Sunday, January 10, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Bill Clinton was at the centre of a race storm last night after he was accused of denigrating Barack Obama.
The former president allegedly claimed during the hard-fought Democratic primary race: ‘A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.’
He is said to have made the racist remark in a phone call entreating Senator Teddy Kennedy, the party’s vastly influential elder statesman, to endorse his wife, Hillary, in the delicately balanced 2008 nomination battle.
But the call so offended Senator Kennedy that it backfired and helped make up the veteran Washington power broker’s mind to throw his complete support behind Mr Obama’s historic bid for the White House, according to a new book.
Mr Clinton was once lauded by African-American admirers as America’s ‘first black president'.
But the ‘coffee’ controversy has opened old wounds from the campaign trail when Mr Clinton was accused of being racially dismissive about the underdog who went on to derail his wife’s White House dreams.
At the time, Mr Clinton scorned Mr Obama’s primary election victory in South Carolina, noting that Jesse Jackson had also carried the state in his failed presidential bid two decades earlier.
The former two-term president angrily denounced critics who suggested the comments were racially motivated and still seethes about the rumpus it caused to this day.
Last night, he was unavailable for comment about the new claim, which is featured in a new book about the presidential election called ‘Game Change.’ >>> David Gardner | Sunday, January 10, 2010
BBC: Harry Reid apologises for 'light-skinned' Obama remarks: The US Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, has apologised for private comments he made about Barack Obama before the 2008 presidential election. >>> | Sunday, January 10, 2010
DIE PRESSE: HC Strache will in Wien und auf Bundesebene auf längere Sicht zur Nummer eins werden. Bürgermeister Häupl sei rücktrittsreif. Nicht nur die Gegner der Wien-Wahl waren die Zielscheiben der zweistündigen Ansprache.
Mit einem zünftigen Frühschoppen in der blau ausgeleuchteten Wiener Messehalle hat am Sonntag das Neujahrstreffen der FPÖ begonnen. Rund 2000 freiheitliche Sympathisanten waren erschienen, um der Rede von Parteichef Heinz-Christian Strache zu lauschen. Der hat seine Anhänger nicht enttäuscht und zu einem Rundumschlag gegen den politischen Gegner auf Bundes- und Landesebene ausgeholt. "Wir wollen mächtig sein", lautete die Ansage, mit der die blauen Funktionäre auf den Wahlreigen 2010 eingestimmt wurden. Der Schwerpunkt der gut zweistündigen Rede lag natürlich auf der Wien-Wahl, den amtierenden Bürgermeister Michael Häupl (SPÖ) bezeichnete Strache als "rücktrittsreif".
"Ich will nicht nur dritte Kraft in Österreich bleiben, ich will, dass die Freiheitliche Partei in Österreich einmal zweite und auch erste Kraft wird", setzte sich Strache die Latte gewohnt hoch. Vor allem Wien, wo der FPÖ-Chef das Rathaus erobern will, war der Großteil der Ansprache gewidmet. Häupl sei "gescheitert an all dem, was er als Bürgermeister angegriffen hat", viele Wiener hätten "die Schnauze voll". Daran könne auch die geplante Volksbefragung nichts ändern. Im Gemeindebau habe man der Wiener SPÖ längst den Rücken gekehrt. Strache: "Herr Bürgermeister Häupl, genieren Sie sich für Ihre Leistungsbilanz, sie sind in Wirklichkeit rücktrittsreif."
Auch das Ausländerthema ließ Strache nicht aus, in gewissen Bezirken seien die Wiener zur Minderheit geworden, betonte er: "Ich will Wien wieder zu einer Weltstadt und nicht zu einer Allerweltsstadt machen." Bei der Vergabe von Gemeindebauwohnungen müssten Staatsbürger wieder bevorzugt werden, in Schulklassen dürfe es nicht mehr als 20 bis 30 Prozent an Migranten geben. Vor dem FPÖ-Chef brauche sich niemand zu fürchten, "außer ein paar rote Bonzen und ein paar Kriminelle, denen wir ordentlich einheizen werden". >>> Ag. | Sonntag, 10. Januar 2010
LE FIGARO: Trente personnes, dont des touristes, ont été blessées samedi dans un quartier commerçant de la ville. La sixième attaque de ce genre en seulement un an. Un suspect a été interpellé.
Trente personnes, dont des touristes étrangers, ont été blessées samedi à Hong Kong au cours d'une nouvelle attaque à l'acide, la sixième en un an, a indiqué la radio publique RTHK. Dix-neuf hommes et onze femmes ont été hospitalisés. Parmi eux figurent neuf touristes et un enfant de sept ans.
La police a précisé qu'une bouteille d'un liquide corrosif avait été jetée au beau milieu d'un marché nocturne de Yau Ma Tei, un quartier commerçant animé de la cité, qui compte marchands ambulants, diseurs de bonne aventure et discothèques. Un suspect a été interpellé dimanche et placé en détention. L'homme, un Chinois d'une trentaine d'années, a été arrêté après avoir été repéré sur le toit d'un immeuble proche du lieu où s'est produit le méfait.
Depuis fin 2008, la plupart de ces attaques ont été commises dans des quartiers commerçants. Le dernière en date remontait jusqu'ici au 12 décembre : de l'acide avait été lancé depuis un toit d'immeuble à Causeway Bay, faisant six blessés, dont deux graves. 100 personnes blessées au total >>> F.G. (lefigaro.fr) avec AFP | Dimanche 10 Janvier 2010
ZEIT ONLINE: Die Regierung in Sanaa kämpft gegen schiitische Rebellen. Beide Kriegsparteien werden aus dem Ausland unterstützt, von Saudi-Arabien und Iran.
Die Kampfjets ließen den Rebellen keine Chance. Sie bombardierten die Stellungen der schiitischen Aufständischen im Jemen und töteten zahlreiche Kämpfer und Anhänger der Huthi-Miliz. Die Flugzeuge kämpfen für die jemenitische Regierung, das Kriegsgerät gehört aber der saudischen Armee. Das mächtige Nachbarland des Jemen unterstützt das sunnitische Regime in der Hauptstadt. Die schiitischen Rebellen sollen dagegen Waffen und Geld aus Iran erhalten.
Der Bürgerkrieg in der Provinz Saada im Jemen hat sich längst zu einem Stellvertreterkrieg der beiden Regionalmächte Iran und Saudi-Arabien entwickelt. Die Rivalen werfen sich gegenseitig vor, die jemenitischen Konfliktparteien aufzurüsten und sich in die inneren Angelegenheiten des Landes einzumischen. Riad beschuldigt Teheran, im Jemen eine zweite Hisbollah aufzubauen und den Terrorismus zu fördern. Iran warnt Saudi-Arabien, sich nicht weiter in den Bürgerkrieg einzumischen. >>> Von Hauke Friederichs | Donnerstag, 07. Januar 2010
WELT ONLINE: Das Sturmtief "Daisy" hat mit meterhohen Schneeverwehungen den Verkehr im Nordosten Deutschlands fast völlig lahmgelegt. Autos blieben in Schneewehen stecken, Helfer kämpfen verzweifelt gegen Deichbrüche. Besonders schlimm traf es die Ostsee-Insel Fehmarn.
Tief „Daisy“ ist über die Ostseeküste gefegt und hat in Schleswig-Holstein zu teils katastrophalen Verhältnissen geführt. Besonders betroffen waren die Ostseeküste und der Südosten. Auf mehreren Bahnstrecken musste der Verkehr zeitweise eingestellt werden. Das öffentliche Leben der Ostseeinsel Fehmarn war praktisch lahmgelegt, wie der Chef des für den Winterdienst zuständigen Inselbauhofs, Timo Jaedke, berichtete. Die Lage auf der Insel blieb am Abend weiter angespannt.
"Neunzig Prozent der Insel Fehmarn sind dicht. Wir haben überall Verwehungen, es passiert gar nichts mehr“, sagte Jaedke. Bis zum Nachmittag waren zwar einige der 35 Inselorte wieder erreichbar. Rund die Hälfte bleiben voraussichtlich auch über Nacht von der Außenwelt abgeschnitten und werden erst im Verlauf des Montags wieder erreichbar sein. >>> ddp |Sonntag, 10. Januar 2010
ZEIT ONLINE: Sturmtief “Daisy” – Deutschland versink im Schnee: Noch immer sorgt Tief "Daisy" für Chaos: Besonders Norddeutschland leidet unter den ungewöhnlichen Schneemassen. Am Frankfurter Flughafen saßen Tausende Pass[ag]iere fest. >>> Zeit Online, dpa, Reuters | Sonntag, 10. Januar 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Vague de froid en Europe, l'Allemagne paralysée par la neige : HIVERNAL | Avions cloués au sol, axes routiers bloqués: l'Europe continuait dimanche à subir une vague de froid polaire accompagnée de chutes de neige. Le nord de l'Allemagne a été particulièrement touché. >>> ATS | Dimanche 10 Janvier 2010
leJDD.fr: Après trois jours de violences, Rosarno, petite ville de Calabre, a retrouvé son calme. Les ouvriers agricoles africains, victimes d'une véritable "chasse à l'homme" initiée par la population locale, ont fui la ville. Le pape Benoit XVI a appelé dimanche à plus de tolérance envers les immigrés.
Victimes de violences, des centaines d'ouvriers agricoles immigrés ont fui le sud de l'Italie et un calme précaire est revenu dans la ville de Rosarno (Calabre). Après trois jours de heurts, les autorités italiennes ont déclaré dimanche que les habitations de fortune des immigrés seraient détruites et le reste des occupants évacués vers le nord du pays. Les violences ont fait une cinquantaine de blessés.
Le ministre de l'Intérieur, Roberto Maroni - qui appartient à la Ligue du Nord, un mouvement d'extrême-droite - a tenu à féliciter dimanche les autorités qui ont "brillamment résolu le problème d'ordre public" ainsi que la police qui a œuvré de "façon exemplaire". Mais cette prise de position n'est pas du goût de tous. L'opposition accuse le gouvernement de Silvio Berlusconi d'alimenter la xénophobie ambiante. Un journal italien va même jusqu'à parler de "nettoyage ethnique". Parallèlement, beaucoup accusent le président du Conseil italien de laisser faire, estimant qu'il a besoin du soutien de la Ligue du Nord, membre du gouvernement de coalition qu'il dirige.
Selon des organisations de défense des droits de l'Homme, les immigrés seraient en fait exploités par la Ndrangheta, la mafia calabraise, la plus puissante du pays. "L'Etat n'existe pas en Calabre. C'est la Ndrangheta qui régule les relations sociales", affirme de son côté le chef de l'Union des chrétiens démocrates d'opposition, Pierferdinando Casini. Quelque 8000 immigrants clandestins sont employés illégalement en Calabre méridionale. Travaillant à la cueillette des agrumes, ils s'entassent dans des entrepôts désaffectés, sans eau courante, ni électricité. Tirs au fusil à air comprimé >>> Anne-Charlotte Dusseaulx, leJDD.fr | Dimanche 10 Janvier 2010
AISH.COM: The past year has seen a serious and alarming increase of violent extremist activities throughout the United States. Contrary to what some in the media would have you think, this clear and present danger is not coming from the radical "right" or the liberal "left." It is coming from Muslim terrorists whose activities are frightening and well-documented.
Authoritative Islam is a radical theo-political ideology that openly aims to kill Jews, Christians and other non-believers who do not convert or submit to Islam. This threat should be the primary concern of leaders and citizens alike. Unfortunately, we are living in a country where political correctness has trumped all security threats. Therefore, how can we aggressively fight our enemy, when some of us refuse to even identify them as such?
So the question that begs to be answered is: Is America at war with radical Islam and those who seek to carry out its doctrine?
To help answer that question, take a closer look at some of the recent jihadi activities that have been glossed over and labeled as isolated occurrences. >>> Lori Averick | Sunday, January 10, 2010
Watch video clip: The Third Jihad: Radical Islam’s Vision for America >>>
TIMES ONLINE: An Emirati court on Sunday today cleared the president’s brother of charges of torturing an Afghan despite video footage of the incident.
The court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) acquitted Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahayan "after establishing he was not responsible" for the torture of the Afghan merchant in 2004, lawyer Habib al-Mulla said.
Five co-defendants, including two Americans, were found guilty, his lawyer said.
“The court accepted our defence that the sheikh was under the influence of drugs (medicine) that left him unaware of his actions,” he said.
Allegations against the sheikh emerged after US network ABC aired the video in April that appears to show him beating a man with whips, electric cattle prods and a wooden plank with protruding nails.
Assisted by others, Sheikh Issa is seen to pour salt in the man’s wounds and run over him with a sports utility vehicle.
The victim needed months of hospital care following the incident. He was reportedly an Afghan trader who lost a consignment of grain worth $5,000.
The lawyer told the court that one of the sheikh’s co-defendants was responsible for Sheikh Issa’s medications and had drugged him, then videotaped the incident and tried to blackmail him.
The court in the oasis city of Al-Ain ordered two co-defendants to pay a interim compensation of 10,000 dirhams ($2,724) to the victim, who can file a new lawsuit to claim full compensation.
The two US defendants of Lebanese origin, brothers Ghassan and Bassam Nabulsi, were sentenced to five years in jail each in absentia for having drugged the sheikh. >>> Times Online | Sunday, January 10, 2010
Related:
UAE Detains ‘Torture Tape’ Sheikh >>> | Monday, May 18, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: The British public are concerned at the rise of Islam in the UK and fear that the country is deeply divided along religious lines, according to a major survey.
Is there any wonder? Who the hell wanted religious diversity anyway? Whoever thought up the idea must have been a naïve idiot! Muslims certainly don’t want diversity. In their eyes, everyone must submit to Allah, and call Muhammad the seal of prophets. What fools we have been to swallow this BS! There is but one possible result of this experiment: Bloodshed on the streets of the United Kingdom! – © Mark
More than half the population would be strongly opposed to a mosque being built in their neighbourhood, the study found.
A large proportion of the country believes that the multicultural experiment has failed, with 52 per cent considering that Britain is deeply divided along religious lines and 45 per cent saying that religious diversity has had a negative impact.
Only a quarter of Britons feel positive towards Muslims, while more than a third report feeling “cool” towards them.
The findings, to be published later this month in the respected British Social Attitudes Survey, show that far greater opposition to Islam than to any other faith and reveal that most people are willing to limit freedom of speech in an attempt to silence religious extremists.
David Voas, professor of population studies at Manchester University, who analysed the data, said that people were becoming intolerant towards all religions because of “the degree to which Islam is perceived as a threat to social cohesion”.
He said: “Muslims deserve to be the focus of policy on social cohesion, because no other group elicits so much disquiet.”
The “size and visibility” of Islamic communities has led to serious concerns about their impact on British society, Prof Voas concludes.
“This apparent threat to national identity (or even, some fear, to security) reduces the willingness to accommodate free expression.
“Opinion is divided, and many people remain tolerant of unpopular speech as well as distinctive dress and religious behaviour, but a large segment of the British population is unhappy about these subcultures.” >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Saturday, January 09, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Almost 100,000 pupils are being taught in schools which have dropped Christian assemblies in favour of Islamic or multi-faith worship.
More than 230 schools have applied to councils for exemption from the legal requirement to hold a daily act of collective worship of a "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character".
In some of these schools, Islamic assemblies are held instead, with readings from the Koran. Other schools run secular or multi-faith assemblies where Christianity is avoided or relegated to just one example of a faith among many.
Religious organisations said Christianity in schools was being marginalised and accused schools of failing children.
"The worst thing of all that schools can do, whether they have a determination or not, is a multi-faith mish mash," said Colin Hart, the director of the Christian Institute.
"The British Social Attitudes survey found that 69 per cent of parents backed daily prayers in schools. Yet Christianity in schools is being marginalised. Parents do not want assemblies to be either secular or a confusing amalgam of faiths. Look at the massive number of parents of other faiths who apply to Church schools. They don't like the secularism that is pervading community schools."
The scale of the opt-out can be revealed for the first time after 105 councils in England responded to a Freedom of Information request from The Sunday Telegraph. More than 230 schools have ditched Christian assemblies >>> Julie Henry, Education Correspondent | Saturday, January 09, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: This winter seems bad but the freeze of 1947, the worst in living memory, tested the resolve of war-weary Britons to the limit,
On the morning of Thursday, January 23, 1947, the front page of The Daily Telegraph made deeply depressing reading. "Bread Ration May Be Cut" read the main headline. "Less Bacon and Home Meat. Beer Supplies to be Halved Immediately". After years of shortages and austerity, this was the last thing Britain's weary people wanted to hear. But it was another small headline, hidden further down the page, that was to prove more significant. "Snow Falls in London" it said, and in those four short words, many readers had their first glimpse of Britain's worst winter of the 20th century.
The cruellest cold snap in modern history could not have come at a worse time. In January 1947 Britain was exhausted after the long, valiant but ruinously expensive struggle to defeat the Nazis. The shelves were bare, the Treasury coffers were empty and the coal stocks were perilously low. On New Year's Day the mines had come into public ownership, joining the railways, road haulage and utilities in the Labour government's nationalised empire. But with the country already beset by shortages and strikes, the economy was dangerously close to collapse. And when the snow came down, life in Clement Attlee's New Jerusalem ground to a halt.
In just a few days, so much snow fell on Britain that this week's freak weather looks like a mere dusting. By the end of January, hundreds of remote Northern farms and villages were cut off by 20-foot snowdrifts, while a bitter 12-hour blizzard off the south coast brought shipping to a complete standstill. In Essex, the drifts were 14 feet deep; in Surrey and Middlesex, millions of commuters stayed at home. The railway network collapsed completely, and by January 29 the temperature in London – minus 9C – was the lowest for half a century, made worse by protracted power cuts. "Freeze up continues," one Brixton woman wrote in her diary. "Thermometer has been at freezing point all day. Waste pipe in the bathroom and the geyser frozen … Even colder the forecast for tonight, so I've borrowed a balaclava helmet from Fred to wear in bed!" >>> Dominic Sandbrook | Saturday, January 09, 2010
Obama must be a complete fool to insist on treating this disgusting character as an ordinary criminal; further, Americans have done themselves a complete disservice to elect this greenhorn President into office. – © Mark
THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama is under fire over claims that the Christmas Day underwear bomber was "singing like a canary" until he was treated as an ordinary criminal and advised of his right to silence.
The chance to secure crucial information about al-Qaeda operations in Yemen was lost because the Obama administration decided to charge and prosecute Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as an ordinary criminal, critics say. He is said to have reduced his co-operation with FBI interrogators on the advice of his government-appointed defence counsel.
The potential significance became chillingly clear this weekend when it was reported that shortly after his detention, he boasted that 20 more young Muslim men were being prepared for similar murderous missions in the Yemen.
The lawyer for the 23-year-old Nigerian entered a formal not guilty plea on Friday to charges that he tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on December 25 – even though he reportedly admitted earlier that he was trained and supplied with the explosives sewn into his underwear by al-Qaeda in the Arab state.
"He was singing like a canary, then we charged him in civilian proceedings, he got a lawyer and shut up," Slade Gorton, a member of the 9/11 Commission that investigated the Sept 2001 terror attacks on the US, told The Sunday Telegraph.
"I find it incomprehensible that this administration is treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue. The president has finally said that we are at war with al-Qaeda. Well, if this is a war, then Abdulmutallab should be treated as a combatant not a criminal." >>> Philip Sherwell in New York | Saturday, January 09, 2010
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Police have identified children as young as seven being groomed for terrorism, with some expressing a wish to become suicide bombers.
Up to 10 primary school pupils, aged between seven and 10, have been placed on a government outreach programme for individuals considered at risk of being radicalised and turning to violence.
Some have taken inspiration from jihadi websites or after viewing extremist material in Islamic bookshops.
One child was referred to the programme by his teacher after writing on a school book: “I want to be a suicide bomber.”
Other youngsters were identified by their parents after suddenly adopting traditional Muslim dress or espousing extremist views.
At least 228 people, mostly teenagers and young men aged 15-24, have been referred to the anti-terrorism Channel project after being singled out as “potentially vulnerable to violent extremism”. >>> Marie Woolf, Whitehall Editor | Sunday, January 10, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: The Muslim extremist planning a march through Wootton Bassett runs a secret sharia court where he marries hundreds of couples – then tells them not to register their weddings.
Anjem Choudary tells them that registering their marriages is forbidden in Islam, as it would be recognition of British law.
But critics said he was leaving women open to abuse, as they could not go to a normal court to escape a violent husband or win their share in a divorce.
Mr Choudary’s Islam 4 UK group wants to carry 500 coffins through the Wiltshire town to remember Afghans killed by Britain and America.
He styles himself the judge of the UK Sharia Court and principal lecturer of the London School of Sharia and has claimed that he runs a network of Islamic courts in London, Luton, Birmingham, Derby and Leicester.
He claims that he has married more than 1,800 couples across Britain in less than ten years and conducted hundreds of divorces. >>> Abdul Taher | Saturday, January 09, 2010
Saturday, January 09, 2010
WELT ONLINE: Auf seiner bislang längsten Auslandsreise, die ihn von der Türkei über Saudi-Arabien und Katar auch in die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate führt, wirbt Guido Westerwelle vor allen für eine Vertiefung der Handelsbeziehungen. Sogar der saudische König Abdullah empfing den deutschen Außenminister.
Es war die wohl heikelste Mission, die der deutsche Außenminister in seiner noch jungen Amtszeit zu bestehen hatte. Nicht politisch, die Beziehungen zu Saudi-Arabien gelten als freundschaftlich. Dass Guido Westerwelle dennoch mit einem mulmigen Gefühl nach Riad gereist war, lag an seinem persönlichen Hintergrund: Der FDP-Politiker lebt daheim mit einem Mann zusammen. Und in dem islamischen Gottesstaat ist Homosexualität mit Sanktionen belegt, die von Peitschenhieben über Haft bis zur Todesstrafe reichen.
Doch die Königsfamilie Al-Saud, die dem Land ihren Namen gab, weiß zwischen dem Privatleben ihrer Gäste und den Staatsgeschäften zu unterscheiden. Westerwelle wurde von den Prinzen in den Ämtern des Außen- und Finanzministers mit ausgesuchter Höflichkeit begrüßt. Als besonders freundliche Geste durfte der deutsche Chefdiplomat die Ehre eines Empfangs durch König Abdullah werten, der ursprünglich nicht im Protokoll vorgesehen war. >>> Von Thorsten Jungholt | Samstag, 09. Januar 2010
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