Saturday, August 28, 2010
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Glenn Beck says America is wandering in the darkness because of 'divisive politics': WASHINGTON - Glenn Beck held a huge rally Saturday to "celebrate America" - and himself - at the Lincoln Memorial, drawing scores of Tea Party faithful into a swirling debate on race and politics. >>> Richard Sisk, Daily News Washington Bureau | Saturday, August 28, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The celebrity photographer accused of abusing the trust of L'Oreal [sic] heiress Liliane Bettencourt, France's richest woman, has been written out of her will - depriving him of an estimated 1.25 billion euros.
Mrs Bettencourt's lawyer, Georges Kiejman, said that the 87-year-old billionairess has decided "enough was enough" and that Francois-Marie Banier should no longer be named in the will.
"Liliane Bettencourt feels she had already given a lot to Mr Banier, so she ended the arrangement which made him her sole named heir," he said.
Mr Kiejman said the change had been made in France in mid July, and no one else had been added to the will in his place.
Mr Banier, 63, was Mrs Bettencourt's sole legatee in the will drawn up in December 2007.
He was set to receive around eight percent of Mrs Bettencourt's fortune, or an estimated 1.25 billion euros, a member of Bettencourt's entourage said in July.
Mrs Bettencourt's estranged daughter Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers and grandchildren would have received the rest of her fortune. >>> | Saturday, August 28, 2010
LE POINT: Le photographe François-Marie Banier n'est plus le légataire universel de Liliane Bettencourt, a affirmé samedi à l'AFP l'avocat de la milliardaire, Me Georges Kiejman, confirmant ce qu'il a déclaré au journal Le Monde daté de dimanche-lundi. C'est à la mi-juillet que Mme Bettencourt a mis fin à cette disposition, prévue dans son testament daté du 11 décembre 2007, a ajouté l'avocat. Elle a rédigé cette révocation sur une simple feuille, sans choisir de nouveau légataire, et ce document papier a été remis fin juillet à son notaire, Jean-Michel Normand. >>> Source AFP | Samedi 28 Août 2010
THE GUARDIAN: More than 1,600 officers on horseback and in riot gear pen in 700 activists, including BNP members and soccer thugs
Far-right activists threw smoke bombs and missiles and fought with the police as trouble flared in a protest organised by the English Defence League.
Bricks and bottles and smoke bombs were thrown at anti-racist supporters and police as around 700 EDL activists – including known football hooligans and BNP members – held a "static protest" in Bradford city centre. Mounted officers and others in riot gear were attacked as they pushed the EDL into a penned area. Skirmishes continued as EDL speakers addressed the crowd and there was more violence as its supporters were put back on coaches.
More than 1,600 officers from 13 forces were involved in the police operation amid fears the demonstration would descend into violence. Police said there had been five arrests.
The EDL, which has held demonstrations in towns and cities across the country over the past 12 months, had predicted that thousands of its supporters would turn out in Bradford for what was dubbed "the big one", but police said there were around 700 people.
Earlier in the afternoon coachloads of EDL activists had chanted "Allah, Allah who the fuck is Allah?" and "Muslim bombers off our streets". >>> Matthew Taylor and Martin Wainwright | Saturday, August 28, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: English Defence League demonstration in Bradford sees minor clashes: Bottles and stones thrown as police separate EDL from anti-fascist groups in Yorkshire city >>> Amy Fallon | Saturday, September 28, 2010
GUARDIAN VIDEO: Filmmaker Navdeep Singh Kandola speaks to members of the Muslim and Sikh communities in advance of an English Defence League demonstration this weekend
DIE PRESSE: Die Brüder David und Ed kämpfen immer verbissener um die Labour-Führung. Beide arbeiteten für Tony Blair und Gordon Brown. David hält bis heute an „New Labour“ fest, Ed sieht das anders.
LONDON. David und Ed Miliband sind auf dem Weg, die beiden Brüder mit dem schlechtesten öffentlichen Verhältnis seit Kain und Abel zu werden. Beide bewerben sich um die Führung der britischen Labour Party und je näher die Entscheidung rückt, desto erbitterter wird die Auseinandersetzung. Ex-Außenminister David, mit 45 Jahren der ältere der beiden Brüder, warf Bruder Ed, 40 Jahre jung und zuletzt Energieminister, vor, naiv zu sein und die Partei „in der Wohlfühlzone“ einzulullen.
Ed wies das umgehend zurück und warf David umgekehrt nicht nur „schlechtes Benehmen“ vor, sondern ein „Verharren in der Wohlfühlzone von New Labour“. Bei soviel Vorwürfen des Wohlfühlens ist es kein Wunder, dass sich mittlerweile keiner der beiden mehr richtig wohlfühlen kann. Der Bruderkampf der Milibands schadet nämlich dem Image beider Protagonisten und verhindert eine Auseinandersetzung mit ihren inhaltlichen Anliegen. >>> Axel Reiserer | Freitag, 27. August 2010
THE TELEGRAPH – EXTRACTS: The controversy over the 'Ground Zero mosque' has portrayed the United States as a land of bigots. Toby Harnden wonders why the US President has helped fuel this myth.
Obama's ill-judged intervention, and the shrill outrage of his allies in the intelligentsia, has damaged America's standing in the world by fuelling anti-American stereotypes.
…
Many Americans are incensed by the way that legitimate protest and questioning of Obama's policies is routinely branded as racist or ignorant. They are tired of being told what to think and when to think it.
During the 2008 campaign, for instance, you were a bigot if you mentioned Obama's middle name or his Muslim background. Yet once he was elected, he went to Ankara and Cairo to proclaim that his full name was "Barack Hussein Obama".
Ahmed Sharif, a victim of real anti-Muslim bigotry, stated that the attack on him was an aberration and that America is a land of tolerance and opportunity. What a shame that Obama, despite his much-vaunted gift with words, appears unable to speak about such things with similar eloquence. Read the whole article >>> Toby Harnden's American Way | Saturday, August 28, 2010
LE TEMPS: Le leader libyen entame lundi une visite officielle dans la Péninsule pour célébrer le deuxième anniversaire du Traité d’amitié entre les deux pays
Cette fois, le colonel Kadhafi ne viendra pas seulement avec ses «amazones», ses séduisantes gardes militaires chargées de sa protection. Pour sa quatrième visite à Rome, dans la capitale de l’ancienne puissance coloniale, le leader libyen a prévu de débarquer lundi avec pas moins de trente cavaliers qui défileront mardi soir sur des montures berbères aux côtés d’un régiment à cheval de carabiniers.
Deux ans après l’accord historique entre Silvio Berlusconi et le «guide de la révolution» à travers lequel l’Italie a officiellement demandé pardon pour le passé et promis un chèque de 5 milliards de dollars de dédommagements payables en vingt ans, les deux hommes ont ainsi voulu célébrer l’anniversaire en grande pompe. Car, pour l’heure et en dépit de certaines critiques, le «traité d’amitié» entre les deux pays tient et produit les effets escomptés par les deux signataires.
Fin août 2008, à Benghazi, en Libye, Silvio Berlusconi avait ainsi déclaré: «L’Italie s’excuse pour les massacres, les destructions et la répression contre le peuple libyen durant l’occupation coloniale.» A la suite de cette déclaration, Mouammar Kadhafi s’était senti en droit, l’année suivante, de descendre de son avion à Rome en exhibant sur son uniforme le portrait du héros de la résistance anticoloniale libyenne, Omar al-Mokhtar. Une partie de l’opinion publique italienne avait modérément goûté la provocation. Cette année, le dirigeant africain devrait plus discrètement participer à un colloque sur les rapports entre les deux pays à l’ambassade de Libye en présence d’historiens et d’intellectuels des deux bords. >>> Eric Jozsef | Samedi 28 Août 2010
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Mayor Bloomberg was raised Jewish, but hasn't been known for wearing his religion on his sleeve. His defense of the Islamic Cultural Center and Mosque near Ground Zero shows that he's more passionate defending freedom of religion, than he has been in displaying his religiosity.
If Michael Bloomberg has been giving away these vast sums of money, he may well provide the money for the mega-mosque! That could well be his way of trying to affect a reconciliation of the Jews with the Islamic world. – © Mark
NEW ZEALAND HERALD: You'd think in America's bible belt there wouldn't be a big demand for copies of the Koran. But you can bet in Gainesville, Florida, they're flying off the shelves as fast as pregnancy tests after the school prom.
Because despite being denied a fire permit by the local fire chief, the Dove World Outreach Centre is planning a book burning session to mark the September 11, 2001 attacks. That's right, the church is hosting "International Burn a Koran Day".
It's anti-Islamic but it's not an isolated case. Muslims, who make up only about 2 per cent of the nation's population, are seeing their right to practise their religion challenged across the United States. And nowhere more than in New York's Lower Manhattan where plans to build a 13-storey Islamic centre have set off street protests and given Republicans a grandstanding opportunity that is too hard to resist.
Opponents, who say it is offensive to those who lost loved ones in the September 11 attacks, have labelled the centre the ground-zero mosque, even though it is more a centre with a prayer room and is two blocks away from the World Trade Centre site.
The American Muslims behind the project have given it the name Park51. No doubt opponents will point out that you only need to change a few of the letters around for it to read Death To America.
The Islamic centre will cost US$100 million ($142 million) and feature, among other things, a swimming pool and basketball court. If bomb-making facilities are planned, they've so far kept that quiet.
The driving force behind the project has been the Kuwaiti-born Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who has been used by the Bush and Obama administrations to spread a message of religious tolerance in Muslim countries.
But to Republican Newt Gingrich he is an extremist trying to spread "moral confusion about the nature of radical Islamism". Continue reading and comment >>> Duncan Gillies | Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Michael Enright, who volunteered in Afghanistan, accused of slashing neck and face of Bangladeshi driver in Manhattan
A college student who did volunteer work in Afghanistan has been charged with slashing the neck and face of a Bangladeshi taxi driver who said he was Muslim.
A criminal complaint alleges Michael Enright uttered an Arabic greeting and told the driver: "Consider this a checkpoint" before the brutal attack occurred on Tuesday night inside the yellow cab on Manhattan's East Side. Police say Enright, 21, was drunk at the time.
Enright is being held on charges of attempted murder and assault as hate crimes, and possession of a weapon. The handcuffed defendant did not enter a plea during the brief court appearance.
In addition to a serious neck wound, cab driver Ahmed Sharif suffered cuts to his forearms, face and one hand while trying to fend off his attacker, prosecutor James Zeleta said while arguing against bail.
Jason Martin, defending, told the judge his client was an honours student at the School of Visual Arts who lived with his parents in suburban Brewster, New York. >>> Associated Press | Thursday, August 26, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning was told by guards she had been abandoned by her children, says son
The Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning has been denied visits by her lawyer and family, her son told the Guardian today, as it emerged that her lawyer has been subjected to fresh harassment.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has been detained in Tabriz jail since 2006 and was sentenced to death on charges of adultery. She was acquitted of murdering her husband, but Iranian authorities have since accused her of being an accomplice.
Arriving for a prison visit yesterday, her son Sajad, 22 and daughter Saeedeh, 17, were told she was unwilling to see them.
Later, when she was allowed to phone her son, it emerged she had been told by guards that no one had come to visit and that her children had abandoned her, Sajad told the Guardian. "[The officials] have become obstinate – they are seeking just different ways to mistreat my mother and us as her children," he said.
Mohammadi Ashtiani's government-appointed lawyer, Houtan Kian, has been unable to visit her since she appeared on TV this month and confessed to involvement in her husband's murder. Human rights campaigners say the confession was made under duress. >>> Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Friday, August 27, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Government minister announced today he had separated from his wife and was ''coming to terms with his homosexuality''.
Crispin Blunt, the Tory MP and prisons minister, said there was nobody else involved and appealed for his family's privacy to be respected.
In a statement, his office said: ''Crispin Blunt wishes to make it known that he has separated from his wife Victoria.
"He decided to come to terms with his homosexuality and explained the position to his family. The consequence is this separation. >>> | Friday, August 27, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Jails minister Crispin Blunt reveals he is gay and leaves wife: Statement issued by Tory MP's office asks for privacy while he 'comes to terms with his homosexuality' >>> Owen Bowcott | Friday, August 27, 2010
THE INDEPENDENT: Prisons minister leaves wife after revealing he is gay: A government minister who helped to soften the Tory party's policy on crime and punishment was at the centre of a personal crisis last night after announcing he had left his wife to confront his sexuality.
Crispin Blunt, 50, the prisons minister, said he had told his family that he had "decided to come to terms with his homosexuality". A statement from his office said that there was no third party involved and asked the media to respect his family's privacy.
Mr Blunt, a former Army officer who is the Conservative MP for Reigate in Surrey, married his wife, Victoria, in 1990. The couple have one daughter and one son. >>> Robert Verkaik, Home Affairs Editor | Saturday, August 28, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: 'I'm gay and I'm leaving my wife': Tory prisons minister Crispin Blunt stuns MPs as he ends marriage of 20 years >>> Tim Shipman | Saturday, August 28, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Crispin Blunt: I'm gay and leaving my wife: Crispin Blunt, the prisons minister, has announced that he has separated from his wife so that he can “come to terms with his homosexuality”. >>> Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor | Saturday, August 28, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: More than 150 surgical instruments from the Nazi German Auschwitz death camp have been found in a nearby house in Oswiecim, according to an Auschwitz museum spokesman.
The gynaecological and surgical instruments were found in a house that was located inside a strictly closed zone surrounding Auschwitz during the war.
Describing it as “one of the greatest discoveries in recent years”, Bartosz Bartyzel said the instruments were most likely used by the physician Carl Clauberg. >>> | Thursday, August 26, 2010
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