Mikhail Gorbachev (L) and Vladimir Putin in 2004 | EPA
BBC: Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union's last leader, the Kremlin has confirmed.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Putin's work schedule would not permit him to attend the event on Saturday.
He said the Russian leader had paid his respects at the Moscow hospital where Gorbachev died on Tuesday, aged 91.
Gorbachev's reforms helped end the Cold War, but saw the demise of the Soviet Union, which Mr Putin has lamented. » | Robert Plummer, BBC News | Thursday, September 1, 2022
NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Die Konsumentenpreise in der Schweiz sind im August weiter gestiegen. Um zu verhindern, dass sich die Inflation verfestigt und auf immer mehr Güter überschwappt, sollte die SNB den Leitzins noch diesen Monat erhöhen – dies auch als Signal an die Arbeitnehmenden.
Die Schweizerische Nationalbank ist gefordert im Kampf gegen die Teuerung. | Peter Klaunzer / Keystone
KOMMENTAR
Die europäischen Nachbarstaaten mögen die Schweiz um ihre vergleichsweise niedrige Inflation beneiden. Doch nur weil es anderswo noch schlimmer ist, kann man sich hierzulande nicht zurücklehnen. So wird auch in der Schweiz das Leben immer teurer. Neue Daten zeigen, dass die Konsumentenpreise im August gegenüber dem Vorjahr um 3,5 Prozent gestiegen sind. Der Wert liegt am oberen Rand der Erwartungen und auf dem höchsten Niveau seit den frühen 1990er Jahren. Von einer Entspannung an der Preisfront kann weiterhin keine Rede sein. » | Thomas Fuster | Donnerstag, 1. September 2022
Chef note: oven at 325F (170C) for 15 minutes for medium rare (130 F). Feelin' saucy? Enhance the flavor of tenderloin steaks with a luscious cream and brandy sauce. Sear the pepper-crusted steaks in a hot skillet. While steaks rest, combine shallots, brandy, green peppercorns and heavy cream. Steak au poivre is the perfect recipe for a special occasion celebrated at home.
Ingredients:
4 (6-ounce) Certified Angus Beef ® tenderloin filet steaks (filet mignon)
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt, divided
2 tablespoons peppercorn trio
2 teaspoons canola oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons brined green peppercorns
1/4 cup cognac or brandy
1 cup salt-free beef stock
1 cup heavy cream [double cream]
LE MONDE – CHRONIQUE : La guerre en Ukraine a enrichi les pays du Golfe Arabo-Persique, dont les ressources en méthane et en pétrole sont abondantes. Avec cette manne, la région cherche à se diversifier, en misant sur l’énergie « verte ». A commencer par l’hydrogène, note Philippe Escande, éditorialiste économique au « Monde ».
Le vainqueur incontestable de la guerre en Ukraine est le golfe Arabo-Persique. Les navires occidentaux font désormais la queue devant les ports méthaniers du Qatar ou pétroliers d’Arabie saoudite et des Emirats. Selon les calculs du Fonds monétaire international, cité par le Financial Times, les producteurs du Golfe devraient engranger 1 300 milliards de dollars (1 300 milliards d’euros) de plus d’ici à 2026 par rapport à la situation prévalant avant le conflit. La croissance en Arabie saoudite devrait s’afficher en 2022 au-delà de 7,6 %, permettant au pays d’afficher un excédent budgétaire, le premier depuis 2003, représentant 5,5 % de son produit intérieur brut. » | Philippe Escande | jeudi 1 septembre 2022
Sep 1, 2022 Members of the public in Birmingham give their opinion when asked who they would prefer to win the Conservative Party leadership contest to become Britain’s new Prime Minister, out of Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.
Gary Beesley
William MacIntyre
Pat Miller
Vicky Roden
Alex Billingham
This government is a shitshow! And if Liz Truss takes over the reins of government, it will become a shittiershow! The woman is bloody clueless. She is also heartless. The last thing this country needs at this time is more Thatcherism. It is Thatcherism that has got us into the mess we are in right now.
Arguably, Thatcherism was what the country needed back in the day—about forty years ago—but her doctrine has past its sell-by date. Thatcher was a wonderful leader in her time. But these are different times, and we have different problems to solve. Different problems call for different solutions.
Cooking a delicious, easy, and fast kofta kebab recipe without an oven along with three sauces.
Subtitles for other languages are available for this video by clicking on the appropriate button on the video itself.
A list of the ingredients used in this recipe and the method of preparation is available in both English and Arabic by clicking here and then clicking on "show more".
BBC: Worries over the prospects for the UK economy led the pound to slide 5% against the US dollar in August.
Sterling sank again on Thursday morning, dipping below $1.16 on the currency markets.
Analysts said the fall reflects the darkening outlook for the economy, with consumers and businesses facing rising prices and soaring energy bills.
The Bank of England has predicted the UK will fall into recession towards the end of this year.
The weak pound means Brits travelling overseas will find their spending money will not stretch as far.
"Our economic prospects are not looking particularly good compared to the rest of the world," said Laura Lambie, senior investment director at Investec.
Ms Lambie said that recession fears were weighing on markets, with the investment bank Goldman Sachs warning this week that the UK could remain in recession until 2024.
A recession is defined as the economy getting smaller for two consecutive three-month periods. » | Noor Nanji, Business reporter, BBC News | Thursday, September 1, 2022
Aug 31, 2022 In 2008, Kris Banks was about to be a very public figure in Houston’s LGBTQIA+ political scene. There was just one problem: he wasn’t out to his family. After an injury forced Kris to recuperate at his parents’ house, he knew time was running out to come out before they would find out in the media. So come out, he did, but it did not go well. While not outright rejected, an icy relationship with his parents ensued. Fortunately, with time, their relationship thawed and they grew close once more, allowing Kris to finally break down the barrier between his political activism and his home life.
BBC: A Saudi woman has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for her social media posts, in the second case of its kind this month, activists say.
A terrorism court convicted Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani of "using the internet to tear the social fabric" and "violating public order by using social media", rights group Dawn reported.
Little is known about her other than that she criticised Saudi leaders.
Abdullah Alaoudh, director of research for the Gulf region at Dawn, told the BBC's Newshour programme that the US-based group had learnt of Qahtani's case only after being passed court documents by a judicial source, and that it was continuing to investigate.
"Nothing in her court documents pertains to any violence or criminal activity," he said.
"The charges against her are really broad. They are using the counter-terrorism law and the anti-cybercrime law... that can criminalise any posting that is even remotely critical of the government," he added. » | David Gritten, BBC News | Wednesday, August 31, 2022
LE MONDE – EDITORIAL : La mort du dernier dirigeant soviétique jette une lumière crue sur l’action de son lointain successeur : il mit fin à la guerre en Afghanistan quand Vladimir Poutine a, lui, déclenché celle contre l’Ukraine.
Une dernière fois, il est célébré en Occident pendant que la Russie masque difficilement son mépris. Ce contraste résume brutalement le bilan de Mikhaïl Gorbatchev, emporté par l’âge et la maladie le 30 août, à 91 ans. Car son nom est resté synonyme de fin de la guerre froide pour l’Ouest, et de saboteur de la grandeur russe pour son pays.
Il n’avait ni prévu ni voulu la fin de l’URSS, « la plus grande catastrophe géopolitique du XXe siècle » selon son lointain successeur, Vladimir Poutine, qui macère dans ce sentiment d’humiliation depuis trois décennies. Mikhaïl Gorbatchev en fut le fossoyeur malgré lui. Il avait compris que le modèle économique soviétique, épuisé par la stagnation brejnévienne, la course aux armements et la guerre en Afghanistan, n’était pas viable. Pour le sauver, il voulut le réformer. Cela supposait de le restructurer – perestroïka – et de lever la chape de plomb qui pesait sur le système politique en instaurant la transparence – glasnost. Ces deux mots allaient l’accompagner jusqu’à la chute. » | Éditorial « du Monde » | mercredi 31 août 2022
Aug 31, 2022 Tributes have also been pouring in from leaders around the world. In Russia, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin said the president expressed his deepest condolences to Gorbachev's family.
UN Chief Antonio Guterres said he was deeply saddened by Gorbachev's passing and described him as a "one of a kind states-man, who changed the course of history.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Gorbachev's crucial role in bringing down the Iron Curtain opened the way for a free Europe.
And the foundation of then U-S president Ronald Reagan tweeted that Gorbachev was a man, who was once a political adversary, but who ended up becoming a friend.
Aug 31, 2022 In a new piece for The Atlantic, Jonathan Rauch sounds the alarm on a second term for Trump and why it would look like Viktor Orbán's Hungary.
South Korea’s first LGBTQ reality shows “Merry Queer” and “His Man” premiered on streaming platform Wavve this summer—and the people behind these shows hope they’ll help bring awareness to the long fight for LGBTQ rights in the country. South Korea does not recognize same-sex marriage and offers little legal protection to its LGBTQ citizens. “Merry Queer” co-host Hong Seok-cheon—one of the most prominent openly gay celebrities in South Korea—spoke to TIME along with the shows' producer Lim Chang-hyuck and “His Man” cast member Lee Jeong-ho on what these shows mean for queer representation. “In the future, I hope 'Merry Queer,' 'His Man' and other cultural content could open up more opportunities to bring awareness to issues that need to be resolved or discussed,” Hong said.
Aug 31, 2022 Prinzessin Diana war charmant, unkonventionell, beliebt. Aber einige Geschichten, die sich bis heute halten, stimmen gar nicht. Patricia Dreyer, SPIEGEL-Expertin in Sachen Royals, klärt auf.
Apr 1, 2014 Big Money. Big Lies. This week, Insight brings together victims, police, dating sites and an international money transfer organisation to find out about the dangers of romance scams and how not to get caught out.
Aug 30, 2022 According to the EU border control agency Frontex, almost a million travelers with Russian passports have come to the EU since the war in Ukraine started six months ago. Is it acceptable that Russians can continue travelling to the EU as if the war of aggression against Ukraine wasn't happening?
Aug 30, 2022 Mikhail Gorbachev, the final leader of the Soviet Union who ended the Cold War without bloodshed, has died in hospital on Tuesday. He was 91.
From 1985 until the collapse of the Soviet union in 1991, Gorbachev oversaw a massive overhaul of the country's economic and political policies.
His policy of glasnost, or free speech, allowed previously unthinkable criticism of the Communist Party and the state, but it also emboldened calls for independence in the Soviet Union's constituent republics — first in the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and then elsewhere.
As the last Soviet leader, Gorbachev forged arms reduction reals with the United States and partnerships with the West to remove the Iron Curtain that had divided Europe since World War II, which saw the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990.
Zärtlich ist der Kuss, der dich in Ekstase versetzt! / Tendre est le baiser qui vous envoie en extase ! / Tyner yw'r cusan sy'n eich anfon i ecstasi! / ¡Tierno es el beso que te lleva al éxtasis! / !العطاء هو القبلة التي ترسلك إلى النشوة
« El amor se representa de muchas formas, aqui tendras imagenes tiernas de parejas gays »
With many thanks to wattpad.com for this superb image.
THE GUARDIAN: As in Scotland, many people have looked at the United Kingdom and decided that it’s simply not working for them
‘With his calls for ‘home rule’, Mark Drakeford, the first minister, has essentially parked his tanks on Plaid Cymru’s lawn.’ Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images
The idea of an independent Wales is no longer just a hobby-horse of bearded men in Carmarthenshire pubs on Six Nations rugby match days. Polls put support for independence at about 30%, (and skew more pro- the younger you go): not enough to signal anything imminent, but high enough for us to be certain something real is happening. After all, Scotland was polling similar numbers in 2007, and just seven years later David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg were making “the vow” to the people of Scotland as they scrambled to keep the union together.
Of course when we look at this 30% figure, there is a question of saliency. People may support independence, but how crucial is the issue for them? Most people support House of Lords reform, for instance, but it doesn’t result in a massive majority for the Lib Dems. Having spent the last 18 months immersed in the idea of an independent Wales, I can attest that this is a real movement, with legitimate grievances which should be taken seriously. This isn’t to say that independence is inevitable but just that, like the leave campaign or those for an independent Scotland, these issues are fringe, minority movements – until they’re not.
Perhaps the biggest surprise when I started researching this area is how, especially for people who have come to the idea of Welsh independence since Brexit, identity is only a secondary motivating factor. For them it is, first and foremost, a matter of the head not the heart. Most supporters have simply looked at the state of the United Kingdom, seen that it isn’t working for Wales, and view independence as the most effective vehicle for fixing Wales’s problems. That doesn’t mean independence necessarily is the answer, just that the status quo is leaving the country both impoverished and unable to fix the problems it has. » | Will Hayward | Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Inflation in the UK could top 22% next year, close to the post-war record set in 1975, if wholesale energy prices remain at current high levels, Goldman Sachs has warned.
Highlighting the pressure on households and businesses, the US investment bank said inflation could peak at 22.4% next year if wholesale gas and electricity prices continue to spiral over the winter.
In a scenario where prices “remain elevated at current levels”, economists at the bank said the Ofgem energy price cap for household bills could rise by more than 80% in January. This would “imply headline inflation peaking at 22.4%”.
Inflation rose above 10% for the first time since the early 80s in July, fuelled by surging wholesale energy prices and the rising cost of basic essentials. Inflation hit a post-war record of 24.5% in August 1975. » | Richard Partington, Economics correspondent | Tuesday, August 30, 2022
NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Noch vor wenigen Jahren war Gautam Adani ausserhalb von Indien weitgehend unbekannt. Der Studienabbrecher startete als Diamantenhändler, später stieg er ins Kohlegeschäft ein. Nun hat Adani den Franzosen Bernard Arnault (LVMH) überholt und ist damit zum drittreichsten Menschen der Welt geworden.
Das Vermögen von Gautam Adani ist während der Corona-Pandemie stark gestiegen. | Rupak De Chowdhuri / Reuters
sev./Bloomberg Es ist das erste Mal, dass ein Asiat den Sprung unter die ersten drei im Bloomberg-Milliardärs-Index geschafft hat. Der Inder Mukesh Ambani und der Chinese Jack Ma haben es nicht so weit gebracht. Mit einem Vermögen von 137,4 Milliarden Dollar hat Adani Bill Gates und den Franzosen Bernard Arnault überholt und liegt in der Rangliste nun nur noch hinter Elon Musk und Jeff Bezos aus den USA.
Die Basis für seinen gewaltigen Reichtum legte Adani in den 1990er Jahren, als er sich den Hafen in Mundra an der Küste Gujarats sicherte. Er bahnte sich geschickt seinen Weg durch die indische Bürokratie und kaufte rund um den Hafen immer mehr Land. Gegenüber der «New York Times» hatte der Inder einst gesagt, dass sein Aufstieg von Gelegenheiten geprägt gewesen sei: Erst kam der Hafen, dieser führte ihn zum Energiesektor. Indiens Hunger nach Kohle liess ihn in andere Länder expandieren. » | sev./Bloomberg | Dienstag, 30. August 2022
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Exploring the country’s Arab influence is an impossibly romantic journey, involving palaces with intricate geometric designs, castles and grand mosques reconfigured by Christians into cathedrals.
Córdoba’s Mosque-Cathedral, or La Mezquita, was one of the first and grandest mosques in Europe. | Emilio Parra Doiztua for The New York Times
There is a way through Spain that is all horseshoe arches, keyhole windows and bronze doors carved in Arabic script. It meanders into crenelated forts, Moorish castles overlooking the Mediterranean and grand mosques reconfigured by Christians into cathedrals.
As the child of an Iraqi woman and a Swedish-American man, I have always been drawn to places where West and East converge and dissolve into each other. The southern edge of Spain, where North Africa is just an hour away by water, is one of these places.
One midsummer week, my husband and I immersed ourselves in what remains of Moorish Spain, places that brought to mind the sights, sounds and scents of childhood visits to my mother’s homeland. We took an impossibly romantic path through Seville, Córdoba, Granada, Málaga, the port city of Tarifa and, finally, by ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar, to Tangier, Morocco.
Arab influence in Spain dates to the early 700s, not long after the founding of Islam, when Muslims from North Africa crossed the Strait of Gibraltar (from the Arabic for “Tariq’s rock”). The Europeans called the invaders Moors, after Mauretania, the Roman name for North Africa. Over the centuries, the Moors left a legacy in Spanish architecture, music, food and language in the region they then called al-Andalus. The name of Spain’s greatest hero, El Cid, comes from the Arabic honorific, Sayid. The 16th-century novelist Miguel de Cervantes framed his fictional story of the knight-errant Don Quixote as the translation of a recovered Arabic manuscript. Where cultures meet, and endure » | Nina Burleigh | Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Jun 8, 2022 Falling prey to a con artist can be a humiliating and often expensive exercise. Many cons end in costly court cases, even imprisonment, and that's just for the victims. The perpetrators often appear to be charismatic and charming, but they’re far more likely to be narcissistic risk-takers who revel in power and control. This week's Insight delves into these charismatic and complex characters.
2019 in Peking: Manasseh Sogavare (links), Premierminister der Salomonen, und Li Keqiang, Premierminister von China, während der Unterzeichnungszeremonie für den Entwurf eines Sicherheitspakts | Bild: DPA
SPANNUNGEN IM SÜDPAZIFIK
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Vor kurzem verweigerten die Salomonen einem Schiff der US-Küstenwache die Einfahrt – mutmaßlich auf Wunsch Chinas. Nun hat der pazifische Inselstaat ein Moratorium über alle US-Marinebesuche verhängt.
Vor dem Hintergrund der mutmaßlichen Einflussnahme Chinas auf die südpazifischen Salomonen kommt es weiter zu Spannungen zwischen dem Inselstaat und den Vereinigten Staaten. Nach dem Abschluss des umstrittenen Sicherheitspakts mit China vor wenigen Monaten hat die Regierung der Salomonen die USA nun darüber informiert, dass sie vorerst keine Besuche der US-Marine mehr zulassen wird. Die Regierung in Washington sei am Montag von den Behörden auf den Salomonen über ein „Moratorium für alle Marinebesuche bis zur Aktualisierung der Protokollverfahren“ informiert worden, teilte ein Sprecher der amerikanischen Botschaft im australischen Canberra am Dienstag mit. » | Von Till Fähnders, Singapur, Politischer Korrespondent für Südostasien | Dienstag, 30. August 2022
THE GUARDIAN: Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani accused of ‘using the internet to tear Saudi Arabia’s social fabric’
News of the sentence comes after Salma al-Shehab was convicted for following Twitter accounts of dissidents in exile. Photograph: Gregory Bull/AP
Another Saudi Arabian woman has been sentenced to decades in prison by the kingdom’s terrorism court for using social media to “violate the public order”, according to court documents seen by a human rights group.
Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani was sentenced to 45 years in prison after a specialised criminal court convicted her of “using the internet to tear [Saudi Arabia’s] social fabric”, according to documents that were obtained and reviewed by Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn), an organisation founded by Jamal Khashoggi.
Dawn shared its findings, which it said were verified by Saudi sources, with the Guardian.
Few details are known about Qahtani, including her age or the circumstances around her arrest and conviction. » | Stephanie Kirchgaessner | Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Muhammad bin Salman, or MBS—the millennial crown prince of Saudi Arabia—appears increasingly invincible. With the war in Ukraine disrupting energy supplies, Western leaders are eager to get their hands on his oil. But should they worry about the young prince’s power?
Princess Diana during a visit to Leicester, to formally open The Richard Attenborough Centre for Disability and Arts, in May 1997. Getty
THE NATIONAL: A quarter of a century after her death, the humanity and vulnerability of the princess still holds wide appeal
Anywhere in the world the mere mention of Princess Diana’s name evokes feelings of admiration and awe on some level, regardless of how the divide between fans and detractors of Britain’s royal family is drawn.
The Princess of Wales, or the "Queen of Hearts" as she was fondly called by her avid followers, left an indelible mark on the family she married into at the age of 20.
Her death in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, sent shock waves around the globe and prompted a huge outpouring of grief. Closer to home, it left a black hole in the monarchy and a massive void in her young sons’ lives.
A quarter of a century on from that fateful day, the legacy Diana left behind still inspires her fans, intrigues authors and even haunts the institution with which she wrestled. ‘She was like a meteor’ » | Laura O'Callaghan | Tuesday, August 30, 2022
This article can be listened to in Arabic. A link appears on the newspaper’s website.
BBC: The Duchess of Sussex said she upset the "dynamic of the hierarchy" of the Royal Family "just by existing".
Meghan, 41, told US magazine The Cut she and the Duke of Sussex, were willing to move to any Commonwealth country but were not allowed to.
Talking about her exit from the Royal family the duchess said it "takes a lot of effort to forgive".
She also spoke about Prince Harry's relationship with his father, the Prince of Wales.
Asked by journalist Alison P Davis about the impact of her privacy case against the Mail on Sunday, Meghan said: "Harry said to me, 'I lost my dad in this process.'
"It doesn't have to be the same for them as it was for me, but that's his decision."
A spokeswoman for the duchess later told BBC News that Meghan was referring to her own father, from whom she is estranged, and was saying she hoped the same would not happen to her husband.
A source close to Prince Charles told the PA news agency he would be saddened if Harry felt their relationship was lost, adding: "The Prince of Wales loves both his sons".
Sheikh Saqr of Sharjah was removed from power in a British-sponsored coup
BBC: Secret dealings which brought to an end Britain's empire in the Middle East are revealed in a joint BBC News Arabic and Persian documentary. The film Secrets & Deals: How Britain Left the Gulf contains details of how it left Iran in control of contested islands, as well as eyewitness accounts of a British-organised coup.
The winter of 1967-1968 was a time of crisis for the British economy. Many Arab leaders were convinced Britain had secretly helped Israel to victory over its Arab neighbours in the Six Day War of June 1967. Israel had captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights.
In retaliation, the oil-rich Gulf states began selling off their holdings of the British currency.
The pound crashed. Desperate to save money, Harold Wilson's Labour government decided it was time to terminate Britain's imperial defence commitments in the Middle East.
Britain never officially had colonies in the Gulf, but it had been the pre-eminent foreign power there since the 18th Century.
The Arab emirates of Bahrain, Qatar and the Trucial States (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and their smaller neighbours) had signed treaties of protection with Britain.
This meant Britain controlled their defence and foreign policies, while local leaders mostly oversaw local affairs. » | Ahisha Ghafoor & Paul Mitchell, BBC News Arabic & BBC News Persian | Tuesday, August 30, 2022
‘Why, with all this new tech, are we not seeing an improved standard of living?’ … Bernie Sanders at a unionisation rally in Richmond, Virginia. Photograph: Julia Rendleman/Reuters
THE GUARDIAN: The Vermont senator rose from the political margins to become hugely influential within the American left. As he prepares to speak at a London rally, he explains why unions on both sides of the Atlantic must reassert their power
Both are unlikely political sensations who were long consigned to the fringes: Bernie Sanders, an octogenarian US senator who inspired an army of voters far younger than himself; and Mick Lynch, a former blacklisted construction worker and child of Irish immigrants who, as the leader of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union (RMT), shot to national prominence when he humbled hostile but underinformed broadcast journalists. “I think Lynch is touching a nerve,” Sanders says.
The de facto leader of the US left has swung his considerable political heft behind a new campaign – Enough Is Enough – launched to fight Britain’s mounting cost of living crisis, which was founded in part by Lynch and the RMT. It has certainly touched a nerve: at a recent rally in Clapham, south London, many of those who had queued around the block were turned away for lack of space. “‘Enough is enough’, funnily enough, is an expression we use a lot here,” Sanders says. “People are sick and tired of often working longer hours for low wages; sick and tired of their kids having a lower standard of living than them; and they’re sick and tired of billionaires getting richer and richer while they fall behind.
“Why, with all this new tech out there, are they not seeing an improved standard of living? Why not more equality, rather than less equality? Why are living standards deteriorating, not improving? Lynch is asking that, Enough Is Enough is asking that – and it’s hitting a nerve, because people are tired of being ignored while the rich get richer.” » | Owen Jones | Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Jan 31, 2019 He was a leader of the controversial 'gay conversion therapy' movement in the United States - so it came as a shock when David Matheson publicly came out as gay.
For decades, Mr Matheson - a Mormon - ran retreats offering therapy to suppress or manage sexuality, - claiming to help people live as straight men rather than gay.
In an exclusive interview with this programme he's now conceded that the practice, which almost 700,000 Americans have undergone, is not only built on a harmful philosophy but should be banned.
We are also joined from New York by Chaim Levin, who twice attended retreats co-founded by David Matheson.
THE OBSERVER: Drawing on the widest survey of sexual behaviour since the Kinsey Report, David Spiegelhalter, in his book Sex By Numbers, answers key questions about our private lives. Here he reveals how Kinsey’s contested claim that 10% of us are gay is actually close to the mark
For a single statistic to be the primary propaganda weapon for a radical political movement is unusual. Back in 1977, the US National Gay Task Force (NGTF) was invited into the White House to meet President Jimmy Carter’s representatives – a first for gay and lesbian groups. The NGTF’s most prominent campaigning slogan was “we are everywhere”, backed up by the memorable statistical claim that one in 10 of the US population was gay – this figure was deeply and passionately contested.
So where did Bruce Voeller, a scientist who was a founder and first director of the NGTF, get this nice round 10% from? To find out, we have to delve back into Alfred Kinsey’s surveys in 1940s America, which were groundbreaking at the time but are now seen as archaic in their methods: he sought out respondents in prisons and the gay underworld, made friends with them and, over a cigarette, noted down their behaviours using an obscure code. Kinsey did not believe that sexual identity was fixed and simply categorised, and perhaps his most lasting contribution was his scale, still used today, in which individuals are rated from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively homosexual on a scale of 0 to 6.
Kinsey’s headline finding was that “at least 37% of the male population has some homosexual experience between the beginning of adolescence and old age”, meaning physical contact to the point of orgasm. He claimed that 13% of males were predominately homosexual for at least three years between the ages of 16 and 55 (scoring at least 4) and that 4% of males were exclusively homosexual all their lives (scoring 6). For 30-year-old US men, he estimated that 83% would score 0 (totally heterosexual), 8% would be 1 or 2 on the scale, and 9% would be at least a 3. He acknowledged that people could move on the scale during their lifetime, and indeed Kinsey himself is said to have moved from a 1 or 2 when younger to a 3 or 4 in middle age. » | David Spiegelhalter | Sunday, April 5, 2015
Gay Britain: what do the statistics say?: How many people in the UK are gay, lesbian or bisexual? The Office for National Statistics reckons it's 1.5% while the Kinsey report says it's 10%. Who's right?»
THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: The need to rebalance the public and private sectors, and rein in market excess is becoming the new common sense in UK politics
When a poll finds that almost half of Conservative voters favour taking the energy industry into public ownership, and a former adviser to Tory governments describes the privatisation model for energy and water as broken, it seems fair to surmise that a laissez-faire economic orthodoxy that has lasted more than 30 years is on the ropes.
The scale of the looming energy catastrophe, as bills rise to unaffordable levels for households and small businesses, has been primarily driven by the external shock of Russia’s war in Ukraine. But as Sir Dieter Helm, professor of economic policy at Oxford University, argued in an interview with the Financial Times on Monday, the crisis has exposed the deficiencies of a market that was not, in any case, fit for purpose. Energy and water, he said, are “too essential to be treated like another commodity, as some of the architects of the privatisation, liberalisation and competition paradigm believed”. » | Editorial | Monday, August 29, 2022
Nov 26, 2018 This France-Canada co-production goes behind the scenes of the huge tobacco industry, whose economic power has been expanding for five decades at the expense of public health. A gripping investigation covering three continents, Nadia Collot's film exposes the vast conspiracy of a criminally negligent industry that conquers new markets through corruption and manipulation. To confront the tobacco cartel, anti-smoking groups are organizing and scoring points, but the fight remains fierce. With ist diverse viewpoints, shocking interviews and riveting images, The Tobacco Conspiracy deftly defines the issues in a complex situation where private interests and the public good collide. Enlightening and engrossing, this documentary is a hard-hitting critique of an industry gone mad.
Aug 29, 2022 Lipstick has been around since the dawn of time. It is often a symbol of power and rebellion. Across the centuries, queens, politicians, workers, actresses, geishas, drag-queens, rock stars, and make-up lovers all over the world have called upon its ability to flatter and enhance. In the modern age of the beauty influencer, this ancient beautification trick is more popular than ever.
The Seductive Power of Red I ARTE.tv Documentary
Available until the 28/09/2022
German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising speaks in front of a rainbow flag during a service marking the 20th anniversary of the LGBTQ community at St. Paul's Church in Munich March 13, 2022. (CNS photo/Lukas Barth, Reuters)
NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER: HAMBURG, GERMANY — Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx has called for a change in Catholic teaching on homosexuality, reported the German Catholic news agency KNA.
"The catechism is not set in stone. One may also question what it says," Marx told the weekly magazine Stern in an interview published March 31.
"Homosexuality is not a sin. It corresponds to a Christian attitude when two people, regardless of gender, stand up for each other, in joy and sorrow," he said. The value of love was also shown in "not making the other person an object, not using him or her or humiliating him or her."
Marx added: "LGBTQ+ people are part of creation and loved by God, and we are called upon to stand against discrimination." He also said, "Those who threaten homosexuals and anyone else with hell have understood nothing."
Earlier in March, at a Mass celebrating the 20th anniversary of "queer services" in Munich, Marx apologized for the church's discrimination against homosexuals. In his sermon, the cardinal promoted an "inclusive church."
The cardinal told Stern that only 10 years ago he could not have imagined holding such a service. » | Catholic News Service | Thursday, March 31, 2022
Apr 18, 2021 The union between the nations of the United Kingdom is looking increasingly fragile, thanks to Brexit. If Scotland were to break away from Britain it would face an uncertain future—as would the rest of the union.
Aug 29, 2022 As Russia's invasion of Ukraine grinds on, its impact continues to be felt far beyond Ukraine's borders. In Turkey, the war has cast a shadow over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's economic ambitions.
Turkey's trade deficit has ballooned over the last seven months on the back of rising commodity prices. In July, the monthly gap reached almost 11 billion dollars, which is a record level. The imbalance between imports and exports from January through July was 144 percent higher than a year earlier, according to Turkey’s state statistics agency. Add to that the rapid depreciation of the lira, and Turkey's problems don't look set to end soon.
Aug 14, 2022 Six million people live in the cultural melting pot that is Lebanon. Muslims and Christians coexist here, although not always without conflict. Journalist Jaafar Abdul Karim shows colleague Sineb El Masrar the nation where he grew up.
For our 10-part series, Sineb El Marar and Jaafar Abdul Karim toured 10 nations in two years. Some of these countries underwent political and economic upheaval during this period. One of these was Lebanon, the homeland of Jaafar Abdul Karim.
In the first episode of "Mediterranean Journey”, the presenter invites his colleague Sineb El Masrar to the Beirut studio where he records his program "Jaafar Talk". He takes Sineb along on a tour of the city. It is a place that still bears the scars of civil war: Christians against Palestinians, both of these groups against Arab nationalists and all of them against Israel. The journey continues to the north of the country to Tripoli, where Jaafar meets the activist Lea Baroudi, initiator of the reconciliation project "March”.
Jaafar spends the night at the eco-lodge "Beit Al Batroun", not far from Byblos. The small estate is a slice of heaven; a dream realized for owner Colette Kahil. Back in Beirut, Jaafar meets the journalist Joumana Haddad, who runs support groups addressing the societal taboo of homosexuality.
He also meets with Zeina Hawa from the initiative "Chain Effect". She and her fellow cyclists are campaigning to make the Lebanese capital better for bikes. Together with Sineb, Jaafar explores Beirut on two wheels. The next stop on his trip is the Beqaa Valley, where he meets Syrian refugee women making clothes for the fair-trade project "Master Peace”.
THE GUARDIAN: For the past half-century, Richard the Lionheart - that buff, bronzed warrior who hardly saw his wife and had no children - has been something of a gay icon. As a presence on the silver screen (most famously in the shape of the young Anthony Hopkins in The Lion in Winter) his homosexuality has rarely been in doubt.
English history isn't short of gay or bisexual monarchs - Edward II, James I, possibly William II - but the historical evidence for counting Richard I among their number rests on one contemporary document concerning his relationship with King Philip II of France. In 1187, a chronicler reports, the two men were so close that "at night the bed did not separate them".
Now, however, as the BBC prepares to air a new Lionheart docu-drama, the king's biographer, Professor John Gillingham, has pointed out that Richard's ostentatious bed-sharing with the French king was the product of a political alliance rather than a lovers' tryst. » | Helen Castor | Wednesday, March 19, 2008
LE MONDE : En octobre, les factures moyennes vont augmenter de 80 % par rapport à avril, soit un triplement en un an. Des dizaines de milliers de Britanniques menacent de ne pas payer.
Des manifestants protestent contre la hausse des prix, à Londres, le 12 février 2022. FUTURE PUBLISHING VIA GETTY
Anne Vivian-Smith passe son temps à vérifier son compteur électrique, « de façon obsessive ». Elle a toujours fait attention à sa consommation, mais depuis quelques mois, elle mesure le moindre de ses gestes : elle se fait moins de boissons chaudes, évite d’allumer la télévision, éteint au maximum les lumières.
Vivant à Nottingham, dans le nord de l’Angleterre, sévèrement handicapée par une maladie dégénérative, cette ancienne magistrate ne peut pas travailler et dépend des aides sociales, qui n’ont pas augmenté depuis trois ans dans son cas. Son mari, qui est employé dans une université, touche environ 1 000 livres sterling (1 200 euros) par mois et n’a obtenu qu’une augmentation de 1,5 % cette année, bien inférieure à l’inflation. Leur facture de gaz et d’électricité, en revanche, a fait un bond en avril, passant de 82 livres à 145 livres par mois. « Au début de l’année, on n’était pas riches, mais ça allait. Maintenant, notre vie a rétréci. »» | Par Eric Albert (Londres, correspondance)| dimanche 28 août 2022
Jun 19, 2022 Persecuted in Palestine and called criminals in Israel, gay Palestinians are the silent victims of the conflict. Louie has been hiding in Tel Aviv for ten years, Abdu was tortured and accused of espionage for his relationships with gay Israelis; and Louis was almost killed by his family. Wherever they go, they live in fear of discovery. Only in Israel's gay underground are they at home. Eye-opening and revelatory. From The Invisible Men
Aug 8, 2022 Eleni Myrivili has the mammoth task of ensuring the survival of Athens. As the city's newly appointed "chief heat officer," she is working on ways to prepare the Greek capital for the consequences of climate change. That's no small feat: The city has 3 million residents — and is almost unbearable in summer.
One possible solution to the heat problem dates all the way back to antiquity: Hadrian's Aqueduct, a subterranean tunnel constructed under Roman rule stretches nearly 20 kilometers (12 miles) under Athens. Water from this tunnel will be used to irrigate parks across the city, creating a cool green corridor. But Eleni Myrivili's tasks are not limited to city planning. She is also responsible for providing emergency aid for people directly affected by the heat. Despite the ever-worsening situation, she has observed a worrying trend: Many people in Athens still accept the heat and climate change as fate. Can Myrivili change people's perceptions? A report by Gunnar Köhne.
Views on YouTube: 5,788,449 | Subtitles for all languages are available for this video. They can be activated on the video itself.
Ingredients:
Cooking oil
Onion (120g)
Bay leaves
Cinnamon stick
Cardamom, cloves, and one tsp of coriander seeds
1 whole chicken, cut up
1 tbsp of salt, half a tsp of black pepper, and one fourth [a quarter] of a tsp of turmeric
Potatoes (650g)
Eggplant [aubergine] (650g)
Onions (250g)
For the rice:
One and half tsps of salt
Three cups of washed and soaked basmati rice
Half a tsp each of black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and turmeric
For the garnish:
Coriander and fried onions
Method:
In a pot add a little cooking oil
Sauté chopped onions (120g)
Then add the following ingredients:
Bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves, and one tsp of coriander seeds
Add one whole chicken cut up with the skin removed
Add the following ground spices:
1 tbsp of salt, half a tsp of black pepper, and one fourth [a quarter] of a tsp of turmeric
Then, cover the chicken with hot water
Cook on high heat for 20 minutes
While the chicken is cooking, prepare the vegetables:
Fry the cut potatoes (650g)
Fry the cut eggplant (650g)
Fry the onions (250g)
After 20 mins, remove the chicken and strain the broth
Place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of a non-stick pot
Add the following ingredients, in order:
Place the chicken in the pot first, then the fried potatoes, then the fried eggplant, then the fried onion
In a separate bowl, add three cups of washed and soaked basmati rice (soaked for 20 minutes)
Add one and half tsp of salt, half a tsp each of black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and turmeric
Mix everything and place the mixture in the pot on top of the other ingredients.
Add the strained chicken broth
Cook on high heat until the amount of water decreases. Then, on low heat for 30 minutes
Carefully flip it into a serving tray and let it stand for 5 minutes before removing the pot
Carefully remove the pot
Garnish with coriander and fried onions
To get the recipe in Arabic and to give feedback, click here.
THE OBSERVER: Aleksandar Vučić admits ‘violation of minority rights’ while citing fears of clashes at LGBTQ+ event in Belgrade
People taking part in the Belgrade Pride march in September last year Photograph: Andrej Isaković/AFP/Getty Images
Serbia will not allow a pan-European LGBTQ+ Pride event to take place in Belgrade next month, the president has said, citing threats from rightwing extremists and fears of clashes.
The Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, announced the decision to cancel the EuroPride celebration on 12-18 September during a news conference where he also proposed extending the term of Serbia’s prime minister, who identifies as a lesbian.
Members of the European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA) chose Serbia’s capital three years ago to host the annual event. Vučić said a crisis with neighbouring Kosovo and various economic problems were among the reasons why the Balkan country’s authorities did not think they could handle EuroPride, which features a Pride parade.
“This is a violation of minority rights, but at this moment the state is pressured by numerous problems,” he said. » | Associated Press in Belgrade | Saturday, August 27, 2022
Aug 27, 2022 In the wake of the release of the affidavit at the center of the search of Donald Trump's golf course Mar-A-Lago, Dr. Jason John and Elie Mystal query, "why ain't this dude in jail?"and discuss the national security implications connected with this breach.
Aug 26, 2022 Bestes Steak rosa gebraten von der Hüfte als Sandwich in selbst gebackenen Brot. Warum solltest Du jetzt noch zu SUBWAY? Dieses Rezept ist besser.
Aug 27, 2022 It seems almost certain that Liz Truss will become Prime Minister of the UK on a 5th September having defeated Rishi Sunak in a race that will have been decided by 150,000 mostly elderly prosperous and white members of the Conservative party.
Throughout the campaign, and throughout her career, Truss has been inconsistent, from being a Liberal Democrat to becoming a Tory, from being extremely pro-Remainer to becoming an arch-enemy of the EU, she has flipped and U-turned whenever it has suited her political ambitions.
In a dull and tedious campaign to become leader of the Tory Party, she has changed her mind on several major issues and, whenever challenged, has said she had been 'misinterpreted'. Truss appears to have little political wit or skill, almost no firm principles, and is likely to succumb to pressures from the right of the Tory party once elected. In effect she will be a puppet of the right-wing whilst the country faces the biggest crises it has faced since the Second World War.
LE MONDE – Le blog de Marc Gozlan : Un patient contracte simultanément le monkeypox, la Covid-19 et la syphilis, tandis qu’un autre présente une co-infection par monkeypox, SARS-CoV-2 et VIH
Alvaro Vives A, et al. Research Square. Posted Date: August 23rd, 2022.
Deux études indépendantes, espagnole et italienne, rapportent, chez un homme ayant des relations avec des hommes, une co-infection par le virus monkeypox (« variole du singe ») et d’autres agents infectieux.
L’équipe espagnole a publié le 23 août 2022, sous forme de preprint sur le site Research Square, le cas d’un individu de 56 ans ayant des relations avec des hommes. Cet homme, VIH négatif, est sous PrEP (prophylaxie pré-exposition). Utilisée avant un rapport sexuel à risque, la PrEP permet d’empêcher la contamination par le virus du sida (VIH).
Cet individu s’est présenté aux urgences pour un ulcère génital non douloureux apparu deux jours auparavant, sans autre symptôme associé. Il n’avait jamais contracté dans le passé d’infection sexuellement transmissible. Six mois plus tôt, il avait été testé négatif pour le VIH et la syphilis. Dépressif et diabétique, il recevait un traitement approprié. » | Le blog de Marc Gozlan,journaliste médico-scientifique | vendredi 26 août 2022
First Kiss is a 84-minute kissing video between the artists Idan Bitton and Alfredo Ferran Calle. While the camera is still, the kiss is in motion, provoking the viewer to stay and watch.
Idan and Alfredo do not interact with the viewer, but offer a peek into their intimate moments of commitment.
This long lasting, present and unapologetic kiss defines our current gay rights momentum. We are here, we love each other, and this is what it looks like.
Aug 27, 2022 In Rwanda, a woman is facing two years in jail for what authorities call 'indecent' dressing. Liliane Mugabekazi was arrested in early August after a photo of her wearing a transparent dress in public went viral. Police then held her for 12 days until she was granted bail. Her court hearing is expected soon.
