Wednesday, March 20, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A vicar has spoken of his shock after intruders broke into his church and set fire to the Bibles.
None of the church's valuable items were taken during the break-in, but a stained glass window was smashed using a vase from the graveyard and Bibles and hymn books were burned.
Rev Goronwy Evans, minister at the church for 46 years, believes that they burned the holy books in an “abysmal” attempt to set the church on fire.
"In this day and age break-ins are a part of life, but it was shocking to see what they had done," he said.
The scene was discovered by a woman who was bringing flowers to her mother's grave in the churchyard at Brondeifi Unitarian Chapel, in Lampeter, Ceredigion, south west Wales. » | Hayley Dixon | Wednesday, March 20, 2013
CNN: Jerusalem -- U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Israel on Wednesday as concerns about Iran's nuclear progress percolate. The trip, his first to the country as president, is part of his sweep across the Middle East, which will include visits to the West Bank and Jordan. » | CNN Staff | Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Cyprus turned to Russia for help on Tuesday night after the country's parliament overwhelmingly rejected a tax on the deposits of bank savers.
With protesters celebrating in the streets, the rejection of a draconian levy left a planned £8.5 billion eurozone bail-out to save the Mediterranean island in chaos.
The country's finance minister defied explicit warnings from Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and left Cyprus for urgent talks in Russia.
Michael Sarris flew to Moscow to plead for aid, despite Mrs Merkel warning Cyprus not to enter into negotiations with Russia, raising the spectre of eurozone disintegration.
"The chancellor once again emphasised that the negotiations are to be conducted only with the troika (the European Union, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund)," said her spokesman.
Not a single Cypriot MP voted in favour of a eurozone rescue package that had been made conditional by Germany on the Cypriot government finding £5 billion to pay off its debts by raiding bank deposits, including the savings of up to 60,000 Britons.
Under the original eurozone deal at the weekend, Cyprus agreed to impose a levy of 6.75 per cent on bank accounts up to €100,000 (£85,000) and 9.9 per cent for larger deposits.
Despite a compromise proposal not to tax any bank deposit less than €20,000 (£17,000), the country's 36 MPs rejected a deposit tax that has rattled financial markets and threatened the island's future as an offshore banking haven for Russian investors, with 19 MPs abstaining from the vote.
"There can only be one answer: no to blackmail," Yiannakis Omirou, the speaker of the Cypriot parliament said. » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels, Richard Spencer in Nicosia and Robert Tait in Limassol | Tuesday, March 19, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Residents of an area that has been reportedly targeted with chemical weapons in Syria were said to be showing symptoms including breathing difficulties in an incident that could cross US "red lines" on intervention in the conflict.
Britain said on Tuesday it was aware of media reports about a chemical weapons attack in Syria, adding that the use or proliferation of chemical weapons there would demand a serious response from the international community.
Syria’s regime accused rebel fighters of firing a chemical weapon at a town in the country’s north, hours after the opposition had chosen a prime minister to oversee areas freed from government control.
But a spokesman for Syria's rebel command said the regime had fired Scud missile equipped with a chemical warhead on the area.
The official newsagency, Sana, said the attack had occurred in Khan al-Assal, near Aleppo, killing 25 people. Syria has one of the world’s largest stockpiles of chemical weapons and both sides have made claim and counter-claim about use of the weapons. » | Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Tuesday, March 19, 2013
GATESTONE INSTITUTE: Islamic Sharia law is "incompatible with the fundamental principles of democracy." — European Court of Human Rights
After members of the newly established Islam Party vowed to implement Islamic Sharia law in Belgium, Members of Parliament introduced a bill that would limit the power of Muslim extremists who win elected office at the local or national levels and isolate themselves from the political mainstream.
Addressing the Belgian Parliament on February 28, Alain Destexhe, an MP with the Reformist Movement[Mouvement Réformateur], the largest French-speaking classical liberal party in Belgium, and Philippe Pivin, a liberal MP who is also the deputy mayor of Koekelberg, a suburb of Brussels, said it is imperative to curb the power of elected Muslims whose beliefs are inconsistent with the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights ruled in February 2003 that Islamic Sharia law is "incompatible with the fundamental principles of democracy." The court said that a legal system based on Sharia law "would diverge from the European Convention on Human Rights, particularly with regard to the rules on the status of women, and its intervention in all spheres of private and public life in accordance with religious precepts."
The legislative proposal, which is currently open for signatures by other Members of the Belgian Parliament, argues that ultra-conservative Muslims who are elected to public office are unsuitable to run local governments or community bodies and should be impeached.
Destexhe said that as Muslim politicians in Belgium are creating isolated communities and parallel societies, the measure is necessary. He said: "The people of the Islam Party refuse to shake hands with women. They do not want to mix with others in public transport and other communal places. They advocate getting married and wearing a veil at 12 years old, based on Islamic law."
Destexhe continued: "Members of the Islam Party have refused to shake hands with Françoise Schepmans, the mayor of Molenbeek [a primarily Muslim neighborhood in Brussels]. I feel that some people do not understand how similar this is to the behavior of the extreme right, and how they are creating their own isolated community." » | Soeren Kern | Tuesday, March 19, 2013
BBC: On the day of the inauguration of Pope Francis, the Catholic theologian, Professor Hans Ku[e]ng tells Today presenter John Humphrys about the challenges facing the new pontiff.
Prof Ku[e]ng explained that recent and historical sex abuse scandals have severely damaged the church, which also faces the challenge of evangelical churches in South America, which many former Catholics are now joining.
"We need a Pope who is not for riches, pomp and splendour. We need a church of transparent financial policies. A modest church."
He added that many people have left the Catholic Church because [:] "the liturgy is boring and the clergy are dominating." BBC audio » | Tuesday, March 19, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Bank runs and financial panic could spread across Europe after Cyprus proposed raiding people's savings for a new bail-out, Alistair Darling has said.
The former Chancellor said Cyprus is doing "everything you should not do" after the tiny country decided to seize around 6.75 per cent from smaller deposits and almost 10 per cent from larger ones.
The country is currently deciding whether to make richer savers pay a bigger proportion of the bill but Mr Darling said the whole idea of taking money from ordinary savers is dangerous.
He said EU should not be letting Cyprus "blow apart" the principle of protecting deposits under €100,000, as people will start pulling their cash out of banks if they fear this elsewhere.
"It seems to me to make it more likely that if you’re a saver in Spain or Italy, if you have a sniff of the EU or the IMF coming your way you’ll take your money out and you’ll get a run on the bank," he told BBC Radio Four's Today programme.
"So what they’re doing is everything you should not do when you’re trying to solve a problem like this." » | Rowena Mason, Political Correspondent | Tuesday, March 19, 2013
THE GUARDIAN: Binyamin Netanyahu vows to guarantee future of Jewish people as Israel, prepares for Barack Obama's first visit as president
The new Israeli government will use Barack Obama's visit to Jerusalem this week as an opportunity "to show our gratitude to the American people", said Binyamin Netanyahu before being sworn in for a third term as prime minister on Monday.
"Obama's visit will be an opportunity to thank him," Netanyahu said after warning that Israel faced "enormous threats" in the region and pledging to "guarantee the future of the Jewish people by guaranteeing the future of the state of Israel, the root of our existence".
The government was sworn in almost eight weeks after the election on 22 January, and just two days before Obama is due to arrive in Israel for his first visit as president. » | Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem | Monday, March 18, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain’s new press regulations were roundly condemned across the world this morning as a threat to free speech.
The new rules left American commentators “horrified and shocked” at what they considered to be a “crazy idea”.
They said that the “shameful compromise” would never be allowed in the USA because it breaches the First Amendment[.]
The Kremlin-funded broadcaster Russia Today described the guidelines as a “threat to press freedom”.
The reaction came after the cross-party agreement was attacked by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the international body that polices human rights.
Britain, with its long running democracy, is often held up as a beacon of liberty.
But the changes in the law have left many dismayed. » | Richard Alleyne | Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
SPIEGEL ONLINE: In der Euro-Krise ist die Angst wieder da: Die internationalen Gläubiger haben Zypern eine Zwangssteuer auf Sparguthaben verordnet. Investoren und Politiker fürchten Auswirkungen auf Banken in ganz Europa.
Hamburg - Ein Schock geht durch Europas Finanzsystem - ausgelöst vonZypern, einem kleinen Staat am Rande der Währungsunion. Erstmals in der Geschichte der Euro- und Finanzkrise sollen nicht mehr nur die europäischen Steuerzahler, Aktionäre oder private Gläubiger für die Probleme eines Landes und seiner Banken zahlen, sondern die Bankkunden. Sie sollen über eine einmalige Steuer an den Kosten der Rettung beteiligt werden. Das gab es so noch nie.
Entsprechend heftig sind die Reaktionen an den Finanzmärkten: In ganz Europa brachen am Montag die Kurse von Bankaktien ein. Zu den größten Verlierern gehörten Institute von Krisenländern wie die spanische Bankia, die zweitweise um mehr als acht Prozent abstürzte. Aber auch die Aktie der Deutschen Bank verlor zwischenzeitlich fast vier Prozent. Investoren flüchteten in vermeintlich sicherere Anlagen wie deutsche Staatsanleihen oder Gold .
Auch Experten sind schockiert. Der amerikanische Nobelpreisträger Paul Krugman spricht von einer "gefährlichen Lösung" und warnt vor "Ansteckungsgefahren". Die Sparer in Ländern wie Griechenland und Italien würden geradezu aufgefordert, ihr Geld von den Banken abzuziehen. Der deutsche Wirtschaftsweise Peter Bofinger schlägt im Interview mit SPIEGEL ONLINE Alarm: "Europas Bürger müssen nun um ihr Geld fürchten." » | Von Stefan Kaiser | Montag, 18. März 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: David Cameron and the Queen will not be joining dozens of world leaders heading to the Vatican for the inauguration of the new Pope Francis.
The Duke of Gloucester will be the highest ranking member of the royal family to attend on Tuesday. The Prime Minister is sending two cabinet ministers, Baroness Warsi and Ken Clarke, in his place.
It comes just days after it emerged that the new Argentine pope once described the British as "usurpers" of the Falklands Islands.
Downing Street sources said the Prime Minister's decision not to go does not have any relation to the Falklands issue as other high-ranking officials are taking his place.
Another Number 10 official insisted sending the Duke of Gloucester and two ministers is "not a snub" but declined to give a reason why Mr Cameron will not be attending.
"The Government is being represented by senior Cabinet members," he said.
It is understood Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, will be at the ceremony, along with the French and Spanish prime ministers. The United States will be represented by Joe Biden, the Vice President, who said Barack Obama would have attended if he had not had a prior commitment to go to Israel.
Last week, Mr Cameron publicly clashed with the new Pope over Argentina's claim of sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
Pope Francis, who is a former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, has previously described the disputed territory as belonging to “the homeland” of Argentina. » | Rowena Mason, and Nick Squires in Rome | Monday, March 18, 2013
This new landmark documentary paints an in-depth portrait of Queen Elizabeth II during one of the most momentous years of her reign. The first feature length royal documentary in more than 20 years, Our Queen features unique access during the Diamond Jubilee year to members of the Royal Family, to Her Majesty's staff - some talking for the first time - to her Prime Ministers and to her residences. Made by the award-winning producer-director, Michael Waldman, and the best-selling royal author and writer, Robert Hardman, for Oxford Film and Television, the documentary follows the Jubilee from the inside. It also explores the modern Monarchy, delivering an insight into the way the world's most famous woman leads the world's best-known royal house, how she balances tradition with modernisation, and how her level of public affection is maintained amid the ever-changing political and social landscape of her reign.
Filmed throughout 2012, this observational two-hour documentary is a study of leadership, judgement and character, set against the spectacular pageantry of the Diamond Jubilee year, which sets out to provide a close perspective of Our Queen and what she means to Britain and the world.
Professor Richard Dawkins debates devout muslim Medhi Hassan about his firm belief in flying horses (Al -Buraq)
Sahih Bukhari 5:58:227 "...Then a white animal which was smaller than a mule and bigger than a donkey was brought to me." ... "The animal's step (was so wide that it) reached the farthest point within the reach of the animal's sight. ..."
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