Faith Is Alive, Even Amongst the Non-religious
Did God create man or did man evolve from the ape? The answer is the subject of heated argument during Darwin Year 2009.

This year marks the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, father of evolutionary theory. During this commemorative Darwin year the argument between the religious and the non-religious, between creationists (“On the sixth day God created man in his own image and likeness”) and evolutionists (“Man is descended from the ape”) has flared up visibly. The existence of God is being called into question on British buses and 6 million Dutch households will soon receive a brochure in the mail that raises questions about evolutionary theory.

“It is funny to see how alive faith evidently is,” says sociologist Abram de Swaan. “One of the most dangerous mental disorders is after all to interpret a text like the Bible literally. But that also occurs among the non-religious, in Marxism or National Socialism for instance.”

Atheist buses

In the United Kingdom the confirmed atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, kicked off the debate. 500 British buses are now driving around with the slogan There is probably no God/ Now stop worrying and enjoy your life. When asked for a reaction a passer-by shrugged and told the BBC: “I have seen worse things on buses.” In Spain there are buses with slogans supporting God, as well as ones with slogans denying the existance of God.

In the Netherlands three humanist organisations have raised 5,000 euros for a similar campaign. There is little chance however that there will soon be buses driving around the Netherlands with the text Er is waarschijnlijk geen God. Durf zelf te denken. En geniet van dit leven! [There probably is no God. Dare to think for your self. And enjoy this life!]. The company that operates about 75 percent of the advertising on buses and about half of the bus shelters is not giving its permission.

According to the marketing director this is a case of a “fierce religious statement” that could be “offensive” to the public. “Our guideline is: no religious texts on our buses and bus shelters.” The initiator of the bus campaign, philosopher Floris van den Berg, is now looking for other avenues for his campaign. “If necessary we will work with advertising planes.” >>> By Laura Starink | Wednesday, February 4, 2009

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Obama Misunderstands the Global Jihad
HUMAN EVENTS: “My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.” So said Barack Obama in his first interview as President, which, in a highly significant symbolic move, he gave to the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya network.

For the new president, it amounted to little better than a preemptive surrender to jihadist ideology.

Obama emphasized what he perceived as a break with the past in relaying the instructions he gave to his personal envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell: “What I told him is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating -- in the past on some of these issues -- and we don’t always know all the factors that are involved.”

Yet Obama himself has not thus far demonstrated any awareness of -- to take just one of many available examples -- the fact that one of the foremost Islamic groups in the world, the Muslim Brotherhood, is dedicated in its own words to “a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion” -- Islam -- “is made victorious over all other religions.”

Does Obama think this imperative was caused by the United States being dictatorial and ignorant? Does he believe it will be turned aside by some judicious listening by George Mitchell? Will Obama himself listen to anyone who will tell him about the deep roots that jihadist aggression and Islamic supremacism have within Islamic theology, law, and history? Or will he continue to assume that the conflict between the Islamic world and the West is all the West’s fault?

Blaming the West looks more likely at this point, given the moral equivalence he indulged in during the interview, when of the Israel/Palestinian conflict he declared: “I do believe that the moment is ripe for both sides to realize that the path that they are on is one that is not going to result in prosperity and security for their people. And that instead, it’s time to return to the negotiating table.” >>> By Robert Spencer | Wednesday, February 4, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: CIA Warns Barack Obama that British Terrorists Are the Biggest Threat to the US

Barack Obama has been warned by the CIA that British Islamist extremists are the greatest threat to US homeland security.

American spy chiefs have told the President that the CIA has launched a vast spying operation in the UK to prevent a repeat of the 9/11 attacks being launched from Britain.

They believe that a British-born Pakistani extremist entering the US under the visa waiver programme is the most likely source of another terrorist spectacular on American soil.

Intelligence briefings for Mr Obama have detailed a dramatic escalation in American espionage in Britain, where the CIA has recruited record numbers of informants in the Pakistani community to monitor the 2,000 terrorist suspects identified by MI5, the British security service.

A British intelligence source revealed that a staggering four out of 10 CIA operations designed to thwart direct attacks on the US are now conducted against targets in Britain. >>> By Tim Shipman in Washington | Saturday, February 7, 2009

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Obama Continues to Show His Greenhorn Credentials!
YAHOO! NEWS: WASHINGTON – When talking about terrorism — words matter, President Barack Obama said Tuesday.

Asked in a television interview why he hasn't used the oft-repeated "war on terror" phrase coined by the Bush administration, Obama said he believes the U.S. can win over moderate Muslims if he chooses his words carefully.

"Words matter in this situation because one of the ways we're going to win this struggle is through the battle of hearts and minds," Obama said in an interview with CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360."

The Associated Press reported Saturday that Obama has used the catch phrase just once, in contrast to its repeated use by the Bush administration in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Instead, Obama has spoken broadly of the "enduring struggle against terrorism and extremism" and pledged to "go after" extremists and "win this fight."

"I think it is very important for us to recognize that we have a battle or a war against some terrorist organizations," Obama said Tuesday. "But that those organizations aren't representative of a broader Arab community, Muslim community." Obama: US Choosing Words Carefully in Terror War >>> By Lolita C Baldor, Associated Press Writer | Associated Press | Tuesday, Februar 3, 2009

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Cheney Warns of New Attacks

POLITICO: Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed. 



In an interview Tuesday with Politico, Cheney unyieldingly defended the Bush administration’s support for the Guantanamo Bay prison and coercive interrogation of terrorism suspects. 



And he asserted that President Obama will either backtrack on his stated intentions to end those policies or put the country at risk in ways more severe than most Americans — and, he charged, many members of Obama’s own team — understand. 



“When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry,” Cheney said. 



Protecting the country’s security is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business,” he said. “These are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek.” >>> By John F Harris & Mike Allen & Jim Vandehei | Wednesday, February 4, 2009

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Bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland Bankers Set for Millions in Bonuses
TIMES ONLINE: RBS to reward staff in spite of losses

The troubled Royal Bank of Scotland, rescued with £20 billion of public money, is planning large bonuses for thousands of its City traders and senior bankers, The Times has learnt.

The proposed payments are expected to reach tens of millions of pounds — possibly hundreds of millions — with some star bankers in line for six-figure payouts.

UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the Treasury-run body that holds the Government’s RBS stake, is understood to have given its blessing in principle to limited payments, although it has yet to see the details. “There’s no blanket objection to bonuses, but they are subjecting them to intense scrutiny,” said one well-placed source. “The [bonus] numbers will be very large and very difficult for the general public to understand.” >>> Patrick Hosking, Banking and Finance Editor, and Philip Webster, Political Editor | Thursday, February 5, 2009

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Nazi Fugitive 'Dr Death' Aribert Heim 'Died in Cairo in 1992 after Converting to Islam'
THE TELEGRAPH: The Nazi fugitive nicknamed "Dr Death", who was one of the most wanted war criminals, died in Cairo in 1992 after converting to Islam, it has been revealed.

Dr Aribert Heim, an Austrian member of the Waffen SS, converted to Islam and took the Islamic name Tarek Fared Hussein. He lived in Cairo. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
Nazi hunters had believed Aribert Heim, who reportedly killed hundreds of inmates with poison injections to the heart and removed his victims' organs without anaesthetic, was hiding out in Chile, where he was believed to have an illegitimate daughter.

However, the German state broadcaster ZDF announced on Wednesday that it had discovered that Heim spent nearly 30 years in the Egyptian capital before dying of bowel cancer.

In a joint investigation with the New York Times, ZDF said it had discovered that Heim became a Muslim in the early 1980s and renamed himself Tarek Fared Hussein.

After the war, he practised in West Germany as a gynaecologist but went missing in 1962 as police prepared to prosecute him.

In Cairo, Heim lived off rental income from a property he owned in Berlin. The money was transferred to him at irregular intervals by his sister, who has since died.

Heim, an Austrian member of the Waffen SS, presided over the country's Mauthausen concentration camp.

He was accused of conducting various medical experiments on the inmates, removing the organs of healthy inmates, then leaving them to die on the operating table, and turning the skull of a man he had decapitated into a souvenir paperweight. >>> By Tom Leonard in New York | Thursday, February 5, 2009

WELT ONLINE: KZ-Arzt Aribert Heim ist schon lange tot

Der meistgesuchte NS-Verbrecher Aribert Heim ist nach Informationen der "New York Times" und des ZDF schon lange tot. Der frühere KZ-Arzt sei bereits am 10. August 1992 in Kairo an Krebs gestorben. Aribert Heim, der auch als "Dr. Tod" bezeichnet wurde, war zuletzt in Südamerika vermutet worden.

Heim galt als extrem grausam. Augenzeugen berichteten, er habe aus der gegerbten Haut eines Opfers einen Lampenschirm für den Lagerkommandanten herstellen lassen. Er arbeitete als Arzt in den Konzentrationslagern Sachsenhausen (1940), Buchenwald (1941) und Mauthausen (1941). Ihm wird unter anderem vorgeworfen, in Mauthausen Hunderte Häftlinge mit tödlichen Injektionen auch direkt ins Herz umgebracht zu haben.

Der 1914 geborene Österreicher praktizierte nach dem Krieg in Baden-Baden als Frauenarzt und war seit 1962 auf der Flucht. Gegen ihn besteht ein internationaler Haftbefehl. Das Simon-Wiesenthal- Zentrum hatte in Anzeigen in Südamerika mit Verweis auf die Belohnung von 315.000 Euro um Hinweise gebeten.

Laut der Mitteilung des ZDF war Heim zu seiner Tarnung Anfang der 80er Jahre zum Islam konvertiert und trug seitdem den Namen Tarek Farid Hussein. Das ZDF habe eine Aktentasche von Heim gefunden, in der sich mehr als 100 Dokumente befanden. Darunter seien die Kopie eines ägyptischen Passes, Anträge auf Aufenthaltsgenehmigungen, Kontoauszüge, persönliche Briefe und medizinische Unterlagen gewesen. Danach lasse sich zweifelsfrei nachweisen, dass Hussein der gesuchte Nazi-Verbrecher war. >>> dpa/AP/gr | Mittwoch, 4. Februar 2009

leJDD.fr: Le Dr de Mauthausen serait mort

On le croyait en fuite, il serait en fait mort depuis 1992. Une enquête menée conjointement par la chaîne publique allemande ZDF et le New York Times a permis de découvrir que le criminel de guerre nazi, Aribert Heim, serait décédé au Caire cette année là. Surnommé le "médecin de la mort", il est accusé d'avoir tué des centaines de prisonniers dans le camp de concentration de Mauthausen.

Il était l'un des criminels nazis les plus recherchés au monde. Ces derniers mois, on le disait en Argentine, ou dans le Sud du Chili. Il n'en est rien: Aribert Heim, surnommé le "médecin de la mort" pour ses expérimentations durant la Seconde guerre mondiale dans le camp de concentration de Mauthausen, en Autriche, est mort au Caire en 1992. L'information a été dévoilée mercredi soir par le New York Times et la chaîne publique allemande ZDF, qui ont mené ensemble une longue enquête. Aribert Heim est accusé d'avoir tué des centaines de prisonniers dans ce camp de concentration à l'automne 1941, prisonniers sur lesquels il multipliait les expérimentations: vivisection, injection de toxines dans le coeur. Fait prisonnier par les Américains à la libération, "le médecin de la mort" ["Docteur Tod", littéralement "Docteur la Mort", ndlr) avait été relâché deux ans plus tard. Il s'était alors installé en Allemagne, à Baden-Baden. Son nom avait refait surface en 1961 cours du procès d'un ancien nazi, un témoin l'évoquant sous le nom de "boucher de Mauthausen". Il avait alors pris la fuite.

Selon les informations obtenues par les deux médias, il a en fait passé près de 30 ans au Caire. Converti à l'islam dans les années 1980, il avait pris le nom de Tarek Farid Hussein. Selon la ZDF, il est mort d'un cancer intestinal le 10 août 1992 à l'âge de 78 ans. La chaîne s'appuie notamment sur le témoignage de son fils, Ruediger Heim. Ce dernier a raconté s'être occupé de son père pendant plusieurs mois dans la capitale égyptienne, après une opération chirurgicale en 1990. >>> Par M.E., leJDD.fr | Jeudi 05 Février 2009

BBC: Nazi Hunters' Doubt Over 'Death'

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has expressed doubts about a report that Aribert Heim, one of the most-wanted Nazi criminals, died in Egypt in 1992.

"There's no body, no corpse, no DNA, no grave," Efraim Zuroff, the centre's leading Nazi hunter, told AP agency.

On Wednesday, Germany's ZDF TV reported that Heim died in Cairo, saying it had found his passport and other documents.

Heim is accused of killing hundreds of inmates at a concentration camp where he was a doctor during World War II.

'Too perfect'

On Thursday, Mr Zuroff said the report about Heim's death raised "more questions than it answers".

"We can't sign off on a story like this because of some semi-plausible explanation," he said.

"Keep in mind these people have a vested interest in being declared dead - it's a perfectly crafted story; that's the problem, it's too perfect," Mr Zuroff told the AP.

In its report, ZDF quoted witnesses, including Heim's son, as confirming that Aribert Heim, who was also known as Doctor Death, died in 1992.

It said it had found a number of Heim's personal documents, including his passport and personal letters, in a hotel room in Cairo where he lived under a pseudonym.

The TV channel, working with the New York Times newspaper, also said Heim had converted to Islam. >>> | Thursday, February 5, 2009

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Arab-American Psychiatrist Wafa Sultan: "The Subjugation of Women Reduces Them to a Level Lower Than Beasts"
"Islam Has Distorted the Concept of Honor"
Wafa Sultan: "If Islam really treated women with honor, we would see the positive consequences of that honor over the course of the past 14 centuries. Islam did not treat women with honor. On the contrary, it has distorted the concept of honor.

"My brother Rashid, I can call this pen a knife for 14 centuries, but it will never become a knife. It will remain a pen. Islam has turned these concepts upside-down, and has forced its followers to see things as their opposites - to view killing and beheading as an act of tolerance, to view taking a woman captive as an act of compassion, to view the plundering of spoils of war as their right, and to view masturbation against a little girl's thighs as marriage.

"Thus, it has destroyed the intellectual structure of the Arabic-speaking nation, and has produced people who cannot distinguish between things and their opposites - people with distorted thinking and warped mentality, as infertile as barren land, which cannot yield a thing.

"The best proof of this is the reality of Islam. When the Prophet Muhammad married the child 'Aisha, this was not an act of honor toward her childhood. When Muhammad married Zaynab, the wife of his adopted son, after seeing her naked and desiring her, this was not an act of honor toward married women. When Muhammad married the Jewish woman Safiya, upon his return from a raid in which he killed her father, brother, and husband, this was not an act of honor toward her. The same goes for all his marriages." >>> Wafa Sultan | Wednesday, February 4, 2009

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Switzerland to Vote on Opening Borders Amid Racially-charged Campaign
Image courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: Swiss voters are to decide this weekend whether to open the country's borders to Romania and Bulgaria amid a racially-charged political debate.

Posters showing sinister black crows pecking away at a map of Switzerland have added controversy to Sunday's referendum on whether to extend the country's free movement agreement with European Union.

The stark imagery has been used by the right-wing Swiss People's Party, or Schweizerische Volkspartei (SVP), in a repeat of the controversial racial imagery that made it Switzerland's largest political grouping during elections last year.

The latest SVP poster echoes its Oct 2008 campaign image which played on popular resentment of immigrants by showing a group of white sheep kicking a black sheep off a Swiss flag.

Alain Hauert, spokesman for the SVP, admitted that the black crow poster, captioned "Free passports for all? No", did aim to target popular fears of being swamped by mass immigration from Romania and Bulgaria, the EU's poorest countries.

"The enlargement of free movement to Romania and Bulgaria is a threat. Our unemployment is rising and our social insurance is under pressure.

Wages in Romania and Bulgaria are 15 times lower than here. Big companies will look for cheap labour from Romanians and Bulgarians and this is a real threat," he said.

Mr Hauert insisted that the black crows also represented Germany, Switzerland's big EU neighbour and Berlin's pressure on secretive Swiss banks to reveal the names of account holders to German tax inspectors.

"Germany is placing huge pressure on Swiss banks to give up personal data. That is a big problem for our country that the crows represent too," he said. "It has nothing to do with race."

The tide of Swiss public opinion might be turning against open borders with the EU. >>> By Bruno Waterfield | Wednesday, February 4, 2009

AFP: Swiss Weigh Up EU Immigration in High Stakes Vote

GENEVA — The Swiss voted Sunday in a high stakes referendum to decide whether or not to continue to freely allow in workers from the neighbouring European Union.

Polling booths were due to close at noon (1100 GMT) in the ballot on the Swiss government's attempt to prolong the accord with the EU on free movement of labour and to extend it to workers from the bloc's most recent members, Bulgaria and Romania.

Campaigning has pitted non-member Switzerland's economic interests against traditional popular fears about immigration and the neutral Alpine nation's prized independence.

But the fraught global economic climate, which has hit prosperous Switzerland in recent months, has added to the uncertainty, as the last opinion poll for Swiss television showed only a slender advance for a 'yes' vote.

Free movement since 2002 - which also allows Swiss residents in the EU to freely take up jobs there - is widely credited with helping fuel Switzerland's economic boom in recent years by helping to overcome a shortage of skilled labour.

Supporters, including the bulk of the Swiss political, business and social establishment have warned that a "no" vote could jeopardise those gains and a carefully nurtured though often tense relationship with the now 27 nation bloc.

Centre-right Radical Party politician Leonard Bender, a supporter of free movement, said that the current economic climate raised the stakes.
"It's not the right moment to make our position more fragile when cooperation with the European Union has been so fruitful," he told AFP.

But opponents led by the hard right Swiss People's Party (SVP) appear to have captured the mood of many voters by whipping up fears about Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants and a threat to Swiss jobs. >>> © AFP | Sunday, February 8, 2009

BBC: Swiss to Extend EU Worker Access

The people of Switzerland have voted to continue allowing in workers from the EU and to extend access to two new member states, Romania and Bulgaria.

Official referendum results showed that almost 60% of voters had supported the proposal.

Right-wing politicians had warned that extending access could bring an influx of cheap labour at a time of recession.

Switzerland remains outside the EU - but its political and economic ties to Europe are very close.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Berne said that a "no" to free movement could have put that relationship at risk.

Since the Swiss first introduced free movement of labour the number of EU citizens working in Switzerland has risen to over a million.

Supporters of the government proposal to extend access said that free movement rules had helped attract skilled workers to Switzerland. [Source: BBC] | Sunday, February 8, 2009

BBC:
Swiss Votes on EU Worker Rights >>> By Imogen Foulkes, BBC News, Berne | Sunday, February 8, 2009

BBC:
Switzerland Opens Its Borders >>> By Imogen Foulkes, BBC News, Geneva | Friday, December 12, 2008

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Holocaust-Leugner: Vatikan spricht spätes Machtwort
Bischof Williamson muss seine Leugnung des Holocausts klar zurücknehmen. Der Aufforderung des Vatikans gingen wilde Proteste gegen Benedikt XVI. voraus.

ROM. Angesichts massiven öffentlichen Drucks schritt der Vatikan am Mittwoch im Streit um Holocaustleugner Richard Williamson ein: Der vom Kirchenbann befreite Traditionalistenbischof wurde aufgefordert, seine „absolut unakzeptablen Positionen“ aufzugeben; seine Rehabilitierung führt seit zehn Tagen zu scharfen Protesten gegen den Papst. Vor allem Deutschland, Frankreich sowie jüdische Gruppen sind in Aufruhr.

Die schneidend scharfe, namentlich nicht gezeichnete Erklärung kam zu Mittag aus dem Staatssekretariat, dem höchsten politischen Amt der Kurie. Williamson hat die Wahl, sich „von seinen Sätzen zur Shoah in absolut unzweideutiger, öffentlicher Weise zu distanzieren“ oder nicht „zu den bischöflichen Funktionen zugelassen“ zu werden. Im Umkehrschluss heißt das, dass die anderen von der Exkommunikation befreiten Traditionalistenbischöfe annehmen dürfen, als ordentliche Bischöfe in die katholische Kirche eintreten zu können; derzeit sind sie suspendiert. >>> Paul Kreiner | Mittwoch, 4. Februar 2009

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Holocaust-Leugner Williamson lehnt Widerruf vorerst ab

Der Papst hat ihn zum Widerruf aufgefordert, doch dazu ist er derzeit nicht bereit: Holocaust-Leugner Richard Williamson sagt dem SPIEGEL, er wolle zunächst die historischen Beweise prüfen - "das wird Zeit brauchen".

Hamburg/Berlin - Er hat die katholische Kirche in eine tiefe Krise gestürzt - und wird zu deren Lösung vorerst nicht beitragen. Der umstrittene Bischof der Piusbruderschaft, Richard Williamson, will seine Thesen zum Holocaust vorerst nicht widerrufen. Er werde zunächst die historischen Beweise prüfen, sagte der Katholik dem SPIEGEL: "Und wenn ich diese Beweise finde, dann werde ich mich korrigieren. Aber das wird Zeit brauchen." >>> flo | Samstag, 7. Februar 2009

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: L'évêque négationniste Williamson refuse de s'excuser

CHAMBRES À GAZ | Richard Williamson a estimé qu'il lui fallait étudier les preuves historiques avant d'éventuellement revenir sur ses propos., rapporte le magazine allemand "Spiegel".

Un évêque qui a mis en cause l'existence de chambres à gaz dans les camps d'extermination nazis a refusé, pour le présent, de revenir sur ses affirmations, malgré un appel du Vatican, rapporte le magazine allemand Spiegel à paraître lundi.

L'évêque négationniste Richard Williamson, dont les affirmations ont causé un immense émoi dans le monde, en particulier en Allemagne, a estimé qu'il lui fallait étudier les preuves historiques avant d'éventuellement revenir sur ses propos.

"Si je trouve des preuves alors je rectifierai" les propos tenus, a affirmé l'évêque. "Mais tout cela prendra du temps", a-t-il ajouté. >>> AFP | Samedi 07 Février 2009

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Deutsche Bischöfe verlangen erneuten Ausschluss des Holocaust-Leugners

Die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz hat genug: Sie plädiert für die erneute Exkommunikation von Richard Williamson. "Ich sehe keinen Platz für ihn in der katholischen Kirche", sagte Bischof Zollitsch - der Holocaust-Leugner hatte zuvor im SPIEGEL angekündigt, seine Thesen trotz päpstlicher Aufforderung vorerst nicht zu widerrufen.

Bonn/Regensburg/Hamburg - Robert Zollitsch, Vorsitzender der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, will den Holocaust-Leugner Richard Williamson erneut aus der katholischen Kirche ausschließen. Der Freiburger Erzbischof Robert Zollitsch sagte der "Bild am Sonntag": "Herr Williamson ist unmöglich und unverantwortlich. Ich sehe jetzt keinen Platz für ihn in der katholischen Kirche."

In der Causa Williamson will der Freiburger Erzbischof in einen Dialog mit dem Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland eintreten. Hierfür habe der der Zentralratsvorsitzenden Charlotte Knobloch zwei Terminvorschläge für ein Treffen machen, berichtet die Zeitung. Zollitsch sagte, er hoffe "das Gespräch wird in den nächsten vier Wochen stattfinden." >>> cht/dpa | Samstag, 7. Februar 2009

leJDD.fr: Shoah: Le Pape doit s'exprimer

Benoît XVI devrait rencontrer jeudi prochain la Conférence des présidents des grandes organisations juives américaines et prononcer un discours sur l'holocauste et les dangers du négationnisme. Cette intervention doit répondre à la vive polémique déclenchée par la levée de l'excommunication de Richard Williamson, évêque niant l'existence des chambres à gaz.

C'est un discours très attendu. Benoît XVI doit s'exprimer jeudi sur l'holocauste et les dangers du négationnisme au cours d'une réunion avec la Conférence des présidents des grandes organisations juives américaines (CPMAJO), selon des sources ecclésiastiques. Des mots qui ne seront pas de trop pour tenter d'apaiser l'indignation suscitée par la levée de l'excommunication de quatre évêques intégristes de la Fraternité Saint-Pie-X et notamment par celle de Richard Williamson. Deux jours avant la décision du pape, ce religieux avait affirmé dans une interview diffusée le 22 janvier à la télévision suédoise: "Je crois qu'il n'y a pas eu de chambres à gaz (...) Je pense que 200 000 à 300 000 Juifs ont péri dans les camps de concentration mais pas un seul dans les chambres à gaz". Une négation d'une réalité historique avérée qui n'a pas empêché le pape de renouer des liens avec ces évêques, mis au ban en 1988 car ils ne reconnaissaient pas les orientations du concile Vatican II (1962-65) qui abandonne en particulier la doctrine attribuant aux juifs la responsabilité de la mort du Christ. >>> Par Alice POUYAT, leJDD.fr | Samedi 07 Février 2009

BBC: Seminary Sacks 'Holocaust Bishop'

An ultra-traditionalist British bishop who denies the Holocaust has been removed from his post as the head of a Roman Catholic seminary in Argentina.

A statement by the Society of St Pius X said Bishop Richard Williamson's views "in no way" reflected its position.

A row erupted last month after the Pope decided to lift Bishop Williamson's excommunication on an unrelated matter.

The Vatican said the Pope had been unaware of Bishop Williamson's views and had since ordered him to recant.

In a statement, the head of the Latin American chapter of the Society of St Pius X, which runs the seminary in La Reja, said Bishop Williamson had been relieved of his position as director.

"Monsignor Williamson's statements do not in any way reflect the position of our congregation," said Father Christian Bouchacourt.

"It is clear that a Catholic bishop cannot speak with ecclesiastical authority except on matters concerning faith and morality," his statement said. >>> | Monday, February 9, 2009

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Obama warnt vor wirtschaftlicher Katastrophe: Präsident verstärkt im Ringen um Konjunkturpaket Druck auf Kongress
NZZ Online: Präsident Barack Obama verstärkt im Ringen um die Verabschiedung seines Konjunkturpakets den Druck auf den Kongress. Die Rezession werde sich zu einer «Katastrophe» für das Land auswachsen, wenn das Paket nicht rasch verabschiedet werde, warnte Obama am Mittwoch. >>> ap | Mittwoch, 4. Februar 2009

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Spuren von Islamisten-Netz führen in die Schweiz: Polizeiaktion gegen al-Kaida in Spanien
NZZ Online: Spuren des in Spanien aufgedeckten Islamisten-Terrornetzwerks führen in die Schweiz. Das Bundesamt für Polizei, Fedpol, bestätigte am Mittwoch entsprechende Medienberichte aus Spanien.

In Spanien sind in den vergangenen Tagen fünfzehn Personen festgenommen worden, die offenbar Verbindungen zur Terrororganisation al-Kaidas haben. Nun haben spanische Medien auf Spuren hingewiesen, die in die Schweiz führen. Die Bundeskriminalpolizei stehe in Kontakt mit den spanischen Behörden, sagte Fedpol-Sprecher Guido Balmer auf Anfrage der Nachrichtenagentur SDA. Nähere Angaben machte er nicht. >>> sda | Mittwoch, 4. Februar 2009

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Illegal Workers Face EU Crackdown
BBC: Euro MPs have backed tough new rules aimed at preventing employers from hiring illegal workers, but a final vote will be held later this month.

Employers who break the rules could be forced to pay fines, make up wage shortfalls, or face a ban for up to five years from public contracts.

The "sanctions directive" already has the backing of the European Commission and EU member states' governments.

The UK is opting out, doubting the EU's authority to impose criminal sanctions.

Up to eight million non-EU illegal migrants are thought to work in the EU. Figures provided by 21 member states suggest a total of 893,000 to 923,000 illegal immigrants entering the EU each year.

The new rules, steered through the European Parliament by Italian Socialist MEP Claudio Fava, are set to take effect in 2011. >>> | Wednesday, February 4, 2009

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Top Iranian Official: Zionists Brought Obama to Power
HAARETZ: A representative of Iran's supreme leader said Barack Obama taking office as U.S. president did not mean Tehran's ties with Washington would change, a news agency reported on Wednesday.

"The Zionists brought Obama to power to help America pass through its current challenges," said the representative to the Revolutionary Guards in northwestern Zanjan province, cleric Hojjatoleslam Ali Maboudi.

"Any government has 'red lines' and our 'red lines' are rejecting the arrogant policies of America and the Zionist regime," he said.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ultimate authority over policy in the Islamic Republic, has yet to comment on Obama's presidency or his offer to extend a hand of peace if Iran "unclenched its fist."

The leader has representatives to many institutions and regions. Though not a perfect guide, their comments can give an indication of views prevalent among Iran's leadership. >>> Reuters | Wednesday, February 4, 2009

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North Korea Still Worst Persecutor of Christians
CHRISTIAN TODAY: Reclusive North Korea has yet again topped Open Doors’ list of the worst persecutors of Christians in the world.

North Korea ranked number one on the persecution watchdog’s 2008 World Watch List, the seventh year in a row that the communist country has come out on top.

Open Doors and other Christian rights groups say North Korea denies its citizens the right to freedom of worship and report imprisonment and torture of people caught practising the Christian faith.

"It is certainly not a shock that North Korea is No 1 on the list of countries where Christians face the worst persecution," says Carl Moeller, President and CEO of Open Doors USA.

"There is no other country in the world where Christians are persecuted in such a horrible and systematic manner.”

No 2 on the list was the Wahhabi kingdom of Saudi Arabia, while Iran came in at No 3. Both countries are ruled by a strict interpretation of Shariah law under which apostasy is punishable by death.

In the last five months, Compass News Direct reported that a daughter of a member of Saudi Arabia’s religious police was murdered after she wrote online about her faith in Christ, while a 28-year-old Christian man was allegedly arrested by Saudi authorities for telling of his conversion and criticising the kingdom’s judiciary on his website.

Open Doors said 2008 had been one of the toughest years for Christians in Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 with a major crackdown on house churches and a large number of Christians arrested. >>> By Jenna Lyle | Wednesday, February 4, 2009

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Obama n'a pas fumé... à la Maison Blanche
Photo grâce à la NZZ
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: WASHINGTON | Barack Obama a affirmé mardi qu'il n'avait pas touché à une cigarette à la Maison Blanche depuis son installation le 20 janvier dans la plus célèbre résidence des Etats-Unis.

Interrogé sur la chaîne de télévision CNN qui lui demandait s'il avait arrêté de fumer depuis son arrivée à la Maison Blanche, M. Obama a répondu: "Non, je n'ai pas fumé en ces lieux et vous savez, c'est parfois difficile, mais je m'y astreins".

Il n'a ainsi pas spécifiquement dit avoir arrêté de fumer depuis qu'il est devenu président.

Barack Obama n'a que très rarement été vu en train de fumer en public mais ses biographes assurent qu'il a du mal à résister à la cigarette.

Son épouse Michelle n'aurait accepté qu'il se présente à la présidentielle début 2007 qu'à la condition qu'il voie ses deux filles au moins une fois par semaine pendant la campagne... et qu'il arrête de fumer. [Source: Tribune de Genève ] AFP | Mercredi 04 Février 2009

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Obama Not Smoking at the White House

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is having at least some success in his plan to quit smoking in office.

Obama told CNN's Anderson Cooper he hasn't had a cigarette on the White House grounds. But he acknowledged that quitting has been difficult.

Cooper did not ask if Obama had smoked outside of the White House grounds since he was sworn in on Jan. 20. >>> ©Associated Press | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

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Gaskammern geleugnet: Vatikan fordert Widerruf
DIE PRESSE: Der britische Bischof Williamson soll sich "eindeutig und öffentlich" von seinen Aussagen zum Holocaust distanzieren, verlangt der Vatikan. Sonst werde er nicht voll in die Kirche aufgenommen.

Der Vatikan hat den traditionalistischen Bischof Richard Williamson am Mittwoch aufgefordert, seine Leugnung des Holocaust zu widerrufen. Williamson solle sich "eindeutig und öffentlich" von seinen Äußerungen distanzieren, bevor er wieder voll in die Kirche aufgenommen werden könne, hieß es in einer Erklärung des Vatikan. Noch wenige Stunden zuvor hatte der Papst bei seiner wöchentlichen Generalaudienz im Vatikan keinen Kommentar zur Causa Williamson abgegeben. >>> DiePresse.com | Mittwoch, 4. Februar 2009

HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Vatican: Holocaust Denier Must Recant

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican demanded Wednesday that a bishop who denied the Holocaust recant his positions before being fully admitted into the Roman Catholic Church.

The Vatican also said in a statement that Pope Benedict XVI didn't know about Bishop Richard Williamson's views when he agreed to lift his excommunication and that of three other ultraconservative bishops Jan. 21.

The statement was issued by the Vatican's Secretariat of State a day after German Chacellor Angela Merkel urged the pope to make a clearer rejection of Holocaust denials, saying there hadn't been adequate clarification from the Vatican.

Williamson was shown on Swedish state television days before his rehabilitation was made public saying historical evidence "is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed" during World War II. >>> By Nicole Winfield Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press | Wednesday, February 4, 2009

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le Vatican demande à Richard Williamson de renier ses propos

POLÉMIQUE | L’évêque intégriste négationniste Richard Williamson doit "prendre sans équivoque et publiquement ses distances" avec ses déclarations sur la Shoah a annoncé mercredi le Vatican.

Le Vatican a aussi affirmé dans un communiqué que le Pape Benoît XVI n’était pas informé des propos tenus par l’évêque britannique qui a nié l’existence des chambres à gaz, lorsqu’il a accepté de lever son excommunication en même temps que celle de trois autres prêtres intégristes la semaine dernière.

Mgr Richard Williamson s’est excusé depuis auprès du pape pour la «peine et les problèmes» qu’il a causés par ses propos, mais il ne s’est pas rétracté.

Les mouvements juifs ont salué le communiqué du Vatican, affirmant qu’il satisfaisait leur principale demande. «C’était le signe que le monde juif attendait», a déclaré Ronald Lauder, président du Congrès juif mondial. Mardi, la chancelière allemande Angela Merkel avait appelé Benoît XVI à exprimer un rejet «très clair» du négationnisme. >>> AP | Mercredi 04. Février 2009

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Kadhafi élu à la tête 
de l'Union africaine
Photo de Mouammar Kadhafi, élu à la tête de l’Union africaine, grâce au Figaro
LE FIGARO: Le dirigeant libyen a aussitôt fait savoir qu'il fallait désormais l'appeler «roi des rois traditionnels d'Afrique».

A peine élu, et déjà des exigences. Le dirigeant libyen Mouammar Kadhafi a été élu lundi pour un an à la tête de l'Union africaine (UA) lors d'un sommet de l'organisation à Addis Abeba (Ethiopie). Selon des sources concordantes, il a aussitôt fait savoir qu'il souhaitait désormais être officiellement appelé « roi des rois traditionnels d'Afrique ». Pour l'occasion, le dirigeant libyen était d'ailleurs venu dans la capitale éthiopienne accompagné de sept « rois » africains, tous vêtus de costumes traditionnels.

Mouammar Kadhafi succède à ce poste convoité au président tanzanien Jakaya Kikwete. Selon la règle de l'UA, la présidence revenait cette année à l'Afrique du Nord, après l'Afrique de l'Est. Et le dirigeant libyen était le seul représentant de cette partie du continent à avoir fait le déplacement à Addis Abeba. Il n'a pour autant pas été élu à l'unanimité, Kadhafi jouissant d'une mauvaise image auprès de beaucoup de responsables africains. Pour des «Etats-Unis d'Afrique» >>> Flore Galaud (lefigaro.fr) avec AFP | Lundi 02 Février 2009

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Halal Meat Taken Off School Menu After Race Row
CROYDON TODAY: Old Palace School is no longer serving Halal meat on its school menu after parents complained.

The Whitgift Foundation's John Whitgift Schools committee took the decision after some parents were furious pupils were not being given a choice.

The Halal method, in which animals are slaughtered by a single slit to the throat, is the only was of killing livestock allowed under Islam.

But the method is deemed cruel by some animal-lovers, who object to the slow death it involves.

In a letter to parents, after taking advice from religious leaders, chair of the committee Rosemary Jones said: "We have decided that Halal meat should no longer be served to our pupils in line with what we understand is the general policy adopted by multi-faith schools.

"We shall continue to offer a hot vegetarian option and an extensive range of cold salads as an alternative meal for those pupils choosing not to eat non-Halal meat." >>> | Wednesday, January 21, 2009

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Same Old Fudges and Loopholes in Obama's New Era of Ethics
THE TELEGRAPH: The sheen is already coming off the Obama presidency.

What a difference an election makes. On the campaign trail, candidate Barack Obama vowed to fix Washington's "broken politics", which had become "gummed up by money and influence". In the age of Obama, he promised, government would no longer be "a tool to enrich friends and high-priced lobbyists". The stakes were too high to play the "same old Washington games with the same old Washington players". The slogan was: "Change you can believe in."

Now that he is in office, however, the new dawn is looking like a false one. His administration is crammed to the gills with alumni of Bill Clinton's White House; Hillary Clinton, whom Obama mocked as the epitome of what was wrong with politics, is now secretary of state.

There have been attempts to give lobbyists top jobs in the Obama administration. Tom Daschle, a former senator and the personification of the slick operator richly rewarded for his influence-peddling, was nominated as health secretary. As with two other Obama nominees, it subsequently emerged that he had failed to pay all his taxes, and yesterday he was forced to withdraw his name from consideration.

President Obama still sounds a lot like candidate Obama. On day one in the White House, he announced that he was closing "the revolving door that lets lobbyists come into government freely" and making "a clean break from business as usual". His new ethics and transparency rules were, he ventured, "historic measures".

But the sheen is already coming off, as realities takes its toll. Two days after he had looked Americans in the eye and told them that this was a new ethical dawn, the President waived his "historic" rule. William Lynn, a lobbyist for the defence giant Raytheon, was nominated as the deputy Pentagon chief. There would always be "reasonable exceptions", the White House press secretary insisted.

"If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years," Mr Obama had said. He neglected to add the footnote: "Except when it suits us otherwise." >>> By Toby Harnden | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

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Pope's PR Men Have Put His Future at Risk
THE TELEGRAPH: Lifting the ban on the Holocaust denying Bishop Williamson is disastrous, says Damian Thompson.

The night before Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications on the Holocaust denier Richard Williamson and the other bishops of the ultra-traditionalist Society of St Pius X (SSPX), I emailed a friend in Rome with close links to the papal household. I said: "You do know how awful this is going to look, don't you?" He replied: "Yes, but it's too late."

This week, the future of Benedict's pontificate hangs in the balance. For those of us who regard him as the greatest pope of modern times, this is little short of a tragedy. In the last 18 months, he has reintegrated Latin services into the life of the Church. Orthodox Catholics are thrilled by his intellectually dazzling project to renovate the Church's liturgy. Thousands of Anglicans will cross the Tiber as soon as the Vatican can find a way of protecting them from unsympathetic RC bishops.

Meanwhile, the haughty prelates of the SSPX are finally prepared to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Second Vatican Council, which modernised the Catholic Church in the 1960s. Only Benedict XVI could have achieved this.

But the Williamson fiasco – the incompetence of the Vatican communications service in failing to anticipate the outcry, and the sluggish response – has given Benedict's enemies the opportunity they have been waiting for. Far from being alarmed by the lifting of the excommunications, many liberals are happy to sit back and watch "the Ratzinger project" unravel. >>> Damian Thompson* | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

*Damian Thompson is editor-in-chief of 'The Catholic Herald'

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For God’s Sake, Miliband, Go Back to School; and You, Hillary, for God’s Sake Go Visit Your Hairdresser!

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Pakistan: Wo die Taliban Terror über das Radio verbreiten
WELT ONLINE: Jeden Abend verkünden die Taliban neue Verhaltensregeln über das Radio. Mit Gewalt erobern sie das einst progressive Swat-Tal in Pakistan: Wer den Regeln nicht gehorcht, wird ausgepeitscht und dann geköpft. Der Albtraum von Swat ist eine Blaupause für die Probleme Pakistans. >>> Von Richard A. Oppel Jr. und Pir Zubair Shah, © International Herald Tribune / Aus dem Englischen von Stefanie Bolzen | Dienstag, Februar 3, 2009

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Thief in [Muslim] Headscarf Cons Jewellers
BBC: A jewel thief dressed as a wealthy Muslim woman has stolen rings worth hundreds of thousands of euros from dealers across Europe, police say.

The woman, wearing a headscarf, coat and gold-framed glasses, is suspected of swapping gems for replicas.

In one incident in Paris, the woman allegedly stole a 5.5 carat diamond ring worth 635,000 euros (£574,000).

Detectives say the thief has targeted dealers in Germany, Switzerland and France over a 10-year period.

German police are linking her to thefts from hotels in Germany and Switzerland during that time. >>> | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

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Turkey’s Jews Ask for Equal Democratic Rights
HÜRRIYET: ISTANBUL - The biggest problem of Jews in Turkey is that most people perceive them as foreigners and not citizens of this country, according to the leader of the Jewish community in Turkey.

While the concerns of the Jewish community in Turkey about possible antagonism over Israeli attacks in Gaza remain, the leader of the Jewish community in Turkey said they wanted equality and democracy, not tolerance.

"Everybody can criticize Israel’s policies and we respect that. However, any anti-Israel statement can easily turn into a condemnation of Jews," Silvyo Ovadya told daily Milliyet in an interview published yesterday. "What we are concerned about is the Jewish part, not the Israel part. We do not want people to insult our religion," he said.

Harsh rhetoric against Israel from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his much-criticized reference to 500 years ago when fleeing Jews were received by the Ottomans and the Education Ministry’s directive to hold a one minute’s silence for Palestinians who had been killed are among the government’s moves that received strong reactions from both within Turkey and abroad. Some observers said Turkey’s Jewish community felt physically threatened by growing anti-Israeli sentiment among the public.

"Whenever there is a war in the Middle East anti-Semitism goes up in the world. One reason is the inability to distinguish between an Israeli national and a Jew who is a citizen of another country. This is exactly our problem in Turkey, people see us as part of Israel," Ovadya said.

Explaining that their biggest problem was that people saw them as outsiders, Ovadya said they had no problems worshiping or holding religious services. "Of course there are restrictions. For example have you ever seen a Jewish ambassador or military officer? However, our problem is something else. We do our military service, we fulfill all our civic responsibilities and we are raised with Turkish culture and language. When somebody calls us a foreigner despite all that, it offends us," he said. >>> | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

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Pentagon: Iran's Domestic Satellite Launch Is Grave Cause for Concern
FOX NEWS: Iran's launch of its first satellite into space is a grave cause for concern, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Iran's launch of its first satellite into space is a grave cause for concern to the U.S. as the Islamic Republic continues to work toward developing long-range missile capability, the Pentagon and White House said Tuesday.

Tuesday's launch of its first domestically made satellite "does not convince us that Iran is acting responsibly to advance stability or security in the region," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Gibbs said any effort to develop missile delivery capability, continue an illicit nuclear program, threaten Israel and sponsor terror is an "acute concern to this administration."

"It is certainly a reason for us to be concerned about Iran and its continued attempts to develop a ballistic missile program of increasingly long range," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters Tuesday.

"They (Iran) pose a real threat and it is a growing threat," he said. >>> Fox News, with a contribution from Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

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Papst zeigt Merkel die kalte Schulter
Der Vatikan sieht nach Angaben eines Sprechers keine Notwendigkeit für eine Klarstellung des Papstes zum Holocaust.

In einer Reaktion auf eine entsprechende Forderung von Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel erklärte Vatikan-Sprecher Federico Lombardi am Dienstag: «Die Haltung des Papstes zum Thema Holocaust ist sehr deutlich ausgedrückt worden.» >>> cmp/ap | Dienstag, 3. Februar 2009

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Wilders Asks High Court to Halt Prosecution
Geert Wilders courtesy of Google Images
NRC HANDELSBLAD: Populist politician Geert Wilders is taking his case to the high court, asking the country's highest judicial body to quash the order to prosecute him "in the interest of the law".

The member of parliament has enlisted one of the Netherlands' best known lawyers, Bram Moszkowicz, to fight his prosecution over inciting hatred and discrimination. The lawyer has confirmed he is taking the case to the country's high court, requesting an immediate end to the proceedings.

The Amsterdam appeals court in January ordered that Wilders must be prosecuted for insulting Muslims and describing the Koran as "the Islamic Mein Kampf". Wilders, leader of the opposition Party for Freedom (PVV), claims he is doing nothing other than exercising his right to free speech, both inside and outside parliament. Following formal objections by individual citizens and interest groups, the Amsterdam court order reversed a decision by the public prosecutor's office to refrain from opening a case against Wilders.

Wilders on his website says: "I've hired the best lawyer of the Netherlands for a ruthless fight against the charges that I'm facing." In an earlier case Moszkowicz profited from a state’s request to quash a case in the interest of the law, achieving almost by accident his desired result of halting the prosecution in the Netherlands of Surinam's former strongman Desi Bouterse for his involvement in a series of political murders in 1982. The court declared in 2001 that the Netherlands had no jurisdiction in that case.

Dozens of citizens, companies and authorities plead for the cassation of irrevocable verdicts against them every year in the Netherlands, mostly to no avail. The independent representative of the prosecution at the high court almost never accepts such requests. The procedure is mainly used to correct obvious mistakes, clarify jurisprudence, affirm or rephrase the court's position. The criteria for quashing a verdict "in the interest of the law" is that a greater public interest is at stake.

According to Ybo Buruma, professor of criminal law at the Radboud University, Wilders's request to have his case put before the high court has a minimal chance of success. Buruma thinks that public relations are more involved here than the law. Yet he understands why Moszkowicz is exploring this avenue, given the practical consequences of the verdict in the Bouterse case. >>> By Folkert Jensma | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

This article was translated and edited in partnership with RNW.

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Treblinka Death Camp: A Survivor's Testimony
Watch YouTube video: here >>>
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Bishop Richard Williamson, the Holocaust-denier

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David Irving Speaks Out
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Part 2
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George Galloway Talks About the Holocaust

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Lord Ahmed Issues Threats*

*I should like to remind my visitors that I do NOT endorse ANY political party. The fact that this video was made by the BNP shouldn't be construed IN ANY WAY as an endorsement of that party. Similarly, I do not endorse any other parties either. –Mark

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Benedikt XVI: Merkel fordert klare Worte vom Papst
Foto vom Papst dank dem Stern
STERN: Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel hat Papst Benedikt XVI. zu einer deutlichen Stellungnahme zum Umgang mit dem Holocaust aufgefordert. Es gehe darum, eindeutig klarzustellen, dass es keine Leugnung geben könne, sagte sie. Indes wächst die Kritik deutscher Theologen am Papst wegen der Rehabilitierung von vier Bischöfen der erzkonservativen Pius-Bruderschaft.


Papst Benedikt XVI. gerät wegen der Rehabilitierung eines Holocaust-Leugners in den eigenen Reihen zunehmend unter Druck. Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel forderte ihn zu einer deutlichen Position in der Diskussion über den Umgang mit dem Holocaust auf. "Es geht darum, dass von Seiten des Papstes und des Vatikans sehr eindeutig klargestellt wird, dass es hier keine Leugnung geben kann", sagte sie. "Diese Klarstellungen sind aus meiner Sicht noch nicht ausreichend erfolgt", so Merkel am Dienstag bei einer Pressekonferenz in Berlin.

Merkel betonte, dass sie normalerweise innerkirchliche Entscheidungen nicht bewerte oder kommentiere. "Allerdings ist das anders, wenn es um Grundsatzfragen geht", sagte Merkel. "Und ich glaube, das ist schon eine Grundsatzfrage, wenn durch eine Entscheidung des Vatikan der Eindruck entsteht, dass es die Leugnung des Holocaust geben könnte, dass es um grundsätzliche Fragen auch des Umgangs mit dem Judentum insgesamt geht", sagte Merkel. >>> Reuters/DPA/AP | Dienstag, 3. Februar 2009

FOTO-GALERIE:
Papst Benedikt XVI: Das Leben des Joseph Ratzinger >>>

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le Vatican considère close la question des évêques intégristes

POLÉMIQUE | Le secrétaire d’Etat du Vatican, le cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a estimé mardi que la polémique concernant la réintégration d’un évêque intégriste ayant tenu des propos négationnistes "peut être considérée comme close".

Tarcisio Bertone a fait ces déclarations dans une interview au quotidien catholique Avvenire. "La Fraternité Saint Pie X a pris les distances avec son évêque et a demandé pardon au pape pour cet épisode embarrassant. Le pape a parlé clairement mercredi. Je pense que cette question peut être considérée comme close", a déclaré le numéro 2 du Vatican.

Mgr Richard Williamson, l’un des quatre évêques intégristes de la Fraternité Saint-Pie X dont l’excommunication a été levée par le pape fin janvier, a nié l’existence des chambres à gaz dans un entretien diffusé par la télévision suédoise. Il y a une semaine, le supérieur général de la Fraternité, Mgr Bernard Fellay, a demandé "pardon" au Pape et à "tous les hommes de bonne volonté". "Les affirmations de Mgr Williamson ne reflètent en aucun cas la position de notre société", a-t-il assuré. Le lendemain, au cours de l’audience générale du mercredi, le pape a exprimé sa "solidarité" avec les juifs et a condamné la négation de la Shoah. >>> ATS | Mardi 03 Février 2009

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Melanie Phillips: British Police Running from Muslim Demonstrators, a Christian Nurse Facing the Sack for Offering to Pray for a Patient - This Is the Way a Society Dies
MAIL Online: In our allegedly multicultural society, there is one religious group which is apparently not to be afforded equal respect, let alone treated for what it embodies - the foundational creed of this nation. That group is Britain’s Christians.

Somerset community nurse and committed Christian Caroline Petrie has been suspended and faces being sacked and even struck off for offering to say a prayer for an elderly patient. Although startled, the patient - herself a Christian - did not make a complaint and was in no way offended.

Nevertheless Mrs Petrie’s boss wrote to her saying she was required to uphold the reputation of her profession - which apparently means demonstrating ‘a personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity’ and not using her professional status ‘to promote causes that are not related to health’.

Apparently, Mrs Petrie previously received a warning about promoting her faith at work after she offered to give a prayer card to an elderly male patient.

Now there may be a valid point here about professionalism. Offering prayer cards comes close to touting one’s faith, which might well be thought inappropriate on the wards. But even so, one would have thought that a quiet word in the nurse’s ear would have been all that was necessary. Instead, Mrs Petrie was packed off to an ‘equality’ course for some diversity training.

This Orwellian response has now been followed up by the draconian action of suspending her with the possibility of outright dismissal from her job simply because she offered to pray for another patient.

Suspension and dismissal are sanctions to be used for mistreating or neglecting patients. Yet here they are being used against a nurse for offering to bring a patient a form of spiritual solace - which the patient was able easily to refuse and which caused her no problem. Is this not an utterly idiotic over-reaction?

I am a Jew; but when my mother was in the last stages of her terminal illness she was cared for by deeply devout Christian nurses who regularly prayed for her. Far from being offended by this, I was touched and comforted by this signal that they cared so much about her.

Moreover, this is not actually about upholding professionalism in nursing. It is all about foisting upon nursing the sinister and politically correct ‘diversity’ agenda – which means in effect treating Christianity as inherently offensive. >>> Melanie Phillips | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

BNPTube: Metropolitan Police Humiliated at the Hands of Muslim Demonstrators in London

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’Turkey’s EU Bid Is a Great Threat to Europe’
HÜRRIYET: VIENNA - Austria's far-right Freedom Party, or FPOe, announced Sunday it could soon join the European Parliament's right-wing faction, Union for the Europe of Nations, or UEN, following a meeting of far-right parties in Vienna.

"Europe is and must be more than the European Union. We all see the Lisbon Treaty as a major problem but Turkey's accession is also a great threat for Europe," FPOe leader Heinz-Christian Strache announced in a statement. [Source: Hürriyet] Agence France-Presse | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

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What Lurks Behind Iran's Close Relationship with Venezuela?
[T]he Iranian effort, which has been joined by Venezuela in a joint effort to establish a strong terror base in the region, is especially palpable in countries ruled by anti-American left wing regimes such as Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Bolivia.

Nonetheless, Iran has also increased its presence in Mexico and Colombia, which are considered more U.S. friendly. The rate of the increase of Iranian personnel in Mexican and Colombian embassies were described by the New York sources as "astronomical" and as "not proportional with the embassies' local requirements." Some believe that this increase is in fact in preparation for subversive activity.

In an exclusive report on the Iran-Venezuela cooperation, published by news Website Newsmax, a study conducted by Israel's Foreign Ministry is quoted as saying that 30 Iranian diplomats were dispatched to Nicaragua. A similar number was dispatched to Venezuela and other Latin American countries. >>> Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent | Thursday, January 1, 2009

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Turkey No Longer Seen as 'Honest Broker' After Erdogan Outburst
HAARETZ: Turkey's role in mediating the Israeli-Arab conflict has been compromised by its leader's repeated censure of Israel's recent offensive in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli government official said Monday.

"He won't mediate anything any more," the official said. "His stint as mediator between Israel and the Arabs is over, that's for sure. He won't be accepted as an honest broker by Israel at all."

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose Israeli policy. He said no official decision had to be taken, but that Israeli leaders spoke about Erdogan in such a way that made it clear they did not have faith in him as a mediator.

Any Israel discontent is directed at Erdogan personally, and should not be misconstrued as a rupture with Turkey, whose cooperation Israel values, he added. >>> Associated Press (Yoav Stern contributed to this report) | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

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Order to Take Off Niqab Pits Law Against Religion
THE STAR (TORONTO EDITION): Woman to appeal ruling forcing her to unveil face in sexual assault trial

A judge has ordered a Toronto woman to testify without her niqab at a sexual assault trial – raising the thorny issue of whether Muslim women should be allowed to appear as witnesses wearing a veil that covers everything but the eyes.

The issue is a collision of two rights, pitting religious freedom against the right of a defendant to face an accuser in open court.

The case could be precedent setting because it doesn't appear there is any Canadian case law addressing the question of Muslim women in the courtroom. In Canada, home to about 580,000 Muslims, the case will be closely watched, amid fears about Muslim women coming forward in criminal cases. >>> Betsy Powell | Monday, February 2, 2009

Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch >>>

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Carol Thatcher Dropped from BBC Show after 'Golliwog' Gaffe
Photo of Carol Thatcher courtesy of The Times
TIMES ONLINE: The BBC announced today that it has no plans to use Carol Thatcher in her regular presenting slot after she used the racial epithet “golliwog” during an off-air discussion.

The daughter of Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister, made the remark when discussing a tennis player in the green room after filming for the One Show, a daily magazine programme shown on BBC One.

After discussions held last night between Thatcher and the corporation, a statement was released this afternoon.

A spokesman for the corporation said: “There are no confirmed plans for Carol to be working on the One Show at the present time. It’s a very pressing matter for the BBC to get resolved and we are working as hard as we can to do so.”

Thatcher, who was crowned Queen of the Jungle in the 2005 reality series I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, has been a regular presenter on the series for three years and is described as part of the family on the BBC website.

She made the controversial remark during a discussion with the show’s host Adrian Chiles after filming. Thatcher was immediately challenged about the remark according to reports, but she only apologised yesterday dismissing the comment as a “joke”. >>> Nico Hines | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

MAIL Online: Furious Carol Thatcher Accuses BBC of Vendetta Against Her After Leaking of Golliwog 'Joke'

The Carol Thatcher race row intensified today as attention centred on who leaked her 'golliwog' remark.

Her agent pointed the finger at a member of the production team on BBC's The One Show and suggested that it was part of a vendetta against Baroness Thatcher's daughter.

Comedian Jo Brand, who was a guest on the show, denied that it was her.

The 55-year-old daughter of the former prime minister was axed by the corporation after she refused to apologise for using the term while describing a black tennis player thought to be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Thatcher, a roving reporter for the programme, made her comments during a post-show conversation with presenter Adrian Chiles and several guests including Brand.

Today Thatcher's spokeswoman, asked on Talksport if she believed that this is a personal campaign against Thatcher, said: "That's what I believe, yes. It has been condoned by the producers of the BBC who haven't acted to discipline that member of staff."

She added: "This was a private conversation held in private, amongst individuals in the green room after she Carol Thatcher had been on The One Show. >>> By Daily Mail Reporter | Wednesday, February 4, 2009

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Vatican Admits 'Errors' in Rehabilitating Bishop Who Questioned Holocaust
The Vatican has conceded for the first time that it may have made 'errors' in its rehabilitation of a British bishop who questioned the Holocaust.

A senior Vatican official acknowledged that the Holy See made "management errors" with its decision to lift the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson, who has said that the Nazis did not use gas chambers to kill and that a maximum of 300,000 Jews, not six million, lost their lives.

Pope Benedict XVI's decision to rehabilitate Bishop Williamson – without seeking the advice of his most senior advisers, according to Vatican insiders – provoked uproar around the world and forced the Vatican into damage control mode.

"I observe the debate with great concern. There were misunderstandings and management errors in the Curia," said Cardinal Walter Kasper, who is in charge of the Vatican department that deals with Jewish relations.

"The Pope wanted to open the debate because he wanted unity inside and outside," the German cardinal told Vatican Radio, referring to the Pontiff's desire to reconcile the ultra-conservative Society of Saint Pius X, of which Williamson is a member, with the rest of the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Kasper noted that although Bishop Williamson and three other bishops have had their excommunications lifted, "they are still suspended" from the mainstream Church.

The Vatican has argued that rehabilitating Bishop Williamson, who runs a church in Argentina, does not imply that it accepts or condones his views on the Holocaust.

But the affair has poisoned relations with progressive Catholics and Jewish groups around the world, leaving many with the impression that the Vatican did not give enough thought to bringing Williamson in from the cold. >>> By Nick Squires in Rome | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Bishop Richard Williamson interviewed by Swedish television >>>

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