Michael Jackson 'Would Still Be Alive If He Had Embraced Islam'
THE TELEGRAPH: Michael Jackson would still be alive today if he had converted to Islam, according to his elder brother Jermaine.

Jermaine Jackson says that he considered himself Michael’s “protector” and that the pop star – who died last year, aged 50 – “trusted Islam” even though he did not convert.

“I felt that if Michael would have embraced Islam he would still be here today and I say that for many reasons,” said Jermaine in an interview to be broadcast on the BBC World Service on Friday. >>> Neil Midgley | Thursday, June 24, 2010

Kevin Rudd Dumped as Julia Gillard Becomes Australian Prime Minister
THE TELEGRAPH: Australia has its first female prime minister after Kevin Rudd stood down on Thursday, handing the leadership to his deputy Julia Gillard.



Mr Rudd was convinced to step aside after it became obvious during an emergency caucus meeting that he did not have the support of enough MPs to continue serving as prime minister.

The British-born Ms Gillard was reportedly backed by at least 75 of the Labour Party's 115 MPs, sending a clear and emphatic message to Mr Rudd that it was time to go.

The threat to Mr Rudd's leadership emerged on Wednesday night, after senior Labour powerbrokers told him that he had lost their support and Ms Gillard revealed that she would challenge him.

The prime minister was urged to step down, but a defiant Mr Rudd announced that he would go to a vote.

After a night of frantic phonecalls to gauge support, Mr Rudd decided not to stand against Ms Gillard, handing her the prime ministership unopposed. >>> Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Thursday, June 24, 2010

Related article here

Jesus Did Not Die On Cross, Says Scholar
THE TELEGRAPH: Jesus may not have died nailed to the cross because there is no evidence that the Romans crucified prisoners two thousand years ago, a scholar has claimed.

A penitent is nailed to a wooden cross to mark the death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday in the town of Pampanga , Philippines. `photo: The Telegraph
The legend of his execution is based on the traditions of the Christian church and artistic illustrations rather than antique texts, according to theologian Gunnar Samuelsson.

He claims the Bible has been misinterpreted as there are no explicit references [to] the use of nails or to crucifixion - only that Jesus bore a "staurus" towards Calvary which is not necessarily a cross but can also mean a "pole".

Mr Samuelsson, who has written a 400-page thesis after studying the original texts, said: "The problem is descriptions of crucifixions are remarkably absent in the antique literature.

"The sources where you would expect to find support for the established understanding of the event really don't say anything."

The ancient Greek, Latin and Hebrew literature from Homer to the first century AD describe an arsenal of suspension punishments but none mention "crosses" or "crucifixion."

Mr Samuelsson, of Gothenburg University, said: "Consequently, the contemporary understanding of crucifixion as a punishment is severely challenged. >>> | Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Al Gore Accused of 'Sexually Harassing' Massage Therapist
THE TELEGRAPH: Al Gore, the former Vice President, has been accused of "unwanted sexual contact" by a Portland massage therapist.

Al Gore kisses wife Tipper at the Democratic Convention in August 2000. Photo: The Telegraph
The woman claims that the advances happened at a hotel during an October 2006 visit, but no charges were filed due to lack of evidence, law officials have said.

An attorney representing the woman contacted police in late 2006, said Michael Schrunk, Multnomah County District Attorney. Mr Schrunk said the woman – who has not been identified – refused to be interviewed by detectives and did not want the investigation to proceed.

The woman, however, contacted police in January 2009 and gave a statement, saying Mr Gore tried to have sex with her during an appointment at the upscale downtown Hotel Lucia, where Mr Gore was reportedly registered as "Mr. Stone."

The National Enquirer first reported the allegations on Wednesday, identifying the accuser as a 54-year-old woman. >>> | Thursday, June 24, 2010

Council of Europe Votes Against Ban on Burka*
THE TELEGRAPH: MPs from 47 countries have unanimously voted against a general ban on the wearing of the burka in public.

The Parliamentary Assembly of Europe's human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, passed a resolution warning that if governments imposed such a ban they would be denying women ''who genuinely and freely desire to do so'' their right to cover their faces.

But while the Assembly opposed a general ban, it left the door open for targeted laws against the burka, pointing out that legal restrictions may be justified ''for security purposes, or where the public or professional functions of individuals require their religious neutrality, or that their face can be seen''.

The vote came in Strasbourg amid continuing controversy in France over efforts to introduce a general burka ban.

The Muslim Council of Britain has attacked President Nicolas Sarkozy as ''patronising and offensive'' after he declared: ''The burka is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience. We cannot accept to have [sic] in our country [sic] women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity.'' >>> | Wednesday, June 23, 2010

*How stupid and short-sighted can these MPs be? Do they want women to be kept holed up as they are in Afghanistan? Do they want to turn men into sexy lechers who can no longer control their sexual urges when confronted by a beautiful woman with bare face and beautiful hair as is often the case in the Middle East? For that is what happens in societies in which it is de rigueur for women to be kept in purdah: Over time, men lose their ability to control themselves. They become socially inept.

Nicolas Sarkozy is absolutely right when he says that the full veil is not a religious symbol. The full veil stems from the desert where it was used by women in the better-off classes to segregate themselves from the poorer women who had to labour in the fields and in the great outdoors. In other words, it was a symbol of class as much as anything else. It was also a way for Saudi women to keep their skin as pale as possible. Take a trip to the desert Kingdom! You will find that women with an English rose complexion are as prized today as they ever were. Covering the face from the brutal rays of the desert sun was a way of keeping women from the upper classes as protected as possible.

As always with these things, its significance becomes blurred, and the custom takes on a life of its own.

The Koran calls for modesty. Whose version of modesty makes a woman a non-person? Whose version of modesty places women under the control of the males in the family? Whose version of modesty states that women should be kept in purdah?

The MPs who have voted against a ban have voted for restrictions on the human rights of women, and against feminism and liberation. Moreover, this decision sends out the wrong signal: Basically, it tells Muslims that they don’t have to integrate into our societies, for truly no integration can take place where women are enveloped in such ridiculous cloth.

This is the West. They have chosen to come here to live. We have welcomed them. But they have rejected our customs. It is not, I repeat NOT, our custom to keep women in purdah. If that’s what they want, they should go elsewhere. And the people who represent us in these councils and parliaments should have the courage to stand up for OUR WAY OF LIFE. Moreover, it should be remembered that there are many Muslim women who wear the full veil defiantly, as a way of flaunting their 'superiority', for that is how these people truly feel: superior. We should do all we can to stamp this out. – © Mark

Verbunden mit diesem Artikel:

DIE PRESSE: Europarat: Schweiz soll Minarett-Verbot aufheben >>> APA/dpa | Mittwoch, 23. Juni 2010

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Vollverschleierung: Spanischer Senat votiert für Burka-Bann >>> kgp/dpa/AFP | Mittwoch, 23 Juni 2010

More related articles here and here

Minn. Pastor Likely to Keep Job Despite Gay Report
ASSOCIATED PRESS: MINNEAPOLIS — A Lutheran pastor ardently critical of allowing gays into the clergy is on leave from his Minneapolis church after a gay magazine reported his attendance at a support group for men struggling with same-sex attraction.

Church officials, however, said Wednesday that the Rev. Tom Brock likely will return to the pulpit at Hope Lutheran Church because he acted in accordance with his faith by attending the group.

A fixture on local cable access shows, Brock regularly broadcasts conservative views on homosexuality and criticizes the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for liberalizing its gay clergy policy.

Lavender Magazine published a story last week about Brock's quiet attendance of the Faith in Action meetings, written by a reporter who falsely posed as a member of the group.

"The fact that he said one thing publicly, and privately he's a homosexual — that's somewhat inconsistent," said Lavender president Stephen Rocheford. "This company has a policy not to out people. The one exception is a public figure who says one thing and does another."

The Lavender article never explicitly said Brock confessed to homosexual activity. It quotes him at one point talking about a recent mission trip to Eastern Europe, of which he says, "I fell into temptation. I was weak." >>> Patrick Condon | Thursday, June 24, 2010

Obama remplace McChrystal en Afghanistan par le général Petraeus
Le général McChrystal lors de son arrivée à la Maison Blanche pour un entretien avec Barack Obama, le 23 juin 2010. Photo : Le Monde
LE MONDE: Le président américain Barack Obama a annoncé, mercredi 23 juin, avoir révoqué son chef militaire en Afghanistan, le général Stanley McChrystal, après ses propos désobligeants sur l'exécutif. Il l'a remplacé immédiatement par un autre officier d'expérience, le général David Petraeus, actuellement commandant des forces américaines en Irak et en Afghanistan.

S'exprimant face à la presse dans la roseraie de la Maison Blanche, le président a estimé à propos du général McChrystal, avec qui il s'était entretenu plus tôt, que sa "conduite telle qu'elle apparaît dans un article récemment publié ne répond pas aux critères requis d'un général". Il a toutefois rendu hommage à la carrière de l'officier et assuré ne pas l'avoir révoqué à cause d'"insultes personnelles".

Selon le magazine Rolling Stone qui a publié leurs propos, le général McChrystal et certains de ses adjoints s'en sont pris nommément à de hauts responsables de l'administration. Le général se moquait notamment du vice-président américain Joe Biden. Le président a assuré que le remplacement de Stanley McChrystal par David Petraeus ne signalait pas un changement de stratégie sur le terrain. >>> LeMonde.fr avec AFP et Reuters | Mercredi 23 Juin 2010

Vollverschleierung: Spanischer Senat votiert für Burka-Bann
Muslimische Frauen: Verbot der Vollverschleierung nun auch in Spanien
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Auf Belgien und Frankreich folgt Spanien: Auch hier soll muslimischen Frauen das Tragen von Burka und Niqab untersagt werden. Mit einer hauchdünnen Mehrheit stimmte der Senat in Madrid für einen Antrag der Opposition. Nun muss die Regierung ein entsprechendes Gesetz ausarbeiten.

Madrid - Überraschung im spanischen Parlament: Auf Antrag der oppositionellen Volkspartei PP sollten die Abgeordneten über ein Verbot der Vollverschleierung entscheiden - und stimmten mit einer Mehrheit von nur zwei Stimmen dafür. Damit sollen Burka und Niqab grundsätzlich aus dem Stadtbild verbannt werden. Vollschleier seien diskriminierend, argumentierten die Konservativen.

Der Antrag der PP galt eigentlich als chancenlos, in letzter Minute fand er aber die Unterstützung der gemäßigten katalanischen Nationalisten (CiU) und einer weiteren kleinen Partei. Für das Verbot sprachen sich somit 131 Senatoren aus, 129 votierten dagegen. Zu den Gegnern eines Banns zählte zwar die Sozialistische Partei (PSOE) von Ministerpräsident José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Dessen Regierung muss nun aber ein entsprechendes Gesetz ausarbeiten. >>> kgp/dpa/AFP | Mittwoch, 23 Juni 2010

Greedy Bankers Make Sure You’ll Have to Slog Away Till You’re Seventy Plus (But Bankers Will Probably Be Exempted from the Work-longer Scheme)
THE TELEGRAPH: Millions of employees who are not saving for their retirement will be enrolled in company schemes under a radical shake-up of pensions which eventually could see most people working into their seventies.

In a landmark announcement intended to herald a new era of shorter but wealthier retirements, the Government will encourage people to work for longer by making it illegal for companies to force staff to give up work at 65.

At the same time, the age at which employees can claim the state pension will rise to 66 as soon as 2016 for men — 10 years earlier than the last government had decreed.

The Coalition is to consult on the most appropriate pace at which to increase the retirement age even higher in line with rising life expectancy.

The outcome is likely to be that, by the second half of the century, most people will work into their seventies.

In return, workers would receive more generous state pensions boosted by membership of company schemes, into which employees will be enrolled unless they opt out. Those reliant on state pensions will benefit from the restored link between pensions and earnings announced in this week’s Budget. Pensions shake-up could see most people working into their seventies >>> Andrew Porter and Rosa Prince | Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Inondations au Brésil: 600 personnes disparues
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: La pluie diminue en intensité et permet aux secouristes de rejoindre les villages isolés.

44 corps ont déjà été découverts. Photo : Tribune de Genève
Des secouristes brésiliens recherchaient mercredi 600 personnes portées disparues suite aux fortes pluies qui ont provoqué des inondations dans deux Etats brésiliens. Le bilan des victimes s’est alourdi, s’élevant désormais à 44 morts après la découverte de trois nouveaux corps.

Selon la Défense civile de l’Etat d’Alagoas, les pluies ont diminué en intensité, ce qui permet désormais aux soldats et aux secouristes de se rendre jusqu’à certaines villes isolées, en bateau et en hélicoptère. >>> AP | Mercredi 23 Juin 2010

Australian PM Kevin Rudd Fighting Leadership Coup
THE TELEGRAPH: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is fighting to hold on to power after senior colleagues forced him to call a leadership election.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd speaks during a press conference in Canberra, Australia, on 16 June 2010. Photo: The Telegraph
Mr Rudd was told he had lost the backing of several MPs and the AWU, one of the country's most influential unions, who were switching their support to his Deputy Julia Gillard.

Party bosses urged Ms Gillard to challenge the prime minister after he failed to secure a lift in the polls in what was considered a make-or-break week.

She spoke to him on Wednesday to demand the leadership vote after being told the majority of Labour Party MPs would back her.

During an extraordinary night in Canberra, one unnamed MP reportedly said that Mr Rudd was a "cryptofascist" who had never bothered to build support within the party and was now paying for his mistakes.

The dramatic move against Mr Rudd comes amid fears he will lose an election later this year. Labour Party MPs hope Ms Gillard, who is seen as more voter-friendly than the rage-prone prime minister, has a far better chance. >>> Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Smoking Taboo for Muslims, Says DOH
PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER: MANILA, Philippines—Paging smokers in Muslim communities nationwide.

Did you know that aside from 40-plus cancer-causing chemicals, cigarettes also contain “secret additives” like pig’s blood and wine, which are haram, or forbidden under Islamic laws?

Dr. Tato Usman, head of the Non-Communicable Diseases Office of the Department of Health-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, on Wednesday made the disclosure during a news conference at the DOH headquarters in Manila.

Citing “latest findings” of the South Africa National Halal Authority, or Sanha, Usman urged his “brother Muslims to abstain from smoking tobacco products.”

Usman also warned against the many ill-effects of cigarette smoking to human health, noting that “one stick of cigarette alone contains 43 carcinogens, or cancer-causing chemicals.”

The DOH official referred to, among others, nicotine, cadmium, stearic acid, tolvene, ammonia, carbon monoxide, arsenic, methane, and acetic acid. >>> Jerry E. Esplanada, Philippine Daily Inquirer | Wednesday, June 23, 2010

New York Hikes Cigarette Tax Again

The Great Canada-Michigan-New York City Earthquake
TIME NEWS FEED: A 5.0-magnitude earthquake in central Canada has left several cities shaken up, as the area rarely deals with tremors.

Although original reports measured the quake at 5.5 on the Richter Scale, an updated assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey knocked it down to 5.0. While a 5.0-quake isn’t usually considered particularly powerful—as far as earthquakes go—the quake’s origin was thought to be quite deep, which impacts how far the effects are felt. The epicenter was in the Ontario-Quebec border region, north of Ottawa, approximately 11 miles below ground. >>> Megan Gibson | Wednesday, June 23, 2010

THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Earthquake shakes central Canada: Magnitude 5.0 quake moved the ground in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and several U.S. states >>> | Wednesday, June 23, 2010

CYBERPRESSE: Ottawa: la terre a tremblé – Un tremblement de terre d'une magnitude de 5 a secoué tout l'ouest du Québec et l'est ontarien, mercredi après-midi à 13h42. >>> Louis-Denis Ébacher et Philippe Orfali | Mercredi 23 Juin 2010

View from the Left: Obama's Liberal Critics Find Their Voice
THE GUARDIAN: We on the left have been in numb denial about President Obama's failures. But as the crises pile up we can't remain silent

Until President Obama's first ever Oval Office address-to-the-nation the other night BP's chief executive Tony Hayward was winning the booby prize as "America's most clueless man" for his gaffe-prone TV interviews. But Obama is gaining fast. His self-exonerating speech, full of sparkling generalities and with no hint of frank accountability for his administration's culpability in the nation's worst environmental disaster, was like the man himself, bloodless and emotionally detached from the human costs of an oil invasion that's now spreading from Louisiana to Texas, Florida and as far north as the Carolinas.

Instead, to cover his impotence to cope with the seemingly unstoppable 60,000 barrel a day spillage, and his deference to BP he's appointing – what else? – one of those tired old wheezes, a "tsar" to oversee the Gulf spill effort and a "commission" to investigate its causes which by now are well known by everyone except the clueless White House. Don't they listen to their own scientific advisers?

Tony Hayward must feel a little relief that the spotlight on him as a 24-karat fool shifted momentarily on Tuesday night to our do-nothing-except-make-war president. 

But the dogs are waking up and barking in the night.

Until BP's blowout in the Gulf eight weeks ago the American left (what there is of it) trailed poodle-like after Barack Obama, refusing to criticise, let alone, attack "our guy in the White House". We had worked our butts off for his election, and now we were punched out or perhaps felt we had nowhere else to go – and isn't it nice for a change to have a president who can parse a complicated sentence? Any lingering doubts we had were stifled after one scary look at Obama's yowling enemies – racist and crazy about Palin – which was enough to send us whimpering back to our kennels. But like tiny buds of spring little fragile flowers of dissent are springing up all over the place, sometimes unexpectedly. >>> Clancy Sigal | Saturday, June 19, 2010

HT: Always On Watch >>>

Iraqi LGBT organisation. Image: Google Images
US and UK Failing to Take Iraq's Gay Pogrom Seriously
THE GUARDIAN: Both countries deny any Iraqi state involvement in anti-gay militias, but LGBT supporters suggest otherwise

Last week, 12 Iraqi police officers burst into a house in Karbala, beat up and blindfolded the six occupants and bundled them off in three vans, taking the computers they found with them. The house was then burned down by unknown people.

The house was a new "emergency shelter" run by the Iraqi LGBT organisation.

Two days later, one of the men turned up in hospital with a throat wound saying he'd been tortured. Iraqi LGBT has ordered those in its other two safe houses to move immediately.

The group says the police action is consistent with other state attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Iraq. It has information that the other five – two gay men, one lesbian and two transgender people – have been transported 100 miles north to the interior ministry in Baghdad, where they'll be interrogated (ie tortured) to find out more about the group. Then, going on past experience, they'll probably be handed to militias loyal to Shi'a clerics Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani and Muqtada al-Sadr (both of whom have called for homosexuals to be put to death) and their mutilated bodies will turn up later.

But it is also clear from past experience that there is unlikely to be a sustained international outcry from gay people, governments or others about this latest incident. >>> Paul Canning | Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Obama Remarks on McChrystal Dismissal
THE WASHINGTON POST: President Obama accepted Gen. Stanley McChrystal's resignation after controversial remarks in Rolling Stone magazine, replacing him with Gen. David Petraeus. Obama called the decision "a change in personnel...not a change in policy" in Afghanistan. (AP)



THE WASHINGTON POST: Don't blame McChrystal, blame Obama: Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal should not lose his job because of the article about him in Rolling Stone magazine. If anyone deserves blame for the latest airing of the administration’s internal feuds over Afghanistan, it is President Obama. >>> Jackson Diehl | Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The Wimps in the White House >>>

Pakistan: Taliban nennen Deutschen mit Burka "Kameraden"
WELT ONLINE: Der in Pakistan festgenommene Deutsche, der sich mit einer Burka tarnte, soll in Verbindung mit Islamisten und Al-Qaida-Kämpfern stehen.

Der Deutsche trug bei seiner Festnahme einen Ganzkörperschleier. Bild: Welt Online
Ein im Nordwesten Pakistans festgenommener deutscher Staatsbürger hat offenbar extremistische Verbindungen. Die pakistanischen Taliban bezeichneten ihn als einen ihrer Kämpfer. „Er ist unser Kamerad“, sagte ein Taliban-Sprecher. „Wir haben viele Deutsche dort, die sich am Dschihad beteiligen. Das sollte niemanden überraschen.“

Nach Geheimdienstangaben hat der Deutsche zudem Verbindung zum Terrornetzwerk al-Qaida. Erste Ermittlungen hätten ergeben, dass der Mann an mehreren Angriffen gegen die internationalen Truppen in Afghanistan beteiligt gewesen sei, sagte ein Mitarbeiter des pakistanischen Geheimdienstes. >>> Reuters/dpa/cn | Dienstag, 22. Juni 2010

Europarat: Schweiz soll Minarett-Verbot aufheben
DIE PRESSE: Der Europarat ist gegen ein Minarettverbot. Der Baustopp sei ein Verstoß gegen die Europäische Menschenrechts-Konvention. Der Rat sprach sich auch gegen ein Verbot des Ganzkörperschleiers aus.

Der Europarat hat die Schweiz aufgefordert, das "diskriminierende" Bauverbot für Minarette so rasch wie möglich aufzuheben. Für die Übergangszeit sollte die Schweiz ein entsprechendes Moratorium beschließen, hieß es in einer einstimmigen Entschließung der parlamentarischen Versammlung am Mittwoch. Der Baustopp sei eine "Diskriminierung der muslimischen Gemeinschaft und ein Verstoß gegen die Europäische Menschenrechtskonvention. >>> APA/dpa | Mittwoch, 23. Juni 2010

NZZ ONLINE: Europarat fordert Aufhebung des Minarett-Verbots: Resolution einstimmig verabschiedet >>> sda/afp/dpa | Mittwoch, 23. Juni 2010

French Radio Station Fires Political Satirist
THE TELEGRAPH: France's fiercest and most popular satirist, who has become the scourge of President Nicolas Sarkozy and top politicians, has been fired from the country's leading current affairs radio programme, sparking cries of political censorship.

Stéphane Guillon: Mr Guillon's dismissal inevitably raised questions of political interference, as the head of Radio France ? the public radio group running seven public stations ? is directly nominated by Mr Sarkozy. Photo: The Telegraph
Two million listeners tuned into Stéphane Guillon's weekday 7.55am slots on France Inter, its equivalent of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, in which he has savaged public figures, both Left and Right for the past two and a half years.

Top political figures, including Mr Sarkozy, had been calling for his head for months, as they believe he has overstepped the mark between humour and insults. He says he has merely returned political satire to its rightful place in France, whose "bling" President he has thanked for single-handedly reviving the genre.

Mr Guillon's dismissal inevitably raised questions of political interference, as the head of Radio France – the public radio group running seven public stations – is directly nominated by Mr Sarkozy, and the head of France Inter is a friend of the President's wife.

It comes days after Mr Sarkozy summoned the editor-in-chief of Le Monde to the Elysée and reportedly threatened to remove state aid if he sold the prestigious newspaper to a group of Left-wing businessmen.

Jean-Luc Hees, the head of Radio France, announced yesterday that Mr Guillon would not be returning to the airwaves after the summer break. He said: "Humour must not be confiscated by little tyrants." Despite the huge audience figures, he said: "this comedy slot has been a failure" and was of "great intellectual poverty".

"If humour is reduced to insults, I cannot tolerate it for others, nor for myself," he said, saying Mr Guillon had "spat" on him in his sketches. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Wednesday, June 23, 2010