Monday, April 04, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Adolf Eichmann, the bureaucratic mastermind of the Holocaust, regretted that he failed to exterminate all of Europe's Jews, saying "there was more we could have done", recordings have revealed.Eichmann showed only disappointment that some survived, according to newly declassified files. Looking back on his role in organising the systematic slaughter of Jews, gipsies and other groups, he says: "We didn't do our work correctly."
Recordings of Eichmann were made in the 1950s while he was hiding in Argentina. They have come to light after the German news magazine Der Spiegel found them in 4,500 files on his case recently opened by Germany's intelligence services. » | Matthew Day, Warsaw | Monday, April 04, 2011
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: ROME—Italy has recognized the governing body of rebel forces opposed to the regime of Col. Moammar Gadhafi as Libya's sole "legitimate interlocutor," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Monday as Rome seeks a way to re-establish its access to Libyan oil and natural gas.
Speaking at a news conference after meeting with Ali al-Essawi, the foreign envoy of the rebel-backed Libyan National Transitional Council, Mr. Frattini said Italy planned to send an envoy to Libya in the coming days, becoming the latest Western nation to establish diplomatic relations with the council.
Rome's support is a boost to rebel forces, because Italy is Libya's largest trading partner and the biggest buyer of the North African country's oil and natural-gas supplies. Italy, which imports a quarter of its oil and 10% of its natural gas from Libya, is eager to revive Italy's access to oil production now in rebel territory.
"We have decided to recognize the council as the only political, legitimate interlocutor to represent Libya," Mr. Frattini said. He also said Italy is seeking to send medical supplies and other aid to Misrata. » | Stacy Meichtry | Monday, April 04, 2011
REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Tripolis/Athen - Nach drei Wochen westlicher Luftangriffe und festgefahrenen Bodenkämpfen wirbt der libysche Machthaber Muammar Gaddafi für einen Waffenstillstand.
Gaddafi diplomatische Offensive stieß am Montag auf ein geteiltes Echo: Während Italien den Vorstoß aus Tripolis kategorisch zurückwies, äußerte die Türkei die Bereitschaft zur Vermittlung. Auf dem Schlachtfeld gab es dagegen keine Anzeichen für eine bevorstehende Feuerpause. Die Kämpfe um die ost-libysche Ölstadt Brega und den Rebellen-Vorposten Misrata im Westen des nordafrikanischen Landes gingen mit unveränderter Härte weiter. Die Menschen in Misrata seien "in der Hölle gefangen", sagte ein Verwundeter.
Der stellvertretende libysche Außenminister Abdelati Obeidi traf am Sonntag überraschend in Athen ein, um bei der griechischen Regierung für einen Waffenstillstand zu werben. Ein Sprecher des griechischen Außenministeriums sagte, es müsse nun abgewartet werden, ob in Libyen ein nationaler Dialog möglich sei. Die Türkei, die am Montag den Besuch Obeidis erwartete, erklärte sich zur Vermittlung bereit. Die Regierung in Ankara wolle darüber auch mit einem Vertreter der Rebellen beraten. Beide Seiten hätten mitgeteilt, wie sie über einen möglichen Waffenstillstand dächten. Der türkische Ministerpräsident Tayyip Erdogan hatte Gaddafi im März vergebens zu überzeugen versucht, einem gewählten Präsidenten oder einer gewählten Führung die Macht zu übertragen. Am Dienstag wird Obeidi auf Malta erwartet. » | © Reuters | Montag, 04. April 2011
REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Tokio (Reuters) - Die japanische Regierung befürchtet katastrophale Auswirkungen für den Pazifik, wenn weiterhin radioaktiv verseuchte Substanzen aus dem havarierten AKW Fukushima ins offene Meer strömen.
"Wir müssen die Ausbreitung in den Ozean so bald wie möglich stoppen", sagte Regierungssprecher Yukio Edano. AKW-Betreiber Tepco ließ am Montag Millionen Liter schwach radioaktives Wasser ins Meer ab, um Platz in den Reaktoren zu schaffen. Angesichts der Erdbeben- und Tsunami-Katastrophe sprachen sich in einer Umfrage zwei Drittel der Japaner für die Bildung einer Regierung der nationalen Einheit aus.
"Wenn die gegenwärtige Lage mit der Anreicherung radioaktiver Substanzen über lange Zeit anhält, wird es riesige Auswirkungen auf den Ozean haben", sagte Edano. Die Betreiberfirma Tepco forderte er auf, schnell zu handeln. Diese ließ jedoch erst einmal zehn Millionen Liter schwach radioaktiv belastetes Wasser aus dem AKW ab. Es sei 100 Mal stärker verstrahlt als rechtlich zulässig, teilte das Unternehmen mit. Bei dem Wasser handelt es sich um Kühlwasser, das sich in den Reaktoren angesammelt hat. Es müsse abgelassen werden, um Platz für stärker belastetes Kühlwasser zu schaffen. » | © Reuters | Montag, 04. April 2011
REUTERS FRANCE: PARIS - Le gouvernement français a diffusé un mode d'emploi pour l'interdiction du voile intégral musulman, stipulant qu'elle ne s'appliquerait pas près des mosquées et que les policiers ne pourront arracher le vêtement.
Cette loi votée en septembre et promulguée en octobre, qui entrera en vigueur le 11 avril, interdit "la dissimulation du visage dans l'espace public" et sert officiellement à réaffirmer les valeurs de la République et les droits des femmes.
Le texte, qui concernerait au maximum quelques milliers de personnes dans toute la France, prévoit une amende de 150 euros pour les porteuses de voile intégral - burqa ou niqab - couvrant tout le corps à l'exception des yeux.
La circulaire aux préfets signée le 31 mars par le ministre de l'Intérieur Claude Guéant, dont Reuters a eu copie, précise qu'il est toujours autorisé de dissimuler son visage avec un casque intégral de moto, des bandages médicaux, un masque de soudeur, un masque d'escrimeur et des déguisements de carnaval.
L'interdiction du voile s'applique partout sauf dans les domiciles privés, les chambres d'hôtel, les locaux d'une association ou d'une entreprise, sauf pour les parties dédiées à l'accueil du public. » | Thierry Lévêque, Nicolas Bertin, édité par Yves Clarisse | Lundi 04 Avril 2011
REUTERS AFRICA: PARIS - France's ruling conservatives are pressing ahead with a public debate on Islam and secularism on Tuesday despite criticism that it is an excuse to pander to far-right voters ahead of a general election next year.Sarkozy's UMP party said in December that it would host a public forum to address fears about Islam's role in French society, following controversy over Muslim street prayers, halal-only restaurants and full-face Islamic veils.
But a hail of criticism from religious leaders and some party members has forced the UMP to downsize the event and fight off accusations that a focus on Islam will provide cover for the airing of anti-Muslim prejudices among the French.
"They can't cancel it now," said Jean-Francois [sic] Doridot, an analyst at the Ipsos polling agency. "It's a sort of trap that is closing around the UMP, and they are trying to get themselves out of it one way or another."
Amid sharp criticism from religious leaders, party officials have bickered over the need to hold a debate at all, France's largest Muslim group has announced a boycott, and Prime Minister Francois [sic] Fillon declined his invitation to attend.
The guest list for Tuesday's debate has yet to be confirmed, but Interior Minister Claude Gueant -- who came under fire recently for saying the French "no longer felt at home" -- will attend, as will party spokesman Jean-Francois Cope [sic].
With France's controversial ban on full-face veils going into effect next week, Gueant defended the debate by saying that some Muslim practices were problematic and needed to be addressed. » | Nick Vinocur | Monday, April 04, 2011
REUTERS: President Barack Obama is no longer the outsider candidate who fueled his bid for the White House in 2008 with a flood of small donations from new and young voters inspired by his message of hope and change.As a sitting president he has far greater authority and media access and his 2012 re-election campaign is expected to raise $1 billion, which is unprecedented in U.S. politics.
"In 2008, he was very much an insurgent candidate, somebody from out of nowhere with a wholly different story. And the Obama campaign was as much a crusade as it was a traditional campaign for president," said Christopher Arterton, a professor of political management at George Washington University who has also been a Democratic consultant.
With early polls showing Obama leading potential Republican rivals, he announced his re-election campaign on Monday with e-mails and text messages to supporters and a video on the website www.barackobama.com. He is expected to file campaign papers with the Federal Election Commission as early as Monday.
That would allow him to start campaign fund-raising and much of his war chest is expected to come from the kind of big-money donations he has criticized in the past. » | Patricia Zengerle | WASHINGTON | Monday, April 04, 2011
BBC: Yemeni security forces have fired on anti-government protesters, killing at least 15 people and wounding many more, medical sources say.
Witnesses said snipers opened fire from the rooftops when protesters reached the governor's offices in Taiz.
Snipers had also reportedly shot at protesters during a march in the fourth-largest city, Hudaida.
The unrest follows weeks of nationwide protests calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stand down.
He has ruled the country for 32 years, and has signalled that he has no plans to leave immediately. (+ video) » | Monday, April 04, 2011
GATES OF VIENNA: Time to Unmask Muhammad » | Geert Wilders | Wednesday, March 30, 2011
TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – BRENDAN O’NIELL: The American pastor Terry Jones might be a bit of a weirdo with an unhealthy obsession with the Koran, but he’s right about one thing: he is not responsible for the fatal rioting in Afghanistan. His burning of the Koran can no more be blamed for those acts of violence than Martin Scorsese can be blamed for the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981. (Reagan’s wannabe assassin, John Hinckley Jnr, claimed to have been inspired by Taxi Driver.) The feverish attempts to pin the blame for the Afghan instability on Pastor Jones demonises freedom of speech as something terrifying, even murderous, and it treats Muslims as brainless, wide-eyed automatons who can’t be held responsible for their actions.
Jones’s burning of the Koran was daft. But it did not directly cause “the tragic, deadly violence” in Afghanistan, as one Pentagon spokesman claimed. To suggest that it did, to argue that Jones has “blood on his hands”, as the New York Daily News put it, is to overlook the fact that there is an important bridge between words and actions. That bridge is us, people, the audience, the public, who are possessed of free will and thought and who must make a decision about whether, and how, to act on the words we hear. The idea that words lead directly to action, that the image of a burning Koran in the US leads inevitably to violence in Afghanistan, is to cut out these middle men and present speech as an all-powerful force that dictates world events.
Such an outlook is dangerous for two reasons. First because there would be no limits to the curbing and policing of speech if we all bought into the mad notion that it can directly cause other people’s deaths. If words really are so dangerous, then surely they should be treated as just another weapon, like gun and knives, whose usage must be tightly controlled by the cops and powers-that-be? Already, post-Koran controversy, some Democratic politicians in the US are hinting that the First Amendment, which guarantees free expression, might need to be rethought, since certain forms of speech “endanger the lives of a lot of innocent people”. The consequence of calling into question the free will of people who hear or read certain words is to generate an Orwellian rush to clamp down on anything judged to be “problematic speech”. Continue reading and comment » | Brendan O'Neill | Monday, April 04, 2011
YNET NEWS: Op-ed: New criminal Germany emerging, with anti-Semitism shifting to anti-Israel views
Forty-seven percent of Germans are of the opinion that Israel is exterminating the Palestinians according to a poll undertaken by the University of Bielefeld for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, affiliated with the German Social Democratic Party. These findings raise fundamental questions about the future of German society and not only about those Germans who falsely accuse Israelis of behaving like their own totalitarian or murderous ancestors.
The recent data should not surprise anyone. It even marks some progress when compared with the past. This same university undertook a major poll in 2004. Some 68% percent of Germans then agreed with the allegation: “Israel undertakes a war of destruction against the Palestinians.” Fifty-one percent shared the opinion: “The way the State of Israel acts toward the Palestinians is in principle no different from the Nazis’ behavior in the Third Reich toward the Jews.”
Simultaneously with the accusations against Israel, many Germans are whitewashing their country’s past. Historian Susanne Urban writes about current narratives that should be seen as modern German myths. In her view, an impression is fostered of a National Socialism without National Socialists and a Holocaust without or almost without perpetrators.
The influx of Jews to Germany in recent decades plays an important role in concealing a nasty reality. Urban says that the presence of a substantial number of Jews in the country is very important publicly as “proof” that Germany has developed into a diverse and democratic open society. » | Manfred Gerstenfeld | Monday, April 04, 2011
YNET NEWS: Poll: Anti-Semitism among US Latinos – National survey finds nearly half of American Latinos believe US foreign policy too supportive of Israel » | Ynetnews | Monday, April 04, 2011
THE JERUSALEM POST: Report: Declassified MI5 files reveal Jewish underground member wanted to kill British PM, foreign secretary in attempt to end the mandate.The Lehi considered killing Winston Churchill, The Telegraph reported on Monday, citing declassified MI5 files.
Eliyahu Bet-Zuri, a member of the underground group during the time of the British mandate, reportedly suggested in November 1944 that Lehi, or Stern Gang, members fly to London to kill the prime minister and force the British out of Mandatory Palestine, sparking concern in MI5 that Jewish extremists might try to assassinate foreign secretary Ernest Bevin, as well.
"As soon as [Bet-Zuri] returned to Stern Group headquarters, he proposed to suggest a plan for the assassination of highly placed British political personalities, including Mr. Churchil, for which purpose eimssaries should be sent to London," a sources within the Lehi told Major James Robertson from MI5's Middle East section.
Four months later, Bet-Zuri was executed in Cairo for assassinating Lord Moyne, the British Minister in the Middle East. » | JPOST.COM STAFF | Monday, April 04, 2011
ARAB NEWS: JEDDAH: Psychiatrists, sociologists and other experts have expressed alarm over rising suicide rates and called for increased efforts to raise awareness about mental illnesses and how they can be treated.
They called on families, workplaces and schools to accept mentally ill people and never think of them as lunatics.
Suicide cases in the Kingdom reached 787 in 2010, an increase of 39 percent over the previous year, according to the Jeddah General Psychiatrist Hospital.
An official source at the hospital told Arab News Friday that between 100 and 120 patients come to the hospital every day seeking treatment for various psychological disorders. “At least five of these cases need to be admitted,” he added.
The hospital has 120 beds, of which 20 have been set aside for women. “These figures are enough proof that mental illnesses are on the rise throughout the Kingdom,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
He added many mentally ill Saudis shy away from psychiatric hospitals and prefer to go to faith healers and magicians for treatment. “Some of the patients do not know that they are psychologically unwell and hence will keep silent until their conditions have deteriorated,” he said. » | MD Humaidan | ARAB NEWS | Sunday, April 03, 2011
MAIL ON SUNDAY: Pressing his loudspeaker tighter into his mousy-brown bush of a beard, Salahuddin's bright-blue eyes fill with hatred.'When the Taliban defeat the allies we will establish Sharia law and take the fight to the enemy,' he preaches before a baying crowd of extremist friends at a demo in Barking, Greater London.
But just a year ago Salahuddin was known to his middle-class friends and family simply as Rich, a 27-year-old security guard for the BBC.
As a youngster, growing up in the sunny seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, he harboured dreams of becoming a builder. That was before his transformation.
Now he refuses to use his right hand to shake hands with step-brother Robb Leech from whom he was inseparable last summer on a family holiday to Cyprus.
Instead he uses his 'dirty' left hand - the same one he uses after going to the toilet.
Within the space of just six months he has abandoned his family and believes the UK should be run by strict Sharia law - which means cutting off the hands of thieves and stoning women for cheating.
Now, in a controversial new documentary made by his brother, Robb has attempted to understand Rich's journey throughout this drastic change in lifestyle. Why did my middle class brother turn into an Islamic extremist who won't be seen on TV with our mother if she's not wearing a veil? » | Daily Mail Reporter | Sunday, April 03, 2011
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