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Thursday, June 10, 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The city and about 10,000 rescue and cleanup workers at ground zero said Thursday that they had negotiated a new settlement under which the city’s insurer kicks in more money and the plaintiffs’ lawyers reduce their legal fees to give the workers more compensation for health damages.
A federal judge rejected an earlier settlement in March. After nearly three months of renegotiations, the city’s insurer, the WTC Captive Insurance Company, has agreed to increase its payout to plaintiffs to $712.5 million. The previous terms called for payouts of $575 million to $657.5 million.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers have also agreed to reduce their fees to a maximum of 25 percent of the settlement amount, down from the 33.33 percent called for in contingency agreements that their clients signed. As a result, the plaintiffs will get to keep an additional $50 million, the lawyers said.
“This settlement ensures guaranteed, immediate and just compensation to the heroic men and women who performed their duties without consideration of the health implications,” said Marc J. Bern, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers.
“Our commitment to our clients has never wavered in the seven years since we took on this litigation and we have done everything within our power, including reducing the fees we agreed to with each of our clients, to achieve the best possible outcome,” he said. >>> A. G. Sulzberger and Mireya Navarro | Thursday, June 10, 2010
TELEGRAPH BLOGS: Turkey’s decision to veto the latest U.N. Security Council resolution on Iran should be of concern for all those, like me, who desire a peaceful resolution of the international crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme.
The Turks are apparently upset that the West has not responded positively to the nuclear deal it recently negotiated with Iran, with Brazil’s assistance, whereby Tehran would ship some of its stockpile of enriched uranium to Ankara in return for fuel rods for its so-called research reactor in Tehran.
In fact this deal was nothing more than a watered-down version of the agreement Iran negotiated with the world’s leading powers in Geneva last year, and then reneged upon. Crucially, it made no provision for Iran to call a halt to the controversial uranium enrichment programme at Natanz that allows it to produce another 100 kilos of fissile material each month. (Iran now has about 2.5 tons of enriched uranium, more than enough to make an atom bomb.)
But the Iran-Turkey deal is indicative of a far more worrying trend in relations between the two countries. I now gather that Iranian officials were in close contact with the “aid” activists responsible for organising the flotilla that tried to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Read on and comment >>> Con Coughln | Thursday, June 10, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A photograph of Sarah Palin in a tight-fitting white t-shirt has sparked internet rumours that the former Governor of Alaska has undergone breast enlargement surgery.
The images, taken at the Belmont Stakes race in New York last week, have prompted furious debate online, with bloggers desperately trying to work out if Mrs Palin has gone under the knife.
Wonkette first noticed the alleged surgical augmentation, but several more sightings followed.
"We can report with confidence that at least two people with experience in having breasts say that Sarah Palin sure looks like she was trotting out some new work at the horse races on Sunday," the website reported. >>> | Thursday, June 10, 2010
LE FIGARO: Le parti qui a fait campagne sur la réduction des déficits remporte les élections législatives anticipées, avec un siège d'avance sur les travaillistes. Troisième, l'extrême droite fait plus que doubler ses sièges.
Après une nuit passée au coude à coude, les libéraux mènent finalement d'une courte tête devant les travaillistes. Le parti libéral VVD obtient 31 sièges de députés sur 150 à l'issue des élections législatives anticipées de mercredi aux Pays-Bas. En face, le parti travailliste PvdA emporte 30 sièges. Des résultats encore provisoires, publiés après le dépouillement de 94% des bulletins de vote.
En se présentant comme les champions de la réduction des déficits, les libéraux ont bénéficié d'une campagne centrée sur l'économie, pour cette première législative en Europe après la crise grecque. Si le VVD marque ainsi une importante progression, sa faible avance sur les travaillistes ne lui permettra pas de gouverner seul. «Je suis tête de liste et candidat au poste de premier ministre mais il faut d'abord parvenir à constituer une coalition solide», a donc déclaré le leader libéral, Mark Rutte, au milieu de la nuit. S'il y parvient, il deviendrait à 43 ans le premier premier ministre libéral des Pays-Bas depuis 1918. >>> Par Thomas Vampouille | Jeudi 10 Juin 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Viele Sieger und keine Klärung in den Niederlanden: Der Populist Wilders stellt ein Ultimatum – Bei den niederländischen Parlamentswahlen haben die Liberalen am meisten Sitze errungen. Geert Wilders Freiheitspartei erhielt den stärksten Zuwachs. Die politische Landschaft ist allerdings stärker zersplittert als zuvor. >>> Peter Winkler, Den Haag | Donnerstag, 10. Juni 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Geert Wilders could be kingmaker in Dutch parliament after coming third: Geert Wilders, the controversial anti-Islamic Dutch politician, came third behind tied Liberal and Labour parties after elections in the Netherlands left no obvious winner or combination for a coalition government. >>> Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Die niederländischen Lokalwahlen werden als Gradmesser für die Popularität des Rechtspopulisten Geert Wilders und von dessen Partei für die Freiheit (PVV) betrachtet. Der Brüsseler NZZ-Korrespondent Peter Winkler hat mit Wilders gesprochen. Zum Interview >>> Interview: win. | Mittwoch, 03. März 2010
ZEIT ONLINE: Wilders triumphiert, Balkenende tritt zurück: Bei der Parlamentswahl in den Niederlanden liegen die Rechtsliberalen knapp vor den Sozialdemokraten. Die Partei des Rechtspopulisten Geert Wilders will mitregieren. >>> Zeit Online, Reuters, AFP, dpa | Donnerstag, 10. Juni 2010
Pamela Geller:
Robert Spencer:
Nonie Darwish:
The Los Angeles Times apparently sees nothing wrong with a mosque and cultural center at Ground Zero! Moreover, it views religious pluralism as a “cultural strength”! >>>
NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: The right-wing liberal VVD and populist PVV were the big winners of Wednesday's parliamentary election in the Netherlands. Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende was ousted after eight years in power.
After a neck-and-neck contest with the Labour party, the VVD emerged victorious, garnering 31 of 150 seats in parliament, with 98 percent of the votes counted. "It looks like, for the first time in history, the VVD will be the biggest party in the Netherlands," VVD leader Mark Rutte told supporters Thursday morning, when preliminary results showed Labour would be left with 30 seats. The right-wing liberals may have shaken the social democrats, led by former Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen, but never has the biggest party in parliament occupied so few seats, and never was the margin seperating it from the runner-up so slim.
Geert Wilders' PVV won the most in the election. Wilders, who is internationally known for his unequivocal criticism of Islam, went from 9 to 24 seats in parliament. While he ran a muted campaign and polls predicted he would barely double his seats, Wilders proved especially popular in the south-east of the country. His growing following there is part of the reason the Christian democratic party of incumbent prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende was halved at the polls. The CDA lost 20 of its 41 seats and will now be the fourth party in Dutch parliament. >>> News Staff, NRC Handelsblad | Thursday, June 10, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The Liberals have won a narrow one-seat lead in the Dutch election, putting them in pole position to form a coalition.
With 88 per cent of the votes counted, published partial results showed the Liberals with 31 and Labour on 30.
But the real victory went to Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV), which demands an end to immigration from Muslim countries and a ban on new mosques. The PVV took its number of seats from nine in the last parliament to 24, and could hope to enter a coalition government.
The far-right leader with his distinctive shock of fair hair called the result "magnificent".
"The impossible has happened," he told a televised party gathering. "We are the biggest winner today. The Netherlands chose more security, less crime, less immigration and less Islam."
The election ousted Christian Democrat Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende from eight years in office.
The Liberals' narrow lead gives leader Mark Rutte a mandate to form a coalition and become prime minister, but sticking to his austerity policies could prove tough because he needs at least three other parties to secure a parliamentary majority. >>> | Thursday, June 10, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Prince Charles yesterday urged the world to follow Islamic 'spiritual principles' in order to protect the environment.
In an hour-long speech, the heir to the throne argued that man's destruction of the world was contrary to the scriptures of all religions - but particularly those of Islam.
He said the current 'division' between man and nature had been caused not just by industrialisation, but also by our attitude to the environment - which goes against the grain of 'sacred traditions'.
Charles, who is a practising Christian and will become the head of the Church of England when he succeeds to the throne, spoke in depth about his own study of the Koran which, he said, tells its followers that there is 'no separation between man and nature' and says we must always live within our environment's limits. Read on and comment >>> Rebecca English | Thursday, June 10, 2010
OXFORD MAIL: SCIENCE and spiritualism must work together if the Earth is to avoid environmental disaster, the Prince of Wales warned in Oxford today.
He said focusing on your “soul” and nature is as important as relying on science to find the solutions to global warming.
The Prince made his comments while on a visit to the city to mark the 25th anniversary of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, where he has been patron since 1993.
His lecture, called Islam and the Environment, was delivered to an estimated 1,000 people at the Sheldonian Theatre, in Broad Street.
The Prince said: “When we hear talk of an environmental crisis or even of a financial crisis, I would suggest that this is actually describing the outward con-sequences of a deeper, inner crisis of the soul.
“It is a crisis in our relationship with, and perception of, nature, and is born of Western culture being dominated for at least 200 years by a mechanistic and reductionist approach to our scientific understanding of the world around us.
“I would like you to consider very carefully whether a big part of the solution to all of our worldwide crises does not lie simply in more and better technology, but in the recovery of the soul to the mainstream of our thinking.
“Our science and technology cannot do this. Only sacred traditions have the capacity to help this.”
Earlier the Prince was given a tour of the centre’s new premises in Marston Road, which are currently under development, by its founder director, Dr Farhan Nizami.
Although independent, the centre is linked to Oxford University.
The Prince told the audience the West could learn from the Islamic approach to nature.
He said: “The Islamic world is the custodian of one of the greatest treasuries of accumulated wisdom and spiritual knowledge available to humanity.
“It is both Islam’s noble heritage and a priceless gift to the world. >>> Dan Hearn | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
For British women to take to the veil, hijab, niqab, or burqah is a total bloody nonsense!
Women have to wear such ridiculous garb in countries where men are unable to keep their dicks in their pants, robes, thobes, dishdashas. This is NOT the case in Great Britain. British men have a long history of restraint. A good pedigree, in fact. And that’s more than can be said about men in many Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam.
In Muslim countries, taking to the veil might well be necessary; here in the United Kingdom, it is a nonsense, and an absolute bloody nonsense at that! – © Mark Alexander
All rights reserved
SAPHIR NEWS: « Inspiré par Muhammad ». C’est la nouvelle campagne de publicité lancée depuis lundi 7 juin à Londres, visant à améliorer l’image de l’islam et des musulmans aux yeux des Britanniques par le biais de photos de musulmans et des musulmanes, voilées ou non, placardés dans les rues et les métros de la capitale. Cette campagne coïncide avec la publication d’un sondage portant sur la perception de l'islam en Grande-Bretagne. Ce qui en ressort est inquiétant : plus d’un Britannique sur deux associe l’islam à l’intégrisme et au terrorisme.
Quoi de mieux qu’une campagne de pub de grande échelle pour balayer les préjugés qu’une partie de la population a envers l’islam… ou du moins améliorer leur perception négative de la religion musulmane ? Ce rêve est devenu réalité en Grande-Bretagne, où l'on peut apercevoir, depuis lundi 7 juin, des photos de musulmans et de musulmanes, voilées ou non, placardés dans les stations de métro, de bus et sur les taxis de la capitale britannique et de ses environs.
Ces affiches sont accompagnées de messages courts tels que « Je crois en les droits de la femme », « Je crois en la justice sociale » et « Je crois en la protection de l’environnement », toutes suivies de « Muhammad aussi ». On l’a tous compris, c’est bien du Prophète Muhammad dont il s’agit.
Ce Prophète continue d’inspirer la vie de millions de personnes à travers le monde. Quoi de plus évident pour Exploring Islam Foundation (EIF), initiatrice du projet, de centrer cette campagne publicitaire autour de celui qui est considéré comme le Sceau des Prophètes, le dernier des messagers pour 1,5 milliard de musulmans sur la planète. Muhammad, un modèle qui fascine >>> Hanan Ben Rhouma | Mercredi 09 Juin 2010
Check out the video! It’s unbelievable. Really unbelievable! Talk about a whitewash… this is it! What a load of BS! Inspired by Muhammad >>>
THE TIMES: President Obama pledged $400 million (£274m) in aid to Gaza and the West Bank today, calling on Israel to reconsider its “unsustainable” blockade on the Hamas-run territory.
Mr Obama’s comments, coming after a high profile meeting with the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, were the clearest sign yet that Washington is reconsidering its prior support for the blockade following Israel’s deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship.
MrObama called the flotilla raid a “tragedy” saying that a “better approach” was needed than the three-year-long blockade on Gaza and its rulers in Hamas.
“It’s important that we get all the facts,” Mr Obama said, of the raid in which nine Turkish civilians, one with US citizenship, were killed. “What we also know is that the situation in Gaza is unsustainable.”
He credited the new aid package, most of it earmarked for the rebuilding of Gaza’s wrecked infrastructure to the “advocacy and guidance” of Mr Abbas, a clear attempt to bolster the West Bank leader in the face of rising Hamas support in the wake of the attack and growing disillusionment over the progress of the United States backed peace process. Obama pledges $400m in aid for Gaza... Read on and comment >>> Catherine Philp, Washington | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
*Where is all this money coming from, Mr. President? Don't you understand the gravity of the deficit that America is already running? – Mark
WELT ONLINE: Schwul ist cool und längst kein Schmuddelthema mehr. Doch hat sich die Homosexuellen-Emanzipation in Deutschland tatsächlich totgesiegt? Die junge Generation kann mit dem Kampf um Gleichberechtigung nichts mehr anfangen. Oder gibt es doch noch Probleme, obwohl ein Mann mit Mann Vizekanzler ist?
Lesben und Schwule müssen sich nicht mehr verstecken. Nicht zuletzt zehn Jahre Homo-Ehe, offen schwule Popstars und Politiker, aber auch lesbische TV-Größen sorgen für Selbstbewusstsein. Die meisten Medien haben viel Verständnis. Außenminister Guido Westerwelle plauderte über sein Schwulsein sogar in der Jugendzeitschrift „Bravo“. Die Insolvenz des schwulen TV-Senders Timm könnte man außerdem so auslegen, dass keine Extrawurst mehr nötig ist. Und das Web sorgt sowieso für unendliche Freiheit. Doch herrscht wirklich Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen?
Die Begriffe „schwul“ und „lesbisch“ rufen in jedem etwas anderes hervor – das ist auch bei den Leuten so, die sich selbst vom eigenen Geschlecht erotisch angezogen fühlen. Viele Jüngere können mit den Kampfbegriffen aus den 70er-Jahren nichts mehr anfangen. Sie sehen damit überkommene Verhaltensweisen verbunden und eine offensive Rolle des Andersseins, die sie nicht einnehmen wollen.
Dazu kommt das Internet, das den Rückzug ins Private einfach macht und gleichzeitig viel Raum schafft, sich auszuleben. Außer in Großstädten, vor allem in Berlin mit seiner riesigen Homo-Szene, ziehen viele inzwischen die Aktivität im Web der öffentlichen Aktion vor – oft tun sie das aber auch nur, weil das bequemer ist und man keine Blicke oder Getuschel aushalten muss. >>> DPA | Sonntag, 16. Mai 2010
WELT ONLINE: Schwule von Skinheads und Katholiken attackiert : Unschönes Ende eines friedlichen Protests gegen Intoleranz und Homophobie in Frankreich: Zwischen Homosexuellen, die zu einer öffentlichen Küss-Aktion aufgerufen hatten, und Skindheads [sic] ist es in Lyon zu Zusammenstößen gekommen. Auch strenggläubige Katholiken gingen auf die gleichgeschlechtlichen Paare los. >>> AFP/KAMI | Mittwoch 19. Mai 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: ANKARA, Turkey — For decades, Turkey was one of the United States’ most pliable allies, a strategic border state on the edge of the Middle East that reliably followed American policy. But recently, it has asserted a new approach in the region, its words and methods as likely to provoke Washington as to advance its own interests.
The change in Turkey’s policy burst into public view last week, after the deadly Israeli commando raid on a Turkish flotilla, which nearly severed relations with Israel, Turkey’s longtime ally. Just a month ago, Turkey infuriated the United States when it announced that along with Brazil, it had struck a deal with Iran to ease a nuclear standoff, and on Tuesday it warmly welcomed Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the Russian prime minister, Vladimir V. Putin, at a regional security summit meeting in Istanbul.
Turkey’s shifting foreign policy is making its prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a hero to the Arab world, and is openly challenging the way the United States manages its two most pressing issues in the region, Iran’s nuclear program and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Turkey is seen increasingly in Washington as “running around the region doing things that are at cross-purposes to what the big powers in the region want,” said Steven A. Cook, a scholar with the Council on Foreign Relations. The question being asked, he said, is “How do we keep the Turks in their lane?”
From Turkey’s perspective, however, it is simply finding its footing in its own backyard, a troubled region that has been in turmoil for years, in part as a result of American policy making. Turkey has also been frustrated in its longstanding desire to join the European Union.
“The Americans, no matter what they say, cannot get used to a new world where regional powers want to have a say in regional and global politics,” said Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations at Bilgi University in Istanbul. “This is our neighborhood, and we don’t want trouble. The Americans create havoc, and we are left holding the bag.” >>> Sabrina Tavernise reported from Ankara, and Michael Slackman from Cairo | Tuesday, June 08, 2010
TOWNHALL.COM: Most Americans are sympathetic to public references to Islam and to Muslims that do not offend patriotic American Muslims or affix to the Islamic religion the rantings of al-Qaeda. But sensitivity to the need to be civil to Muslims doesn’t—or shouldn’t—obviate the need for intellectual honesty when discussing or analyzing America’s Islamist political foes.
At a recent briefing to scholars and reporters at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counter-terrorism, went into contortions to avoid admitting what seems commonsense to most Americans: there is a connection between some parts of Islamic thought and the repeated assertions of Osama bin Laden and his supporters and sympathizers that they are waging “jihad” against the United States. Brennan said the religious views of America’s Islamist terrorist adversaries shouldn’t even be discussed. Yet to accept that view would be like asking the State Department to examine the views of Adolf Hitler during Word War II and avoid mentioning his hatred of the Jews.
Brennan said the White House and State Department were avoiding reference to “jihadists” even though terrorist adversaries of the United States often call themselves exactly that. He said that jihad was “a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam meaning to purify oneself and one’s community.” True, this is the “greater jihad,” as defined by Mohammed himself—but it is not the whole meaning of jihad at all. In fact, serious and respected scholars of Islam such as Professor Bernard Lewis assert that by far the largest proportion of Islamic historical references to jihad refer to what is called the “lesser jihad”—the duty of Muslims to wage war on non-Muslims in order to subdue all countries and communities for Allah.
The Quran, Islam’s holy book, is quite explicit about this. Surah 9, for example, the “surah of the sword,” explicitly calls on Muslims to “fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and his Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the book [i.e,. Jews and Christians] until they pay the tax in acknowledgement of superiority and they are in a state of subjection” (Surah 9:29). Just in case readers didn’t get that message, Surah 2:216 says “jihad is enjoined for you, though you dislike it, and it may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you, and it may be that you love a thing while it is evil for you, and Allah knows, while you do not know” (Surah 2:216).
Brennan claimed that the extremists were victims of “political, economic, and social forces,” and that they should not be described in “religious terms.” But if America’s Islamist opponents describe themselves in religious terms, why shouldn’t we take seriously what they are saying? Read on and comment>>> David Aikman | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Iran’s state shipping company is carrying out a systematic campaign of deception to protect its international trade from looming sanctions at the United Nations Security Council.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (Irisl), which has close links with the country’s Revolutionary Guards, is to be singled out in sanctions that are being voted on in the Security Council today.
Fresh concerns over how to implement the sanctions have emerged, however, after revelations about how the company evaded embargos by renaming scores of ships and setting up front companies to disguise their ownership.
According to a report in The New York Times published yesterday, as many as ten blacklisted ships are still insured in Britain and Bermuda and an unknown number whose ownership has been better disguised may have links to Britain. >>> Catherine Philp, Hugh Tomlinson, Martin Fletcher | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: UNITED NATIONS — The United States, moving firmly away from the Obama administration’s previous emphasis on wooing Iran, pushed through a new round of United Nations sanctions against the nation on Wednesday, taking aim at its military in yet another attempt to pressure Tehran over its nuclear program.
The new sanctions, a modest increase from previous rounds, took months to negotiate but still did not carry the symbolic weight of a unanimous Security Council decision. Twelve of the 15 nations voted for the measure, while Turkey and Brazil voted against and Lebanon abstained.
Beyond the restrictions imposed by the sanctions themselves, the vote sets stage for harsher measures that the United States and the European Union have promised to enact on their own once they had the imprimatur of the United Nations. European leaders are likely to discuss new measures at a summit in mid June. >>> Neil MacFarquhar | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Her fierce questions shocked White House staff; Castro refused to answer her. And now veteran reporter Helen Thomas has had to quit. By Chris McGreal
Fidel Castro was once asked to define the difference between democracy in Cuba and the United States. "I don't have to answer questions from Helen Thomas," the old revolutionary replied.
The grand dame of the White House press corps, who outlasted nine American presidential administrations – and Castro's rule – was finally forced to halt her determined, often opinion-laden questioning and into retirement this week over comments on the issue closest to her heart, the Middle East.
There were no fond farewells for the 89-year-old reporter remembered as a trailblazer for women in journalism but also as a grumpy old contrarian. Her front-row seat in the White House briefing room, in recent years uniquely tagged with her own name rather than that of an organisation, was left empty.
Reporters who variously described Thomas as cranky, stubborn and opinionated said they weren't surprised she'd finally overstepped the mark when she told a rabbi that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and "go home" to Poland and Germany. But the torrent of anger and criticism was tempered by Thomas' lofty status.
By the time of her resignation she had clocked up many firsts: first female officer of the National Press Club and first female president of the White House Correspondents' Association. She worked as a White House reporter for far longer than any other – for half a century. She was probably also the first White House correspondent to have a birthday cake delivered by a president, when Barack Obama arrived bearing cup cakes (they share a birthday). >>> Chris McGreal | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
TOWNHALL.COM: Helen's Hate-Filled Exit : The last two presidents have been elected on the very dubious campaign promise of "changing the tone" of Washington. Either could have proven his sincerity by shredding the credentials of the White House press corps Dean of Mean, Helen Thomas. Her tone was nasty, and her "questions" usually meant more as insults than as requests for information. Still, presidents and journalists alike bowed and scraped before her, as if she were the Queen of All Media. >>> Brent Bozell | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
THE TIMES: Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas quits at 89 after Israel outburst: It is always dangerous for a reporter to become the story. For Helen Thomas, two months before her 90th birthday, it has meant the end of her career.
The daughter of Lebanese immigrants who could neither read nor write, Thomas was covering the White House 11 years before its current spokesman was born.
Yesterday she resigned in disgrace after telling a Jewish online news service that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and “go home”. >>> Giles Whittell, Washington | Monday, June 07, 2010
Related here
THE GUARDIAN: Steven Monjeza leaves Tiwonge Chimbalanga for a woman a week after the couple were freed from jail in Malawi
They became an international cause celebre after being sentenced to 14 years in prison under Malawi's draconian laws against homosexuality.
But today the story of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, the first same sex couple to seek marriage in Malawi, took a further twist when it emerged that they had separated and one of the men now has a female partner.
Outrage over their convictions for gross indecency and unnatural acts last month gave way to relief when the country's president, Bingu wa Mutharika, freed them on "humanitarian grounds".
Their separation was called as a "tragedy" by one campaigner who blamed it on homophobic threats and abuse. Monjeza, 26, has begun a relationship with Dorothy Gulo, a 24-year-old from Blantyre.
Monjeza, who faced family hostility towards his previous relationship with Chimbalanga, said he no longer wanted to be associated with homosexuality.
"I have had enough," he said. "I was forced into the whole drama and I regret the whole episode. I want to live a normal life ... not a life where I would be watched by everyone, booed and teased."
Chimbalanga, 20, said Monjeza had found a female lover "to hurt" him. "But I am not worried. You cannot force love, and nobody forced him when we did our symbolic wedding in December."
He insisted that he did not resent Monjeza's decision. "I will also marry because there are lots of good men around. I will remain a gay," he told the [sic] Guardian. >>> Godfrey Mapondera in Blantyre and David Smith in Johannesburg | Tuesday, June 08, 2010
ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL: Istanbul - Turkey signed an agreement to establish closer links with the Palestinian National Authority on Monday. Foreign ministers representing Turkey and the Palestinians signed the agreement as Turkish president Abdullah Gul and president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas were to meet at a conference in Istanbul.
The agreement was signed by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Palestinian counterpart Riyad El-Maliki and aims to create a framework for Turkey's aid and support to the Palestinian state, Turkish media reports said.
A joint committee will convene at least twice every year in order to determine areas of cooperation and lay down action plans. >>> AKI | Monday, June 07, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Muslim community leader, Noor Ramjanally, who claimed he was kidnapped by members of the British National Party was caught out lying by covert surveillance cameras designed to protect him, a court heard.
The 36 year-old falsely claimed he was abducted at knifepoint by racist thugs from the far-right wing political party after being subjected to hate mail and an arson attack, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.
He had told police he had feared for his life when he was kidnapped in broad daylight from his home in Loughton, Essex on August 24 last year and bundled into a car, it was claimed.
Ramjanally then claimed he was driven to nearby Epping Forest where he was threatened and warned to stop holding prayer sessions he had organised.
But he was caught out lying after detectives viewed CTTV footage from secret cameras installed to protect him after his previous claims that he was being targeted by racist opponents, prosecutors said. >>> Andrew Hough | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
THE JERUSALEM POST: Dutch "values" party head set to gain seats in current election.
Geert Wilders, who is demanding a halt to immigration from Muslim countries as the centerpiece of his campaign for the Dutch prime ministership, has hailed Israel for “fighting the jihad” and warned that “the West is next” if Israel is unsuccessful.
“Israel is the canary in the coal mine,” Wilders said in a recent telephone interview with The Jerusalem Post, ahead of Wednesday’s elections in the Netherlands. “The jihad against Israel isn’t against Israel only. It’s against the whole West.”
A year ago, Wilders’s PVV (Party for Freedom) was scoring 28 percent in opinion polls and appeared to have a realistic prospect of winning the elections. It has declined since then, however, he said, as economic issues have become increasingly dominant.
“There’s not a big chance that I’ll become prime minister,” he said.
Nonetheless, the PVV is expected to double its current nine seats in the 150-member parliament, and front-runner Mark Rutte, of the People’s Party for Freedom of Democracy (VVD), said this week that he was not ruling out Wilders’s party as a coalition partner.
Wilders, who is Catholic, has faced a barrage of criticism, legal action and death threats for expressing trenchant criticism of Islam, and lives amid constant security precautions. He told the Post that while he believes “there are moderate Muslims,” and that many Muslims living in the West are moderate, law-abiding people, “I don’t believe there is a moderate Islam.”
He described Islam as “a totalitarian ideology – against freedom, and the rule of law, and the separation of church and state.”
He said the influx of Muslims into countries such as Holland was causing “the Islamification of our societies.” In the wake of his 2008 film Fitna, he noted, he was “taken to a criminal court in the Netherlands for things I said about Islam” and had to wage a legal battle last year to enter Britain after first being barred.
“Freedom of speech is under attack,” he said. “It wouldn’t have happened if I had criticized Catholicism.” Wilders said Holland’s Muslim population had grown to about one million (out of the 16 million national populace), and that “tens of thousands are still arriving each year, from Somalia, Iraq, Morocco, Turkey” and beyond. In other European countries, the percentage of Muslims was much higher, he said. The influx “is bringing enormous changes,” he said, speaking about women and homosexuals being harassed in the streets in some Muslim neighborhoods and the rise of Shari’a courts. >>> David Horovitz | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
THE JERUSALEM POST: Ahmadinejad and Turkey lash out at Israel yet again.
Ankara continued to pile unrelenting criticism on Israel on Tuesday, with President Abdullah Gul saying that Israel would be isolated and “suffer the consequences” of its “mistake against Turkey.”
Gul said 21 Asian countries meeting in Istanbul had “expressed their grave concern and condemnation for the actions undertaken by the Israel Defense Forces.”
Israel was the only state at the 22-member Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia forum meeting in Istanbul that did not join the call, he said.
Israel managed to block a joint declaration by the group, whose decisions require consensus, forcing Gul to issue a separate statement.
While Israel continued its policy of not responding publicly to the stream of Turkish jibes, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in New York it was a “mistake” to think that it was possible to change Turkey’s attitude toward Israel through any gesture or efforts, since the negative change in Ankara reflected a strategic change by the Turkish leadership stemming from deep shifts in Turkish society.
Quartet special envoy Tony Blair said in an interview on Channel 10 on Tuesday that the Turkish change was very worrisome. He expressed hope that out of the crisis a new bridge would be built between Israel and Turkey.
Blair, who advocated Turkey joining the EU in 2005, said the cold shoulder the EU gave Turkey led to Ankara’s decision to turn in the direction of Iran.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also used the forum to lambaste Israel, saying the flotilla incident showed Israel’s “violence and hatred and war-mongering attitudes.” >>> Herb Keinon | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the leader of Iran's opposition green movement was involved in the massacre of more than 10,000 political prisoners in 1988, according to a report.
Mr Mousavi, the defeated candidate in last June's presidential election, served as Iran's prime minister when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the regime's spiritual leader, issued a fatwa that sentenced thousands of political prisoners to death without trial, according to the report by one of Britain's leading human rights lawyers.
Mr Mousavi is one of several prominent Iranian politicians who are accused of implementing the order. According to a detailed report published by Geoffrey Robertson QC, who specialises in human rights law, the prisoners were executed for refusing to recant their political and religious beliefs.
"They were hung from cranes, four at a time, or in groups of six from ropes hanging from the stage of the prison assembly hall," the report states. "Their bodies were doused with disinfectant, packed in refrigerated trucks, and buried by night in mass graves." >>> Con Coughlin | Tuesday, June 08, 2010
EMEL: David Cameron has made a fair few headlines recently. His comparison of extremist Muslim groups with the British National Party, his memorial service for multi-culturalism and his pronouncements on Britishness have kept the media focus on Muslims. Sarah Joseph meets him to find out what he really understands of the Muslim community.
David Cameron likes lines and boxes. They crop up a lot in our conversation as he details the struggle to find appropriate categories for Muslims. Finding the right box in which to fit him, however, is not easy either. He wants a new “compassionate Conservative Party”, but he is surrounded by “new” Conservatives of the “neo” kind. He says he is not a deeply ideological person, but there are plenty of ideologues around him. He says he’s not a Thatcherite, but Thatcher remains one of his role models.
So what is it to be? The kind, liberal front man of a centre ground conservatism, or a closet right-winger – “a rightwing wolf in compassionate sheep’s clothing”, as he has been called?
As I sit in the back of his Lexus racing from Brighton to Horsham and then London – two legs of a bustling round of speeches and hand shakes, meeting the local Conservatives, I ask if he is leading a government in waiting, “We’ve definitely turned a corner.” Indeed even if Labour spin the current opinion polls around and scrape that historic fourth election victory, the Conservatives will surely hold onto David Cameron. One must surely recognise the prospect that he will one day lead them to power. >>> Sarah Joseph* | Republished May 2010; First published March 2007* Sarah Joseph (photograph inserted) is a British convert to Islam, and editrix of Emel.
PRESS ASSOCIATION: The Prince of Wales is to give a lecture on Islam and the environment.
Charles, patron of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, will make the speech in the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford University. >>> UKPA | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
THE INDEPENDENT: Voters seeking fiscal discipline and tighter immigration laws appear set to back a new right-wing government in a national election today, and may even double their support for the anti-Islamic politician Geert Wilders.
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, an immigrant-wary, free-market party that has not led a government in nearly 100 years, has taken a commanding lead in the polls. Read on and comment >>> | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
NEW YORK POST: Jersey jihadis junior hellions
These are the faces of evil.
Officials last night released the mug shots of New Jersey terror suspects Mohamed Alessa, 20, and Carlos "Omar" Almonte, 24.
They were taken after the two hate-spewing terrorist wannabes were captured as they headed to Somalia, allegedly to wage holy war on Americans.
Their neighbors weren't surprised -- they said jihad started early for the two.
They were terrors in their suburban communities years before they were busted last Saturday at Kennedy Airport.
Not a single school could handle Alessa. He openly talked of blowing up his schools in the name of Islam.
Almonte was picked up by cops several times for increasingly violent behavior.
The duo are due back in Newark federal court today for a bail hearing on charges of plotting to murder, maim and kidnap people overseas. >>> Carolyn Salazar, Perry Chiaramonte and Chuck Bennett, AP | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: David Cameron is facing a fight with European leaders at his first summit next week over demands for Britain to have its budget vetted by the EU before it is presented to parliament.
He will refuse to sign up to plans, supported by all Europe's finance ministers except Britain's, in which officials would assess the "main assumptions" of a budget before it was seen by MPs and the public.
The "budgetary surveillance" demand will overshadow the prime minister's first EU meeting next Thursday and will put him at odds with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President.
Herman Van Rompuy, the EU President, and the European Commission have proposed that all treasuries must discuss their budget plans with other European finance ministers and officials before they are presented to national parliaments.
Mr Van Rompuy said: "The main assumptions underlying the budgetary plans, like the levels of growth or inflation, would be examined. So would the main aggregates, like total revenues, total spending and deficit targets.
"A government presenting a budgetary plan with a high deficit will have to justify itself in front of its peers. There would still be time to adjust the plans before the final budget is presented."
Mr Van Rompuy has defended the plan saying it will help national parliaments to better judge complicated budgets. "A national parliament would be able to judge its governments' budget plans knowing fully their credibility," he said.
The measure is intended to prevent a repeat of the Greek debt crisis and to help the EU police rules, applying to all 27 member states, limiting public spending in order to safeguard the euro. >>> Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Tuesday, June 08, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Fifty eight per cent of the British public associate Islam with extremism but a new campaign is promoting the religion on London transport
The purple, pink and green sign on the yellow London taxi reads: “The rights of women are sacred.”
This is not some spiritual feminist mantra born of the New Age, but comes out of one of the most traditional religions in the world.
The advertisement marks the launch of a campaign to promote a positive image of Islam, a religion not widely known for its promotion of the rights of women.
The negative view of a faith followed by nearly 1.6 billion people, or one fifth of the world’s population, is the main reason for the launch of the Inspired by Muhammad campaign.
Besides London taxis, the advertisements are to appear on Underground trains and bus stops.
After a new poll showed that 58 per cent of people associate Islam with extremism and 50 per cent with terrorism, the campaign is intended to promote a positive Islamic message about the environment and social justice as well as women.
The campaign was launched by the Exploring Islam Foundation, a new and privately funded group run by young British Muslim professionals.
The YouGov poll of 2,152 adults found that just 13 per cent of those questions believed Islam to be a religion of peace and even fewer, six per cent, associated it with justice.
More than four in 10 disagreed that Muslims have a positive impact on British society, nearly seven in ten said Islam encourages the repression of women and fewer than two in ten said Islam promotes fairness and equality.
The campaign was launched at Tower Bridge, an image of London used on postcards throughout the world. >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Tuesday, June 08, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Thousands of young British women living in the UK decide to convert to Islam - here are some of their stories
It’s a controversial time for British women to be wearing the hijab, the basic Muslim headscarf. Last month, Belgium became the first European country to pass legislation to ban the burka (the most concealing of Islamic veils), calling it a “threat” to female dignity, while France looks poised to follow suit. In Italy earlier this month, a Muslim woman was fined €500 (£430) for wearing the Islamic veil outside a post office.
And yet, while less than 2 per cent of the population now attends a Church of England service every week, the number of female converts to Islam is on the rise. At the London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park, women account for roughly two thirds of the “New Muslims” who make their official declarations of faith there – and most of them are under the age of 30.
Conversion statistics are frustratingly patchy, but at the time of the 2001 Census, there were at least 30,000 British Muslim converts in the UK. According to Kevin Brice, of the Centre for Migration Policy Research, Swansea University, this number may now be closer to 50,000 – and the majority are women. “Basic analysis shows that increasing numbers of young, university-educated women in their twenties and thirties are converting to Islam,” confirms Brice.
“Our liberal, pluralistic 21st-century society means we can choose our careers, our politics – and we can pick and choose who we want to be spiritually,” explains Dr Mohammad S. Seddon, lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Chester. We’re in an era of the “religious supermarket”, he says. >>> Sarah Harris | Saturday, May 10, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: David Cameron, the Prime Minister, has welcomed his predecessor Baroness Thatcher to 10 Downing Street for a private meeting.
The PM came to the door of Number 10 to welcome Lady Thatcher and helped the visibly frail former premier from her limousine.
Lady Thatcher, 84, waved to waiting photographers but made no comment as she entered the address from which she led Britain between 1979 and 1990. >>> | Tuesday, June 08, 2010
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TIMES ONLINE: Inmates are converting to Islam in order to gain perks and the protection of powerful Muslim gangs, the Chief Inspector of Prisons warns today.
Dame Anne Owers says that some convicted criminals are taking up the religion in jail to receive benefits only available to practising Muslims.
The number of Muslim prisoners has risen dramatically since the mid-1990s — from 2,513 in 1994, or 5 per cent of the population, to 9,795 in 2008, or 11 per cent. Staff at top-security prisons and youth jails have raised concerns about the intimidation of non-Muslims and possible forced conversions.
Dame Anne’s report, Muslim Prisoners’ Experiences, published today, says that, although several high-profile terrorists have been jailed recently, fewer than 1 in 100 Muslim inmates have been convicted of terrorism.
She says that prison staff are suspicious about those practising or converting to the faith and warns that treating Muslim inmates as potential or actual extremists risks radicalising them. The report says: “Many Muslim prisoners stressed the positive and rehabilitative role that Islam played in their lives, and the calm that religious observance could induce in a stressed prison environment. This was in marked contrast to the suspicion that religious observance, and particularly conversion or reversion, tended to produce among staff.”
All prisons offer a halal menu, which some inmates see as better than the usual choices. Muslims are excused from work and education while attending Friday prayers. Some converts, who are known as “convenience Muslims”, admitted that they had changed faith because they got more time out of the cells to go to Friday prayers. One quoted in the report said: “Food good too, initially this is what converted me.” Read on and comment >>> Richard Ford, Home Correspondent | Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Monday, June 07, 2010
LE POINT: Le gouvernement israélien annonce qu'il mènera sa propre enquête sur l'abordage sanglant par la marine israélienne d'une flottille turque qui transportait une aide humanitaire destinée à Gaza. Il va également examiner comment maintenir avec des moyens différents son blocus de l'enclave palestinienne. Ces annonces ont été faites par le ministre de la Défense, Ehoud Barak, lors d'un débat à la Knesset sur une motion de censure déposée par l'opposition à propos de l'opération du 31 mai, qui a coûté la vie à neuf militants pro-palestiniens. >>> Le Point.fr | Lundi 07 Juin 2010
MAIL ONLINE: America's $13trillion debt is set to overtake the country's GDP within the next two years as economists warn of a 'debt super cycle.'
Forecasters predict the U.S. debt will grow to surpass gross domestic product in 2012, based on data from the International Monetary Fund.
According to Bloomberg, the world's largest economy will expand at a slower pace than the 3.2 per cent average of the past five decades.
It comes as Barack Obama borrows record amounts to fund spending programs to help the economy recover from its longest recession since the 1930s.
'Over the long term, interest rates on government debt will likely have to rise to attract investors,' said Hiroki Shimazu, a market economist in Tokyo at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc.
'That will be a big burden on the government and the people.'
The forecast prompted warnings the country will be plunged into a debt 'super cycle' - which occurs when a debt exceeds the value of a nation's annual economic output. U.S. facing debt 'super cycle': $13trillion black hole to overtake country's GDP 'within two years' >>> Mail Foreign Service | Monday, June 07, 2010
Obamonomics©: A Definition >>> Mark Alexander | Saturday, March 07, 2009
LOS ANGELES TIMES – BLOGS: Helen Thomas, the legendary White House reporter who broke down barriers against female journalists covering politics, will retire after controversial remarks criticized by many as anti-Israel.
Hearst News Service, her latest employer, on Monday announced the immediate retirement of Thomas, who will be 90 in August.
Thomas told a rabbi at a White House event last week that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and go back to Germany and Poland or the United States. Her comments were caught on videotape and widely distributed.
The remarks caused a furor even though she immediately apologized. Her invitation to speak at a local graduation was rescinded. Jewish groups called her remarks ignorant and insensitive and said her apology did not go far enough. Read on and comment >>> Michael Muskal | Monday, June 07, 2010
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THE TELEGRAPH: A candidate for the Labour leadership has said that he would like to go back in time and assassinate Margaret Thatcher.
John McDonnell drew loud applause from an audience of union members as he described himself as a victim of the former Conservative Prime Minister's policies. Having worked for the Greater London Council and National Union of Mineworkers, Mr McDonnell, MP for The Hayes and Harlington, said he would be glad to "go back to the 1980s and assassinate Thatcher".
Debating together for the first time at a hustings, five of the six MPs bidding to take over from Gordon Brown sought to appeal to the left wing tendencies of their audience. >>> | Monday, June 07, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A British executive has been jailed in Dubai for 15 years for killing his ex-girlfriend and dumping her body in the Gulf after a row.
Mark Arnold denied the allegations made against him in a long-running court case despite the prosecution's use of a confession made after he was arrested at Dubai airport following a trip to Britain.
He admitted arguing with Kerry Winter, a South African, but claims she was alive when he last saw her.
Judge Hamad Abdul Latif told him he would be jailed for 15 years after a brief hearing at Dubai's Court of First Instance on Monday.
The sentence is regarded as lenient as the death penalty remains in force for premeditated murder. The full judgement will be released later this month.
But afterwards Arnold told his lawyer: "There is no evidence - how can the court find me guilty?" >>> Richard Spencer in Dubai and Aislinn Laing in Johannesburg | Monday, June 07, 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Les deux individus sont soupçonnés de polygamie.
Une femme qui avait été verbalisée parce qu'elle conduisait voilée près de Nantes et son mari, soupçonné de polygamie, ont été placés lundi en garde à vue. Un collaborateur de l'époux a aussi été placé en détention, a déclaré le procureur de la République de Nantes, Xavier Ronsin.
Tous trois sont entendus dans le cadre de l'enquête sur «une suspicion de relations polygames» de l'époux, Liès Hebbadj, et des «interrogations sur la régularité des aides sociales dont bénéficieraient plusieurs personnes de sexe féminin qui seraient en relation» avec lui. L'affaire avait éclaté en avril dernier. >>> ATS | Lundi 07 Juin 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le premier mariage homosexuel a été célébré lundi au Portugal, pays à forte majorité catholique doté depuis mai dernier d’une loi autorisant les unions entre personnes du même sexe.
Le premier mariage homosexuel a été célébré ce lundi au Portugal, pays à forte majorité catholique doté depuis mai dernier d’une loi autorisant les unions entre personnes du même sexe.
Teresa Pires et Helena Pixao, deux mères divorcées d’une trentaine d’années qui sont ensemble depuis 2003, se sont mariées en mairie lors d’une cérémonie d’une quinzaine de minutes à Lisbonne. «C’est une grande victoire, un rêve devenu réalité», a déclaré Teresa Pires en embrassant sa compagne.
«Maintenant, nous sommes une famille, c’est la chose importante», a-t-elle ajouté, précisant que son couple continuerait de se battre en faveur de l’égalité des droits pour les homosexuels, y compris en matière d’adoption. >>> AP | Lundi 07 Juin 2010
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