Top Family Judge Calls for No-fault Divorce for All and Putting Cohabitees On A Par with Married Couples

Sir James Munby, President of the High Court Family Division

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Sir James Munby, President of the High Court Family Division, calls for radical overhaul of divorce law to recognise decline of traditional nuclear family

Unmarried couples should have similar legal protections as those who are married, Britain’s top family judge has said as he outlined ideas for a radical overhaul of divorce law to cope with a society in which the traditional nuclear family is being replaced.

Sir James Munby, president of the High Court Family Division, the most senior family judge in England and Wales, called for the idea of fault or blame to be completely removed from divorce.

He added that divorce could largely be taken out of the court system altogether, with marriages dissolved by officials instead of judges, in a similar way to the registration of births or deaths.

The family itself had changed beyond recognition in the past few decades, he added, with the nuclear model increasingly replaced by unmarried parents, single parents, step-families and same-sex couples.

Christian campaigners said removing the idea of fault was "downgrading" commitment. » | John Bingham, Social Affairs Editor | Tuesday, April 29, 2014

My comment:

The West is going to Hell in a handbasket. It won't be long now before its total destruction. Rome went the same way too. It's sad, I know; but Western leaders haven't got a clue how to reverse the decline. They keep heaping coals on the fire. It appears that we have a one-way ticket to self-destruction. – © Mark

This comment appears here too.

Gauck weist Erdoğans Vorwürfe zurück

SUEDDEUTSCHE: Zank zwischen Berlin und Ankara: Bundespräsident Gauck hatte den türkischen Premier Erdoğan kritisiert, Erdoğan sprach daraufhin von Gauck als "Pastor". Nun kontert der Bundespräsident: Seine Kritik sei "eher noch zurückhaltend gewesen."

Bundespräsident Joachim Gauck hat Vorwürfe des türkischen Ministerpräsidenten Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wegen seiner Kritik an Demokratiedefiziten in der Türkei zurückgewiesen. "Ich habe mir erlaubt, das zu tun, was ich immer tue. Nämlich die kritischen Themen, die in einer Gesellschaft diskutiert werden, aufzunehmen. Das ist normal unter Freunden", sagte Gauck. "Ich habe nichts erfunden, ich bin eher noch zurückhaltend gewesen." » | Quelle und Bearbeiter: SZ.de/AFP/dpa/fran/mane | Dienstag, 29. April 2014

Erdogan attackiert “Pastor” Gauck »

Murdered Teacher Ann Maguire 'A Mother Figure and Heart of the School'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Ann Maguire, a 61-year-old mother-of-two, had already reached the age when she could have retired, after 40 years teaching at Corpus Christi Catholic College

To her students, Ann Maguire was, quite simply, “the best teacher in the world”.

Having spent 40 years teaching at Corpus Christi Catholic College, the 61-year-old mother-of-two had already reached the age when she could have retired.

But she chose to carry on serving the pupils who had come to depend on her.

For any teacher to be murdered at work would have been shocking enough but students at the Leeds secondary school were unanimous in their disbelief that Mrs Maguire should have been targeted.

Nathan Mulenga, 18, who left the school two years ago, said: “She was such a great teacher, the best in the world. » | Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter | Tuesday, April 29, 2014

10 Good Reasons Not to Vote for Ukip

THE GUARDIAN: Nigel Farage may seem genial but his party is anything but. The polls tell us that many voters are tempted to vote Ukip at the next election, while others dismiss them as a joke – but the prospect of them gaining more power in Europe is no laughing matter

If the polls are right, and they probably are, legions of ordinary British people, decent in so many respects, will back Ukip in the forthcoming European elections.

Some will tick the Farage box because they believe the party to be the future, setting out with clarity our country's political, social and economic future. Others will give their endorsement because they have come to despise the other parties and the establishment. Indeed Farage has been encouraging them to turn away from the political elite and to see Ukip as a new way of doing things.

There will be those, genuinely unhappy, who wish for tougher action on migration and a handbrake turn away from Europe. Both are hot-potato issues and Ukip serves up a mash more easily digestible than that available elsewhere.

And then there is the contingent that thinks some or none of these things but will vote for the party as a form of interactive entertainment. "That Farage, he's a good bloke," they will say. "You can have a laugh with him."

Ukip will do well because it can best survive in the polluted atmosphere that engulfs debate about migration and Europe, but also because it's a perfect vehicle for a protest vote. No one takes it very seriously. And that's the sadness. Because Ukip isn't and has never been much of a laughing matter. Here's why … » | Hugh Muir | Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Has Wealth Made Qatar Happy?

Souq Waqif was torn down – and rebuilt in replica

BBC: Oil and gas have made Qatar the richest country in the world - rich enough to be ready, apparently, to spend $200bn (£120bn) on stadiums and infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup. But has virtually limitless wealth brought the country happiness?

It's still cool enough to sit outside in Qatar's capital, Doha. In another few weeks it will be too hot and most people - those who don't have to work outside - will be retreating indoors to the comfort of air-conditioning.

For now, though, families relax in the afternoon sun on the waterfront promenade, the Corniche. The view has changed beyond recognition in the last few years. Glass and steel towers rise like an artificial forest from what was once a shoreline of flat sand.

"We have become urban," says Dr Kaltham Al Ghanim, a sociology professor at Qatar University. "Our social and economic life has changed - families have become separated, consumption culture has taken over."

Qatar's government puts a positive spin on the pace of change.

From desperate poverty less than a century ago, this, after all, has become the richest nation in the world, with an average per-capita income topping $100,000 (£60,000).

What's less well understood is the impact of such rapid change on Qatari society itself. » | Matthew Teller | Doha | Qatar | Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Inside Story: Should We Be Worried About the MERS Virus?

Health officials on alert as cases rise in Saudi Arabia and threaten to spread across region.

Ex-Chancellor Parties with Putin

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The conflict in eastern Ukraine threatens to escalate, but that didn't stop former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder from celebrating his 70th birthday with Vladimir Putin on Monday. By doing so, he is making a mockery of Berlin's foreign policy.

There's nothing you can do about your relatives, but you certainly have a choice when it comes to picking your friends. This sage wisdom also applies to Gerhard Schröder, the former German leader and confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He himself can decide whom to embrace and with whom to celebrate his 70th birthday -- after all, true friends stick together, even in the toughest of times. Normally, one would call this strength of character.

But when it comes to Schröder and Putin in the context of the Ukraine crisis, things are a little more complicated. … » | A commentary by Roland Nelles | Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Erdogan attackiert "Pastor" Gauck

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Der Staatsbesuch von Joachim Gauck in der Türkei ist plötzlich von scharfen Tönen geprägt. Der Deutsche hatte vor Gefahren für die Demokratie gewarnt - jetzt reagiert ein wütender Premier Erdogan.

Ankara - Die Kritik des deutschen Staatsoberhaupts will der türkische Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan nicht auf sich sitzen lassen. Der Regierungschef wirft Joachim Gauck vor, sich mit seiner Warnung über die Demokratiedefizite in die inneren Angelegenheiten der Türkei eingemischt zu haben.

"Ich habe dem deutschen Staatspräsidenten gesagt, dass wir seine Einmischung in die inneren Angelegenheiten unseres Landes niemals dulden werden", sagte Erdogan am Dienstag nach Angaben der Nachrichtenagentur Anadolu. Mit Blick auf die aus seiner Sicht belehrenden Worte des früheren Pfarrers Gauck fügte Erdogan bei einer Fraktionssitzung seiner Partei AKP in Ankara hinzu: "Der deutsche Staatspräsident denkt wohl, er sei immer noch ein Pastor." » | heb/amz/AFP | Dienstag, 29. April 2014

Conservatives Stuck on Stupid! We Should Celebrate That We Are a Multi-cultural Nation, Says Michael Gove

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britons should celebrate the fact that their country is a “multi-cultural nation”, senior Conservatives have said.

Britons should celebrate the fact that their country is a “multi-cultural nation”, senior Conservatives have said.

The comments have emerged after new research said that the Tories had to do more to attract black and ethnic minority voters if they wanted to win next year’s general election.

The description multi-cultural is often used by rightwing critics to criticise community groups who do not mix with their neighbours.

However, Michael Gove, the Education secretary and a Tory moderniser, issued the call for the Conservatives to reclaim the term at the Asian Business Awards dinner earlier this month.

He told the 500-strong black tie dinner at a hotel in central London earlier this month that Britain was a “stronger country” because of its history of immigration. » | Christopher Hope, Senior Political Correspondent | Monday, April 28, 2014

Leeds Teacher Murder: Boy, 15, In Custody after Anne Maguire Stabbed to Death

Anne Maguire

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Pupil, who cannot be named for legal reasons, arrested on suspicion of murder after Anne Maguire was repeatedly stabbed in front of other pupils at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds

A high-achieving middle-class schoolboy was in custody on Monday night after a teacher was stabbed to death in the first murder of its kind in a British classroom.

The 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested on suspicion of murder after Anne Maguire was repeatedly stabbed in front of other pupils at a secondary school in Leeds.

The pupil is said to have excelled at the Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds but had become increasingly withdrawn following the separation of his parents.

Mrs Maguire, 61, who taught Spanish and Religious Education and was described as the “figurehead” of the school where she had taught for 40 years, was the first teacher to be killed by a schoolboy since Philip Lawrence, a London headmaster, was stabbed at the gates of his secondary in 1995.

It is the first time in Britain a teacher has been murdered in a classroom allegedly by one of their pupils. (+ videos) » | Monday, April 28, 2014

Ukraine: La Russie promet de répliquer aux nouvelles sanctions

Au nom de Vladimir Poutine, le vice-ministre russe des Affaires
étrangères Sergueï Riabkov a déclaré que la Russie disposait
d'une « large » gamme d'options pour répondre aux sanctions.

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Une nouvelle série de sanctions a été annoncée lundi contre la Russie, accusée par les Occidentaux de jeter de l'huile sur le feu dans la crise ukrainienne, et qui a aussitôt promis de répliquer.

Américains et Européens ont dévoilé quasi-simultanément lundi les nouvelles sanctions censées convaincre Moscou de ne pas déstabiliser davantage la situation déjà explosive en Ukraine.

Côté américain, sept responsables russes et 17 sociétés, jugés proches du président russe Vladimir Poutine, vont se voir imposer des sanctions. Washington va également revoir les conditions d'autorisation à l'exportation en Russie de certains équipements high-tech qui pourraient avoir un usage militaire, a indiqué la Maison Blanche dans un communiqué. » | afp/Newsnet | lundi 28 avril 2014

Zürich: Pour le Böögg, l'été sera très chaud

Le Böögg brûle à Zürich

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: En moins de 8 minutes, le Bonhomme hiver du Sechseläuten a explosé, signe que les températures seront élevées cette année. Des conseillers fédéraux ont participé au défilé.

Le «Böögg», le Bonhomme hiver auquel les Zurichois boutent le feu chaque année, a tenu 7 minutes et 23 secondes avant d'exploser.

Il annonce ainsi un très bel été. La manifestation marquant la fin de l'hiver s'est pourtant déroulée sous un temps pluvieux et plutôt frisquet. » | ATS/Newsnet | lundi 28 avril 2014

View from Russia Today: 'Last Thing US Wants in the World Is Democracy. It Wants Control'

The crisis in Ukraine and the steadily dropping temperature in relations between Moscow and Washington made many talk about a new Cold War; and many others are worried it may turn 'hot'. But there's another war going on right now: the information war. US Secretary of State Kerry has already attacked RT, calling it "Putin's propaganda machine." But Washington itself uses dubious evidence and fake facts. What is the information war? What methods is America using? Sophie talks to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and veteran correspondent Chris Hedges.

2pm Lie-ins and a Daily Führer Cake...

Elisabeth Kalhammer, one of Hitler's maids at the Berghof,
Obersalzberg, Austria

MAIL ON SUNDAY: Elisabeth Kalhammer, 89, responded to newspaper advert in 1943 / She did not know her employer at Berghof, Germany, would be Hitler / Reveals dictator pretended to be healthy but had insatiable sweet tooth

As far as his closest aides were aware, he kept to a strict healthy diet and drank only lukewarm water.

But Adolf Hitler would regularly stave off attacks of midnight munchies by tucking into specially made ‘Fuhrer Cake’ and other gooey treats.

He would raid the kitchen after staying up late talking to guests and rarely get up before 2pm, according to a maid who worked at his mountain retreat in Bavaria.

Elisabeth Kalhammer has broken her silence after 71 years to reveal what life was like at the Berghof when the Nazi dictator was in residence.

Mrs Kalhammer, 89, says that Hitler’s mistress Eva Braun – whom staff greeted with a ‘Heil M’lady’ – ran the house.

All the maids knew Hitler had trouble with his spleen and kept to a strict diet devised by a personal cook.

But the famously sweet-toothed dictator secretly feasted on chocolate biscuits and cream scones, Mrs Kalhammer says. » | Allan Hall | Sunday, April 27, 2014

SALZBURGER NACHRICHTEN: Im Dienst des Diktators: Adolf Hitlers Hausmädchen: "Denken durfte ich, aber sprechen nicht." Elisabeth Kalhammer hat am Berghof das Reden beinahe verlernt. Sie erinnert sich, was sie im Haushalt des Diktators erlebte. » | Von Michaela Hessenberger | Samstag, 26. April 2014

SALZBURGER NACHRICHTEN: Hitlers Stubenmädchen: Seltene Blicke auf den Diktator: Als Stubenmädchen hat Elisabeth Kalhammer für den NS-Diktator gearbeitet. Durch den Vorhang hat sie Adolf Hitler beobachtet. Gesehen hat sie ein "armseliges Mandl", erinnert sie sich im zweiten Teil des SN-Gesprächs. » | Von Michaela Hessenberger | Montag, 28. April 2014

Arrested for Quoting Winston Churchill…

MAIL ONLINE: Paul Weston was arrested on the steps of Winchester's Guildhall / Chairman of Liberty GB was detained on suspicion of racial harassment / He quoted a passage from Winston Churchill's 1899 book The River War

A candidate in the European elections was arrested on suspicion of racial harrassment after quoting a passage about Islam, written by Winston Churchill, during a campaign speech.

Paul Weston, chairman of the party Liberty GB, made the address on the steps of Winchester Guildhall, in Hampshire on Saturday.

A member of the public took offence at the quote, taken from Churchill's The River War and called police.

The passage from the book, written by the wartime Prime Minister and first published in 1899, focuses on Churchill's observations about Islam while serving during the Anglo-Egyptian reconquest of the Sudan.

Mr Weston told his audience: 'Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

'Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the faith: all know how to die but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.

'No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith.'

Police officers arrested Mr Weston, mid-speech, for failing to comply with their request to move on under the powers of a dispersal order made against him. He was further arrested on suspicion of religious or racial harrassment. » | Lizzie Parry | Monday, April 28, 2014

LIBERTY GB: Paul Weston Could Face Two Years in Jail for Quoting Churchill » | Liberty GB | Monday, April 28, 2014

Debbie Schlussel: Amal Alamuddin: George Clooney’s Anti-Israel Druze Arab Chick

DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL: Over the past few months, actor George Clooney’s been photographed all over the place with Amal Alamuddin, a very anti-Israel Lebanese Arab who worked for the United Nations and represented Wikileaks’ anti-American former chief, Julian Assange. The Lebanese legal book she authored is extremely anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian. Alamuddin, who was Clooney’s date to the Obama White House last month, is not Muslim. She’s Druze, which is an offshoot of Islam. I’m familiar with Ms. Alamuddin (pronounced “Ah-lah-muh-DEEN”) and her family because I met her and them at the wedding of her cousin in the mid-1990s. They are extremely anti-Israel, and I was subjected to their absurd, non-stop anti-Israel questions and comments as the only non-Arab (other than the bride and her family) at a dinner the night before the wedding. » | Debbie Schlussel | Thursday, March 20, 2014

WIKI: Druze »

Saudi Arabia: Eight More Deaths Due to MERS

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The latest cases bring to 102 the number of people who have died after contracting the disease

Saudi Arabia's Health Ministry said on Sunday that eight more people have died after contracting a lethal Middle East virus related to SARS as the kingdom grapples with a rising number of infections.

The ministry reported the deaths in a statement on its website late in the evening. It said it had detected a total of 16 cases of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus over the past 24 hours.

The latest cases bring to 102 the number of people who have died after contracting the disease in Saudi Arabia since September 2012. A total of 339 cases have been recorded to date in the kingdom, which has been the site of the bulk of confirmed infections. » | AP | Edited by Bonnie Malkin | Monday, April 28, 2014

John Kerry Warns Israel Could Become 'Apartheid State'

John Kerry was speaking after Benjamin Netanyahu's
government suspended negotiations with the Palestinians

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: US secretary of state risks Israeli anger with warning that absence of peace deal with Palestinians could lead towards apartheid-style situation

Israel risks evolving into an apartheid state if it fails to negotiate a two-state solution with the Palestinians to end the historic Jewish-Arab conflict, John Kerry, the US secretary of state has warned.

The highly inflammatory remarks, which seemed certain to provoke an angry reaction from Israeli leaders, followed last week's near collapse of American-brokered peace talks, which Mr Kerry has energetically promoted.

Speaking at a meeting of senior international figures last Friday, America's top diplomat said it was essential to pursue the two-state solution - commonly defined as Israel existing alongside a sovereign, independent Palestine - to avoid dire consequences. » |Robert Tait, Jerusalem | Monday, April 28, 2014

Israel Says No to Peace Talks until Hamas Recognises Israel

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Israeli prime minister Netanyahu says there will be no negotiations with a Palestinian unity government unless the Hamas movement gives up its vision of destroying Israel and embraces peace

Speaking on CNN, the Israeli leader said the preferable course of action to get peace negotiations back on track would be for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to renounce Hamas, the Islamist movement whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel.

"Either Hamas disavows the destruction of Israel and embraces peace and denounces terror, or president Abbas renounces Hamas," Netanyahu said.

"If one of those things happened, we could get back to the peace negotiations. I hope he renounces Hamas and gets back to the peace table, as I've just said. The ball is in his court."

Netanyahu suspended peace talks with the Palestinians last week after the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Hamas agreed to work together to form a unity government, in a move to end years of bitter political rivalry. » | AFP | Sunday, April 27, 2014

Egypt Sentences 683 Islamists to Death in Mass Trial

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Mohamed Badie, Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader, handed death penalty as same court reverses 492 death sentences passed last month

The supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood has been sentenced to death with 682 other people after a five-minute hearing which will renew international concern over Egypt's so-called "road-map to democracy".

Mohammed Badie was found guilty of inciting riots in the town of Edwa last summer which led to mass arrests of what the authorities said were Brotherhood supporters furious at the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi.

No attempt was made at least in the public hearing to distinguish the parts played by any of the other hundreds of defendants in the riots, in which churches, businesses and government offices were burned down and some policemen killed.

In the same hearing, the judge, Said Yussef, commuted to life imprisonment all but 37 of the 529 death penalties he handed down in a separate case last month, linked to a similar riot in the nearby town of Mattay. He gave no explanation for the decision, though the verdicts had been automatically referred to Egypt's Grand Mufti for a clerical opinion.

Life terms in Egypt usually mean 25 years in jail. » | Richard Spencer, Minya | Monday, April 28, 2014