Espagne: une loi pour exclure les crucifix des écoles
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le gouvernement espagnol prépare une loi sur la "liberté de religion" qui prévoit que l’Etat respecte une stricte "neutralité" en matière de religion, excluant notamment les crucifix des écoles publiques, indique dimanche le journal El Pais. Le gouvernement socialiste espagnol avait déjà annoncé en 2008 qu’il préparerait une loi pour un plus grand respect de la laïcité et du pluralisme religieux, dans un pays où l’église catholique demeure très présente et influente.

Le gouvernement espagnol prépare une loi sur la "liberté de religion" qui prévoit que l’Etat respecte une stricte "neutralité" en matière de religion, excluant notamment les crucifix des écoles publiques, indique dimanche le journal El Pais.

Le gouvernement socialiste espagnol avait déjà annoncé en 2008 qu’il préparerait une loi pour un plus grand respect de la laïcité et du pluralisme religieux, dans un pays où l’église catholique demeure très présente et influente.

Le quotidien de centre-gauche espagnol explique dimanche que d’après le texte de loi "en préparation", les funérailles d’Etat se dérouleront "sans aucun cérémonial à caractère religieux" alors qu’elles sont aujourd’hui généralement organisées selon le rite catholique.

Les pouvoirs publics devront respecter une stricte "neutralité face à la religion et aux croyances, en évitant toute confusion entre fonction publique et activités religieuses", selon le texte du projet de loi. >>> AFP | Dimanche 13 Juin 2010

Libyen und die Schweiz begraben das Kriegsbeil
DIE PRESSE: Die Schweizer Außenministerin und ihr lybischer Kollege unterschrieben am Sonntag ein Abkommen zur Normalisierung der Beziehungen. Der inhaftierte Schweizer Max Göldi darf heim.

Tripolis/BERN. Plötzlich ging dann alles sehr schnell: Die Schweizer Außenministerin Micheline Calmy-Rey reiste am Samstagabend überraschend in die libysche Hauptstadt Tripolis und traf sich am Sonntagvormittag mit ihrem libyschen Kollegen Moussa Koussa. Wenige Stunden später unterzeichneten die zwei ein Abkommen zur Normalisierung der seit Längerem völlig zerrütteten Beziehungen zwischen den beiden Staaten.

Demnach sollte der in Libyen inhaftierte Schweizer Geschäftsmann Max Göldi noch in der Nacht auf Montag in die Schweiz zurückkehren dürfen. Göldi wurde am Donnerstag nach einer viermonatigen Haftstrafe wegen angeblicher Verletzungen von Visabestimmungen aus einem libyschen Gefängnis entlassen. Bereits vor seiner Haft war er mit einem zweiten Landsmann eineinhalb Jahre lange in Libyen festgehalten worden. >>> Carola Schneider | Sonntag, 13. Juin 2010

Mideast Comes Up with New Anti-smoking Laws
THE TIMES OF INDIA: The Middle East, long associated with the ubiquitous waterpipe, is intensifying an anti-smoking drive as several Arab countries ban the practice in public places, even if success looks difficult.

From Beirut to Cairo, cigarettes are smoked everywhere, not just in cafes and restaurants, but in banks, ministries and even hospitals.

Egypt, the most populous nation in the Arab world and the heaviest smoker, announced on Thursday its intention to make the Mediterranean city of Alexandria the country's ‘first smoke-free city.’

But the health ministry did not say how it planned to achieve this goal.

An existing law that prohibits smoking in public places is frequently flouted -- notably by civil servants and police.

Nearly 40 per cent of Egyptian men smoke, the vast majority of them throughout the day, according to a report published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in January.

On top of this, at least 70 per cent of those questioned for the survey said they were subjected to passive smoking at home or in the workplace.

Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are also looking to kick the habit, having all passed anti-smoking legislation in recent months.

In January, the Emirati president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, ordered a ban "on smoking in public transport and closed public places."

Within the UAE, Dubai took the lead, introducing smoking restrictions as far back as 2007. >>> AFP | Sunday, June 13, 2010

Saudi Arabia: Smoking Cigarettes
BLOG – STUFF SAUDI PEOPLE LIKE: It’s well known that when you start a habit when you’re young; it is really hard to get over it. A lot of Saudis start smoking at a young age, usually their first experiment with cigarettes will be with their peers in schools. From hiding in school’s restrooms to standing behind buildings, smoke comes out from every part of the schools. Most teenagers who smoke carry pack of cigarettes in one pocket and a bottle of cologne in the other. No matter how much you wear cologne or drink half of the bottle, in the end parents always find out that you smoke.

Every year the price of cigarettes go up, but that doesn’t matter. Saudis will put down money and finance a pack of cigarette, in order to get the nicotine in their system. It’s the illusion of the cool image that is associated with cigarette, makes Saudis want to smoke. Watch any Saudi smoke, from the way he holds the cigarette to the way he blows the smoke, as if he is in a Hollywood movie that is playing in a slow motion. Comment >>> saudislike | Monday, August 17, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: Heart attack hospital admissions have fallen since the smoking ban: The number of people admitted to hospital for heart attacks has dropped by an average of 100 a month since the introduction of the smoking ban in England, research shows. >>> Sam Lister, Health Editor | Wednesday, June 09, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Thousands of heart attacks 'prevented by the smoking ban': Thousands of heart attacks have been prevented by the smoking ban, according to the first study of its kind. >>> Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent | Wednesday, June 09, 2010

AFP: Unhealthy Scots 'living dangerously': study – LONDON — Scottish people are putting their lives at risk with an unhealthy lifestyle of heavy smoking, high alcohol intake and poor diet, health experts warned on Friday.

Scientists looked at five major risk factor to determine the general health of the Scottish population -- smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, poor diet, physical inactivity and being overweight.

They found that nearly the whole adult population (97.5%) fell into at least one of those categories, the experts wrote in the online journal BMC Public Health. >>> | Friday, June 11, 2010

Irak: Terroristen stürmen Zentralbank
ZEIT ONLINE: Verkleidete Terroristen haben die irakische Zentralbank in Bagdad angegriffen. Unter den Angreifern waren auch Selbstmordattentäter. Mindestens 15 Menschen wurden getötet.

Rauch steigt über der Zentralbank in Bagdad auf. Mindestens 15 Menschen kamen bei einem bewaffneten Angriff auf die Bank ums Leben. Bild: Zeit Online
Bei einem spektakulären Angriff auf die irakische Zentralbank in Bagdad haben Terroristen am Sonntag mindestens 15 Menschen getötet und über 40 verletzt. Die meisten der Opfer sind nach Angaben des Innenministeriums Angestellte des Geldinstitutes.

Die Angreifer waren als Soldaten verkleidet. Erst zündeten die Selbstmordattentäter unter den Terroristen innerhalb weniger Minuten mindestens sechs Bomben in der Umgebung des Gebäudes. Danach lieferten sich die übrigen Bewaffneten erbitterte Schusswechsel mit dem Sicherheitspersonal der Bank, drangen in das Gebäude ein und nahmen zahlreiche Angestellte und Kunden als Geiseln.

Über der irakischen Hauptstadt bildete sich eine weit sichtbare Rauchwolke, Hubschrauber kreisten am Himmel. Nach Angaben des Verteidigungsministeriums haben die Attentäter inzwischen Scharfschützen auf dem Dach postiert, die jeden unter Beschuss nehmen, der sich nähert. Polizei und Armee haben das Areal um die Zentralbank weiträumig abgeriegelt. Weiter lessen und kommentieren >>> Von Martin Gehlen | Sonntag, 13. Juni 2010

Kadhafi accuse la FIFA d'être une "mafia mondiale"
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: TRIPOLI | Le numéro un libyen Mouammar Kadhafi s'en est vivement pris samedi soir à la Fédération internationale de football (Fifa) qualifiée de "mafia mondiale" et d'"organisation corrompue", défendant de nouveau le droit de "petits pays" à accueillir la Coupe du Monde.

"Nous annonçons d'ici notre condamnation de cette mafia mondiale et de cette organisation corrompue", a déclaré le colonel Kadhafi dans un discours à l'occasion du 40e "anniversaire de l'évacuation des troupes américaines de Libye" le 11 juin 1970.
Initialement prévue vendredi, la commémoration de cet anniversaire avait été reportée à samedi, en raison de sa coïncidence avec l'ouverture du Mondial-2010. La Lybie s'était portée candidate pour l'organisation de l'événement, finalement confiée à l'Afrique du Sud.
"La politique corrompue suivie par cette organisation corrompue doit être combattue et nous allons la combattre régulièrement", a déclaré le Guide de la révolution libyenne devant des milliers de sympathisants et de militaires à l'aéroport militaire de Mîtiga, près de Tripoli. >>> AFP | Dimanche 13 Juin 2010

Violence Escalates in Southern Kyrgyzstan
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: OSH/BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan—Kyrgyz mobs burned Uzbek villages and slaughtered their residents Sunday as ethnic rioting engulfed southern Kyrgyzstan. The government ordered troops to shoot rioters dead but even that measure failed to stop the spiraling violence.

More than 100 people have been killed and over 1,000 wounded in the impoverished Central Asian nation since the violence began Thursday night. Doctors say that death toll is low, because wounded Uzbeks are too afraid of being attacked again to seek treatment in hospitals.

Thousands of Uzbeks have fled in panic to the border with Uzbekistan after their homes were torched by roving mobs of Kyrgyz men. Uzbek women and children were gunned down as they tried to escape, witnesses said.

Fires set by rioters have destroyed most of Osh, a city of 250,000, and looters have stolen most of its food. Triumphant crowds of Kyrgyz men took control of most of the city on Sunday while the few Uzbeks still in the city barricaded themselves in their neighborhoods.

The rampages spread quickly Sunday to Jalal-Abad, another major southern city, and neighboring villages, as mobs methodically set Uzbek houses, stores and cafes on fire. The rioters seized an armored vehicle and automatic weapons at a local military unit and attacked police stations around the region trying to get more firearms. Police and the military appeared to be on the defensive across the south, avoiding clashes with mobs. Read on and comment >>> A Wall Street Journal Roundup | Sunday, June 13, 2010

Embattled Kyrgyzstan Appeals to Russia

Europe Embraces the Cult of Austerity – But at What Cost?
THE OBSERVER: Eurozone finance ministers were still committed to spending their way to recovery only a few months ago. Then came the Greek debt crisis, which threatened to engulf the continent. Despite warnings from the US, Britain and its EU neighbours are braced for unprecedented public sector cuts

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is preparing her country for unprecedented cuts. Photograph: The Observer
When Angela Merkel talks about budget cuts these days she likes to invoke the "Swabian housewife" – Germany's equivalent of the parsimonious Scot. In that part of south-west Germany they have a reputation for scrimping and saving. Famously, Swabia's cooks make hearty soups out of all the leftovers in the kitchen. To the German chancellor they are the embodiments of good housekeeping.

"You can't keep living beyond your means," says Merkel. "One should simply ask the Swabian housewife."

By extolling the virtues of old-fashioned thrift, Merkel hoped last week to go some way towards explaining to ordinary Germans why they must suddenly swallow the most painful austerity pill administered by their government in generations. Last Monday, with some trepidation, she announced massive cuts of €11.2bn in 2011 and plans for a total of €80bn by 2014. Yesterday, in Stuttgart and elsewhere, the inevitable protests began on the streets.

Even for a country painfully aware, because of its history, of the danger of debt, the extent of corrective action came as a shock. "Germany has never agreed to an austerity package to this extent, but these cuts have to be made in order for the country to establish a stable economic future," Merkel said.

Across Europe other governments, scared by the Greek debt crisis, the repercussions of which imperil the very existence of the euro, have been doing the same, raising the spectre of mass layoffs in public services in the name of European unity. >>> Toby Helm, Ian Traynor and Paul Harris | Sunday, June 13, 2010

La marée noire «hante» sa présidence
20 MINUTES ONLINE: Barack Obama, qui doit constamment adapter son agenda à la marée noire du golfe du Mexique, risque de voir les prochains mois de sa présidence hantés par ce désastre.

La semaine du président des Etats-Unis aurait dû être consacrée à une tournée en Indonésie et en Australie, pour capitaliser sur le discours du Caire aux musulmans en 2009 et célébrer l'alliance stratégique avec Canberra.

Mais au lieu de cela, M. Obama effectuera lundi et mardi sa quatrième visite depuis début mai dans la région du Golfe, touchée par la pire catastrophe écologique jamais vécue par le pays.

De retour à la Maison Blanche, M. Obama devrait rencontrer mercredi le président de BP, Carl-Henric Svanberg, pour la première fois depuis le naufrage fin avril de la plateforme Deepwater Horizon exploitée par l'entreprise pétrolière britannique. 


M. Obama n'a pas ménagé ses critiques envers la société, au point de perturber la «relation privilégiée» entre Washington et Londres. Au cours d'une conversation téléphonique de 30 minutes samedi, M. Obama a a assuré à M. Cameron que les critiques qu'il a exprimées contre BP «n'ont rien à voir avec l'identité nationale» de la Grande-Bretagne. >>> afp | Dimanche 13 Juin 2010

Vatican: Pope Wants 'Human' Capital to Be Valued
ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL: Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday offered advice for European banking and development officials trying to help countries recover from the current economic crisis. The pontiff said finance and the economy were nothing more than a means to help people realise their potential and keep their dignity.

Benedict told officials of the European Council's Development Bank during a speech at the Vatican that leaders must value human "capital".

He also said that Christianity in Europe will allow the continent to keep its laws and social structures responsible and ethical. [Source: AKI] | Saturday, June 12, 2010

Liebesbriefe gegen die Mullahs: Am Jahrestag der iranischen Aufstände melden sich die Frauen der Inhaftierten
NZZ am SONNTAG: Ein Jahr nach den gefälschten Präsidentschaftswahlen sitzen in Iran Hunderte von Regimekritikern in Haft. Die Ehefrauen veröffentlichen im Internet, was sie ihren Männern schreiben und wie sie ihnen Mut machen.

Kann Liebe Sünde sein? Auch wenn sie es wäre, so wäre es den Ehefrauen der inhaftierten Oppositionellen in Iran egal. Sie haben eine neue und emotionale Form des Widerstands gegen die Regierung und den herrschenden Klerus gefunden: Sie veröffentlichen die Liebesbriefe an ihre Männer im Internet. Darin beschreiben sie ihre Sehnsucht und ihre Angst, aber auch Hoffnung und Trotz. Schon wegen der Intimität der Briefe ist das ein Affront gegen die religiösen Eiferer.

Hartherzige Wärter

«Mein Liebster», schreibt Jila Bani-Yaqoub ihrem Mann Bahman. «Gestern bin ich zu dir ins Evin-Gefängnis gefahren. Ich ahnte, dass sie mir nicht erlauben würden, dich zu sehen, aber ich wollte dir nah sein. Wenn nur noch die Mauern von Evin zwischen uns sind, fühle ich mich besser.» Weiter lessen und kommentieren >>> Silke Mertins, Jerusalem | Sonntag, 13. Juni 2010

Force, Fear Keep Iran Together
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: A year after Ahmadinejad’s ‘victory,’ the resistance dares not speak, but fissures exist

This may prove to be the darkest week in Iran’s recent history. There is, it seems, nowhere to go. Yet the nature of this darkness, its awkward fit with the official meaning of the Islamic regime, may show us a way forward.

Exactly a year ago Sunday, when it became apparent that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had claimed victory in an election whose results and conditions were not at all clear, the streets of Tehran began to fill with people.

It does not really matter whether Mr. Ahmadinejad stole an election that went against him (as protesters claim) or not; what this year of protest has shown is that Iran is far more fissiparous than anyone had thought, and that only force and fear, not faith and support, keeps it conglomerated. Even if you discount the hyperbole the foreign media directed at the “green tide” last year, this was by far the largest and lengthiest uprising in the Iranian revolution’s history.

It encompassed a huge swath of society; most significantly, it involved large numbers of clerics and top leaders, including former prime ministers, who were actively involved in the 1979 revolution and whose loyalty to the state is beyond question: This could not easily be dismissed as the work of radical guerrilla groups or outside agitators salaried by the United States or Britain.

As the year has progressed, and especially after the authorities went on a killing spree in December, on the holy day of Ashura, these figures have become more antipathetic toward the regime itself: There is now an official, built-in resistance with a name and an identity.

But you will probably not be seeing much of this resistance this week. It has become far, far too dangerous. Thursday, the key leaders of the protests, former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, told people to stay home: The alternative was a slaughter. The regime’s shift from authoritarian to totalitarian – its adoption of Stasi-like practices that had not been part of its repertoire before – have rendered such demonstrations temporarily impossible. Read on and comment >>> Doug Saunders | Saturday, June 12, 2010

Sarah Sands: Clever Clegg Minds His Languages - All Six of Them
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: As Nick Clegg fell fluently into German during his visit to Berlin last week, his senior Cabinet colleague William Hague held fast to his translation earphones so he could understand what the Deputy Prime Minister was saying. I bet he did. Anything could have been going on. Clegg could have signed Britain up to the euro.

A mastery of foreign languages is regarded by most of us with admiration – and suspicion. Clegg is more connected to European blood lines than the Royal Family, and can converse in most countries. He famously has five languages, six if you count his much-admired body language. It is not a question of token phrases. When John F Kennedy said "Ich bin ein Berliner" (before bashfully calling out for a translator) he was cheered wildly for managing four words. Clegg gabbled about the mist in Britain and the sun in Berlin before advancing to a meteorological metaphor about the refreshing German air being an omen for "our strengthening relationship".

Hague, who knows only Yorkshire drizzle, must have taken a dim view of his political colleague, a former ski instructor, and his fondness for high diplomatic altitudes. More wondrous than Clegg's German is his Dutch. His effortless conversation with Dutch journalists on a train has made YouTube. He did not just speak in Dutch, he gestured and ruminated and made jokes in Dutch. >>> Sarah Sands | Sunday, June 13, 2010

András Schiff: Goldberg Variations
Part 1:



Part 2:

Migrants 'Make Germany Dumb' Says Central Banker in Astonishing* Outburst
MAIL ONLINE: Immigrants are making Germany 'dumber', according to a board member of the country's central bank.

Thilo Sarrazin claimed the 'limited education' of immigrants - coupled with their high birth rate - meant Germans 'are becoming dumber in a simple way'.

He said: 'There's a difference in the reproduction of population groups with varying intelligence.'

It is not the first time the 65-year-old member of the Bundesbank has caused controversy since he joined last year.

In October he described Muslim children as 'underclass' citizens.

'I don't have to accept someone who lives off a state they reject, doesn't properly take care of the education of his children-and keeps producing more little girls in headscarves,' Mr Sarrazin said.

'That goes for 70 percent of the Turkish and 90 percent of the Arabic population of Berlin.' He added that they were not fit for much other than 'fruit and vegetable selling'. >>> Allan Hall in Berlin | Saturday, June 12, 2010

*What's so astonishing about this? And was it really an "outburst"; or was the man merely stating the obvious – uttering the truth? People don't like hearing the truth these days. The truth is far too painful! – © Mark

Dutch Town Lets Its Blond Hair Down for Race Row Politician Wilders
Photograph: The Times
THE TIMES: Bouffant blond wigs have sold out in Venlo, a town in the Deep South of the Netherlands.

They represent the trademark bleached hairdo of Geert Wilders, Venlo’s most famous son and leader of the far-right Freedom Party which promises to ban mosque-building and the Koran and end Muslim immigration.

Mr Wilders is now involved in coalition talks after winning 24 seats in the 150-member Dutch parliament in this week’s election. Some commentators believe he could join a cabinet led by the right-wing liberals who topped the poll with 31 MPs.

In Venlo — in Limburg province, on the German border — one in four voters backed the man whose extravagant appearance has earned him the nickname “Mozart”.

Elian Van Ewijk, 35, the owner of a party gear shop, kept the last of the €6.95 (£6) hairpieces for himself.

“I do not like his ideas about Islam but I like what he says about keeping the retirement age and improving healthcare,” he said.

“When I am going to a Muslim country I have to behave like the people there. These people have to do things like us when they come here.” >>> David Charter, Venlo | Saturday, June 12, 2010

Iran's Defiant Green Movement Vows to Fight On
THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive: Zahra Rahnavard, wife of defeated reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, says opposition remains strong despite repression and violence under Ahmadinejad regime since disputed election a year ago

Zahra Rahnavard, wife of Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, waves to supporters during a pro-reform rally in June 2009. Photograph: The Guardian
Iran's opposition Green movement, fighting for democracy since the disputed election a year ago, has not been crushed despite having to call off protests in the face of government repression, says a defiant Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of the defeated reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Rahnavard, a high-profile academic, sculptor and campaigner for women's rights, says she is prepared to "face the gallows" in the struggle for freedom – but insists the movement her husband leads is reformist, not revolutionary, and wants to see respect for the Iranian constitution.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, her first for a British newspaper since mass unrest erupted last June, Rahnavard lambasts the Islamic regime for its "Tiananmen-style" attack on demonstrators protesting that their votes had been stolen by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"This movement started with the simple question: 'Where is my vote?'" she said. "But because the response was violence and bullets and repression from the ruling regime, the situation entered another phase which was completely unpredictable.

People's demands have changed so now there are more fundamental questions and more intensive criticism of the regime. The Islamic republic has deviated from its path and goals.

"We are still pursuing our ideals of 30 years ago [the Islamic revolution of 1979]. But the current government is the result of an electoral coup d'etat. The Green movement has not been defeated at all. It is going forward." >>> Saeed Kamali Dehghan and Ian Black, Middle East Editor | Friday, June 11, 2010

Obama Faces First Backlash in the US Over His Continued Attacks on BP
THE TELEGRAPH: A backlash against President Barack Obama's vilification of BP over the Gulf oil spill is developing in America where he is under fire for playing politics with the issue.

One of his most sweeping demands of BP - that the company be made to foot the bill for a drilling moratorium imposed by his administration - has been undermined after it emerged that his own officials modified expert advice.

His call for BP to pay the wages of other companies' oil workers laid off during the halt to deep-water drilling and other related costs was initially viewed by the White House as a popular punitive tactic against the beleaguered British energy giant.

But the campaign has come under fire from US businesses, Republican politicians and even some lawyers suing BP over the oil spill as legally unenforceable "big government" posturing.

Most damaging is the revelation that the administration modified a report by a panel of experts advising Mr Obama. Two paragraphs were added calling for the moratorium, which was not part of the team's conclusions.

More than half of the experts, who were recommended for their know-how by the National Academy of Engineering, have since revealed that they actually opposed a halt to drilling.

Ken Salazar, the interior minister who ordered the ban, has now apologised. "The experts involved in crafting the report gave us their recommendation and their input," he said. "It was not their decision on the moratorium. It was my decision and the president's decision to move forward."

The controversy has fuelled the belief that Mr Obama is trying to deflect criticism of his handling of the crisis by lashing out at BP - despite reportedly assuring David Cameron, the British prime minister, in a telephone conversation yesterday that he had "no interests" in undermining the company's value.

The President, who has repeatedly used the company's former name, British Petroleum, as a reminder of its foreign roots, said last week that he was looking for "ass to kick" and would himself have fired Tony Hayward, the chief executive. >>> Philip Sherwell in New York | Saturday, June 12, 2010

Schiffskonvoi: Türkei fordert Entschuldigung von Israel
WELT ONLINE: Die Türkei verlangt nach der Erstürmung des Schiffskonvois eine Entschuldigung von Israel. Ansonsten drohe das Ende der diplomatischen Beziehungen.

Proteste in Ankara: Die Türkei erhöht den Druck auf Israel. Bild: Welt Online
Die Türkei fordert von Israel eine Entschuldigung für die Erstürmung des Schiffskonvois auf dem Weg in den abgeriegelten Gaza-Streifen. Auch müsste nach dem Tod von neun türkischen Aktivisten eine Entschädigung gezahlt werden, zitierte die französische Tageszeitung „Le Monde“ den türkischen Präsidenten Abdullah Gül. Sollte sich Israel nicht bewegen, könne die Türkei die diplomatischen Beziehungen abbrechen. Gül sprach von einem Verbrechen, das eher der Extremistenorganisation Al-Kaida als einem Staat ähnlich sehe. >>> Reuters/S.K. | Freitag, 11. Juni 2010

Nordkorea droht mit "Flammenmeer" in Seoul
WELT ONLINE: Scharfe Töne aus Pjöngjang: Nordkorea droht dem Süden mit einem "unbegrenzten Militärschlag" und dem Niederbrennen der Hauptstadt.

Eine nordkoreanische Wache steht an der Demarkationslinie der entmilitarisierten Zone zwischen Nord- und Südkorea. Pjöngjang hat die Kriegsrhetorik gegen den Süden verschärft. Bild: Welt Online
Im Konflikt mit Südkorea hat das kommunistische Nordkorea mit Militärschlägen gegen südkoreanische Propaganda-Anlagen an der Grenze gedroht. Die Volksarmee werde „einen unbegrenzten Militärschlag ausführen, um die Mittel der Gruppe für die psychologische Kriegsführung gegen die Volksrepublik (Nordkorea) in allen Gebieten entlang der Front in die Luft zu jagen“, heißt es in einer „wichtigen Erklärung“ aus Pjöngjang.

In der Stellungnahme des Führungsstabs der nordkoreanischen Volksarmee, die von den Staatsmedien veröffentlicht wurde, wird die Regierung in Seoul erneut als „Gruppe von Verrätern“ beschimpft. Sie solle sich vor Augen führen, dass die „militärische Vergeltung“ ein Schlag sei, der selbst Seoul in ein „Flammenmeer“ verwandeln könne. Diese Metapher hat Nordkorea in der Vergangenheit wiederholt in seinen Drohgebärden gegenüber Südkorea benutzt.

Mit der Erklärung verschärft Nordkorea seine Warnungen an Südkorea vor einer Wiederaufnahme von propagandistischen Lautsprecher-Durchsagen. Bereits im Mai hatte das Land mit der Zerstörung der südkoreanischen Lautsprecher gedroht. >>> DPA/CN | Samstag, 12. Juni 2010

'EU Will Move to End Blockade'
THE JERUSALEM POST: Spain to propose EU exert pressure on Israel to end Gaza blockade.

Spain will propose the European Union exert strong diplomatic pressure on Israel to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip, the country's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Saturday.

The Spanish prime minister said at a joint press conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that Spain wants to "forge a strong common position" with EU countries in the face of the humanitarian situation in Gaza. >>> Associated Press and JPost Staff | Saturday, June 12, 2010