Gay Rights Are Human Rights

LOS ANGELES TIMES – EDITORIAL: Recent violence against gay people in South Africa is a reminder that the struggle for gay rights is a global one.

When it comes to gay rights, South Africa is something of a paradox. Legally progressive, the country allows gay marriage and, in its Constitution, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Gay groups flourish — soccer clubs and church organizations included — and middle-class gay men and women live relatively openly.

But in some parts of the country, particularly in rural areas and townships, the progressive laws collide with deeply traditional views of homosexuality as un-African and as an import from the decadent West.

In the South African township of Kwa-Thema, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, a young lesbian woman who dressed like a man and played soccer as well as one was found dead in an alley on Easter morning, having been stabbed with broken glass, battered with bricks and apparently raped with a broken bottle. Two other openly gay women have been murdered in the township since 2008, and some gay men and women report having been raped by attackers who claimed to be teaching them a lesson.

The violence in South Africa is a reminder that the struggle for gay rights is a global one. A gay rights demonstration in Moscow was disrupted last month by counter-protesters, and Russian security forces detained people from both sides of the protest. In Jamaica, homophobic lyrics in dancehall music have been blamed for violent attacks on gay people. » | Monday, June 06, 2011

Iran's Women Footballers Banned from Olympics Because of Islamic Strip

THE GUARDIAN: • Team play in tracksuit and head covering to meet Islamic law • Women were banned from playing Olympic qualifier in Jordan

Iran's dream of competing in the London 2012 Olympic women's football tournament have been crushed by an unexpected ruling that their Islamic dress broke Fifa rules, said a football federation official in Tehran.

Iran is complaining to the world ruling body after its women were banned from playing, moments before an Olympic qualifier against Jordan last week, due to their full-body strip that includes a head scarf.

The head of women's affairs at Iran's football federation said the country had made changes to its women's kit after a Fifa ban last year and believed it had been given the approval of the world federation and of its president, Sepp Blatter.

"We made the required corrections and played a match afterwards," Farideh Shojaei said. "We played the next round and were not prevented from doing so, and they didn't find anything wrong. That meant that there are no obstacles in our path, and that we could participate in the Olympics."

Fifa's rules for the 2012 Olympics state that: "Players and officials shall not display political, religious, commercial or personal messages or slogans in any language or form on their playing or team kits."

In order to comply with the Islamic dress code which is mandatory in the Islamic Republic, Iran's women footballers play in full tracksuits and head coverings that conceal their hair. » | Reuters | Monday, June 06, 2011

Inside Story - Filling Yemen's Power Vacuum
Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president, is in Saudi Arabia receiving medical treatment. He flew there on Saturday night following an attack on his presidential palace in which other senior members of his government were also injured. Saleh's departure has opened up the opportunity to resolve Yemen's ongoing political crisis, but who will fill the political vacuum should Saleh not return? Inside Story, with presenter Felicity Barr, discusses.

Bahraini Doctors, Nurses Charged for Helping Injured
Medical staff who treated protesters accused of plotting to overthrow kingdom's monarchy amid reports of more violence. Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford reports from Bahrain

USA/Islam: America’s Islamic Madrasas
INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC NEWS AGENCY: HOUSTON - Watching his son sitting in his classroom decorated by cartoon characters, projects and artworks, Syed Shahzad, whose 13-year-old son Shayan attends Houston’s largest Islamic school, was very proud of the level his son reached in memorizing Qur’an and Islam’s true teachings, Houston Chronicle reported.

“I’m blessed with this kid,” said Syed, Shayan’s father, who moved to the US from Pakistan when he was 12. ”At his age, I didn’t know anything.

Shahzad, from Richmond, was one of the few parents who preferred to send their kids to Madrasah Islamia, or Islamic school, to memorize the Holy Qur’an.

Enrolling his son Shayan, a straight-A student, at the madrasa two years ago, the father was proud of his brilliant son who has managed to memorize more than half of the Qur’an, a best way for Syed to keep Qur’an from loss.

“This is something nobody can take away from you,” said Shahzad.

“Even if the Quran gets lost, you still have it in your heart.”

At their school, the largest and oldest in Houston, students are also taught about prophets such as Moses, Jesus and Muhammad as well as respecting their classmates and help others.

“Our children should have some sort of knowledge of Islam, of who they are, where their roots come from,” said Shahzad.

“It’s important for every kid, whatever religion, whatever culture.” » | IINA | Saturday, June 04, 2011 (3 Rajab)

Robert Spencer Vs. Antifa* in Stuttgart - German Subtitles

HT: Jihad Watch »

*Antifa is an anti-fascist network

Ben Ali Slams Trial ‘Masquerade’

CAPITAL NEWS (KENYA): PARIS - Deposed and exiled Tunisian autocrat Zine el Abidine Ben Ali broke his silence Monday to denounce his imminent trial on corruption charges as a "masquerade", according to his French lawyer.

"Tired of being made a sacrificial lamb by lies and injustice, President Ben Ali has exceptionally dropped his discretion," Jean-Yves Le Borgne, who represents the former leader in France, said in a statement to AFP.

Ben Ali fled Tunisia in January following a revolt against his 23-year rule and is thought to be in Saudi Arabia. Family members say he suffered a stroke in February and he has made no public appearances.

Tunisia's new authorities are preparing to try him and his wife Leila Trabelsi on drugs, guns and graft charges in absentia.

The French statement represents the first time the 74-year-old leader has spoken out since fleeing Tunis, even indirectly, and is the first sign he plans to fight the various legal challenges hanging over him.

"The searches conducted in his official and personal offices are just stage-dressing designed to discredit him," Le Borgne alleged.

"The case that Tunisia is building against him is nothing but a masquerade which serves no purpose other than to mark a symbolic break with the past."

The French lawyer told AFP he was working alongside Ben Ali's main counsel, the renowned Lebanese jurist Akram Azouri, to represent his client's interests in Paris, capital of Tunisia's former colonial power.

But he insisted that reports that the ousted strongman has significant assets in France are false, declaring that he has "no real estate, no bank accounts in France and none in any other foreign country." » | Agence France Presse | Monday, June 06, 2011

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Pleads Not Guilty to Rape Charges

THE GUARDIAN: Former head of IMF will face trial and remains under house arrest in New York accused of raping hotel maid

Dominique Strauss Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, has pleaded not guilty to charges he raped a hotel maid.

The one-time French presidential hopeful will face trial over the allegations that cost him his job and sent the IMF into crisis. He will be back in court on 18 July.

At a brief hearing at Manhattan criminal court he pleaded not guilty in a strong voice, standing between his defence team and watched by his wife, the millionaire former journalist Anne Sinclair.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers said they needed six weeks to assess evidence that has been collected by the US authorities. DNA matching Strauss-Kahn's has reportedly been found in semen on the maid's clothing and on a section of carpet from his hotel room. Experts say the defence will probably argue that any sexual contact between the maid and Strauss-Kahn was consensual. » | Dominic Rushe in New York | Monday, June 06, 2011

Why Anne Sinclair Is Standing by Dominique Strauss-Kahn

THE GUARDIAN: As the former IMF chief faces charges of violent sexual assault, the rumours about his sex life are swirling around the media. But one woman refuses to believe a word of it – his wife

As Dominique Strauss-Kahn sat in a New York court for a bail hearing, accused of attempting to rape a hotel maid, the focus was on the stomach-churning allegations. One of the world's most powerful men stood charged with locking his hotel suite, dragging an immigrant cleaner from room to room, grabbing and assaulting her, using brute strength to twice force her to give him oral sex, pinning her down and trying to rape her. But one subtle moment in his televised hearing captivated France. After he was granted bail, Strauss-Kahn raised his eyes to his wife sitting in the front row of the public seats, smiled and blew her a kiss. She, a feminist and former political journalist, pressed her lips to the palm of her hand and blew him a kiss back.

What intrigues France about the political rape scandal of the century is that behind it all there is a bizarre and gripping love story. Strauss-Kahn's wife, Anne Sinclair, once the most famous, brilliant and beautiful TV star in France, is still utterly in love with him, her friends say. Locked up in the notorious Rikers Island jail for four days after his arrest, the head of the International Monetary Fund and once the great hope to become Socialist president of France wrote that he loved his wife "more than anything". She said she didn't believe "for a single second" that her husband was guilty.

Sinclair has long been an institution in France: the star French TV interviewer of the 80s – a cross between Terry Wogan, Angela Rippon and Jeremy Paxman – famous for her blue eyes and mohair jumpers. But now, at 62, she has become something much more controversial: France's martyred wife, both a heroine of bravery and object of pity, a potent symbol of women's humiliation not just in the face of French male philandering, but possible sex crime. Celebrity magazines have boosted sales by putting her "smile of suffering" on the cover. Paris Match likened her to Marianne, the woman warrior symbol of France, but "more blind and deaf". » | Angelique Chrisafis | Friday, June 03, 2011

Bahrain Medics Accused of Treason
THE INDEPENDENT: Dozens of doctors and nurses who treated injured anti-government protesters during the months of unrest in Bahrain have gone on trial accused of trying to overthrow the monarchy.

The 23 doctors and 24 nurses have been detained since March, when martial law was imposed to quell a wave of Shiite-led demonstrations for greater freedoms.

Emergency rule was lifted on Wednesday and protesters again marched on the capital's Pearl Square on Friday, facing tear gas and rubber bullets from Bahraini police.

The doctors and nurses were charged during a closed hearing in a security court authorised under emergency rule. The court has military prosecutors and military and civilian judges.

They were charged with participating in efforts to topple Bahrain's Sunni monarchy and taking part in illegal rallies. Other charges against the doctors and nurses, who mostly treated injured protesters in the state-run Salmaniya Medical Complex in the capital Manama, include harming the public by spreading false news and denying medical attention. » | PA | Monday, June 06, 2011

Deeper and Deeper into Libya

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The deployment of Apache helicopters might hasten Gaddafi’s departure, but Britain is facing a long stay in the country, writes James Kirkup in Benghazi

Skimming fast and low over the ground, bristling with missiles and heavy with armour, the Army’s Apache AH64 attack helicopters are British might incarnate, a muscular show of power and self-assurance from a country that remains (just) in the global premier league of military players.

Yet their presence over western Libya this weekend is also a tacit sign of British failure, the failure of 11 weeks of aerial bombardment to remove Col Muammar Gaddafi from power.

Deploying the Apaches is final proof of something that all but the most partisan of RAF devotees have long conceded: you can start a war from 30,000 feet, but you can only win it on the ground. “Boots on the ground” may have been ruled out, but Britain’s military operation is undeniably moving closer to Libyan soil. » | James Kirkup, Political Correspondent | Sunday, June 05, 2011

My comment:

We should never have gone to war with Libya in the first place. This war was caused by Cameron's vanity. The end result will be that British troops will have to go in on the ground, and risk their lives to save Cameron's face. Fools rush in where angels...

Why should we be at war with Libya, but not with Syria or Bahrain? Those two countries also treat their people brutally and shabbily. Perhaps no better than the awful Qadhafi. But for some reason, it's okay to be at war with Libya; but with the other régimes, we just turn a blind eye. Such hypocrisy! – © Mark

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Eiszeit Österreich - Türkei

DIE PRESSE: Schwere Verstimmungen zwischen Wien und Ankara: Österreichs Außenministerium ist verärgert, weil die Türkei Ursula Plassnik als OSZE-Chefin abgeschossen hat.

WIEN. Im österreichischen Außenministerium ist man verärgert, sehr verärgert: Die Türkei hat die Ernennung Ursula Plassniks als neue Generalsekretärin der Organisation für Sicherheit und Zusammenarbeit in Europa (OSZE) vereitelt – „Die Presse am Sonntag“ berichtete exklusiv – und so für schwere Verstimmung in Wien gesorgt.

Von einem „deutlichen Schatten auf die bilateralen Beziehungen zwischen Österreich und der Türkei“ sprach der österreichische Außenminister Michael Spindelegger noch am Samstag. Einen Tag später legte er nach: Das Veto der Türkei sei nicht nur „unverständlich und durch nichts begründet“, sondern „schlechter Stil“ sowie eine „Ansage der Türkei gegen Österreich“. Diese Aktion werde auch nicht zu einer Euphorie hinsichtlich einer EU-Aufnahme der Türkei führen - „ganz im Gegenteil“, wie Spindelegger in der ZiB 1 des ORF anfügte. Im ohnehin schwierigen Verhältnis zwischen Wien und Ankara scheint erneut eine Eiszeit ausgebrochen zu sein. » | Von Irene Zöch und Martin Fritzl, Die Presse | Sonntag 05. Juni 2011

Obituary: Lawrence Eagleburger

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Lawrence Eagleburger, who died on June 4 aged 80, served briefly as American Secretary of State in the dying months of the administration of the first President Bush, after a distinguished career as a diplomat.

A rumpled, self-deprecating figure with more of the look and manner of a barman than a seasoned diplomat, Eagleburger was guided in his approach to foreign policy by an antipathy to what he described as “modern-day American imperialism, which is the imposition of our standards of conduct on the rest of the world”.

This had led, he explained in 1988, to situations in which either “we end up feeling good about what we say, but with no ability to affect the outcome. Or we end up getting ourselves involved in issues which, when put to the test, we will not be prepared to carry through.”

Eagleburger’s scepticism showed itself most strikingly in the early 1990s in his resistance to pressure for America to become involved in the Balkans. In the 1970s he had served under Jimmy Carter as ambassador to Yugoslavia and, before taking charge at the State Department, he was deputy to Secretary James Baker and chief adviser to President Bush on Balkan affairs.

He gained a reputation as a strong partisan of Serbia, most controversially denying that Serbian paramilitaries and the Yugoslav National Army had committed atrocities in the breakaway republic of Croatia and in Bosnia. » | Sunday, June 05, 2011

My comment:

Lawrence Eagleburger’s antipathy to “American imperialism” and the imposition of America’s standards on the rest of the world, regardless of indigenous culture and its suitability for democracy, has landed America in deep trouble for far too long. And American administrations still haven’t learnt that their foreign policy needs to be substantially modified. The Americans’ dogged determination has got them nowhere; on the contrary, it has led to the Americans being hated in many parts of the world. Winning over “hearts and minds” is a meaningless pursuit with such pig-headed policies. The Americans’ love of raw capitalism and democracy blinds them to the realities on the ground. Simple fact is that democracy isn’t suitable for all; and not everyone wants to live in a democratic system anyway.

Long may Lawrence Eagleburger rest in peace. – © Mark

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German Farmer Denies E.coli Link to Farm's Bean Sprouts
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The head of a German farm facing an inquiry over a deadly E.coli outbreak has denied that bean sprouts grown at his farm could be to blame.

Klaus Verbeck, managing director of the "Gaertnerhof Bienenbuettel", told the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung that no fertilisers are used to produce his bean sprouts and that there are no animals on his organic farm.

German officials said on Sunday his bean sprouts could be behind an E.coli outbreak that has killed 22 and made more than 2,200 people ill across Europe. The farm has been shut, produce recalled and further test results are due on Monday.

"I can't understand how the processes we have here and the accusations could possibly fit together," Mr Verbeck told the paper. "The salad sprouts are grown only from seeds and water, and they aren't fertilised at all. There aren't any animal fertilisers used in other areas on the farm either."

Neither Mr Verbeck, himself a vegetarian, nor anyone else from the farm would talk on Monday to journalists and television crews, including Reuters, outside his farm in the rural town of 6,600 that is located about 70km (40 miles) south of Hamburg.

German officials, under intense pressure to identify the source of the E.coli outbreak, have warned consumers for weeks to avoid tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, and at one stage said Spanish cucumbers might be the source of the outbreak. The rare E.coli strain has killed 21 Germans and one Swede. » | Monday, June 06, 2011

NEUE OSNABRÜCKER ZEITUNG: Betroffener Betrieb gesperrt – Sprossen aus Niedersachsen wohl Ursache für EHEC-Epidemie: Hannover. Die Experten sind sich ziemlich sicher. Auch wenn der letzte Beweis fehlt: Sprossengemüse aus Niedersachsen ist wohl dafür verantwortlich, dass EHEC grassiert. Ob alle gefährlichen Sprossen bereits verzehrt sind, ist unbekannt. Die Fahndung läuft. » | dpa/NOZ | Sonntag 05. Juni 2011

Affaire DSK: Audience cruciale à Manhattan

FRANCE SOIR: Dominique Strauss-Kahn, par la voix de son avocat, plaidera « non coupable » lundi matin, devant le juge de la Cour suprême. Une stratégie risquée.

C’est sans doute la dernière apparition publique de Dominique Strauss-Kahn avant plusieurs semaines. Lundi matin, le patron déchu du Fonds monétaire international (FMI) est convoqué, pour la deuxième fois, devant l’« honorable juge » de la Court suprême de New York Michaël Obus. Une audience cruciale qui dictera la ligne de défense du Français le plus célèbre de Manhattan depuis qu’il a été arrêté le 14 mai, alors qu’il venait d’embarquer sur un vol d’Air France à destination de Paris.

Accusé de tentative de viol et d’agression sexuelle sur Nafissatou Diallo, une employée de l’hôtel Sofitel Times Square où il avait résidé deux nuits, DSK était placé en garde à vue dans les locaux de la Special Victims Unit, le service de police de New York spécialisé dans les affaires de mœurs. Dans les jours qui suivaient, l’ex-ministre français était envoyé derrière les barreaux d’une cellule de Rikers Island – un immense complexe pénitentiaire situé sur une île au large de Manhattan – avant d’être officiellement inculpé. » | D’envoyée speciale à New York du France Soir, Sandrine Briclot | Lundi 06 Juin 2011

The Arab Spring Is Not Blossoming

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Telegraph View: The personal cost of tyranny in the Arab world is rising.

The personal cost of tyranny in the Arab world is rising. Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali escaped from Tunisia to Saudi Arabia, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt is to stand trial for murder and corruption, and now Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen has been evacuated to Riyadh with burns and a shrapnel wound.

In each case, the president, once supported by the West as a stabilising factor, resisted the demands of protesters and became a liability. Mr Saleh, who repeatedly equivocated over a peace plan proposed by the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), had long passed that point. Instead of the “honourable exit” which he said he sought, he has suffered the humiliation of being injured in a rocket attack on his palace in Sana’a and forced to seek medical treatment abroad. Read on and comment » | Telegraph View | Monday, June 06, 2011

Universities 'Complacent' over Islamic Radicals, Theresa May Warns
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Home Secretary has criticised universities for their “complacency” in tackling Muslim extremism as she prepares to publish the Government’s updated strategy for countering Islamic radicalism.

Theresa May told The Daily Telegraph that universities were not taking the issue of radicalisation seriously enough and that it was too easy for Muslim extremists to form groups on campuses “without anyone knowing”.

She also said the Government would cut funding to any Islamic group that espoused extremist views, and set out the “key British values” to which those seeking support must subscribe. It is understood that about 20 groups are already losing their funding.
Mrs May made her comments ahead of the publication this week of the updated version of the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy.

“I think for too long there’s been complacency around universities,” she said. “I don’t think they have been sufficiently willing to recognise what can be happening on their campuses and the radicalisation that can take place. I think there is more that universities can do.”

Mrs May said universities had to “send very clear messages” and “ask themselves some questions about what happens on their campuses”. » | Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | Sunday, June 05, 2011

Universities are seats of higher learning. Their purpose is to disseminate learning, erudition, and enlightenment. They are supposed to bring people out of darkness, not let them fall into it. Any university, however grand, however prestigious, is not worthy of its name if it allows its students to become, or remain, benighted. – © Mark

The Koran. Image: Google Images
Meanwhile, at the Hay Festival...
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH – EXTRACT: …Simon Schama, 66, the historian, said that the Muslim adherence to the Koran and utter certainty in its tenets is depressing.

Schama joked that a fatwa would be issued against him for speaking out against Islam. While the Koran is “sane and compassionate and merciful” in parts, strict adherence to it can be at odds with modern society, he argued.

He said: “I suppose like bits of the Old Testament it is really immoderate. Islam, as I understand it, means submission. And there is a kind of adamant, utter certainty about the Koran.

“In the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible which I know well, people are constantly arguing with God.

“The Koran isn’t really quite like that. It has a lyrical softness combined with a fierce sword-sharpened intemperance which you can’t help but register.

“In some sense, the notion that anyone holds up a book based on revelation as an absolute law around which the entirety of civil society be constructed is still depressing.” Bob Geldof: I was detestable ... until love saved me » | Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor | Monday, June 06, 2011

German Beansprouts 'Likely Cause' of E.coli Outbreak
Test results prompt German state of Lower Saxony to ask people to stop eating the locally grown produce

Christian Practice to Have Its Day in Court

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: LONDON: The British government will be forced to say whether it supports the rights of Christians to wear the cross and opt out of diversity legislation as part of a landmark legal case.

Judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg have ordered ministers to make a formal statement on whether they believe Christians' rights have been infringed in British courts that have repeatedly dismissed their entitlement to dress and act according to their beliefs.

The court has selected the cases of four applicants it considers to be of such legal significance they should be examined further. Once ministers have responded the court will decide whether to have full hearings.

The cases could lead to a final legal answer on how religious beliefs must be balanced against equality laws designed to prohibit discrimination against minority religions and other groups such as homosexuals. » | David Barrett | Telegraph, London | Monday, June 06, 2011

The Widening Gap between the Muslim World and America

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE: US President Barack Obama seems to be the only person of any significance in Washington who seems to understand that the game has changed for his country in the Muslim world — not just in Arab countries but also in those of Islamic faith but of different ethnic origin. Among the non-Arab parts of the Muslim world, the countries where Americans are fast losing influence are Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was lost decades ago in Iran. These four countries have a total population of 350 million, considerably more than the total for the Arab world. Why has this happened? There are several reasons for this, of these three are particularly important.

The first is the approach adopted by President Obama soon after assuming the American presidency. In a much anticipated speech delivered at Al Azhar University in Cairo on June 4, 2009 the American president said that his country’s approach to the Muslim world will be different while he was in charge of the making of foreign policy in Washington. “We meet at a time of great tension between the United States and the Muslim world — tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate,” he told his Cairo audience. “The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of coexistence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a cold war in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought about by modernity and globalisation led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam.”

President Obama promised to change these attitudes. “I’ve come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles — principles of justice and progress; tolerance and dignity of all human beings.” » | Shahid Javed Burki | Sunday, June 05, 2011