Obama Aide Apologises to US-Arabs
Photo of Rahm Emanuel courtesy of the BBC
BBC: President-elect Barack Obama's White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel has apologised to the US-Arab community for remarks made by his father.

Benjamin Emanuel told an Israeli newspaper that his son, who is Jewish, would "obviously influence the president to be pro-Israel".

He also referred to Arabs in a way which a leading Arab-American group called an "unacceptable smear".

A spokesman for Rahm Emanuel said he had called the group to apologise.

Mr Emanuel also offered to meet members of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

In the interview last week with the Israeli daily newspaper Ma'ariv, Israeli-born Benjamin Emanuel talked about his son's new job.

Anger at remarks

He said: "Obviously he'll influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to be mopping floors at the White House."

His remarks angered the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which called on Rahm Emanuel to condemn them.

On Thursday, his office issued a statement saying that the veteran Democratic congressman had called the group's president, Mary Rose Oakar.

It said that he had "apologised on behalf of his family and offered to meet with representatives of the Arab-American community at an appropriate time in the future".

On its website, the committee quoted Mr Rahm as saying: "From the fullness of my heart, I personally apologise on behalf of my family and me. These are not the values upon which I was raised or those of my family."

Ms Oakar welcomed the apology, saying: "We cannot allow Arabs and Muslims to be portrayed in these unacceptable terms." >>> | November 14, 2008

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Mormons under Siege
THE INDEPENDENT: Gay activists were furious with the Mormons after same-sex unions were banned in California. Now they are venting their anger in the church's spiritual home. Guy Adams reports from Salt Lake City

Sister Sugiyanto's guided teatime tour of Temple Square, the world headquarters of the Mormon Church, was rudely interrupted by the sound of emergency sirens and police helicopters hovering over central Salt Lake City.

A suspicious package containing white powder had been opened by a clerk in the Church Administration Office, prompting FBI agents wearing chemical warfare suits to swiftly evacuate the building. Across town, news was coming in that eight local churches had been vandalised. One, in a family neighbourhood, had obscene graffiti scrawled on its walls. The other seven, in the nearby towns of Layton and Ogden, had windows shot out, apparently with a BB gun.

The brouhaha on Thursday was severely testing the happy demeanour of the sister, a visiting missionary from Indonesia whose informative trips round the Mormon Church's 45-acre HQ culminate in a not-so-subtle attempt to recruit you. "I feel we are being picked on," said Sister Sugiyanto. "We are not the only group that supported this proposition, so why do they only blame us? Last week, thousands came here to protest. It made me sad, more than anything."

The proposition in question is Proposition 8, a ballot measure outlawing same-sex marriage in California that was backed by 52 per cent of voters on 4 November. The "they" refers to gay rights activists upset by the Mormon Church's role in the campaign to push the measure through. Modern morality and religious doctrine have collided in spectacular fashion, and nowhere more so than here in Utah.

To liberal America, the Church of the Latter Day Saints and its 12 million members around the world are suddenly public enemy number one. They stand accused – and, it must be said, it is an accusation they strongly deny – of thinly-veiled homophobia, using their massive financial muscle to help railroad the ballot measure. >>> Guy Adams | November 15, 2008

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Hitler’s Secret World

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Pat Condell: Take Your God and Shove Him

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Web Censorship Not Far Off
THE GUARDIAN: Move to shield children from sex and violence / Labour and Tories want user uploads pre-screened

Politicians are ready to introduce league tables naming and shaming the speed with which internet service providers take down offensive material.

The culture minister, Barbara Follett, and her Tory shadow, Ed Vaizey, have backed the idea that web providers must be embarrassed into dealing with violent, sexually explicit web content.

Follett said she wants to see the pre-screening of material on sites such as YouTube, as occurs at present on MySpace. She admitted there was growing chaos out there on the internet, and order needed to be brought.

She has also admitted barriers aimed at preventing children from accessing over-age material on the internet are not just porous but leak like a sieve. "People can get straight through it, or straight by it."

Follett warned: "We must teach children of the dangers of the internet. It is sad to make children more scared than interested, but fortunately the internet is so interesting that children tend to overcome their fear."

Discussing the internet and video games at a Westminster debate and facing suggestions that the industry is lax about controlling content, Follett said: "We agree information about take-down times and levels of search need to be much clearer."

Asked if she supported league tables of take-down times by internet service providers, she said "name and shame can sometimes can work very well indeed."

Follett said: "Many people have said that the internet is like the wild west in the gold rush and that sooner or later it will be regulated. What we need is for it to be regulated sooner rather than later. Web Providers to Be Named and Shamed over Offensive Content >>> Patrick Wintour, political editor | November 15, 2008

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In die USA darf nur noch, wer sich frühzeitig im Internet registriert
TAGES ANZEIGER: Wer ab dem 12. Januar in die USA fliegen will, muss mindestens 72 Stunden vorher ein Internetformular ausfüllen. Ansonsten darf er das Flugzeug in Kloten nicht besteigen.

Der «Kampf gegen den Terrorismus» führt zu einer weiteren Verschärfung der US-Einreisebestimmungen. Touristen und Geschäftsleute müssen sich künftig mindestens drei Tage vor ihrer Amerikareise online registrieren. Wer dies vergisst, schafft es nicht ins Flugzeug. Die Airlines müssen nämlich vor dem Boarding kontrollieren, ob die Passagiere über eine elektronische «Reisegenehmigung» verfügen.

Davon betroffen sind nicht nur Schweizerinnen und Schweizer, sondern auch Bürger von 26 anderen Staaten, die für Kurzaufenthalte bis zu drei Monaten kein Visum brauchen. Sie müssen auf der Internetseite https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov ihre Personalien, ihre E-Mail-Adresse sowie Daten aus dem Pass angeben. Danach müssen sie Fragen beantworten wie: «Leiden Sie an einer ansteckenden Krankheit?», «Sind Sie drogenabhängig?», «Reisen Sie zum Zweck krimineller oder sittenwidriger Handlungen?», «Sind Sie an Spionage- oder Sabotageakten, an terroristischen Aktivitäten oder an Völkermord beteiligt?» Es handelt sich dabei um dieselben Fragen, die USA-Reisende bisher auf einem grünen Formular im Flugzeug beantworten mussten. Laut der Internetseite dauert das Ausfüllen rund 15 Minuten pro Person. >>> Von Iwan Städler | 15. November 2008

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Barack Obama Is Warned to Beware of a ‘Huge Threat’ from al-Qaeda
TIMESONLINE: Security officials fear a ‘spectacular’ during the transition period

Barack Obama is being given ominous advice from leaders on both sides of the Atlantic to brace himself for an early assault from terrorists.

General Michael Hayden, director of the CIA, this week acknowledged that there were dangers during a presidential transition when new officials were coming in and getting accustomed to the challenges. But he added that no “real or artificial spike” in intercepted transmissions from terror suspects had been detected.

President Bush has repeatedly described the acute vulnerability of the US during a transition. The Bush Administration has been defined largely by the 9/11 attacks, which came within a year of his taking office.

His aides have pointed to al-Qaeda’s first assault on the World Trade Centre, which occurred little more than a month after Bill Clinton became President in 1993. There was an alleged attempt to bomb Glasgow airport in Gordon Brown’s first days in Downing Street and a London nightclub attack was narrowly thwarted.

Lord West of Spithead, the Home Office Security Minister, spoke recently of a “huge threat”, saying: “There is another great plot building up again and we are monitoring this.” >>> Tom Baldwin in Washington and Michael Evans, Defence Editor | November 15, 2008

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Bush Urges Saudi Religious Reforms
AL JAZEERA: George Bush, the US president, has challenged Saudi Arabia to overturn its ban on apostasy - the changing of a person's religion - at a United Nations interfaith conference in New York.

Bush called on the conservative Muslim kingdom to change its attitudes towards the practise that is strictly outlawed in Saudi Arabia and punishable by death.

Bush said his own Christian faith had sustained him throughout many challenges during his presidency.

"We may profess differ [sic] creeds and worship in different places, but our
faith leads us to common values," he said.

However, the outgoing US president was unapologetic about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying that his country was "protecting" Muslims.

"Through the generations, our nation has helped defend the religious liberty of others - from liberating the concentration camps of Europe, to protecting Muslims in places like Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq," Bush said.

The UN has described the two-day conference in New York, which is sponsored by Saudi Arabia, as being designed to bridge differences between religions and cultures. >>> | November 13, 2008

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BNP's Shock Victory in Council Election Sparks Fears of Surge in Votes across Britain
MAIL Online: Fears over rising racial tension mounted last night after the British National Party scored a shock by-election victory.

The extremist party snatched a council seat in the Lincolnshire market town of Boston - where migrants make up a quarter of the population.

Anti-racism campaigners warned that the BNP surprise triumph would fuel 'scaremongering' about foreigners and lead to an increase in 'violence and threats'.

The town has a huge numbers of migrants, especially from Portugal and Poland, who take low-paid work on farms picking flowers, fruit and vegetables and in food processing plants.

Critics have accused the Government of failing to prepare cash-strapped councils for the influx of immigrants by giving them the resources to invest in public services.

This has left schools, health facilities and transport struggling to cope with greater numbers.

The resurgence of the BNP will also spark fears among the main political parties that the radical group could prosper at future by-elections in the run-up to the next General Election.

In a result which revived huge concerns, the far-right party won its first district council seat in Lincolnshire in the Fenside ward of Boston. >>> By Ian Drury | November 14, 2008

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'Economic Benefits of Mass Immigration Are Close to Zero', Lords Told
MAIL Online: The economic benefits from record levels of immigration to Britain are 'small and close to zero', the Lords was told today.

A report by a committee of peers, including two former Chancellors and several former Cabinet ministers, called on ministers to set an 'explicit target range' for immigration and make rules to keep within that limit.

Tory former Cabinet Minister Lord Wakeham said the report by the Economic Affairs Committee, which he chaired, rejected the Government's claim that immigration is needed to prevent labour shortages as 'fundamentally flawed'.

He told peers the Government had said immigrants brought large economic benefits to the UK in boosting economic growth, filling job vacancies that Britons could not or would not do and paying more tax than British-born workers.

But there was no evidence of such benefits, which had been 'wildly overstated' by ministers.

In a debate on the report, Lord Wakeham said: 'The committee found no evidence of these large economic benefits.

'What we did find was serious flaws in the Government's arguments and we concluded that on average the economic benefits of immigration were small and close to zero.'

The report found certain groups in Britain - the low-paid, some ethnic minorities and some young people looking for a foot on the job ladder - may have suffered because of competition from immigrants.

It said ministers should set an 'explicit target range' for immigration and set the rules to keep within that limit.
And it raised the prospect of cutting the number of partners and other family members allowed to settle in Britain because a relative is already here. >>> | November 14, 2008

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Iraq: Queer Fear – Gay Life, Gay Death

Iraq: Queer Fear - Gay Life, Gay Death
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Inside the Mind of Adolf Hitler
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A Short Note to My Visitors
I should like to inform my visitors that I do not agree with, or endorse, everything I place up on this website. It is important to remember this.

These pieces are brought to you because I find them interesting, or controversial, or thought-provoking, etc., and because I believe you will find them so, too.

An editor of a newspaper does not agree with all stories published in his newspaper. Similarly, I do not always agree with all stories published on this blog. To know what an editor thinks on a matter, you have to read his editorials. Likewise, to know what I think on a particular matter, you have to read my essays or comments. Only then will you know what I believe.

I try to keep an open mind on all subjects. That is why my posts are catholic in nature. What I do not want this blog to be is the blog of a bigot. I believe that it is important for us all to keep our minds open, and to close them only when we are absolutely sure of our ground.

The thrust of this website is the danger of Islam to Western civilization; however, I should like my visitors to note that whilst this is the thrust of my website, from time to time you will find many other things which are of interest and importance in the world today. - Mark

La Suisse demande à Israël la fin des destructions de maisons palestiniennes
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: PALESTINE | Le gouvernement suisse a appelé vendredi Israël à cesser les destructions de maisons appartenant à des familles palestiniennes à Jérusalem-Est, qui violent selon lui "le droit international humanitaire".

Le Département fédéral des affaires étrangères (ministère, DFAE) se déclare dans un communiqué "profondément préoccupé" et appelle "le gouvernement israélien à mettre un terme immédiat aux opérations de destruction désignées sous le nom de ’’démolitions administratives’’". "Le droit international humanitaire interdit à la puissance occupante de détruire des biens du territoire occupé. Il n’existe en l’occurrence aucune nécessité militaire pouvant justifier ces destructions de maisons", note-t-il.

"Jérusalem-Est fait partie intégrante du territoire palestinien occupé. En vertu du droit international humanitaire, Israël est tenu de veiller à la protection de la population", souligne le DFAE. "Depuis l’an 2000, plus de 600 maisons ont été démolies à Jérusalem-Est et plus de 1 600 dans l’ensemble de la Cisjordanie", déplore le ministère, qui ajoute avoir entrepris jeudi "une démarche" auprès du ministère israélien des Affaires étrangères au sujet de ces destructions. >>> AFP | 14.11.2008

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Österreich: Ex-Bischöfin tritt wegen Haider aus Kirche aus
Foto von österreichischer Theologin Gertraud Knoll dank der Sueddeutsche
SUEDDEUTSCHE: Die österreichische Theologin Gertraud Knoll hat die evangelische Kirche verlassen - wegen eines salbungsvollen Hirtenbriefs zum Tode Jörg Haiders.

Gertraud Knoll ist dafür bekannt, konsequent die eigene Linie zu verfolgen. Die evangelische Pastorin, die lange Superintendentin im österreichischen Burgenland war, ist Anfeindungen gewohnt.

Stimmproben bei der Polizei

Ihr Engagement gegen Fremdenfeindlichkeit und Antisemitismus hatte ihr genügend Feinde gemacht. Nachdem sie im Jahr 1995 am Grab von vier bei einem Rohrbomben-Anschlag getöteten Roma gepredigt hatte, erhielt sie Polizeischutz. Ihre drei Kinder konnten nicht mehr unbegleitet in die Schule gehen, deren Stimmproben lagen wegen Entführungsgefahr bei der Polizei.

Neben dem braunen Terror gab es damals auch aus dem Umfeld von Jörg Haiders FPÖ Widerstand und Agitation gegen die Theologin - denn Knoll engagiert sich seit langem für die SPÖ. Das Magazin News warf der FPÖ-Parteizentrale angesichts der Drohungen gegen Knoll im Jahr 2000 vor, "dieser schamlosen Menschenjagd" genüsslich zuzusehen.

In der Kirche hatte Knoll zuletzt keine Funktionen mehr. 1998 kandidierte sie für das Bundespräsidentenamt und erreichte den zweiten Platz. 2002 holte Alfred Gusenbauer sie in die Politik, bis zur letzten Nationalratswahl saß sie im Parlament.

Zweifellos ist die Österreicherin eine bekannte Figur. Ihr Austritt aus der Kirche, der am Donnerstag bekannt wurde, hat denn auch Signalwirkung. Die Ursache für ihren Schritt liegt bereits einige Wochen zurück. Nachdem Jörg Haider betrunken in den Tod gerast war, verfasste der Kärntner Superintendent Manfred Sauer einen Nachruf auf die Galionsfigur der rechtsextremistischen FPÖ und später seiner Neugründung BZÖ. >>> Von Nina Jauker | 14. November 2008

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Steve Bell: 'If I Were Chuck ... '
Watch Guardian video: Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell describes how he cracked drawing Prince Charles, and offers some advice to the heir to throne now that he is 60 >>> Steve Bell and John Domokos | November 13, 2008
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CIA Says Osama bin Laden Cut Off from al-Qaeda
TIMESONLINE: The head of the CIA has claimed that almost all terrorist threats facing the US now originate in lawless Pakistani tribal areas, adding that Osama bin Laden is becoming increasingly isolated from the day-to-day running of al-Qaeda.

As 12 people were killed by another suspected cross-border American raid targeting Pakistan-based militants, Michael Hayden, the CIA director, told a Washington think tank last night that terror threats against America could invariably be traced back to the Pakistani tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

Hours after he spoke, another suspected US missile attack killed 12 people in Pakistan, including five foreigners. US missile strikes are hugely controversial in Pakistan, with Islamabad claiming they fuel anti-American extremist groups.

“Let me be very clear,” he said. “Today, virtually every major terrorist threat that my agency is aware of has threads back to the tribal areas. Whether it’s command and control, training, direction, money, capabilities, there is a connection to the FATA [Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas].” >>> Nico Hines | November 14, 2008

leJDD.fr: Pakistan: L'excuse Ben Laden

Oussama Ben Laden est "vivant", caché dans les zones tribales entre l'Afghanistan et le Pakistan. C'est Michael Hayden, directeur de la CIA, qui a annoncé jeudi soir la nouvelle, justifiant ainsi les attaques répétées de ses drones sur le sol pakistanais. A Islamabad, le ton monte: Asif Ali Zardari, le président en place depuis huit mois, dénonce les coups de force de l'armée américaine.

La CIA fait durer le feuilleton Oussama Ben Laden. En rappelant la nécessité de l'action américaine en Afghanistan et aux frontières pakistanaises, le directeur de l'agence de renseignement, Michael Hayden, a affirmé jeudi soir que le leader d'Al-Qaïda "est toujours en vie": "Il consacre énormément d'énergie à sa propre survie, beaucoup d'énergie à sa propre sécurité. En fait, il semble être largement isolé des opérations au jour le jour de l'organisation qu'il dirige nommément." Autrement dit, le terroriste s'est retiré des affaires et tente de vivre clandestinement dans les régions tribales situées dans la zone frontière entre le Pakistan et l'Afghanistan. >>> Par Gaël VAILLANT | Vendredi 14 Novembre 2008

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Prince Charles to Be Known as Defender of Faith
Photo of the ‘Defender of Faith’ courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: The Prince of Wales, who is 60 today, is planning a symbolic change when he becomes King by taking the title Defender of Faith to reflect Britain's multicultural society.

The move would mean the monarch, as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, would no longer be known as Defender of the Faith for the first time since the reign of Henry VIII.

The Prince caused controversy within the Anglican church when he floated the idea several years ago of becoming Defender of the Faiths in an attempt to embrace the other religions in Britain.

In a compromise he has now opted for Defender of Faith which he hopes will unite the different strands of society, and their beliefs, at his Coronation.

However, there would be huge obstacles to overcome before the Prince can fulfil his wish which he has discussed with some of his closest advisers. It would require Parliament to agree to amend the 1953 Royal Titles Act which came into law after changes were made for the Queen's Coronation in the same year. A senior source told The Daily Telegraph: "There have been lots of discussions. He would like to be known as the Defender of Faith which is a subtle but hugely symbolic shift."

The Monarch has been known by the title Defender of the Faith ever since the title was bestowed on Henry VIII by the Pope in 1521 for his early support for Roman Catholicism

A Clarence House spokesman said: "There has been work done on the accession planning as you would expect however there has been no planning of the Coronation or its contents." The Prince has been advised on the accession by Sir Stephen Lamport, his former Private Secretary, who was a senior civil servant.

Vernon Bogdanor, the constitutionalist who is Professor of Government at Oxford University, said: "In 1952, when the Queen came to the throne, it was very much an Anglican society. The Prince of Wales will become head of a nation which is multi-denominational.

"The Prince has said that he wants to be seen as a defender of all religious faiths and not just the Anglican church but the Coronation is an Anglican ceremony. Any change would require legislation." >>> By Andrew Pierce | November 14, 2008

NZZ Online: Prinz Charles – lebenslänglich in Ausbildung: Der britische Thronfolger wird 60 und wartet weiterhin auf die Krone

Er ist Grossgrundbesitzer, erfolgreicher Unternehmer und Philanthrop. Aber Charles, der britische Thronfolger seit über 56 Jahren, wird trotzdem oft nicht ernst genommen. Er feiert am Freitag seinen 60. Geburtstag, ohne zu wissen, ob er je König wird.

Am Donnerstagabend hat die britische Königin zu Ehren ihres ältesten Sohnes, Charles, ein Konzert mit anschliessendem Bankett in Buckingham Palace veranstaltet. Am Samstag wird Camilla, die Herzogin von Cornwall, eine grosse Einladung für ihren Gatten geben. Dazwischen, am heutigen Freitag, liegt der eigentliche Geburtstag des Kronprinzen – der 60. Sinnigerweise wird Charles den Tag seinem Prince's Trust widmen, einer wohltätigen Organisation für gefährdete Jugendliche. Er hatte den Trust 1976 gegründet und ihn anfänglich mit seiner Abgangsentschädigung als Marineoffizier in der Höhe von 7600 Pfund dotiert. Inzwischen hat der Trust einer halben Million Jugendlicher geholfen, der Jahresumsatz hat 50 Millionen Pfund erreicht, rund 8000 Freiwillige und Angestellte bilden die grösste wohltätige Organisation für Jugendliche im Vereinigten Königreich. >>> Martin Alioth, Dublin | November 13, 2008

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World Leaders Plead for Religious Tolerance
AFP: UNITED NATIONS — World leaders pleaded Wednesday for religious tolerance at a UN conference sponsored by Saudi Arabia, but displayed their own rifts on the sensitive issue.

The meeting at UN headquarters in New York of representatives from 80 countries targeted religious and cultural divisions dubbed the "clash of civilizations."

Saudi King Abdullah -- who heads the ultra-orthodox Wahhabi branch of Islam and allows no other form of public worship -- called for "peace and harmony."

Speaker after speaker echoed these words, insisting that the world's major religions all back tolerance.

But anger over the Israeli-Arab conflict, as well as resentment at Western economic and social policies, soon surfaced.

Barely discussed, but also haunting the conference, was the divide between the West and Islamic countries on whether tolerance should also extend to individual freedoms.

Some 20 heads of state or government were due to speak, including US President George W. Bush on Thursday. He was represented Wednesday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In the opening speech, the president of the UN General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, lashed out at "unbridled greed" in the West.

Jordan's King Abdullah II also criticized Western policy, saying "ignorance" had subjected Islam to "injustice."

"Millions of people, especially young people, question whether the West means what it says about equality, respect and universal justice.

Meanwhile, extremists -- Muslim, Christian and Jewish -- are thriving on the doubts and divisions," he said.

But if King Abdullah II, like other Muslim leaders, saw intolerance and stereotyping against Islam as the problem, Western representatives were mindful of the lack of personal freedom in the Islamic world.

The issue was doubly sensitive given that Saudi King Abdullah, who allows almost no religious or political dissent in his oil-rich kingdom, was sponsoring the conference. >>> | November 12, 2008

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Inspired by Obama, European Minorities Take Action
ASSOCIATED PRESS: PARIS — An Obama effect is rippling across Europe.

In France, a pro-Barack Obama grassroots group created months ago is morphing into a campaign for political diversity. In Britain, a black voter group says it is inundated with calls and attendance is soaring.

In Austria, a Rwandan-born activist has fired off letters to big parties urging them to field minority candidates. And in Germany, the staff of Turkish politician Cem Ozdemir started a Facebook group called "Yes we Cem" — a takeoff on Obama's slogan "Yes we can."

Obama's victory is inspiring hopes and even planting the seeds of action for changing the overwhelming whiteness of Europe's political elite. But it's unclear whether these efforts will pay off or merely fizzle. Although polls showed majorities in nearly every European country favored Obama over John McCain, many say Europe is far from voting for a leader from an ethnic minority itself.

Of course, the victory of the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas has brought hope to many parts of the developing world. But in places like Britain and France, which have long prided themselves on their democracies, it has also emphasized how far their governments are from reflecting racial diversity today.

Europe and the relatively young United States have vastly different histories when it comes to race. >>> By Jamey Keaten | November 12, 2008

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Vladimir Putin 'Wanted to Hang Georgian President Saakashvili by the Balls'
TIMESONLINE: Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, planned to topple the President of Georgia and "hang him by the balls", according to the chief adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.

Mr Putin outlined his aims to Mr Sarkozy when the French leader flew to Moscow on August 12 to broker a ceasefire after the Russian invasion of northern Georgia, Jean-David Levitte told le Nouvel Observateur news magazine. It published the account today.

President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia, who is in Paris, laughed nervously when he heard of Mr Putin's threat on French radio this morning and said that he was aware of it.

Mr Sarkozy was aware from intelligence reports that the Russian army was aiming to overthrow Mr Saakashvili and install a puppet government. He told Mr Putin that the world would not accept this, according to Mr Levitte, Mr Sarkozy's foreign policy chief, who was in the Kremlin for the talks.

"I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls," Mr Putin replied.

Mr Sarkozy responded: "Hang him?"

"Why not? The Americans hanged Saddam Hussein," said Mr Putin.

Mr Sarkozy replied, using the familiar "tu": "Yes but do you want to end up like (President) Bush?" Mr Putin was briefly lost for words, then replied: "Ah, you have scored a point there." >>> Charles Bremner in Paris | November 13, 2008

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EU: Berlusconi fordert rasche Aufnahme der Türkei
DIE PRESSE: Der italienische Ministerpräsident Berlusconi versprach seinem türkischen Amts-Kollegen Erdogan, sein Land wolle der Türkei „auf verschiedenen Wegen“ helfen. Die Türkei möchte bis 2013 alle Bedingungen für einen Beitritt erfüllen.

Der italienische Regierungschef Silvio Berlusconi hat sich für einen schnellen Beitritt der Türkei zur Europäischen Union ausgesprochen und seinem türkischen Amtskollegen seine Hilfe zugesagt. 
Nach einem Treffen mit Recep Tayyip Erdogan am Mittwoch in Izmir sagte Berlusconi, sein Land wolle der Türkei auf verschiedenen Wegen helfen.

„Freunde der Türkei"

Die Türkei sei ein NATO-Land und spiele eine "sehr wichtige Rolle" im Nahen Osten, deshalb sei ihre Aufnahme im Interesse der EU, erklärte Berlusconi. Erdogan befürwortete ebenfalls eine Beschleunigung des Beitrittsprozesses. Die Routine, jedes Jahr nur Gespräche über zwei neue politische Verhandlungskapitel neu zu beginnen, müsse abgeschafft werden, sagte er, denn „die Zeit der Gesprächse sollte nicht zu lange dauern".

Rom werde versuchen, noch skeptische Mitgliedsstaaten von einem baldigen Eu-Beitritt zu überzeugen, versprach Berlusconi auf der Pressekonferenz in Izmir. Auch die beiden EU-Ratspräsidenten des kommenden Jahres, Tschechien und Schweden, hält er für „Freunde der Türkei". >>> | 13. November 2008

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It Gets Better and Better! 8,000 Beduins Stake Their Claim as the Lost Tribe of Barack Obama: A sheikh in Galilee says he has evidence that he and his family are linked by blood to the new President
Watch video: Is Obama a Bedouin? James Hider in Bir al-Maksour >>>
TIMESONLINE: He has a host of relatives in exotic locations from Hawaii to Kenya, and during his run for the American presidency he discovered that he had an aunt living in Boston.

Now Barack Obama is being claimed by not one but as many as 8,000 Beduin tribesmen in northern Israel.

Although the spokesman for the lost tribe of Obama has yet to reveal the documentary evidence that he says he possesses to support his claim, people are flocking from across the region to pay their respects to the “Beduin Obama”, whose social standing has gone through the roof.

“We knew about it years ago but we were afraid to talk about it because we didn’t want to influence the election,” Abdul Rahman Sheikh Abdullah, a 53-year-old local council member, told The Times in the small Beduin village of Bir al-Maksour in the Israeli region of Galilee. “We wrote a letter to him explaining the family connection.”

Mr Obama’s team have not responded to the letter so far but that has not dampened Sheikh Abdullah’s festivities.

He has been handing out sweets and huge dishes of baklava traditional honey-sweetened pastries to all and sundry, and plans to hold a large party next week at which he will slaughter a dozen goats to feed the village.

It was his 95-year-old mother who first spotted the connection, he says. Seeing the charismatic senator on television, she noted a striking resemblance to one of the African migrant workers who used to be employed by rich sheikhs in the fertile north of British Mandate Palestine in the 1930s.

The Africans would sometimes marry local Beduin girls and start families, though, like many migrant workers, would just as frequently return home after several years.

One of those men was a relative of Barack Obama’s Kenyan grandmother, Sheikh Abdullah maintains.

He estimates that his tribe extends to as many as 8,000 members, all of them loosely connected to the African-American senator for Illinois.

Sheikh Abdullah swears that he has papers and pictures to back up his claim but has promised his mother not to divulge them until he has presented them to Mr Obama, something he hopes will happen once his “relative” is in the White House.

“We want to send a delegation to congratulate him, and we know we’ll get an answer soon,” he grinned.

Sheikh Abdullah’s renown as the relative of the soon-to-be most powerful man on Earth has spread like wildfire among the Arab community of northern Israel, and especially among Beduins, a formerly semi-nomadic group of pastoralists corralled into townships by the modern state of Israel. >>> James Hider in Bir al-Maksour | November 13, 2008

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Nordkorea will alle Grenzen zu Südkorea schließen
WELT ONLINE: Nordkorea hat die Schließung aller Grenzen zum Nachbarland Südkorea angekündigt. Die nordkoreanischen Streitkräfte unterstellen Südkorea, eine Politik der Konfrontation zu verfolgen. Das Verhältnis zwischen den beiden Koreas hat sich seit dem Amtsantritt des neuen südkoreanischen Präsidenten Lee Myung Bak verschlechtert.

Nach dem Abbruch des Dialogs mit Südkorea will Nordkorea von Dezember an die Landesgrenze zum Nachbarland schließen. Grund für die Maßnahme seien überaus gefährliche Konfrontationen seitens des Südens, teilte die staatliche nordkoreanische Nachrichtenagentur KCNA mit. Südkorea sei von der „wichtigen Maßnahmen“ informiert worden, dass die Volksarmee alle Grenzpassagen über die militärische Demarkationslinie strikt kontrollieren und vom 1. Dezember an sperren werde, hieß es in der von den staatlich kontrollierten Medien veröffentlichten Erklärung. >>> Reuters/AFP/dpa/lk | 12. November 2008

Video anschauen: Japanische Medienberichte haben erneut Spekulationen über den Gesundheitszustand des nordkoreanischen Staatschefs Kim Jong-Il ausgelöst. Dem Fernsehsender TBS zufolge soll Kim im vergangenen Monat einen zweiten Schlaganfall erlitten haben. >>> | 11. November 2008
THE KOREA HERALD: North Korea Threatens to Close Border

The North Korean military yesterday threatened that it will "strictly restrict and cut off" all overland passages of the inter-Korean border from Dec. 1 in retaliation to South Korea's reluctance to implement two summit declarations.

Lt. Gen. Kim Yong-chol, head of the North's delegation to the inter-Korean military talks, sent the phone message to the South Korean military, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.

"We officially notify (the South) that our military will take an actual crucial measure to strictly restrict and cut off all ground passages of the Military Demarcation Line beginning on Dec. 1 as the first (punitive) step," the message was quoted by the KCNA as saying.

"The South Korean authorities' unchanged stance and attitude toward the historic two declarations has been finally confirmed. Despite our repeated warning, the racket of confrontation with the DPRK kicked up by the South Korean authorities including the military, in particular, is going beyond the danger level," the message said. DPRK is the acronym of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

The North stressed the Seoul government should not "forget that the North-South Korea relations lie at a critical moment of full severance." >>> By Jin Dae-woong | November 12, 2008

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Tony Blair - Islam’s Internal Struggle: King Abdullah and the Skeptics
This is Tony Blair at his fudging best! He fails to identify the true nature of Islam. No amount of cosmetics can change Islam’s nature. Fourteen hundred years has failed to change it; and neither he nor King Abdullah are going to change its true nature either. Not now, not ever!

He should understand by now that Islam is a complete way of life: Politics and religion form one integrated whole. It is fundamentally at odds with democracy. And no amount of sweet talk from either side will change this.

Recently, Gordon Brown went cap in hand to the Saudis for help to bail out the ailing and infirm Western economies. Any aid that may be forthcoming will come with strings attached. Those strings will be in the form of assistance in the promotion of Islam in the West, and more and more concessions. Further, the Saudis, and other Muslim leaders, are bound to try and silence all forms of criticism of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad in the West. Just wait and see what the near future will bring!

Tony Blair when he was in Number 10 appeased Muslims both at home and abroad. In so doing, he did a disservice to his fellow countrymen in particular, and to Westerners in general. It would appear that he is still peddling the same nonsense. But should we be surprised? Leopards never change their spots. - ©Mark

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: The decision by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to hold an interfaith conference under the auspices of the United Nations is bold, courageous and potentially far-reaching.

To many people, especially in the West, his initiative may seem unremarkable. In fact, it is a major step forward in the long march to a relationship between Islam and other faiths that is not one of confrontation or distrust but of peaceful co-existence.

King Abdullah is not only the ruler of Saudi Arabia. He is the keeper of the two Holy Mosques, the religious sites at Mecca and Medina which, together with Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, constitute three of the leading holy places of Islam. He is also the leader of a nation that critics say has been slow to modernize, with fraught consequences for the rest of the world. But King Abdullah's decision to offer the hand of friendship and mutual respect to other religions by initiating the conference, which began Wednesday, has big implications - as the criticism of his initiative from some corners of the Islamic world indicates.

Within Islam today, there are two competing narratives. There is not a series of different trouble spots or issues that require disconnected focus and action. There is essentially one struggle, with two sides.

On the one hand, there are those who loudly declare that Islam has gone wrong precisely because its leadership has been prepared to work with the West, or because the West has sought to impose its values on Muslim societies. According to this narrative, Islam is engaged in a fundamental conflict with nonbelievers. There can be no reconciliation. Those who seek it betray Islam. Confrontation, or at least segregation, is inevitable. Instead of pursuing co-existence, instead of "diluting" the purity of Islam by trying to learn about and respect others of a different faith, Muslims should re-establish a mythical caliphate, an Islamic state in which governance is regulated by a rigid adherence to Islamic law and practice of centuries ago, as interpreted by today's hard-line clerics.

Though the number of believers who use this narrative as a route into extremism or violence is small, there are many more who buy its essential premise that we are two distinct cultures and civilizations in opposition to each other. They are encouraged in this belief because such a narrative plays to the more widespread feeling that Islam is treated disrespectfully by the West, that double standards apply in the handling of the Palestinian issue, and that the military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq were religiously motivated. Their appeal is sometimes falsely enhanced by a sense that the West has lost touch with basic moral values.

The second group does not desire to replicate Western society. Its proponents share concerns of a moral nature. But they also want to assemble a modern narrative about Islam and have started to do so. They know that the modern world cannot function unless people of different faiths learn to understand and respect one another. This narrative is absolutely founded in Islam, but it is engaged in trying to root out the exclusivist view of religion - not unique in Islam - as a means of shutting the door on those who follow a different faith.

It is the proponents of this modern narrative who want to use the Middle East's wealth to support a politics and culture in tune with the 21st century. They seek to draw on Islam's core belief in education as a means of ensuring that their people are enabled to become a distinctive part of the 21st century world but not distinct from it. And they point to a millennium of Islamic history, from Spain to China, which illustrates Muslim co-existence and acceptance of other faith communities.
Saudi Arabia is seen by many as home to those who espouse the first narrative. King Abdullah is showing how his country can and should be part of the second, that of peaceful co-existence.

This has important policy lessons for the West, especially with the advent of a new U.S. president. Those championing the outward-looking and peaceful view of Islam need our support. >>> Tony Blair | November 12, 2008

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: Saudi Arabia, Missing Pluralism at Home, Seeks UN Platform to Promote It Abroad

UNITED NATIONS: Saudi Arabia, which deploys a special police force to ensure that a narrow sect of Islam predominates in the kingdom, is sponsoring a discussion at the United Nations on religious tolerance starting Wednesday.

More than a dozen world leaders are scheduled to attend the meeting, including President George W. Bush; the British prime minister, Gordon Brown; the Israeli president, Shimon Peres; and the heads of seven Arab states. King Abdullah, the Saudi monarch, and Peres were both expected as guests of Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general, at a dinner Tuesday night, a rare chance for an encounter.

The United Nations avoids religious discussions, so the two-day session of the General Assembly is officially being labeled as a meeting about the "culture of peace." Most of those attending are political rather than religious figures.

But human rights groups are crying foul that Saudi Arabia is being given a platform to promote religious tolerance abroad while actively combating it at home.

"It's like apartheid South Africa having a conference at the UN on racial harmony," said Ali al-Ahmed, a Shiite Muslim dissident from Saudi Arabia based in Washington.

Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling on Saudi Arabia to start the fight against religious intolerance at home by ending "systemic religious discrimination." >>>
By Neil Macfarquhar | November 12, 2008

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Islamic Radicals Make Mockery of Hate Laws

EVENING STANDARD: JUST days after Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced tough new measures to name and shame foreign-based extremists and prevent them coming from abroad to stir up hatred in the UK, firebrand preacher Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad cocked a snook at her new initiative, the Evening Standard can reveal.

More than 200 Muslims at a packed public meeting in Tower Hamlets were told by organiser Anjem Choudary: "We have a special surprise, a special treat for you. Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad will be joining us on a live feed from Lebanon." He added: "As Muslims, we will not submit to any man-made law, any government, or any prime minister - Bush or Brown - or [to] Jacqui Smith. We submit to Allah."

Choudary, who with Bakri led the fanatical Al-Muhajiroun organisation - notorious for its glorification of terrorism and the 9/11 attacks before its banning and dissolution in 2004 -warmed up the crowd, two Sundays ago, with his own inflammatory rhetoric.

"It is our religious obligation to prepare ourselves both physically and mentally and rise up against Muslim oppression and take what is rightfully ours," he said. "Jihad is a duty and a struggle and an obligation that lies upon the shoulders of us all. We will not rest until the flag of Allah and the flag of Islam is raised above 10 Downing Street."

To loud cheers of "Allah Akbar" [God is great], he railed: "There are three types of Muslims, those in prison, those of us that are on our way [to prison] and non-practising Muslims. Brothers and sisters, if you do not fear your home being raided by the Kufar [non-believer] police, you are not enforcing the Sharia."

Later, in front of a huge banner that exhorted "Muslims rise against British oppression", he introduced the star turn, 50-year-old Omar Bakri, who was standing by in Lebanon. A giant screen, six-feet high and six-feet wide, had been set up to project the image of the extremist known as "the Tottenham Ayatollah". He was refused re-entry to the UK in 2005 as "not conducive to the public good" after vowing that Muslims would "give the West a 9/11 day after day after day".

But when a problem with the live internet video feed failed to yield a picture, Mr Choudary phoned his colleague from the stage and put the receiver to the microphone. The connection was loud and clear and Bakri spoke for 15 minutes.

Apart from a group of elders with long groomed white beards sitting in the front row, most of the 200 men in attendance were Muslims in their late teens or early 20s, mostly dressed in shalwar kameez with westernised accessories - trainers, hoodies and jackets. At the back of the hall, segregated by partitions, were more than 50 women wearing burkhas.

"Do not obey the British law," Bakri told them. He praised his hero Osama bin Laden for being a warrior and exclaimed: "We must fight and die for Islam - this is the map and road to Jennah [heaven]." He said that Muslims did not need to obey man-made laws and that if anyone ordered them to, they should say they are Muslims "loud and proud". He branded the new anti-extremist laws "crazy".

Indeed, it is the new rules, announced two weeks ago by Jacqui Smith, that are meant to prevent "preachers of hate from spreading extremism in our communities". Yet here was Bakri doing just that, potentially grooming the next batch of homegrown suicide bombers. And there was not a uniformed police officer in sight. >>> David Cohen | November 10, 2008

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A Free Speech Crusade We Should All Be Proud to Join
EVENING STANDARD: Saudi bankers and Russian oligarchs love London, and not only for its chichi boutiques. English judges provide them with a unique and de-luxe service: the right to silence detractors from all corners of the globe.

Their behaviour is causing an international scandal but you would never guess it from the wretched response to the Daily Mail editor-in-chief's criticisms of Mr Justice Eady. The supposedly liberal-minded Lord Falconer, the former Labour Lord Chancellor, and Lord Lester, who once championed human rights, have burbled their defences of Eady, apparently unaware that all over the world honest people fear him.

I've been on the fringes of campaigns for freedom of expression for years, and could provide dozens of examples. But let us begin with the case that has made English law a laughing stock.

One of Barack Obama's first acts as president will be to sign into law the Libel Tourism Bill, which is sailing through the US Congress. America is an ally whose law has its roots in England but because of Eady it will not recognise the judgments of English courts.

Eady allowed the billionaire Saudi banker Khalid bin Mahfouz to sue Rachel Ehrenfeld, an American author. Ms Ehrenfeld had not published or promoted her book on the funding of terrorism in England. The sheikh had paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines after the collapse of the corrupt Bank of Credit and Commerce International.

Eady shrugged and ordered that all copies of Ehrenfeld's book should nevertheless be pulped. >>> Nick Cohen | November 12, 2008

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Berlusconi and Erdogan to Meet in Turkey-Italy Summit in Western Province of Izmir
HÜRRIYET: High level officials from Turkey and Italy, including Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi, are set to meet at an intergovernmental summit on Wednesday in the Aegean resort city of Izmir.

After holding a tete-a-tete meeting; Erdogan and Berlusconi will co-chair the summit, the first such event ever to be held between Turkey and Italy.

The Italian foreign minister, minister of interior, minister of defense, minister of transportation and minister of economy and development are also expected to participate at the summit.

The two countries' foreign ministers will sign an agreement to found a Turkish-Italian university in Istanbul.

The ways of Turkey's participation in activities of G8, comprising world's leading industrialized nations, would be discussed in the first Turkish-Italian Intergovernmental Summit which starts on Wednesday.

Italy's assistance to Turkey's EU accession process would be confirmed and the ways of boosting Turkish-Italian cooperation would be taken up in the summit, Italian Ambassador in Ankara Carlo Marsili told the Anatolian Agency. [Source: Hürriyet] | November 12, 2008

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Yes, They Can … Impose Sharia Law
FRONTPAGEMAG.COM: Sen. Barack Obama became president-elect on the uplifting, if inexact, slogan, "Yes, we can."

This week, there is growing evidence that people who have in mind doing away with the presidency of the United States - and all other aspects of our secular, democratic and constitutional form of government - are similarly convinced of their inevitable success. Judging by the sheer audacity of their agenda, "Yes, they can" would appear an apt description of the prospects for the Saudis and other champions of the totalitarian program they call Shariah.

In the run-up to an emergency summit outgoing President Bush has called to address the now-global financial crisis, the oil-rich Islamists of the Persian Gulf led by Saudi Arabia have not only established that their petrodollars are indispensable to any solution. They also seem to have secured the Bush administration's acquiescence to the sinister strings attached to any bailout of the West in which they might participate.

Specifically, the Saudis and their friends want the United States to join those, particularly in Europe, who have accommodated themselves to Shariah. No, we are assured, they aren't taking about the brutal theo-political-legal code that features such barbaric practices as beheadings, floggings, stonings, amputations, female genital mutilation and mysogeny more generally.

All they want, those in the know insist, is for Washington to encourage Wall Street - more and more of which is owned by the U.S. government - to embrace Shariah-Compliant Finance (SCF). A Treasury Department seminar convened last week depicted SCF as nothing more than a kind of socially responsible investing vehicle that respects Muslim religious beliefs by eschewing interest-bearing transactions and those involving pork and "sin" stocks. So, what's the big deal? The Catholics, Methodists and Jews have their funds, why not the Muslims?

What makes the Shariah-Compliant Finance gambit both a big and troublesome "deal" is that, unlike these other religious traditions, Shariah's adherents are pursuing a global theocracy. They believe they must impose their agenda on everybody else, religious and secular alike, using violence if necessary. And SCF is explicitly described by leading practitioners as a complement to violent holy war: "financial jihad" and "jihad with money."

In other words, there is no such thing as free-standing Shariah-Compliant Finance. According to all of the recognized authorities and institutions of Islam, Shariah is a unified, indivisible program to which all faithful Muslims must adhere comprehensively.

Not surprisingly, therefore, the Saudis & Co. are not simply seeking to insinuate Shariah-Compliant Finance into our capital markets. They are also advancing creation of a parallel Shariah-governed society through various other means. >>> By Frank J Gaffney Jr | November 12, 2008

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The Road to Serfdom
TOWNHALL.COM: It's exciting that the world is so excited about Barack Obama. I'm excited, too. That he achieved the presidency says something good about America.

But the excitement also frightens me. It reinforces the worst impulse of the media and political class: the assumption that all progress comes from Washington. In a free society, with constitutionally limited government, the president would be a mere executive who sees to it that predictable and understandable laws are enforced. But sadly, the prestige and power of the presidency have grown, and liberty has contracted. That is not something to celebrate.

The infatuated chattering classes now demand "action" on the economy. They use positive words like "bold steps." The insufferable New York Times suggests the choice is "between a big-bang strategy of pressing aggressively on multiple fronts versus a more pragmatic, step-by-step approach .... " There is endless talk about how FDR ended the Great Depression and how Obama will apply similar "stimulus."

Please. FDR's "bold" moves didn't end the Depression. They prolonged it by discouraging capital investment. Hoover and Roosevelt turned what might have been a brief downturn into 10 years of double-digit unemployment.

Now Obama says, "we don't have a moment to lose," and he and the Democrats insist that government must unionize most of America by passing "card check" and taxpayers must throw even more money at American automakers.

This is the conceit of what Thomas Sowell calls "the anointed" (http://tinyurl.com/6me8d4). The politicians know best how our money should be spent. The "road to serfdom" is paved with such good intentions. >>> By John Stossel | November 12, 2008

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Saudis in Move to Improve Image of Islam
FINANCIAL TIMES: Saudi Arabia is sponsoring a two-day United Nations conference in New York to promote interfaith dialogue to improve the image of Islam as a religion that favours dialogue over violence.

The conference, which begins on Wednesday, is seen as part of the Saudi monarch’s efforts to promote a more moderate brand of Islam in a kingdom that has been accused of breeding extremism since the September 11 attacks in 2001. By sponsoring interfaith events, King Abdullah may also be hoping to advance the debate over radicalism within the kingdom.

George W. Bush, US president, and Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, are among those listed to speak. Shimon Peres, Israeli president, and Tzipi Livni, foreign minister, will also attend.

“The dialogue comes at a time when the world is criticising Islam,” the Saudi monarch told local media. “It is regrettable that some of our sons have been tempted by Satan or the brothers of Satan.’’

Last year the king met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican; earlier this year, he arranged a conference of Muslim sects at the holy city of Mecca and, in July, he presided over a gathering of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists hosted by Spain.

The Vatican, however, is sceptical about the merit of the New York summit and concerned that the issue of religious freedom for Christians in Muslim countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, which permits no churches, will be pushed aside. >>> By Abeer Allam in Riyadh | ©The Financial Times Limited 2008 | November 12, 2008

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California: Divisions Persist over Gay Marriage Ban
Gay ‘flag’ courtesy of Google Images
BBC: Waving rainbow flags and placards, thousands marched through east Los Angeles, chanting: "Gay, straight, black, white! Marriage is an equal right!"

This was one of more than a dozen protests that have taken place in California and beyond since election day last week.
The marches have been peaceful but people are angry and their protests are growing.

Many of the signs they carried conveyed their feelings: "When do I get to vote on YOUR marriage?"; ''Protect my marriage''; ''Stop the h8 (hate)''.

"H8" is a play on 8, for Proposition 8, a proposal on last week's election ballot to re-write the state's constitution to redefine marriage as the union of a man and a woman only.

It was among a string of local ballots taking place across the country. And California voters approved the measure by a margin of around 3%.

So on the same day Americans elected Barack Obama, in California a small majority voted to ban same-sex marriage.

Gay rights campaigners at the rallies say majority rule should not set the law.

The passage of Proposition 8 overturns a state Supreme Court ruling in May allowing gay weddings. Around 18,000 couples have had wedding ceremonies since.

Their marriages could now be challenged in court (although California's attorney-general says the state will defend them, as they were legal at the time) and no more can take place. >>> By Rajesh Mirchandani, BBC News, Los Angeles | November 12, 2008

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Gay Couples to Start to Marry in Connecticut

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — While there's anger and recriminations in California's gay-rights movement after voters there banned same-sex marriage, gay couples in Connecticut are at the opposite extreme: They're getting ready to pick up marriage license forms.

Superior Court Judge Jonathan Silbert has scheduled a hearing Wednesday morning to enter the final judgment in the case that allows same-sex marriages in Connecticut. Once entered, couples can pick up marriage license forms at town and city clerk's offices.

It's unclear how many couples will wed. According to the state public health department, there have been 2,032 civil union licenses issued in Connecticut between Oct. 2005 and July 2008.

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on Oct. 10 that same-sex couples have the right to wed rather than accept a civil union law designed to give them the same rights as married couples.

The health department had new marriage applications printed that reflect the change. Instead of putting one name under "bride" and the other under "groom," couples will see two boxes marked "bride/groom/spouse."

Only Connecticut and Massachusetts have legalized gay marriage. >>> By John Christoffersen | November 12, 2008

Watch BBC video 1: Tim Lykowski believes the law should not be set by the majority >>>
Watch BBC video 2: Robin Tyler and Diane Olson want to defend their rights >>>
Watch BBC video 3: Black voters on the gay marriage law >>>
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I Will Have Credibility with the Muslim World, Says Obama

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Barack Obama Looks to Iran to Help Bring Peace to Afghanistan
THE TELEGRAPH: President-elect Barack Obama is planning to involve Iran in a major shift in US policy on the war in Afghanistan.

Aides said the incoming Democratic president wants to explore a more regional strategy in Afghanistan, including the possibility of negotiations with Tehran.

During the campaign, Mr Obama described Afghanistan as the central front in the war on terror.

He also said he was open to unconditional talks with Iran, later adjusting his position to say that proper groundwork would have to be in place first.

Aides also revealed he intended to renew the commitment to hunting down Osama bin Laden.

Security advisers to the president-elect were quoted as saying Mr Obama believes the Bush administration has scaled down the hunt for the al-Qaeda leader after years of failing to apprehend him.

US intelligence officials however have said that the search for bin Laden is as intensive, and warned that his group's threat would endure without him.

"This [al-Qaeda] is our enemy," a senior adviser told the Washington Post. "And [bin Laden] should be our principal target." >>> By Alex Spillius in Washington | November 11, 2008

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Le prince Charles va fêter ses 60 ans le 14 novembre 2008
Photo de Charles grâce à la Tribune de Genève
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: ANGLETERRE | Fils aîné d'Elisabeth II, reine du Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande du Nord, et du prince Philippe, duc d'Edimbourg. Le prince héritier du Royaume-Uni ainsi que des royaumes du Commonwealth, occupe la première place dans l'ordre de succession au trône d'Angleterre Toutes les galeries >>>

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Une nouvelle pyramide
 découverte en Egypte
LE FIGARO: Haute de cinq mètres, elle a été découverte à la nécropole de Saqqara, à une vingtaine de kilomètres au sud du Caire, la capitale.

Une pyramide vieille de 4.300 ans a été découverte à la nécropole de Saqqara, à une vingtaine de kilomètres au sud du Caire, a annoncé mardi le ministre égyptien de la Culture, Farouk Hosni.

L'équipe d'archéologues travaillait depuis deux ans sur le site, à environ 19 km au sud du Caire, mais ce n'est qu'il y a deux mois qu'elle a eu la certitude que la structure haute de cinq mètres mise au jour dans les sables était bien une pyramide.

La pyramide pourrait avoir eu une hauteur initiale de 15 mètres, selon le ministre. Elle a été construite pour la reine Sechséchet, mère du roi Teti, premier roi de la VIe dynastie de l'Ancien Empire. >>> lefigaro.fr avec agences | 11/11/2008

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Aufgepaßt! Die Zeit der großen Ernüchterung
DIE PRESSE: Angst vor sozialem Abstieg und einer Spaltung der Gesellschaft kennzeichnen das Zukunftsbild der Europäer. Zukunfts-Forscher Ulrich Reinhardt über Europa im Jahr 2030.

WIEN. „Das Schlaraffenland ist abgebrannt“ – so düster sieht das Fazit einer Studie über Europa im Jahr 2030 aus. Angst vor sozialem Abstieg, Unsicherheit und Vertrauensverlust kennzeichnen die Stimmungen und Erwartungen von 11.000 Europäern, die von der „Stiftung für Zukunftsfragen“ in Kooperation mit Europäischen Futuristen erforscht wurden.

Akuter Pessimismus oder kommt es wirklich so schlimm? „Ewig kann es so nicht weitergehen“, meint Ulrich Reinhardt, Geschäftsführer des Instituts für Zukunftsfragen. „Wir werden uns auf einem Niveau einpendeln, auf dem wir sicher sehr sehr gut leben können. Aber das ewige Wachstum und die Befriedigung immer neuer Bedürfnisse, das ist vorbei“, meint der Zukunftsforscher.

Die größte Angst der Europäer sei, dass die soziale Schere zwischen Arm und Reich weiter auseinandergeht. Vor allem der Mittelstand fürchtet einen Abstieg. Zwei Drittel der befragten Österreicher erwarten, dass diese Kluft bis 2030 in Österreich wächst. Mehr als jeder Zweite meint, dass es in 22 Jahren kaum mehr eine Mittelschicht geben werde. „Das ist sicher nicht realistisch, aber die Angst ist da, die Menschen erwarten, sich weniger leisten können“, so Reinhardt. >>> Christine Imlinger | 11. November 2008

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'Buddha Boy' Reappears after Year in Jungle
Photo of Ram Bahadur Bamjon, the ‘Buddha Boy’, courtesy of The Independent
THE INDEPENDENT: They asked not where he had been or what he had been doing. Instead thousands of jubilant devotees simply trudged to the remote jungle spot in south-east Nepal where a teenage "Buddha Boy" reappeared to preach to villagers, more than a year after he went missing.

Ram Bahadur Bamjon became famous three years ago when tens of thousands of people flocked to watch him sitting cross-legged under a tree for almost ten months. His followers - who say he is the reincarnation of Buddha - claimed that during this time he neither ate nor drank.

Then, last spring, his supporters said that the teenager was planning to go away and meditate for three years in an underground bunker. He was last seen in August 2007, preaching to crowds in Nepal’s Hallori jungle, around 100 miles south of Kathmandu.

Whatever encouraged Mr Bamjon to re-emerge is unclear, but police said that on Monday he appeared, long-haired, dressed in white and looking in good health, and preached to villagers for around 45 minutes. Local officials said he plans to speak to people for an hour a day for another week.

"Hundreds of devotees, including many from neighbouring India are trekking the five kilometres to see him," said one police officer, Prakash Sen. "He spoke to the devotees standing near a temple in the forest. He had shoulder-length hair and had his body wrapped in a white cloth. Since many people are walking to see him, I think he has some of the qualities Lord Buddha had." >>> By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent | November 11, 2008

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Calls for Prosecution after German Politician Says Obama Win 'a Declaration of War'
Photo of Juergen Gansel courtesy of Google Images
THE TELEGRAPH: German authorities have been called on to prosecute a far-right politician for describing Barack Obama's election as a "declaration of war" on white people and accusing his supporters of being "swept up in Obama fever which resembles an African tropical disease".

In a statement headed "Africa conquers the White House," Juergen Gansel, a deputy in the Saxony state legislature from the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany, said multicultural America was seeking the destruction of "pure" national cultures.

Accusing Mr Obama of aiming to destroy the US's "white identity", Mr Gansel said: "A non-white America is a declaration of war on all people who believe an organically grown social order based on language and culture, history and heritage to be the essence of humanity."

Warning that "Barack Obama hides this declaration of war behind his pushy sunshine smile," Mr Gansel, whose party sympathises with neo-Nazi groups, said that Mr Obama's election was the result of "the American alliance of Jews and Negroes".

He concluded by declaring his hopes that Mr Obama's government is unsuccessful.

"It would be a gross irony of history if the first black president drove his clientele of minorities to openly revolt due to his grandiose domestic failure, and the much-touted American dream became a nightmare," he said. >>> By Jon Swaine | November 11, 2008

WASHINGTON POST: Racism Rears Its Head in European Remarks on Obama: Some Public Figures Display Open Scorn

BERLIN -- Europe erupted in cheers to celebrate Barack Obama's election as president, but the continent is seeing its share of insensitive racial blunders, too.

Over the past week, a number of European lawmakers and journalists have made foot-in-mouth comments regarding America's black president-elect, suggesting that some otherwise respected public figures in Europe are far from enlightened on racial matters.

The day after Obama's victory, a leading Austrian television journalist said on camera that he "wouldn't want the Western world to be directed by a black man." A Polish lawmaker stood up in Parliament and called the election result "the end of the white man's civilization."

One of the milder gaffes came from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. On Thursday, during a visit to Moscow, he praised Obama for being "young, handsome and even suntanned."

Berlusconi's remark caused a stir in Italy, as critics chided him for sounding like a fool. But the prime minister was unrepentant. "What's the problem? It was a compliment," he told journalists the next day. Anyone who did not get the joke, he added, was an "imbecile."

Some racist comments have come from people who have expressed such views before. "Africa Conquers the White House," read a headline on the Web site of the National Democratic Party of Germany, a political party that sympathizes with neo-Nazi groups. In an accompanying article, Jürgen Gansel, a party leader and an elected lawmaker in the German state of Saxony, blamed Obama's victory on "the American alliance of Jews and Negroes."

Offensive opinions have also originated from the other end of the political spectrum. Die Tageszeitung, a Berlin newspaper that supports socialist and leftist causes, predicted Obama's election in June when it published a large front-page photo of the White House under the headline, "Uncle Barack's Cabin." >>> By Craig Whitlock | November 10, 2008

DEUTSCHE WELLE: Jewish Group in Berlin Condemns Neo-Nazi Obama Slurs

A Jewish group in Germany is up in arms after a far-right politician characterized Barack Obama's triumph as a "US alliance of Jews and Negroes" and condemned the German public for supporting the US President-elect.

The Berlin chapter of a prominent Jewish group condemned racist statements made by a German deputy from the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) against Barack Obama's election as the first non-white President of the United States.

"Africa conquers the White House" is the heading of a statement issued from the office of the NPD deputy Juergen Gansel from the eastern German state of Saxony.

The NPD has never cleared the five-percent minimum for representation in the German Bundestag on a national parliamentary level, but the party holds seats in two regional states in eastern Germany, where its anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant platform has attracted a following among disaffected youth and the unemployed.

Gansel characterized Obama's election triumph as "the American alliance of Jews and Negroes" and even condemned the German public for their outpouring of enthusiasm for the US President-elect, who was born to a white American mother and a Kenyan father.

"Many people in the 'diverse' republic Germany have been swept up in Obama fever which resembles an African tropical disease," he said. >>> DW staff (df) | November 11, 2008

AFP: Jewish Group Mulls Charges over Neo-Nazi Obama Slurs

BERLIN — A prominent Jewish group said Monday it was reviewing legal options against a German neo-Nazi party for "racist" remarks calling Barack Obama's election a "declaration of war" on non-white America.

The Berlin chapter of the American Jewish Committee (AFC) condemned statements made by Juergen Gansel, a deputy in the Saxony state legislature for the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany, against Obama's election as the first African-American US president.

In a statement from his office entitled "Africa conquers the White House," Gansel said multicultural America sought the destruction of "pure" national cultures and that Obama aimed to destroy the United States' "white identity." >>> | November 11, 2008

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