Thursday, March 07, 2013
THE GUARDIAN: Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani pays €8.5m for Ionian retreats for family with seller happy to strike deal after 18 months of red tape
The suitor is one of the world's wealthiest men; the location happens to be the eurozone's poorest country. But in an unlikely coming together of economic circumstances, the emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has opted to splash out €8.5m (£7.35m) on six idyllic isles in the Ionian sea.
Closure of the deal – the latest in a global shopping spree that has seen the sheikh's property portfolio spread from London to Beijing – has been met with glee in Greece, the west's most bankrupt state, and Doha, where the royal household experienced 18 months of excruciating drama to take possession of the outcrops.
"Greece is that kind of place," said Ioannis Kassianos, Ithaca's straight-talking Greek-American mayor. "Even when you buy an island, even if you are the emir of Qatar, it takes a year and a half for all the paperwork to go through."
The isles, known as the Echinades, caught the oil-rich monarch's fancy when he moored his super-yacht in the turquoise waters off Ithaca, took in the view and liked what he saw. That was four summers ago.
When the royal eventually got off the yacht, he inquired about the pine-covered chain as he strolled about Ithaca in sandals and shorts. "They have a fund with a couple of hundred million in it," enthused Kassianos, a former US economics professor who assumed the mayorship of Homer's fabled isle three years ago. "And as far as I know they want to buy all 18 of the islands, the whole lot." » | Helena Smith in Athens | Tuesday 5 March 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Saudi princess who fled Paris's luxury Shangri-La hotel in the middle of the night to avoid paying a £5 million hotel bill is to have her assets seized in France, a judge has ruled.
Maha Al-Sudairi was caught ordering her entourage of 60 to load scores of suitcases into a fleet of limos outside the hotel at 3.30am in June last year. She had racked up the vast bill after checking into the hotel six months previously, taking over an entire 41-room floor.
But when King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia refused to pay for her stay, she attempted the early morning dash, claiming diplomatic immunity and moving to the nearby five-star Royal Monceau Hotel, near the Champs-Elysees, which is own by "family friend" the Emir of Qatar.
She then left France a month later and has not returned since.
Lawyers for the Shangri-La on Wednesday however won a legal bid at a court in Nanterre, west of Paris, to have her assets in France seized. » | Ian Sparks | Thursday, March 07, 2013
SHORT NEWS: Der Islamkritiker und Rechtspopulist Geert Wilders, steht auf einer Todesliste der al-Qaida. Sein Foto wird dort an vierter Stelle aufgelistet, berichtete "RTL news" am letzten Freitag.
Auf der Todesliste stehen auch der dänische Redakteur Carsten Juste, verantwortlich für die Veröffentlichung der Karikaturen über Mohammed, und andere Islamkritiker.
Das Plakat wurde auf einer Dschihad-Website veröffentlicht und enthält Barack Obamas Wahlkampfslogan "Yes we can" und den Text "eine Kugel pro Tag kann die Ungläubigen fern halten". Damit wird auf das Sprichwort "Ein Apfel am Tag hält den Doktor fern" angespielt. [Quelle: SHORT NEWS] | WebReporter: Sijamboi | Montag, 04. März 2013
DUTCHNEWS.nl: 'Girt' Wilders on al Qaeda death list » | DutchNews.nl | Friday, March 01, 2013
SAPHIR NEWS: Aux Pays-Bas, Arnoud Van Doorn, ancien membre du parti d'extrême droite de Geert Wilders, le Parti pour la Liberté (PVV) a créé la surprise en annonçant s’être converti à l’islam. Quand on connait la position extrêmement virulente de ce parti à l’égard de la religion musulmane, il y a de quoi être étonné.
Mais le 27 février dernier, c’est bien la chahada (profession de foi) en arabe qu’a tweeté l’ancien porte-parole du PVV sur son compte twitter : « J'atteste qu'il n'y a d'autre Dieu que Dieu et j'atteste que Muhammad est Son Messager ». M. Van Doom a ensuite confirmé sa conversion à l’islam dans une interview accordée à la chaîne Al Jazeera.
« Je peux comprendre que ma conversion laisse sceptique, surtout qu'elle était inattendue pour beaucoup. Mais pas par mes proches, eux savaient que je m'informais sur cette religion par le biais du Coran, de hadiths, de la sunna et d’autres textes depuis presque un an », a-t-il déclaré. » | Rédigé par La Rédaction | jeudi 07 mars 2013
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BBC: A mother has gone on trial in southern France for sending her son to nursery school wearing a T-shirt reading "I am a bomb" and "Born on 11 September".
Bouchra Bagour, 35, was reported to police by the teacher last September, and charged with "glorifying crime".
At the start of her trial in Avignon, she denied defending terrorism.
Ms Bagour's brother - who gave the T-shirt to her three-year-old son named Jihad - is a co-defendant in the case and also denies the charge.
The garment, which the boy wore to school in Sorgues near Avignon on 24 September, read "I am a bomb" on the front and "Jihad, born on 11 September" on the back.
On Wednesday Ms Bagour told the court she had put it on him "without stopping to think about it".
She insisted it was not meant as a provocation and stressed that her son had been born on 11 September. » | Thursday, March 07, 2013
BBC: North Korea has ramped up rhetoric ahead of a UN vote on sanctions in response to its nuclear test.
Accusing the US of pushing to start a war, it vowed to exercise its right to launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack against its aggressors.
The Security Council meets later today to approve fresh sanctions against Pyongyang over the 12 February test.
Earlier this week, North Korea also threatened to scrap the 60-year truce which ended the Korean War.
"As long as the United States is willing to spark nuclear war our forces will exercise their right to a pre-emptive nuclear strike," said North Korea's foreign ministry, in a statement carried by the KCNA news agency, without giving further details.
The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul says most analysts believe Pyongyang is unlikely to start a war with the US, and may instead be trying to provoke a fresh stance from Washington ahead of the UN vote.
But the atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula is more tense than usual, our correspondent adds, after North Korea said that it would tear up the armistice agreement next week.
The two Koreas remain technically at war in the wake of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a formal peace treaty.
North Korea's military command said it would end that armistice on 11 March, threatening "surgical strikes" on its southern neighbour and the use of a "precision nuclear striking tool" in response to the sanctions and ongoing South Korea-US military drills. » | Thursday, March 07, 2013
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
BBC: Labour leader Ed Miliband has accused David Cameron of being "out of touch" for opposing European Union plans to cap bankers' bonuses.
He claimed the prime minister was "straining every muscle" to help the rich while doing little for the poor.
But Mr Cameron said the Labour leader wanted to "play and pose politics", while the UK needed to do all it could to attract the world's largest banks.
The UK was the only EU country to oppose the cap in a vote on Tuesday.
Under the plan, bonuses would be limited to 100% of a banker's annual salary - or to 200% if shareholders approve.
During a lively Prime Minister's Questions session, Mr Miliband said Mr Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne were the only people who thought it was "a priority to fight for bigger bonuses". » | Wednesday, March 06, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama has the authority to use an unmanned drone strike to kill US citizens on American soil, his attorney general has said.
Eric Holder argued that using lethal military force against an American in his home country would be legal and justified in an "extraordinary circumstance" comparable to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
"The president could conceivably have no choice but to authorise the military to use such force if necessary to protect the homeland," Mr Holder said.
His statement was described as "more than frightening" by Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, who had demanded to know the Obama administration's position on the subject.
"It is an affront the constitutional due process rights of all Americans," said Mr Paul, a 50-year-old favourite of the anti-government Tea Party movement, who is expected to run for president in 2016.
Mr Holder wrote to Mr Paul after the senator threatened to block the appointment of John Brennan as the director of the CIA unless he received answers to a series of questions on its activities.
Mr Obama has been sharply criticised for the secrecy surrounding his extension of America's "targeted killing" campaign against al-Qaeda terrorist suspects using missile strikes by unmanned drones.
The secret campaign has killed an estimated 4,700 people in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. A quarter are estimated to have been civilians prompting anger among human rights campaigners. » | Jon Swaine, Washington | Wednesday, March 06, 2013
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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Vatican has been accused of censorship after a group of cardinals were told to stop talking to the media about the process of electing a new Pope.
In the past week American cardinals have given several briefings to journalists in Rome to discuss the challenges facing the Roman Catholic Church and how the next pontiff might tackle them, in a refreshing break from the Vatican's rather staid press conferences.
In recent days the Americans have called for the reform of the Roman Curia, the governing body of the Church, which has earned a reputation as a hotbed of professional jealousy, turf wars, nepotism and corruption.
But the briefings were scrapped and the Americans gagged after cardinals from other countries expressed fears of negative publicity and indiscretions relating to the conclave, the highly secretive election in the Sistine Chapel by which a new pontiff will be chosen.
The American cardinals, through the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that concern had been expressed "about leaks of confidential proceedings reported in Italian newspapers."
The ban on interviews came after the Italian press reported that there were arguments between American and German cardinals on one side and Italians on the other during the pre-conclave talks which are going on this week. » | Nick Squires, Vatican City | Wednesday, March 06, 2013
AJIB.fr: Dans un interview donnée à Al Jazeera, Arnoud Van Doorn membre membre du PVV, parti islamophobe pour la Liberté, a indiqué s’être converti à l’islam. Ce parti politique nationaliste dont le fondateur est Geert Wilders, est orienté extrême droite, et détient une position virulente et haineuse à l’égard de l’islam. » | AJIB.FR | Publié par Oum Michket | mercredi 06 mars 2013
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