Wednesday, August 05, 2009
THE NEW YORK TIMES: BEIRUT, Lebanon — With his adversaries shunning the ceremony and security forces on the streets, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn into office for a second term Wednesday, almost two months after elections that divided the nation and sparked Iran’s deepest crisis since the Islamic revolution 30 years ago.
Protests erupted outside the parliament building as he was inaugurated, with several people arrested and police using pepper spray to disperse demonstrators, according to news reports. Severe reporting restrictions in Iran hindered efforts to gauge the scale of the demonstration.
The official IRNA news agency said there was no “disturbance of the peace” on major streets and traffic circles in the Iranian capital during the inauguration, The Associated Press reported, quoting witnesses as saying at least 10 people were detained by police.
Witnesses said the detainees included protesters in black T-shirts in a show of grief over Mr. Ahmadinejad’s inauguration, The A.P. said. The state-run broadcaster Press TV said more than 5,000 members of the security and police forces had gathered around the parliament building while officers with sniffer dogs patrolled the area.
In a relatively low-key speech, news reports said, Mr. Ahmadinejad attacked foreign detractors, appealed for national unity, pledged a “stronger” foreign policy with “more effective new plans” and said he would “spare no effort to safeguard the frontiers of Iran.”
Speaking from a podium bedecked with yellow flowers, he did not directly allude to the huge street protests that have riven Iranian society since opposition leaders accused the authorities of rigging the June 12 election in which Mr. Ahmadinejad was awarded an overwhelming victory. His election was formally endorsed earlier this week by the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Wednesday, Mr. Ahmadinejad urged national unity, saying: "We should join hands as we move forward to fulfill our goals,” The A.P. reported. He said his government would “resist any violation of law and interference.”
“We will not remain silent, we will not tolerate disrespect, interference and insults,” he said. >>> By ROBERT F. WORTH and ALAN COWELL | Wednesday, August 05, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Bill Clinton burst back on to the global political stage yesterday in the unlikely setting of North Korea — and orchestrated an immediate and spectacular diplomatic coup.
Within hours of the former US President shaking hands with Kim Jong Il, his reclusive host, North Korea announced that two imprisoned American journalists would be pardoned and released. Laura Ling and Euna Lee, sentenced to 12 years of hard labour in June after being convicted of spying, are expected to be on board Mr Clinton’s private jet when he leaves Pyongyang today.
“We are counting the seconds to hold Laura and Euna in our arms,” their families said in a statement.
Mr Kim’s “special pardon” was a sign of North Koreas’s “humanitarian and peace-loving policy”, the state’s official news agency said.
The appearance of the world’s most gregarious former head of state in the rogue state took all sides by surprise. It also suggested that President Obama is prepared to use the formidable political skills possessed by the husband of his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, when it suits him.
Mr Clinton’s success raised hopes that North Korea may soon be enticed back to multinational disarmament talks, after three months of mounting tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.
The breakthrough came after what the North Korea media described as “sincere and exhaustive discussions” on a range of matters between Mr Clinton and Mr Kim. The North Koreans said the former US President had flown to Pyongyang bearing a “courteously conveyed” personal message from Mr Obama.
The White House denied that a message had been sent and described Mr Clinton’s trip as a “solely private mission”. Behind the scenes, the Obama Administration had approved the trip after North Korean officials were said to have told the journalists’ families that they were prepared to release them to Mr Clinton. The families then approached the former President.
In another striking break with tradition, footage of Mr Clinton’s arrival and images of his meeting Mr Kim were aired almost immediately on North Korea’s tightly controlled state television channel. >>> Leo Lewis in Tokyo, and Tim Reid in Washington | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
LEMONDROP.COM:
Viral Wedding Video: The Divorce Version! >>> Andrea Zimmerman | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Just in case you missed the wedding, here it is: Only in America! JK Wedding Entrance Dance, St Paul, Minnesota >>> Tuesday, July 28, 2009
STERN.DE: Fakt ist: Ex-US-Präsident Bill Clinton hat in Pjöngjang Nordkoreas Machthaber Kim Jong Il getroffen. Fraglich bleibt, ob Clinton geschickt wurde. Während nordkoreanische Medien behaupten, Clinton habe eine offizielle Botschaft überbracht, spricht das Weiße Haus von einer "ausschließlich privaten" Reise.
Die USA haben überraschend Bill Clinton nach Nordkorea geschickt, um die Freilassung von zwei inhaftierten Journalistinnen zu erwirken. Als erster hochrangiger US-Politiker seit neun Jahren traf der Expräsident am Dienstag mit Staatschef Kim Jong Il zusammen. Clinton habe "höflich" eine mündliche Botschaft von US-Präsident Barack Obama übermittelt, hieß es in einer Meldung der amtlichen nordkoreanischen Nachrichtenagentur KCNA. Kim habe sich dafür bedankt. Bei dem Gespräch habe es einen "weitreichenden Meinungsaustausch" gegeben. Das Weiße Haus dementierte umgehend, dass Clinton eine Botschaft Obamas überbracht habe. "Diese Berichte treffen nicht zu", sagte ein Sprecher am Dienstag. >>> AP/DPA | Dienstag, 04. August 2009
LE FIGARO: Le quotidien Le Monde et un hebdomadaire indépendant ont été interdits pour avoir voulu évaluer la popularité de Mohammed VI. Le roi y était pourtant plébiscité.
A l'occasion du dixième anniversaire de l'arrivée au pouvoir de Mohammed VI, TelQuel, le premier magazine marocain, s'est associé au Monde pour réaliser un grand sondage sur la popularité du roi. Cet exercice banal en Occident s'est révélé beaucoup plus périlleux au Maroc. Jamais auparavant un sondage sur la popularité d'un chef d'Etat n'avait été mené dans un pays du monde arabe, souligne le quotidien français.
Avant même la parution du magazine et de sa version arabophone, Nichane, dans les kiosques, le ministre marocain de l'Intérieur, Chakib Benmoussa, a fait saisir samedi le numéro contenant le sondage et l'a fait détruire. Lundi soir, c'était au tour du Monde de se voir saisi dès son arrivée à l'aéroport de Casablanca et privé de vente dans les kiosques. «La monarchie ne peut être mise en équation, même par la voie d'un sondage», a justifié le ministre de la Communication, Khalid Naciri.
La France a critiqué mardi cette décision de Rabat. «Nous sommes particulièrement attachés à la liberté d'expression, protégée par le Pacte international des Nations unies relatif aux droits civils et politiques qu'a ratifié le Maroc, et à son corollaire, la liberté de la presse», a assuré le porte-parole du ministère des Affaires étrangères, Romain Nadal. Cette réaction française à une décision politique marocaine fait figure d'exception dans les relations entre les deux pays. Ces derniers entretiennent des liens privilégiés et Paris soutient généralement les décisions de Rabat. >>> Caroline Politi (lefigaro.fr) avec AFP | Mardi 04 Août 2009
TELQUEL: Le Groupe TelQuelcondamne avec force et énergie la saisie et la destruction de 100 000 exemplaires des magazines TelQuel et Nichane, dont il est l’éditeur, sur décision des autorités publiques marocaines. Samedi 1er août, alors que ces exemplaires étaient encore sous presse, le ministère de l’Intérieur a en effet ordonné leur saisie, puis leur destruction dans les locaux même de leur imprimerie. Les autorités reprochent à TelQuel et Nichane d’avoir voulu publier, en partenariat avec le journal français Le Monde, un sondage d’opinion sur le bilan des 10 ans de règne de Mohammed VI. Même si les résultats de ce sondage démontraient que les Marocains plébiscitent le souverain dans leur écrasante majorité – 91% estiment en effet que son bilan est « positif » à « très positif » – le porte-parole du gouvernement a jugé que « la monarchie ne pouvait être sujette à débat, même dans le cadre d’un sondage ». >>> Groupe TelQuel, Casablanca | Dimanche 02 Août 2009
IFEX: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today strongly condemned the order issued last Saturday by the Minister of the Interior to seize and destroy over 100,000 copies of two weeklies, TelQuel and Nichane magazines, which carried results of an opinion poll on King Mohammed VI's decade on the throne.
According to the Syndicat National de la Presse Marocaine (SNPM), an IFJ affiliate, the order was implemented while the magazines were in press. The ministry alleges that the publishers, the TelQuel group, contravened current legislation by publishing, in partnership with the French daily Le Monde, the results of an opinion poll assessing the last ten years of government since King Mohamed VI came to power.
"Once again the Moroccan authorities have scored an own goal. To mark the tenth anniversary of the king's accession to the throne, they have been trumpeting new liberties they claim he initiated in matters of press freedom and civil liberties," said Jim Boumelha, IFJ President. "By banning the publication of a mere opinion poll, the authorities have shown they are still prepared to behave as intolerant dictators."
According to the syndicate, the decision was doubly illegal as there is no legislative text that allows for the pulping of newspapers without a judicial order nor any legislation that forbids the publication of opinion polls. >>> | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Bill Clinton, who flew into North Korea today on a surprise mission to secure the release of two American journalists, was taken from the airport into a rare face-to-face meeting with the regime’s “Dear Leader”, Kim Jong Il.
The unexpected summit meeting has raised hopes across the region that North Korea may soon be enticed back to multinational disarmament talks after three months of mounting atomic tensions and provocation.
North Korea’s official news agency reported that Mr Clinton and Mr Kim engaged in “sincere and exhaustive discussions” on a range of issues and that the former US president came armed for his encounter with a “courteously conveyed” personal message from Barack Obama. The White House quickly denied there had ever been such a message.
In another striking break with tradition, footage of Mr Clinton’s arrival and images of his meeting with Mr Kim were aired almost immediately on North Korea’s tightly-controlled state television channel – an indication, said close observers of North Korea, of how the visit will likely be used by the regime to parade its out-manoeuvring of the US.
It appears that the groundwork for the talks were well-laid and that Mr Clinton is likely to return to the US with the two journalists in tow on Wednesday. Although nominally carried out in a private capacity, Mr Clinton’s visit is believed to have the double purpose of both freeing Laura Ling and Euna Lee from their sentence of 12 years hard labour and of bringing North Korea back to the negotiating table on nuclear weapons.
Relations between Washington and Pyongyang have deteriorated rapidly since May after the unpredictable regime test-fired what it said was a nuclear device and declared the six party” multinational disarmament talks with South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, America “dead in the water”.
The Pyongyang state news agency put what experts said was a predictable spin on the visit, declaring that Mr Clinton had first appealed for the release of the two American prisoners and then for the opportunity to meet Mr Kim – a request that was graciously granted. >>> Leo Lewis | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
ZEIT ONLINE: Auch Darius hat in Teheran gegen die Wahl protestiert. Obwohl er sonst lieber unauffällig bleibt. Er ist schwul, und auf Homosexualität steht in Iran die Todesstrafe.
Es war das erste Mal in seinem Leben, dass Darius nicht vor den Sittenwächtern weggerannt ist. Er stand inmitten einer Großdemonstration auf dem Platz der Revolution in Teheran. Reckte seine Fäuste in den Himmel und schwenkte ein grün bemaltes Betttuch. Grün wie die Hoffnung, grün wie die Parteifarbe von Mir Hussein Mussawi, dem gemäßigten Präsidentschaftskandidaten, dem Darius seine Wahlstimme gegeben hatte.
Einen Tag nach dem Protestmarsch sitzt Darius in seinem Lieblingsrestaurant im Zentrum von Teheran und zerlegt einen Kebab-Spieß mit der Präzision eines Chirurgen. Sein marineblaues Sakko verschmilzt mit den türkisfarbenen Kacheln an der Wand. Darius will ein alkoholfreies Bavaria-Bier bestellen, der Kellner übersieht ihn.
Darius ist geübt darin, nicht aufzufallen. Er ist schwul, und auf Homosexualität steht in Iran die Todesstrafe. Mehr als 4000 Männer, die Männer lieben, wurden seit der Islamischen Revolution an Baukränen erhängt. Darius lebt in ständiger Angst vor dem Regime. Doch als der Verdacht aufkam, dass Ahmadineschad das Wahlergebnis gefälscht hatte, fühlte auch Darius sich betrogen. Er wollte sich nicht länger verstecken und demonstrierte. Er ging für Gerechtigkeit und mehr Freiheiten im Alltag auf die Straße.
Auch unter Mussawi als iranischem Präsidenten würde es keinen Christopher Street Day in Iran geben, keine Aids-Schleifen oder Gay-Clubs. Trotzdem erhoffte Darius sich von dem Reformer eine verbesserte Situation für die Schwulen im Land. "Mussawi hat uns Presse- und Meinungsfreiheit versprochen", sagt er. Das könnte nach und nach zu größerer gesellschaftlicher Toleranz gegenüber Minderheiten führen.
Seine Meinung frei zu äußern, wagt Darius bisher nicht einmal vor seiner Familie. Sein Großvater war Ajatollah, ein geistlicher Kleriker, und seine Eltern würden ihn persönlich ins Gefängnis schleppen, wenn sie wüssten, dass ihr Sohn homosexuell ist. Das weiß er, weil sein Vater es einmal beiläufig in einem Nebensatz sagte. Seitdem lässt Darius vor ihm hin und wieder ein paar schwulenfeindliche Sprüche fallen. Nicht einmal sein Zwillingsbruder weiß, dass Darius auf Männer steht. >>> Von Carola Hoffmeister | Mittwoch, 01. Juli 2009
Iranian Queer Railroad >>>
Radio Raha >>>
lePARISIEN.fr: Le numéro deux d'Al-Qaïda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, s'en est violemment pris à la France pour sa prétendue hostilité au voile islamique, estimant qu'elle «va payer pour tous ses crimes», rapporte ce mardi le centre américain de surveillance de sites islamistes SITE.
«La France prétend être un pays laïque alors que son coeur est plein de haine pour les musulmans», a déclaré le chef d'Al-Qaïda en réponse à une question d'un site islamiste sur une prétendue hostilité de la France au port du hijab.
«La France va payer pour tous ses crimes», a-t-il conclu. >>> leparisien.fr | Mardi 04 Août 2009
REUTERS – BLOG: Breaking into the summer holiday lull, Austrian politics has gotten into a lather over a far-right populist’s call for a referendum on whether a mainly German-speaking region of northern Italy should rejoin Austria.
No matter how far-fetched, his proposal raised a hue and cry by challenging the taboo of old unreconstructed nationalism in a country restlessly determined to live down its Nazi past.
South Tyrol - Alto Adige in Italian - is an autonomous, Alpine province of Italy bordering Austria. It was annexed by Italy from defeated Austria-Hungary at the end of World War One.
Italy granted increasing self-government to South Tyrol in the decades after World War Two, defusing separatist unrest by Austro-German speakers. It is now among Italy’s richest regions, with an open border to Austria thanks to EU integration.
But Martin Graf, a rightist deputy speaker of Austria’s parliament, declared on Sunday that South Tyrol was actually “part of overall Tyrol”, and only “currently” within Italy.
The universal right of self-determination should apply for all “the German people” in Europe - just as those in old Communist East Germany got their wish to merge into one Germany at the end of the Cold War in 1990. “It’s time to ask the people if there should be one Tyrol,” Graf said. >>> Mark Heinrich | Wednesday, July 29, 2009
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: SYDNEY -- The exiled Uighur activist Beijing blames for inciting recent ethnic violence in China accused the Chinese government on Tuesday of forcing her imprisoned children to say she was responsible for the unrest.
China released a letter Monday it says was penned by close relatives of Rebiya Kadeer -- including two of her children -- blaming her for last month's deadly riots by minority Uighur Muslims in her native Xinjiang, which the government says left 197 people dead and more than 1,700 injured.
But the 62-year-old U.S.-based activist, who arrived in Australia on Tuesday, told reporters in Sydney that the Chinese government forced two of her children to speak against her. They are both in prison in China, where one was convicted of tax evasion and the other of subversion.
"If they .. refused to cooperate with the Chinese government, then their lives would be jeopardized," she said through an interpreter. "In order to live in China, you have to lie."
Ms. Kadeer, who lives in the U.S. state of Virginia, is in Australia to attend the Melbourne International Film Festival, which will feature a documentary about her life. >>> Associated Press | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
MAIL ONLINE: Three female police officers were ordered to dress up as Muslim women for the day just to see what it felt like.
They wore traditional burkhas as part of a scheme designed to help police interact better with the Islamic community.
Two covered their faces with hijab headscarves and niqab veils, leaving only narrow slits to see through, and another wore Muslim dress and a headscarf showing her face.
Critics yesterday lined up to denounce the scheme as ‘political correctness gone mad,’ and accused South Yorkshire Police of losing sight of its main objective.
Douglas Murray, of the Centre for Social Cohesion think-tank, said: ‘You just couldn’t make it up.
‘The victims of crime must be amazed that the police have so much time on their hands that they can spend a day playing dress-up.
‘This is a complete waste of police time and taxpayers’ money. It’s not the duty of police to empathise with particular sections of the community. It is the duty of the police to prevent crime and catch criminals.
‘After this are they planning to dress as members of other communities such as Hindus and Buddhists?’ >>> Andy Dolan | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
BBC: Police have fired tear gas at supporters of a Sudanese woman charged with wearing "indecent clothing" shortly before her trial was postponed.
The trial in the capital Khartoum was delayed for a month.
Under Khartoum's Sharia law, Lubna Ahmed Hussein could face up to 40 lashes in public if convicted.
Earlier, she told the BBC she was not afraid to be flogged publicly, saying: "Flogging is not pain, flogging is an insult to humans, women and religions."
She says she was wearing trousers when arrested and has resigned from a UN job that would have given her immunity to take on the case.
"If the court's decision is that I be flogged, I want this flogging in public," she told the BBC's Today programme.
She says she has invited 500 people to attend the hearing. >>> | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
MAIL ONLINE: Immigrants are to be given instructions on how to claim benefits as their first step in a new life in Britain.
They will be told to attend ‘orientation days’ at which they will be given information including their right to claim handouts, according to plans published by ministers yesterday.
The instructions were set out in a Home Office paper on how immigrants will in future be asked to qualify for a British passport by earning points and credits.
At present those allowed entry into Britain gain citizenship almost automatically after five years.
Among the ideas put forward by Home Secretary Alan Johnson is that migrants should be encouraged to return to their home countries to stem a Third World brain drain.
Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said: ‘There are clear risks in depriving developing countries of people and skills they badly need. Government needs to do more to maximise the positive impacts on the developing world and mitigate the negative.’
Possible schemes include allowing workers or students into Britain for just two years before they take their new skills back home. >>> Steve Doughty | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Vancouver – One of the worst outbreaks of forest fires in British Columbia history is beginning to overwhelm the province's hard pressed firefighting crews.
Firefighters who have been battling for weeks in scorching heat to keep scores of raging fires at bay are being forced to let many fires burn unchecked so they can concentrate on those posing the gravest threat to communities.
Hundreds of new fires have been reported in the past few days and crews just can't keep up, information officer Radha Fisher said Monday. “There are a lot of fires burning out there, and right now, we have to prioritize.”
Gusting winds fanned dangerous fires on the outskirts of several municipalities overnight into Monday, forcing a new round of evacuations and more than doubling the number of British Columbians driven from their homes by advancing flames to more than 5,300.
“We're getting about 100 to 150 new starts a day. We've also seen some very aggressive growth on existing fires,” Ms. Fisher said. “It's a pretty extreme situation, so we have to concentrate our resources where there are property and people to protect. This is one of our most challenging years ever, and it's not over.” >>> Rod Mickleburgh | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Watch CTVNews video here
Related:
Forest Fires Rage in Spain, Greece >>> AFP | Monday, August 03, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: An Australian man has been charged with planning a terrorist act after police today foiled a plot by Islamic extremists to launch a suicide attack on army bases in Sydney and Melbourne.
Three other men are under arrest and a fifth is being questioned after a series of counter-terrorism raids across Melbourne shortly before dawn local time.
Around 400 police officers and members of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) swooped on 19 properties detaining several men, all Australian citizens of Somali and Lebanese background.
Authorities believe the group was at an advanced stage of preparing to storm an Army barracks in retaliation for Australia’s military involvement in Muslim countries. Members of the group had been observed carrying out surveillance on Holsworthy Barracks in Western Sydney and on other Army bases in Victoria.
Electronic surveillance also picked up discussions about how to obtain weapons to carry out what would have been the worst terror attack on Australian soil.
“The men’s intention was to get into the army barracks and kill as many as they could,” Tony Negus, Australian Federal Police acting commissioner said. They were “planning to carry out a suicide terror attack . . . a sustained attack on military personnel until they themselves were killed,” he said.
"This operation has disrupted an alleged terrorist attack that could have claimed many lives," he said. >>> Anne Barrowclough in Sydney | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Former US president Bill Clinton is understood to have landed in Pyongyang earlier today for a surprise visit to North Korea as relations between the United States and the regime continue to sour and mystery surrounds the health of its enigmatic "Dear Leader".
The regime's mouthpiece, the Korean Central News Agency, said in a bulletin this afternoon that Mr Clinton had been greeted at Pyongyang's airport by two senior government figures - the vice president of the presidium of North Korea's parliament and the vice foreign minister.
"A little girl presented a bouquet to Bill Clinton," ran the rest of the report.
Diplomatic sources suggest that Mr Clinton, who is the highest-profile American to visit North Korea since Madeleine Albright's trip nine years ago, may be granted an audience with Kim Jong Il as early as today.
Reports from Seoul based on South Korean intelligence suggest that the former US president will use the two-day trip to "negotiate robustly" for the release of two American journalists currently serving 12 years of hard labour in a North Korean prison.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were both working for a television company run by Mr Clinton's former vice president, Al Gore, were arrested for a "grave", though unspecified, crime on the North Korea-China border earlier this year.
The two were imprisoned on a charge of committing "hostile acts" and for plotting to produce a smear campaign over human rights issues. >>> Leo Lewis | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
NZZ Online: Der ehemalige amerikanische Präsident Bill Clinton ist überraschend in Nordkorea eingetroffen. In Pjongjang will er sich für die Freilassung zweier amerikanischer Journalistinnen einsetzen, die im Juni zu zwölf Jahren Arbeitslager verhaftet worden waren.
Der frühere amerikanische Präsident Bill Clinton ist überraschend nach Nordkorea gereist, wo er sich laut einem südkoreanischen Medienbericht für die Freilassung der dort festgehaltenen zwei amerikanischen Journalistinnen einsetzen will.
Von Chefunterhändler empfangen
Die amtliche nordkoreanische Nachrichtenagentur KCNA meldete am Dienstag, Clinton sei auf dem Flughafen von Pjongjang unter anderem vom Chefunterhändler für Atomfragen, Kim Kye Gwan, begrüsst worden. >>> ap/sda/dpa | Dienstag, 04. August 2009
Related / liée:
La Corée du Nord arrête deux journalistes américaines >>> C.J. (lefigaro.fr) avec AFP | Jeudi 19 Mars 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: US President Barack Obama is the target of more than 30 potential death threats a day and is being protected by an increasingly over-stretched and under-resourced Secret Service, according to a new book.
Since Mr Obama took office, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400 per cent from the 3,000 a year or so under President George W. Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, author of In the President's Secret Service.
Some threats to Mr Obama, whose Secret Service codename is Renegade, have been publicised, including an alleged plot by white supremacists in Tennessee late last year to rob a gun store, shoot 88 black people, decapitate another 14 and then assassinate the first black president in American history.
Most however, are kept under wraps because the Secret Service fears that revealing details of them would only increase the number of copycat attempts. Although most threats are not credible, each one has to be investigated meticulously.
According to the book, intelligence officials received information that people associated with the Somalia-based Islamist group al-Shabaab might try to disrupt Mr Obama's inauguration in January, when the Secret Service co-ordinated at least 40,000 agents and officers from some 94 police, military and security agencies. >>> Toby Harnden in Washington | Monday, August 03, 2009
YNET NEWS: Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar vows to protect freedom in wake of gay center attack
Until this murder case isn’t [sic] solved and the killer’s identity is discovered, we’ll continue to ask: What prompts a human being to massacre teenagers, children really? What was the motive for this demonic act?
At the site of the attack in the heart of Tel Aviv, a two-minute walk from my house, I mostly saw consternation and shock in the eyes of the crowd and passersby. Eyes were teary and hearts cried. As a Tel Avivian, and as a person who had only experienced magical moments on Nachmani Street, where the crime took place, I felt a sour sense of shame rising within me.
What’s happening to Israeli society that leads us from one horrific display to another? What can prompt a person to indiscriminately kill boys and girls who arrived at a site meant to grant them support and security?
We need to be cautious before police conclude the investigation. However, one way or another, waiting for the case to be solved cannot be a pretext for evading a moral obligation. For Israeli society, this is an opportunity to clearly and unequivocally define its commitment to freedom and tolerance. For public officials and leaders, this is the time to pledge that we will protect Israel’s character and future as a free society. Because wherever a person is attacked or humiliated because of his lifestyle, choices, tendencies, or indecision, it is not only the freedom and dignity of that person that are being undermined. >>> Gideon Sa’ar* | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
*Gideon Sa’ar is Israel’s education minister
YNET NEWS – OPINION: End the Silence
The whole of Israeli society must speak up in wake of gay center massacre
“If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.” That was the political legacy of Harvey Milk, the first politician to come out of the closet in the United States and a member of the San Francisco city council; the movie about his life, which ended in murder as he predicted, was one of the most important films in recent times.
If the murder of the two young people at the gay center was indeed motivated by their sexual orientation, this is the gravest hate crime ever carried out in Israel based on this motive. Yet we must keep in mind that this was not the first case. In the 2005 Jerusalem Pride Parade, Yishai Shlisel stabbed three participants. The latest incident ended on a graver note. >>> Eyal Gross* | Monday, August 03, 2009
*Prof. Eyal Gross, a law lecturer at Tel Aviv University, formerly served as a volunteer legal advisor for the LGBT Association in Israel
THE GUARDIAN: Barclays and HSBC made a passionate defence of the City's bonus culture yamid [sic] a growing public backlash about the return to a big pay bonanza barely a year after the government bailed out the financial system.
As criticism of bonuses crossed the traditional political divide, the banks compared their high-flyers to footballers and Hollywood stars to try to explain the need for the hundreds of thousands of pounds individuals are expected to receive this year. Neither bank gave figures about potential bonuses for investment banking staff, but a jump in profits in both operations led to speculation that huge pay deals will be awarded.
Profits at Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of the high street bank, doubled to £1bn while at HSBC's investment bank the profits rose 125% to $6.3bn. Each bank reported overall profits of nearly £3bn despite a combined £13bn of bad debts caused by rising unemployment, making it more difficult for households and companies to pay back loans. Bank shares jumped sharply, pushing the FTSE 100 to its highest level this year.
John Varley, chief executive of Barclays, turned to footballers to explain bankers' pay while Stuart Gulliver, who runs the investment bank at HSBC, used Hollywood stars. Varley said: "The football analogy certainly goes some way I think [to explain bonuses] ... There is simply no higher priority that to ensure we field the very best people. That in a sense is exactly the same as a football manager if they are going to win. Our obligation is to ensure we pay appropriately."
Gulliver likened the situation to a Hollywood studio that not only paid stars for pulling in profits, but also many of the extras. "If a foreign exchange trader makes a deal then they know two days later how much they made. If it's a £5m profit, that is something we can count, we can see it, its real. And they are part of a successful team," he said. >>> Jill Treanor and Phillip Inman | Monday, August 03, 2009
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