Thursday, April 01, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Gulf Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed al-Nahyan Found Dead in Morocco >>> Louise Armitstead, Chief City Correspondent | Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Related:
NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: Serbia Apologises for Srebrenica Massacre >>> AFP, NRC, Reuters | Wednesday, March 31, 2010
LE TEMPS: Benoît XVI n’a fait aucune mention en lançant les célébrations pascales ce matin des affaires d’abus sexuels qui ébranlent le monde catholique. Un avocat américain vient de déposer une requête pour obtenir que le pape témoigne sous serment dans le cadre de plusieurs dossiers de prêtres accusés de pédophilie aux Etats-Unis
L’avocat William McMurry estime que le Vatican était au courant depuis longtemps du scandale des enfants violés par des prêtres. Selon sa requête, dont l’AFP s’est procuré copie, Benoît XVI était au courant de ce qu’il se passait aux Etats-Unis alors qu’il était encore cardinal et qu’il présidait la Congrégation de la doctrine de la foi - pendant les 24 ans qui ont précédé son accession à la papauté.
Il a, assure l’avocat, «découragé les procureurs de poursuivre les prêtres mis en cause et a encouragé le silence pour protéger la réputation de l’Eglise catholique». >>> AFP | Jeudi 01 Avril 2010
ZEIT ONLINE: Rüge vom Altkanzler: Deutschland müsse die Türkei auf dem Weg in die EU mehr unterstützen. FDP-Politiker schließen sich an. Sie verweisen auf den Koalitionsvertrag
Wenige Stunden nach dem Ende ihres Türkeibesuchs mehrt sich die Kritik an Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel. Neben führenden FDP-Politikern äußerte sich auch Merkels Vorgänger im Kanzleramt zur Türkei-Politik der CDU-Vorsitzenden. Gerhard Schröder forderte in einem Gastbeitrag für die Bild-Zeitung, die Bundesregierung müsse Ankara auf dem Weg in die Europäische Union stärker als bisher unterstützen.
"Die Türkei gehört schon jetzt zu den 20 größten Volkswirtschaften der Welt. Und das wirtschaftliche Tempo in der Türkei ist rasant. Diese Chance müssen wir Deutschen nutzen. Deshalb bin ich ein Befürworter der EU-Mitgliedschaft der Türkei", schreibt Schröder. Das Land habe sich unter der Führung von Ministerpräsident Tayyip Erdoğan auf einen mutigen Reformweg begeben. Während der Amtszeit Schröders als Bundeskanzler galt Deutschland als engagierter Förderer des Beitrittsprojekts.
Auch der aktuelle SPD-Vorsitzende Sigmar Gabriel übt scharfe Kritik an der Türkei-Politik Merkels. Gabriel sagte der Berliner Zeitung, Merkel mache aus innenpolitischen Gründen "Ideologie statt Politik" gegenüber der Türkei: "Sie opfert die wirtschaftlichen Interessen Deutschlands in den deutsch-türkischen Beziehungen, nur um innenpolitisch vor der Landtagswahl in Nordrhein-Westfalen von anti-türkischen Ressentiments profitieren zu können." Statt eine Debatte über den EU-Beitritt des Landes zu führen, solle die Kanzlerin konkrete Ziele setzen. >>> ZEIT ONLINE, dpa, Reuters, AFP | Mittwoch, 31. März 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Muslim woman sentenced to be caned for drinking beer has had her punishment commuted, in a surprising turnaround for a high-profile case that raised questions about Malaysia's Islamic laws.
Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a mother of two, received a letter from the Pahang state Islamic department informing her that the state's sultan had decided to spare her the caning, her lawyer, Adham Jamalullail, said.
The order is likely to cool down a fiery debate over whether Islamic laws should intrude into people's private lives in the Muslim-majority country. Many people had condemned the punishment, saying it showed conservative Islamists were gaining influence over the justice system.
Mr Adham said that "as a substitution for the caning, the sultan has ordered Kartika to perform community service for three weeks." >>> | Thursday, April 01, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: It is Benedict XVI’s duty to implement worldwide the reforms already made by Catholic leaders in Britain
The paedophile abuse cases have become a big crisis for the Roman Catholic Church. A crisis for the laity, a crisis for the clergy, a crisis for the bishops and, increasingly, a crisis for the Pope himself.
It has caused great damage to the victims, who need to be considered first. In some cases the psychological damage will last a lifetime. The crisis has damaged the image that the Church has of itself; it has damaged the authority of the Pope.
Priests see themselves as men of spiritual values, disciplined in their personal lives and requiring considerable personal sacrifices, including the sacrifice involved in a life of celibacy. They usually have the respect of their own communities.
It is still the case that congregations usually trust their own priests; that is true of the Catholic Church and of the Church of England, but it is easy for the Catholic clergy to feel they may be suspected of criminal conduct with children, which they find as outrageous as does everyone else. Like MPs who have never abused their expenses, many priests must feel that they are suffering guilt by association.
Most clergy live relatively austere religious lives. The proportion who have ever had sexual allegations made against them is about one in 200. That proportion has been high enough to cast some degree of suspicion on the priesthood as a whole. The clergy are able to do their work because they are trusted, and that trust has been damaged.
The Catholic Church of previous eras had a policy that sexual offences should be hidden. This policy of “cover-up” has done the greatest possible harm, both to the victims, who were not believed, and to the spread of abuse. Until about ten years ago, most Catholic bishops thought it was their duty to protect the Church from scandal; they mistakenly believed that secrecy would act in the interest of the Church.
They protected paedophile priests from the police; they persuaded the unfortunate victims to sign secrecy agreements; they kept the stories out of the press; they moved the peccant priests from one parish or diocese to another. Families were persuaded that their children, who had suffered abuse, were fantasists or liars. The victims were made to feel that it was they who were guilty. >>> William Rees-Mogg | Monday, March 29, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A leading Iranian nuclear scientist has defected to the United States and is working with the CIA.
Shahram Amiri, a nuclear physicist in his early thirties, disappeared in June 2009 after arriving in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage.
An ABC report said that US intelligence agents had described the defection as "an intelligence coup" in US efforts to undermine Iran's nuclear program.
Mr Amiri's disappearance "was part of a long-planned CIA operation to get him to defect," the ABC reported, citing unnamed people briefed on the operation by US intelligence officials.
On October 7, Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, charged that there was US involvement in Mr Amiri's disappearance.
"We have obtained documents that show US interference in the disappearance of Shahram Amiri in Saudi Arabia," Mr Mottaki was quoted as saying by Iran's Fars news agency.
He suggested that Mr Amiri had been arrested in Saudi Arabia and the United States was involved.
"We consider Saudi Arabia responsible for the situation of Shahram Amiri and we consider Americans to have been involved in his arrest," Mr Mottaki was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. >>> | Wednesday, March 31, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Chechen terrorist who is Russia’s most wanted man has claimed responsibility for the Moscow metro bombings on Monday and promised to bring all out war to Russia’s streets.
In a chilling video posted on an internet website considered to be a mouthpiece for Russia-based radical Islamists, Doku Umarov, a Chechen-born Islamist extremist, said he had ordered the attack on Moscow in revenge for an alleged massacre of civilians perpetrated by Russian special forces in February.
The alleged massacre occurred on the border between the southern Russian republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia and saw up to twenty-two people killed.
The authorities said it was a counter-terrorism operation and that the victims were Islamist militants but human rights groups claimed the victims were innocent civilians picking garlic in the forest.
“Therefore the war is coming to your streets and you will feel it on your own lives and on your own skins,” Doku Umarov told ordinary Russians in the video broadcast.
You will no longer ”serenely watch the war in the Caucasus unfolding on your TV screens, serenely watching and not reacting to the excesses and crimes of your gangs which are sent to the Caucasus under Putin’s leadership,” he added. >>> Andrew Osborn in Moscow | Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Related / Verbunden:
BLICK.ch: Der «Emir vom Kaukasus» soll der Drahtzieher des Blutbades sein: Russland jagt diesen Grössen-Wahnsinnigen >>> Von Christian Bischoff | Mittwoch. 31. März 2010
RUSSIA TODAY – VIDEO: Authorities Say Chechen Warlord Umarov Top Suspect In Moscow Bombings >>> | Tuesday, March 30, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Personal details of almost 1,000 British Muslim students could be placed on US terror watch lists because of the police investigation into the Detroit bomb.
Names, email and home addresses of members of the Islamic Society at the University College London (UCL) were handed over to detectives investigating the alleged attack on an aircraft by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as it landed in Detroit on Christmas Day.
Abdulmutallab studied engineering at university in 2005/08, and was president of the UCL Islamic Society in 2006/07.
Names and email addresses of all members of the UCL Islamic Society and Royal Free and UCL Medical Islamic Society between September 2005 and June 2009 were handed over to police by the university's student union, according to a report in The Independent.
Police were then given telephone numbers and home addresses by the UCL Registry.
The newspaper said the information had been given to the CIA, and that the homes of more than 50 of the students have been visited by police officers, but nobody has been arrested.
Some of the students on the list were not at UCL at the same time as Abdulmutallab and many had never met him.
The newspaper said Mojeed Adams-Mogaji, the current president of the UCL Islamic Society, was told by police the personal details would be kept for seven years and would be shared with other intelligence agencies “if requested”. >>> Alastair Jamieson | Thursday, April 01, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The former Spanish prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, is facing accusations that he used £2 million of public funds in an attempt to "buy" the US Congressional Gold Medal.
The Conservative premier, who held office between 1996 and 2004 during which time he supported the US-led war in Iraq, is under investigation for claims he hired lobbyists to push US lawmakers to award him their highest civilian honour.
Spain's national Court of Auditors announced it would investigate whether payments made to Washington law firm Piper Rudnick during Aznar's term in office constituted wrongdoing.
Mr Aznar authorised 2.3 million euros in payments to the lobbyists ostensibly to "assist the Government of Spain in closer relations with the United States".
But it is alleged that the primary aim was to run a PR campaign that would secure the highest recognition for the Spanish leader with the award of Congressional Gold medal. >>> Fiona Govan in Madrid | Wednesday, March 31, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Immigrants who refuse to honour British values are unwelcome, Gordon Brown said today as he pledged to do more to meet the concerns of the “mainstream majority”.
Mr Brown said he agreed that it was unfair if newcomers took advantage of Britain’s freedoms without making a fair contribution in return.
But his attempt to meet voter concerns over immigration was undermined when he was criticised by the chairman of the national statistics watchdog for exaggerating the fall in migrant numbers.
Sir Michael Scholar said that the Prime Minister had used details in his weekend podcast that were “not comparable” when claiming a recent big fall in net inward migration.
Mr Brown conceded the point today, but stuck to his theme, saying that migrant numbers had fallen by tens of thousands in the past two years.
He defended Labour’s recent record on immigration as he sought to draw the sting from a potentially inflammatory campaign issue. >>> Roland Watson, Political Editor | Wednesday, March 31, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: An online sex shop for Muslims has been launched in the Netherlands to tap into a demand for erotica that does not offend Sharia law.
"We had about 70,000 hits in the first four days," Abdelaziz Aouragh, the founder of El Asira, said. The site went online last week and claims to be the world's first erotic webshop for Muslims.
The 29-year-old Dutch national said it targets married Muslim couples as an alternative to sites "that focus on pornography and the extravagant side of erotica" - things forbidden in Islam.
The home page of El Asira, which means "Society" in Arabic, is a sober black and grey street with a line down the centre, inviting women to enter on the left and men on the right.
Once inside, clients can browse in Dutch, Arabic or English through more than a dozen products, mainly massage oils, lubricants and tablets that claim to act as aphrodisiacs.
All ingredients are halal, or "permissible under Islam", said Mr Aouragh, and conspicuously absent is any type of pornography. >>> | Wednesday, March 31, 2010
AFRIK.COM: Abdelaziz Aouragh, a 29-year old Dutch-Moroccan and a practicing Muslim, has launched El Asira, a rather unlikely, if not daring, enterprise in the Netherlands. It is the first halal "sex shop". The question is whether the concept, which is raising many eye brows, will be accepted by an increasing skeptical niche market.
Sensual stimulants, organic lubricating gels, pure power capsules for men or women ... El Asira, the first halal sex shop made in the Netherlands has opened its doors. Solely available on the Internet, the shop was inaugurated March 24 by Abdelaziz Aouragh, a 29-year old Dutch-Moroccan Muslim.
Halal? Really? Yes, says the young entrepreneur. "There is even a fatwa (religious decree, editor’s note) on the subject," he says. The fatwa was given after he contacted a local imam who in turn consulted with a Saudi Sheikh who gave his blessing, provided that the products are used, strictly, within the context of marriage.
The product range is diverse, from "Lovpil" capsules, to fight against everyday stress that "may affect sexual energy and pleasure", to "Gel Max", a lubricating gel that promises greater "sexual performance". Jewelry and lingerie will soon be added to their range of products. >>> Shahinez Benabed | Tuesday, March 30, 2010
abcNEWS/INTERNATIONAL: The mere mention of sex in Egypt's relatively conservative society is forbidden or ''haram,'' the word used when something is deemed un-Islamic, or considered to be unholy. Even trying to conduct a search online with the word ''sex'' in the title leads you to a dead end stating, ''This URL or Page has been blocked.''
So how would Egyptians react to a new website selling erotic aids aimed at Muslims? Set up in the Netherlands the site has become an worldwide hit with 70,000 visits and counting in its first week of going live.
The website, ''El Asira,'' which means ''society'' in Arabic, was launched by Abdelaziz Aouragh, a Moroccan Muslim living in Amsterdam along with his business partner Stefan Delsink. Aouragh told AFP that "everybody is talking about Islam in a negative way," adding that "I am trying to get something positive out of the dark."
The online shop boasts products such as sensual stimulators for him and her and lubricants based on cocoa butter, water or silicon, all of which are ingredients that are ''halal," permissible or lawful in Islam.
"I knew that Muslims do have a need for sex products." Aouragh said. >>> Lama Hasan | Undated
Related:
NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: Online Islamic Sex-shop Opens for Business >>> Hanina Ajarai and Joke Mat | Friday, March 19, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Omar bin Laden was being groomed as ‘the chosen one’ by his notorious father Osama. Now the favourite son has turned his back on jihadism. But is he really the agent of peace he claims to be?
It is after midnight when Osama bin Laden’s fourth-born son, Omar, leads me into a nightclub called Les Caves de Boys in the centre of Damascus.
He brushes past the two heavyset Syrian thugs at the door and picks a booth in the back.
A dozen or so wealthy Arab men are drinking whiskey and watching Russian strippers put on a show – tame by Western standards, but as Omar sips a 7 Up, he follows their every move with boyish wonder. Russian women, he tells me, are the most beautiful in the world.
As a teenager in the mountains of Tora Bora, Omar had been his father’s chosen successor, the favoured son meant to lead al-Qaeda and carry on global jihad.
Then, in 2001, a few months before Osama bin Laden was to become the world’s most wanted man, Omar abandoned his father’s compound in Afghanistan. He left behind almost certain death for this: the world, Les Caves de Boys, life.
Past two in the morning, a statuesque dancer emerges for the grand finale. Dressed in a red rhinestone bra and panties, with a black shimmy belt and an ostrich-feather crown, she gyrates her hips as Omar watches, mesmerised.
‘Thank God my father doesn’t run the world,’ Omar grins.
To Omar, Osama bin Laden is neither a jihadist nor a mass murderer – he is a lost man, a fanatical father who withheld his love, beat and betrayed his children, and destroyed his family chasing his fantasy of becoming a latter-day prophet. >>> Guy Lawson | Wednesday, March 31, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Osama bin Laden's Son: Why I Refused to Follow in My Father's Footsteps >>> Mark Tran | Wednesday, November 18, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: A close friend and ally of Pope Benedict XVI has been accused of regularly beating children in his care.
Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg is facing claims he flogged and hit former pupils at a Catholic orphanage in Germany 30 years ago.
The Bishop, who was appointed by the Pope in 2005, is a controversial figure who has tried to explain paedophilia in the Church by claiming the sexual liberation movement must share a "significant" part of the blame.
He is accused of using a carpet beater on the bare skin of boys and girls as he screamed: "Satan is in you and I must drive him out."
Five alleged victims from the orphanage, in the village of Schrobenhausen, have claimed he also used a stick, a wooden cookery spoon and, when that broke, his fists.
Nuns of the Mallersdorf order who worked for him at the at the St. Josef children's home in Schrobenhausen also hit the children with "wooden brooms, wooden shoes, and clothing hangers," they said.
Hildegard Sedlmair, now 48, claimed she was beaten by him when she was 15. >>> Allan Hall in Berlin and Nick Pisa in Rome | Wednesday, March 31, 2010
BLICK.ch: MOSKAU – Er ist ein Islamist, ein Warlord und ein Grössenwahnsinniger: Nach dem Blutbad in Moskau machen Putin und Medwedew Jagd auf Doku Umarow (45), den mutmasslichen Drahtzieher. Wann sprengt er ein Flugzeug?
Doku Umarow drohte schon im Februar: «Blut wird nicht mehr nur in unseren Städten fliessen, der Krieg wird in ihre Städte kommen.» Und er warnte vor explodierenden Zügen und Flugzeugen.
Jetzt ist die Prophezeihung wahr geworden: Im November fanden 26 Menschen nach einer Explosion in einem Schnellzug den Tod. Bei den zwei Selbstmord-Anschlägen von vorgestern im Zentrum Moskaus starben 39 Menschen, über 60 wurden verletzt. Wann erwischen Umarows Handlanger ein Flugzeug?
Putin und Medwedew haben den Islamisten aus dem Kaukasus nach dem Blutbad auf der «Roten Linie» zum «Staatsfeind Nummer 1» erklärt. Im Fadenkreuz der russischen Geheimdienste ist der Tschetschene aber schon länger, wie «Der Kurier» schreibt. Traum vom kaukasischen Reich >>> Von Christian Bischoff | Mittwoch. 31. März 2010
BLICK.ch: PARIS – Sie war der Star seines Kabinetts. Jetzt ist Sarkozys Ex-Ministerin Rachida Dati bös in Ungnade gefallen: Der Präsident entzog über Nacht ihr Dienstwagen, Bodyguards und Handy.
Früher war sie seine Justizministerin, ein Star im Kabinett. Als Maghreb-stämmige Französin verschaffte Rachida Dati dem französischen Präsident auch Sympathien bei den Einwanderern.
Doch als Sarkozy kürzlich an Abend im TV seine schöne Ex-Ministerin und jetzige Europaabgeordnete bei einem Auftritt sah, wurde er fuchsteufelswild, wie «Le Canard Enchaîné» berichtet: «Was macht die denn da?», habe er sich empört. «Im Wahlkampf hat man nichts von ihr gehört, und jetzt stellt sie sich vor die Kameras!»
Sarko fackelte nicht lang und griff zum Telefon«Noch in derselben Stunde» musste der Leiter der Polizei Datis Wagen samt Fahrer und den drei Leibwächter entziehen. Im Umfeld der konservativen Politikerin hiess es, ob die Anordnung von Sarkozy gekommen sei, sei unklar. «Klar ist, dass es eine Entscheidung des Innenministeriums war.» Letzte Fahrt vom Studio nach Hause >>> SDA/bih | Mittwoch, 31. März 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Former French cabinet star, Rachida Dati, has had her government security team withdrawn after being blamed for spreading rumours about the state of Nicolas Sarkozy’s marriage.
The president is said to believe his former justice minister, now an MEP, started talk that his wife was having an affair with Benjamin Biolay, a pop singer, while he was seeing his ecology minister, Chantal Jouanno.
She has now been deprived her of her chauffeur-driven limousine and three bodyguards in mysterious circumstances.
Mr Sarkozy has dismissed the affair allegations as idiotic “rantings” but is said to be privately bent on finding out who was behind them.
It is understood he took “retaliatory action” against Miss Dati, 44, the night his ruling Right-wing UMP party suffered a drubbing in the first round of regional elections on March 14.
The president was sitting at the Elysée Palace watching the fallout from his electoral debacle on the television, when Miss Dati appeared on France 2 — the French BBC1— and appeared to criticise his strategy.
Mr Sarkozy suddenly saw red, not simply because of her mild criticism, but because he suspects the former justice minister of spreading, or even starting, rumours about the state of his marriage.
He is understood to have instantly picked up the phone and ordered Frédéric Péchenard, France’s national police chief, to cut off Miss Dati’s limousine graciously provided by the interior ministry, her driver and police bodyguards “within the hour”. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Wednesday, March 31, 2010
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