Saturday, September 17, 2011
LE POINT: Mahmoud Abbas est déterminé à présenter une demande d'adhésion d'un État de Palestine au Conseil de sécurité.
Un ministre israélien a reconnu samedi qu'Israël ne pouvait pas empêcher la demande d'adhésion d'un État palestinien à l'ONU, jugeant toutefois possible une relance des négociations de paix. "Malheureusement, Israël n'a pas les moyens d'empêcher que les Palestiniens demandent l'adhésion de leur État à l'ONU et il est impossible de les arrêter", a déclaré à la radio publique israélienne le ministre sans portefeuille Yossi Peled, du parti Likoud (droite). » | Source AFP | Samedi 17 Septembre 2011
Acht Monate nach dem Ausbruch der politischen und sozialen Unruhen in Bahrain haben sich die unterschiedlichen Interpretationen der Krise gefestigt. Mitglieder der Königsfamilie, Chefbeamte sowie ein beachtlicher Teil der sunnitischen Bevölkerungsminderheit behaupten, Bahrain vor einer Machtübernahme der Schiiten, die Iran in die Hände gespielt hätte, bewahrt zu haben. Sie nehmen Bezug auf die Toten und Verletzten unter den Sicherheitskräften und asiatischen Arbeitsmigranten und betonen, die Krise müsse mit harter Hand beendet werden. Der im Juli abgehaltene Nationale Dialog habe eine Mehrheit der Bevölkerung zufriedengestellt. Von der Regierung beauftragte PR-Firmen in Washington und anderen Hauptstädten sind damit beschäftigt, diese Version der Ereignisse international zu verbreiten. » | Toby Matthiesen | Samstag 17. September 2011
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LE MONDE: Une nouvelle fois, les Syriens sont descendus par milliers dans les rues, à travers le pays, pour souligner leur détermination à protester jusqu'à la chute du président Bachar Al-Assad, six mois après le début de leur révolte. En face, les forces de l'ordre persistaient à réprimer la contestation, faisant encore vingt et un morts.
Sept civils ont péri à Hama (centre), deux à Homs (centre), trois à Idleb (nord-ouest), quatre dans la banlieue de Damas et cinq dans la région de Deraa (sud), selon l'Observatoire syrien des droits de l'homme (OSDH). Ils sont morts soit en manifestant, soit lors des opérations de ratissage et de perquisitions, sous les balles des troupes syriennes, ajoute l'organisme. L'ONG a en outre fait état de la découverte de 15 cadavres dans plusieurs villes, la plupart des personnes ayant péri ces dernières vingt-quatre heures dans des opérations de sécurité.
Selon l'ONU, plus de 2 600 personnes sont mortes dans la répression, en grande majorité des civils. Plus de 15 000 personnes sont actuellement détenues et des milliers d'autres portées disparues. » | LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | Vendredi 16 Septembre 2011
Er strahlt, er scherzt, er hat heute noch viel vor: "Gleich gehe ich mit meinen beiden Söhnen einkaufen, neue Hemden und Hosen für das Eid-Fest zum Ende des Ramadan", sagt Abderrahim Khelifi in der Lobby des Afrika-Hotels in Tunis.
Draußen schieben sich Tausende durch das Herz der tunesischen Hauptstadt: Beim arabischen Pendant zu den Weihnachtseinkäufen wird gedrängelt und gefeilscht, den Kindern gehen die Augen über, den Eltern geht es ans Portemonnaie. Vor allem aber liegt diese besondere Feiertagsstimmung in der Luft, die Khelifi mit in die düstere Hotellobby gebracht hat. "Das wird das beste Fastenbrechen, das wir jemals hatten", freut sich der 52-Jährige.
Was für eine Verwandlung: Vor acht Monaten war Khelifi ein gebrochener Mann. Da hatte er sich vor den Straßenschlachten, die auf dem zentralen Burghiba-Boulevard zwischen Demonstranten und Polizei tobten, in ein Reisebüro geflüchtet. Hager wirkte er und müde, stockend erzählte er seine Lebensgeschichte: Wie die Herrschaft von Zine al-Abidine Ben Alis alle seine Träume zerstörte. Wie er, der Wirtschaftswissenschaftler, nicht mal mehr als Grundschullehrer arbeiten durfte. Wie er gezwungen war, sein Leben lang nur Hilfsarbeiten auf dem Bau zu erledigen. Davon, wie er als in der Wolle gefärbter Anhänger der islamistischen "Nahda"-Partei Jahre lang im Gefängnis saß, wie er gefoltert wurde - und wie schwer all das für seine Frau war. » | Aus Tunis berichtet Ulrike Putz | Samstag 17. September 2011
MAIL ONLINE: The coalition is to push ahead with plans for gay marriage following the personal intervention of David Cameron.
Liberal Democrat Lynne Featherstone will today unveil plans to legislate to bring in gay marriage before 2015.
The Equalities Minister will also announce that Britain should be a ‘world leader for gay rights’.
Vowing to be a personal ‘champion for gay rights’, Miss Featherstone will risk controversy by arguing that the Coalition should go even further in future.
At present, gays and lesbians are allowed to enter civil partnerships, which offer most of the legal protections of marriage. But the term ‘marriage’ is not used.
Miss Featherstone will announce that a consultation will begin next March on allowing homosexuals to get married. A change in the law will follow the consultation.
Under the plans, same-sex couples will be able to have full marriages in registry offices, as heterosexual couples can.
But they will still be barred from getting married in churches and other religious buildings – even though some denominations want to offer the services. Coalition sources said ministers are determined to enact the change before the next election. » | Daniel Martin and Tim Shipman | Saturday, September 17, 2011
HUDSON NEW YORK: The ruling military dictatorship in Egypt should not be allowed to avoid responsibility for the assault on the Israeli embassy in Cairo last week.
Failure to take severe steps against the assailants will only encourage the rioters and enemies of peace. Today it is the Israeli embassy. Tomorrow it could be the embassy of the US or Denmark or any other country.
This is a case where the writing was on the wall.
A few days before the mob stormed the embassy, the Egyptian authorities honored a young man for climbing more than 20 floors to remove the Israeli flag from the offices of the Israeli embassy.
According to a report in Egypt's Al Masry Al Youm newspaper, Sharqiya Governor Azazy Ali Azazy, honored the man who climbed the building that houses the embassy and tore down the Israeli flag.
Ahmed al-Shahat, 23, affectionately nicknamed "Flagman," was awarded a flat and a job for his "courageous" deed.
"I wish I were in his place to enjoy that honor," the governor said, referring to the young man. » | Khaled Abu Toameh | Friday, September 16, 2011
HUDSON NEW YORK: An Islamic Sharia law court has been established in Antwerp, the second-largest city in Belgium.
The Sharia court is the initiative of a radical Muslim group called Sharia4Belgium. Leaders of the group say the purpose of the court is to create a parallel Islamic legal system in Belgium in order to challenge the state's authority as enforcer of the civil law protections guaranteed by the Belgian constitution.
The Sharia court, which is located in Antwerp's Borgerhout district, is "mediating" family law disputes for Muslim immigrants in Belgium.
The self-appointed Muslim judges running the court are applying Islamic law, rather than the secular Belgian Family Law system, to resolve disputes involving questions of marriage and divorce, child custody and child support, as well as all inheritance-related matters.
Unlike Belgian civil law, Islamic Sharia law does not guarantee equal rights for men and women; critics of the Sharia court say it will undermine the rights of Muslim women in marriage and education. » | Soeren Kern | Thursday, September 15, 2011
CENTRAL MICHIGAN LIFE: A state lawmaker’s proposed bill that would ban the use of foreign laws in the Michigan court system is an example of Islamophobia, said one Central Michigan University professor.
Shari’a, a set of religious guidelines for Muslims that include aspects of their personal life, family relationships and religious practices, would be prohibited from being recognized in courts according to a bill proposed by State Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville.
Courts consult Shari’a law just as they have often consulted Jewish law, called Halakha, said Hugh Talat Halman, assistant professor of philosophy and religion.
The bill does not say anything specifically about Shari’a-Islamic law, but it would be prohibited in Michigan courts if the law were passed, along with Jewish law and any other form foreign law.
“The bill is against foreign law that goes against constitutional, federal and state laws,” Agema said. “It’s very simple and it does not go against one particular group or another.” » | Jordan Spence | Friday, September 16, 2011
Er sehe in einem weiteren Ausbau der deutsch-türkischen Beziehungen «ein großes Potenzial» für beide Länder.
Wulff würdigte auch die Rolle der Türkei als Vorbild für die Umbruchstaaten in der arabischen Welt. Die Türkei sei «ein Beispiel dafür, dass Islam und Demokratie, Islam und Rechtsstaat, Islam und Pluralismus kein Widerspruch sein müssen». Dies sei von «überragender Bedeutung für den Frieden in der Welt». Am Montag wird Wulff in Berlin den türkischen Staatspräsidenten Abdullah Gül empfangen. Wulff will während des dreitägigen Staatsbesuchs seinem Gast auch seine Geburtsstadt Osnabrück zeigen, wo ein Platz nach einer türkischen Zuwandererfamilie benannt wurde. » | © dpa | Samstag 17. September 201
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Detectives in Germany are trying to identify an English-speaking teenager who claims to have been living wild in a forest for the past five years.
The 17-year-old, who turned up at Berlin’s city hall, said he had been walking for two weeks but had no idea who he was or where he was from.
He told officers that he and his father moved to the forest about five years ago following the death of his mother and had lived off the land since, sleeping in a tent and remote huts.
He said his father had also died recently and that he had buried him in a shallow grave before setting off to find help.
Detectives said the teenager, who gave his name as Ray, spoke a little German, but his first language appeared to be English.
He was able to tell officers his name and his date of birth, but claimed not to remember either of his parents’ names or anything of his life before he entered the forest.
Despite being dishevelled, he was described as being fit and healthy and showing no signs of malnourishment or abuse. » | Stuart Braun in Berlin and Martin Evans | Friday, September 16, 2011
BILD: Junge lebte fünf Jahre im Wald: Berlin – Er stand auf einmal in einer Berliner Polizeiwache. Mit einem Zelt, einem Schlaf- und einem Rucksack – und gibt seitdem den Behörden Rätsel auf: Der Junge aus dem Wald. 16 bis 18 Jahre alt, englischsprachig, keine Ausweispapiere. » | ali | Freitag 16. September 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Already jittery because of the financial crisis, members of the European Parliament spilt their coffee when the Polish finance minister, Jacek Rostowski, addressed them this week. “If the eurozone breaks up, the European Union will not be able to survive,” he said, as MEPs bleakly contemplated their vanished expense accounts and sandwiches instead of long lunches in Brussels and Strasbourg.
But there was much worse to follow. Dr Rostowski, a British- born economist, former Tory party member, and Solidarity activist, told them about a chance meeting with an old friend at an airport.
As they discussed the eurozone crisis, the friend warned there would be “war in the next 10 years”. Rostowski added with a final flourish, “War! Ladies and gentlemen, those are the terms he used,” as the massed MEPs mentally translated wojna into guerre and Krieg.
It was not supposed to end like this, for the European project has always had more than economic goals, as Rostowski confirmed when he said that “Europe’s great achievement is political peace. But it is not eternal”. As a Pole, he knows. » | Michael Burleigh | Thursday, September 15, 2011
I concur with Dr. Rostowski. War will inevitably follow if the EU breaks up. It won't be this year, or next year. But in the not-too-distant future, war will be the inevitable outcome. The people who are against the EU are myopic, and lack any understanding of history. Yes, there is much wrong with the EU; but yes, too, there is much right with it. What is wrong with it can be changed. Let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater! – © Mark
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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The number of smokers in New York has hit an all-time low, city health officials said on Thursday.
Only 14 out of 100 adults still light up, a 35 per cent decrease from 2002 figures, the Health Department said. The decrease amounts to 450,000 fewer adult smokers, with teens registering steep declines.
"Smoking is the leading cause of preventable, premature death in New York City and the nation today and we&£8217; re proud that a record number of New Yorkers are saving their own lives by quitting," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement. » | Friday, September 16, 2011
All sounds good and sensible. But is it? It begs the following question: What are they doing for kicks and pleasure instead? Bringing the smoking rate down to record levels is good only when people are not substituting their smoking habit with something else more injurious to their health. One can only wonder what is happening to the rates of drug and alcohol abuse. Smoking has become the bête noire of our age. But there are far more harmful things to one's health than a few puffs on a cigarette. As one-track minded as Bloomberg is – he has a real bee in his bonnet with regards to smoking, being a reformed smoker himself – I wonder if he has looked into the downside of his persecution of smokers? – Mark
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The Ab Fab star successfully campaigned for the heroic soldiers and their families to be given a right to settle in the UK.
But the Gurkhas and their families now make up 10 per cent of the population in Aldershot, Hants, and residents say services are struggling to cope.
Over 2,300 people have joined Facebook pages called "Joanna Lumley has F**ked up Aldershot and Farnborough" and "Lumley's Legacy".
Anti-Gurkha messages have also been graffitied across the area.
Sam Phillips, who founded both groups, said he was not racist and had "great appreciation" for the sacrifices the Gurkhas made for "our country".
The 35-year-old HGV driver, from Aldershot, added: "Joanna Lumley was happy to use her face to get publicity for her cause, now we are using her name to show the result.
"Our problem is not with the Gurkhas it is with the government. » | Friday, September 16, 2011
En dépit de l'interdiction du ministre de l'Intérieur d'organiser des prières de rue, ils étaient des centaines de musulmans à braver les consignes vendredi. À Paris, quelques 200 fidèles priaient dans l'après-midi dans une rue du quartier parisien de la Goutte-d'Or [EN]. Environ 200 fidèles s'étaient installés peu après 14 heures sur les trottoirs et la chaussée de la rue Polonceau (18e arrondissement). À Gennevilliers (Hauts-de-Seine), ville qui dispose d'une nouvelle mosquée, 200 autres personnes de confession musulmane ont prié dans l'après-midi dans une rue de la zone portuaire, à l'appel d'une association qui s'oppose à la destruction prévue de leur ancienne mosquée située à quelques mètres.
Enfin, à Nice, une centaine de fidèles ont prié sur un trottoir attenant à la mosquée du centre-ville de Nice. Le ministère de l'Intérieur s'est dit déterminé à faire respecter dès ce vendredi l'interdiction de prier dans les rues en France, notamment à Paris et Marseille où de nouveaux lieux de culte ont été ouverts pour les fidèles musulmans. » | Source AFP | Vendredi 16 Septembre 2011
Organisers say the 78-year-old will attend the gala to receive his award which he was set to pick up in 2009.
Swiss police arrested Polanski on his arrival in the country over his 1977 US conviction for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
He was held for 10 months before Swiss courts decided not to extradite him.
The tribute ceremony to present Polanski with his lifetime achievement award is due to be held on 27 September.
Directors of the Zurich Film Festival, Karl Spoerri and Nadja Schildknecht, said: "We are especially proud to welcome Roman Polanski this year to receive his award.
"We have always been tremendous admirers of his work and we are delighted that we will soon be able to express this to him in person," they added.
The Zurich Film Festival is taking place from 22 September to 2 October. » | Friday, September 16, 2011
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