Friday, March 01, 2013
LE MONDE: La monarchie espagnole résistera-t-elle au parfum de scandale qui l'enveloppe ? Eclaboussée par l'affaire de corruption qui touche le gendre du roi, Iñaki Urdangarin, ébranlée par les soucis de santé de Juan Carlos Ier, qui doit subir, le 3 mars, sa quatrième opération en un an, critiquée par plusieurs partis politiques, lacasa real (le palais royal) est affaiblie. [€] » | Par Sandrine Morel - Madrid Correspondance | vendredi 01 mars 2013
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: L'inhalation d'héroïne est une méthode moins dangereuse que l'injection. Le gouvernement entend réduire le nombre de surdoses dans un pays où la drogue tue davantage que la circulation routière.
Le gouvernement norvégien a annoncé vendredi qu'il souhaitait dépénaliser l'inhalation d'héroïne, une méthode moins dangereuse que l'injection, afin de réduire le nombre de surdoses dans un pays où la drogue tue davantage que la circulation routière. » | afp/Newsnet | vendredi 01 mars 2013
BBC: Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been heavily criticised by the US, Israel and the UN for branding Zionism a "crime against humanity".
He told a UN forum this week: "As with Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it is inevitable that Islamophobia be considered a crime against humanity."
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu called the comments "dark and mendacious".
New US Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to raise the issue when he meets Turkey's leaders on Friday.
He is in Ankara for talks on the crisis in Syria.
But his visit has been overshadowed by Mr Erdogan's comments, comparing Zionism with fascism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, at a meeting of the UN Alliance of Civilisations Forum in Vienna earlier this week.
His words drew strong condemnation from Mr Netanyahu's office, which called them "a dark and mendacious statement the likes of which we thought had passed from the world". » | Friday, March 01, 2013
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Reaktionen aus USA und Israel: Scharfe Kritik an Erdogans Zionismus-Entgleisung – Israel und die USA sind empört über die Äußerungen, auch Uno-Generalsekretär Ban Ki Moon stellt Türkeis Regierungschef an den Pranger: Ministerpräsident Erdogan bezeichnete den Zionismus als "Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit". » | als/Reuters/AFP | Freitag, 01. März 2013
St David's Day: recipes for a feast – Delicious recipes from Welsh chef Bryn Williams »
Saint David's Day »
Happy St David’s Day »
Saint David »
Thursday, February 28, 2013
THE GUARDIAN: European council president Herman Van Rompuy says no other leader likely to back plan to change terms and put to referendum
David Cameron has been put on notice that no other EU leader is likely to support his campaign to rewrite the terms of British membership of the union and then put the outcome to a referendum.
As Britain faces a fresh EU battle over a proposal to cap bankers' bonuses, Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European council, attacked the way the prime minister was waging his campaign for a "new settlement" in Britain's 40-year membership of the EU.
The president said he presumed leaders of other EU countries "neither particularly like ... nor particularly fear" Cameron's plans to demand the repatriation of powers during a future revision of the Lisbon treaty.
"How do you convince a room full of people, when you keep your hand on the door handle? How to encourage a friend to change, if your eyes are searching for your coat?" he asked at a Policy Network conference in London.
The intervention by Van Rompuy, who chairs and organises the regular EU summits, came as Cameron served notice that Britain would challenge an EU agreement to slash bankers' bonuses at a meeting of European finance ministers next week.
Amid fears that the EU agreement could deal a hammer blow to the City of London, Cameron said EU regulations needed to be flexible enough to allow international banks to operate in Britain and the rest of the EU. » | Ian Traynor, Europe editor | Thursday, February 28, 2013
BBC: The Pope has resigned because he felt he was no longer up to the demands the office made on him.
That hasn't happened in 600 years.
In 1294 the hermit Pietro da Morrone, elevated to the papacy with the title of Celestine V because the cardinals couldn't agree on anyone else, felt likewise after only six months in the job, and gave up.
He wanted to return to his hermitage, but Boniface VIII, his successor, thought it wiser to lock him up in a convenient castle for the rest of his life, fearing he might become a rallying-point for the disaffected.
And, as it turned out, there was no shortage of disaffection during Boniface's pontificate.
One of the arguments marshalled by Boniface's many enemies was that, because popes could not resign, he wasn't the legitimate heir to St Peter.
Electing an antipope?
That may have been a long time ago but the same arguments are beginning to appear.
Two distinguished Italian theologians have called on Benedict XVI to withdraw his resignation, one arguing he ought not to resign, the other claiming a pope cannot resign.
In the latter case, when the cardinals proceed to elect a successor they are, according to Enrico Maria Radaelli, electing an antipope, an impostor on the chair of St Peter. » | Michael Walsh * | Papal historian | Thursday, February 28, 2013
* Michael Walsh is a papal historian and author of several books about the Papacy, including The Popes: 50 celebrated occupants of the throne of St Peter
DAWN: PRZEMYSL: Poland, for Zaida Saleh, like for many observant Muslim women, manicures have long posed a religious problem.
With prayers five times a day, and the pre-prayer ritual of “wudhu” that requires washing the hands and arms, traditional fingernail polish has been mostly off limits because it prevents water from making contact with the nails. A new ”breathable” nail polish by a Polish company, Inglot, is changing that.
The company and some Muslims say the polish is the first of its kind because it lets air and moisture pass through to the nail. A craze has built up around it with Muslim women in recent months after an Islamic scholar in the United States tested its permeability and published an article saying that, in his view, it complies with Muslim law.
”It’s huge,” said Saleh, a 35-year-old who hadn’t polished her nails in many years but immediately went out and bought the product in five colours, including a bright pink, a burgundy and a mauve. ”I am excited. I feel more feminine – and I just love it.”
The news of Inglot’s breathable polish has in recent months spread quickly from woman to woman and over the Internet. It also has given Inglot a boost in sales of the product, called O2M, for oxygen and moisture.
The nail polish now stands as one of the final life achievements of Wojciech Inglot, a Polish chemist and entrepreneur who developed it to create what he billed as a healthier alternative to traditional nail enamels, which block the passage of moisture and oxygen to the nail. He died suddenly on Saturday at the age of 57 after suffering internal hemorrhaging.
Though the Holy Quran, does not specifically address the issue of nail polish, some Islamic scholars have said that water must touch the surface of the nail for the washing ritual to be done correctly.
Nobody was more surprised by the splash it made with Muslims than Inglot himself. » | AP | Wednesday, February 27, 2013
LE POINT: En visite à Moscou, le président français a insisté sur le fait qu'une solution au conflit syrien dépendait "beaucoup" de la position de son homologue russe.
François Hollande, en visite de travail jeudi à Moscou, espère avancer vers une solution politique au conflit syrien avec son homologue russe Vladimir Poutine, avec lequel il entend aussi parler droits de l'homme. La relation entre la France et la Russie est "majeure parce que nous sommes deux grands pays membres du Conseil de sécurité (de l'ONU) et qui ont des responsabilités pour régler des conflits planétaires", a déclaré le président français au début de ses entretiens avec Vladimir Poutine au Kremlin. Le président russe a indiqué pour sa part que la France restait un "partenaire privilégié" de Moscou, que les relations étaient "très bonnes" et le dialogue politique "très bon". Mais l'ambiance sous les ors du Kremlin était glaciale entre les deux hommes qui ont à peine croisé le regard pendant leurs deux interventions de près d'une dizaine de minutes devant les journalistes. » | Source AFP | jeudi 28 février 2013
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le mystère reste entier sur le nom de celui qui sera choisi par les cardinaux réunis en conclave. Une dizaine de noms de «papabili» circulent déjà dans les coulisses du Vatican. » | afp/Newsnet | jeudi 28 février 2013
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: In a bid to address widespread public outrage over greed in the financial sector, European officials have agreed to legislation capping bankers' bonuses at a maximum of a year's salary. Great Britain fought to prevent the measure, but failed to rally enough support.
Starting in 2014, banks in the European Union must limit bonus payments for their employees. After some 10 months of tough negotiations, top European officials agreed late on Wednesday in Brussels to cap bonuses at a maximum of one year's base salary.
"For the first time in the history of EU financial market regulation, we will cap bankers' bonuses," said the European Parliament's head negotiator, Austria's Othmar Karas, in a statement. "The essence is that from 2014, European banks will have to set aside more money to be more stable and concentrate on their core business, namely financing the real economy, that of small and medium-sized enterprises and jobs."
The bonus cap was part of a package of financial laws hammered out between EU officials, the European Commission and representatives of the 27 member states in negotiations led by Ireland's Finance Minister Michael Noonan. The goal is to prevent bankers from taking excessive risks, which can shake the financial industry.
"This overhaul of EU banking rules will make sure that banks in the future have enough capital, both in terms of quality and quantity, to withstand shocks," Noonan said. "This will ensure that taxpayers across Europe are protected into the future." Fierce Resistance from London » | kla -- with wire reports | Thursday, February 28, 2013
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Letzter Arbeitstag als Papst: Benedikt verspricht Nachfolger bedingungslosen Gehorsam – Der nächste Papst kann mit der vollen Unterstützung seines Vorgängers rechnen: Benedikt XVI. hat bei einem Abschiedstreffen mit Kardinälen gesagt, er werde seinem Nachfolger bedingungslos Ehrfurcht und Gehorsam erweisen. » | Donnerstag, 28. Februar 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Cardinal George Pell, Australia's most senior Catholic, has criticised the Pope on his last day, describing his historic resignation as destabilising, while questioning his political prowess.
Cardinal Pell, Australia's representative at next month's secret conclave to elect a successor, said Benedict XVI was a "brilliant teacher" but "government wasn't his strong point" in a candid interview on the eve of the pope's departure.
"I think I prefer somebody who can lead the Church and pull it together a bit," Cardinal Pell said.
He pointed to the so-called "Vatileaks" scandal, in which Benedict's butler leaked secret papal memos revealing intrigues between rival groups of cardinals, though he said it was "very easy to be wise after the event".
"I think the governance is done by most of the people around the Pope and that wasn't always done brilliantly. And I'm not breaking any ground there – this is said very commonly," Cardinal Pell added in a later radio interview from the Vatican.
Australia's most senior Catholic cleric also said the 85-year-old pontiff's decision to resign – the first pope to do so since the Middle Ages – set a worrying precedent for the Church. » | Source: AFP | Thursday, February 28, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Part funeral, part jubilee, the Vatican had never witnessed an event like this before. People flocked from all over the globe to acknowledge the retiring Pope Benedict
For a man surrounded by so many thousands of well-wishers in St Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict looked small and very lonely in the shade of a utilitarian metal canopy on the steps before the vast baroque facade. The morning sun caught the lower part of his white cassock as mothers with little children waved flags.
“The Pope is not the only steersman in the barque of Peter,” he said. But the very setting suggested that he was the unmistakable captain. Bang in the centre of that stone outdoor theatre he sat, a few paces from the prelates who flanked him.
Benedict had read his obituaries in the past few days, hurriedly converted into analyses of his papacy. Now he was presiding at his own funeral, or something like it: the last public ceremonial of his papacy. But the atmosphere was more like a royal jubilee. When he paused in speaking, the continuous sound of applause in the column-hugged square was like heavy rain on a roof. No other pope has gone through anything like yesterday’s farewell. Celestine V ran away into the hills in 1296; Gregory XII in 1415 left his throne empty for a successor to be elected after his death.
In Britain we are used to monarchy. “The King is dead,” says the proclamation. “God save the King.” No sooner is one monarch lifeless than the next begins his reign. But between popes there is a sede vacante (Latin: ablative absolute, “the chair being empty”). It has always been connected in thought with the death of a pope. » | Christopher Howse, Rome | Wednesday, February 27, 2013
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