UK Storms: Coastal Areas in West Hit by Renewed Gales

BBC: Gales are continuing across southern parts of the UK, with coastal areas facing west bearing the brunt of the strongest winds and heavy rain.

Forecasters said gusts reached 80mph along the coasts of Cornwall, the Bristol Channel and west Wales. » | Saturday, February 08, 2014

Spain's Princess Cristina Accused of Being 'Evasive' in Tax Fraud Court Case

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Daughter of Spanish King Juan Carlos grilled for several hours in historic inquiry into alleged financial scandal involving her husband, Iñaki Urdangarín

Spain’s Princess Cristina was accused of being “evasive” today as she gave evidence for the first time in a corruption case that has tarnished the image of the country’s royal family.

The 48-year-old younger daughter of King Juan Carlos was grilled for several hours by José Castro, an investigative judge, as part of an inquiry into an alleged financial scandal involving her husband, Iñaki Urdangarín. » | Fiona Govan, Madrid | Saturday, February 08, 2014

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Is America Losing Faith? Atheism on the Rise But Still in the Shadows

American Way: Atheist activists' numbers are growing in the US as they take on Big Religion, but many keep quiet for fear of alienation in one Bible-minded Virginia town

Read the Telegraph article here | Peter Foster, Blacksburg, Virginia | Saturday, February 08, 2014

Syria: Western Recruits Turning to Islamic Terrorism

The Syrian government has confirmed its participation in the next round of Geneva peace talks, that are set to take place on Monday. Meanwhile radical factions are believed to be gaining momentum in the war. Islamists are thought to have recruited tens of thousands of foreigners, which, potentially cause an intelligence headache in their homelands. Tesa Arcilla reports.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews Protest against Plan to Draft Them into Israel Defense Forces

Israeli police used water cannon on ultra-Orthodox Jewish protesters on Thursday in the southern city of Ashdod, following demonstrations against plans to enlist them in the military. Police also claimed that highways were being blocked across the country as part of the protest. In Ashdod, demonstrators hurled stones at police, injuring two. While in Jerusalem around 400 ultra-Orthodox Jews tried to block the entrance to the city. The trouble follows a Supreme Court ruling this week ordering funding halted to ultra-Orthodox seminaries whose students dodge the draft.

Protesters Clash with Police, Set Government Buildings Ablaze in Bosnia

Thousands of people across Bosnia set fire to local government buildings and clashed with police. Hundreds have been injured in three days of protests in a state that's slipping into serious economic stagnation with around 40 per cent of the population out of work.

The capital Sarajevo, rioters set the Presidential building ablaze, along with police cars and tires. Authorities fired rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas to disperse the crowds. In other parts of the country protesters hurled rocks at security forces and torched local government buildings.

The unrest initially erupted over the closure of several state-owned companies that were sold off and then collapsed under private ownership.

Outsiders Out? Swiss Decide on Tougher Immigration Limits

Swiss voters are set to decide this weekend on whether to put a cap on the country's influx of migrants. A controversial bill proposed by Switzerland's nationalist party plans to introduce quotas against foreigners. But some say shutting the Swiss border would only cause problems for the economy - as RT's Lucy Kafanov reports.

Google s'immisce dans le débat sur la législation anti-gay en Russie

LE FIGARO: Le moteur de recherche célèbre l'ouverture des Jeux olympiques en affichant sur sa page d'accueil un logo aux couleurs du drapeau arc-en-ciel de la communauté gay. Un pied de nez à la législation russe réprimant la «propagande» de l'homosexualité.

C'est un doodle politiquement engagé. Le moteur de recherche Google célèbre vendredi l'ouverture des Jeux olympiques d'hiver de Sotchi en affichant sur sa page d'accueil un logo aux couleurs du drapeau arc-en-ciel de la communauté gay. Chaque case comprend une lettre, une couleur et une discipline sportive représentée à ces JO d'hiver. En dessous, Google a repris un extrait de la Charte olympique: «La pratique du sport est un droit de l'homme. Chaque individu doit avoir la possibilité de faire du sport sans discrimination d'aucune sorte et dans l'esprit olympique, qui exige la compréhension mutuelle, l'esprit d'amitié, de solidarité et de fair-play». » | Par lefigaro.fr | vendredi 07 février 2014

Une loi Internet «liberticide» en Turquie

LE FIGARO: Une loi contrôlant strictement le Web a été votée par les députés turcs. L'opposition dénonce une nouvelle atteinte à la liberté d'expression de la part du pouvoir d'Erdogan.

«Big brother» a les Turcs à l'œil. Le gouvernement islamo-conservateur a toujours eu Internet dans le collimateur mais de là à placer sous surveillance tous ses utilisateurs, il y a un pas… qui a été franchi. En dépit des inquiétudes des organisations des droits de l'homme, des partis de l'opposition à l'unisson ou de l'Union européenne, qui la jugent liberticide, une loi contrôlant strictement le Web a été votée par les députés turcs. » | Par Laure Marchand | vendredi 07 février 2014

Kenyan 'Cutter' Says Female Genital Mutilation Is Her Livelihood

THE GUARDIAN: Margaret, who has put more girls through FGM than she can remember, says cutters ask her how they will eat if they stop

There can be few women who understand both the agonies and the economics of female genital mutilation better than Margaret, a grandmother in her 70s from Pokot, northern Kenya.

Her life has spanned the clumsy colonial efforts to ban the practice, which saw it become a cultural cornerstone of the Mau Mau uprising against British rule, right through to independent Kenya's decision to re[-]impose the prohibition.

She has also put more girls than she can remember under the knife. When Margaret started, the tool of choice was a curved nail; more recently this has been replaced with imported razor blades.

The work, she concedes, is gruelling: frightened young girls would typically sit naked on a rock; once done, their excised clitorises would be thrown to the birds. For the cutters, or "koko mekong", who can earn 2,500 Kenyan shillings (£18) for each girl, it is a livelihood.

"The cutters ask me: 'If we leave doing this thing, what will we eat?'" Margaret says. "Tell the government to give us what to eat. If it's just workshops then it will be no use. The circumcisers will not leave their career simply because they're being told to leave it."

The "cut" has been outlawed in Kenya since 2001. Despite this, a public health survey in 2009 found that 27% of women had been subject to FGM. Among some ethnic groups – such as the Somalis (98%) and Masai (73%) – that figure is much higher. » | Daniel Howden in Baringo County | Friday, February 07, 2014

Iranian Women Footballers to Undergo Gender Tests

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran's female footballers are to be given mandatory exams to prove that they are real women

Footballers in Iran's professional women's league are to undergo mandatory gender tests to establish that they are fully female.

The country's football governing body is bringing in the random checks after it was revealed that several leading players - including four in the national women's team - were either men who had not completed sex change operations, or were suffering from sexual development disorders.

Gender change operations are legal in Iran according to a fatwa - or religious ruling - pronounced by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spiritual leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution. The law contrasts with the strict rules governing sexual morality under the country's Sharia legal code, which forbids homosexuality and pre-marital sex.

Medical examiners will turn up unannounced at training sessions of teams playing in Iran's women's premier league, as well as those playing in the indoor league, known as footsal.

Ahmad Hashemian, head of the Iranian football federation's medical committee, said the clubs themselves were now obliged to carry out medical examinations to establish the gender of their players before signing them on contracts. » | Robert Tait, Middle East Correspondent | Friday, February 07, 2014

World War I in Color & HD: Episode 8: Making The Series

World War I in Color is a documentary (6 x 50-minute episodes) made with the cooperation of the Imperial War Museum, designed to make the Great War come alive for a 21st-century audience. The events of 1914-18 are authoritatively narrated by Kenneth Branagh, who presents the military and political overview, while interviews with historians add different perspectives. The human cost is conveyed by moving interviews with the now very elderly survivors, and by extracts from letters and memoirs. All aspects of the war, on land, sea and air are covered in separate programmes.

Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 »

Spanish Royal Family Braces for Princess Cristina's Court Appearance

Princess Cristina de Borbón and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin

THE GUARDIAN: Allegations of money laundering and tax evasion against king's daughter are latest episode in family's fall from grace

When a boulevard in Palma de Mallorca was renamed to honour Princess Cristina de Borbón and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarín, in 1998, it seemed like a good fit. It was one of the city's most regal thoroughfares, lined with trees and dotted with fountains and Roman statues, and they were the feted new couple of the Spanish crown. The princess's father, King Juan Carlos, had recently given the pair the titles the Duke and Duchess of Palma.

Fifteen years later, the city changed its mind. Urdangarín was under investigation for embezzlement and questions were being asked about how much his wife knew. "He has conducted himself poorly and has shown a lack of consideration towards the title and the name of our city," said a spokesperson in explanation for why the city was reverting back to the old name of the boulevard.

On Saturday, just a few streets away from the renamed La Rambla, Spain's royal family will live out another chapter in their steady fall from grace. At 10am Princess Cristina de Borbón has been summoned to the city's imposing stone courthouse to answer allegations of money laundering and tax evasion.

The 48-year-old princess will be the first royal-born member of Spain's ruling Bourbons to appear in court since the monarchy was restored in 1975. She will be questioned by prosecutors, the investigating judge José Castro and dozens of lawyers over her role in one of Spain's longest-running corruption scandals. Both Cristina and her husband have denied any wrongdoing.

At its best, Cristina's appearance in court on Saturday could be cathartic for Spain's ailing monarchy, clearing her of wrongdoing and showing the world that justice plays out equally for every Spanish citizen, royal or not.

But at its worst, this weekend's court appearance could result in criminal charges against the princess, and up to six years of jail time and steep fines. Read on and comment » | Ashifa Kassam in Palma de Mallorca | Friday, February 07, 2014

Family Blames Saudi Gender Segregation Rules for Student's Death

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Female student died after university stopped male paramedics from treating her

The family of a Saudi woman student who died of heart problems has said her university prevented medics from getting to her in time because of rules barring men from the women-only part of the campus.

The King Saud University in Riyadh denied the accusation and said Amena Bawazir, who had a history of heart disease, received quick medical attention after suffering a stroke last Sunday, causing her heart and lungs to stop functioning.

The case has revived memories of a 2002 incident in which 15 schoolgirls in Jeddah died in a fire after the Saudi morality police sent them back into the building because they were not veiled.

Al-Arabiya television's news website quoted Amena's sister, Fahda Bawazir, as saying that medics arrived at a campus gate shortly after her sister fell ill at around 11 a.m.

"But the medics were not allowed to enter the campus until 1 p.m.," she said, in a report published late on Thursday. » | Friday, February 07, 2014

Brave German Women against Islamic Prayer in Protestant Church

CBN NEWS: 'Brave German Woman' Rebukes Islam's Lie » | Thursday, February 08, 2014

Printemps arabes : une catastrophe économique

LE POINT: En Égypte, Tunisie et Libye, les révolutions n'ont pas seulement engendré le chaos politique mais un désastre économique et social.

"C'est pire qu'avant." Du Caire à Tunis ou à Tripoli, dans les maisons confortables ou les quartiers miséreux, la phrase revient comme une litanie lancinante. Le Printemps arabe n'a pas seulement débouché sur un grand chaos politique. Les pauvres sont plus pauvres, les classes moyennes laminées, les économies encalminées. La misère progresse. » | Par Pierre Beylau | jeudi 06 février 2014

First Major US Drugstore Drops Cigarettes

CVS will phase out cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco by October because it's no longer compatible with its healthcare business.

Related video »

Hitlers Aufstieg zur Macht

Obama's Ex-Bodyguard: Scandals 'Worse Than You Know'

Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino - "It's to the point where these (Obama) scandals in and of themselves would be huge, backbreaking scandals are just lost in the 'scandal fog' of this administration," he said in disbelief. "It's worse than people know; I'm not trying to scare you either."

Dutch Populist Politician Geert Wilders Wants Netherlands to Leave EU

Geert Wilders

CTV NEWS: THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- In a foretaste of his campaign for European parliamentary elections in May, Dutch populist politician Geert Wilders is making his case that the Netherlands would be better off leaving the European Union.

He claimed Thursday a "NExit" -- Netherlands exit from both the European Union and euro currency zone -- would add nearly 10,000 euros ($13,000) to GDP per capita over two decades, from around 35,000 euros now.

The Dutch government rejects Wilders' views, saying a pullout from the European Union would cause irreparable damage to trade relations in a country heavily reliant on trade, and a euro departure would lead to a new financial crisis.

"I cannot explain to any voters in the Netherlands that we have to raise taxes, cut health care for the elderly, for example, but that we send billions of euros to the Southern European countries (for bailouts), or all the fees we pay to Brussels," Wilders said at a press conference outside Dutch parliament.

Wilders' views on leaving the European Union have so far gained little traction in the Netherlands, and are seen as practically unworkable. However, his euro-skeptic stance, like that of other parties elsewhere on the political extremes -- such as France's Marine Le Pen, Greece's Alexis Tsipras and Britain's Nigel Farage, does resonate with a wider public. » | Toby Sterling, The Associated Press | Thursday, February 06, 2014