Friday, March 05, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Should Carla Bruni have worn a bra? : France’s First Lady has divided opinion by hosting a state dinner wearing a tight Roland Mouret dress and no underwire [spelling deliberate, I assume] >>> | Friday, March 05, 2010
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: A U.S. congressional committee approved a resolution condemning the 1915 slaughter of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, rejecting a last-minute Obama administration effort to derail it and putting a chill on relations with Turkey.
The House panel's resolution, approved on a 23-22 vote, faces an uncertain future in Congress. But it nonetheless could damage U.S. relations with Turkey, a vital ally in the Middle East and Central Asia. Within minutes of the vote, Ankara said it was recalling its ambassador from Washington for consultations. Turkey took the same step in 2007, when the committee passed a similar resolution.
Thursday's vote also raised concerns for big U.S. defense firms including Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., Raytheon Co., United Technologies Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. Turkey is involved in several weapons projects with such companies, including helicopters, missiles and the F-35 fighter jet, and the companies are worried about losing business.
The vote was carried live on most Turkish television and radio news channels and was seen as a significant blow to Turkey's already limping attempt at rapprochement with Armenia.
Armenians say as many as 1.5 million ethnic Armenians were killed in 1915 during the dying days of the Ottoman Empire in what they consider a precursor to the Jewish holocaust. Many historians agree that the executions and mass deportations into deserts amounted to genocide. Turkey argues the death toll was lower, and many Turks contend the deaths were a result of civil war stirred up by World War I opponents such as Russia, and included atrocities on both sides. >>> John D. McKinnon and Marc Champion | Thursday, March 04, 2010
Related:
US Labels Turkish Killing 'Genocide' >>> | Thursday, March 04, 2010
Here is the transcript in Arabic (العربية) and here it is in English.
TIMES ONLINE: The Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders arrives in Britain today on the crest of an electoral triumph that could mean him entering government in a matter of months.
Mr Wilders’s Freedom Party made big gains in Dutch local elections this week, widely regarded as a dress rehearsal for the national poll on June 9.
He has been invited to the House of Lords by Lord Pearson of Rannoch, the UKIP leader, to show his controversial film Fitna. This has already provoked widespread anger for its crude juxtaposition of extremist atrocities, such as beheadings and the 9/11 attacks, with verses from the Koran.
The Freedom Party, founded by Mr Wilders in 2005, won in the town of Almere, near Amsterdam, and came second in The Hague, the only two places in which it fielded a candidate out of 394 cities and towns, aiming for maximum impact with minimum campaigning.
Opinion polls show Mr Wilders vying for the national lead with the Christian Democrats, whose coalition Government collapsed last month after the Labour Party walked out in a row over keeping Dutch troops in Afghanistan. >>> David Charter, Europe Correspondent | Friday, March 05, 2010
Uploaded by groepwilders. - Up-to-the minute news videos.
BBC: For Mosab Hassan Yousef, everything begins and ends with God.
The startling journey of the eldest son of a Hamas leader, a Christian convert, and former Israeli spy, has shocked, angered, and intrigued.
We meet in New York on the day his new book, Son of Hamas, is published in the country he fled to a few years ago.
Before we start our interview, a burly man in his entourage asks his own question.
I take him for a bodyguard, possibly an Israeli. "Could we say our prayers first?" he asks our BBC team.
And then, they bow their heads in Christian prayer asking for God's blessing.
Green Prince
Mosab Hassan Yousef repeatedly makes it clear in our wide-ranging interview that he now sees himself walking in the path of Jesus Christ, whom devout Christians regard as the son of God.
He says he is also suffering for his beliefs, "carrying the cross," as Jesus did, as told in the Bible.
The man whose Israeli code name became the Green Prince admits how he has gone from being "a prince in my country to the lowest possible level, of being a traitor".
But he is still a man on a mission: "I want my people to understand I am not doing what they want, but what they need."
His book tells the story of a young man raised in a strict Muslim family in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in the folds of the Hamas movement.
But he lands in an Israeli prison before he is 20, experiences Israeli torture, but also witnesses torture by Hamas inmates against other Palestinians.
A young Palestinian's rage against Israeli occupation is soon matched by growing hatred of what he sees as the corruption of the Palestinian Authority, the violent ideology of Hamas and finally the precepts of his own Islamic faith.
His mood is still surprisingly upbeat.
"I am more optimistic than at any time in the past, and hopeful about the future. I am sure I will help my people as I helped them in the past, even though they didn't appreciate it."
But he expressed hope that one day they would, even if it was not in his own lifetime. Read on (with video and audio) >>> Lyse Doucet, BBC News, New York | Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Mosab Hassan Yousef on Facebook >>>
THE TELEGRAPH: One of Pope Benedict's ceremonial ushers and a member of an elite choir in St Peter's Basilica have been implicated in a gay prostitution ring, in the latest sexual scandal to taint the Vatican.
Ghinedu Ehiem, a Nigerian, was dismissed by the Vatican from a prestigious choir after his name appeared in transcripts of police wiretaps.
In the wiretaps, Mr Eheim is allegedly heard negotiating over the procurement of male prostitutes.
The wiretaps were carried out in connection with a probe into corruption in contracts to build public works, including the planned venue in Sardinia of last year's G8 summit.
Among four people arrested last month in the corruption probe was Angelo Balducci, an engineer who is a board member of Italy's public works department and a construction consultant to the Vatican.
Balducci is also a member of an elite group called "Gentlemen of His Holiness" – ushers who are called to serve in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace on major occasions such as when the pope receives heads of state or presides at big events.
Balducci was arrested on corruption charges and the allegations of prostitution emerged only later.
Excerpts of the wiretaps and police documents published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica showed that Ehiem, 40, had been in regular contact with Balducci before Balducci's arrest last month and the subject of their conversation was gay sex. >>> | Friday, March 05, 2010
BBC: A party that calls Islam a backward religion, wants a ban on headscarves in public life and has compared the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf has made major gains in local elections in the Netherlands.
Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) has become the biggest party in the medium-sized city of Almere, and the second biggest in the political capital of the Netherlands, The Hague.
Mr Wilders was visibly buoyed by the results, but was also combative in his reaction, and called the results the first step in the upcoming campaign for parliamentary elections.
"The national campaign begins today. Today, in Almere and The Hague, tomorrow in all of the Netherlands… On 9 June, we'll conquer the Netherlands," he said.
The question remains whether the party will be able to join local government in those two cities. Dutch politics features a plethora of parties, and compromise is necessary to form coalitions.
Geert Wilders has said his party is ready to find the middle ground, but now he will be tested. Other Dutch parties are loath to work together with the PVV because of its outspoken standpoints. >>> John Tyler, Radio Netherlands Worldwide | Thursday, March 04, 2010
Thursday, March 04, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Libya said its leader Colonel Gaddafi's call for "jihad" against Switzerland was not a reference to armed struggle.
Ali Aujali, Libya's ambassador to the United States, said: "It is a call for (an) economic and commercial boycott against Switzerland, this is true, but it doesn't mean by any means that it is an armed struggle."
On Feb 25, Col Gaddafi called for a "jihad" against Switzerland, branding it an infidel state that was destroying mosques – an apparent reference to a Swiss referendum in favour of banning the construction of minarets.
But Mr Aujali said that Tripoli still expects an apology for US criticism of his remarks.
Asked about the Libyan leader's "jihad" comment, State Department spokesman P J Crowley last month responded dismissively and drew a parallel to Col Gaddafi's one hour and 35 minute address to the United Nations last year.
"It just brought me back to a day in September, one of the more memorable sessions of the UN General Assembly that I can recall – lots of words and lots of papers flying all over the place, not necessarily a lot of sense," Mr Crowley said.
Mr Crowley has since said his comment was not meant as a personal attack but has refused to apologise outright, a stance that did not satisfy Libya. >>> | Thursday, March 04, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Turkey has recalled their ambassador to Washington after a US congress panel voted to label the World War One-era killing of Armenians as genocide.
Prime Minister Recep Erdogan said he was seriously concerned that the resolution would harm ties between the US and Turkey, and the ambassador was being recalled for consultations.
The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted to label as "genocide" the massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces, despite pressure from the Obama administration and Turkey to drop the matter.
But it was unclear whether the measure will get a floor vote.
It calls on President Barack Obama to ensure US policy formally refers to the massacre as genocide, putting him in a tight spot.
On the one side is Nato ally Turkey, which rejects calling the events genocide.
On the other side is an important US Armenian-American constituency and their backers in Congress ahead of congressional elections in November.
Turkey had warned its ties with the United States would be damaged and Ankara's efforts to normalise relations with Armenia could be harmed if the resolution were approved.
"We highly appreciate the decision," Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said.
"This is further proof of the devotion of the American people to universal human values and is an important step towards the prevention of crimes against humanity." >>> | Thursday, March 04, 2010
LE TEMPS: Les syndicats se mobilisaient jeudi contre le plan d’économies de 4,8 milliards d’euros décidé par la Grèce pour mettre fin à sa dérive budgétaire qui a placé la population en état de choc et alimente des craintes de récession prolongée
L’annonce des mesures décidées par le gouvernement socialiste a été reçue comme «un choc», «un électrochoc» par l’ensemble de la société, «c’est la fin d’une époque», a affirmé jeudi la presse grecque. Les partis, les syndicats du public et du privé fourbissaient leurs armes pour réagir.
Le Front de lutte syndicale (PAME), proche des communistes, a ouvert la danse des protestations. Il a organisé dès mercredi soir plusieurs manifestations dans le pays, appelé ses membres à une grève vendredi et préparait de grands rassemblements dans une soixantaine de villes du pays, jeudi soir. Dans la matinée, ses militants ont bloqué l’entrée du ministère des Finances, scandant des slogans contre «les mesures anti-populaires». Ils ont déployé une immense banderole sur la façade du ministère, face au Parlement, appelant les Grecs à réagir pour que «les mesures ne passent pas». >>> AFP | Jeudi 04 Mars 2010
SUEDDEUTSCHE.de: Die Macht der Pracht: Außenminister Guido Westerwelle lädt Prominente gern in die Villa Borsig ein - bezahlt wird aus der Ministerschatulle. Die Opposition ist irritiert.
Als Außenminister Guido Westerwelle seinen Kollegen Sergej Lawrow jüngst nach Tegel bestellte, wunderte sich der Russe. Die Adresse ließ einen schmucklosen Treffpunkt in der Nähe des Berliner Flughafens befürchten. An Ort und Stelle zerstreuten sich die Sorgen. Westerwelle lud seinen Moskauer Gast zu Tisch in die Villa Borsig, ein neobarockes Schloss mit herrlichem Blick auf den Tegeler See. >>> Von D. Brössler | Donnerstag, 04. März 2010
SUEDDEUTSCHE.de: Der libysche Staatschef ist beleidigt und verhängt ein Wirtschaftsembargo gegen die Schweiz. Diplomaten hatten sich über Gaddafis Aufruf zum Heiligen Krieg gegen die Schweiz lustig gemacht.
Der libysche Staatschef Muammar al-Gaddafi ist beleidigt, weil sich Diplomaten über seinen Aufruf zum Heiligen Krieg gegen die Schweiz lustig machen. Vom US-Außenministerium fordert er nun eine Entschuldigung, weil sich Außenamts-Sprecher Philip Crowley ironisch über seine kämpferischen Reden geäußert hatte. Das libysche Allgemeine Volkskomitee für auswärtige Beziehungen bestellte am Mittwoch die Geschäftsträgerin der US-Botschaft in Tripolis ein, um gegen die Äußerung Crowleys zu protestieren.
Sollte sich das Ministerium weigern, sich bei Gaddafi "offiziell zu entschuldigen", werde dies negative Folgen für die Beziehungen zwischen den beiden Staaten haben, erklärten die Libyer nach Angaben der staatlichen Nachrichtenagentur JANA. Gleichzeitig betonte das Volkskomitee, Oberst Gaddafi habe sich seinerseits stets respektvoll über US-Präsident Barack Obama geäußert. >>> dpa/segi | Mittwoch, 03. März 2010
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