Thursday, August 13, 2009
leJDD.fr: Fidel Castro fête ce jeudi ses 83 ans. L'ancien dirigeant cubain, qui n'est pas apparu en public depuis trois ans, conserve une certaine influence sur la vie politique de l'île.
"La mémoire de la révolution." C'est en ces termes que Granma, le journal du Parti communiste cubain, évoque Fidel Castro. L'homme fête ses 83 ans ce jeudi et, à cette occasion, une exposition lui est consacrée à La Havane. "Ces photographies promeuvent nos souvenirs et nos sentiments, mais surtout, elles transcendent le temps, et demain, elles seront les témoins de moments historiques", poursuit le quotidien officiel, lyrique. A Cuba, toute l'île rend hommage ce jeudi à son "Lider Maximo" – titre qu'il avait lui-même inventé -, et ce, bien qu'il ne soit plus apparu en public depuis trois ans. Seules des photos et des vidéos – notamment à l'occasion des nombreuses visites du président vénézuélien Hugo Chavez – ont été diffusées.
Mais Fidel Castro continue à influer sur la vie politique de l'île, notamment au travers des nombreux éditoriaux publiés dans la presse officielle. Récemment encore, il dénonçait le coup d'Etat perpétré au Honduras contre le président Manuel Zelaya. Si de l'avis des observateurs, l'ancien président reste aux affaires, il est difficile de dire de quelle façon. Nombreux sont ceux qui s'interrogent notamment sur l'influence, réelle ou supposée, qu'il a sur son frère, Raul, qui a pris les rênes du pouvoir l'an dernier. "Je pense que c'est encore un partenariat, mais que Raul est maintenant le principal partenaire. Fidel n'est plus capable de s'impliquer dans les affaires quotidiennes", analyse pour Reuters Brian Latell, chercheur à l'Institut pour les études cubaines de l'université de Miami. >>> Marianne Enault, leJDD.fr | Jeudi 13 Août 2009
NZZ ONLINE: Fidel Castro scheint bei besserer Gesundheit zu sein als vermutet. In einer Ausstellung in Havanna ist ein Foto gezeigt worden, das sein Sohn kürzlich von ihm gemacht hat. Mit gestutztem Bart und weisser Sportjacke sieht Castro erholt und vital aus.
In Kuba ist anlässlich des 83. Geburtstages von Fidel Castro an diesem Donnerstag ein Foto des Ex-Präsidenten veröffentlicht worden, das ihn in unerwartet guter Verfassung zeigt.
Die Aufnahme ist Teil einer Ausstellung in der kubanischen Hauptstadt und stammt von Fidels Sohn Alex Castro, einem professionellen Fotografen. Dieser hat seinen Vater mit gestutztem Bart und weisser Sportjacke im Gespräch mit anderen Personen nach eigenen Angaben erst vor kurzem fotografiert. >>> sda/dpa | Donnerstag, 13. August 2009
THE WASHINGTON TIMES: UNITED NATIONS | Declaring "the United States is back," the Obama administration pledged Wednesday to turn more frequently to the United Nations and work with the world body on the basis of decency and mutual respect, rather than condescension and contempt.
"Over the past six months, the United States has taken a fresh look at our positions across the board - including some policies that left many scratching their heads to understand what we objected to, policies that failed to advance our interests or our values," Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in a speech at New York University's Center for Global Affairs.
Ms. Rice explicitly reversed two of the George W. Bush administration's main policies toward the United Nations by declaring the United States "would no longer oppose mentions of reproductive health or the International Criminal Court."
She did not mention by name Mr. Bush or senior officials of his administration, who sometimes subjected the world body to harsh criticism and ridicule.
"We will increase U.S. support to U.N. peacekeeping," Ms. Rice said, citing the possibility of expanded U.S. contributions of military staff officers, military observers, civilian police and civilian personnel to U.N. missions.
President Obama has frequently praised the United Nations in his public remarks, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been a longtime advocate of international cooperation on transnational issues.
"Engaging across the full U.N. membership is more than good manners. It's also smart diplomacy," Ms. Rice said. >>> Betsy Pisik | Thursday, August 13, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: A propaganda war is masking the real problems over health care reform, says Toby Harnden.
If Stephen Hawking had been treated in Britain, he would not have survived to be awarded his Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama yesterday, because the NHS "would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless". That was the thundering verdict of the Investor's Business Daily on our National Health Service and Mr Obama's plans to introduce what Republicans term "socialised medicine".
It was, as scientists sometimes say, a beautiful hypothesis destroyed by a single ugly fact. Professor Hawking, who is completely paralysed by motor neurone disease, has been treated by the NHS throughout his 67 years, and points out indignantly that he would not have lived without its care.
Much of the conservative contribution to the health care debate raging in the United States, which is dominating a long, hot summer, has been as misguided as that newspaper editorial. With the battle lines drawn, and President Obama staking his credibility on achieving a comprehensive reform that delivers health insurance to the tens of millions without it, Democratic members of Congress are facing the wrath and anxiety of their constituents – who are being urged on by opponents of reform.
Sarah Palin, who recently resigned as Alaska's governor but remains the darling of rural conservatives, invoked the spectre of a "death panel" pronouncing on whether her baby Trig, who has Down's syndrome, should be allowed to live.
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa suggested that this was what happened in Britain. "I've heard several senators say that Ted Kennedy with a brain tumour, being 77 years old … if he were in England, would not be treated… when you get to be 77, your life is considered less valuable under those systems," he said.
In a television ad from the Club for Growth pressure group, a narrator intones portentously as images of Big Ben and the Union flag appear on the screen: "$22,750. In England, government health officials decided that's how much six months of life is worth. Under their socialised system, if a medical treatment costs more, you're out of luck. That's wrong for America." Cue the Statue of Liberty and the Stars and Stripes.
The figure comes from Britain's National Institute for Clinical Evidence, which evaluates treatments in terms of the average increase in life expectancy. If the cost of prolonging someone's life for a year exceeds more than £30,000, then the NHS will not pay for that treatment. In other words, although there are no "death panels", the fundamental point is correct. The NHS does decide that some treatments are too expensive. And if that means you die? Our condolences, says the Government. >>> Toby Harnden | sday, August 12, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Gordon Brown has joined in the Twitter campaign to defend the National Health Service following protests in the United States at Barack Obama's drive to reform the American healthcare system.
The Prime Minister's wife, Sarah, also leapt to the defence of the NHS, after US critics opposed to the President's reforms described the British system as "evil" and "Orwellian."
Many Republicans are opposed to what they term as "socialised" medicine. But Britons living in the US and in this country furious at the attacks have hit back by organising a campaign on the social networking site urging backers of the NHS to send messages of support.
Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, is among those who have taken part, along with thousands of ordinary members of the public.
Such is the popularity of the campaign - called #welovethenhs - that the site crashed yesterday.
Mr Brown used the Downing Street twitter page to add his support. His message said: "PM; NHS often makes the difference between pain and comfort, despair and hope, life and death. Thanks for always being there."
Mrs Brown added: "#we love the nhs - more than we can say." The Health Secretary twittered: "Andy Burnham: Over the moon about strong support for the NHS - an institution I will defend to my dying day." >>> Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Thursday, August 13, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: The City watchdog was accused of giving banks a green light to continue paying multimillion-pound bonuses yesterday when it backed away from introducing tough rules to curb excess pay.
The Financial Services Authority’s proposals on City pay embarrassed Gordon Brown, who had promised to sweep aside the bonus culture in the financial sector. Opposition politicians branded the FSA’s new proposals a capitulation. The Treasury also indicated that they did not go far enough.
Some of the most onerous provisions in the FSA’s original proposals from March have been softened. Under the new guidelines the banks must link risk and reward. But they will have more freedom to structure bonus packages than was previously suggested and many bank executives and some smaller City firms are excluded from the plan altogether.
The row came as unemployment rose to a 14-year high and the Bank of England admitted that the recession was deeper than previously thought and that recovery would be slow, partly because banks were still not lending enough money.
It will be exacerbated by the disclosure that Royal Bank of Scotland, in which taxpayers have a 70 per cent interest, has hired two bankers on multimillion-pound packages. One of them, Antonio Polverino, who has been headhunted from Merrill Lynch, will earn £7 million in his first year. Watchdog 'gives green light' for huge City bonuses >>> Philip Webster, Political Editor, and Katherine Griffiths, Banking Editor | Thursday, August 13, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: A French woman who converted to Islam has been banned from wearing a "burkini" in a swimming pool outside Paris.
The woman, named only as Carole, 35, was told that the garment, a swimsuit that covers most of the body, was "inappropriate" clothing for a public baths.
Pool staff said her three-piece Islamic swimsuit she bought in Dubai - consisting of a headscarf, tunic and trousers - was against pool regulations and unhygienic.
They had "reminded her of the rules that apply in all [public] swimming pools which forbid swimming while clothed," said Daniel Guillaume, a manager at the pool in the suburb of Emerainville.
The ban was imposed as President Nicolas Sarkozy's government is considering an outright ban on all Islamic dress, such as the head-to-toe burka or niqab, that it considers a "sign of subservience" and "not welcome" in France.
"Burkini" is derived from the words bikini and burka. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
LE MONDE: Les autorités soudanaises ont empêché la journaliste Loubna Ahmed al-Hussein, passible de quarante coups de fouet pour avoir porté un pantalon, de se rendre à l'étranger, a indiqué, mardi 11 août, la jeune femme.
Loubna Ahmed al-Hussein devait passer quatre jours à Beyrouth afin de participer à une émission de la chaîne satellitaire arabe MBC, mais les autorités à l'aéroport de Khartoum lui ont interdit de prendre l'avion dans la nuit de lundi à mardi. "Ils m'ont dit qu'il y avait une décision datant du 7 août qui m'interdisait de voyager à l'extérieur du pays (...) Je leur ai demandé un document écrit concernant cette décision mais ils n'ont pu m'en fournir un", a-t-elle déclaré. >>> LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | Mercredi 12 Août 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Alan Duncan, the accident-prone Tory frontbencher, has said that MPs are being treated like "****" and forced to live on “rations” following the expenses scandal.
Alan Duncan, the accident-prone Tory frontbencher, has said that MPs are being treated like **** and forced to live on “rations” following the expenses scandal.
The shadow leader of the House was caught on camera complaining about the public’s response to The Daily Telegraph’s disclosures about the widespread abuse of Parliamentary second home allowances.
He rejected criticism of his decision to claim thousands of pounds for gardening bills at his second home in his constituency of Rutland, saying that “the world has gone mad”.
Mr Duncan repaid £5,000 after The Daily Telegraph revealed that the Commons fees office questioned whether his claims “could be considered excessive.”
He was captured on video by campaigner Heydon Prowse, who previously filmed himself digging a pound sign into the MP’s lawn, during a visit to the House of Commons in June.
Asked why people no longer wanted to stand for Parliament, Mr Duncan said: "No-one who has done anything in the outside world, or is capable of doing such a thing, will ever come into this place ever again, the way we are going.
“Basically, it’s being nationalised, you have to live on rations and are treated like ****.
“I spend my money on my garden and claim a tiny fraction on what is proper. And I could claim the whole bloody lot, but I don’t.”
Questioned over how much he paid from his own pocket for his garden, he said: “About £2,000 a year and this was £1,000 a year on expenses, you know. It’s just, I’m afraid, the world has gone mad.”
Mr Duncan has gained a reputation for being gaffe-prone, particularly in his response to the expenses scandal. >>> Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Wednesday, August 12, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Italy is in the grip of lottery fever, with a record £113 million (131.5 million euros) up for grabs in the country's national draw, now the world's richest.
Italy is deep in recession and unemployment is on the rise, but millions of Italians are buying up tickets for the lucky numbers game, despite the odds of winning estimated to be one in 622 million.
Although draws are held three times a week the prize has not been won since January, with people in neighbouring countries making special trips to Italy to try their luck in guessing the six winning numbers.
The size of the jackpot has surged past the previous record of 126 million euros, which was paid out by Euromillions in Spain in May.
But the Roman Catholic Church condemned lotto fever, saying it encouraged greed, false hope for society's poorest families and a worship of money that amounted to idolatry.
"Fever for SuperEnalotto has for many people become a form of idolatry and should be stopped as soon as possible," said the archbishop of Lecce, Cosmo Franceso Ruppi. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Wednesday, August 12, 2009
MÉTRO MONTRÉAL: PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire - Le président Barack Obama s'est fait offensif pour soutenir son projet de réforme de la protection sociale mardi, priant une foule de citoyens acquis à sa cause de ne pas écouter ceux qui cherchent à "effrayer et égarer le peuple américain".
"Parmi toutes les techniques visant à vous effrayer, il y en a une vraiment effrayante, c'est de ne rien faire" a argumenté le président devant des partisans réunis dans un lycée du New Hampshire. >>> The Associated Press | Mardi 11 Août 2009
WELT ONLINE: Barack Obama ist empört über die Art und Weise, wie seine geplante Gesundheitsreform teilweise kritisiert wird. Gegner der Reform würden suggerieren, er wolle bei älteren kranken Menschen "den Stecker rausziehen" lassen, so Obama. Solche Gerüchte dienten lediglich dazu, den Menschen Angst zu machen.
Wegen des wachsenden Widerstands gegen die geplante Gesundheitsreform hat US-Präsident Barack Obama seinen politischen Gegnern unfaire Methoden vorgeworfen.
Die Reformgegner setzten bewusst auf „Angstmacherei“ und versuchten, die Bürger durch die gezielte Irreführung zu verunsichern, sagte Obama auf einem Bürgerforum in Portsmouth im Bundesstaat New Hampshire: „Sie schaffen ein Gespenst, das es in Wirklichkeit nicht gibt.“ >>> AFP/cn | Dienstag, 11. August 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Members of Take it Easy Hospital, Iran's leading underground rock band, have applied for political asylum in Britain after one of the group was arrested following the disputed presidential election.
Four members of the Indie band were interviewed by the Home Office on Monday after submitting applications to remain in the UK.
"If I go back to Iran I will be arrested automatically because the authorities known [sic] what I have been doing," Ash Koosha, the lead singer told The Daily Telegraph. "Since the election things have got a lot worse. There is no hope in Iran for doing what I do.
"If we have any concerts or play our music in Iran, then we will get arrested."
As a woman, vocalist Negar Haghaghi would not be allowed to perform in public in Iran. Two other members, Pooya Koosha and Kabeh Ayati, have also applied for sanctuary in the UK.
A fifth member of the band was arrested in July when mass demonstrations filled the streets of the large cities. Protesters were attacked and detained while attempting to overturn the result of the election, which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by a large majority. The band member has not been heard from since. >>> Damien McElroy and Benjamin Allen | Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
BBC: The Jeddah offices of a Lebanon-based TV station which broadcast an interview with a Saudi man boasting about his sexual conquests have been closed.
Saudi Arabian authorities said the offices had been shut by order of the country's deputy prime minister.
The 32-year-old Saudi man's interview shocked conservative Saudi society, prompting calls for him to be punished.
Mazen Abdul Jawad talked about his sexual conquests and how he picks up women in the kingdom.
A spokesman at the information ministry confirmed the decision to close the offices of the LBC TV station in the kingdom's commercial capital.
"It was because of the interview with Mazen Abdul Jawad," Abdul Rahman al-Hazzaa said, according to AFP news agency.
Discreet society
Saudi media say officials are considering whether to charge Mr Abdul Jawad over the interview, which appeared on a programme called Red Lines and challenged Saudi taboos.
The Saudi daily newspaper al-Watan said authorities had also closed other offices of the channel, which is mainly owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
Pre-marital sex is illegal in Saudi Arabia and Mr Abdul Jawad could face imprisonment or flogging.
Saudi Arabia is not only the most conservative society in the Arab world, it is also the most discreet.
If people break its strict Islamic code they face punishment - lashes or imprisonment for drinking or non-marital sex.
These rules are flouted by locals as well as expatriates, correspondents say, but almost everyone who breaks the rules keeps quiet about it and hopes they will not be found out. [Source: BBC] | Sunday, August 09, 2009
Related:
Saudi Man 'Faces Death' Over TV Sex Boast >>> The Sunday Telegraph | Sunday, August 02, 2009
Saudi Sex Boasts Man Apologises >>> BBC | Monday, July 27, 2009
DIE PRESSE: Auf einem Plakat der Berliner CDU sind Kanzlerin Merkel und Bundestagskandidatin Lengsfeld mit tiefem Ausschnitt zu sehen. Der dazugehörige Slogan: "Wir haben mehr zu bieten". In der Wahlkampfzentrale ist man empört.
Ein Wahl-Plakat der eigenen Partei sorgt in der deutschen CDU für Aufregung. Die Berliner Kandidatin Vera Lengsfeld wirbt für die Bundestagswahl mit einem Bild, das sie und Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel mit tiefem Dekolleté zeigt. Darunter ist der Slogan "Wir haben mehr zu bieten" zu lesen.
In der Wahlkampfzentrale findet man das nicht gerade lustig. "Das war nicht mit uns abgestimmt", sagte ein Sprecher am Montag. Auch Merkel habe von der Kampagne nichts gewusst.>>> Red. | Dienstag, 11. August 2009
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Warns of Rising Casualties
The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy in the eight-year-old conflict by increasing the number of troops in heavily populated areas like the volatile southern city of Kandahar, the insurgency's spiritual home.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned that means U.S. casualties, already running at record levels, will remain high for months to come.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the commander offered a preview of the strategic assessment he is to deliver to Washington later this month, saying the troop shifts are designed to better protect Afghan civilians from rising levels of Taliban violence and intimidation. The coming redeployments are the clearest manifestation to date of Gen. McChrystal's strategy for Afghanistan, which puts a premium on safeguarding the Afghan population rather than hunting down militants.
Gen. McChrystal said the Taliban are moving beyond their traditional strongholds in southern Afghanistan to threaten formerly stable areas in the north and west.
The militants are mounting sophisticated attacks that combine roadside bombs with ambushes by small teams of heavily armed militants, causing significant numbers of U.S. fatalities, he said. July was the bloodiest month of the war for American and British forces, and 12 more American troops have already been killed in August.
"It's a very aggressive enemy right now," Gen. McChrystal said in the interview Saturday at his office in a fortified NATO compound in Kabul. "We've got to stop their momentum, stop their initiative. It's hard work." >>> Yochi J. Dreazen in Kabul and Peter Spiegel in Washington | Monday, August 10, 2009
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: BAGNOLET, France -- Youths rampaged overnight through a suburban Paris housing project, torching eight cars and a bus in a second night of violence prompted by a teenager's death, officials said Tuesday.
Overall, however, tensions appeared to be subsiding in the town of Bagnolet, with less damage than the night before.
Nine people were detained in the unrest early Tuesday, said regional administration spokeswoman Samira Amrouche.
She said the situation was "relatively calm" compared to the previous night, when 29 cars were burned and young people hurled Molotov cocktails at police.
The anger erupted when an 18-year-old pizza deliverer died in a motorcycle crash after fleeing a police check Sunday night. The unrest that night prompted police to send about 40 vans of riot officers to the housing project Monday night.
A helicopter beamed a spotlight into the area early Tuesday as bands of youth taunted police in a cat-and-mouse game typical of suburban unrest in France. Group of youths set street fires and hurled stones and other objects at police.
After daybreak, residents took stock of the destruction. A Moroccan tourist bus, its Arabic lettering mostly charred off, stood beneath an overpass, little more than a tangle of metal seat frames. Pigeons picked through scraps from burned garbage cans. >>> Associated Press | Tuesday, August 11, 2009
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: POLÉMIQUE | Le ministère iranien des Affaires étrangères à proposé à la France d’accorder une liberté conditionnelle à Clotilde Reiss, à condition qu’elle réside à l’ambassade de France à Téhéran jusqu’à la fin de son procès
"Notre vice-ministre des Affaires étrangères a donné un engagement au pouvoir judiciaire iranien pour que cette demoiselle, jusqu’à la fin de son procès et à condition que le gouvernement et l’ambassadeur de France à Téhéran accepte et s’y engage officiellement, réside à l’ambassade de France à Téhéran jusqu’à ce que le processus judiciaire arrive à son terme", a déclaré M. Miraboutalebi sur RFI. "Elle pourra bénéficier d’une liberté conditionnelle. Jusqu’à maintenant on n’a pas eu de réponse de la part de l’ambassadeur de France."
"Nous sommes en train d’essayer de créer des conditions favorables pour Clotilde Reiss", a-t-il ajouté, tout en insistant sur le fait que "c’est le juge qui décide de la longueur du procès".
La jeune Française est "allée en Iran avec un visa d’un mois et finalement s’est retrouvée sur place pendant cinq mois, alors même que son visa avait expiré depuis longtemps", a-t-il par ailleurs affirmé. "Cette demoiselle a préféré enseigner la langue française pendant quinze jours au milieu des manifestants et au milieu de l’agitation, donc il y a un certain nombre de chefs d’accusation à son encontre". >>> AP | Mardi 11 Août 2009
HAARETZ: Counterterrorism unit warning of planned attacks during the upcoming Jewish holiday period.
Israel on Tuesday issued a travel warning for its nationals visting the Sinai peninsula in Egypt, advising them to leave the area immediately.
The warning came from the government's counterterrorism unit. The unit warned Israelis of planned attacks during the upcoming Jewish holiday period, which begins with Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), at sundown on September 18.
The announcement mentioned tensions along the northern border of Sinai with the Gaza Strip, as well as recent threats from Hezbollah to strike at Israelis. >>> Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent | Tuesday, August 11, 2009
THE WASHINGTON TIMES: Cashing in on 'No, he can't'
In the political paraphernalia department, "Yes, we can" is becoming "No, he can't."
Anti-Obama memorabilia -- from T-shirts to bumper stickers to buttons -- is increasingly emerging in the marketplace as the president's economic and health care policies polarize supporters and detractors.
While "Mama for Obama" was a popular slogan during the 2008 election cycle, that design has been retooled with angry and fickle disenchantment: "To the Mama for Obama -- thanks for the tax hike." The "Audacity of Hope," the title of Mr. Obama's popular book, has been replaced by the "Audacity of Hype."
"It really started peaking about a month ago," said Amy Maniatis, vice president of marketing at the online seller Cafepress.com.
"You see it as a direct response to some of the promising messages that happened a year ago. Whereas we had the campaign of Obama centered around hope, and it was a very optimistic message, now they're asking: 'How's that hopey-changey thing going?' "
The Cafepress.com store, a cultural barometer of sorts for political and social expression, offers about 3 million Obama products, she said, but now is up to about 1 million that are "anti-Obama-oriented," reflecting a "significant shift in the last couple of months than what was the trend a year ago." >>> Andrea Billups | Tuesday, August 11, 2009
TIME: Not a single fan showed up Aug. 7 for the opening match of Iran's avidly followed football season. After the government caught wind of plans by protesters to bring the street demonstrations into the 100,000-seat national stadium, authorities decided to have the two rival teams from Tehran and Isfahan play to an empty house rather than risk yet another embarrassing show of green and chants of "Death to the dictators."
In recent days, despite the regime's heavy-handed efforts to stifle the resistance, public demonstrations have become more decentralized and frequent as protesters become increasingly bold and defiant. This shift in mood — from despondency in late June after the Basij fired on protesters following the June 12 presidential election, to a renewed sense of optimism — signals that the vocal opposition movement will not be going away anytime soon. "It's the national duty of every single man and woman to go to the streets," said a university student protester in her mid-20s. "This is far from over."
According to interviews with a half-dozen protesters, their objective appears to have evolved beyond reclaiming the votes for Mir-Hossein Mousavi in the disputed election. The aim is now to attack the very legitimacy of the theocracy. The immediate triggers for street protests, however, vary and are often tied to significant dates; for instance, in the past week demonstrators marched to protest the inauguration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a second term, to object to the renewed mass trial of political dissidents and, on another occasion, simply to take advantage of a religious holiday when many devout Basij members would be in mosques.
The most dramatic protests came July 30, when thousands turned out to commemorate the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year-old woman whose death was captured on video and seen around the world. Because the two centers of protest were at opposite ends of the sprawling capital, security forces were spread too thin and could not quell the crowds in many neighborhoods; protesters began chanting "Death to Khamenei," a phrase almost no one dared utter in previous protests. >>> TIME Staff | Tuesday, August 11, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Hillary Clinton tells student off for asking about Bill: Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has snapped at a Congolese university student after, as she heard it, he asked what her husband thought about an international financial matter. >>>
TIMES ONLINE: The Burmese democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been sentenced to a further 18 months of house arrest for receiving an eccentric American wellwisher in the home where she was being detained.
The court in Rangoon’s Insein Prison sentenced Ms Suu Kyi to three years hard labour, but it was immediately commuted to a year and a half under house arrest by the leader of Burma’s military dictatorship, Senior General Than Shwe. John Yettaw, the American whose late-night swim to her lakeside home led to her trial, received a seven-year sentence with hard labour.
The sentence will take Ms Suu Kyi out of the running for the elections which the Burmese junta has promised to hold next year, and will confirm many of its opponents in their suspicion that the charges against her were politically motivated to eliminate the symbol of the country’s long suppressed democracy movement.
Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won an overwhelming victory in the last election in 1990, a result that was never accepted by the junta.
The verdict had been delayed without explanation for 11 days, and there had been suspicions that it might be postponed again after Mr Yettaw was admitted to hospital last week after suffering epileptic seizures.
According to her lawyers, Ms Suu Kyi had been anticipating a guilty verdict, and had assembled a library of books to see her through a long prison sentence. Burma has more than 2,000 political prisoners and almost all received no more than perfunctory consideration from the courts, which predictably yield to the wishes of the military dictatorship. >>> Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor | Tuesday, August 11, 2009
leJDD.fr: Nicolas Sarkozy condamne le verdict "brutal et injuste", qui touche l'opposante birmane Aung San Suu Kyi, condamné mardi à 18 mois de prison. "Les autorités birmanes confirment par cette décision inique leur choix d'ignorer les messages pressants de la communauté internationale", estime l'Élysée dans un communiqué publié mardi. Le chef de l'Etat appelle l'Union européenne à réagir rapidement "par l'adoption de nouvelles sanctions dirigées contre le régime birman, qui doivent viser tout particulièrement les ressources dont il profite directement dans le domaine de l'exploitation du bois et des rubis", poursuit le texte. [Source: leJDD.fr] Mardi 11 Août 2009
BRISBANE TIMES: The opportunity to earn up to triple his normal salary proved as irresistible to Darren Hoare as it has to thousands of other former soldiers.
Over the past few years, these ex-servicemen regularly farewelled family and friends to fight in the private armies securing the deadly streets of Iraq.
Mr Hoare, a former RAAF airman and father of three from Willowbank, west of Brisbane, was killed on Sunday, one of two contractors allegedly shot during an argument with a fellow mercenary.
The deaths have once again cast a shadow on the fast-growing private security industry.
British newspaper The Times estimates there are 132,610 contractors working in Iraq for 32 security companies from the US and UK.
The contractors tend to be men with military backgrounds, who have traded in their uniforms to become guns for hire.
They are paid upwards of $1000 a day by private companies, governments or aid groups to act as bodyguards for VIPs or dignitaries and guard facilities. >>> Scott Casey | Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Marina Fanouraki, a Greek woman accused of setting fire to British holidaymaker Stuart Feltham after he allegedly groped her in a bar has formally pressed charges of sexual harassment against him, it has been disclosed.
Miss Fanouraki, 26, is charged with seriously wounding Mr Feltham, 20, following claims that she doused him in alcohol and set him alight in the Cretan resort of Malia.
Miss Fanouraki was due to go on trial on Monday, however the case was postponed after Mr Feltham's legal team requested more time to gather evidence.
However, her lawyer, Nikos Maniadakis, said that the brunette has now formally laid charges against Mr Feltham of attempted sexual assault, molestation and personal insults.
She claims that she only threw a sambuca drink over Mr Feltham after he drunkenly fondled her, and that he subsequently caught fire when he lit a cigarette.
Mr Maniadakis said: "We not only want Miss Fanouraki to be acquitted, but we also want the misbehaving British tourist to be punished.
"After all, Marina is the real victim of attack and humiliation and she is the one who needs to have her honour restored in society." The incident took place in early hours of Tuesday morning in the Electra bar on the infamous Malia "Strip", whose numerous bars and nigthclubs attract thousands of young Britons every summer.
Mr Feltham, a plumber from Swindon, Wilts, alleges that Miss Fanouraki set him alight in a "completely unprovoked attack". >>> Murray Wardrop in Crete | Monday, August 10, 2009
THE INDEPENDENT: A British tourist allegedly set on fire by a Greek woman who accused him of sexually harassing her during a night out today insisted he did nothing to provoke the attack.
Stuart Feltham, of Swindon, Wiltshire, was due to testify against 26-year-old student Marina Fanouraki, who is accused of throwing sambuca on him and lighting it in a bar on Crete.
But the 20-year-old plumber flew home on Sunday night because he feared vigilante-style reprisals, according to his father Ian.
Fanouraki was charged last week after turning herself in to police in the resort of Malia.
She admits pouring the drink over Mr Feltham, claiming she did so after he made inappropriate advances to her. But she denies setting fire to him. >>> Rosamond Hutt and James Woodward, Press Association | Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Related:
'Hero' Greek Woman Sets Fire to Drunken Briton's Genitals >>> Paul Anast in Athens | Thursday, August 06, 2009
THE INDEPENDENT: Country divided by call to republish Hitler's anti-semitic autobiography
Germany's Central Council of Jews has taken the unprecedented step of backing a proposal to republish Adolf Hitler's infamous autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf, which has been strictly outlawed in the country since the end of the Second World War.
Although many German Jews still oppose reissuing Hitler's anti-Semitic work, Stephan Kramer, the general secretary of the country's leading Jewish organisation, supports a new scholarly edition of the work designed to inform future generations of the evils of Nazism.
"It makes sense and is important to publish an edition of Mein Kampf with an academic commentary," Mr Kramer said. "A historically critical edition needs to be prepared today to prevent neo-Nazis profiting from it."
However the southern state of Bavaria, which holds the rights to the book, remains strongly opposed to the idea. "We won't lift the ban as it may play straight into the hands of the far right," said a spokesman for the Bavarian government. "Prohibition is highly regarded by Jewish groups and we mean to keep it that way," he said.
Several German academics, including the historian Jürgen Faulenbach, also oppose republishing the work and insist that it does little to throw light on the Nazi era. "The book does not provide any important answers to questions about how the Nazi regime was possible," he said. "It only contains the polarising views of the author. To lift a 60 year old ban on Mein Kampf would be problematic."
Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, which means "My Struggle", in 1924 while serving a four-year term in a Bavarian prison. The book contains the Nazi leader's well-known views on racial purity, and demonstrates his hatred of communism and the Jews. It also hints at his long term plans for the Holocaust. >>> Tony Paterson in Berlin | Monday, August 10, 2009
The Independent leading article: Publish and let Hitler be damned >>> | Monday, August 10, 2009
NUMBER 10: We received a petition asking:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to change government policy on Islamic immigration.”The government’s response:
Details of Petition:
“We, the undersigned, call on the UK government to stop Islamic immigration, save in cases of persons fleeing Sharia ‘justice’ or Islamic ‘honour’ retribution. We call for the reversal of the current trend towards official acceptance of things Islamic: the way of life, the treatment of women and animals, the objections to free speech and artistic expression, the Islamic schools and mosques; in the mistaken belief that integration between Islamic and British communities is possible, a belief at odds with the Islamic immigrant ghettoes and enclaves where other British citizens are unwelcome or even endangered. Existing and proposed Muslim immigrants should be prepared to indicate formally a willingness to adapt to the British way of life in suitably defined ways, with new laws to give effect to the changes. We call for an end to all so-called ‘faith schools’, and to all instances of privileged political status being given to religious organizations.”
Thank you for your e-petition which calls on the Government to stop Islamic immigration.
Shari’a law is not part of the law in England and Wales and the Government does not believe that there has been an “encroachment of Islam” upon British society. We are also proud that the UK is a welcoming and tolerant society. >>> | Monday, August 10, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Iran’s conservative newspapers had a field day. “London — The control room for the street riots in Tehran”, proclaimed yesterday’s Kayhan newspaper, the mouthpiece of the regime. “The British Embassy: headquarters for the coup command”, read the front-page headline of the government newspaper Iran. Referring to Hossein Rassam, an Iranian whom the British Embassy employed as its chief political analyst, the Javan newspaper proclaimed: “The accused in the ‘Velvet Revolution’ confesses”.
Mr Rassam, 44, was one of six defendants who stood before a revolutionary court in Tehran at the weekend to “confess” their roles in what a long prosecution indictment portrayed as a vast international conspiracy to topple the regime — a conspiracy devised by the British, US and Israeli intelligence services with help from France, Germany, the BBC, the British Council, Voice of America, Twitter, Facebook and Google’s Persian-language translation service.
Western politicians, human rights groups and analysts denounced the “show trials” and their apparently coerced confessions. They claimed the regime was attempting to intimidate an opposition that it had failed to suppress by force, and to rally its own fractured base by blaming foreign enemies for the turmoil that has engulfed Iran since the disputed presidential election of June 12.
Mr Rassam was arrested at the end of June and released on bail on July 19. The embassy had no idea that he was going to appear at Saturday’s trial, where he “confessed” to exactly the sort of activities that his job required — making contacts with political groups, gathering information and reporting back to the embassy. He was accused of espionage and asked for pardon and a chance to make amends.
Another of the six defendants was Clotilde Reiss, 24, a French language teacher arrested as she was leaving Iran on July 1. Looking haggard after her incarceration, she “confessed” to sending a letter to the French Embassy in Tehran from the city of Isfahan and apologised to the Iranian nation. A third defendant was Nazak Afshar, a French-Iranian working in the embassy’s cultural department, who “confessed” to attending gatherings. >>> Martin Fletcher | Monday, August 10, 2009
leJDD.fr: L’Elysée a fait savoir que Nicolas Sarkozy restait mobilisé pour obtenir la libération de Clotilde Reiss, détenues en Iran depuis le 1er juillet. Le président "multiplie les interventions". Mais les autorités iraniennes fustigent les propos de la Française.
Après le Quai d’Orsay ce week-end, c’est à l’Elysée de réagir au procès de Clotilde Reiss, qui s’est déroulé samedi en Iran à la surprise de tous. Le palais présidentiel a assuré lundi que Nicolas Sarkozy, actuellement en congé au Cap Nègre, restait actif pour libérer l’universitaire française, "l'objectif prioritaire" du chef de l’Etat dans cette affaire. "Il multiplie les interventions auprès de tous ceux qui peuvent exercer une influence en vue d'un règlement rapide et de sa libération", a assuré l’Elysée.
Le chef de l’Etat avait déjà réclamé la libération de la jeune femme de 24 ans début juillet, quelques jours après son arrestation à Téhéran. L’Elysée avait qualifié les charges qui pesaient contre elles d’"hautement fantaisistes". Clotilde Reiss est accusée d’avoir participé aux manifestations suivant la réélection de Mahmoud Ahmadinejad et d’avoir encouragé les troubles. Ce week-end, le ministère des Affaires étrangères avait réitéré les demandes de libération. Un tribunal a en effet jugé samedi Clotilde Reiss et deux employés des ambassades de France et de Grande-Bretagne à Téhéran. >>> M.V. (avec Reuters), leJDD.fr | Lundi 10 Août 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: The majority of top US brands are using Facebook to promote their products, dispelling the myth that the social networking site is an unattractive environment for advertisers.
According to Facebook, 83 of the top 100 advertising spenders in the US, as ranked by AdAge, the research group, use the site and have signed commercial partnerships.
Brands such as Nike, Coca-Cola and Starbucks, advertise across the site in a variety of ways. Many brands also have their own profile pages which they do not have to pay for and often boast several millions fans. This facilitates a lot of commercial activity on people’s personal pages, often without them thinking of it in that fashion. Starbucks, for instance, has more than 3.7 million fans on its page.
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer told the Financial Times: “If you look at people’s profile pages, you’ll see a lot of commercial activity even without advertising.”
The news appears to counter the initial hesitancy many advertisers felts about promoting their brands via the popular social network – for fear of their logos appearing alongside inappropriate or offensive material.
As recently as May this year, Tesco pulled advertising from all Facebook group pages after its adverts were being served alongside groups supporting Holocaust denial and the BNP. The company, and others which suffered a similar experience, such as Vodafone and O2, continued to advertise on the Facebook home page or personal profile pages. >>> Emma Barnett, Technology and Digital Media Correspondent | Monday, August 10, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: A rightwing group, which has promised a summer of demonstrations against British Muslims, was in disarray today after its first significant protest ended in violence and 35 arrests.
The English Defence League staged a march near the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham this weekend but its small band of supporters was drastically outnumbered by anti-fascist campaigners and riot police. The protest ended in violent skirmishes and running battles through the city’s busy shopping streets on Saturday evening.
Members of the League resorted to bitter in-fighting today as supporters labelled the organisers “ridiculous” and the event a “shambles”.
At least three people were injured as hundreds of police, some in full riot gear, broke up fights between anti-Islamic protesters and anti-fascist groups who came to disrupt the demonstration. At one point officers were forced to seal off New Street with a steel barrier.
Emily Bridgewater, who was shopping when violence broke out, told the Birmingham Post: “It kicked off very suddenly and there was stampeding and screaming.
“We ended up being herded into Primark, where they brought the shutters down to protect us. It was very frightening.” >>> Nico Hines and Costas Pitas | Monday, August 10, 2009
Sunday, August 09, 2009
LE FIGARO: Un haut responsable de l'armée idéologique du régime iranien appelle à juger les candidats de l'opposition et l'ancien président réformateur Mohammad Khatami, accusés d'avoir fomenté un complot contre le pouvoir.
L'Iran n'en a pas fini avec les procès contre les opposants. Dimanche, un haut responsable des Gardiens de la révolution s'en est pris nommément aux deux candidats de l'opposition, Mir Hossein Moussavi et Mehdi Karoubi, et à l'ancien président réformateur Mohammad Khatami. Yadwollah Javani, chef du bureau politique de cette force d'élite du régime, accuse les trois hommes d'avoir participé à un complot qui visait à orchestrer une «révolution de velours» contre la République islamique.
«Quel est le rôle de Khatami, Moussavi et Karoubi dans ce coup d'Etat ?», a-t-il lancé. «S'ils en sont les instigateurs, et c'est le cas, les responsables de la justice et de la sécurité doivent les arrêter, les juger et les punir pour éteindre les feux de ce complot», affirme Yadwollah Javani dans un article publié dans Sobhe Sadegh, l'hebdomadaire du bureau politique des Gardiens de la révolution. Khatami, Moussavi et Karoubi ont tous les trois demandé l'annulation de la présidentielle du 12 juin, qui a conduit à la réélection de Mahmoud Ahmadinejad à la tête du pays. >>> B.F. (lefigaro.fr) avec agences | Dimanche 09 Août 2009
FACEBOOK: As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we’re saying not just no, but hell no!
The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.
Health care by definition involves life and death decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any health care discussion.
Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives. I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors.
We must step up and engage in this most crucial debate. Nationalizing our health care system is a point of no return for government interference in the lives of its citizens. If we go down this path, there will be no turning back. Ronald Reagan once wrote, “Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.” Let’s stop and think and make our voices heard before it’s too late. [Source: Sarah Palin on Facebook]
TAGES ANZEIGER: Italien will der illegalen Einwanderung einen Riegel schieben. Heute tritt das sogenannte Sicherheitsgesetz in Kraft. Illegale Einwanderung ist demnach ein Verbrechen.
Wer illegal nach Italien einreist oder sich dort illegal aufhält, muss dem Gesetz zufolge 5000 bis 10'000 Euro Busse zahlen. Eine Haftstrafe ist nicht vorgesehen. Ausländer, die trotz Abschiebung illegal in Italien bleiben, landen im Gefängnis. Bereits am Wochenende wurden fünf Marokkanern und drei Tunesier in Florenz für das Vergehen gebüsst.
Der mögliche Aufenthalt von illegal eingereisten Ausländern in italienischen Auffanglagern wird von zwei auf sechs Monate verlängert. Eingerichtet wird ein Rückführungsfonds, mit dem die Ausgaben für die Heimkehr der Ausländer in ihre Heimat finanziert werden. Wer illegal eingewanderten Personen eine Wohnung vermietet, muss mit einer Strafe von bis zu drei Jahren Haft rechnen. >>> mbr/sda | Sonntag, 09. August 2009
BBC: Italian police are investigating the theft of some $16m (£10m) in cash and jewellery from a Saudi princess staying on the Italian island of Sardinia.
The thieves used a master key to gain entry to her luxury hotel suite in Porto Cervo before ripping a safe from the wall, Italian media reports say.
They said the safe was only fixed with silicon to the wall in the suite.
Officials have not named the princess but say Italian and Saudi diplomats have had talks about the incident.
"The thieves used a master key. In 10 minutes at dinner time, without making any noise, they managed to remove the safe from a suite occupied by the Saudi princess," Italy's La Stampa newspaper reported.
The hotel is located in one of the most chic resort areas on the Italian island. [Source: BBC] | Sunday, August 09, 2009
Saturday, August 08, 2009
At last, the mainstream media are beginning to recognise that Europeans have a dark, bleak future. Bat Ye’or has written much about Eurabia, warning us all of impending danger. I have written The Dawning of a New Dark Age. Many others have written, too, and have warned. Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch springs immediately to mind.
Alas, the powers that be, hitherto, have been unwilling to take the tough measures necessary to stop this trend of increasing Islamisation. Not only that, they have made matters far worse than they need be by allowing mass immigration from mainly Muslim countries, and giving in to Muslims’ demands at every turn so as to appease the Muslim voters and garner more votes for their party. This is particularly true of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Again, we see the leftist, socialist agenda kicking in to destroy our way of life.
Working women have little time to have babies, and when they do have them, it is usually late in life, allowing time for one or two babies at most.
In our warped Western way of life, these days a woman being able to climb the career ladder is far more important for society than a woman who elects to stay home and be a full-time, caring mother. The result of these mistaken choices are beginning to become plain to see: We are losing our Judeo-Christian civilisation to the Islamic world. What Muslims once failed to do by force, they are now doing by silent invasion; and Westerners are sitting back and allowing this to happen.
A civilisation which is unprepared to fight for what it believes in is destined to perish; and perish Western civilisation will unless this whole process is kicked into reverse. The process can be reversed. But the will has to be there. The will and the determination.
Surely people can by now see what life will be like for us and our children when Islam becomes dominant. Women will become second class citizens. Gays will be executed. Apostasy will be punishable by death. Christians and Jews will be given dhimmi status, i.e. will become protected citizens in return for the price of a punitive tax called the jizyah. Adherents to all other religions, i.e. those who are not ‘People of the Book’, will not be tolerated.
Sharia law will be introduced, and henceforward, the whole gamut of harsh punishments for transgressions, minor and major, will be utilised: stonings for adultery, beheadings for crime, amputations for theft. Of course, because of the changing mentality of the people, honour-killings for women who bring shame on the family will become ever more commonplace.
What many Westerners fail to understand is this: There is no such thing as Islam-lite. Islam remains as Islam always was: unchanging and unchangeable; strict and harsh; supremacist and domineering.
We, all of us, have tough decisions to make about our children’s future. Do we want to leave a world behind for them which will enable them to live as we have been able to live: in freedom and security, free from religious harassment? Or do we want to cast all fate to the wind and let the chips fall for them where they may?
It is to be hoped that we will all opt for the former; after all, it’s the only sensible, responsible option.
©Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain, Spain and Holland will have an even higher proportion of Muslims in a shorter amount of time, an investigation by The Telegraph shows.
Last year, five per cent of the total population of the 27 EU countries was Muslim. But rising levels of immigration from Muslim countries and low birth rates among Europe's indigenous population mean that, by 2050, the figure will be 20 per cent, according to forecasts.
Data gathered from various sources indicate that Britain, Spain and Holland will have an even higher proportion of Muslims in a shorter amount of time. >>> Adrian Michaels | Saturday, August 08, 2009
CBS NEWS – BLOG: An Iranian justice official has confirmed the execution of 24 convicted drug traffickers at the end of July, believed to be one of the largest mass-executions carried out by the Islamic Republic since the revolution brought the Ayatollahs to power 30 years ago.
The message of swift, decisive "justice" delivered by Iran's leaders is clear, and comes at a time when those leaders, both political and religious, are wrestling to overcome an image of internal dispute and reassert their authority following post-election violence that left at least 30 people dead and hundreds jailed.
Tehran's deputy prosecutor, Mahmoud Salarkia, said the 24 were hanged at the notorious Karaj prison on July 30th. "Their execution was approved by the supreme court," said Salarkia, without naming the prisoners.
Iran has killed at least 219 prisoners already this year, according to a tally from the French news agency AFP, and the pace of the executions seems to have increased amid the postelection turmoil. >>> Posted by Tucker Reals | Friday, August 07, 2009
THE WASHINGTON TIMES: Decline first annual dip since start of decade
ATLANTA | There aren't just fewer jobs in a recession. There are fewer babies, too.
U.S. births fell in 2008, the first full year of the recession, marking the first annual decline in births since the start of the decade and ending an American baby boomlet.
The downturn in the economy best explains the drop in maternity, some experts believe. The Great Depression and subsequent recessions all were accompanied by a decline in births, said Carol Hogue, an Emory University professor of maternal and child health and epidemiology.
And the numbers have never rebounded until the economy pulled out of it, she said, calling the 2008 recession the most likely culprit for fewer babies.
It's not clear that it's the only explanation, however. Another expert noted a recent decline in immigration to the U.S. may also be a factor.
The nation recorded about 4,247,000 births last year, down about 68,000 from 2007, according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics.
This recession began in December 2007, and since then the economy has lost almost 7 million jobs. Housing foreclosures worsened in 2007 too, and fell into a state of crisis in 2008.
The largest decline in births were in California and Florida, two states hit hardest by the housing crisis. >>> Mike Stobbe, Associated Press | Saturday, August 08, 2009
TOWNHALL.COM: The current civil war in America is really an uncivil debate about whether or not to trust the federal government. Policy aside, fundamental beliefs are separating Americans into two intense camps.
On the left sits the give hope a chance crew, which supports the dramatic increase in government influence and spending. These pro-Obama citizens believe that the president can right economic and social wrongs by dramatically expanding federal power.
Cruising on the right are those suspicious of increasing federal power. These folks generally believe President Obama is, indeed, an agent of hope: He hopes the nation will embrace a form of neo-socialism. Emotions are running high on both sides of the debate.
Polls show the nation is almost evenly divided when it comes to Obama's vision for the country. A Rasmussen poll this week has the president's approval rating at 49 percent, while 51 percent disapprove. That's even when the margin of error factor kicks in.
We are a country at odds. Just six months ago, the president's approval rating approached 70 percent as the nation looked forward to better times under a young, dynamic leader. But that was then. >>> Bill O’Reilly | Saturday, August 08, 2009
THE WASHINGTON TIMES: ISTANBUL | Beyond the power struggle playing out on the streets of Tehran is a complex battle for control of Iran's intelligence ministry -- a pivotal institution in the regime's repression of dissent.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who began a second term this week, fired Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei late last month after Mr. Ejei objected to the president's efforts to name an in-law as first vice president.
The departure of Mr. Ejei, a hard-line cleric close to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two other Khamenei loyalists and nearly 20 other high-ranking officials appeared to weaken the leader's hold over the ministry and strengthen the power of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's elite military force.
The Guards have been heavily involved in the crackdown on dissent since the disputed June 12 presidential election, and there is an unconfirmed report that the force has created a parallel intelligence service called Tehran intelligence. Mr. Ahmadinejad and many of his closest allies are Guards veterans.
Mr. Ejei was responsible long before the elections for jailing numerous Iranians and Iranian-Americans on charges of promoting a so-called velvet revolution. However, he apparently was not loyal enough to Mr. Ahmadinejad. >>> Iason Athanasiadis | Thursday, August 06, 2009
THE JERUSALEM POST: Maestro Daniel Barenboim brought his troupe of young Arab and Israeli classical musicians to Geneva on Friday for a concert dedicated to the late Palestinian-American academic Edward Said and the contentious choice of Jerusalem as this year's "Arab Cultural Capital."
In a news conference that featured the iconoclastic Israeli conductor's usual combination of humor and gravitas, art and politics, Barenboim said his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra offered another way of examining ideals of justice, humaneness and understanding that are often lacking in the Middle East conflict.
The 10-year-old orchestra founded by Barenboim and Said includes Israeli and Palestinian musicians, as well as performers from Arab countries such as Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, and non-Arab states Turkey and Iran.
Barenboim said it was fitting that such a diverse group celebrate the Arab League's naming of Jerusalem as a cultural capital, even if the choice has angered Israeli authorities who say the entire city is the Jewish state's undivided and eternal capital.
"The Arab World is not just Muslims. It's also Christians and Jews," said the Argentinian-born Barenboim, who moved to Israel when he was 9, but has become well-known in recent years for his outspoken support of Palestinian statehood and criticism of the Israeli government.
"West Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem will inevitably be the Palestinian capital," he said. "The city is neither Israeli nor Palestinian. It is universal." >>> Associated Press, Geneva | Saturday, Aufust 08, 2009
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