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Tuesday, June 28, 2011
In the Netherlands, an animal rights party and the far-right Freedom Party are pushing for a ban on kosher and halal slaughter methods which critics say inflict unacceptable suffering on animals.
The parties say ritual slaughter should only be allowed on the proviso that Jewish and Muslim groups can prove the process is humane.
Al Jazeera's Tania Page reports from Amsterdam.
ARAB NEWS: ASTANA, Kazakhstan: Foreign ministers at the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Kazakhstan on Tuesday will hear that anti-Muslim discrimination is on the rise, OIC sources said.
Prepared by the organization’s Islamophobia Observatory, sources said the report covers the period from May 2010 to April 2011 and catalogs intolerance and discrimination against Muslims and reveals a rise in Islamophobic discourse within both the public and political domains.
Based on the Observatory’s daily monitoring during the reporting period Western media, right-wing political movements and parties are taking advantage of people’s ignorance of true Islamic values to fuel Islamophobia in Europe and the United States.
The trend manifests itself in various forms, including direct attacks and desecration of Muslim places of worship, cemeteries and other Islamic centers along with a growing public perception that Muslims constitute a threat both to culture and well being of Western society and that Islamic religious symbols, particularly the head scarf and burqa, should be strictly limited or completely banned.
The frequency of such events was monitored by various surveys led UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to speak out against the dangers of intolerance and the perils to religious freedom on the continent. » | Siraj Wahab | ARAB NEWS | Monday, July 27, 2011
ARAB NEWS: JEDDAH: The Council of Ministers on Monday denounced the Israeli occupation forces’ move to destroy Umayyad palaces near the southern wall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque as well as its digging works in Jerusalem to obliterate Islamic landmarks in the city.
The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, urged UNESCO and other relevant UN organizations to intervene immediately to protect Islamic heritage in the holy city.
The Cabinet also reviewed the developments taking place in some Arab countries and expressed the Kingdom’s desire to end the bloodbath by tackling problems in “a way that would ensure peace and stability” in these countries. » | ARAB NEWS | Monday, June 27, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and the country's spy chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, on charges of crimes against humanity.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo had in May asked the court to issue arrest warrants for the "pre-determined" killing of protesters in Libya following after the UN Security Council referred the issue to the court.
Gaddafi has "absolute, ultimate and unquestioned control" over Libya's state apparatus and its security forces, presiding judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng said in reading out the ruling.
She added that both Gaddafi and Saif al-Islam "conceived and orchestrated a plan to deter and quell by all means the civilian demonstrations" against the regime and that al-Senussi used his position of command to have attacks carried out.
Gaddafi, who has run his oil-producing Arab North African country since a military coup in 1969, is under pressure to relinquish power from rebels who rose up against his rule and from a NATO bombing campaign.
But more than three months into the NATO campaign, fissures are showing within the Western alliance and it is feared that the ICC warrant could also trigger greater violence in Libya as Gaddafi tries to cling to power. » | Monday, June 27, 2011
"I seek the presidency not for vanity, but because I think America is at a crucial moment," Mrs Bachmann, a darling of the conservative "Tea Party" movement, said in a speech to some 200 supporters in the key heartland state of Iowa.
The outspoken Minnesota lawmaker, 55, pointed to the swelling US national debt, soaring petrol prices, historically high unemployment and took aim at Obama's signature health law, the target of conservative voter anger.
"We can't afford four more years of millions of Americans who are out of work," she said to voters in Iowa, home to a first-in-the-nation caucus that shapes the Republican presidential field. "We cannot afford four more years of Barack Obama." » | Monday, June 27, 2011
La rue s'est exprimée. Le roi Mohammed VI a présenté un projet de révision constitutionnelle pour renforcer le rôle du Premier ministre, le vendredi 17 juin. Mais dans ce projet de changement de la constitution de 1962, le souverain conserve toutes ses prérogatives de Chef de l'état et de Commandeur des croyants, l'autorité ultime en matière religieuse. Dimanche, alors qu'un référendum doit se tenir vendredi, des milliers de partisans et d'opposants au projet de réforme ont manifesté ensemble, ou plutôt le même jour, notamment dans les grandes villes marocaines telles que Casablanca, Marrakech ou encore Tanger. » | Par Actu France Soir | Lundi 27 Juin 2011
They say they believe the attack, which occurred in a beer garden, was carried out by the Islamist sect Boko Haram.
The group wants to establish an Islamic government in Nigeria.
It has carried out a number of bombings in north-eastern Nigeria, as well as an attack on police headquarters in the capital Abuja earlier this month.
Gunmen on two motorcycles attacked a packed beer garden late on Sunday, officials said.
"The attackers believed to be Boko Haram members threw bombs and fired indiscriminate gun shots on a packed tavern at Dala Kabompi neighbourhood, killing at least 25 people and seriously injuring around 30 others," an unnamed police officer told the AFP news agency. » | Monday, June 27, 2011
Since the beginning of Tunisia's revolution last year, more than 24,000 Tunisians have flooded into Italy looking for better economic conditions.
Most arrive by boat at the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, where many are then granted short term permits to work in Italy.
But finding jobs once they arrive can often be a struggle.
Al Jazeera's Casey Kauffman reports from Rome.
Tobacco giant Phillip Morris is taking legal action against a new law in Australia aimed at reducing smoking.
The legislation bans commercial branding on all cigarette packs from next year - the first of its kind worldwide.
Phillip Morris wants the Australian government to strike the measure or pay up billions of dollars in projected losses.
Al Jazeera's Gerald Tan reports.
Speculation about Mr Chavez's condition has been mounting ever since he underwent an operation on June 10, for what his government has said was a pelvic abscess.
He remained uncharacteristically silent after the operation, even as Venezuela was hit by prison riots that killed at least 25 people and an electricity crisis, before messages began to appear again on his Twitter account on Friday.
A US-intelligence source told the Miami-based newspaper El Nuevo Herald that Mr Chavez "is in critical condition; not on the brink of death, but critical indeed, and complicated."
The newspaper said its sources could not confirm rumours that Mr Chavez may be receiving treatment for prostate cancer in Havana.
But it reported that his daughter Rosines, and his mother, Marisabel Rodriguez, were "urgently" flown to Cuba in an air force plane last week. » | Robin Yapp, Sao Paulo | Sunday, June 26, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A senior American general involved in the Libyan campaign has admitted that Nato forces are trying to kill Col Muammar Gaddafi, according to a member of the United States Congress.
In the first such admission, Adm Samuel Locklear, commander of the NATO Joint Operations Command in Naples, said that efforts had been stepped up to target the Libyan leader, despite declarations by the Obama administration that "regime change" was not the goal.
The admiral's comments were revealed by Representative Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican and member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Mr Turner has opposed the military intervention from the outset was among those who voted in the House of Representatives last week to deny President Barack Obama the authority to wage war against Libya.
Another motion to stop funding for the war failed.
He told Foreign Policy magazine that he came away from his conversation with Adm Locklear convinced that Nato was acting beyond remit of the United Nations 1973 resolution on Libya, which allowed for enforcement of a no-fly zone and the defence of civilians and against Col Gaddafi's forces.
"I believe the scope that Nato is pursuing is beyond what is contemplated in civil protection, so they're exceeding the mission," he said.
The admiral also repeated a comment he made last month that a "small force" might be needed on the ground in the initial stages after the fall of Col Gaddafi's regime. » | Alex Spillius, Washington and Aislinn Laing in Johannesburg | Sunday, June 26, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Moussa Koussa, Colonel Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief and foreign minister, is facing calls to return to Britain for prosecution after The Daily Telegraph tracked him down to a luxury hotel in the Gulf.
Mr Koussa has been living for several weeks in a 17th-floor penthouse suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha, the capital of Qatar, under the protection of Qatari security services.
He has been in the Gulf state, a close western ally which is also a conduit for support for the Libyan opposition, since being allowed to leave Britain in mid-April.
At the time officials said Mr Koussa was likely to return to the United Kingdom, where his grandchildren live.
But at the weekend he refused to say when he would leave Qatar, or even if would be allowed to. He is constantly trailed by a team of Qatari “minders”, who were summoned to escort The Daily Telegraph away when it approached him for an interview.
The Conservative MP for Harlow, Robert Halfon, called for Mr Koussa to be handed over to the International Criminal Court in the Hague and put on trial for his role in atrocities perpetrated over decades by the Libyan government under Col Muammar Gaddafi.
“He was part of a grim regime,” said Mr Halfon, whose family’s roots are in Libya and whose grandfather fled Tripoli in the 1960s. » | Richard Spencer, Doha | Monday, June 27, 2011
Screaming and chanting his name, the 500 women and girls vowed their undying love for one man. Not a pop star or Hollywood actor, but Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
"Kill all the people in Libya first, then come for Muammar Gaddafi," said 14-year-old Fatima Hassan. "I will kill myself if Muammar Gaddafi is killed. I know our people will kill themselves if he dies."
The event in Tripoli on Sunday was billed as a graduation ceremony for women who had been given weapons training in defence of the regime. Around 50 international journalists, invited and escorted by government minders, arrived to find them clapping, singing, ululating, punching the air and waving green flags in a tented hall set up with chandeliers and two colossal flatscreen TVs.
There were elderly women and little girls in the hall, and every age in between. Some held aloft pictures of a luminous Gaddafi, one framed in green Christmas tinsel. A woman waved a green flag and wore a sparkly green cape, green scarf and green bandana with badges showing Gaddafi's face. Next to her was a woman wearing a watch that displayed his image.
Reporters pondered whether the event had been stage managed entirely for their benefit. The Gaddafi groupies painted the first dozen rows green, but behind them were hundreds of empty seats. Outside was a rattle of gunfire as some enthusiastic graduates fired their new weapons into the air with little regard for where the ammunition might land.
There was also much idolatry, most of all from the teenager Fatima, who said her father is an engineer and she attended an international school near Edgware Road in London. "We love Muammar Gaddafi and we want to save our country," she said. » | David Smith in Libya | Sunday, June 26, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
REUTERS: The Libyan government on Sunday renewed its offer to hold a vote on whether Muammar Gaddafi should stay in power, a proposal unlikely to interest Gaddafi's opponents but which could widen differences inside NATO.
Pressure is growing from some quarters within the alliance to find a political solution, three months into a military campaign which is costing NATO members billions of dollars, has killed civilians, and has so far failed to topple Gaddafi.
Moussa Ibrahim, a spokesman for Gaddafi's administration, told reporters in Tripoli the government was proposing a period of national dialogue and an election overseen by the United Nations and the African Union.
"If the Libyan people decide Gaddafi should leave he will leave. If the people decide he should stay he will stay," Ibrahim said.
But he said Gaddafi -- who has run the oil-producing country since taking over in a military coup in 1969 -- would not go into exile whatever happened. "Gaddafi is not leaving anywhere, he is staying in this country," Ibrahim said.
The idea of holding an election was first raised earlier this month by one of Gaddafi's sons, Saif al-Islam. » | Nick Carey | TRIPOLI | Sunday, June 26, 2011
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