Sunday, March 07, 2010
eKATHIMERINI.com – Editorial: Greece’s politicians seem unable to comprehend people’s anger at the manner in which they have handled the money in the public coffers, even though the signs are visible to even the most uninformed observer.
At a time when the public sector is putting a freeze on any new hirings and thousands of young people are being forced to join the unemployment line, parliamentary deputies have voted to award permanent status to a group of temporary employees in the state sector.
Defenders of the move have said that the law was put in motion during the days of the previous parliamentary president. But this is not an adequate excuse.
A poorly planned decision cannot be made legitimate after the fact and, in any case, the country’s public finances are in a state of code red due to the fiscal crisis and outstanding debt.
Gestures such as giving permanent jobs to staff who have been hired to carry out short-term tasks only pour more oil onto the flames. [Source: eKathimerini.com] | Saturday, March 06, 2010
eKATHIMERINI.com – Editorial: One thing has become strikingly clear as Greece’s great economic drama unfolds: The Greeks will have to pull themselves out of the mess on their own. Despite the danger that the eurozone faces as a whole, despite the threat its debt crisis poses to Europe’s political unification and irrespective of the responsibility of predatory investors, the rest of Europe sees Greece’s problem as comeuppance for years of profligacy and political cowardice. European policy is now being shaped by public opinion in each country – and the public is in no mood to see other countries benefit when its own is facing benefit reductions and a shaky future. This is a logical reaction. But it is also undeniable that European governments have been very slow to formulate policy toward the Greek crisis and, at least in some cases, they have been at the forefront of criticizing Greece and, thereby, isolating it. (This may be aimed at taking the focus off their own possible problems, letting off steam or warning other possible fiscal miscreants that they can expect no bailouts.) Curse and Godsend >>> | Friday, February 26, 2010
LOS ANGELES TIMES: A growing economy; political stability. But most Lebanese fear it won't last.
The Middle East has no shortage of conflicts to worry the rest of the world: the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians. And now, add an old trouble spot to that list: Lebanon.
On the one hand, Lebanon's economy grew by a dizzying 9% last year, the strongest pace of any country in the region. Its feuding religious and political factions have joined in a power-sharing agreement that seems stable. And it's even selling itself, with some success, as a chic destination for European and American tourists.
But as I discovered on a visit to Beirut last month, the Lebanese are certain all this good fortune can't last. They're convinced -- not without reason -- that the confrontation between the U.S. and Iran will spill over into another war between Israel and Lebanon.
Just inside Lebanon's southern border, where Israel and the Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah went to war in 2006, Iran and its ally, Syria, have been helping Hezbollah rearm. The radical militia, which runs southern Lebanon as its own mini-state, reportedly has obtained Iranian-made missiles that can reach Tel Aviv, and Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has promised to strike at Israel at a time and place of his choosing.
Israel isn't taking the threat lightly; its pugnacious foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, recently warned that Israel might use the next war to try to topple Syria's authoritarian regime. >>> Doyle McManus | Sunday, March 07, 2010
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Außenminister Westerwelle hat am Samstag seine bislang längste Auslandsreise begonnen: Chile, Argentinien, Uruguay und Brasilien will er binnen einer Woche besuchen und damit Lateinamerika zu einem Schwerpunkt seiner Außenpolitik machen. In Deutschland wird dem Vizekanzler und FDP-Vorsitzenden vorgeworfen, unsensibel dienstliche Verbindungen mit parteipolitischen und privaten verquickt zu haben.
Auch auf der Reise nach Südamerika begleiteten ihn als Teil der Wirtschaftsdelegation alte Bekannte, darunter auch ein Unternehmer, der vor fünf Jahren der FDP 48.000 Euro gespendet haben soll. Die Opposition fordert Aufklärung, nachdem die Zeitschrift „Der Spiegel“ schrieb, dass FDP-Spender offizielle Reisebegleiter des Außenministers seien. Die Öffentlichkeit müsse beurteilen können, „ob es hier unzulässige Zusammenhänge und Einflussnahmen gegeben hat“, sagte der Parlamentarische Geschäftsführer der Grünen Beck. Sogar die Grenze von „Amtsmissbrauch“ erreicht sieht der stellvertretende Fraktionsvorsitzende der Linkspartei im Bundestag, Maurer. Kritik aus der Opposition >>> Von Wulf Schmiese | Sonntag, 07. März 2010
LE FIGARO: La Turquie a rappelé jeudi son ambassadeur à Washington, après le vote par la commission américaine des Affaires étrangères d'une résolution reconnaissant le génocide arménien.
Les relations se tendent entre Ankara et Washington. La commission des Affaires étrangères de la Chambre des représentants américaine a approuvé jeudi une résolution sur la reconnaissance du génocide arménien par la Turquie en 1915. «C'est une nouvelle preuve de l'attachement du peuple américain aux valeurs humaines universelles et un pas important vers la prévention des crimes contre l'humanité», a réagi le ministre arménien des Affaires étrangères, Edouard Nalbandian. En signe de protestation, Ankara a en revanche immédiatement rappelé son ambassadeur aux Etats-Unis «pour consultations».
«Nous condamnons cette résolution qui accuse la nation turque d'un crime qu'elle n'a pas commis», a déclaré le gouvernement turc. Elle n'a «aucune valeur aux yeux du peuple turc», a ajouté le président turc Abdullah Gül, qui menace de «conséquences négatives (…) dans tous les domaines». Selon Ankara, ce vote montre «un manque de vision stratégique» parmi les élus américains, alors que les deux pays «travaillent ensemble sur un large éventail de questions». La Turquie, alliée de longue date de l'OTAN, joue un rôle important dans les intérêts américains au Moyen-Orient et en Afghanistan, ainsi que dans la médiation face à Téhéran dans le dossier du nucléaire iranien.
Hillary Clinton avait pourtant mis en garde les membres de la commission contre l'adoption d'une telle position. Cela «pourrait dresser des obstacles devant la normalisation des relations» entre la Turquie et l'Arménie, soutenue par Washington, avait averti la secrétaire d'Etat américaine. Ce qui n'a pas empêché le texte d'être voté par 23 voix contre 22. «Les Turcs disent que voter la résolution pourrait avoir des conséquences terribles pour nos relations bilatérales, et peut-être y aura-t-il en effet des conséquences», a déclaré le président de la Commission, Howard Berman. «Mais je crois que la Turquie tient à ses relations avec les Etats-Unis au moins autant que nous tenons à nos relations avec la Turquie.» Le texte n'a pas encore force de loi >>> Par Thomas Vampouille | Vendredi 05 Mars 2010
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: ELEMENTS of Islamic law - the sharia - should be legally recognised in Australia so that Muslims can live according their faith, a prominent Muslim leader says.
Addressing an open day at Lakemba Mosque on Saturday, the president of the Australian Islamic Mission, Zachariah Matthews, said parts of sharia could be recognised as a secondary legal system so that Muslims were not forced to act contrary to their beliefs. ''Sharia law could function as a parallel system in the same way that some traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander law was recognised in the Northern Territory,'' Dr Matthews told the Herald after the session.
''I don't think we are so unsophisticated that we cannot consider a multilayered legal system as long as it doesn't conflict with the existing civil system.''
The comments shocked some attending the open day. They felt Dr Matthews was advocating the introduction of the penal system under which women have been stoned to death for adultery, and corporal punishment is meted out for some offences.
''It came as quite a shock to some non-Muslims in the crowd when sharia law and the idea of a parallel legal system was mentioned,'' one audience member, Jasmine Donnelly, said.
''One group of people just left straight after that.'' >>> Paul Bibby | Monday, March 08, 2010
BBC: A Sudanese driver convicted of murdering his Saudi Arabian employer has been executed.
Mussa Ahmed was beheaded in Riyadh in the eighth execution in the kingdom this year.
Ahmed killed Mohammed al-Mutairy by hitting him on the head with a metal object, a statement published by the official SPA news agency said.
Following the crime, Ahmed fled to Sudan but was extradited to Saudi Arabia to stand trial, reports said.
No other details about the case were available.
Saudi Arabia executed 67 people last year, fewer than the record number of 153 in 2007.
Under the country's strict version of Sharia law, rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death. [Source: BBC] | Thursday, March 04, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Lord Alli has hit back at criticism from religious leaders over whether gay civil partnership ceremonies should be allowed in churches. Here he lays out his case.
In the House of Lords on Tuesday there was a landmark decision, allowing Civil Partnerships between gay couples to take place in religious buildings.
The debate took place against the background of a growing number of religious denominations such as the Quakers, Liberal Judaism and the Unitarian Church publicly stating that they wanted to host these ceremonies on their premises.
The essence of the debate was whether or not they should be allowed to do it.
There can be no doubting the immense difference that Civil Partnerships have made to British life since the first ceremonies were performed just over four years ago.
People from all walks of life have been able to celebrate as they watched their sons and daughters, their brothers and sisters, their uncles and aunts entering into lasting unions with their partners.
Indeed, it does seem rather strange that the Church of England shouldn’t encourage Civil Partnerships since, as with marriage, they promote stable and committed relationships.
I couldn’t agree more with the 20 bishops and former bishops who wrote to The Times last week, arguing that “to deny people of faith the opportunity of registering the most important promise of their lives in their willing church or synagogue, according to its liturgy, is plainly discriminatory,” and who urged that “every peer who believes in spiritual independence or in non-discrimination” should support the move.
Over 120 peers turned up to listen and take part in the debate, with the resolution ultimately gaining support from all parties. >>> Waheed Alli | Sunday, March 07, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Lord Waheed Alli >>>
THE MAIL ON SUNDAY: In the latest development in his campaign to show how dramatically the Tories have changed, David Cameron has published the party’s first-ever official list of openly gay MPs.
The Conservatives say they have 20 openly gay candidates standing in the Election. Of those, 11 told party chiefs they were ‘happy’ to be named in the first authorised list of gay Conservative candidates.
It has led some to suggest jokingly that the Tories might change the party’s traditional blue colour to the rainbow flag of the gay movement.
Publication of the list followed a claim by Shadow Minister Nick Herbert that if the Tories win the forthcoming General Election there could be up to 15 openly gay Conservative MPs. That compares to three at present, including Mr Herbert.
The move follows similar increases in the number of Tory women and ethnic minority candidates. It has led to a backlash from some grassroots activists, who claim the changes have been forced on them by Mr Cameron. Others say it has made the Conservative Party look more modern.
In a speech authorised by Mr Cameron, Mr Herbert said the party had ended the domination of ‘male, white, professional, grey-suited and straight’ Tory MPs. >>> Simon Walters and Brendan Carlin | Sunday, March 07, 2010
KRONE.at: Der Europaparat hat vor einem Verbot von Ganzkörperschleiern gewarnt. Eine solche Maßnahme würde die betroffenen muslimischen Frauen nicht befreien, sondern ihre Lage noch zusätzlich erschweren, erklärte der Menschenrechtsbeauftragte der paneuropäischen Organisation, Thomas Hammarberg, im Vorfeld des Internationalen Frauentags am Montag.
In einigen Europaratsländern, darunter Frankreich, ist eine Debatte über das Verbot des Ganzkörperschleiers Burka, bei dem selbst die Augen durch ein netzartiges Sichtfenster versteckt werden, und des Gesichtsschleiers Nikab, der nur einen Spalt für die Augen freilässt, entbrannt. >>>| Sonntag, 07. März 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Die Kantone sind auch künftig nicht verpflichtet, einen Tierschutzanwalt einzusetzen. 70,5 Prozent der Stimmenden sagten Nein zur Tierschutzanwalt-Initiative. Das Volksbegehren wurde in keinem einzigen Kanton angenommen.
Am meisten Zustimmung erhielt die Initiative für einen obligatorischen Tieranwalt in den Städten, am deutlichsten abgelehnt wurde sie in ländlichen Gebieten. Den höchsten Nein-Stimmenanteil verzeichneten die Kantone Appenzell-Innerrhoden und Obwalden mit rund 84 Prozent.
Ebenfalls über 80 Prozent der Stimmenden sprachen sich in den Kantonen Wallis, Jura, Uri, Nidwalden und Freiburg gegen Tierschutzanwälte aus. In vielen Kantonen sagten zwischen 70 und 80 Prozent der Stimmenden Nein. Zwischen 60 und 70 Prozent lag der Nein-Stimmenanteil in den Kantonen Zürich, Bern, Aargau, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Solothurn, Graubünden, Genf, Schaffhausen, Tessin und Basel-Landschaft. Knappstes Resultat in Basel[.]
Am meisten Ja-Stimmen gab es im Kanton Basel-Stadt: 44 Prozent der Stimmenden sprachen sich dort für Tierschutzanwälte aus. In allen anderen Kantonen nahmen weniger als 40 Prozent der Stimmenden die Initiative an. In der Kompetenz der Kantone >>> (sda)/bbu. | Sonntag, 07. März 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Dem Tierschutz ein Bärendienst: Ein Nein mit Nachhall >>> crz. | Sonntag, 07. März 2010
20MINUTES.ch: Les cantons continueront de décider eux-même comment appliquer la loi sur la protection des animaux.
L'initiative populaire les enjoignant à instituer un avocat chargé de défendre les intérêts des bêtes a été rejetée par 70,5% des votants. Tous les cantons ont dit «non».
La Protection suisse des animaux a eu beau jouer la corde sensible et attirer nombre de «people» à sa cause, sa campagne n'a pas réussi à convaincre la majorité qu'un avocat spécial était la seule institution capable de défendre efficacement la gent animale contre les mauvais traitements et de punir sévèrement les coupables. Seul un peu moins de 672'000 votants ont glissé un «oui» dans l'urne. >>> ats | Dimanche 07 Mars 2010
leJDD.fr: Lorsque Nicolas Sarkozy accueillera, ce soir, à 18 heures, le Premier ministre grec Georges Papandréou, son attitude sera scrutée dans toute l’Europe. Le Président français naviguera entre deux écueils. Il ne peut donner l’impression que les gouvernements de "grands" pays imposent une purge à des "petits" alors qu’eux-mêmes ont laissé filer leurs propres dépenses. Et la France ne doit pas accorder un chèque en blanc à la Grèce, comme le craignent les Allemands. Bref, ne pas humilier Athènes, ne pas braquer Berlin.
Le premier objectif des autorités européennes est de stopper la spéculation qui ébranle l’euro. Les taux d’intérêt grecs ont explosé avec d’énormes primes de risque (les fameux "Credit Default Swap" ou CDS). Ils sont retombés depuis jeudi, Athènes a pu lever 5 milliards d’euros.
Deuxième objectif : éviter un effet domino sur d’autres pays européens. En 2008, la faillite de la banque Lehmann Brothers ne faisait peser aucun risque réel mais a pourtant provoqué une panique sur les marchés. Aujourd’hui, la dette grecque pèse moins de 3% du PIB européen mais d’autres pays pourraient payer cher la même crise de confiance (Espagne, Portugal, Royaume-Uni). La Grèce, symbole des futures réformes européennes >>> Olivier Jay, Le Journal du Dimanche | Samedi 06 Mars 2010 | Mise à jour le 07 Mars 2010
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: The offspring of German soldiers and French women born during the occupation were cruelly shunned
When Jean-Jacques Delorme was growing up in Lisieux in Normandy in the 1940s, schoolmates called him a "bastard" or "son of a Boche" – a slur word for German. He didn't really know what it meant, but it made him feel like an outcast.
Life had been different from the outset. After his birth in October 1944 it had been his grandmother who cared for him until he was five years old. But it was only decades later that he learnt why his mother was absent at that time: she had been sentenced to one year in prison, for so-called collaboration horizontale. She had also been given five years of dégradation nationale – essentially, a loss of certain rights – for her crime of indignité nationale, sleeping with the enemy.
Mr Delorme was not alone. He is one of 200,000 children who grew up in France the offspring of German soldiers who occupied the country during the war. After the war ended, supposed collaborators were executed, while women who had been "collaborating horizontally" had their hair shaved, were paraded through jeering crowds and jailed. Mr Delorme's mother was one of those "shaven women".
Mr Delorme faced silence and secrecy when he tried to find out who his father was. His suspicions had first been raised when he was 12 years old. "My sister was born and my mother gave me the livre de famille – or 'family book' – to register her birth," he remembers. "I noticed a note in the margin by my name, saying I was illegitimate by my father.
"My mother had married when I was four, and I had taken her husband's name as he officially recognised me as his son. I asked my mother, but she wouldn't tell me. Nobody would tell me. I sensed I was different from my brothers and sisters, so I asked my mother again when I was 17. She was enraged, and walked out slamming the door behind her."
It was only when he was 21, had completed his military service and gone to work in Paris that Mr Delorme found the truth out about who his real father was. "I asked my grandmother. She pulled out an envelope, yellowed with age, from her wardrobe. 'Your mother asked me to destroy its contents, but I didn't in case you ever wanted to know,' she told me. I opened the envelope and there were a good number of photos of my mother with a German soldier."
Then his mother, who had been a kitchen servant during the occupation, finally revealed his birth father's name: Hans Hoffmann. >>> Geneviève Roberts in Paris | Sunday, March 07, 2010
SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The number of extremist groups in the United States exploded in 2009 as militias and other groups steeped in wild, antigovernment conspiracy theories exploited populist anger across the country and infiltrated the mainstream, according to a report issued today by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
Antigovernment "Patriot" groups - militias and other extremist organizations that see the federal government as their enemy - came roaring back to life over the past year after more than a decade out of the limelight.
The SPLC documented a 244 percent increase in the number of active Patriot groups in 2009. Their numbers grew from 149 groups in 2008 to 512 groups in 2009, an astonishing addition of 363 new groups in a single year. Militias - the paramilitary arm of the Patriot movement - were a major part of the increase, growing from 42 militias in 2008 to 127 in 2009. >>> | Tuesday, March 02, 2010
leJDD.fr: Un pays ruiné, un gouvernement socialiste qui met en place un plan d'austérité pour apaiser l'Europe et les marchés. Vendredi, les syndicats manifestaient devant le Parlement.
Jours d’austérité, jours de colère en Grèce. Adonis Davanelos n’a pas de mots assez durs contre le plan draconien annoncé mercredi par le Premier ministre socialiste Papandréou, et voté en urgence, vendredi, par le Parlement grec. Il vise à faire économiser au pays 4,8 milliards d’euros pour apaiser les marchés et forcer l’Europe à la solidarité.
"Jour après jour, les mesures sont plus dures. Ils ont d’abord annoncé que les salaires du secteur public seraient gelés, puis qu’ils seraient diminués, puis que cela toucherait aussi le privé. Ils augmentent les taxes. On va perdre un mois de salaire à cause de la hausse de la TVA et des autres taxes, on supprime notre treizième mois et, en plus, nos salaires seront diminués de 7%. C’est énorme, non?", s’énerve ce syndicaliste, membre de Syriza, la coalition de la gauche radicale. Ils étaient nombreux ceux qui, tel Adonis, faisaient grève, vendredi, contre le plan d’austérité de Papandréou. A côté de lui, son copain, Tassos: "C’est très brutal, les gens sont sous le choc, ils ne croient pas que ce soit possible. Autrefois, on faisait monter l’inflation, mais c’était indirect. Là, c’est terrible, on baisse les salaires, on supprime les primes, les gens vont s’en rendre compte à la fin du mois." "Papandréou n'avait pas le choix" >>> Cécile Amar, envoyée spéciale du Journal du Dimanche à Athènes | Samedi 06 Mars 2010
20MINUTES.ch: Les Islandais ont rejeté par référendum samedi l'impopulaire accord financier Icesave, selon des résultats officiels partiels annoncés par la télévision publique islandaise.
Le gouvernement a reconnu dans un communqué [sic] la victoire du «non».
D'après les résultats après dépouillement de 18 000 bulletins, sur 230 000 électeurs, le «non» l'emporte à 98%. >>> ats | Samedi 06 Mars 2010
20MINUTES.ch: Une cinquantaine de mulsumans résidant en Suisse ont lancé un cri de colère samedi après-midi à Berne contre le régime libyen.
Symboliquement, sur l'Helvetiaplatz, ils ont dit «non au djihad contre la Suisse» lancé par le colonel Kadhafi, «non à l'instrumentalisation de l'islam».
«Nous refusons toute volonté de déstabiliser notre pays, la Suisse, parce que nous sommes solidaires de nos concitoyens avec qui nous pouvons toujours vivre différents et égaux», a lancé Abdel Lamhangar, élu socialiste au Conseil général de Romont (FR). Il est l'initiateur du rassemblement. >>> ats | Samedi 06 Mars 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A fundamentalist group which believes in sharia law, jihad and creating an "Islamic social and political order" in Britain arranged an "unprecedented mobilisation" of voters for the former London mayor, Ken Livingstone, at the last mayoral election.
In an election lost by Mr Livingstone, the Islamic Forum of Europe helped secure massive and unexpected swings towards him in its east London heartland.
In one ward, Spitalfields, his vote share rose from 29.6 per cent in 2004 - an election he won - to 68.4 per cent in 2008, a rise of nearly 39 percentage points.
In every other ward in Tower Hamlets and Newham with a sizeable Muslim population, his vote rose by between 23 and 36 percentage points. His vote in other Muslim and ethnic minority areas of London also rose, but by far smaller amounts.
Mr Livingstone's economic development body, the London Development Agency, had agreed to pay more than £1.3 million to the East London Mosque, controlled by the IFE, and described by critics as hardline. >>> Andrew Gilligan | Saturday, March 06, 2010
THE SUNDAY TIMES: AFTER months of being cruelly snubbed, Nicolas Sarkozy’s ambitious dream of supplanting Britain as America’s best friend in Europe has come a step closer to reality with an invitation to a private dinner in the White House at the end of this month.
He and his wife Carla will have dinner with Barack and Michelle Obama in their private White House apartment. It is a rare honour for a visiting leader: Gordon Brown and Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, had to make do with chats in the Oval Office.
The hyperactive Sarkozy, whose enthusiasm for the glitzy side of politics has led to his being nicknamed “Sarko l’Américain”, is thrilled to be rubbing shoulders with the world’s most famous couple. Even before Obama was elected, the French leader had put his diplomatic service into overdrive to try to win favour with the new White House. >>> Matthew Campell in Paris | Sunday, March 07, 2010
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