Tuesday, April 13, 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: ALLEMAGNE | Une inscription "obscène" a été découverte mardi matin sur la maison natale du pape Benoît XVI, dans le village bavarois de Marktl-am-Inn, a-t-on appris auprès de la police.
Les mots inscrits au-dessus de la porte d'entrée – "Fick euch selbst" (Allez vous faire en...), selon les photos – ont été effacés dans la matinée, à précisé un porte-parole de la police.
"On peut établir un lien" avec le scandale des abus sexuels qui secoue l'Eglise catholique, notamment en Allemagne, a-t-il ajouté.
L'inscription "de couleur bleue, au contenu injurieux" a été remarquée par un témoin vers 6H45 sur le mur au-dessus de la porte d'entrée de la maison natale du pape, précise un communiqué de la police.
Son auteur "a visiblement employé une bombe de laque et a tracé des lettres d'environ 30 centimètres de hauteur".
Le dommage sur la façade de la maison est estimé à environ 1500 euros, selon la police, qui a lancé un appel à témoins. "Entre-temps, un peintre a été chargé de masquer le texte", précise le communiqué.
Le pape Benoît XVI, né Joseph Ratzinger le 16 avril 1927 à Marktl-am-Inn, fêtera dans trois jours son 83ème anniversaire. Il est devenu pape il y a près de cinq ans, le 19 avril 2005. >>> AFP | Mardi 13 Avril 2010
LE TEMPS: Le fils du dirigeant libyen souhaite poursuivre sa procédure contre la Suisse et amener l’affaire devant un tribunal international, selon le site web d’«Al-Jazeera»
Hannibal Kadhafi ne se satisfait pas de la décision du Tribunal de première instance de Genève à l’égard de la «Tribune de Genève». Le fils du dirigeant libyen souhaite poursuivre sa procédure contre la Suisse et amener l’affaire devant un tribunal international, selon le site web d’«Al-Jazeera».
Un porte-parole du gouvernement libyen, cité par l’AFP, a lui aussi appelé la Confédération à accepter le recours à un arbitrage international pour «régler le dossier de l’interpellation musclée de Hannibal» en été 2008. «La Libye ne veut pas de vengeance et ne se sent pas humiliée. Elle veut seulement que justice soit faite», a précisé le porte-parole, Mohamed Baayaou. >>> ATS | Mardi 13 Avril 2010
Lien en relation avec l’article / Verbunden:
TAGES ANZEIGER: Genfer Gericht gibt Ghadhafi Recht – kommt Bewegung in Fall Göldi? >>> vin/sda | Montag, 12. April 2010
NZZ ONLINE: In Saudiarabien haben Mitglieder des Obersten Rates der Religionsgelehrten während drei Tagen über den Terrorismus debattiert. Am Schluss unterzeichneten sie die erste offizielle und gemeinsame Fatwa.
Seit Jahren schon überzieht das Terrornetzwerk al-Kaida die Welt im Namen des Islam mit Autobomben, Hassbotschaften und Selbstmordanschlägen. Die massgeblichen Religionsgelehrten in Saudiarabien, dem Land der heiligen Stätten des Islam, haben dazu lange geschwiegen.
Dubiose Organisationen
Sie duldeten auch, dass dubiose «Wohltätigkeitsorganisationen» vor ihren Moscheen Geld sammelten, das teilweise zur Finanzierung von Terroranschläge benutzt wurde. Damit soll jetzt endgültig Schluss sein.
Am vergangenen Samstag versammelten sich die 20 Mitglieder des Obersten Rates der Religionsgelehrten von Saudiarabien zu einer geheimen Sondersitzung. Fast drei Tage lang debattierten sie hinter verschlossenen Türen darüber, was «Terrorismus» ist und was nicht.
Erste offizielle Fatwa
Am Montag unterzeichneten sie schliesslich gemeinsam die erste offizielle saudische Fatwa (islamisches Rechtsgutachten) gegen den Terrorismus. >>> sda/dpa | Dienstag, 13. April 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Saudi women who wish to marry non-Saudi Muslims face social prejudice and official discrimination
Accompanied by her father, Hassna'a Mokhtar went to the Saudi Arabian interior ministry in Jeddah to sign papers for a marriage licence. She was hoping to get a sense of how long it would take to get permission, so that she could plan her wedding. But that was not the case.
A Saudi woman falling in love with a non-Saudi Muslim leads to more obstacles than a Capulet falling in love with a Montague. In most parts of society, a father can decline a suitor simply because he is not a Saudi. The tribal mentality has changed, at least to some degree, among the middle and upper classes. But even if the father consents, the Saudi government makes it arduous for the couple to proceed with the marriage.
All Saudi men and women must obtain a permission to marry a non-Saudi Muslim before marriage (nikkah). And there is one set of rules for men and another for women. "Why is it so difficult to get the permit?" Mokhtar asked the female officer at the interior ministry. "The country wants to protect you," she recalls the officer responding. The officer told Mokhtar that she, too, wanted to marry a non-Saudi Muslim but would have to resign from her government job to do so.
Mokhtar, now 32, was ready to marry, but faced many hurdles. She applied for the marriage license in June 2007 and finally received it a year later. "They [the Saudi government] are not going to solve the problem by forcing men or women to marry another Saudi," said Mokhtar. "They should leave the choices open."
When she finally did get married, it was the beginning of another set of problems. In that, she is not alone. Her husband was not automatically eligible for a residency permit (iqamah). He can visit her in Saudi Arabia on a visa that can be extended up to two months, on which he can neither work nor own a car or a property. And there is no set of procedures for obtaining residency; it could take months if you know someone who can get it done through the back door, or it could take years. >>> Fahad Faruqui | Saturday, April 03, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A 13-year-old Croatian girl who fell into a coma woke up speaking fluent German.
The girl, from the southern town of Knin, had only just started studying German at school and had been reading German books and watching German TV to become better, but was by no means fluent, according to her parents.
Since waking up from her 24 hour coma however, she has been unable to speak Croatian, but is able to communicate perfectly in German.
Doctors at Split's KB Hospital claim that the case is so unusual, various experts have examined the girl as they try to find out what triggered the change. Croatian teenager wakes from coma speaking fluent German >>> | Monday, April 12, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Al-Qaeda is trying to secure material for nuclear weapons and would have "no compunction in using them", President Barack Obama warned, as he welcomed leaders for the largest gathering in the US since the Second World War.
The US president has set himself the mission of convincing fellow leaders from 45 nations that they faced the same threat and to establish a plan to secure every ounce of the world's nuclear weapons-grade fuel.
"The single biggest threat to US security, both short-term, medium-term and long-term, would be the possibility of a terrorist organisation obtaining a nuclear weapon," Mr Obama said.
"This is something that could change the security landscape in this country and around the world for years to come."
"If there was ever a detonation in New York City, or London, or Johannesburg, the ramifications economically, politically and from a security perspective would be devastating.
"We know that organisations like al-Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction, and would have no compunction at using them."
Discussions at the two summit which ends on Tuesday are focusing on stocks of separated plutonium and enriched uranium which could be used by extremists to manufacture weapons.
They are part of an initiative by Mr Obama to eventually rid the world of nuclear weapons by controlling "loose nukes", reducing the US military's strategic dependence on nuclear arms and halting proliferation.
It was this vision that earned him the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize and accompanying criticism that he had done little to deserve the award. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Monday, April 12, 2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Somalische Rundfunksender dürfen keine Musik mehr spielen. Ein entsprechendes Verbot verkündeten die radikal-islamischen Milizen. Musik sei Sünde, begründeten sie. Aus Angst vor drakonischen Strafen befolgen fast alle Sender die Anordnung.
Mogadischu - Fast alle Radio-Stationen in Somalia haben ihr Musikprogramm eingestellt. Nur ein von der Übergansregierung in Mogadischu kontrollierter und ein Uno-Sender widersetzten sich am Dienstag noch dem Verbot. Die Islamisten in dem Land sind dafür bekannt, Anweisungen wie das Musikverbot mit brutaler Gewalt durchzusetzen und Zuwiderhandlungen beispielsweise mit Morden oder Amputationen zu bestrafen.
Man habe keine andere Wahl, als ihre Forderung umzusetzen, sagte Abdulahi Yasin Jama von der Rundfunkstation Tusmo am Dienstag. "Wir haben Angst vor möglichen Angriffen gegen den Sender", sagte Hassan Osman Abdi vom Rundfunksender "Radio Shabelle". Die Islamisten hätten mit der Schließung aller Radiosender gedroht, die sich dem Verbot widersetzten. Nur einige regierungstreue Sender spielen noch Musik.
"Wir erleben heute den offiziellen Zusammenbruch der unabhängigen Medien", klagte Mohamed Ibrahim vom nationalen Journalistenverband Somalias. Der Verband verurteile die Anordnung als "grobe Verletzung" der Meinungsfreiheit, sagte Ibrahim.
Die von der internationalen Gemeinschaft unterstützte Interimsregierung hat ihren Herrschaftsanspruch bislang nicht durchsetzen können und kämpft mit islamistischen Milizen um die Macht in Somalia. >>> ler/apn/dpa/AFP | Dienstag, 13. April 2010
THE GUARDIAN: All but two stations in Mogadishu comply with order to cease broadcasts that militants say violate Islamic principles
A majority of radio stations in southern and central Somalia today stopped playing music and jingles, to comply with a ban by Islamist militants.
Hizbul Islam, one of the two main insurgent forces in Somalia, issued the order on 3 April, saying music broadcasts violated Islamic principles. It gave FM radio stations – the main form of news and entertainment in the country – 10 days to comply or be shut down.
Islamic groups have previously outlawed music in some areas under their control, along with beards, football, movies, women's beauty salons and bras. The latest ban on all tunes – including those used in commercials – appears to be the most widely applied yet, and indicative of the rebels' ability to instil fear.
In the capital, Mogadishu, where there are 16 FM radio stations, only the government-controlled Radio Mogadishu, which is protected by African Union peacekeepers, and the UN-funded Radio Bar-Kulan, whose studio is in Nairobi, resisted the order.
"I've listened to three of my regular stations today, and there's no music at all," said Abdulkadir Khalif, a Mogadishu resident. "There's not even a jingle."
Instead, some stations used birdsong or vehicle noises to introduce programmes. One of the broadcasters aired "a recording from a warzone" to signal the start of the news, as an ironic gesture, Khalif said. >>> Xan Rice | Tuesday, April 13, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Legislation for equal rights won't eradicate the suffering of homosexual men and women
Anyone who has endured years of teenage, and often adult, angst coming to terms with their homosexual attraction, as Alexandra Mankowitz recounted in The Times Online last Monday, cannot help but be deeply moved.
Like her, I too came out at 17, and felt incredible shame and abject loneliness trying to dodge the assumption of heterosexuality and the homophobic bullying that was ever present in the Northern mining community in which I grew up.
Unlike her, however, my parents had no gay friends. Nor were there any visible gay role models within spitting distance of the Watford Gap to offer a hand of hope or consolation in my time of despair and silent suffering.
I was raised in a Christian household and experienced only unconditional love, both before and after declaring my homosexual nature. Yet for many in the gay community, religions represent nothing other than bastions of division and rejection. For some time I too shared this belief, until I was presented with a fresh challenge.
My life calling, I wholeheartedly believed, was to challenge the leaders of religion that homosexuals should be treated with the same dignity and rights as everyone else. This was especially true of the Christian community in which I had been raised. The more senior the religious leader’s role, the more I rose to the challenge.
Along the journey of acrimonious engagement with different expressions of Christianity I came across some startling, dare I say life-changing, revelations. In short, I came to understand that some of the people and organisations that I had consistently learned to blame and finger-wag for my despair were in fact conduits of my discovering an equal standing with others. This in turn led to a deeper sense of self-acceptance and my despair metamorphosing into a rich hope.
The season of Lent, the 40-day period in the run up to Easter, has become a great gift to me and to many homosexual men and women I know. It is the season where we recognise that no one gets it right all the time, that everyone is in need of compassion and mercy, and that before God we all experience apartheid, sexual or otherwise, in some form or other. >>> James Parker | Friday, March 12, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Thousands of Sikh men, each with a unique work of art perched on his head, will take to the streets of India today. Their mission: to prove to the world that the turban is not old hat.
Scores of rallies, prayer vigils and tying competitions will mark World Turban Day, an event conceived amid concerns that young Sikhs are abandoning the most conspicuous emblem of their faith — six to eight metres of cloth wrapped around their heads — in favour of close-cropped Western-style hairdos.
“We are inviting Sikhs who have forsaken the turban to return to the fold,” said Jaswinder Singh of the Akaal Purkh Ki Fauj (Army of God), a Turban Pride movement. “This day is their chance to reconnect with our gurus.”
Sikh men — and some women — have worn turbans since 1699 when Guru Gobind Singh, the religion’s tenth master, prohibited them from cutting their hair. Every man was given the surname Singh — lion — and was required to wear a steel bangle, long cotton underwear, a sheathed sword and wooden comb.
In recent decades many Sikhs have preferred to blend into India’s Hindu-dominated society. Their turbans and beards are often confused with those of Islamist extremists and count against them when job hunting, young Sikhs say.
“People think I’m Taleban,” said Gagandeep Singh, 26, a founder member of the recently formed Sikh Turban Pride Organisation. “The prejudice is ridiculous: I’m not a terrorist, I’m on Facebook.”
Others trace the demise to 1984 when Indira Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister and a Hindu, was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. In the riots that came after people wearing turbans were attacked.
There are no official figures but Sikh leaders say that about half the community wear turbans, compared with 80 per cent to 90 per cent a few decades ago. The trend must be reversed, they believe, if Sikhism is to endure. >>> Rhys Blakely | Tuesday, April 13, 2010
WELT ONLINE: Frankreichs Präsident will nicht vollständig auf Atomwaffen verzichten. Sein Land habe bereits Nukleartests eingestellt und die Waffenanzahl reduziert. Mehr sei nicht zu machen, andernfalls könne die Sicherheit Frankreichs nicht garantiert werden. Sarkozy widerspricht damit einer Vision Barack Obamas.
Der französische Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy hat den Atom-Abrüstungsideen seines US-Amtskollegen Barack Obama eine Absage erteilt. „Ich werde nicht auf die Atomwaffe verzichten, die die Sicherheit meines Landes garantiert“, sagte er am Rande des Nukleargipfels in Washington dem Sender CBS.
„Wir haben in Frankreich die Atomtests eingestellt und unsere Waffen um ein Drittel reduziert“, fügte er hinzu. Alles darüber hinaus würde die Sicherheit des Landes gefährden. Frankreich unterstütze grundsätzlich die Reduktion der Atomwaffen. „Aber wir behalten ein Minimum, um die Sicherheit zu garantieren“, bekräftigte er. >>> dpa/cn | Dienstag, 13. April 2010
LE POINT: Le numéro deux du Vatican, le cardinal secrétaire d'État Tarcisio Bertone a une nouvelle fois récusé le lien entre les cas récents de pédophilie de la part du clergé et la question du célibat des prêtres, estimant plutôt que "le problème" est lié à l'homosexualité. "Nombre de psychologues et de psychiatres ont démontré qu'il n'y a pas de relation entre célibat et pédophilie, mais beaucoup d'autres ont démontré, et m'ont dit récemment qu'il y a une relation entre homosexualité et pédophilie", a affirmé Mgr Bertone lundi, lors d'une visite officielle à Santiago du Chili. "C'est la vérité, c'est le problème." "Cette pathologie touche toutes les catégories de gens, et les prêtres à un moindre degré si l'on regarde les pourcentages", a-t-il poursuivi.
Les propos de Mgr Bertone ont provoqué l'ire d'associations de défense des droits des homosexuels. "Ni Bertone ni le Vatican n'ont l'autorité morale" pour offrir des leçons de sexualité, a déclaré Rolando Jimenez, président du mouvement pour l'intégration et la libération homosexuelle au Chili. Selon Jimenez, aucune étude ne peut étayer les propos du cardinal Bertone. "Il s'agit d'une stratégie perverse du Vatican qui cherche à fuir sa propre responsabilité [dans les affaires de pédophilie]", a-t-il poursuivi, avant de préciser que l'un des scandales majeurs de prêtre pédophile au Chili avait mis en cause un ecclésiastique qui avait également mis enceinte une adolescente. >>> Le Point.fr | Mardi 13 Avril 2010
Lien en relation avec l’article:
LE MONDE: Le numéro deux du Vatican lie pédophilie et homosexualité >>> LeMonde.fr avec AFP et Reuters | Lundi 12 Avril 2010
TIMES ONLINE: The Holy See’s second-highest prelate after the Pope has blamed homosexuals for the paedophile crisis.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, said that the child rape scandal that is threatening the moral authority of the Roman Catholic Church worldwide is linked to homosexuality and not celibacy among priests.
Other Vatican clerics have sought to deflect criticism from the Catholic hierarchy by blaming the media, and one retired bishop was even reported earlier this week to have blamed the Jews.
Cardinal Bertone made the comments during a news conference on Monday in Chile, where one of the church’s highest-profile paedophile cases involves a priest having sex with young girls.
Cardinal Bertone said: “Many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relation between celibacy and paedophilia. But many others have demonstrated, I have been told recently, that there is a relation between homosexuality and paedophilia. That is true. That is the problem.”
Cardinal Bertone also said that the church had never impeded investigations of paedophilia by priests.
Chile’s gay rights advocates reacted with anger. “Neither Bertone nor the Vatican has the moral authority to give lessons on sexuality,” said Rolando Jiménez, president of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation in Chile.
Mr Jimenez also said that no reputable study existed to support the cardinal’s claims. “This is a perverse strategy by the Vatican to shirk its own ethical and legal responsibility by making a spurious and disgusting connection,” he said.
At least one of the paedophile priests in the Chilean Church victimised young girls, including a teenager who became pregnant. >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent, and Richard Owen in Rome | Tuesday, April 13, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: The Tories were today forced to defend their manifesto before it was even launched after a stinging assault on immigration policy.
Just hours before David Cameron unveils his make-or-break election blueprint, plans to curb the number of migrants were savaged by business leaders.
London First, the City lobby group that represents many of London's biggest companies and banks, claims the move would threaten British competitiveness at a time when the economy is still in the early stages of recovery.
In a separate attack, the party had to defend itself against accusations it had played the 'race card' by pledging to reduce immigration to levels last seen in the mid-1990s.
Baroness Jo Valentine, London First's chief executive, said members feared the proposals had been put forward to 'appease the populist vote' with little thought for the longterm consequences.
'How we build our links with the Far East and the Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies is absolutely fundamental to London's future,' she told The Financial Times.
'Irritating the Chinese and Indians would not be clever.' Tories forced to deny playing 'race card' amid business chiefs' stinging attack on immigration policy >>> James Chapman | Tuesday, April 13, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Euphoria over a joint EU-IMF rescue deal for Greece worth €45bn (£39.8bn) has given way to caution after angry reactions in Germany and continued concerns among bond investors that any bail-out merely delays the day of reckoning.
Greek borrowing costs have fallen from post-EMU highs last week but still remain at stress levels. The yield spread on 10-year bonds over German Bunds dropped by 45 basis points to 6.75pc on Monday.
"This is a short-run fix, not a long-run solution," said David Owen at Jefferies Fixed Income. "At the end of the day, Greece has to carry out monumental fiscal tightening even as it slides deeper into recession. They risk chasing their tale. [sic]"
Mohamed El-Erian, head of the US bond fund Pimco, doused hopes that his firm would soon step in to buy Greek debt, saying the rescue package at rates near 5pc does not address the underlying "solvency challenges" facing the country.
The German taxpayers' union accused Chancellor Angela Merkel of caving into pressure, saying Germany would be left on the hook for huge liabilities.
Christoph Steegmans, spokesman for the finance ministry in Berlin, insisted that "nothing had changed" as a result of the weekend pledge by eurozone states for €30bn of loans. Help is "not automatic" and cannot be activated if any state objects. "The fact that the fire extinguisher has been primed says absolutely nothing about the probability of a fire," he said.
Frank Schäffler, a Free Democrat finance expert in Mrs Merkel's coalition, said the rescue deal is "clearly a subsidy" and violates the EU summit deal in March. "We're on very thin ice legally," he said, hinting at likely court challenges.
Professor Ekkehard Wenger from Würzburg University said the aid for Greece is "another step on the slippery slope downwards. All rational economic rules are being thrown out of the window. This is a bottomless pit."
"In the short-term this may calm things but within 10 years the eurozone is not going to exist any longer in its current form," he told Handelsblatt. >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Monday, April 12, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Thailand’s Foreign Minister has described the former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, as a “bloody terrorist” who can be compared to Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler. The comments are likely to further inflame Mr Thaksin's Red Shirt supporters, who are engaged in a bloody stand-off with the Government.
Speaking on the fringes of the nuclear summit in Washington, Kasit Piromya denounced foreign governments, including Russia and Germany, as well as the Interpol police agency, for not co-operating in returning Mr Thaksin to Thailand, where he has been convicted in absentia for corruption.
“Everyone is washing their hands but he is a bloody terrorist,” Mr Kasit said. “There is this act of interference by third countries – how can the Russians allow him there for two days or the Germans before that? Everyone is playing naive, closing their eyes and so on, simply because he was once an elected leader.” >>> Richard Lloyd Parry, Bangkok | Tuesday, April 13, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Smiling could add years to your life, according to researchers.
The wider you grin and the deeper your laughter lines, the more likely you are to have a long existence.
Broader smiles and wrinkles around your eyes point to a positive outlook on life which translates to better long-term health.
It has long been thought that a happy disposition can impact on life expectancy, and the recent study by experts at Wayne University in Michigan, America, seems to back this. >>> | Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Al-Qaeda is trying to secure material for nuclear weapons and would have "no compunction in using them" *, President Barack Obama warned, as he welcomed leaders for the largest gathering in the US since the Second World War.
The US president has set himself the mission of convincing fellow leaders from 45 nations that they faced the same threat and to establish a plan to secure every ounce of the world's nuclear weapons-grade fuel.
"The single biggest threat to US security, both short-term, medium-term and long-term, would be the possibility of a terrorist organisation obtaining a nuclear weapon," Mr Obama said.
"This is something that could change the security landscape in this country and around the world for years to come."
"If there was ever a detonation in New York City, or London, or Johannesburg, the ramifications economically, politically and from a security perspective would be devastating.
"We know that organisations like al-Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction, and would have no compunction at using them." >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Monday, April 12, 2010
*So Obama does admit that the greatest threat, then, comes from Islamic terrorism. After all is said and done, it is ISLAM which poses the greatest threat to peace and security worldwide. – © Mark
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