Monday, January 04, 2010
THE INDEPENDENT: With his dark-blue uniform, earpiece and walkie-talkie, Nochem Perlberger could pass for a police officer as he patrols the leafy streets of London’s Stamford Hill neighbourhood. Like an officer of the law, he responds to emergency calls, visits crime scenes and pursues suspects.
However, he is a member not of the constabulary but of the Stamford Hill Shomrim Rescue Patrol, a group of Orthodox Jewish men who, for the past two years, have been “policing” the streets of their community in Hackney.
Set up nearly two years ago, the group now has 22 patrolling members, a headquarters and even a 24-hour emergency number, staffed by six operators, which residents call to report crime. “Every house and child in the community knows this number off by heart,” said Mr Perlberger, one of the group’s committee members.
In the five months since the Stamford Hill Shomrim hotline was established, they have dealt with more than 2,000 calls including break-ins, thefts and muggings. On average, they identify three to five suspects a week and hand them over to the police. >>> Mark Hughes | Monday, January 04, 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Die USA und Grossbritannien fürchten sich vor einem möglichen Terroranschlag in der jemenitischen Hauptstadt Sanaa. Mehrere Botschaften blieben am Montag geschlossen. Derweil kann Jemen einen Erfolg in der Terror-Bekämpfung vorweisen.
Die Gefahr eines Terroranschlags in Jemen ist dieser Tage besonders gross. Die Terrororganisation Kaida hat angekündigt, einen grösseren Anschlag auf die jemenitische Hauptstadt verüben zu wollen. Damit wollen die Extremisten die Bombardements der letzten Tage auf ihre Stellungen rächen. Kaida-Kämpfer getötet >>> hoh. | Montag, 04. Januar 2010
DIE PRESSE: Vier homosexuelle Paare haben zum frühestmöglichen Termin am Montag eine eingetragene Partnerschaft geschlossen. Frauen haben sich bisher noch keine angemeldet.
Am Montag haben in Österreich die ersten "Trauungen" von homosexuellen Paaren stattgefunden. Dank Feiertagen und Wochenende war es der erstmögliche Termin für die Schließung der neuen eingetragenen Partnerschaft.
Gleich vier Paare wagten in Wien den Schritt - wenn auch ohne mediale Öffentlichkeit. "Es war auch für mich ein sehr spannender und berührender Moment, weil ja österreichische Rechtsgeschichte geschrieben wurde", sagte die Chefin der für Standesämter zuständigen Magistratsabteilung 35, Beatrix Hornschall.
Alle vier Zeremonien im Margaretener Amtshaus liefen dabei eher sachlich ab: Keines der Paare wurde von Freunden oder Verwandten begleitet, und auch eine Zeremonie im Festsaal wurde nicht gewünscht, erklärte Hornschall. Alle Paare seien bereits sehr lange zusammen gewesen, eines bereits seit 50 Jahren. Alle kamen aus Inner-Gürtel-Bezirken. >>> APA | Montag, 04. Januar 2010
LE FIGARO: Le pouvoir iranien menace « d'enrichir l'uranium à un niveau supérieur» d'ici à un mois. La France rejette ce qu'elle qualifie de «pirouette» de la part de Téhéran.
Menacé de nouvelles sanctions, l'Iran a donné, ce week-end, un «ultimatum» d'un mois aux grandes puissances pour qu'elles acceptent une contre-proposition à leur offre d'enrichir l'uranium à l'étranger, faute de quoi il poursuivra lui-même sa production. «La communauté internationale a juste un mois pour se décider» à accepter ou non les conditions de Téhéran, a déclaré, samedi, le ministre iranien des Affaires étrangères, Manouchehr Mottaki, cité par la télévision d'État. Sinon, a-t-il prévenu, «Téhéran enrichira l'uranium à un niveau supérieur ». Dans une tentative de clarification, jugée ambiguë par les diplomates occidentaux, le porte-parole du ministère a indiqué dimanche que cette date limite résultait d'un «accord» passé il y a un mois avec l'Occident.
À l'origine de ce jeu de ping-pong compliqué, se trouve la fameuse offre présentée en octobre dernier par l'Agence internationale de l'énergie atomique (AIEA) pour tenter de régler l'imbroglio nucléaire qui oppose Téhéran à la communauté internationale. Cette proposition suggérait à l'Iran d'envoyer en Russie 70 % de ses stocks d'uranium faiblement enrichi (à 3,5 %) afin qu'ils y soient retraités à un peu moins de 20 %, pour être ensuite conditionnés en France et réexpédiés en Iran sous forme de combustible utilisable par le réacteur de recherche civil de Téhéran. Ne pas pénaliser l'opposition >>> Delphine Minoui - Correspondante du Figaro au Moyen-Orient | Lundi 04 Janvier 2010
LE TEMPS: Les républicains reviennent à la charge contre le président démocrate accusé d’avoir négligé la sécurité du pays. Par précaution, les Etats-Unis, aussitôt suivis par la Grande-Bretagne, ont annoncé dimanche la fermeture de leur ambassade au Yémen craignant l’imminence d’un attentat
Le jeune Nigérian de 23 ans Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab n’a peut-être pas réussi à activer les explosifs qu’il portait cousus dans ses sous-vêtements le jour de Noël. Mais sa charge explosive ne menaçait pas seulement les passagers du vol 253 entre Amsterdam et Detroit. La polémique sur la lutte contre le terrorisme ne cesse depuis lors d’enfler à Washington. Alors que les yeux sont déjà fixés sur l’échéance électorale de novembre, l’opposition républicaine entend tirer parti de cette rentrée politique pour prouver que la première année au pouvoir de Barack Obama n’a servi qu’à saper la sécurité des Etats-Unis.
De Hawaï, où il a passé ses vacances, Obama s’y est pris à trois reprises pour tenter de démontrer qu’il prenait la question au sérieux. Après avoir admis les «défaillances» du système de sécurité mis en place après le 11 septembre 2001, le président a fini par lier explicitement samedi la tentative d’attentat à Al-Qaida, et plus précisément à sa branche œuvrant dans la péninsule Arabique. Dimanche, les Etats-Unis, aussitôt suivis par la Grande-Bretagne, dévoilaient la fermeture de leur ambassade au Yémen craignant l’imminence d’un attentat. Peu auparavant, ils avaient annoncé qu’ils doubleraient le montant consacré à la lutte antiterroriste dans ce pays pour le porter à quelque 130 millions de dollars annuels. Graves lacunes >>> Luis Lema | Lundi 04 Janvier 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Since they became the first openly gay couple in Malawi to be engaged, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza have been arrested, put in prison and charged with offences that could lead to a 14-year jail sentence.
Between true love and gay martyrdom, however, is the brutal reality of life in a Malawi prison. Yesterday, in their first interview since being jailed, the pair claimed that they had been beaten in prison, and demanded to go to court to prove their innocence.
While Mr Chimbalanga, 20, who dresses as a woman, spoke defiantly of his love for the man he plans to marry, Mr Monjeza, 22, said that he was “drunk” when they met and was considering ending their engagement. The couple, who denied three charges of unnatural practices between males and gross indecency, performed a public engagement ceremony in front of 500 onlookers last weekend. They were arrested two days later.
With gay rights campaigners warning that the case marks a new wave of homophobia in Africa, the pair have been held since then at Chichiri prison in Blantyre, where the warders appear bemused by the level of hysteria surrounding their charges.
In an interview with The Times at the weekend, Mr Chimbalanga — visibly more at ease than Mr Monjeza, who appeared confused and disorientated — said: “I love my husband and laws should not prohibit love.” >>> Raphael Tenthani in Malawi and Valentine Low | Monday, January 04, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Labour will announce today that primary school children will be able to learn Mandarin and Arabic in a bid to keep up with other countries. Labour to offer Arabic and Mandarin lessons to primary pupils >>> Joanna Sugden | Monday, January 04, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama is playing politics over the attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack and Republicans sense he is weak on the issue, writes Toby Harnden in Washington
In his weekly radio address yesterday, President Barack Obama patted himself on the back for having "refocused the fight - bringing to a responsible end the war in Iraq, which had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks".
He then told people to remember that "our adversaries are those who would attack our country, not our fellow Americans", before decrying "fear and cynicism" and "partisanship and division" - the code phrases for horrid Republicans used during his 2008 election campaign.
Complacency, faux moralising and partisan shots at Republicans. It was a neat summary of where Obama is going wrong after the Christmas Day debacle when the Nigerian knicker bomber managed to waltz onto a Detroit-bound flight.
For a man who campaigned denouncing the politicisation of national security under President George W Bush, it is worth noting how intensely political Obama's treatment of what might henceforth be known as Underpantsgate has been. >>> | Saturday, 02. January 2010
Sunday, January 03, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Muslim extremist Anjem Choudary has vowed to go ahead with a protest march through Wootton Bassett claiming those who honour the war dead are no different to those who support the 7/7 Tube bombers.
The controversial cleric, who heads up Islam4UK, has organised a march of 500 people through the Wiltshire town, in memory of Muslims "murdered in the name of democracy and freedom".
Wootton Bassett has become the main focal point for the nation to show its respect to the troops killed in Afghanistan, with hundreds lining the streets each time a body is repatriated to nearby RAF Lyneham.
But Choudary said it was unacceptable to honour those killed in the conflict and he would march through the town with supporters to voice opposition at the gatherings.
Asked why he was against crowds honouring fallen British soldiers, he said: "The same could be said about the Germans fighting for Nazism in the Second World War. Those involved in 7/7 and 9/11 considered themselves to be soldiers. >>> Martin Evans | Sunday, January 03, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: 120,000 sign up to Facebook protest to stop Islamic extremist march through Wootton Bassett: More than 120,000 people had last night signed an internet petition protesting about plans by Islamic extremists to march through Wootton Bassett.
Hate preacher Anjem Choudary sparked outrage by saying his radical group Islam4UK would parade through the town renowned for honouring soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
The firebrand cleric said 500 of his supporters would carry 'symbolic coffins' in memory of the Muslim civilians ' murdered by merciless' coalition forces. >>> Ian Drury and Andy Dolan | Monday, January 04, 2010
Islam4UK Letter to the Families of British Soldiers (who have died or who are currently in Afghanistan) >>>
Islam for the UK (Islam4UK) >>>
Islam vs Democracy, Freedom and Secularism >>>
20MINUTES.ch: Hinter dem Diebstahl des Schriftzuges «Arbeit macht frei» vom Eingangstor der KZ-Gedenkstätte Auschwitz steckt angeblich ein wohlhabender britischer Nazi-Sympathisant.
Das Schild sei gestohlen worden, um es an einen wohlhabenden Sammler von Nazi-Erinnerungen in Grossbritannien zu verkaufen. Der Schriftzug sollte demnach über eine Gruppe schwedischer Rechtsextremisten weiter an den Sammler gehen, berichtet das britische Boulevardblatt «Sunday Mirror». >>> sda | Sonntag, 03. Januar 2010
LE FIGARO: Dans la prison d'Evin, à Téhéran, les prisonniers de droit commun sont entassés dans des cellules collectives. Les détenus politiques échouent, eux, dans la fameuse section 209.
«L'Iran est devenu une prison. Evin est devenu une université !» Le slogan, répété à cor et à cri, lors de chaque manifestation iranienne, en dit long sur la répression en cours à Téhéran, à l'heure où de nombreux manifestants, intellectuels, étudiants, ténors du courant réformiste et journalistes s'entassent à Evin, un des plus importants centres de détention de la capitale iranienne. Combien sont-ils ? Les estimations varient de plusieurs centaines à plusieurs milliers, et selon la Campagne internationale pour les droits de l'homme en Iran, «plus de 1.000 personnes auraient été arrêtées pendant la nouvelle vague de l'Achoura» (en référence aux manifestations du week end).
Située sur les hauteurs de la ville, la prison d'Evin, dont la réputation n'est plus à faire, a été inaugurée en 1971, soit huit ans avant la révolution. Ironie du sort : un grand nombre de détenus actuels, à l'instar du défenseur des droits de l'homme Emadeddin Baghi, en sont familiers, pour y avoir déjà séjourné au temps du chah. En général, les prisonniers de droit commun sont répartis dans des cellules collectives. >>> Delphine Minoui, correspondante du Figaro au Moyen-Orient | Mercredi 30 Décembre 2009
WELT ONLINE: Islamisten aus den Unruhestaaten Afghanistan, Jemen, Pakistan, Somalia haben in den vergangen Tagen die westliche Welt in Atem gehalten. Für den Kampf gegen den Terror sollen nun Hunderte Millionen weitere Euro bereitgestellt werden. Dabei hilft gegen den demografischen Nachteil des Westens kein Geld der Welt.
Die "New York Times" sieht den "Jemen im Chaos". Dort erhält Abdulmutallab aus Nigeria die Ausbildung für seinen Mordversuch an 289 Menschen, die an Weihnachten 2009 zwischen Amsterdam und Detroit unterwegs sind. Die Londoner "Times" beklagt den zeitgleich den "failed state" in Somalia, wo die Aufständischen hunderte von Kämpfern in den Jemen schicken wollen, um ihren dortigen Al-Qaida-Genossen gegen Amerika und die einheimische Regierung zu helfen. Die Pariser "Le Monde" erkennt am selben Tag ein "islamistisches Nest" in Pakistans Nordwesten, wo am 2. Januar 2010 bei einem Attentat auf ein Volleyballspiel fast 100 Menschen zerrissen werden.
Großbritanniens Premierminister Gordon Brown beruft daraufhin – parallel zum Afghanistan-Gipfel – eine Jemen-Konferenz zum 28. Januar 2010 nach London. Do[r]t sollen Hunderte Millionen Euro für die Lösung der "tiefer liegenden Probleme" (underlying causes, "Times") in all diesen Ländern bereitgestellt werden. Worin sie bestehen, wird allerdings nicht präzisiert.
Obwohl man gerne einmal etwas anderes vortragen würde, ist zu den ungenannten Problemen etwas sehr Simples in Erinnerung zu rufen. Das ganze Unruhequartett Afghanistan-Jemen-Pakistan-Somalia eliminiert auf die eine oder andere Weise überzählige junge Männer, kämpft also mit youth bulges, bei denen mindestens 30 Prozent der männlichen Bevölkerung 15 bis 29 Jahre alt ist. >>> Von Gunnar Heinsohn | Sonntag, 03. Januar 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Three Western embassies closed in Yemen today over security concerns about possible militant attacks after the failed bombing of a US-bound plane on Christmas Day.
The US Embassy said it had received a threat by al-Qaeda, which US intelligence agencies believe has a growing presence in the impoverished Arab country.
A British Foreign Office spokeswoman cited security reasons for its the closure of its embassy, but declined to say if any specific threat had been made.
Spain has also decided to close its embassy in Sanaa on Monday and Tuesday, the newspaper El Mundo said, quoting embassy sources.
In Washington, a senior aide to President Obama said that the United States had information that al-Qaeda was planning an attack against a target in Sanaa.
John Brennan, the White House counterterrorism chief, said there were “indications al-Qaeda is planning to carry out an attack against a target inside of Sanaa, possibly our embassy".
A statement on the embassy’s website announcing the closure did not say how long it would remain closed.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said a decision would be taken later as to whether the British Embassy would reopen tomorrow.
The moves came after Mr Obama blamed a Yemen-based al-Qaeda affiliate for masterminding an attempt by a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to detonate a bomb on a Detroit-bound passenger plane. >>> | Sunday, January 03, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The UK's official weather forecasters are determined that winters should be mild, in the face of the frozen facts, says Christopher Booker
Shortly after midnight on Friday morning, as 200,000 merrymakers were departing from the Thames after enjoying a spectacular fireworks show in sub-zero temperatures, flakes of snow began to fall on Whitehall. In light of the Met Office's prediction that this would be a "mild" winter, with temperatures above average, it seemed an apt way to start the New Year. But hasn't the time come for us to stop treating the serial inaccuracy of Met Office forecasts as just a joke and see it for what it is – a national scandal?
The reason the Met Office so persistently gets its seasonal forecasts wrong is that it has been hi-jacked from the role for which we pay it nearly £200 million a year, to become one of the world's major propaganda engines for the belief in man-made global warming. Over the past three years, it has become a laughing stock for forecasts which are invariably wrong in the same direction.
The year 2007, it predicted, would be "the warmest ever" – just before global tempratures plunged by more than the entire net warming of the 20th century, Three years running it predicted warmer than average winters – as large parts of the northern hemisphere endured record cold and snowfalls. Last year's "barbecue summer" was the third time running that predictions of a summer drier and warmer than average prefaced weeks of rain and cold. Last week the Met Office was again predicting that 2010 will be the "warmest year" on record, while Europe and the US look to be facing further weeks of intense cold. >>> Christopher Booker | Saturday, January 02, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Cold snap in Britain will continue 'for next 10 days' >>> | Sunday, January 03, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Snow paralyses Beijing as China braces for deep freeze: Snow storms paralysed Beijing on Sunday, leaving hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled, keeping schools closed, and bringing forecasts of some of the lowest temperatures in decades. >>> | Sunday, January 03, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Transport paralysed in Asia's worst winter in 60 years >>> Richard Lloyd Parry | Monday, January 04, 2010
Watch BBC video: Severe winter weather over Europe >>> | Tuesday, January 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain braced for heaviest snowfall in 50-years: The heaviest snowfall in almost 50 years is hitting parts of Britain as Arctic weather brought nationwide chaos. >>> Martin Evans | Tuesday, January 05, 2010
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Just when Denmark thought the worst was over, Islamic fury has come back to haunt it with an assassination attempt on the artist whose cartoon of the prophet Muhammad as a suicide bomber had an explosive impact four years ago on the Muslim world.
An axe-wielding Somali extremist broke into the home of Kurt Westergaard on Friday night as the 75-year-old cartoonist was looking after Stephanie, his five-year-old granddaughter.
Westergaard, whose little ink drawing of Muhammad with a bomb in his turban sparked riots throughout the Middle East in 2006, has received numerous death threats. He pressed an alarm button to summon police when the attacker entered the house in Aarhus, Denmark’s second city, by breaking a window.
He did not have time to collect the child from the living room before locking himself into a “panic room”, a specially fortified bathroom. He said the assailant had shouted “swear words, really crude words” and shrieked about “blood” and “revenge”, as he smashed the axe in vain against the bathroom door. >>> Matthew Campbell | Sunday, January 03, 2010
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Crime author PD James has torn into the BBC, accusing it of losing direction, paying large salaries and ageism in an interview with director general Mark Thompson.
Baroness James of Holland Park, who is best known for creating the detective Adam Dalgliesh, repeatedly asked Mr Thompson to justify why so many managers were paid more than £100,000 a year.
The former governor of the BBC was questioning the director general in her role as a guest editor of the Today programme on Radio Four.
She likened the Corporation to a "large unwieldy ship" that was "bringing on more and more cargo and adding more decks, more officers - all comfortably cabined and usually on better salaries than their predecessors had enjoyed - and with customers feeling they paid too much for the journey and weren't sure where they were going".
The Conservative peer said the BBC had changed for the worse since its inception in the 1920s and was "very unwieldy, very bureacratic" and "less clear about what it should be doing".
There was “immense concern", she said, "about the salary structure – if indeed there is a structure – and the extraordinarily large salaries that are paid”. >>> Alastair Jamieson | Thursday, December 31, 2009 (New Year’s Eve)
THE TELEGRAPH: If you did not hear the interview conducted by PD James with BBC director general Mark Thompson on the Today programme today then I suggest you set aside 15 minutes or so to do so.
Reading the BBC news website’s account of this spectacular skewering you could be forgiven for believing that Mr Thompson gave a stout defence of the Corporation’s inflated salaries, oversized bureaucracy, patronising ageism and appalling reality TV shows. In fact, Thompson gave a faltering, stumbling performance, unable to answer in any convincing way the points that Lady James put to him, especially when she asked him to justify the huge salaries being paid to BBC executives. Thompson must have said “you know” more times than a footballer, and sounded even more inarticulate. >>> Philip Johnston | Thursday, December 31, 2009
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