German Muslims Outraged at Archbishop's Comments

ABC NEWS: Muslims in Germany have criticized comments by a senior Roman Catholic archbishop that suggested they were worth less than Catholics.

Cardinal Joachim Meisner told members of the conservative Catholic group Neocatechumenal Way that "I always say one of your families replaces three Muslim families."

The lay group, founded in Spain in the 1960s, celebrates unique liturgies and emphasizes missionary evangelization. » | AP | Berlin | Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Intel Chief Warns Syria's Militants Want To Attack US

There are chinks of daylight breaking through in Syria peace talks. International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said negotiations between the government and opposition are finally seeing some progress. But at the same time, Washington says it's worried about new threats emerging from Syria, with terrorism being only one of them. The US national intelligence chief warned Damascus is still capable of producing biological weapons - despite the current process of disarmament. RT's Marina Portnaya has the details.

Empire: America and Al-Qaeda 3.0

We examine the resurgence of al-Qaeda in one of the world's most troubled regions and unpick the US' response.

Obama's State Of The Union: Blah-blah Again or Real Promises?

When US President Barack Obama delivered his sixth State of the Union address Tuesday night, those listening at home may have heard variations on a theme that Obama focused on in his fifth address: the US economy and a growing inequality gap.

Angela Merkel Rebukes US and Britain over NSA Surveillance

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Chancellor says Germany and US still 'far apart' on sweeping surveillance and spying activities revealed by Edward Snowden

German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a strong rebuke to the United States and Britain on Wednesday over sweeping surveillance and spying activities reported by fugitive IT contractor Edward Snowden.

In a major speech to parliament ahead of talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, Merkel said that Western powers sacrificing freedom in the quest for security were sending the wrong signal to "billions of people living in undemocratic states".

"Actions in which the ends justify the means, in which everything that is technically possible is done, violate trust, they sow distrust," she said. "The end result is not more security but less." » | AFP | Wednesday, January 29, 2014

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Regierungserklärung der Kanzlerin: Merkel beklagt Vertrauensbruch durch US-Geheimdienste: Angela Merkel hat die Ausspähung durch ausländische Geheimdienste scharf kritisiert. "Das zerstört Vertrauen", sagte die Kanzlerin in ihrer Regierungserklärung im Bundestag. Gleichwohl gestalteten sich die Verhandlungen über ein No-Spy-Abkommen mit den USA schwierig. » | syd | Mittwoch, 29. Januar 2014

Stakelbeck on Terror: Islam and the Battle For Our Minds

Stakelbeck Talks "Dearbornistan", Bible Prophecy

Trent Franks Agrees Obama May Be A Muslim Or Acting Just Like One

Stakelbeck: Muslims Infiltrating Bible Belt

Stakelbeck Condemns Obama for Defending Right to Build Mosques; Fears Muslim ‘Infiltration’ of the Bible Belt

Political Correctness Exposed! Marxism, Communism, Frankfurt School: End of Freedom

State of the Union: Is Anyone Listening to President Obama?

BBC: On 28 January, President Obama will go before the nation to deliver his annual State of the Union address.

It is a speech that allows the Commander in Chief to outline his priorities for the year ahead and to focus the country's attention.

But this year he faces an uphill battle. With low approval ratings and a divided Congress, what can he actually get done?

The BBC's Katty Kay assesses the mood in Washington. (+ BBC vido) » | Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Exclusive: Mitt Romney Previews the State of the Union

Romney urges the president to find 'common ground' with Republicans

Netanyahu Blasted For Son’s Non-Jewish Girlfriend

ABC NEWS: Conservative Israeli groups and politicians are taking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to task over his son’s alleged romance with a Norwegian who is not Jewish.

Netanyahu’s son Yair, 23, is reportedly dating Sandra Leikanger, 25, a student at the Interdisciplinary Center outside Tel Aviv.

“It’s a big problem,” member of parliament Nissim Ze’ev from the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party told the Jerusalem Post. “As the prime minister of Israel and the Jewish people, he must display national responsibility via the values he presents inside his own household.”

“Any Jew who wants to maintain his roots wants to see his son marry a Jewish girl,” Ze’ev continued. “There is no shortage of beautiful, successful girls without sowing in the fields of others.” » | Alexander Marquardt | Monday, January 27, 2014

Maajid Nawaz Must Be Free to Offend Muslims – and Christians Must Be Free to Offend Gays

Maajid Nawaz

TELEGRAPH BLOGS – BRENDAN O’NEILL: Yesterday, two very striking things happened on the freedom-of-speech front. First, the campaign in defence of Maajid Nawaz, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate who has been harassed by an online mob of Islamists for saying he did not think the Jesus and Mo cartoons were offensive, stepped up a gear. Numerous newspaper columnists, bloggers and tweeters have rallied to Mr Nawaz’s defence, and a petition calling for the Lib Dems to offer him their full support now has close to 7,000 signatures. And second, the High Court in London ordered an investigation into the banning of an allegedly homophobic advert from British buses by Transport for London (TfL) in 2012. The Court said the ban might have been unjust and said it is now time to “re-examine whether… the poster could be used”.

Let me guess: you’ve heard a lot more about the first case, about Mr Nawaz’s travails, than you have about the second – right? Certainly there’s been far more coverage of the liberal online uprising in defence of Mr Nawaz’s right to tweet the secularist, mickey-taking Jesus and Mo cartoons than there has been of the High Court’s green light for an investigation into the banning of an anti-gay poster by TfL. Which is weird, because these cases are actually very similar. In both, an army of offence-takers sought to scrub from public view something they found repulsive – whether a tweet about Jesus and Mo or a poster putting forward a Christian take on homosexuality – and in both it was casually assumed that the rights of the offended should take precedence over the freedom of everyone else to tweet, read, see and hear certain risqué (allegedly) ideas. But only one case – Mr Nawaz’s – has become a cause celebre [sic] among liberals who profess an attachment to freedom of speech. Why? » | Brendan O’Neill | Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Britain's Royal Family Should Cut Costs and Staff, Lawmakers Say

LOS ANGELES TIMES: LONDON – Time was when being queen (or king) meant having the power to make your enemies’ heads roll. Now it means being told by upstart lawmakers to cut your expenses and chop the number of people on staff. And could Your Majesty please do a better job of keeping your home in decent condition?

In a report released Tuesday on the finances of Britain’s royal household, members of Parliament criticized the state of disrepair of much of Queen Elizabeth II’s considerable estate, saying that nearly 40% of it was in subpar condition. The boiler in Buckingham Palace hasn’t been overhauled in 60 years and buckets catch water leaking from the roof inside a gallery where priceless artworks are kept, one lawmaker said.

Yet even as urgent home repairs were needed, the world’s most famous extended family spent $74.5 million in 2012-13, going over budget by $3.8 million. The number of people serving them remains unchanged from several years ago. And the household’s rainy-day reserve fund has dwindled to a decidedly less-than-princely sum of $1.7 million. » | Henry Chu | Tuesday, January 28, 2014

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Wanted: an enthusiastic and proactive individual to run the Queen’s bath: A new housekeeper is wanted at Buckingham Palace to look after royal guests, furnishings and art » | Gordon Raynor, Chief Reporter | Friday, January 24, 2014

DAILY EXPRESS: Boomtime Britain as Buckingham Palace goes on a recruiting spree: FOR those who have ever wondered what it would be like to work in Buckingham Palace, they no longer need to dream about such a job as the royal residence is opening it's doors to new employees. » | Kirsty McCormack | Saturday, January 25, 2014

Iraq and Iran Plot Oil Revolution in Challenge to Saudi Arabia

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iraq's goal of pumping 9m barrels a day of crude could be a game changer for oil prices and British companies

Iraq is poised to flood the oil market by tripling its capacity to pump crude by 2020 and is collaborating with Iran on strategy in a move that will challenge Saudi Arabia's grip on the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"We feel the world needs to be assured of fuel for economic growth," Hussain al-Shahristani, Deputy Prime Minister for Energy in Iraq told oil industry delegates attending a Chatham House Middle East energy conference.

Al Shahristani said on Tuesday that Iraq plans to boost its capacity to produce oil to 9m barrels a day (bpd) by the end of the decade as Baghdad rushes to bolster its economy, which is still shattered by war and internal conflict. Iraq was producing 3m bpd in December, according to the International Energy Agency.

Iraq's intention to challenge Saudi Arabia's status as the "swing producer" in the OPEC cartel could see a dramatic fall in oil prices if Baghdad decides to break the group's quotas and sell more of its crude on the open market. » | Andrew Critchlow | Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The Return of the Firing Squad? US States Reconsider Execution Methods

THE GUARDIAN: Shortages of lethal drugs and doubts over efficacy prompt lawmakers to take fresh look at long-abandoned practices

With lethal-injection drugs in short supply and new questions looming about their effectiveness, lawmakers in some states with the death penalty are considering bringing back relics of a more gruesome past: firing squads, electrocutions and gas chambers.

Most states abandoned those execution methods more than a generation ago, in the hope of making capital punishment more palatable to the public and to a judicial system worried about inflicting cruel and unusual punishments that violate the constitution.

But to some elected officials, the shortages of lethal drugs and the recent legal challenges around them are beginning to make lethal injection seem too vulnerable to complications.

"This isn't an attempt to time warp back into the 1850s or the wild, wild west or anything like that," said the Missouri state Republican representative, Rick Brattin, who this month proposed making firing squads an option for executions. "It's just that I foresee a problem, and I'm trying to come up with a solution that will be the most humane yet most economical for our state." » | Associated Press | Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Jewish Documentary

Faith and Fate is a documentary telling the story of the Jews in the 20th Century.

What Does it Really Mean to be Jewish?