SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Mehrere zehntausend Schwule und Lesben sind friedlich durch Rom gezogen. Sie haben vor allem gegen die Zunehmende Gewalt gegen Homosexuelle demonstriert.
Sunday, July 04, 2010
ZEIT ONLINE: Europa entdeckt die Tugend des Sparens. Es sollte nicht auf die Rufe aus Amerika hören, mehr Geld auszugeben
In der Panik, die nach dem Crash von 2008 ausbrach, sangen sie alle mit einer Stimme, von Washington über Berlin bis Peking: »Wir fluten die Wirtschaft mit Geld und Nachfrage, koste es, was es wolle. Nie wieder Weltwirtschaftskrise wie in den Dreißigern!« Nach der griechischen Fast-Pleite und inmitten einer zögerlichen Erholung ist der Chor zerfallen. In Europa stehen die Sparer und Schuldenkiller; in Amerika will Obama die »Fehler der Vergangenheit« nicht wiederholen und bedrängt zumal die Deutschen, weiter zu fluten. Sein Chefideologe Paul Krugman, der Nobelpreisträger, hält ihnen gar den Unglückskanzler Heinrich Brüning (1930 bis 1932) vor, der mit seiner Geiz-ist-Heil-Politik den »Untergang der Weimarer Republik besiegelt« hätte.
Unsere Angela Brüning ist diesmal, anders als zu Beginn der Griechenkrise, mit ihrem 80-Milliarden-Sparprojekt nicht allein. Die Briten, als Defizit-Sünder fast so schlimm wie die Griechen, wollen bis 2016 gar 155 Milliarden Euro schaffen. Selbst Merkels Widersacher Sarkozy, dessen Land die Staatsgläubigkeit erfunden hat, will in drei Jahren 100 Milliarden Euro einsparen. Sind die Europäer klüger als die Amerikaner? Ja. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben >>> Von Josef Joffe | Freitag, 02. Juli 2010
leJDD.fr: En six mois, le président du Conseil, inexistant sur le devant de la scène, s’est pourtant imposé en coulisses
Mon nom est personne. S’il devait un jour écrire son autobiographie, Herman Van Rompuy pourrait choisir ce titre. Depuis six mois, l’ancien Premier ministre belge, 62 ans, est pourtant le président stable du Conseil européen, le visage de l’Europe post-Traité de Lisbonne. Mais, déjà en mal de notoriété lors de son entrée en fonctions le 1er janvier, il n’a pas fait grand-chose, depuis, pour se faire connaître des citoyens européens. Sur les photos de famille, il est souvent bien caché. Herman Van Rompuy, c’est "Mister Nobody", a résumé Helmut Schmidt, l’ancien chancelier allemand.
"Il n’existe pas sur la scène publique, il n’aime pas les medias, confirme la députée européenne UMP Françoise Grossetête. Mais, en acceptant ce poste, il a accepté d’être exposé. Il doit se faire violence et s’imposer." En réalité, au moins par deux fois, Herman Van Rompuy a fait parler de lui depuis sa nomination. La première, il s’en serait bien passé. En février, lors de son premier passage devant le Parlement européen, il se fait copieusement insulter par le très europhobe et peu délicat député britannique Nigel Farage. "Je ne veux pas être impoli, lui lance Farage, mais, vraiment, vous avez le charisme d’une serpillière humide et l’apparence d’un petit employé de banque." Van Rompuy en reste coi. Quelques semaines plus tard, le président réunit les journalistes à Bruxelles. Une annonce importante à faire? Non, il souhaite présenter son recueil de haïkus, ces très courts poèmes d’inspiration japonaise qui le passionnent. Son contrat: ne pas faire d’ombre à Merkel et Sarkozy >>> Antoine Malo (avec Hélène Kohl à Berlin), Le Journal du Dimanche | Dimanche 04 Juillet 2010
MAIL ON SUNDAY: David Cameron is ready to approve the biggest public-spending cuts in the history of the developed world in a dramatic bid to cut Britain’s soaring national debt.
He has ordered Cabinet Ministers to draw up ‘Doomsday’ savings of up to a staggering 40 per cent which could see vast parts of the public services shut down and tens of thousands of policemen, teachers, town hall workers and other civil servants lose their jobs.
The proposed cutbacks are even more extreme than emergency reductions used in other countries such as Canada and Ireland and are double the amount of the Geddes cuts imposed after the First World War when Britain faced bankruptcy from government debt and waste.
Mr Cameron’s shock initiative is a massive personal and political gamble.
There were gasps at a meeting of the Cabinet on Tuesday when Ministers were informed of the package.
It could provoke a wave of crippling strikes – and may well threaten Mr Cameron’s alliance with Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. Many Lib Dem MPs, already unhappy with the VAT rise and cuts in benefits, are likely to rebel against the draconian new measures.
However, if it works, it could result in a second Election victory for the Prime Minister. Continue reading and comment >>> Simon Walters | Sunday, July 04, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Obama's action in trying to ease his friend Valerie Jarrett into his old Senate seat will fuel cynicism about politics, argues Toby Harnden.
In a year when Americans are arguably more cynical and disillusioned about politics than at any time since Watergate, the corruption trial of Rod Blagojevich is a sobering reminder of how its practitioners operate.
Although "Blago", the foul-mouthed bouffant buffoon, is the main attraction of the Chicago production, the former Illinois governor's reluctant co-star is Barack Obama. The President forms part of the proceedings each day even though the judge has spared him a personal experience.
Reports of the Blago trial cannot make comfortable reading for the White House for they provide what Mary Mitchell, the Chicago Sun-Times columnist, described as "an unfiltered look at how the sausage is made in Illinois"
Illinois, of course, is the state that gave us President Obama. It is where he cut his teeth as a community organiser and where he first began to ascend the greasy pole of politics by taking his seat in the state senate.
At issue in the Blago trial is whether the then governor was trying to sell the United States Senate seat that Obama ascended to in 2004 after his initial Republican opponent imploded.
Blago had the power to appoint a new Senator when the seat was vacated because of Obama's presidential election victory in November 2008. Clearly, he thought the seat was a valuable prize.
"I got this thing and it's f------ golden and I'm not just giving it up for f------ nothing," he said in a conversation recorded by a federal wiretap. Blago's instinct was that Obama – who he mockingly described as "this historic, f------ demi-god" – would be willing to pay to have his preferred choice be duly appointed.
That choice, the trial has confirmed, was Valerie Jarrett, who now rejoices in the title of senior White House adviser and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. >>> | Saturday, July 03, 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The French court case pitting the daughter of Liliane Bettencourt, the country's richest woman, against a photographer who received an £825m gift has fascinated the country.
It was the climax to an extraordinary week surrounding France's richest women. Liliane Bettencourt's compatriots had watched astounded as the evidence unfolded in the court case brought by her daughter against the photographer on whom she has showered almost €1bn (£825m).
They learned how the 87-year-old L'Oreal [sic] heiress was bugged by her butler with a tape recorder hidden among the bone china brought to her office; how she had not spoken to her estranged daughter, Francoise Meyers-Bettencourt, for years; and how Mrs Bettencourt had kept a Seychelles island and €80 million (£66 million) hidden from the tax man.
Francois-Marie Banier, 63, the society dandy and recipient of her largesse, is accused of taking advantage of the elderly dowager's frailty to persuade her to hand over a fortune - though far less than she had long ago bestowed on her daughter.
But among the accusations and pure theatre surrounding the one-day court hearing, now adjourned, came a genuine bombshell for the French government: the revelation that, amidst all her apparent tax evasion, it had granted her a €30 million (£25 million) tax rebate - despite not having examined her financial affairs for more than a decade.
And to cap it all, the rebate was allegedly signed off by a minister whose wife worked for the billionaire.
Employment minister Eric Woerth, whose wife helped manage Mrs Bettencourt's financial affairs, and who was budget minister at the time the rebate was paid, stood firm against calls for his resignation.
No, he had done nothing wrong, he responded. No, he had not signed the heiress's tax rebate. No, he would not resign. Mrs Bettencourt had been given the rebate under the "tax shield" introduced by President Nicolas Sarkozy that puts a 50 per cent ceiling on the taxes citizens pay on their income and combined assets. It was perfectly legal.
But critics of the close relationship between the French state and some of its wealthiest citizens questioned how the authorities could be so relaxed. >>> Kim Willsher in Paris | Sunday, July 04, 2010
VALEURS ACTUELLES: Les enregistrements clandestins effectués par son majordome, mais aussi son interrogatoire par la police en disent long sur l’influence déterminante exercée par son entourage.
Qui aurait pu imaginer que l’affaire Bettencourt, qui n’était au départ que le roman sinistre d’un abus de faiblesse de la mère dénoncé par sa fille, se transforme en une affaire d’État donnant lieu aux pires soupçons ? Soupçons d’intervention de l’Élysée dans le cours de la justice. Soupçons de mansuétude fiscale visant l’ancien ministre du Budget, Éric Woerth. Soupçons de conflit d’intérêts entre celui-ci et son épouse, salariée de la société de gestion de fortune de la propriétaire de L’Oréal et première contribuable de France.
Plus de deux ans après le début de cette affaire, Françoise Meyers, née Bettencourt, campe plus que jamais sur ses positions : oui, dit-elle, François-Marie Banier, le photographe écrivain, en recevant de Mme Bettencourt près de un milliard d’euros depuis 1997 sous forme de tableaux, d’assurance vie, etc., a profité de l’état de faiblesse de sa mère. >>> Gilles Gaetner | Jeudi 01 Juillet 2010
Related articles here and here
THE TELEGRAPH: An openly-homosexual cleric has been nominated to become a senior bishop, in a move that threatens to provoke a damaging split in the Church of England.
A confidential meeting, chaired by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has approved Dr Jeffrey John, the Dean of St Albans, to be on the shortlist to be the next Bishop of Southwark.
He is understood to be the favoured candidate.
Dr John is a hugely divisive figure in the church after he was forced to stand down from becoming the Bishop of Reading in 2003 after it emerged he was in a homosexual, but celibate, relationship.
Promoting him to one of the most senior offices in the Church would trigger a civil war between liberals and conservatives and exacerbate existing divisions within the Anglican Communion. >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Saturday, July 03, 2010
Saturday, July 03, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, has backed calls for an end to the ban on same-sex marriages, a prominent gay rights campaigner claimed.
Peter Tatchell said Mr Johnson had told him the Conservatives should support gay marriage.
Same sex marriages are not performed or permitted in the UK but a system of civil partnership exists that allows two people of the same sex to be united with general consent.
The Mayor made his comments during the Pride London Parade - the annual celebration of gay rights, Mr Tatchell said.
The campaigner had attended the event carrying a banner which read "Dave and Sam Cameron can marry, gays can't.
"End the ban on gay marriage!" >>> Patrick Sawer | Saturday, July 03, 2010
DIE PRESSE: Der Kongress muss die 15 Millionen Dollar für den internationalen Erhaltungs-Fonds für Auschwitz noch freigeben. Außenministerin Clinton bezeichnete den Erhalt als "unverzichtbar".
Die USA wollen mit einem Millionenbetrag den Erhalt der Gedenkstätte des Konzentrations- und Vernichtungslagers Auschwitz-Birkenau unterstützen. US-Außenministerin Hillary Clinton kündigte am Samstag bei einem Besuch in der ehemaligen Fabrik des deutschen Industriellen Oskar Schindler in Krakau an, ihre Regierung werde nach der Freigabe durch den Kongress 15 Millionen Dollar (11,95 Mio. Euro) in einen internationalen Fonds für Auschwitz einzahlen. Der Erhalt der Gedenkstätte sei "unverzichtbar", um auch den nachfolgenden Generationen verständlich zu machen, dass in der Welt "niemals wieder ein solcher Ort des Hasses und der Verfolgung" entstehen dürfe, sagte Clinton. >>> Ag. | Samstag, 03. Juli 2010
HINDUSTAN TIMES: Hundreds of people Saturday joined protests across Pakistan against the suicide bombings of the Data Darbar shrine in Lahore, even as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said militants were targeting cities to divert the people's attention from the war against terror.
Lahore remained in mourning for the second day for the terrorist attack on the shrine of Hazrat Ali Hajweri, considered the patron saint of the city. Forty-five people were killed and over 200 injured when two suicide bombers blew themselves at the shrine on Thursday.
At some places in Lahore, protests turned violent as demonstrators marched through the streets, burning tyres and forcing traders to close their businesses.
Police used batons to disperse them and arrested over a dozen protesters who were demanding that authorities should take action against extremist elements involved in the desecration of the shrine.
Protests were also organised in cities across Punjab, including Rawalpindi, Chakwal, Faisalabad and Multan, and at several places in southern Sindh province, including Karachi, Hyderabad and Larkana.
Life in many towns and cities were affected by strikes called by different organisations like the Sunni Tehrik and Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnat. >>> Press Trust of India , Islamabad / Lahore | Saturday, July 03, 2010
GALA.fr: Meryl Streep, une dame de fer? L’actrice aux seize nominations aux Oscars devrait camper Margaret Thatcher sur grand écran, Premier ministre britannique de 1979 à 1990, personnage public à la fois admiré et détesté
À voir le succès que connaissent les biopics sur les politiciens depuis quelques années, on n’imaginait pas que personne n’incarne un jour sur grand écran Margaret Thatcher, femme politique britannique qui a marqué l’Histoire. >>> F.F. | Vendredi 02 Juillet 2010
Related article here
THE AUSTRALIAN: Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir eschews violence, but it has no problem with incendiary rhetoric about the demise of Western democracy
WITH his neat beard, wire-rimmed glasses and woollen suit coat over a checked sweater, Uthman Badar has the look of a youthful professor. But the words of the mild-mannered economics PhD student sipping hot chocolate at a Turkish cafe in western Sydney carry the zeal of a revolutionary.
"Democracy is a bankrupt and irrational idea" and "all indicators are pointing to the decline and inevitable collapse of Western ideology", Badar opines. In the meantime, those dedicated to justice and progress must struggle against "those who seek to live decadent lives off the sweat and blood of the vast majority of humanity".
Badar is spokesman for the Australian branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an international Islamist organisation dedicated to the creation of a transnational Islamic state governed purely by sharia law. In pursuit of that vision, he and an expected 1000 fellow HT members will gather in Sydney this weekend for an international conference to promote their cause.
As Badar knows, Australia's spy agency ASIO and counter-terrorism authorities will be keeping a close eye on the event. HT is banned in many countries and, while it has avoided being outlawed in Australia, the views it espouses are regarded by the authorities as dangerously extreme.
Badar insists Australians have nothing to fear, as HT is "avowedly nonviolent" and has no wish to make Australia part of its caliphate. "All we do is talk," he says.
A contrary view is this assessment from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute: "HT's platform forbids its members from acts of terror. There's no clear evidence of HT engaging in the preparation of terrorism. HT's incitement and encouragement of religious hatred may be enough, however, to convince Islamists to perpetrate terrorist acts."
ASIO will no doubt find plenty to listen to as HT members from Australia and abroad discuss subjects such as the Western push to ban the burka, the Australian government's role in "the war on Islam", and the campaign for a caliphate, described as "the obligation of the age". >>> Sally Neighbour, The Australian | Saturday, July 03, 2010
LE POINT: Ils ont entre 18 et 27 ans et vivent coupés du monde pendant dix semaines : huit jeunes hommes s'affrontent pour être sacrés le "meilleur imam" dans une émission de télé-réalité qui rencontre un grand succès en Malaisie. Le vainqueur d'"Imam Muda" ("Le jeune imam") sera récompensé par un pèlerinage, tous frais payés, à La Mecque, une bourse pour étudier dans une université saoudienne et un poste dans une mosquée importante de Malaisie.
Il lui faudra pour cela être le dernier en lice des épreuves éliminatoires qui testent leurs connaissances de l'islam. Les candidats, qui étaient dix au départ, ont ainsi dû réciter des versets du Coran, effectuer les ablutions sur deux morts et convaincre des jeunes de se détourner du sexe hors mariage et de la drogue.
L'émission "fera date car elle propose une approche rafraîchissante de l'islam", estime Azman Ujang, un expert des médias. L'ancien grand imam de la mosquée nationale de Kuala Lumpur, qui supervise l'émission, espère que les candidats vont jouer un "rôle modèle" pour "lutter contre la décadence sociale et morale qui affecte les musulmans". Flagellation pour adultère >>> AFP | Vendredi 02 Juillet 2010
VOA NEWS: Palestinian militants have rejected a new Israeli offer for a prisoner exchange.
The Islamic militant group Hamas has declined Israel's latest offer for a lopsided prisoner swap: 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the offer to mark the fourth anniversary of the soldier's captivity in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
But Mr. Netanyahu ruled out releasing dozens of top militants responsible for the deadliest terrorist attacks, describing them as "mass murderers." He said releasing such prisoners in the past led to new waves of terror.
Hamas responded that there will be no deal until Israel meet its demands and frees all the prisoners on the list. >>> | Friday, July 02, 2010
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