Sunday, December 02, 2012
ZEIT ONLINE: In Paris eröffnet eine Moschee für Lesben und Schwule. Der Gründer war einst radikaler Salafist – heute kämpft er für einen fortschrittlichen Islam.
Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed sieht müde und ein wenig blass aus in diesen Tagen, kurz vor der Eröffnung seiner neuen Moschee in Paris. "Ich komme nicht zum Essen und nicht zum Schlafen", sagt der 35-Jährige. Der Rummel um ihn und sein Projekt wird seit einigen Wochen immer größer: Gegner beleidigen ihn, Unterstützer schicken Mails mit Lob und Fragen, Journalisten fragen nach seiner Geschichte – alle wollen etwas von Zahed. Er selbst will nur eines: in einer Moschee beten, in der er sich als homosexueller Muslim willkommen fühlt.
Weil er einen solchen Ort weit und breit nicht fand, schafft er ihn nun selbst. Nach Zaheds Angaben wird es die erste Moschee dieser Art inEuropa sein, Vorbilder gibt es schon in den USA. In arabisch-islamischen Ländern wäre so ein Gotteshaus wohl undenkbar. Für viele konservative Muslime ist Homosexualität nicht mit der Religion vereinbar, gilt gar als unmoralisch und pervers. Homosexuelle Handlungen werden in einigen der Staaten gesetzlich verfolgt, in manchen Ländern droht die Todesstrafe – unter Berufung auf das islamische Gesetz. Ob der Koran selbst über Homosexuelle urteilt, ist umstritten. Zahed ist davon überzeugt, dass gleichgeschlechtliche Liebe dort an keiner Stelle verboten wird.
Doch auch wer sich in Frankreich als Muslim offen zu seiner Homosexualität bekennt, bekommt Ablehnung und Diskriminierung zu spüren, weiß Zahed aus eigener Erfahrung. Zum Beispiel Anfang des Jahres, als er nach der Hochzeit mit seinem Mann in Südafrika in eine Pariser Moschee ging. "Der Imam hat in seiner Predigt öffentlich die Homo-Ehe verurteilt", erzählt Zahed, "solche Dinge passieren häufig. Die meisten Moscheen sind heute Orte des Konformismus." Zahed glaubt, dass viele Muslime nur deshalb schwulenfeindlich sind, weil sie den Lehren ihrer konservativen Prediger blind glauben. » | Von Johanna Ritter | Freitag, 30. November 2012
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: An Egyptian court has convicted in absentia seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a US pastor, sentencing them to death on charges linked to an anti-Islam film that had sparked riots in parts of the Muslim world.
The case was seen as largely symbolic because the defendants, most of whom live in the United States, are all outside Egypt and are thus unlikely to ever face the sentence.
The charges were brought in September during a wave of public outrage in Egypt over the amateur film, which was produced by an Egyptian-American Copt.
The low-budget Innocence of Muslims, parts of which were made available online, portrays the Prophet Mohammed as a fraud, womaniser and buffoon. » | Sarah El Deeb | Thursday, November 29, 2012
NBC BAY AREA: Anti-Islam Film to Stay on YouTube: Judge – A federal judge denied a woman's request to get "Innocence of Muslims" taken of[f] the Internet » | Jason Kandel | Saturday, December 01, 2012
Weeks after a causing outrage on Twitter with her comments on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, her appearance in the Gulf Kindgom of Bahrain yesterday to open a branch of a milkshake franchise literally caused a riot.
While throngs of adoring fans paid up to $1,200 to attend her appearance at a mall, about 100 hardline Islamists took to the streets outside in protest where, according to reports, police used stun grenades to disperse the crowd.
One protestor held a particularly crude banner that read "Syria receives martyrs while Bahrain receives whores." » | IME | Sunday, December 02, 2012
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: KABUL—Taliban insurgents on Sunday launched a coordinated assault on a key coalition base in eastern Afghanistan, detonating a series of car bombs in an apparent attempt to break through the perimeter of the heavily fortified installation and killing at least five Afghans.
The attack, which began shortly before 6 a.m. local time, started when insurgents set off three suicide car bombs outside the perimeter of Forward Operating Base Fenty, a facility adjacent to the Jalalabad airfield, according to a coalition news release. Insurgent attackers then tried to penetrate the base, but were repelled by Afghan and coalition troops, the coalition said. » | Nathan Hodge | Sunday, December 02, 2012
LE FIGARO: Trois églises et des postes-frontières ont été brûlés ce matin dans le nord-est du Nigeria par des membres présumés de la secte islamiste Boko Haram, selon des témoignages recueillis auprès d'habitants. "Des hommes armés, on pense qu'ils sont de Boko Haram, sont arrivés à cinquante en voiture et en moto, vers 8h30, et ils ont attaqué et brulé des postes de sécurité à la frontière" avec le Cameroun, a déclaré à l'AFP Modugana Ibrahim, un habitant de la ville de Gamboru Ngala. » | AFP | dimanche 02 décembre 2012
Saturday, December 01, 2012
VOICE OF AMERICA: The mention of Saudi Arabia often leads people to envision an oil-rich, nearly-empty desert where Islam originated.
An exhibit in Washington, D.C., offers insight into the real history of the Arabian Peninsula, focusing on its pre-Islamic role as a trade route, the influence of nearby cultures, and the evolution of language.
"Roads of Arabia” opened at the Smithsonian’s Arthur Sackler Gallery.
The exhibit, the first about Saudi culture in the U.S., showcases more than 300 objects ranging from ornate pottery and monumental statues, to the jewelry that adorned the remains of a young girl buried nearly years ago.
Many of the objects have never been seen in Arabia, where they came from. » | Faiza Elmasry | Friday, November 30, 2012
New legislation proposed by Lord Justice Leveson would be “potentially dangerous” to Britain’s 300-year-old tradition of press freedom, the New York Times has warned.
In a leader, America’s newspaper of record said statutory underpinning of a new watchdog body would be “a big step in the wrong direction” for a country whose press already operates in a “harsh” legal environment.
It notes: “Millions of Britons were justifiably outraged over last year’s serial revelations of illegal and unethical behaviour by the powerful and influential tabloid press in Britain. But the regulatory remedies proposed [by Leveson] seem misplaced, excessive and potentially dangerous to Britain’s centuries-old traditions of a press free from government regulation. » | Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter | Friday, November 30, 2012
Friday, November 30, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Australia's new plain packaging for cigarettes – which becomes mandatory from Saturday - have been branded "disgusting" by smokers who say they make the cigarettes taste worse.
The new packets, which are blank aside from gruesome health warnings, have been filling shelves for the past two months as part of the toughest anti-tobacco measures in the world.
Despite legal battles and claims of "dirty tricks" by tobacco companies, all cigarettes in Australia must now be sold in drab olive packets featuring macabre images of sick babies, dying cancer sufferers and diseased feet, eyeballs and lungs. Smokers' advice groups have reported being inundated with calls from angry smokers who say their cigarettes now taste "pathetic" and "sickening".
Joe Xia, who owns a busy convenience store just outside Sydney's Chinatown, said the packets are "disgusting" and have been annoying customers who dislike the new warnings.
"People still smoke – now they also complain," he told the Daily Telegraph.
"Nothing will stop them from smoking. But it is hard at night-time. People come from the pub and they see these packets and they get irritated." » | Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney | Friday, November 30, 2012
LE PARISIEN: Le Kremlin a démenti vendredi une information selon laquelle une visite du Premier ministre japonais à Moscou en décembre avait été reportée en raison de problèmes de santé de Vladimir Poutine. «Il n'y avait pas de date clairement fixée», a affirmé le porte-parole du président russe, Dmitri Peskov, cité par l'agence officielle Itar-Tass.
Le gouvernement japonais a affirmé vendredi que le Premier ministre Yoshihiko Noda avait dû annuler une visite à Moscou prévue en décembre, et selon des médias, M. Noda a affirmé que ce report était dû à des problèmes de santé de Vladimir Poutine.
Une source gouvernementale a confirmé que l'annulation de la visite de M. Noda avait été décidée à la demande de Moscou, qui avait évoqué «une blessure de M. Poutine».
Depuis plusieurs semaines, les rumeurs vont bon train en Russie sur la santé de Vladimir Poutine, qui a reporté plusieurs de ses déplacements et visites à l'étranger, selon des médias russes. Le président russe, qui entretient depuis des années une image d'homme fort et sportif, souffrirait de l'aggravation d'une ancienne blessure à la colonne vertébrale, ont précisé ces médias. » | LeParisien.fr avec l’AFP | vendredi 30 novembre 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Israel is to build 3,000 new settler homes in east Jerusalem and the West Bank after the Palestinians won recognition as a non-member state at the United Nations, according to reports.
An Israeli official, when pressed by AFP, France's national news agency, confirmed a report that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had decided to build the 3,000 units in response to the Palestinian success at the UN.
The decision was revealed in a tweet by the diplomatic correspondent of Haaretz newspaper, who said some of the homes would be built in E1, a highly-contentious area of the West Bank which links annexed east Jerusalem with Maaleh Adumim settlement. » | Friday, November 30, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: After the UN General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to make Palestine a non-member state, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticises the decision as leaders from the region react.
An historic resolution that enhanced the Palestinians' position at the UN from "permanent observer" to “non-member observer state”, a status also held by the Vatican, passed the General Assembly by a resounding 138 votes to 9, with 41 countries abstaining, including Britain. » | Friday, November 30, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
BBC: The Queen has welcomed the Emir of Kuwait to the UK for a three-day state visit.
Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah is staying at Windsor Castle, where a state banquet will be held on Tuesday.
Sheikh Sabah, 83, will have a private audience with the Prince of Wales, and meet British industry leaders at an event hosted by the Duke of York.
He will also hold talks with Prime Minister David Cameron. It is the first state visit from Kuwait for 17 years.
Sheikh Sabah was greeted by the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles in the centre of Windsor near one of the town's two stations as well-wishers looked on.
They then returned to the castle in a carriage, with the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment providing an escort. (+ video) » | Tuesday, November 27, 2012
L'Egypte a connu la plus forte mobilisation contre le président islamiste depuis son élection en juin.
«Dégage!», scandaient de nombreux manifestants, reprenant le slogan emblématique de la révolte populaire qui avait chassé du pouvoir le président Hosni Moubarak en février 2011.
Plusieurs cortèges sont arrivés dans l'après-midi sur la célèbre place du centre de la capitale égyptienne, pour dénoncer également le puissant mouvement dont est issu le président, les Frères musulmans. «Les Frères musulmans sont des menteurs», pouvait-on lire sur une pancarte brandie par un manifestant, tandis qu'une banderole proclamait: «Interdit aux Frères musulmans». » | ats/afp/reuters/Newsnet | mardi 27 novembre 2012
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