Sunday, November 11, 2012
Zwar konnten die Proteste in Oman 2011 durch ein staatliches Beschäftigungsprogramm und eine Kabinettsumbildung beendet werden. Doch in Kuwait gingen in den vergangenen Wochen unter dem Motto «Würde der Nation» Zehntausende auf die Strasse, um gegen das neue Wahlgesetz zu protestieren.
In Bahrain ist die Konfrontation zwischen den Königstreuen und der Opposition, die im Frühjahr 2011 begonnen hatte, noch immer nicht beendet. In Saudi-Arabiens ölreicher Ost-Provinz begehren die Schiiten weiter auf, obwohl König Abdullah Arbeitslosengeld eingeführt hat und die Polizei hart gegen Demonstranten vorgeht.
In den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten (VAE) und in Katar wurden jüngst mehrere lautstarke Kritiker verhaftet, um mögliche Proteste im Keim zu ersticken. » | Von Anne-Beatrice Clasmann, DPA | Samstag, 10. November 2012
REUTERS FRANCE: CITE DU VATICAN (Reuters) - Le Vatican, réagissant aux avancées récentes des défenseurs du droit au mariage des homosexuels, s'est engagé samedi à ne jamais cesser de défendre le mariage "spécifique" entre un homme et une femme, présenté comme "une conquête de la civilisation".
Cette semaine, les électeurs américains du Maryland, du Maine et de l'Etat de Washington ont légalisé par référendum le droit au mariage des homosexuels, désormais reconnu dans six Etats du pays ainsi que dans le district fédéral de Columbia.
En Europe, le gouvernement français de Jean-Marc Ayrault a adopté mercredi son projet de loi sur le mariage et l'adoption pour les couples homosexuels tandis que la Cour constitutionnelle espagnole rejetait un recours contestant la législation existante qui parle de conjoint A et B, excluant toute référence à la femme et l'homme.
"Il est donc évident que dans les pays occidentaux, il y a une tendance répandue à modifier la vision classique du mariage entre un homme et une femme, ou plutôt à tenter de l'abandonner, supprimant sa reconnaissance légale spécifique et privilégiée par rapport à d'autres formes d'unions", a déclaré le père Federico Lombardi, porte-parole du Vatican, dans son éditorial hebdomadaire repris par Radio Vatican. » | Par Philip Pullella | Henri-Pierre André pour le service français | dimanche 11 novembre 2012
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Vatican vows it will never accept gay marriage: The Vatican has vowed to never stop insisting marriage must be between a man and a woman. ¶ In a front-page article in Saturday's Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, the Holy See seeks to frame itself as a lone voice opposing initiatives to give same-sex couples legal recognition. ¶ In a separate Vatican Radio editorial, the Pope's spokesman asked sarcastically why gay marriage proponents don't now push for legal recognition for polygamous couples as well. » | AP | Sunday, November 11, 2012
The town of Pella, Iowa, looks an almost too perfect vision of smalltown America. Surrounded by a chessboard of prosperous farmland and with a bustling town square, lined with shops bearing the surnames of its first Dutch settlers, Pella feels like a throwback to a different age.
But beneath its attractive exterior last week one could find some ugly sentiments on election day. "Obama is a Muslim," said Shirley Schutte, 75. Was she sure about that? "I am. I am not sure he even should have been there [in the White House]. He has been a disaster."
Such a fervent belief is not typical of most Republican voters, whether in Pella or anywhere else in America. But it is not hard to find. One poll in Mississippi even found some 52% of likely Republican voters suspected President Barack Obama was a follower of Islam. Neither has the party leadership done too much to discourage equally outlandish ideas, such as Obama being born in Kenya. From business mogul Donald Trump to top elected officials, Republicans have carefully crafted a message of Obama as a radical "other" hoping to transform America in some dangerous way.
Yet far from exiling Obama outside the US mainstream, many experts, now including leading conservative figures, believe the Republican party itself is being pushed into the political wilderness. The Republicans increasingly look like the party of angry, older white people. People like Schutte. And that does not work in America any more.
As Republicans sifted through the wreckage of the Mitt Romney campaign, they saw collapsing popularity among fast-emerging ethnic groups, such as Hispanics, and key social demographics, such as young people. In an economy struggling with 7.9% unemployment, where more than half of voters believed the country was heading in the wrong direction and against an unpopular incumbent, the once fiercely effective Republican party machine only managed to craft a devastating defeat. » | Paul Harris in Pella | Saturday, November 10, 2012
Saturday, November 10, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: David Cameron, the Prime Minister, has split the western alliance with his unexpected proposals to open the door to arming the Syrian opposition, just as the US is becoming alarmed at its Islamist make-up and human rights abuses.
Downing Street is floating striking proposals to alter the European Union's embargo on Syria to allow arming the rebels, under the pretext of recognising their "right to self-defence". Rebels are demanding a shopping list of weapons they say will allow them to "finish the job" of removing President Bashar al-Assad.
But with rebel groups openly admitting to executing prisoners, and radical Islamist groups taking more prominent roles in the fighting, Mr Cameron's initiative has caused surprise in the US state department and elsewhere.
"It's amazing," said one western diplomat familiar with the startled US response. "Questions have to be asked in London as to what Cameron is thinking."
The diplomat was speaking in Doha, the Qatari capital, where a disparate collection of Syrian exiles has spent the week with western and Arab backers trying to cajole them into a semblance of unity.
Mr Cameron and European allies, including France and Italy, believe that any success should be rewarded with a bolder approach by the West on providing arms. » | Ruth Sherlock, in Doha and Richard Spencer in Idlib Province, Syria | Saturday, November 10, 2012
My comment:
What is Camoron trying to do? Turn Syria into an Islamist stronghold, or what? Go back to sleep, David! We'll call you when we want your advice. – © Mark
Many were bussed from outside Cairo to take part in the rally, where demonstrators waved the Islamist and Egyptian flags and held traditional Friday prayers.
Protesters chanted, "Sharia is our constitution" and "The people demand the application of God's law.”
Many demonstrators collected signatures for a petition, in which they ask for the Sharia to become "the basis of all laws," meaning that Egypt’s laws would be subject to religious interpretation and clearance.
The drafting of Egypt’s new constitution has been fraught with controversy since ex-president Hosni Mubarak was ousted and replaced by Mohamed Morsi.
Conservative Islamists are stepping up pressure on the ruling Muslim Brotherhood party to override liberal and secular objections to Sharia law. The party has repeatedly been accused of not advocating strongly enough for Islamic rule. » | Friday, November 09, 2012
LE FIGARO: INFOGRAPHIE - Depuis mercredi soir, des combats opposent l'armée d'el-Assad aux rebelles pour le contrôle du poste frontière de Ras al-Ain.
Quelque 8000 Syriens ont franchi la frontière turque dans la nuit de jeudi à vendredi, portant à plus de 120.000 le nombre total des réfugiés syriens en Turquie, après plus de vingt mois de guerre civile.
Ils fuient les combats qui opposent l'armée de Bachar el-Assad aux rebelles pour le contrôle du poste frontière de Ras al-Ain. Un enjeu crucial pour Damas: Ras al-Ain est, en effet, l'un des deux derniers points de passage encore aux mains des forces de sécurité syrienne, avec celui de Kesep au nord-ouest de la Syrie. » | Par Georges Malbrunot | vendredi 09 novembre 2012
Friday, November 09, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The new Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby offered an olive branch to the gay community saying he will re-examine his opposition to same-sex marriage.
The new Archbishop of Canterbury offered an olive branch to the gay community despite reaffirming his opposition to same-sex marriage.
Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham, pledged to examine his own thinking on homosexuality "carefully and prayerfully" and spoke out against "exclusion".
Be he said he supported the Church's current stance on redefining marriage. "I support the House of Bishop's statement in the summer in answer to the government's consultation on same sex marriage.
I know I need to listen very attentively to the LGBT communities, and examine my own thinking prayerfully and carefully. » | John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor | Friday, November 09, 2012
Related »
RTL.fr: Une femme en colère. Rachida Dati, eurodéputée et maire UMP du VIIème arrondissement de Paris, était l'invitée de RTL, ce matin. Elle est longuement revenue sur l'affaire des tests de paternité concernant sa petite fille, Zohra, trois ans et demi. Elle a posé la question "Qu'est-ce qui vous dérange chez moi ?" à "une certaine presse qui ne fait plus d'information mais du sensationnel, pour ne pas dire du voyeurisme". Elle a également annoncé avoir porté plainte au pénal contrec et le magazine le Point. (+ video | + audio) » | vendredi 09 novembre 2012
lePARISIEN.fr: Paternité de Zohra : Dati porte plainte contre «Le Point» » | LeParisien.fr | vendredi 09 novembre 2012
EU-Energiekommissar Günther Oettinger hat die deutschen Medien aufgefordert, keinen "billigen Anti-Griechenland-Populismus" zu betreiben. "Griechenland ist nicht das europäische Sorgenkind, sondern eher Frankreich oder Großbritannien", sagte der CDU-Politiker beim "Publishers" Summit" der Zeitschriftenverleger in Berlin. » | EPD/sara | Donnerstag, 08. November 2012
THE GUARDIAN: UK to halt state financial assistance to India in 2015 and will make no new cash commitments before then, says minister
All financial assistance from the UK to India will end from 2015, the international development secretary, Justine Greening, has announced.
Britain is to make no new financial aid commitments to India, and will save about £200m by 2015.
Greening, who took responsibility for Britain's aid budget in September, said programmes already under way would be completed as planned but no new initiatives would be signed off.
British support for India will in future be limited to skills sharing in [area] areas such as trade and investment and health.
"After reviewing the programme and holding discussions with the government of India this week, we agree that now is the time to move to a relationship focusing on skills sharing rather than aid," Greening said.
"Having visited India, I have seen first-hand the tremendous progress being made. India is successfully developing and our own bilateral relationship has to keep up with 21st-century India. It's time to recognise India's changing place in the world. » | Press Association | Friday, November 09, 2012
Justin Welby, a former oil executive who was made a bishop just over a year ago, has been appointed the next leader of the Church of England, Downing Street confirmed on Friday morning.
A statement on the website of the prime minister's office said the Queen had nominated Welby. A press conference at Lambeth Palace is taking place to announce that the 56-year-old bishop of Durham will be the 105th man to sit on the throne of Saint Augustine, succeeding Rowan Williams[.]
Welby will be enthroned as archbishop of Canterbury in Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March 2013. He said: "To be nominated to this post is both astonishing and exciting. It is something I never expected, and the last few weeks have been a very strange experience.
"It is exciting because we are at one of those rare points where the tide of events is turning, and the church nationally, including the Church of England has great opportunities to match its very great but often hidden strengths.
"I feel a massive sense of privilege at being one of those responsible for the leadership of the church in a time of spiritual hunger, when our network of parishes and churches and schools and above all people means that we are facing the toughest issues in the toughest place." » | Lizzy Davies | Friday, November 09, 2012
THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: Justin Welby: a pragmatic priest in turbulent times: An evangelical conservative, the new archbishop of Canterbury will not run up against the suspicion of the church's reactionaries ¶ It was not through a puff of white smoke but through the suspension of booking at Ladbrokes that providence made itself known. For the identity of the new archbishop of Canterbury to emerge in this way is embarrassing, but then embarrassment is nothing new for the Church of England. In recent months fellow churchmen have torn themselves asunder over Occupy, and for far longer they have obsessively observed the injunction of Salt-n-Pepa: let's talk about sex. The divisive preoccupation with gay clergy and gay marriage crowds out much other discussion, and at times prevents the church being heard on anything else at all. And, all the while, the relentless withering of the congregations continues. » | Editorial | Thursday, November 08, 2012
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