The EU should be stronger and more united. Great Britain should belong to the Union.
Die EU sollte stärker und geeinter sein. Großbritannien sollte der Union angehören.
L'UE devrait être plus forte et plus unie. La Grande-Bretagne devrait appartenir à l'Union.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Welfare Bill Soars as Coalition Counts Cost of Austerity Drive
THE GUARDIAN: Slowdown in economic growth makes reducing deficit harder, says Office for Budget Responsibility
Rising unemployment will cost the government £1.5bn more than expected in welfare benefits, according to official forecasts that reveal the hidden cost of the coalition's austerity drive.
As big increases in VAT are due to bite from Tuesday, analysis from the Office for Budget Responsibility shows slowing economic growth will make it harder to reduce the deficit by forcing more people to seek state support.
The Treasury watchdog calculates the government will have to pay out £700m more in unemployment benefit than previously forecast. Similarly, a higher number claiming jobseeker's allowance as well as falling into lower wage brackets will see the government needing to pay out another £700m more in housing assistance over the next four years.
Though the OBR data, released last month, confirms the government is still making substantial savings from its changes to both benefits, the shadow work and pensions secretary, Douglas Alexander, said the OBR's fresh assessment suggested it was government strategy that was leaving these higher numbers exposed.
He said: "The growing cost of the risk the government is running with the economic recovery is now emerging. The result of policies which undermine growth and jobs is a longer dole queue and a higher welfare bill." >>> Allegra Stratton and Julia Kollewe | Sunday, January 02, 2011
Norman Tebbit: The Government Goes Easy on Suspected Terrorists – Thanks to the Lib Dems
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH – EXTRACT: Now, according to the Sunday Times, the junior partners in the Coalition have won the row over control orders on suspected terrorists. The Prime Minister, it claims, has sided with the Lib Dems against his own Home Secretary. Mr Clegg takes the high-minded view that the security of this country and its people are secondary to the “human rights” of suspected terrorists. The Home Secretary, Theresa May, who has responsibility for such matters, is known to take a different view, putting the human right of law-abiding citizens not to be blown to bits by demented suicide bombers first. Read the whole article here and comment >>> Norman Tebbit | Monday, January 03, 2011
The Christmas Broadcast, 1957
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Incredible! Journey to Islam and Seeking Knowledge - Abdur Raheem McCarthy
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Final Address (January 02, 2011)
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban, poised to take over presidency of the European Union, is fighting back against criticism from Germany and other countries over a new Hungarian law that some fear could be used to curb press freedom.
The law, which was passed last week by the Parliament in Budapest and comes into force on Jan. 1, empowers the newly created National Media and Communications Authority to impose heavy fines for coverage that it considers unbalanced or offensive to human dignity or common morals.
Dunja Mijatovic of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitors press and human rights freedoms throughout the region, said he was concerned that the legislation, “if misused, can silence critical media and public debate in the country.”
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke out strongly against the new law.
“As a country that is about to take over the president of the E.U., Hungary will have a particular responsibility for the image of the whole union in the world,” said a spokesman for Mrs. Merkel.
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselbron questioned whether Hungary was ready to represent the E.U. “The plans clearly violate and the spirit of E.U. treaties,” he said. “It raises the question of whether such a country is worthy of leading the E.U.”
But Mr. Orban hit back against his critics. “We are not even thinking in our wildest dreams about making amendments to the law,” he said in an interview with the Hungarian private television channel Hir TV. “I am not inclined to react with wobbly knees to debates in parliament or Western reactions. There is not a single passage in the law that does not correspond to the media law in E.U. countries.” >>> Judy Dempsey | Saturday, December 25, 2010
Who Will Confront the Hatred in Hungary?
THE GUARDIAN: The European Union seems happy to ignore the repression that is happening under Viktor Orbán [sic]
All sides agreed that there should be no fuss when Hungary's Viktor Orbán took over the presidency of the European Union yesterday. The EU's technocrats would allow Orbán to play the big guy on the international stage, as long as he let Brussels run Europe behind the scenes. Brussels assured Orbán's rightwing Fidesz party in return that it would not look too closely at how he runs Hungary.
Both parties will maintain the pretence that Hungary is a decent democracy and not discuss the ugly little state that is growing within Europe's borders. The silence of Europe's rulers will suit Fidesz nicely. Ever since it won a landslide victory over the corrupt and incompetent Hungarian left, it has been turning Hungary into a… well, I will not call it a fascist country or even a neo-fascist county, but just note that an old, foul stench wafts from the "new society" Orbán's patriots are building on the Danube.
You can catch a smell of it in Fidesz's propaganda. Its first act was to order public buildings to display a passage from its manifesto. "In spring 2010, the Hungarian nation gathered its strength once again and brought about a successful revolution in the polling booth," the citizenry was informed. They should rejoice because Fidesz will lead Hungary to a bright new tomorrow based on "work, home, family, health and order". >>> Nick Cohen | Sunday, January 02, 2011
SKY NEWS: A new video of North Korea's leader-in-waiting has been broadcast on state TV as it emerged a train carrying his birthday gifts derailed in a possible act of sabotage. Tim Marshall reports.
New Irish Exodus To America
SKY NEWS: The number of people travelling from Ireland to New York to find work is rising, according to the city's Irish community leaders.
Katie Couric * : "Maybe We Need a Muslim Version of the Cosby Show"
THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE: >>> NewsGuy | Saturday, January 01, 2011
Agitation autour de l’affaire Sakineh
LE TEMPS: Une annulation de la lapidation de l’Iranienne condamnée à mort pour adultère est «possible», selon un responsable régional de la justice ce dimanche, après une série de déclarations plus ou moins mises en scène qui ont eu lieu tout ce week-end
De grandes manoeuvres semblent avoir commencé autour de cette Iranienne condamnée à la lapidation pour adultère, et dont le sort fait l’objet d’une forte mobilisation notamment en Occident depuis cet été. La peine de mort de Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani pourrait en effet être annulée, du moins si on en croit un haut responsable de la Justice iranienne, le chef de la Justice de la province d’Azerbaïdjan oriental, Malek Ajdar Sharifi, qui a déclaré ce di manche [sic] que «tout était possible». >>> LT / AFP | Dimanche 02 Janvier 2011
Übergewicht ist in Deutschland fast Normalzustand
WELT am SONNTAG: Die Bundesregierung will mehr gegen die weit verbreitete Fettleibigkeit unternehmen – alarmiert durch neue Zahlen.
Das neue Jahr hat begonnen, die guten Vorsätze sind gefasst. Ganz vorn rangiert dabei der Entschluss, endlich die überflüssigen Pfunde loszuwerden. Studien zeigen: Die Deutschen haben eine Schlankheitskur auch dringend nötig: Schon 15 Prozent der Kinder und Jugendlichen bringen zu viele Pfunde auf die Waage. Mit dem Alter nimmt der Anteil der Übergewichtigen dramatisch zu. Beim Eintritt ins Rentenalter sind heute sieben von zehn Frauen und Männern zu dick. Und der Anteil der Fettleibigen wächst. Die Kluft zwischen dicken und dünnen Deutschen wird immer größer.
Ein Teil der Bevölkerung ernährt sich gesund und achtet auf sein Gewicht. Wer aber ohnehin schon zu viel wiegt, kümmert sich nicht um Kalorien und langt noch kräftiger zu. "Die Dicken werden immer dicker", sagte Professor Helmut Heseker, Präsident der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Ernährung (DGE), der "Welt am Sonntag". Übergewicht sei "in einer Überflussgesellschaft inzwischen fast der Normalzustand", warnte Heseker. >>> C. Ehrenstein und M. Hollstein | Sonntag, 02. Januar 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Cabinet said to be poised to approve alternatives to the restrictive conditions imposed on some terror suspects
Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, is said to have won his cabinet fight to scrap control orders, the restrictive conditions that impose virtual house arrest on some terror suspects.
Under alternative measures awaiting government approval, suspects will no longer have to wear electronic tags or have a home curfew imposed on them, and will be allowed to use mobile phones and home computers for the first time, according to the Sunday Times. [£]
They will also be allowed to travel wherever they want in Britain, but not abroad, it is claimed.
The report comes after a group of human rights organisations upped the pressure on the government over the issue. The Liberal Democrats promised to scrap control orders as part of their election manifesto commitments, but the issue has caused wrangling within the coalition government, under pressure from the Home Office and MI5 to retain the controversial measures. >>> Karen McVeigh | Sunday, January 01, 2011
Egyptian Christians Mourn Dead in Suicide Bomb Attack on Church
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Dozens of grieving Egyptian Christians attended Sunday Mass at the Saints Church in Alexandria guard where 21 worshippers were killed in an apparent suicide bombing.
Riot police in armoured vehicles were deployed outside the blood-spattered church as Egyptian newspapers warned that "civil war" could break out unless Christians and Muslims close ranks after a deadly attack on a Coptic church that triggered angry protests.
The authorities said that a suicide bomber blew himself up outside Al-Qiddissin church in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria early on New Year's Day, killing 21 people and wounding 79 others.
The service was marked by the grief and anger felt by a congregation devastated by the attack, which took place Saturday outside the church's door about 30 minutes into the New Year.
Many sobbed while others cried hysterically, screamed in anger or slapped themselves. "They died, they died," a woman kept saying.
Some lamented that attacks on Christians and churches often happen during usually happy occasions like Christmas and New Year. Others complained that the government was not doing enough to protect churches. >>> Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Sunday, January 02, 2011
Australian Woman Swept Off Bridge Is First Victim of Queensland Floods
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Australian police have recovered the body of a woman whose car was swept from the road in heavy flooding in the country's northeast, the first victim of the catastrophe.
A woman drowned after trying to cross a flooded causeway in Australia, becoming the first victim of relentless flooding that one official has described as reaching "biblical proportions," police said Sunday.
Days of pounding rain last week left much of northeastern Australia swamped by a sea of muddy water, with flooding affecting about 200,000 people in an area larger than France and Germany combined. The rain has stopped, but rivers are still rising and overflowing into low-lying communities as the water moves toward the ocean.
On Saturday night, two cars trying to cross a flooded causeway were swept into a river in Burketown, in western Queensland state, police said.
"We're just grateful there weren't more casualties," Queensland's Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Alistair Dawson said. "We're focused on preventing any more."
About 1,000 people were living in evacuation centers across the state, and it may be a month before floodwaters dry up, Dawson said. >>> Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Sunday, January 02, 2011
Obama Can Fix It!
MAIL ONLINE: President Barack Obama today set out an ambitious New Year's resolution for 2011 - repair the struggling U.S. economy.
In his weekly radio and Internet address, the president said recent data showed the economic recovery was gaining traction even though millions of Americans were still out of work.
'Our most important task now is to keep that recovery going,' said Mr Obama, who is currently enjoying a family vacation in Hawaii.
Ottawa dénonce les violations des droits de l'homme en Iran
CYBERPRESSE.CA: Le chef de la diplomatie canadienne a dénoncé samedi l'usage de la peine de mort et de lourdes peines de prison en Iran, appelant ce pays à améliorer la situation des droits de l'homme.
«Je suis particulièrement préoccupé par le sort incertain de deux Canadiens ayant la double nationalité qui sont toujours détenus en Iran», a écrit Lawrence Cannon dans un communiqué.
M. Cannon cite le cas de Saeed Malekpour, un résident permanent du Canada, qui a été condamné à mort et dont la peine «pourrait être exécutée à tout moment».
Le Canadien d'origine iranienne Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, qui s'est rendu en Iran en 2008 pour rendre visite à sa mère malade, a lui aussi été condamné à mort sous l'accusation de crimes contre l'État. >>> Agence France-Presse | Samedi 01 Janvier 2011
Son of Iranian Woman Sentenced to Be Stoned Wants Her Sentence Commuted
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: The son of an Iranian woman, whose death sentence by stoning for adultery sparked world outrage, demanded Saturday that his mother's verdict be commuted.
In his first public meeting with journalists, Sajjad Qaderzadeh told reporters in the northwest city of Tabriz that he had been freed on Dec. 12 after posting a $40,000 bail and now wants to devote his life to saving his mother.
“We lost our father and we don't want to lose our mother. We demand that her verdict be commuted,” Qaderzadeh told reporters. >>> Nasser Karimi, Tabriz, Iran – The Associated Press | Saturday, January 01, 2011
Inondations «sans précédent» en Australie
LE TEMPS: Réfugiés par milliers, destruction des récoltes et transports bloqués: le nord-est de l’Australie faisait face vendredi à de graves inondations, dont le coût est déjà estimé à plusieurs milliards de dollars. Et un autre cyclone était en formation au large de la côte ouest, de l’autre côté du pays
Sur une surface aussi vaste que celle de la France et de l’Allemagne réunies, des dizaines de villes et de villages de l’Etat du Queensland, région agricole et minière, sont depuis mardi envahis par les eaux et coupés du reste du pays.
Les intempéries, provoquées par le récent passage du cyclone Tasha, ont pris la forme d’un véritable déluge d’eau qui a coupé les routes, endommagé les liaisons ferroviaires et perturbé la production de charbon. >>> ATS | Vendredi 31 Décembre 2010
Banned Speech: Hillel Neuer Takes on U.N. Human Rights Council
