Monday, August 30, 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Der amerikanische Präsident Obama nimmt die falsch verbreiteten Angaben über seine Religionszugehörigkeit gelassen hin. Im Zeitalter neuer Medien würden solche Meldungen rasch verbreitet und hielten sich dann hartnäckig, sagte er in einem Interview.
Fast ein Fünftel der Amerikaner halten ihren Präsidenten für einen Muslim – doch Barack Obama bereitet das kein Kopfzerbrechen. «Fakten sind Fakten», sagte Obama am Sonntag in einem Interview des Fernsehsenders NBC. >>> sda/afp/ddp | Montag, 30. August 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama hits back at birthers and rumour mongers: Barack Obama has publicly displayed his personal frustration for the first time with conservative opponents who have persistently questioned both his Christianity and his eligibility to be president. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Monday, August 30, 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: VISITE À ROME | Le dirigeant libyen Mouammar Kadhafi a plaidé pour que l’Islam devienne «la religion de toute l’Europe». Il s’exprimait devant un parterre de 500 jeunes femmes rassemblées à Rome où il effectue une visite officielle.
A l’issue d’une conférence du dirigeant libyen pour laquelle elles avaient été rémunérées autour de 80 euros, les jeunes femmes ont reçu chacune un exemplaire du Coran.
Mouammar Kadhafi leur a expliqué que «l’Islam devrait devenir la religion de toute l’Europe et que Mohammed était le dernier prophète», a indiqué l’une des participantes, citée par la Stampa. «Ennuyeux[.]»
«Pour nous c’était vraiment ennuyeux. Kadhafi ne savait pas que nous étions payées, sinon il n’aurait pas accepté de nous rencontrer», a ajouté, sous couvert de l’anonymat, une participante de 25 ans à la Repubblica.
L’agence qui a recruté ces hôtesses et leur avait demandé de s’habiller de façon sobre a indiqué que les jeunes femmes qui parleraient à la presse ne seraient pas rémunérées. Traité d’amitié[.] >>> ATS / AFP | Lundi 30 Août 2010
MAIL ONLINE: And he's the only man allowed in the room with them
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi hosted another Islam conversion party attended by 500 glamorous women during the first day of an official visit to Italy.
Gaddafi was the only man at the event - apart from security officers who were kept outside - while the women who were invited to take part were all asked to 'dress demurely'.
Three women were said to have undergone 'spontaneous conversions', while others walked out in disgust saying they could 'not stand to hear such rubbish'.
The event, at the Libyan Academy in Rome, comes nine months after Gaddafi hosted two similar evenings at the official residence of the Libyan ambassador in Rome Abdulhafad Gaddur.
At those events the women were paid 50 euros, but for last night's party and another planned for later this evening the women were given 70 euros - on condition that they did not speak to the media.
A fleet of coaches with the curtains drawn had pulled up outside the Academy just hours after Gaddafi had flown in from Tripoli.
Student Sara Perugini, 19, who was at the event, said: 'Colonel Gaddafi was very pleasant and charming. He spoke to us about Islam and the Koran and he gave all of us a copy.
'He told us that we should convert to Islam and that Mohammad was the last of the prophets. Three women did go through what he described as a spontaneous conversion.
'They left wearing the traditional chador. We were paid 70 euros although I haven't actually seen the money yet, but we were told not to talk to the media so I probably won't see anything.
'I know some women did walk out saying they were not prepared to hear such rubbish but as far as I know there were only a couple.
'They said they didn't agree with Gaddafi coming to Italy and telling them to convert and marry Muslims. Colonel Gaddafi scores a three in 500 success rate after holding another Islam conversion party in Rome for glamorous models >>> Nick Pisa | Monday, August 30, 2010
Related:
TIMES ONLINE: Colonel Muammar Gaddafi Invites 500 Italian Women to Villa and Lectures Them on Islam >>> Richard Owen in Rome | Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, August 29, 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: A former deputy prime minister of New Zealand has reignited the country's republican movement by demanding an end to the monarchy on the death of The Queen and castigating The Prince of Wales as "strange".
In addition to mocking the Prince of Wales views, Michael Cullen, who was deputy Prime Minister in Helen Clark's Labour government, accused the Duke of Edinburgh of being "insensitive and prejudiced".
The comments are contained in a speech that Mr Cullen, who stepped down from parliament when Labour lost power in 2008, is expected to deliver to an influential conference reviewing the country's constitution in Wellington, the capital, later this week.
The London-born politician will tell the Institute of Policy Studies think-thank conference that New Zealand should set in place legislation enabling it to abandon the monarchy when the Queen dies.
The Herald on Sunday newspaper reported that Dr Cullen's speech notes, in which he says The Prince of Wales and his father the Duke of Edinburgh "evince some strange characteristics".
He goes on: "But talking to plants and extremely conservative views on architecture are scarcely confined to Prince Charles.
"As for the old Duke, his insensitivity and prejudices would in our nation make him highly suitable material for a breakfast television or talkback radio host."
The reference is to a breakfast presenter on New Zealand television who is notorious for making controversial comments.
Although the issue of a republic has been raised in the past, with both Ms Clark and John Key, the current Prime Minister, describing it as "inevitable", Dr Cullen's speech will be the first to contain such personal remarks about members of the royal family.
Dr Cullen said criteria for appointing a head of state which include preferment of male heirs and Anglicans are inconsistent with modern New Zealand values. >>> Paul Chapman in Wellington | Sunday, August 29, 2010
ASSOCIATED PRESS: NEW YORK — Adnan Zulfiqar, a graduate student, former U.S. Senate aide and American-born son of Pakistani immigrants, will soon give the first khutbah, or sermon, of the fall semester at the University of Pennsylvania. His topic has presented itself in the daily headlines and blog posts over the disputed mosque near ground zero.
What else could he choose, he says, after a summer remembered not for its reasoned debate, but for epithets, smears, even violence? >>> Rachel Zoll | Sunday, August 29, 2010
LE POINT: Aucune décision finale n'a été prise sur la lapidation de Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani pour adultère et meurtre, a réaffirmé samedi le ministère iranien des Affaires étrangères, notant que l'application de la peine avait été "suspendue" et que le verdict était "en cours d'examen". "Pour les peines très lourdes, il y a une procédure particulière et longue. Ce verdict est en cours d'examen et, lorsque la justice arrivera à une conclusion finale, elle l'annoncera", a indiqué à l'AFP ce porte-parole, Ramin Mahmanparast. >>> Source AFP | Samedi 28 Août 2010
BBC: An Aboriginal man has won a seat in Australia's House of Representatives, becoming the first indigenous person to do so in the country's history.
Ken Wyatt, 57, took the seat of Hasluck in Western Australia for the centre-right Liberal Party.
Neither the Liberals nor the governing Labor Party gained enough seats at last week's election for a majority.
Mr Wyatt has dismissed racist hate mail he has received, saying it was time for Australia to move forward. >>> | Sunday, August 29, 2010
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: INDIGENOUS Australians must take matters into their own hands if they want to see more Aborigines in Parliament, according to the first Aborigine to win a seat in the House of Representatives.
Ken Wyatt claimed victory in the marginal West Australian seat of Hasluck yesterday, amid revelations he was subjected to racist taunts during the election campaign.
Mr Wyatt said the taunts had come in the form of phone calls to his campaign office, as verbal taunts on the streets and as messages on news websites.
He said they had come from both white and Aboriginal people, some accusing him of selling out his cultural heritage by joining the Liberal Party.
Mr Wyatt, who has Aboriginal, Indian and English blood, said he was disappointed by the taunts but not deterred. >>> Peter Ker | Monday, August 30, 2010
WELT ONLINE: In Washington demonstrierten 300.000 konservative Amerikaner für die nationale Ehre, die politischen Ziele aber blieben vage.
Zwanzig Stunden saß Ron im Bus. Zwanzig schlauchende Stunden auf dem Weg von Iowa im mittleren Westen nach Washington DC an der Ostküste. „Glenn Beck hat Recht“, begründet der Endfünfziger seine strapaziöse Reise: „Wir müssen selbst etwas tun, damit unser Land wieder in die Spur kommt.“
Glenn Beck, das ist der konservative Talkshow-Star des Fernsehsenders Fox, und während der auf einer Parkband nahe dem Lincoln-Memorial verschnaufende Ron mit unaufgeregter Stimme Probleme der USA erläutert, zerstreut sich um uns eine gewaltige Menschenmenge in Richtung Innenstadt. Von 300.000 Protestlern, gar von einer halben Million, die hier mit dem Ziel einer „Wiederherstellung der Ehre“ zusammenkamen, sprach Beck. Damit mag er recht gehabt haben. Unklar blieb dafür, wodurch die amerikanische Ehre abhanden gekommen sein soll. >>> Von Ansgar Graw | Sonntag, 29. August 2010
TORONTO SUN: The swirling controversy over the Ground Zero mosque obscures what should be obvious, at least since 9/11, about the behavioural pattern of radical Islamists engaged in stealth jihad, or “lawfare,” to advance their strategic interest of securing concessions by Western governments for Sharia.
In generating this controversy, and then pushing hard on it by insisting on the constitutionally protected right of freedom of religion to build this mosque in the vicinity of Ground Zero in New York City, Islamists behind the project have masterfully succeeded in greatly dividing Americans as the ninth anniversary of 9/11 approaches.
What we are witnessing here is radical Islamists once again, as in the Danish cartoon controversy — or the controversy surrounding the wearing by some Muslim women of niqabs or full-face coverings, or the push for censorship on grounds of hate speech — taking hold of the legal-political framework of liberal democracy to secure grounds for their anti-liberal agenda of advancing acceptance of Sharia in the West.
Through indiscriminate violence, radical Islamists have succeeded to define Islam in terms of Sharia — Islamic law constructed more than a millennium ago by legal scholars that is, putting it mildly, entirely obsolete in the context of modern philosophy, science, democracy, gender equity and individual rights and freedom — and jihad, or sanctioning of violence, in the name of religion.
Mosques for radical Islamists are centres for preaching, recruiting, fundraising, networking and engaging in the political work of advancing their strategic interests.
Once it becomes clear who the people are behind the Ground Zero mosque — variously known as the Cordoba House or Park51, which Stephen Schwartz of the Center for Islamic Pluralism in Washington, D.C., among others, has been painstakingly assembling for Americans to judge for themselves — then there should be no mistaking about its political nature disguised as religion.
Feisal Rauf, wearing the title of Imam or a Muslim religious leader, is deeply embedded in the global Islamist network of activists and organizations. >>> Salim Mansur, Agence QMI | Saturday, August 28, 2010
leJDD.fr: Carla-Bruni Sarkozy a écrit une lettre à Sakineh, cette Iranienne de 43 ans condamnée à la lapidation dans son pays. "Mon mari plaidera votre cause sans relâche", promet la locataire de l'Elysée dans une missive publiée lundi par plusieurs médias.
BHL, Isabelle Adjani, Martine Aubry, Frédéric Mitterrand, Bertrand Delanoë… Ils sont nombreux à avoir signé la pétition de soutien à Sakineh, cette Iranienne condamnée à la lapidation, pour avoir eu, selon la justice de son pays, deux relations amoureuses hors mariage et participé au meurtre de son amant. Cette fois, c'est Carla Bruni-Sarkozy qui a écrit une lettre à cette femme de 43 ans, écrouée depuis cinq ans dans la prison de Tabriz. Une missive relayée dans les médias, via La Régle du jeu, le site de Bernard-Henry Lévy - auteur de la pétition, Elle, Libération, et le journal américain Huffington Post. >>> Caroline Vigoureux - leJDD.fr | Mardi 24 Août 2010
MAIL ON SUNDAY: Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has been branded a ‘prostitute’ by Iran after she publicly attacked the country for threatening to stone a woman to death.
France’s First Lady is part of a campaign to save the life of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two.
She is accused of cheating on her husband and then helping to kill him, and is now facing capital punishment for her crimes.
Ms Bruni-Sarkozy, who became President Nicolas Sarkozy’s third wife two years ago, has signed a petition calling for Sakineh’s release.
Last week the former supermodel said: ‘I just can’t see what good could come out of this macabre ceremony, whatever the judicial reasons put forward to justify it.’
Addressing Sakineh directly in an open letter, Ms Bruni-Sarkozy wrote: ‘Why shed your blood and deprive your children of their mother? Because you have lived, because you have loved, because you’re a woman, and because you’re an Iranian? Everything within me refuses to accept this.’
But Kayhan (which means ‘Universe’ in English), the Iranian daily newspaper which acts as a mouthpiece for the country’s ultra conservative Islamic regime, has now accused 42-year-old Ms Bruni-Sarkozy of being a hypocrite. >>> Peter Allen | Sunday, August 29, 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Iran calls Carla Bruni a 'prostitute’: Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the French First Lady, has been called a “prostitute” by Iran after she criticised the country’s decision to stone a woman to death. >>> | Sunday, August 29, 2010
Related articles here
20 MINUTES: Plusieurs manifestations de soutien se sont tenues samedi dans toute la France pour Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, l'Iranienne condamnée à mort par lapidation pour adultère et meurtre.
Plusieurs manifestations de soutien à Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, l'Iranienne condamnée à mort par lapidation pour adultère et meurtre et dont le sort suscite une vague d'émotion en Occident, se sont tenues samedi dans toute la France.
A Paris, 300 personnes se sont rassemblées sur le parvis des droits de l'Homme au Trocadéro, aux côtés de plusieurs personnalités comme l'écrivain Marek Halter ou la réalisatrice et élue parisienne Yamina Benguigui, a constaté l'AFP.
"Sakineh est au courant de cette mobilisation. Ce qui est important, c'est que nos voix puissent résonner, car nos renoncements en France peuvent être catastrophiques pour elle", a lancé Sihem Habchi, présidente de l'association Ni Putes Ni Soumises (NPNS), co-organisatrice du rassemblement avec la Ligue du droit international des femmes et le Mouvement pour la paix et contre le terrorisme.
Mme Benguigui, adjointe au maire de Paris chargée des droits de l'Homme, s'est directement adressée à cette Iranienne de 43 ans, "pour vous affirmer avec amour, détermination et sans réserve que nous ne vous abandonnerons jamais". >>> afp | Samedi 28 Août 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: He may be donating his multi-million pound earnings from his new biography to a good cause – but it seems Tony Blair and his wife Cherie still have enough money to buy a new home in the Caribbean.
The couple are house-hunting in Barbados for a villa to add to their already formidable property empire, The Sunday Telegraph understands. They have viewed properties on the island with the intention of buying a holiday home to which they could eventually retire.
The Blairs are believed to have been looking in earnest for a house on the former British colony, which has long been their favoured holiday destination, for at least three months. According to sources, hundreds of digital photographs of for-sale properties have been emailed to the couple.
A senior representative from one of the main estate agents on Barbados said: "Tony has a lot of friends on the island and has looked at property but he has not purchased anything yet to the best of our knowledge."
A leading solicitor on the island, which has a population of 280,000, said that she expects the Blairs to buy a property through a company – rather than in their own names – in an attempt to disguise the purchase for security and privacy reasons.
A new villa on the island would be the Blairs' eighth property: it was revealed this weekend that the former Prime Minister and his wife have spent £975,000 for a maisonette in west London for their only daughter, Kathryn, 22, a student, bringing the family's portfolio to some seven homes worth up to £15 million.
The couple are said to be open minded about whether they buy an existing house in Barbados or whether they buy a plot with planning permission for a new build.
A spacious and secluded six-bedroom villa with a swimming pool would cost around $6.2 million (£4 million), although Mr Blair is also believed to be keen to have a tennis court so he can play his favourite sport on his own land.
One of the locations the couple are said to favour is Apes Hill, where some 200 upmarket homes are being built on prime location land about 1,000 feet above sea level.
Plots alone range in cost from $400,000 (£258,000) to $10 million (£6,445,000) – before a brick has been laid. >>> Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter | Sunday, August 29, 2010
ARAB NEWS: WASHINGTON: The long history of Islamic scholarship has just gotten a novel addition: a college in California that seeks to educate Muslim leaders.
Zaytuna College held its inaugural classes Aug. 24 and aims to become America's first four-year, accredited, Islamic institution of higher learning.
Founded by three Muslim-American scholars, Zaytuna focuses on renewing Islam's intellectual tradition while placing it in the context of American society.
"As the years pass, the founding of Zaytuna College will prove to be a milestone in bringing about both a sounder understanding of Islam and better relations between Muslims and members of other faith communities here in the United States - God willing," founder Zaid Shakir said in a news release marking the college's opening.
Dustin Craun, a student from Colorado in Zaytuna's first class, said the college will help Muslims navigate their role in the United States.
"I think that we, as Muslims in America, have to figure out how to learn what Islam is for us as Americans, and that is part of what this institution is about," Craun said. The college is "about being standard-bearers for the Muslims in this country."
Craun and the 14 other students in Zaytuna's initial class can choose from two majors: Islamic law and theology or Arabic. The school's founders expect some of them to become leaders of their communities as imams or in other capacities. Omid Safi, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that would be an important achievement because some foreign-born imams do not understand American culture and society.
"Importing works great for carpets. It doesn't work particularly great for imams in an American context, where they might need to know just as much about marital counseling," Safi said. Future Muslim religious leaders in America "are going to have to be completely up on the world of Facebook and [teenage singer] Justin Bieber, just as they are on the classical aspects of Islamic law."
Other U.S. colleges offer courses in Islamic studies, but Hatem Bazian, the academic affairs chair and a co-founder of Zaytuna, said the fledgling college takes another approach.
"At institutions that teach about Islam, it is teaching from the outside looking in, and often it is from a deconstructing approach," Bazian said. "We will be looking at Islam from within and with a sense of not to seek to deconstruct, but how to take that valuable core of the tradition and build upon it." >>> M. Scott Bortot | Saturday, August 28, 2010
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES: America's first Muslim College opens in Berkeley >>> IB Times Staff Reporter | August 26, 2010
* One would have to be naïve to believe this!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
MIRROR: DAVID Cameron faced damaging questions about his honesty last night [February 11, 2007] after refusing to comment on revelations that he DID smoke cannabis at Eton and Oxford.
A new biography discloses that the Tory leader narrowly avoided being expelled from Eton aged 15 for smoking "spliffs".
It also refers to his "infrequent and moderate" consumption of cannabis during his three years at university. >>> Oonagh Blackman Political Editor | Monday, February 12, 2007
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