Friday, October 29, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Tehran ready to hold talks 'in a place and on a date convenient to both sides', says letter to EU foreign policy chief
Iran has said it is willing to resume the stalled international talks over its contentious nuclear programme, the EU said today.Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, sent the EU's foreign policy chief, the British peer Lady Ashton, a letter saying he was prepared to continue the talks, which halted a year ago, "in a place and on a date convenient to both sides" after 10 November.
"I think this is a very significant move," Ashton told reporters at the EU summit in Brussels. Earlier this month Ashton – who is the main contact point for Iran in talks involving Britain, France and Germany along with the US, Russia and China – invited Jalili for three days of negotiations in Vienna next month.
One unnamed EU diplomat told Reuters the meeting could now take place in Geneva instead and that the aim was for three days of talks with "everything on the table", including a general discussion of Iran's nuclear activities. "We see this all as a very positive sign, there is a strong sense of optimism," the diplomat said. >>> Peter Walker and agencies | Friday, October 29, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran agrees to nuclear talks as sanctions bite: Iran has succumbed to international pressure to enter talks on its nuclear programme with the EU's top diplomat next month, after the country suffered a series of economic setbacks as sanctions began to bite. >>> Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Friday, October 29, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Muslim man who told his wife "I divorce thee" three times in an online Skype messenger conversation has been told the separation stands.
The ruling, made in an online fatwa by the Darul Uloom Deobandi seminary in northern India, regarded as one of Islam's leading authorities on religious law said that the woman would have to first marry another man before she could remarry her first husband.
The man, from Qatar, wrote to the seminary following his Skype joke to seek clarification.
"Jokingly typed 'talak, talak, talak' (I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee) to my wife on Skype chat. I don't understand Islam very much and did not know about how talaq works. We love each other very much and want to be together but right now [we are] caught in this thing. Want to know a way out," he wrote. >>> Dean Nelson in New Delhi | Friday, October 29, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Frenchman was locked up for two days and is facing criminal charges for sending a joke email to Rachida Dati, the former Justice Minister, asking for "an inflation".The unnamed 40-year-old contacted the MEP at the European Parliament in Strasbourg last week following her appearance on a national radio station when she confused the words "fellatio" and "inflation" – which sound similar in French.
At the time Miss Dati managed to laugh off the mix-up, saying she had spoken too quickly.
After Miss Dati complained about the joke email, the home of sender from Bourg de Péage region of south east France, was raided by Lyon's Judicial Police.
Ivan Flaud, the man's lawyer, said: "My client's computer was seized and he was remanded in custody for 48 hours."
The man was traced through the IP address on his personal computer.
After being kept in a cell and then placed on bail he was ordered to appear in court on December 3 charged with displaying contempt towards a public servant, an offence which is punishable with a prison sentence of up to a month and a €10,000 (£8,700) fine. >>> Peter Allen, in Paris | Friday, October 29, 2010
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LE MONDE: Gardé à vue pour une "petite inflation" : Un plaisantin, amusé par le lapsus de l'ex-garde des sceaux sur Canal + fin septembre, qui avait parlé de "fellation" au lieu d'"inflation", s'est retrouvé 48 heures en garde à vue la semaine dernière – appartement perquisitionné, ordinateur saisi – pour avoir envoyé à Rachida Dati au Parlement européen un courriel lui proposant une petite "inflation". >>> LE MONDE | Vendredi 29 Octobre 2010
LE POST: Gardé à vue 48h pour des mails graveleux à Dati : "Disproportionné pour une blague potache" >>> | Vendredi 29 Octobre 2010
Methinks that Rachida Dati takes herself far too seriously! It was she who made the mistake in the first place. She should now rise above it all, grow up, show her mettle, and take it all on the chin. – © Mark
DAILY STAR: A FAR-RIGHT group has vowed to “close down” any town that ditches British traditions and shows favouritism to Muslims.
The English Defence League said it has written to every council in the country threatening a mass invasion if they ban the word “Christmas”.
It includes using the term “winter festival” in case Christmas upsets Muslims.
EDL leader Stephen Lennon said “working class people” in the UK were “at boiling point” over what he says is the “Islamisation of Britain.” >>> Steve Hughes | Tuesday, October 26, 2010
HT: Weasel Zippers >>>
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Aus Liebe ist Enttäuschung geworden: Der linke Flügel der Demokraten wendet sich von Barack Obama ab - Schwulen-aktivisten, Menschenrechtler und Kriegsgegner sehen wichtige Wahlversprechen gebrochen. Auch der Frust unter den Latinos dürfte das Lager des Präsidenten viele Stimmen kosten.Kip Williams nippt am Eistee. Er sitzt in einem Lokal mitten in San Franciscos Schwulenviertel Castro, trägt ein weißes enges T-Shirt, dazu rote Turnschuhe. Hier haben Cafés französische Namen und verkaufen Biopanini. Williams ist vor vier Jahren hergezogen, aus dem konservativen Tennessee.
Er erinnert sich gerne an diese Zeit, George W. Bush saß damals zwar noch im Weißen Haus, doch die Demokraten übernahmen schon mal den Kongress, es herrschte Aufbruchstimmung. Die wuchs noch, als zwei Jahre später Barack Obama Präsident wurde. Auch Williams glaubte an ihn, er machte Wahlkampf für Obama. Der hatte als Senator Sympathien für die gleichgeschlechtliche Ehe gezeigt.
Doch jetzt ist Williams' Kontakt mit den Demokraten, seiner Partei, abrupt abgebrochen. "Sie sind schwach, und sie haben kein politisches Rückgrat", schimpft der junge Mann. Und Obama selbst? "Er hat sein Versprechen gebrochen." Der Präsident sei ein ideales Beispiel dafür, wie Washington einen guten Mann zugrunde richten könne. Linker Wähler-Flügel der Demokraten in Aufruhr >>> Von Gregor Peter Schmitz, San Francisco | Freitag, 29. Oktober 2010
WELT ONLINE: Der türkische Außenminister sagt Europa eine Tendenz "zu mehr Religion" voraus. Europa werde sich auf eine vielseitigere Zukunft zubewegen.
Der türkische Außenminister Ahmet Davutoglu ist davon überzeugt, dass ein türkischer EU-Beitritt die „zivilisatorischen Grundlagen“ Europas verändern wird: Weg von einer „rigide westlichen Identität“ und hin zu mehr Religion und „Monotheismus“.
Davutoglu wurde von der neuen, englischsprachigen Zeitschrift „Turkish Review“ mit den Worten zitiert, Europa werde dank des türkischen EU-Beitritts und dank der neuen türkischen Öffnung gegenüber der muslimischen Welt, „mit sehr alten Zivilisationen in Austausch treten“. Dieser Austausch werde das als Zivilisation viel jüngere Europa dazu bewegen „seine eigenen zivilisatorischen Grundlagen infrage zu stellen“.
Als Beispiel nannte Davutoglu den Minarett-Streit. „Heute sind manche europäischen Länder gegen Minarette eingestellt. Der Grund ist das sehr starke und rigide westliche Selbstverständnis. Aber Städte mit vielfältigeren kulturellen Bauwerken produzieren pluralistischere Bürger“. Europa werde sich auf eine solche vielseitigere Zukunft zubewegen, meinte Davutoglu, aber es werde zugleich religiöser, und das europäische Christentum selbst werde in gewisser Weise islamischer, nämlich „monotheistischer“ werden: „Meine persönliche Voraussage ist, dass neue christliche Bewegungen mit stärker monotheistischen Tendenzen aufblühen werden“, heißt es in dem Interview. >>> Von Boris Kálnoky | Donnerstag, 28. Oktober 2010
TODAY’S ZAMAN: Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, largely responsible for engineering Turkish foreign policy, has told the Turkish Review that the European Union, which will interact with ancient civilizations through Turkey’s entry into the bloc, will begin to question its civilization premises as a result of this interaction.
“Europe will experience what Turkey is passing through today in an extensive manner. Turkey will be an inoculation to Europe and I believe a very fertile intellectual atmosphere will be born. Of course, the civilizational premises will be opened to questioning. My personal prediction is that new Christian movements with stronger monotheistic tendencies will flourish,” Davutoğlu said in an interview with the Turkish Review, a bimonthly journal whose first issue was released this week.
Davutoğlu gave an exclusive interview to the journal’s editor-in-chief, Kerim Balcı, who is also a columnist for Today’s Zaman. Elaborating on his statements, Davutoğlu used the example of some European countries being against the building of minarets. >>> | Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – DAMIAN THOMPSON: “Mohammed” is the most popular boys’ name in Britain – a fact that only jumped out at researchers when they lumped together its variant spellings. But why? Is it a function of the scale of immigration from Muslim countries over the past decade? I’m sure that’s not the main factor. The answer, I suspect, lies in the findings of a poll by Policy Exchange in 2007:
Young British Muslims are much more likely than their parents to follow the rules of the Islamic religion, a think tank survey showed.These religious young Muslims are more likely than their parents to name their boys after the man they (and the ever-respectful BBC) refer to simply as “the Prophet”. This is a function of the Islamification of Britain’s Pakistani community, which was encouraged by the last government to identify itself by faith rather than national background. Read on and comment >>> Damian Thompson | Thursday, October 28, 2010
Support for Sharia law, Islamic schools and wearing the Hijab is much stronger among younger Muslims, according to the survey by the centre-right Policy Exchange.
The survey of more than 1,000 Muslims from different age groups in the UK, found:
• 71% of over-55s compared with 62% of 16 to 24-year-olds believe that they have as much, if not more, in common with non-Muslims in Britain than with Muslims abroad.
• 19% of over-55s compared with 37% of 16 to 24-year-olds would prefer to send their children to Islamic state schools.
• 17% of over-55s compared with 37% of 16 to 24-year-olds would prefer living under Sharia law than British law.
• 28% of over-55s compared with 74% of 16 to 24-year-olds prefer Muslim women to choose to wear the Islamic headscarf.
* There is one SIMPLE reason why Muhammad/Mohammed/Mohamed has become Britain’s favourite boys’ name: It is because the Muslim population of Britain has exploded; and the authorities have allowed this situation to come about. By and large, the British people don’t want them here. – © Mark
THE GUARDIAN: Speculation is rampant over Vladimir Putin's appearance in Kiev, sporting gaudy orange make-up, with many saying it hid a black eye. Has the Russian action man been beaten up?
Was it the result of a judo chop? A visit to the dentist? A cuffing by some wild beast?
Speculation was rife in Ukraine today after Vladimir Putin visited the country with what appeared to be a large bruise on his cheekbone.
Russia's action man prime minister seemed down in the dumps as he met Ukraine's pro-Moscow leadership with his face smothered in orange foundation – apparently to hide the shiner under his left eye.
Putin's aides denied anything was wrong, but the leader's appearance caused intense speculation in local media and blogs. Ukrainian television channel TSN said the Kremlin chief had "noticeable swelling" on his face and was "covered in make-up".
Andrei Kolesnikov, a well-known correspondent with Russia's Kommersant newspaper, confirmed the prime minister's unusual aspect. "Could it really be the result of some tough sparring?" he asked, saying the bruise was "thoroughly retouched but nonetheless noticeable to everyone without exception".
In pictures from Kiev, the make-up on Putin's face appeared to have been so hastily applied that it stopped at a tide line in the middle of his forehead. >>> Tom Parfitt in Moscow | Thursday, October 28, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Germany's government has proposed criminalising forced marriage in an attempt to wipe out the traditional Muslim practice.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet agreed to a proposed law that would make forced marriage in Germany a crime that can be punished with up to five years in prison.
The legislation still needs to pass parliament.
"Forced marriages are a serious problem in Germany," Thomas de Maiziere, the interior minister, said, adding that by criminalising them Germany would make clear that this is no longer "a tradition from olden times or different cultures that is ... tolerable."
About 4.3 million Muslims live in Germany, and forced marriage is still fairly common, especially among Turks and Arabs.
There are no official figures on the number of forced marriages, but rights groups say that increasing numbers of young immigrants who grew up in Germany and identify with Western values and the right to choose their own partners are rebelling against the tradition. >>> | Thursday, October 28, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A German government report has concluded that German diplomats were complicit in the murder of millions of jews during the Second World War.
Despite decades-long efforts by ministry employees to present the foreign office as a place of opposition during the Third Reich, diplomats were actually willing participants in the Nazis' campaign against the Jews, the report concluded – from spying on Jewish-German emigrants abroad to actively contributing to the mass murder of Europe's Jews until 1945.
"The German Foreign Ministry collaborated with the Nazis' violent politics and especially assisted in all aspects of the discrimination, deportation, persecution and genocide of the Jews," said Eckhart Conze, one of four historians who helped prepare the 880-page official report on the German Foreign Ministry's involvement in the Holocaust.
Former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer commissioned the report while he was in office in 2005. His decision was prompted by a public debate over the ministry's Nazi past, after it became known that the ministry was still publishing well-meaning obituaries about former employees who were committed Nazis. >>> | Thursday, October 28, 2010
FOCUS ONLINE: „Diplomaten waren Mittäter im Dritten Reich“ : Die Geschichte der Diplomaten im Dritten Reich ist eine Geschichte der Kollaboration bei der Judenvernichtung. Dies hat eine Historiker-kommission herausgefunden. Der beteiligte Marburger Professor Eckart Conze im FOCUS-Online-Interview. >>> von FOCUS-Online-Redakteurin Sandra Tjong | Donnerstag, 28. Oktober 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: SOMALIE | Les islamistes shebab ont exécuté par balles mercredi deux jeunes filles jugées coupables d’espionnage, ont rapporté jeudi des témoins sur place. C’est la première fois que des femmes sont tuées dans ce pays sous un tel chef d’accusation.
L’exécution a eu lieu à Beledweyne, une ville proche de la frontière avec l’Ethiopie, devant plusieurs centaines de personnes. Les jeunes filles semblaient âgées de 17 ou de 18 ans, selon les témoignages. «Ces femmes espionnaient pour l’ennemi et ont été arrêtées par les mudjahidines (combattants islamiques) la semaine dernière», a déclaré à la foule, après l’exécution, Sheikh Youssouf Ali Ougas, commandant régional des shebab. «Après une longue enquête, elles ont avoué leurs crimes», a-t-il ajouté. Autres exécutions probables >>> ATS/AFP | Jeudi 28 Octobre 2010
MAIL ONLINE: A luxury resort in the Maldives has sparked outrage after a video appeared on You Tube showing members of staff abusing and mocking their guests using a language they were unable to understand.
Employees at the Vilu Reef Beach and Spa resort can be seen calling an English-speaking couple ‘infidel’ and ‘swine’ and calling their guests' marriage illegal in their native Dhivehi tongue throughout the 15-minute wedding ceremony.
According to the Maldives news service Minivan News, the video which was uploaded to You Tube ‘as a joke’, shows an employee named Hussein Didi conducting a service as a 'celebrant' - a person who is empowered to perform a religious ceremony.
The document he uses, of which there is a brief close-up in the video, has absolutely no relation to marriage laws in the Maldives.
Words that are legible on the document refer to ‘staff employment’, suggesting that it is a document relating to employment regulations.
Asking the couple and other ‘officials’ to raise their hands as is customary for Muslim prayers, the ‘celebrant’ begins his marriage vows.
‘Fornication has been legalised according to Article six, 1.11 of the Penal Code,' he chants in a tone favoured by religious scholars. ‘That is, frequent fornication by homosexuals. Most fornication is by males,’ he continues.
‘You are swine. The children that you bear from this marriage will all be bastard swine,’ he says to his guests.
‘Your marriage is not a valid one. You are not the kind of people who can have a valid marriage. One of you is an infidel. The other, too, is an infidel – and we have reason to believe – an atheist, who does not even believe in an infidel religion.’
The hapless couple remain oblivious as the ‘celebrant’, surrounded by 10 to 15 employees, calls for the marriage to be enshrined in Islamic law, followed by further personal insults against the couple.
None of the employees attempts to stop the 'ceremony' and several take photographs.
Various types of insults about the woman and the man, their clothing and demeanour, are spoken throughout in the form of a running commentary in a sports video. Read on and comment >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Thursday, October 28, 2010
• Do you know who the hapless couple so cruelly treated in the video are? Contact the Mail Online newsdesk on 020 7938 6011 or email websiteeditorial@dailymail.co.uk
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Maldives: couple suisse traité de «porc» en renouvelant ses voeux de marriage: DUPERIE | Les autorités des Maldives ont exprimé leur "choc" et leur "dégoût" après la publication sur internet d'une vidéo montrant un couple suisse en train de se faire insulter à son insu dans un hôtel de luxe. >>> AFP | Jeudi 28 Octobre 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A naturalised American citizen born in Pakistan has been arrested over bomb plots on railway stations in the US capital that could have caused mass casualties, the FBI said.
Farooque Ahmed, 34, of Ashburn, Virginia, was charged with trying to help people posing as al-Qaeda operatives planning to launch simultaneous bomb attacks on railway stations around Washington DC.
The public was never in danger because FBI agents were aware of Ahmed's activities and monitored him throughout, the agency said. And the people that Ahmed thought were al-Qaeda operatives were actually individuals who "worked on behalf of the government in this matter," according to a federal law enforcement official who requested anonymity.
The arrest appeared to have all the hallmarks of a sting operation, but the FBI refused to confirm this.
Ahmed faces 50 years in prison for charges of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organisation, collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack on a transit facility, and attempting to provide material support to carry out multiple bombings to cause mass casualties. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Wednesday, October 27, 2010
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