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Tuesday, March 02, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: One of the biggest bonuses seen this year for any London-based banker was revealed today as HSBC announced it had given Stuart Gulliver, its head of investment banking, a £9.8 million package.
Mr Gulliver was awarded a £9 million bonus on top of his £800,000 base pay for his "exceptional performance" in trebling the profits of his division to $10.5 billion, HSBC said.
The payment came as Michael Geoghegan, HSBC chief executive, confirmed that he will give his £4 million bonus to charity.
HSBC disappointed investors after full-year profits fell by 24 per cent to $7.1 billion (£4.7 billion) following a big write down of the value of its own bonds. Its shares lost more than 5 per cent, down 37.1p, to 682.46p. >>> Patrick Hosking and Catherine Boyle | Monday, March 01, 2010
Monday, March 01, 2010
ARAB NEWS: GENEVA: Iran launched a fierce verbal assault on the West on Monday, charging some European countries of subjecting Muslim communities to insult and violence and suggesting the United States and Europe aided terrorism.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the United Nations Human Rights Council, to which it is bidding for election in May, that some Western states are gross violators of rights and are promoting lewdness to undermine family life.
"There is a growing trend in applying double standards by the Western countries with regard to the freedom of expression and opinion," Mottaki told the 47-member forum at the start of its main annual four-week session.
"Muslims throughout the world in general and the Muslim communities in Western countries in particular, have been the target not only of massive propaganda campaigns but outright social castigation and open violence, all under the pretext of freedom of expression," he declared. >>> Robert Evans, Reuters | Monday, March 01, 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: POLÉMIQUE | Ahmad Zaki Yamani avait réclamé ces excuses à 16 journaux danois depuis août 2009.
Un avocat saoudien s’est déclaré prêt à engager un procès contre quinze journaux danois s’ils n’acceptaient pas de présenter des excuses aux musulmans pour avoir reproduit les caricatures de Mahomet en 2008, a-t-il indiqué lundi sur le site du quotidien danois B.T. Ahmad Zaki Yamani, agissant au nom de huit associations représentant près de 95 000 descendants du prophète, avait réclamé ces excuses à 16 journaux danois depuis août 2009.
Mais seul le grand quotidien Politiken a répondu à cette exigence, acceptant de conclure un compromis annoncé vendredi dernier et qui a soulevé un tollé au Danemark. "Nous sommes prêts à un long et très coûteux procès contre les autres journaux qui refusent un accord" semblable à celui de Politiken, a déclaré Me Ahmad Zaki Yamani à bt.dk.
L’avocat a indiqué avoir reçu une lettre du directeur de Niqabat al-Ashraf, l’une des huit organisations plaignantes, forte de près de 70.000 membres, qui se dit "très satisfait" par le compromis obtenu avec Politiken et qui lui accorde "un soutien financier pour des poursuites devant les tribunaux contre les 15 autres quotidiens" réfractaires. >>> AFP | Lundi 03 Mars 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Three retired Turkish military leaders have been accused of helping to plan the 2003 Istanbul bombing which claimed 60 lives including three Britons.
The men are alleged to have plotted with al-Qaeda to carry out the attack in the hope of destabilising the government and paving the way for a military coup.
Prosecutors suspect the former heads of the air force, navy and Turkish 1st army were linked to attacks on the British consulate, HSBC headquarters and synagogues.
Roger Short, the consul general in Istanbul, was killed in the attack on the Charles Barry-designed Italianate Palace in the heart of Istanbul in November 2003. Lisa Hallworth, from Denton, Greater Manchester, and former airline worker Nanette Elizabeth Kurma, from Drongan, Ayrshire, were also killed in the blast.
Although an al-Qaeda linked group claimed responsibility for the attack at the time, there have always been questions over its ability to source bomb making materials and evade security controls in a country with a powerful security force.
Investigators claim the bombings were part of "Operation Sledgehammer" which had been formulated by senior military figures eight months earlier to destabilise Turkey and trigger a military intervention to overthrow the government.
Prosecutors have arrested 35 ex-military figures in recent weeks on suspicion of being part of the plot which is also said to have involved plans to provoke Greece into shooting down a Turkish fighter jet. >>> Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Monday, March 01, 2010
THE INDEPENDENT: A respected Islamic scholar will publish a seminal fatwa tomorrow that unequivocally condemns terrorism and warns suicide bombers that they will “go to hell” for their attacks.
Pakistani-born Shaikh Dr Tahir ul-Qadri is launching his fatwa in London as part of a drive to combat the power of jihadist rhetoric on the web and provide English-speaking Muslims with an authoritative theological explanation detailing why terrorism is not permitted.
Although numerous fatwas condemning terrorism have been released by scholars around the world since 9/11, Shaikh Dr Qadri’s 600-page ruling is both significant and unusual because it is one of the few available in English and online. >>> Jerome Taylor, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Monday, March 01, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Lie down, heads up, stop smiling' ... photographer Spencer Tunick directs one of his largest ever groups of volunteers for a nude shot on the steps of Sydney Opera House Watch Guardian video >>> | Monday, March 01, 2010
Surely this should not be done unilaterally; this should be done only in a tit-for-tat manner.
With Iran building the bomb, and with other countries in the Middle East probably intending to follow suit, it is unbelievable that Obama finds it necessary to divest America of its strength. – © Mark
THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama is planning "dramatic reductions" in the US nuclear weapon stockpile as part of a sweeping review designed to prove his commitment to the goal of global nuclear disarmament.
Officials said hundreds of nuclear weapons could be cut, in many cases by retiring weapons that are now kept in storage, from the current level of 2,200 warheads.
A senior administration official said the new strategy would point to a greater role for conventional weapons, while "maintaining a strong and reliable" nuclear deterrent.
The president yesterday met Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary, to discuss the "Nuclear Posture Review" which was supposed to be published in December but was delayed reportedly because Mr Obama did not consider it radical enough.
The policy review "will be an important step forward in pursuing the goal of reversing the spread of nuclear weapons and seeking a world without them," said the official. He said it could also rule out the need to develop the nuclear version of "bunker-buster" weapons for penetrating underground targets. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Monday, March 01, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: The pound slumped to a nine-month low against the dollar today as fears over a hung Parliament sparked a sterling sell-off.
The currency fell sharply to as low as 1.478 against the dollar, as well as dropping below 1.10 against the euro.
Pressure on the pound comes as the Conservative lead against Labour in the polls narrows - threatening an indecisive General Election result at the same time markets want firm action to sort out the UK's dire public finances.
Mark O'Sullivan, director of dealing at foreign exchange firm Currencies Direct, said: 'Until the political situation in the UK becomes clearer, sterling will remain very, very vulnerable.'
The sudden drop from 1.52 to below 1.48 is the pound's biggest one-day fall since January last year, according to Chris Turner, head of FX Strategy at ING Commercial Banking.
He warned: 'While UK policymakers may have quietly welcomed the pound's recent weakness, they will not appreciate the kind of fast markets that can see a "sell UK" mentality developing.'
Sterling has lost nearly 10 cents against the dollar in little more than a week - hitting holidaymakers in the pocket, increasing pressure on petrol pump prices and adding to import costs for businesses. Read on and comment >>> | Monday, March 01, 2010
WELT ONLINE: Pawel war ein polnischer Skinhead. Bis er und seine Frau ihre jüdischen Wurzeln entdeckten. Erst waren sie schockiert, dann konvertierten sie. "Ich kämpfe jeden Tag, um meine alten Ideen loszuwerden", sagt der 33-Jährige heute. Sein Weg zeigt auch die erstaunliche Renaissance des Judentums in Polen.
Wenn Pawel in den Spiegel schaut, sieht er manchmal immer noch einen Neonazi-Skinhead zurückstarren. Den Mann, der Pawel war, bevor er seinen rasierten Kopf mit einer Kippa bedeckte, seine faschistische Ideologie für die Thora über Bord warf und Gewalt und Hass gegen die Gnade Gottes tauschte.
„Ich kämpfe immer noch jeden Tag, um meine alten Ideen loszuwerden“, sagt Pawel, ein 33-jähriger ultraorthodoxer Jude und ehemaliger Lkw-Fahrer. Und er merkt ein wenig ironisch an, dass er aufhören musste, Juden zu hassen, um einer zu werden. „Wenn ich ein altes Bild von mir als Skinhead sehe, schäme ich mich“ sagt er. „Jeden Tag, jede Minute. Es gibt eine Menge nachzuholen.“
Pawel, der sich hebräisch Pinchas nennt, hat darum gebeten, seinen Nachnamen nicht zu veröffentlichen. Aus Angst davor, dass seine alten Neonazi-Freunde ihn oder seine Familie ausfindig machen könnten. Unglaubliche Rückbesinnung zum Judentum >>> Von Dan Bilefsky | Montag, 01. März 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: WARSAW — When Pawel looks into the mirror, he can still sometimes see a neo-Nazi skinhead staring back, the man he was before he covered his shaved head with a skullcap, traded his fascist ideology for the Torah and renounced violence and hatred in favor of God.
“I still struggle every day to discard my past ideas,” said Pawel, a 33-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jew and former truck driver, noting with little irony that he had to stop hating Jews in order to become one. “When I look at an old picture of myself as a skinhead, I feel ashamed. Every day I try and do teshuvah,” he said, using the Hebrew word for repentance. “Every minute of every day. There is a lot to make up for.”
Pawel, who also uses his Hebrew name Pinchas, asked that his last name not be used for fear that his old neo-Nazi friends could harm him or his family.
Twenty years after the fall of Communism, Pawel is perhaps the most unlikely example of the Jewish revival under way in Poland, of a moment in which Jewish leaders here say the country is finally showing solid signs of shedding the rabid anti-Semitism of the past.
Before 1939, Poland was home to more than three million Jews, more than 90 percent of whom were killed by the Nazis. Most who survived emigrated. Of the fewer than 50,000 who remained in Poland, many abandoned or hid their Judaism during decades of Communist oppression in which political pogroms against Jews persisted.
Today, though, Michael Schudrich, the chief rabbi of Poland, said he considered Poland the most pro-Israel country in the European Union. He said the attitude of Pope John Paul II, a Pole, who called Jews “our elder brothers,” had finally entered the public consciousness.
Ten years after the revelation that 1,600 Jews of the town of Jedwabne were burned alive by their Polish neighbors in July 1941, he said the national myth that all Poles were victims of World War II had finally been shattered.
“Before 1989 there was a feeling that it was not safe to say, ‘I am a Jew,’ ” Rabbi Schudrich said. “But two decades later, there is a growing feeling that Jews are a missing limb in Poland. The level of anti-Semitism remains unacceptable, but the image of the murderous Pole seared in the consciousness of many Jews after the war doesn’t correspond to the Poland of 2010.”
The small Jewish revival has been under way for several years around eastern Europe. Hundreds of Poles, a majority of them raised as Catholics, are either converting to Judaism or discovering Jewish roots submerged for decades in the aftermath of World War II. >>> Dan Bilefsky | Saturday, February 27, 2010
LE FIGARO: Le chef du Kremlin entame ce lundi à Paris une visite officielle à forte dimension économique.
Nicolas Sarkozy ne devrait pas être avare de démonstrations d'amitiés à l'égard de Dmitri Medvedev, qui effectue à partir de ce lundi une visite officielle de trois jours en France, la première pour le président russe depuis son accession à la tête du Kremlin, en mai 2008. Après un entretien à l'Élysée le premier jour, les deux hommes participeront mardi à une cérémonie sur la tombe du soldat inconnu. Ils inaugureront au Louvre une exposition consacrée à la «Sainte Russie», point d'orgue de l'année croisée entre les deux pays, avant de se retrouver pour un dîner officiel.
Après les tensions apparues lors de la guerre russo-géorgienne d'août 2008 (alors que la France était aux commandes de l'Union européenne), les relations de coopération entre Paris et Moscou ont repris de plus belle. En décembre 2009, le premier ministre Vladimir Poutine était déjà à Paris pour un séminaire gouvernemental franco-russe. Pour sa part, le président de la République est attendu le 9 mai à Moscou pour la célébration du soixante-cinquième anniversaire de la Libération, avant sa participation, à la mi-juin, au forum économique de Saint-Pétersbourg.
Il y a encore une semaine, Paris et Moscou plaçaient les questions internationales au centre de la visite du président russe. «Nos positions coïncident ou sont proches», explique le Kremlin. Au sein du régime russe, Medvedev n'est pas l'interlocuteur le plus difficile à convaincre de l'utilité des nouvelles sanctions contre l'Iran, prônées par Paris. >>> Par Pierre Avril | Dimanche 28 Février 2010
RUSSIA TODAY: In anticipation of Dmitry Medvedev’s upcoming trip to France, Paris Match magazine met the president at his Moscow residence to talk about everything from NATO to his relations with Vladimir Putin.
The interview kicked off with questions concerning Russia’s relationship with France, which this year is hosting “Year of Russia” celebrations.
Medvedev’s answer provided a penetrating insight not just into the present state of affairs between the two countries, but their lengthy mutual history as well, which has oftentimes been quite colorful.
Relations with France
“Indeed, the relations between our countries have been developing for many centuries,” the Russian president began. “There have been many historical events when the ways of Russia and France crossed. The history of our states has witnessed both bright moments and sometimes problems, which also brought us together, but in the end the scope of cooperation has been tremendous. A classic example is the life of Queen Anna, daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, who got married to Henry I, King of France. However, it was long ago, though this fact is quite remarkable.”
After making passing references to other remarkable aspects of the French-Russian relationship – including Russia’s interest in the French language, bilateral cooperation during World War II and mutual respect during the Soviet period of Russian history, notably under the leadership of General Charles de Gaulle – Medvedev stressed that “the new Russia enjoys a very good partnership, a strategic partnership with France.”
“We are no longer divided by ideological differences,” the Russian president said. “This does not mean we have no disputes at all, but we actually maintain very good and positive relationships with the French administration, including my personal contacts with President Sarkozy. When we reach an agreement, President Sarkozy always keeps his promises, which is something every politician should be able to do.” On buying foreign-made armaments >>> | Thursday, February 25, 2010 / Monday, March 01, 2010
PARIS MATCH: A la veille de son voyage à Paris, le président russe nous parle de son ami Sarkozy, de la modernisation de son pays et de l’Otan qu’il vit comme une menace. Retrouvez les coulisses de cette entrevue sur notre Podcast.
Un entretien avec Olivier Royant et Pierre Delannoy - Paris Match >>> Jeudi 25 Février 2010
CHANNEL 4 – Dispatches: Dispatches investigates a fundamentalist Islamic group headquartered in Britain, and its claims to have placed its 'brothers' in positions of political power here.
Using undercover recordings, investigative journalist Andrew Gilligan reveals the group's ambitions to create a worldwide 'Islamic social and political order,' and the concerns of a mainstream party that they are being 'infiltrated'; and talks to the Muslims who want to stop it. [Source: Channel 4] | Monday, March 01, 2010
This hour-long documentary will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 8pm this evening. If you miss it, it will be brought to you on this website as soon as it becomes available in suitable format. Please keep checking back. – Mark
BASLER ZEITUNG: Offiziell bestreiten die Deutschen noch immer, dass sie für die Griechen Geld springen lassen werden. Doch vieles spricht dafür, dass sie bereits an einem Trick arbeiten, um trotzdem einzugreifen.
Wegen der Griechenlandkrise kommen die europäischen Staaten Deutschland und Frankreich zunehmend unter Druck. An den internationalen Kapitalmärkten wird von ihnen rasch ein stützendes Eingreifen erwartet. Doch in Deutschland wäre ein solcher Schritt äusserst unpopulär, laut Umfragen lehnt das eine deutliche Mehrheit der Bevölkerung ab. Ausserdem gälte es als verheerendes Signal, wenn ein Land wie Griechenland, das sich um die Regeln der Währungsunion bisher derart foutiert hat, durch Steuergelder der anderen gerettet werden würde.
Deshalb betont besonders die deutsche Regierung nach wie vor, dass von ihr keine Hilfe erfolgen werde. Die Franzosen wiederum sagen, ohne Beteiligung der Deutschen würden auch sie nichts bezahlen. Auch die Griechen dementieren weiterhin, Hilfe zu beantragen. Die offizielle Sprachregelung ist noch immer, dass die Griechen erst einmal glaubhaft damit beginnen sollten, das eigene Haus in Ordnung zu bringen. Erst am 16. März soll die nächste Prüfung der Lage vorgenommen werden. >>> Von Markus Diem Meier | Montag, 01. März 2010
BASLER ZEITUNG: Hannibal Ghadhafi hat in Tripolis überraschend Max Göldi im Gefängnis besucht. Der Sohn des libyschen Machthabers hat dem Schweizer erlaubt, seine Mutter anzurufen.
«Es ist mir eine Ehre, dass Hannibal Ghadhafi mich besucht und ich hoffe, dass er seinen Einfluss nutzen kann, um mir in meiner Situation zu helfen», sagte Göldi bei dem Treffen gegenüber Journalisten. Er hoffe auch, dass die Justiz ihre Arbeit machen werde und dass sich einige Dinge verbesserten.
«Ich bin seit 19 Monaten von meiner Familie getrennt und möchte so schnell wie möglich nach Hause zurück», sagte Göldi weiter. Laut einem Journalisten der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters wirkte der inhaftierte Schweizer entspannt und lächelte während des Treffens.
Auf die Frage, welche Forderungen er an die Schweizer Regierung stelle, sagte Göldi: «Die Schweiz muss Hannibal Ghadhafi das Recht zugestehen, von seinem Recht Gebrauch zu machen.» Die Veröffentlichung von Hannibals Polizeifotos in der «Tribune de Genève» sei «unakzeptabel» und «gegen das Gesetz».
Anschliessend setzten die beiden ihr Gespräch unter vier Augen fort. Göldis Anwalt Salah Zahaf ergänzte, Hannibal Ghadhafi habe seinem Mandanten erlaubt, seine Mutter in der Schweiz anzurufen, die am Montag Geburtstag hatte. Wichtige Geste >>> sam/sda | Montag, 01. März 2010
TIMES ONLINE – Leading Article: The confrontation between Ankara and the army could prove catastrophic
Turkey, a pillar of Nato, a potential member of the European Union and a strategic Western ally in the Middle East, is today poised on the brink of disaster. If the current confrontation between the moderate Islamist Government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the military establishment provokes a coup, or spurs political and religious violence, the loss to the West, to regional stability and to the hopes for this emerging economic power would be incalculable. What is at stake is of critical importance not just to Turkey but to countries across the Muslim world: is political Islam, even in moderate guise, compatible with democracy, state authority and secular institutions?
Tensions have eased slightly since the release of three top military commanders, taken in for questioning over an alleged coup plot. But despite the Prime Minister’s crisis talks with General Ilker Basbug, the head of the armed forces, and their joint promise to resolve tensions “within the constitutional order”, fears and rumours are still sweeping the country. The stock market has fallen. Social and political divisions are hardening. A further 14 people have been questioned, bringing military arrests to almost 40. And Turks have been amazed to see serving officers, until now virtually untouchable by civilian authorities, being charged with plots to bomb mosques, provoke violence and stage a confrontation with Greece — plots that seem as cynical as they are bizarre. >>> | Monday, March 01, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan has predicted trouble ahead in Barack Obama's presidency.
The 76-year-old leader said the 'white right' was conspiring to make Obama a one-term president, and pointed to his stalled efforts to introduce health care legislation as proof.
He said those opponents and lobbyists were trapping him into a future war with Iran that could lead to mass destruction.
'The word "prophet" is too cheap a word. I am a light in the midst of darkness,' Farrakhan said at the annual convention of the movement that embraces black nationalism. 'It ain't ego, it's my love for you.'
An estimated 20,000 people attended the heavily guarded Saviours' Day event at the United Centre in Chicago.
Followers - men dressed in navy uniforms and women in white skirt suits with matching hijabs - cheered on Farrakhan with shouts of 'Allahu Akbar,' Arabic for 'God is great.' >>> | Monday, March 01, 2010
If anyone has been hurt by the Libyan row, it is Libya itself, because it has shown itself to be just what it truly is: a rogue state. – © Mark
THE TELEGRAPH: Neutral Switzerland has had its reputation as a global mediator dented as weaknesses in its foreign policy are exposed by its escalating row with Libya, analysts said.
Relations between Bern and Tripoli have been strained since July 2008, when one of the sons of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Hannibal and his wife were arrested in Geneva after two domestic workers complained they had mistreated them.
Libyan [sic] retaliated by blocking two Swiss businessmen from leaving its territory while Switzerland imposed visa restrictions on some Libyans, effectively blocking them from entering Europe's Schengen 25 nation travel zone.
But the row reached new heights this week when Gaddafi called for jihad against the alpine state over a recent Swiss ban on the construction of minarets.
Hasni Abidi, the director of the Geneva-based Study and Research Centre for the Arab and Mediterranean World, said the tussle with Libya was "bad publicity for the Swiss in the Arab and Muslim world," where Switzerland had traditionally played a role in mediation.
Bern was a middleman in ending decades of hostility stemming from World-War I-era massacres between Turkey and Armenia, leading them to sign historic protocols estabilishing diplomatic ties.
Switzerland also represents US interests in Iran and Tehran's interests in Egypt.
However, "this speciality is very certainly weakening given the situation linked to the Libyan crisis," added another analyst, Frederic Esposito, from the European Institute of the University of Geneva.
Abidi added that this was amplified by a Swiss referendum vote last year to ban the construction of new minarets, a move that drew worldwide criticism and which Kadhafi seized on to call for jihad.
Gaddafi knew that Switzerland's role as a mediator is "based on its image of neutrality and impartiality and openness," said Abidi, and therefore he has attacked this image.
Swiss handling of the Libyan crisis has exposed broader weaknesses in its foreign policy, said analysts. >>> Hui Min Neo and Alix Rijckaert, in Geneva for AFP | Monday, March 01, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Sir Ian Blair signed a formal agreement with an Islamic extremist to treat him as the Metropolitan Police’s "principal" representative of the Muslim community, it can be disclosed.
The activist, Azad Ali, was accepted by the Met as a trusted interlocutor. The force also agreed to give him information on forthcoming anti-terror raids. – Mr Ali has previously justified the killing of British troops in Iraq, believes al Qaeda is a "myth," and has praised a key mentor of Osama bin Laden.
Mr Ali signed the deal, a copy of which has been seen by the Daily Telegraph, in his capacity as the then chairman of the Muslim Safety Forum – a body closely linked to the fundamentalist Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE).
In yesterday's Sunday Telegraph a Labour minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, accused the IFE of infiltrating the Labour Party and British politics along the lines of the far-Left Militant Tendency in the 1980s. The IFE believes in jihad, sharia law and the transformation of Britain into an Islamic state. It will be the subject of a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary tonight.
The Muslim Safety Forum was set up, in its own words, to challenge the "unfair focus on the Muslim community when it came to policing activities and enforcement of anti- terror policing legislation."
It was accepted by the police as a legitimate body. The agreement, dated December 2006 and personally signed by Mr Ali and Sir Ian, who was Commissioner of the Mat at the time, states: "The Commissioner will recognise the MSF as the principal body in relation to Muslim community safety and security."
Sir Ian or his deputy committed to meet Mr Ali and the MSF at least twice a year and to hold monthly meetings with the MSF at "New Scotland Yard or other suitable premises."
Met chiefs, including counter-terrorist commanders, also committed to attending the MSF's own meetings "whenever possible”. Both the current head of the antiterrorist command, Commander Shaun Sawyer, and his predecessor, Commander Bob Quick, who the MSF described as a "close partner”, have had regular meetings.
The agreement says that the Met and MSF will "use the MSF as a consultation body to help formulate policy or practice." and "progress an annual plan of work through agreed priority workstreams," jointly led by Met and MSF representatives.
The workstreams included counter-terrorism and "Islamophobia." Mr Ali was the MSF lead on counter-terrorism. >>> Andrew Gilligan | Monday, March 01, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: France seeking emergency aid from EU after storms leave 47 dead: France is seeking emergency aid from the European Union after the fiercest storms in a decade which left 47 people dead. >>> | Monday, March 01, 2010
BBC: Hundreds of Dutch activists have walked out of a Mass in protest at a Roman Catholic policy of denying communion to practising homosexuals.
On this occasion, the church, in 's-Hertogenbosch, had already decided not to serve communion, so the protesters left, shouting and singing.
The dispute began earlier this month when a priest in a nearby town refused communion to an openly gay man.
The Netherlands was the first country to introduce gay marriage in 2001.
Most Dutch people support gay rights, but the Roman Catholic Church teaches that homosexual activity is sinful. >>> | Sunday, February 28, 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Die britischen Konservativen kämpfen mit einem rasch schwindenden Vorsprung vor Labour. Die Wahlstrategie der Personalisierung und Polarisierung bei inhaltlicher Unschärfe hat bisher nicht verfangen.
Gut zwei Monate vor dem voraussichtlichen Wahltermin spitzt sich der Kampf um die Macht im britischen Unterhaus zu. Just am Tag der letzten grossen Konferenz der Konservativen in Brighton zeigte die sonntägliche Wählerumfrage ein drastisches Abschmelzen des Vorsprungs vor der regierenden Labourpartei auf bloss noch 2 Prozentpunkte. Damit scheint den Konservativen ausgerechnet in derselben südenglischen Küstenstadt, in der Labour noch am Parteikongress im vergangenen September mit wehenden Fahnen unterzugehen schien, die Hoffnung auf den sicher geglaubten Wahlsieg davonzuschwimmen. Im letzten Herbst hatten die Tories in Umfragen noch um bis zu 15 Prozentpunkte vor Labour gestanden, Anfang Jahr waren es noch rund 10, vor einer Woche 6 Punkte. Fragwürdige Personalisierung >>> Peter Rásonyi, Brighton | Sonntag, 28. Februar 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Nach dem schweren Erdbeben in Chile wird das Ausmass der Schäden allmählich sichtbar. Staatspräsidentin Bachelet spricht von einer grossen Katastrophe, die Behörden haben bis anhin über 700 Tote gezählt.
Nach dem verheerenden Erdbeben in Chile mit mehreren hundert Toten haben Rettungsteams am Sonntag nach Verschütteten und Überlebenden gesucht. Zwei Millionen Menschen seien von der Katastrophe betroffen, sagte Chiles Präsidentin Michelle Bachelet in einer Fernsehansprache. Das südamerikanische Land sehe sich mit «einer Katastrophe unvorstellbaren Ausmasses» konfrontiert, so Bachelet. Zahl der Toten dürfte noch steigen >>> sda/afp/Reuters/dpa | Sonntag, 28. Februar 2010
THE GUARDIAN: The american president has been trying to kick the habit for sometime, apart from the smoking he is in excellent health
Barack Obama is still struggling to kick smoking, according to his first medical examination since becoming president.
Obama is sensitive about his cigarette habit and tetchy with reporters who raise it. But after his 90-minute medical at the Navy hospital outside Washington yesterday morning, his doctors confirmed he had not yet managed to conquer the habit and suggested he "continue smoking cessation efforts".
The doctors said the president used medication to try to ease the pangs, they described it as "nicotine replacement therapy, self-use".
Obama promised Michelle when he embarked on his campaign to become president he would quit, at the time he said he was smoking about eight a day.
He told reporters last year he had quit but still had an occasional cigarette, without specifying how many. >>> Ewen MacAskill, Washington | Monday, March 01, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama's first medical: president smokes too much and should improve diet: President Barack Obama hasn't kicked his smoking habit, takes anti-inflammatory medication to relieve chronic tendonitis in his left knee and should improve his diet to lower his cholesterol, his team of doctors said after the 48-year-old's first medical checkup as commander in chief. >>> | Monday, March 01, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
LE FIGARO: VIDEO - François Fillon évoque un désastre «national» et annonce que les arrêtés de catastrophe naturelle seront publiés «dans les 48 heures». Le littoral atlantique est le plus touché.
«C'est une catastrophe nationale» a déploré le premier ministre François Fillon. Xynthia laisse en France un sillage de destruction et un lourd bilan humain. La tempête, l'une des plus violentes depuis celle de 1999, a fait au moins 45 morts. On déplore une trentaine de disparus et une dizaine de blessés. Le littoral atlantique est la zone la plus lourdement touchée. La plupart des victimes se sont noyées, suprises par la montée brusque des eaux dans les terres. «Le bilan est susceptible de s'alourdir avec nos reconnaissances plus en avant à l'intérieur des terres dans les maisons, dans les parkings», a prévenu le porte-parole de la Sécurité civile. En 1999, la tempête avait provoqué la mort de 92 personnes.
Nicolas Sarkozy, qui se rendra lundi en Vendée et en Charente-Maritime, a demandé «au gouvernement d'agir sans attendre». Une réunion s'est tenue dimanche après-midi à Matignon au terme de laquelle François Fillon a promis que les arrêtés de catastrophe naturelle seraient publiés «dans les 48 heures». Il a également annoncé «un plan exceptionnel de construction et renforcement des digues», en accord avec les collectivités locales. Le ministère de l'Intérieur va débloquer 1 million d'euros de crédit d'urgence qui seront mis à disposition des préfets pour venir en aide aux régions sinistrées. >>> Par lefigaro.fr | Dimanche 28 Février 2010
This is the sort of nonsense that makes people NOT proud to be British! Staff at the UK embassy should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. But they’re not; they are just raking in the money. For such people, money and contracts are clearly more important than principle. – © Mark
ARAB NEWS: RIYADH: Sources at the British Embassy in Riyadh say the death of a British cyclist in a road accident last week is believed to be nothing more than a “tragic accident”. >>> Walaa Hawari, Arab News | Sunday, February 28, 2010
Related:
British Cyclist Was 'Deliberately Run Down' in Saudi Arabia >>> Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter | Saturday, February 27, 2010
What is so clear to me is that so many converts to Islam seem to come from broken homes, or homes which have not given correct guidance during the formative years to the children.
It is also very clear to me that so many converts to Islam are one-time alcoholics, drug-addicts, or have been in some other way lost. They certainly had no grasp of their former religion, Christianity.
We Westerners are failing our young; and the more we fail our young, the more they will turn to this backward religion. Islam is not the solution; rather, it is a problem that we are shoring up for ourselves. Wake up! – © Mark
TIMES ONLINE: HE was supposed to be the he-man of the US Senate, a truck-driving triathlon-completing [sic] former male model who sends female colleagues into a swoon. But America’s newest senator showed a more feminine side this weekend with the revelation that he wore pink leather shorts on his first date with his future wife.
Scott Brown is the most prominent senator in America, his victory last month in the seat long held by the Kennedys having given Republicans a crucial vote to block President Barack Obama’s agenda.
With attention already turning to the 2012 presidential race, Brown is the surprise name on the list of Republican contenders. In the most recent poll he ranked fourth above party stalwarts such as Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee.
There was fury among supporters last week after he was one of five Republicans unexpectedly to vote in support of Obama’s jobs bill. “You let me down like Tiger Woods,” was typical of the messages posted on his Facebook page, where he was castigated as a Rino (Republican in name only).
The revelation about the pink leather shorts came from his daughter Arianna, 19, who may have been getting her own back for his embarrassing remark about her and her sister on election night when he announced that they were “available”.
According to a profile in today’s New York Times magazine, Brown went pale when asked about the shorts. He said they had been given to him in part payment for a modelling assignment and he wore them because they looked good with his tanned legs. “If I wore these now,” he said, “I’d get shot. But it was the 1980s. Pastels were in. It was all pastely.” >>> Christina Lamb in Washington | Sunday, February 28, 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Die deutsche Bundeskanzlerin Merkel macht sich wegen der Krise in Griechenland Sorgen um die Stabilität des Euro. Zugleich verneinte sie, dass Deutschland mit Milliardenbeiträgen helfen werden.
Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel sorgt sich wegen der griechischen Finanzkrise um die Stabilität des Euros. «Der Euro ist sicherlich in seiner schwierigsten Phase seit seinem Bestehen», sagte die CDU-Chefin am Sonntag in der ARD. Die Schwierigkeiten müssten nun an den Wurzeln angepackt werden, und diese seien das hohe Staatsdefizit und die verloren gegangene Glaubwürdigkeit Griechenlands. Keine deutschen Milliardenhilfen >>> ddp | Sonntag, 28. Februar 2010
20MINUTES.ch: Une personne a été tuée et trois autres blessées dans l'effrondrement samedi de la coupole d'une mosquée près de Nador, dans le nord du Maroc.
L'accident a lieu une semaine après la chute du minaret d'une mosquée de Meknès (centre), qui avait fait 41 morts le 19 février. >>> afp | Dimanche 28 Février 2010
20MINUTEN.ch: Eine unvorhergesehene Welle Asylsuchender vom Balkan macht nach Angaben aus Belgrad der Europäischen Union zu schaffen. Seit der Aufhebung des Visazwangs vor zwei Monaten beantragten allein aus Südserbien bis zu 10 000 Albaner in EU-Ländern Asyl. Jetzt handelt die EU.
Die Armut zwingt sie zur Auswanderung. Die EU kämpft mit vielen Asylbewerbern. Das sagte der Albaner-Vertreter im serbischen Parlament, Riza Haljimi, am Samstag. Nicht nur aus Südserbien reisen sie ins übrige Europa. Tausende weitere Albaner aus Mazedonien und dem Kosovo versuchten, in EU-Ländern politisches Asyl zu erhalten, berichteten die örtlichen Medien. Besonders [be]troffen sei Belgien. >>> sda | Samstag, 27. Februar 2010
NAME: Des forces de sécurité libyennes ont été déployées ce week-end dans les environs l'ambassade de Suisse à Tripoli.
Selon le Département fédéral des affaires étrangères (DFAE), cette mesure a été prise en prévision d'une manifestation qui devait avoir lieu près de la représentation diplomatique.
L'agence de presse italienne a indiqué que des dizaines de policiers avaient été déployés devant l'ambassade ainsi que deux ambulances. La manifestation, dont le but était d'exprimer l'hostilité à l'égard de la Suisse, a finalement été annulée, selon la même source. >>> ats | Dimanche 28 Février 2010
MIDDLE EAST ONLINE: Many university students are not able to recite Arabic alphabet as youths consider language not very ‘cool’.
Lebanon, a tiny, vibrant Mediterranean country, prides itself on its polyglot society but for the country's youths native Arabic is not very "cool."
"Hi, kifak? Ca Va?" -- or "Hi, how are you doing? Okay?" -- is a typical multi-linguistic Lebanese greeting so popular it now appears on bumper stickers and teeshirts sold around the world.
English and French often replace the local dialect in conversation, especially among the urban youth, and one organisation has launched a campaign to preserve Arabic in Lebanon.
"Arabic is still very much alive as a language, but young people are moving farther and farther away from it," said Suzanne Talhouk, who heads the organisation "Fael Ummer" (Imperative) which is running the campaign.
"Some of our youngsters are incapable of writing correctly in Arabic, and many university students we interviewed were not even able to recite the alphabet," Talhouk said.
Urban youths are often unable to hold a conversation in one language, causing amusement but also irking those around them with such home-grown expressions as the popular farewell: "Yalla, bye."
"At my school it's more cool to speak French. Arabic is looked down upon," said high school student Nathalie. >>> Rana Moussaoui, Beirut | Sunday, February 28, 2010
MIDDLE EAST ONLINE: Jordanian double-agent Balawi accuses Amman of being behind death of two top militant leaders, including Zarqawi.
A Jordanian double-agent who blew himself up in Afghanistan, killing seven CIA officers, called for jihad against his homeland in a video made before his death in the suicide attack, monitors said Sunday.
Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi accused Jordan of being behind the death of two top militant leaders, according to the report by IntelCenter, a US group that monitors Islamist websites.
"There is no solution to the situation in Jordan other than mobilising to the land of jihad to learn the arts of war and train in them, then return to Jordan and begin operations," Balawi was quoted as saying.
"Kill them with knives and swords. Lure them, trick them, use their own methods against them -- use counter-intelligence," he said. >>> W. G. Dunlop, Dubai | Sunday, February 28, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Violence erupted at Jerusalem's holiest site on Sunday when Israeli riot police clashed with stone-throwing Palestinian protestors.
The most serious unrest in Jerusalem's sacred Old City in five months came after days of disturbances in the West Bank triggered by a declaration that two Jewish shrines on Palestinian territory would be declared Israeli heritage sites.
At least 14 protestors and four policemen were hurt during the clashes as battles raged both in the winding alleyways of Jerusalem's walled Old City and at the hilltop compound of the al-Aqsa mosque where the trouble first started.
According to Israeli police, Palestinian protesters inside the al-Aqsa mosque, held by Muslims to mark the spot that the Prophet Mohammed ascended into Heaven, threw stones at a group of tourists visiting the compound.
The youths believed the tourists to be Jewish radicals intent on reclaiming the compound, which also houses the Dome of the Rock, for Israel.
Marking the spot where the two Hebrew temples of antiquity once stood, the compound is venerated by both the Jews, who call it the Temple Mount, and by Muslims, for whom it is the Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary.
The clashes erupted on the Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates the deliverance of the Israelites from the Persian vizier Haman. >>> Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem | Sunday, February 28, 2010
ZEIT ONLINE: In Griechenland wächst die Wut auf Deutschland: Auf Flugblättern wird zum Boykott deutscher Produkte aufgerufen, Abgeordnete fordern gar Kriegsreparationen.
In Griechenland breiten sich anti-deutsche Emotionen aus. Im Parlament in Athen forderten Abgeordnete der kommunistischen und der ultra-konservativen Opposition, die griechische Regierung müsse Deutschland zu Reparationszahlungen für den Zweiten Weltkrieg auffordern. Vize-Regierungschef Theodoros Pangalos hatte Deutschland bereits vor einigen Tagen vorgeworfen, im Zweiten Weltkrieg griechisches Gold gestohlen und damit die Wirtschaft ruiniert zu haben.
Sein Chef, Ministerpräsident Giorgios Papandreou, versuchte zu beruhigen. Auf die Frage von Oppositionspolitikern, ob er bei seinem Besuch in Berlin das Thema Reparationszahlungen ansprechen werde, sagte Papandreou im Parlament, das werde er nicht tun. "Wir haben unsere Forderungen nie aufgegeben", fügte er hinzu. Aber die Gelegenheit, dies anzusprechen, sei angesichts der augenblicklich schwachen Position Griechenlands nicht opportun. "Wenn wir dies (die Reparationen) heute auf die Tagesordnung setzen würden, dann würden viele es als eine neue Ausrede, einen neuen Versuch interpretieren, von unseren Problemen abzulenken." Griechenland müsse seine Probleme mit Hilfe seiner Partner in der EU lösen. Die Bundesregierung wies die Vorwürfe zurück, die Entschädigungszahlungen Deutschlands seien nicht vollständig geklärt. >>> Zeit Online, dpa, Reuters | Freitag, 26. Februar 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama's health care summit was a sham and a failure, argues Toby Harnden in Washington, and the President could be heading for defeat in 2012
Barack Obama was in his element as he addressed the bipartisan health-care summit he had convened for the principal purpose of shaming the recalcitrant Republicans.
His preferred lectern had been taken away and he had been forced to agree to remain seated but it was nevertheless a cherished opportunity for him to scold, patronise and peevishly disdain his opponents – and to pontificate for nearly six hours.
To be fair, Obama spoke for a mere 119 minutes, as opposed to the 110 minutes he deigned to allocate to the Republicans and the 114 minutes he gave to his fellow Democrats. When challenged about the two-to-one imbalance between the parties, Mr Obama shot back: "I'm the President."
Again and again, he put Republicans down with sarcastic asides, berating them like naughty schoolboys for bringing in a copy of the 2,400-page Senate health bill as a "prop" and informing them of the need to "get our facts straight".
The televised event, dreamt up by the White House to create the desired "atmospherics" for an attempt to push his health-care bill through Congress by Easter, underlined the reality that Obama is not a leader or even really a politician – he is a professor.
Professor Obama is convinced of his own intellectual superiority. When his pupils fail to realise that he knows what is good for them, he simply repeats himself in the expectation that the simpletons will eventually understand. >>> Toby Harnden's American Way | Saturday, February 27, 2010
BBC: Two days after the White House hosted an inconclusive summit on healthcare reform, President Barack Obama has urged Americans to find common ground.
In his weekly radio address, Mr Obama said tens of millions of Americans could not afford to wait another generation for change.
He said it was time to move past the bickering and game-playing which was blocking progress on reform.
The White House said he would announce "the way forward" next week. President Obama urges US healthcare action >>> | Saturday, February 27, 2010
THE SUNDAY TIMES: WHEN Barack Obama took office last year he was compared to Superman, even joking at a dinner that he had been “born on Krypton and sent here ... to save the planet Earth”. Last January he appeared on the cover of Spider-Man.
Now, with his legislative agenda in tatters, the president has moved from comic-strip hero to comparisons to one of the great flawed figures of American literature. Ten days ago Charlie Cook, a leading election analyst, compared Obama and his battle to push through healthcare reform to Captain Ahab and his suicidal hunt for the great white whale.
Despite poll after poll showing that Americans’ main priority is jobs, the president has focused on reforming the US healthcare system and extending coverage to the 40m citizens with no insurance.
“I think choosing to take a Captain Ahab-like approach to healthcare — I’m going to push for this even in the worst downturn since the Great Depression — is roughly comparable to Bush’s decision to go to war [in Iraq],” Cook told Politico. “It basically destroyed the first year of a presidency.” Barack Obama ‘destroys first year in office’ >>> Christina Lamb in Washington | Sunday, February 28, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Labour minister says his party has been infiltrated by a fundamentalist Muslim group that wants to create an “Islamic social and political order” in Britain.
The Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) — which believes in jihad and sharia law, and wants to turn Britain and Europe into an Islamic state — has placed sympathisers in elected office and claims, correctly, to be able to achieve “mass mobilisation” of voters.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Jim Fitzpatrick, the Environment Minister, said the IFE had become, in effect, a secret party within Labour and other political parties.
“They are acting almost as an entryist organisation, placing people within the political parties, recruiting members to those political parties, trying to get individuals selected and elected so they can exercise political influence and power, whether it’s at local government level or national level,” he said.
“They are completely at odds with Labour’s programme, with our support for secularism.”
Mr Fitzpatrick, the MP for Poplar and Canning Town, said the IFE had infiltrated and “corrupted” his party in east London in the same way that the far-Left Militant Tendency did in the 1980s. Leaked Labour lists show a 110 per cent rise in party membership in one constituency in two years.
In a six-month investigation by this newspaper and Channel 4’s Dispatches, involving weeks of covert filming by the programme’s reporters:
IFE activists boasted to the undercover reporters that they had already “consolidated … a lot of influence and power” over Tower Hamlets, a London borough council with a £1 billion budget. >>> Andrew Gilligan | Saturday, February 27, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
WELT ONLINE: Die Massenverhaftungen hoher Militärs zeigen, dass die Türkei weiter nach einer gesellschaftlichen Balance sucht. Einer der wichtigsten Gründe für das Ringen um die türkische Seele ist, dass sich die strategische Bedeutung des Landes für die USA im Kampf gegen Terror geändert hat.
Seit Jahren ringen die neuen und die alten Eliten der Türkei um die Macht. Ein langsamer Regimewechsel findet statt: An die Stelle der säkularen, antiklerikalen Republik des Staatsgründers Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – formal demokratisch, aber orientiert an autoritären und militaristischen Mustern – tritt etwas Neues, dessen Umrisse erst klar hervortreten müssen.
Optimisten dürfen hoffen, dass es ein nach Europa strebendes, demokratisches, modernes, pluralistisches Regime sein wird, dessen offen islamische Sympathien nicht stören, sondern beweisen werden, dass Islam, Toleranz und Demokratie kompatibel sind. Pessimisten fürchten, dass es genauso autoritär sein wird wie das vorangegangene, nur unter religiösem Vorzeichen und mit einer offensiveren Außenpolitik, die jenseits von EU und Nato nach einer Vormachtstellung in der islamischen Welt strebt und sich als Gegengewicht zu Europa versteht. Der Wert der Türkei für die USA >>> Von Boris Kálnoky | Samstag, 27. Februar 2010
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