loans and high-yield deposit accounts is disrupting the banking industry and leaving regulators scrambling to catch up.
BlockFi, a fast-growing financial start-up whose headquarters in Jersey City are across the Hudson River from Wall Street, aspires to be the JPMorgan Chase of cryptocurrency.
It offers credit cards, loans and interest-generating accounts. But rather than dealing primarily in dollars, BlockFi operates in the rapidly expanding world of digital currencies, one of a new generation of institutions effectively creating an alternative banking system on the frontiers of technology.
“We are just at the beginning of this story,” said Flori Marquez, 30, a founder of BlockFi, which was created in 2017 and claims to have more than $10 billion in assets, 850 employees and more than 450,000 retail clients who can obtain loans in minutes, without credit checks.
But to state and federal regulators and some members of Congress, the entry of crypto into banking is cause for alarm. The technology is disrupting the world of financial services so quickly and unpredictably that regulators are far behind, potentially leaving consumers and financial markets vulnerable.
In recent months, top officials from the Federal Reserve and other banking regulators have urgently begun what they are calling a “crypto sprint” to try to catch up with the rapid changes and figure out how to curb the potential dangers from an emerging industry whose short history has been marked as much by high-stakes speculation as by technological advances. » | By Eric Lipton and Ephrat Livni | Sunday, September 5, 2021
Artwork for The New York Times by Dalbert B. Vilarino.
THE OBSERVER: His rural voters see the embattled president as a ‘messenger from God’. And this week they will march in the cities to support him
Supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro take part in the ‘march of the Christian family for freedom’, in Brasilia, Brazil, on 15 May. Photograph: Joédson Alves/EPA
Jair Bolsonaro supporters aren’t hard to find in Sinop, an agricultural boomtown in the Brazilian Amazon where nearly 80% of voters backed the country’s ultra-conservative leader in the 2018 election.
“He’s a president of the people,” said Marcos Watanabe, the head of the city’s conservative association, sporting a T-shirt stamped with Bolsonaro’s name.
Few, however, are as passionate as the president of Sinop’s farmers’ union, Ilson José Redivo, who has placed a billboard of his leader outside its headquarters with the slogan: “We believe in God and we value the family. We’re with Bolsonaro.”
“He’s trying to change Brazil,” said the 64-year-old corn and soya bean farmer who hosted the rightwing populist in Sinop last year at an event attended by members of the region’s powerful agribusiness elite.
Redivo is one of millions of Bolsonaro devotees expected to hit the streets on 7 September for one in a series of mass rallies that have jolted Brazilian politics and left many citizens fretting over the future of their country’s young democracy.
“It will be the largest demonstration Brazil has ever seen,” Redivo claimed on Friday as he prepared to make the 780-mile journey to Brazil’s capital, Brasília, where one of the largest mobilisations will be held. » | Tom Phillips in Sinop | Sunday, September 5, 2021
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINER ZEITUNG: In der Nacht auf Sonntag attackierten Kämpfer des „Islamischen Staats“ einen Kontrollpunkt der irakischen Bundespolizei. Der Angriff dauerte mehrere Stunden.
Im Norden des Irak sind bei einem Angriff der Dschihadistenmiliz „Islamischer Staat“ (IS) 13 Polizisten getötet worden. IS-Kämpfer hätten in der Nacht zum Sonntag einen Kontrollpunkt der irakischen Bundespolizei südlich von Kirkuk attackiert, sagte ein ranghoher irakischer Offizier. Der Angriff dauerte demnach mehrere Stunden. » | FAZ | Sonntag, 5. September 2021
LE FIGARO : CHRONIQUE - Les néoconservateurs sont des idéologues qui croient que leur conception de la démocratie doit l’emporter sur l’idée de paix. Il existe toutefois une autre manière de faire de la diplomatie en Orient.
Mort en 1983, le sénateur démocrate Henry Scoop Jackson, inspirateur du mouvement néoconservateur américain, a dû se retourner dans sa tombe au spectacle de la piteuse déroute afghane de l’Administration Biden. Jamais il n’aurait pu imaginer que son ancien collègue au Sénat, devenu président, allait reproduire, à Kaboul, l’ignominie de l’abandon de Saïgon en 1975.
Au Vietnam, l’Amérique était allée combattre l’expansion du communisme et l’agression du Vietnam du Sud par son voisin du Nord, armé par l’Union soviétique et la Chine populaire. En Afghanistan, l’Amérique s’était, avec l’Otan, lancée dans une vaste opération militaire pour faire du «nation building», tel que l’exigeait la doctrine néoconservatrice, qui façonnait, au tournant des XXe et XXIe siècles, l’élite politico-médiatique américaine. » | Par Renaud Girard | lundi 30 septembre 2021
”Amit Shah, 32, and Aditya Madiraju, 31, met three years ago [?] at a party. They have dated ever since and decided to officially marry in a civil union at City Hall in New York City, New York.”
With thanks to the Daily Mail on Pinterest for this serene photo. You can read the newspaper article on the wedding here.
ADVOCATE: The news makes Buttigieg the first out gay parent in the U.S. Cabinet.
After announcing earlier this summer that they were expecting, Pete and Chasten Buttigieg have now revealed the birth of their two children. It is assumed that the children are twins.
"Chasten and I are beyond thankful for all the kind wishes since first sharing the news that we're becoming parents," Pete Buttigieg, the 39-year-old United States Secretary of Transportation, wrote in a post. "We are delighted to welcome Penelope Rose and Joseph August Buttigieg to our family." Chasten, 32, shared an almost identical message.
Drapeau national lors d'une visite au Musée du Parti communiste chinois à Pékin le 25 juin 2021. NOEL CELIS / AFP
LE FIGARO : Plusieurs programmes et émissions ont été arrêtés.
Désormais, les hommes «efféminés» sont bannis de la télévision chinoise. Après plusieurs scandales liés à des stars chinoises, l'Administration nationale de la radio et de la télévision a décidé que les chaînes de télévision et les plateformes en ligne «ne diffuseraient plus de programmes qui développent l'idolâtrie ou des émissions de variétés et de téléréalité». De critères de sélection des acteurs seront à privilégier, comme la bonne conduite politique et morale. » | Par Le Figaro | samedi 4 septembre 2021
LE FIGARO : Au total, 21 personnes ont été interpellées, dont 3 à Paris, a précisé Beauvau.
Un total de 141.655 personnes, dont 18.425 à Paris, ont manifesté contre le passe sanitaire en France pour le huitième samedi consécutif, soit une mobilisation de nouveau en baisse, selon le ministère de l'Intérieur.
À 19h00, le ministère avait comptabilisé 215 rassemblements, dont cinq à Paris. Au total, 21 personnes ont été interpellées, dont 3 à Paris, a précisé le ministère. Un membre des forces de l'ordre a été légèrement blessé.
La mobilisation est en baisse depuis plusieurs semaines, selon les chiffres du ministère. Le week-end dernier, près de 160.000 manifestants avaient été recensés par les autorités, dont 14.500 à Paris. Il y a quinze jours, environ 175.000 personnes avaient manifesté et près de 215.000 il y a trois semaines, selon le ministère. Lisez la suite de l'article et regardez la vidéo ici » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | samedi 4 septembre 2021
May 15, 2020 • ‘Musical Moments’ are moments of memories, reflection, as a retrospect of the past and anticipation of the future. These are moments that enrich our lives with music that we already know or get to know in the moment of listening.
This first ‘Musical Moment’ is of Daniel Barenboim's interpretation of Frédéric Chopin's Etude Op. 25 No. 1, recorded in Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin.
Pork chop recipes: Creamy mustard & gherkin sauce : recipe on how to make a classic French dish called: côte de porc charcutière, or Pork chops in a mustard and gherkin sauce.
This step-by-step video recipe will show you how to cook meat using the "concentration" cooking method. This cooking method applies for anything that is pan-fried, roasted, grilled or sizzled.
Along with the pork chops, you will be able to see how to make what we called, in France, an instant sauce to go along your meat.
As always, it’s an easy-to-follow video and a delicious recipe. Make sure you don't forget to get some French baguette to dip into the sauce when you’re finished eating the meat.
This recipe is for 4 people.
Ingredients:
4 pork chops br />
5 grams of butter mixed with 2cl of oil (to co\\ok the meat,
Salt and black pepper. to season the meat.
For the Sauce:
5 gm of finely chopped shallots
50 ml of dry white wine (French wine is ideal)
100 ml of veal or beef stock
5 gm of Dijon mustard
25 gm of gherkins (cut in Julienne or fine strips)
10-20 gm of butter (to finish the sauce)
The dish is usually served with freshly-made potato mash as it goes well with the sauce.
Who in his right mind would ever vote Republican? There was a time when I held the Republican Party in high regard. No longer! The Party is not fit for purpose. They are destroying the once wonderful USA. The USA used to be a beacon of progressive thought and forward-thinking. That, alas, was long ago.
To think that my own country has cut the umbilical cord with the European Union only to get tied to the apron strings of the USA sends shivers down my spine!
Sooner or later, this country will have to re-join its European brothers and sisters. It is imperative that we do so. We also need to start thinking of a federal Europe, of which the UK could take a leading rôle.
Recent events in Afghanistan should have shown us all that we can no longer depend on America for our security. We need to go it alone. And for that, we Europeans need to work closely together and form our own military: a European army, a European air force, and a European navy.
This crooked Brexit referendum should also have shown us all that it was neither fair nor sensible. IT MUST BE REVERSED. Sooner rather than later.
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Was steht in den geheimen Dokumenten des FBI über die Anschläge des 11. September? Angehörige fordern seit Jahren Transparenz. Nun will der Präsident ein Versprechen einlösen.
Der amerikanische Präsident Joe Biden hat das Justizministerium angewiesen, Dokumente aus der FBI-Untersuchung zu den Anschlägen vom 11. September zu überprüfen und freizugeben. „Als ich für das Amt des Präsidenten kandidierte, habe ich mich verpflichtet, für Transparenz bei der Freigabe von Dokumenten über die Terroranschläge vom 11. September 2001 auf Amerika zu sorgen“, sagte Biden am Freitag in einer Erklärung. Da sich der 20. Jahrestag dieses tragischen Tages nun nähere, halte er sich an diese Verpflichtung. Justizminister Merrick Garland beaufsichtige die Überprüfung der Freigabe von Dokumenten im Zusammenhang mit der Untersuchung des FBI, erklärte Biden. Deswegen müsse der Justizminister freigegebene Dokumente in den kommenden sechs Monaten veröffentlichen. » | Quelle: Reuters | Samstag, 4. September 2021
NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Drogenkriminalität, Armut und marode Infrastruktur: Marseille macht selten positive Schlagzeilen. Emmanuel Macron will diese Logik umkehren. Er ist nicht der Erste. Doch Macron pocht darauf, einen neuen Weg zu gehen.
Drei Tage verbrachte Emmanuel Macron, hier beim Besuch einer Schule, in der Mittelmeermetropole. | Pool / Reuters
Nicht einmal dreieinhalb Stunden dauert die Fahrt im TGV von Paris nach Marseille. Doch der Besuch, den Frankreichs Präsident diese Woche an der Mittelmeerküste absolviert hat, glich einer Reise in ein fernes, armes Land. Drei Tage lang blieb er, begleitet von sieben Ministern und Staatssekretären und einem grossen Tross von Journalisten.
Der sozialistische Bürgermeister Benoît Payan sprach von einem «historischen» Besuch und dankte dem Präsidenten fast unterwürfig dafür, dass dieser seiner Einladung gefolgt sei. Macron sagte seinerseits, er werde nicht einfach Geld verteilen. Bereits im Oktober will er wiederkommen, um die Fortschritte bei der Umsetzung des von ihm angestossenen Plans zu überprüfen. «Marseille en grand» hat er diesen Plan genannt. Er soll der zweitgrössten Stadt Frankreichs dabei helfen, aus den Negativschlagzeilen zu kommen – wieder einmal. Ein chronisch kranker Patient » | Nina Belz, Paris | Freitag, 3. September 2021
Des femmes manifestent dans les rues de Kaboul, vendredi 3 septembre 2021. FACEBOOK @WPPN.AFG / REUTERS
LE FIGARO : Plusieurs dizaines de femmes ont manifesté vendredi et samedi à Kaboul, devant le palais présidentiel, pour défendre leur droit à l'éducation et au travail.
Après Herat, Kaboul. Vendredi et samedi, des femmes sont descendues dans les rues de la capitale afghane, inquiètes pour le respect de leurs droits d'étudier et travailler alors que les talibans ont désormais le contrôle du pays. «Elles étaient quelques unes hier, elles sont plusieurs dizaines aujourd'hui, femmes et filles rassemblées devant le palais présidentiel réclamant leurs droits et la justice», a ainsi tweeté samedi un journaliste de la chaîne afghane ToloNews.
Vendredi, sur les vidéos relayées par plusieurs journalistes locaux ainsi qu'Amnesty International, des femmes de tous âges étaient entièrement voilées, brandissent des pancartes appelant au respect de leurs droits. «La liberté est notre devise, elle nous rend fières», peut-on lire sur certaines d'entre elles. Elles ne seraient «pas plus d'une centaine» selon Sharif Hassan, correspondant afghan pour le New York Times, «mais leur courage vaut un millier», commente le journaliste, alors qu'elles «risquent leur vie en marchant dans les rues» sous les yeux des soldats islamistes. » | Par Le Figaro | samedi 4 septembre 2021
THE GUARDIAN: Double Booker prize winner tells La Repubblica she may take Irish citizenship to feel European again
Hilary Mantel also said in a wide-ranging interview given to an Italian publication that Boris Johnson should not be in public life. Photograph: Jeff Morgan/Alamy
Hilary Mantel has said she feels “ashamed” by the UK government’s treatment of migrants and asylum seekers and is intending to become an Irish citizen to “become a European again”.
In a wide-ranging interview with La Repubblica, the twice Booker prize-winning novelist also gave her view on the monarchy, told how endometriosis has “devastated my life”, and how Boris Johnson “should not be in public life”. She also addresses the criticism of JK Rowling and her stance on transgender rights.
In response to a question about Priti Patel’s rhetoric on migration and asylum seekers and whether it marks the “ugliest side of the new ‘global Britain’ post-Brexit”, the writer told the Italian publication: “It was my grandparents’ generation who were immigrants [from Ireland]; sometimes my life gets confused with my fiction, because a number of my characters have Irish parents.
“We see the ugly face of contemporary Britain in the people on the beaches abusing exhausted refugees even as they scramble to the shore. It makes one ashamed.
“And ashamed, of course, to be living in the nation that elected this government, and allows itself to be led by it.” » | Nadeem Badshah | Saturday, September 4, 2021
Hear! Hear! Long live Europe! Es lebe Europa! Vive l'Europe ! – Mark
But what does all this mean? It means days entirely occupied with the scramble for basic necessities. A life reduced to the logistics of survival and a population that is physically, mentally and emotionally depleted.
I long for the simplest pleasures: gathering with family on Sundays for elaborate meals that are unaffordable now; driving down the coast to see a friend, instead of saving my gas for emergencies; going out for a drink in Beirut’s Mar Mikhael strip without counting how many of my old haunts have shut down. I never used to think twice about these things, but now it’s impossible to imagine indulging in any of these luxuries.
I begin my days in Beirut already exhausted. It doesn’t help that there’s a gas station around the corner from my house. Cars start lining up for fuel the night before, blocking traffic, and by 7 a.m. the sound of blaring horns and frustrated shouting from the street is fraying my nerves.
It is nearly impossible to sit down to work. My laptop battery lasts only so long anyway. In my neighborhood, government-provided power comes on for just an hour a day. The UPS battery that keeps the internet router working runs out of juice by noon. I’m behind on every deadline; I’ve written countless shamefaced emails of apology. What am I even supposed to say? “My country is falling apart and there’s not a single moment of my day that isn’t beholden to its collapse”? Nights are sleepless in the choking summer heat. Building generators operate for only four hours before going off around midnight to save diesel — if they are turned on at all. » | Lina Mounzer | Friday, September 3, 2021
Screenshot taken from Assad Shalhoub's YouTube channel.
Upon further investigation, I have discovered that this handsome man is a model and bodybuilder. I believe he is Lebanese. Here’s his YouTube channel. You might wish to follow him.
With men as beautiful as this around, who’d want to be straight? His name, it seems, is Assad Shalhoub. I have no idea whether this man is gay or not, but he sure is handsome! I know from the time I spent in the Middle East years ago that Arab men can be stunningly handsome.
With many thanks to Pinterest for this super photo. But what you see above is actually a screenshot of the picture on Pinterest. If you click over, you’ll see why.
Provided to YouTube by Legacy Recordings. | ℗ Originally released 1970. All rights reserved by Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Thousands did not make it onto U.S. military evacuation flights. Many of them are now in hiding, worried for their safety and their future.
Armed Taliban militants were looking for Shah. They knew he worked as an interpreter for the United States government, and came to his provincial home at night. “Someone inside worked for the U.S. Army!” they shouted, threatening to shoot down the door.
Shah had already left for Kabul, where he is now in hiding. But he believes he is a hunted man. “I’m not feeling safe here anymore,” said Shah, whose application for a special immigrant visa to the United States is still in the works.
“The Taliban say they are not taking revenge, and they are forgiving everybody,” he said. “But I can’t believe them. Why did they come to my house looking for me?”
There are thousands like Shah, stuck in Afghanistan under a capricious and unpredictable Taliban rule, who did not make it onto U.S. military evacuation flights — those who worked for the U.S. Army or the government, and their families, and who were eligible for U.S. humanitarian visas. They know they are potential targets as the Taliban tighten their grip since taking over Kabul fully this week.
Taliban leaders have pledged to allow those with visas to leave once they reopen the main airport, which remained closed to commercial flights on Friday.
But those like Shah doubt the pledges of a group that they feel they cannot trust and that has ruled Afghanistan ruthlessly before. Trying to leave — or showing a special immigrant visa — could itself expose them to danger if the Taliban renege on their promises. » | Adam Nossiter | Friday, September 3, 2021
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The American economy slowed abruptly last month, adding 235,000 jobs, a sharp drop from the huge gains recorded earlier in the summer and an indication that the Delta variant of the coronavirus is putting a damper on hiring.
The Labor Department report on Friday follows a sharp increase in coronavirus cases and deaths that has undermined hopes that restrictions on daily activities were nearing an end.
The unemployment rate was 5.2 percent, compared with 5.4 percent in July. Economists polled by Bloomberg has been looking for gain of 725,000 jobs.
“There’s no question that the Delta variant is why today’s job report isn’t stronger,” President Biden said. “I know people were looking, and I was hoping, for a higher number.”
The August showing would have been respectable in pre[-]pandemic times. But after gains of 962,000 in June and 1.05 million in July — and with more than eight million people unemployed — it was a sharp deceleration.
“Delta is a game-changer,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, an accounting firm in Chicago. “It’s not that people are laying off workers in reaction to Delta but people are pulling back on travel and tourism and going out to eat and that has consequences.” » | By Nelson D. Schwartz | Friday, September 3, 2021
