Wednesday, August 18, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama has earned his lowest ever marks on his handling of the economy, as only 41 per cent said they approve of his performance, according to a new poll.
The poll, conducted by Associated Press-GfK, taken just 11 weeks before the Midterm elections, found his approval rating dropped from 44 per cent in April. It also found that 61 per cent say the economy has got worse or stayed the same under Mr Obama’s presidency. >>> | Wednesday, August 18, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Why is an amendment to the ban not being taken seriously, asks Philip Johnston.
My eye was drawn yesterday to a small article by our gossip columnist, Mandrake, reporting that the iconic London nightclub Tramp is installing an area for smokers at a cost of £1.8 million.
Kevin Doyle, Tramp's owner, said the expense was "worth it" to help stem the loss of business caused by the ban on smoking in public places. He hoped the addition of a smoking area would mark a "return to the good old days" of the 1960s when the venue first opened its doors. Brian Crawford, the club's general manager, said: "To be honest, we lost a lot of our big players because of the ban."
Like many pubs and clubs, Tramp has been hit by a ban that was draconian when it should have been flexible. Around 40 are closing every week, not all, it is true, as a result of the ban (cut-price supermarket booze is probably a bigger threat), and thousands of jobs have been lost. There are 6,000 fewer pubs than in 2005. Proponents of the ban derided claims that it would seriously damage the pub trade and, indeed, believed it would attract a new clientele of non-smokers and families to enjoy a drink and food in a smoke-free atmosphere.
But what about the rights of smokers? Why was the law not framed in a way that would reflect the interests both of the majority who favoured a ban and of those who would like to carry on puffing, whatever damage it might do to their health? Initially, it was envisaged that there would be exemptions for private clubs or the provision of smoking rooms in pubs, and their continuation in workplaces that had already banned smoking in most of their office space. A simpler route would have allowed landlords to designate their pubs as either smoking or non-smoking establishments, giving people – including staff – the choice of where to drink and work.
When the ban came fully into effect in the UK on July 1, 2007, polls suggested that up to 80 per cent of all adults were more likely to visit a pub, but little of that anticipated new custom actually materialised – while regulars have vanished. One perverse outcome of the ban, which was, after all, supposed to protect vulnerable people from the effect of passive smoking, is that many adults stayed at home to smoke, thereby afflicting their children with fumes they might otherwise have avoided. Another purpose was to prevent children seeing smoking and being tempted into the habit – yet, because smokers have to stand in the street, that didn't work, either. Read on and comment >>> Philip Johnston | Tuesday, August 17, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: More than 301 million people are still smoking in China, despite efforts to curb tobacco use, according to the country’s Centre for Disease Control.
A survey of more than 13,000 people earlier this year found no significant improvement in the country’s smoking rate since 2002, China’s CDC said in a joint statement released with the World Health Organization and the United States CDC.
The survey also found that almost three quarters of nonsmokers reported being exposed to secondhand smoke. Though China has pledged to make indoor public places, workplaces and public transport smoke-free by early next year, more than six in 10 of those surveyed said they had seen people smoking in public places or at work in the 30 days before they were interviewed.
“There has been no substantive improvement in the smoking rate or exposure to secondhand smoke,” Yang Gonghuan, deputy director of China’s CDC, said.
Mr Yang said disease and death from problems related to smoking and secondhand smoke, such as cancer and coronary heart disease, were expected to “rise unabated” over the next 30 years.
“The burden on society will be immense and progress in public health will suffer as a result,” Yang said. >>> | Wednesday, August 18, 2010
YNET NEWS: Op-ed: NY mosque affair another sign moderate Muslims more dangerous than radicals
Muslims should build mosques “everywhere,” Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar declared Tuesday as he addressed the plans to build a mosque near ground zero in New York. Most of his Muslim brethren, moderates and radicals alike, likely endorsed this sentiment. After all, when one of the pillars of Islam is its very dissemination, one should not wonder that even the “moderates” view ground zero as a suitable site for a mosque.
The fact that almost all global terror in recent years is carried out in the name of Islamic ideas being recited day and night at the finest mosques (both in the East and West,) and that almost 3,000 people were killed in New York in the name of these notions nine years ago should have elicited at least a hint of understanding for the feelings of the victims’ families on the part of Islamic moderates.
New York Governor David Patterson recently announced that Muslims refused his offer to find an alternate site for the new Islamic center. He may have forgotten for a moment that more than anything, the center and its name (The Cordoba House) are a symbol. Seemingly, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Sharif el-Gamal and their partners could have scored quite a few points in America’s public opinion (which in all polls shows firm objection to the center’s establishment) had they accepted Patterson’s proposal.
After all, these distinguished gentleman fully realize that the various shades of Islam, even without the center, do not enjoy an especially positive image in US public opinion, and that a gesture conceding only the site of the mosque, rather than the principle of building it, was virtually a win-win situation for them. Moreover, their willingness to change the location would have ended almost at once the ongoing media and public debate on the actions of 19 of their Islamic brethren nine years ago and the thousands of their victims.
If, as Rauf and Gamal argue, the center’s main purpose is to encourage tolerance and promote interfaith dialogue, while showing maximal sensitivity to the feelings of others, would it not be natural to show a little more than zero tolerance and consideration for other people’s feelings, instead of dismissing out of hand many families of September 11 victims who ask that the mosque be built somewhere else? The trap of Islamic rhetoric >>> Shaul Rosenfeld * | Wednesday, August 18, 2010
* Dr. Shaul Rosenfeld is a philosophy lecturer
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The austerity measures that were supposed to fix Greece's problems are dragging down the country's economy. Stores are closing, tax revenues are falling and unemployment has hit an unbelievable 70 percent in some places. Frustrated workers are threatening to strike back.
The feast of the Assumption of Mary on Aug. 15 is the high point of summer in the Greek Orthodox world. Here in one of the country's many churches, believers pray to the Virgin for mercy, with many of them falling to their knees.
The newspaper Ta Nea has recommended that the Greek government adopt the very same approach -- the country's leaders have to hope that Mary comes up with a miracle to save Greece from a serious crisis, the paper writes. Without divine intervention, the newspaper suggested, it will be a difficult autumn for the Mediterranean state.
This dire prognosis comes even despite Athens' massive efforts to sort out the country's finances. The government's draconian austerity measures have managed to reduce the country's budget deficit by an almost unbelievable 39.7 percent, after previous governments had squandered tax money and falsified statistics for years. The measures have reduced government spending by a total of 10 percent, 4.5 percent more than the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) had required.
The problem is that the austerity measures have in the meantime affected every aspect of the country's economy. Purchasing power is dropping, consumption is taking a nosedive and the number of bankruptcies and unemployed are on the rise. The country's gross domestic product shrank by 1.5 percent in the second quarter of this year. Tax revenue, desperately needed in order to consolidate the national finances, has dropped off. A mixture of fear, hopelessness and anger is brewing in Greek society. >>> Corinna Jessen in Athens | Wednesday, August 18, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The Great Recession has dramatically shrunk the time left for the big AAA states to prevent a full-blown sovereign debt crisis as their demographic time-bomb threatens, US rating agency Moody's has warned.
"Genuinely adverse debt dynamics were only expected to materialise in 15 to 20 years. The crisis has 'fast-forwarded' history, eroding all the time available to adjust, " said the group's quarterly Sovereign Monitor.
Moody's fears that the US will crash through its safety buffer by 2013 if growth falters (adverse scenario), with interest payments topping 14pc of tax revenues. The debt-to-revenue ratio has already doubled in three years to 430pc.
The US, UK, Germany, France, and Spain are all at risk of an "interest rate shock", either because they must roll over a cluster of short-term debt (US, France, Spain) or because deficits are so large.
Countries that "fail to demonstrate the level of social cohesion required to stabilise debt" will lose their AAA rating. "Intra-generational" conflict between young and old requires careful handling. States that delay pension reform risk spiralling downwards.
Moody's said the world had changed since Europe's debt crisis. None of the large sovereign states can still assume it is credit-worthy. "The burden of proof now falls on governments," it added. Read on and comment >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Tuesday, August 17, 2010
POLITICO: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday said she supports an investigation into groups opposing the building of a mosque near ground zero in New York.
Pelosi told San Francisco’s KCBS radio that “there is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some.”
“I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded,” she said. “How is this being ginned up?”
Republicans have signaled that they will try to turn the mosque into a campaign issue, and nearly all of the leading national Republicans have weighed in against the mosque's construction.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid broke with President Barack Obama recently in voicing opposition to the mosque, but Pelosi indicated support for the cultural center. Read on and comment >>> Andy Barr | Wednesday, August 18, 2010
*Pelosi panders to her constituency; but she makes no sense. She should be suggesting an investigation into how the Islamic cultural center / mosque is going to be funded, not how the opposition is being funded! – © Mark
POLITICO: The debate over the proposed mosque near ground zero, which has tied Democrats in knots, turns out to be just as tricky for their adversaries on the right—particularly those in the tea party.
Within the loose coalition of local and national conservative activist groups that form the tea party movement, a quiet tug-of-war is being waged between those who want to embrace the hard-line opposition that has emerged as the Republican Party line and those who have urged their fellow tea partiers to refrain from rallying opposition because it’s inconsistent with the movement’s focus on economic and constitutional issues.
While the debate is taking place within the confines of the movement, it nevertheless reflects a larger sense of unease on the right with an issue that is dividing both Republicans and tea party conservatives over tensions between core principles such as balancing religious freedom and property rights and the raw feelings evoked by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. >>> Kenneth P. Vogel | Wednesday, August 18, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Playing John F Kennedy's grieving widow Katie Holmes recreated a spookily realistic image of the former US president's funeral.
The actress, who is playing Jackie Kennedy in The Kennedys, looked uncannily like the First Lady during filming in Toronto, Canada.
Child actors played John F Kennedy Jnr, then aged three, and his sister Caroline, five. >>> Laura Roberts | Wednesday, August 18, 2010
LE TEMPS: Promoteur du projet, le musulman est accusé d’être un fondamentaliste alors qu’il est décrit par ceux qui le connaissent comme étant au contraire un exemple de modération. Il s’est vu confier des missions par Hillary Clinton
L’imam Feisal Abdul Rauf est-il un terroriste téléguidé par l’Iran qui promeut un projet de mosquée à deux rues de Ground Zero, le lieu très symbolique des attentats du 11 septembre 2001 à New York, comme le prétend Fox News? Le Parti républicain et les milieux conservateurs tirent à boulets rouges depuis des semaines sur le projet et sur le président Barack Obama qui l’a défendu en se basant sur le premier amendement de la Constitution garantissant la liberté de religion (LT du 16.8.10). Désormais, ils dépeignent l’imam en question comme le diable qui salit les 3000 victimes du World Trade Center. Or ils omettent de préciser que Feisal Abdul Rauf a été un fidèle conseiller du président républicain George W. Bush. En 2007, rappelle le quotidien La Repubblica, le Département d’Etat dirigé par Condoleezza Rice envoya l’imam en mission au Maroc, au Qatar et aux Emirats arabes unis pour expliquer au monde musulman que l’Amérique n’est pas un ennemi de l’islam. >>> Stéphane Bussard | Mercredi 18 Août 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Iran hat vor Angriffen auf seine Atomanlage in Bushehr gewarnt. Jegliche «Aggression» werde einen «ernsten Gegenschlag» nach sich ziehen.
Das sagte ein Sprecher des iranischen Aussenministeriums am Dienstag in Teheran. Ein Angriff auf Bushehr würde ein «internationales Verbrechen» darstellen, fügte der Chef der iranischen Atomenergiebehörde, Ali Akbar Salehi, laut der Nachrichtenagentur Irna hinzu. >>> sda/afp | Dienstag, 17. August 2010
DIE PRESSE: Am Donnerstag werden 79 Roma ausgewiesen. Sie verlassen Frankreich nach Regierungsangaben freiwillig. Rumänien warnt Paris davor, Roma nicht "kollektiv" und "aufgrund ethnischer Kriterien" auszuweisen.
Nach der Räumung von mehreren Dutzend Romalagern steht am Donnerstag in Frankreich die erste Ausweisung von zunächst 79 Betroffenen bevor. Die Gruppe soll nach Medienberichten vom Mittwoch nach Rumänien geflogen werden.
Sie verlässt Frankreich nach Regierungsangaben "auf freiwilliger Basis", nachdem jedem der Ausreisenden 300 Euro pro Person sowie 100 Euro für jedes minderjährige Kind gezahlt wurden. Innenminister Brice Hortefeux hatte angekündigt, dass bis Monatsende 700 Roma "in ihre Heimat" nach Rumänien und Bulgarien zurückgeflogen werden sollen. >>> APA/dpa | Mittwoch, 18. August 2010
WELTWOCHE: Die Sichtung des Neumondes ist bestätigt, es ist Ramadan. Während Millionen Muslime die Fastenzeit ruhig, besinnlich oder überhaupt nicht angehen, nutzen einige fundamentalistische Konvertiten die Zeit für massive Propaganda. Von Daniel Glaus
Um 3.30 Uhr in der Nacht auf Mittwoch sollten Muslime aufstehen und die Vorfastenmahlzeit Sahur einnehmen. Ab 4.18 Uhr darf dann bis um 20.50 Uhr nicht mehr gegessen, getrunken oder geraucht werden. "Auch auf sexuellen Umgang sowie auf die Einnahme aller nicht durch ärztliche Indikation für zwingend notwendig erklärten Medikamente muss tagsüber verzichtet werden." Ausgenommen sind Kinder vor der Pubertät, kranke und Reisende, sowie unter Umständen Alte und Schwangere.
Diese Anweisungen hat der Islamische Zentralrat der Schweiz (IZRS) am 1. Ramadan 1431 verschickt. Also am 10. August 2010. Im Schreiben "bestätigte" er "die Sichtung des Neumondes und damit den Beginn des Heiligen Monats Ramadan".
Teufel und Dämonen in Ketten gelegt
Ramadan bedeute für Muslime nicht nur durch Enthaltsamkeit, schreibt der IZRS, sondern der Monat zeichne sich vielmehr als "potentiell moralischer Antrieb vieler Gläubigen" aus. Explizit heisst es: "So glauben Muslime, dass während der Dauer dieses Monats die Teufel und Dämonen in Ketten gelegt und die Tore des Himmels geöffnet werden."
Da sich die Exponenten des islamischen Zentralrats für gläubige Muslime halten, darf man annehmen, dass auch sie Teufel und Dämonen für real halten.
Rational denkende Menschen können die Existenz von Teufel und Dämonen nicht komplett ausschliessen, denn die These ist weder bestätigt noch widerlegt. Sicher ist hingegen, dass Teufel und Dämonen in einer aufgeklärten Gesellschaft und einem liberalen Rechtsstaat das ganze Jahr über in Ketten gelegt sind. Der Weg zu den Toren des Himmels ist reine Privatsache.
Man kann den IZRS-Mitgliedern ihren Glauben nicht zum Vorwurf machen. Sie sollen ihn auch in Gemeinschaft praktizieren dürfen. Auch mit ihren langen Bärten und in ihren Gewändern nach dem Vorbild des Propheten. "Bedanke Dich immer wieder bei Deinem Mann" >>> Von Daniel Glaus | Mittwoch, 11. August 2010
Islam & Islamismus >>>
Part 1:
Part 2:
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Beim 65-jährigen Hollywood-Schauspieler Michael Douglas ist ein Tumor am Hals entdeckt worden.
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Schauspieler Michael Douglas ist froh darüber, dass sein Sohn Cameron fünf Jahre hinter Gitter muss. Und er gesteht, ein schlechter Vater gewesen zu sein.
ZDF Video hier
Verbunden >>>
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama and his family are about to set off on a 10-day holiday in Martha's Vineyard, an island hideaway favoured by the rich and well-connected, before returning to a busy autumn election season.
As they did this time last year, Mr Obama, his wife Michelle and their daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, nine, are leaving Washington for the coast of Massachusetts.
"The president is definitely going to spend a little time recharging his batteries," said Bill Burton, the deputy White House press secretary.
No public events are planned and like last year, Mr Obama will work to perfect his swing at one of the island's golf courses, Mr Burton said.
"There will be some hiking, some time at the beach, some time at the ice cream store - all the sort of things you do when you're at Martha's Vineyard. You enjoy the people and the good food," he said. >>> | Wednesday, August 18, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Moscow is to ban sales of spirits and other strong alcohol at night and in the early hours of the morning in an attempt to wean Russia off one of its biggest health problems, according to reports.
According to a decree signed by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, shops in the Russian capital will no longer be able to sell drinks containing more than 15 per cent alcohol between 10:00 pm and 10:00 am.
This will prevent Muscovites from buying strong spirits like vodka and cognac late at night but will not affect sales of beer and wine. It remains to be seen how the ban will be implemented. >>> | Wednesday, August 18, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A role reversal comedy shown on Saudi television in which a woman marries four husbands has hit the very nerve it satirised - male pride and double standards.
The comedy was an episode in Saudi Arabia’s most celebrated satirical series, Tash Ma Tash or No Big Deal, a take-off of social prejudices shown annually during the holy month of Ramadan.
The central character takes four husbands, explaining herself using the conventional arguments Saudi men use to exercise their legal and religious privilege of marrying four times.
When she remarries for the first time she complains that her existing husband has stopped caring about his looks after five years, and is preoccupied with work. >>> Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the US Senate, has publicly broken with Barack Obama by opposing plans to build a mosque near the Ground Zero site of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Senator Harry Reid’s opposition to the controversial Cordoba Centre is his first major public disagreement with the US president and signals the possibility of an electorally dangerous split in the Democratic party ahead of the midterms.
Mr Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, who faces a tough re-election battle in Nevada in November, said through a spokesman that although he respects the constitutional right to freedom of religion it was “very obvious that the mosque should be built someplace else”.
It is also a rare rebuke to Mr Obama from a top Democrat. Mr Obama became embroiled in the issue when he told Muslims gathered for a White House dinner that they had the “same right to practise their religion as everyone else in this country”. >>> Toby Harnden, Washington | Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Bloomberg takes leave of his senses >>>
THE GUARDIAN: Ramadan clash with 9/11 anniversary raises fears of anti-Islam backlash: Celebrations to mark end of Muslim fasting could be deliberately misinterpreted to spark hostility, religious groups warn >>> Riazat Butt and Chris McGreal | Tuesday, August 17, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Amnesty International condemns first confirmed stoning in Afghanistan since fall of the Taliban in 2001
Taliban forces have stoned a couple to death for adultery in a public execution.
With Nato and UN officials in Kabul poring over the latest Taliban proposal to establish a joint commission to investigate civilian casualties, officials in the north of the country were detailing a killing that Amnesty International described as the first confirmed stoning in the country since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.
Militants ordered the stoning after a married man and a single woman in Dasht-e-Archi district, Kunduz province, were accused of eloping.
Amnesty International called the stoning a "heinous crime" that showed the Taliban and other insurgent groups "are growing increasingly brutal in their abuses against Afghans".
"Amnesty International has warned that the Afghan government should not sacrifice human rights, particularly the rights of women and minorities, in the name of reconciliation with the Taliban and other insurgent groups," said a spokesman for the group. >>> Associated Press | Monday, August 16, 2010
POLITICO: Q: Will Barack Obama be a one-term president? / A: Yes, he might last that long.
Honest to goodness, the man just does not get it. He might be forced to pull a Palin and resign before his first term is over. He could go off and write his memoirs and build his presidential library. (Both would be half-size, of course.)
I am not saying Obama is not smart; he is as smart as a whip. I am just saying he does not understand what savvy first-term presidents need to understand:
You have to stay on message, follow the polls, listen to your advisers (who are writing the message and taking the polls) and realize that when it comes to doing what is right versus doing what is expedient, you do what is expedient so that you can get reelected and do what is right in the second term. If at all possible. And it will help your legacy. And not endanger the election of others in your party. And not hurt the brand. Or upset people too much. >>> Roger Simon | Tuesday, August 17, 2010
FOX NEWS: The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America accused New York officials on Tuesday of turning their backs on the reconstruction of the only church destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, while the controversial mosque near Ground Zero moves forward.
The sidelined project is the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, a tiny, four-story building destroyed in 2001 when one of the World Trade Center towers fell on top of it. Nobody from the church was hurt in the attack, but the congregation has for the past decade been trying to rebuild its house of worship.
While the mosque project cleared red tape earlier this month, negotiations between government officials and the church stalled last year -- and have stayed that way. Though the particulars of the two projects are completely different and on the surface unrelated, the church and its supporters see a disconnect in the way the proposals have been handled.
An archdiocese official said Tuesday that the situation has created "consternation" for those still struggling to jump-start talks over the church.
"We have people that are saying, why isn't our church being rebuilt and why is there ... such concern for people of the mosque?" Father Alex Karloutsos, assistant to the archbishop, told FoxNews.com. He said "religious freedom" would allow a place of worship for any denomination to be built, but accused officials with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey of making no effort to help move the congregation's project along. >>> Judson Berger | Tuesday, August 17, 2010
DIE PRESSE: Israelische Militärvertreter fordern die USA auf, schärfer gegen das Atomprogramm des Iran vorzugehen. Washington müsse die Bereitschaft zu einem Luftangriff zeigen.
Israel fordert von den USA eine glaubhafte militärische Drohung gegen das iranische Atomprogramm. Washington müsse die Bereitschaft zu einem Luftangriff zeigen, sollte Teheran nicht doch noch im Atomstreit einlenken, sagte ein hochrangiger israelischer Militärvertreter der "Financial Times Deutschland" (Dienstag): "Wenn man nur erwähnt, dass man die militärische Option hat, macht das keinen Eindruck."
Die USA müssten den Iran durch die Demonstration der eigenen Stärke abschrecken. Der Rückzug aus dem Irak biete eine Chance: "Wenn man sich von einem Schauplatz zurückzieht, kann man sich auf ein anderes Sicherheitsrisiko konzentrieren, und das ist für uns der Iran." Lesen Sie weiter und schreiben Sie einen Kommentar >>> Ag. / Red. | Dienstag, 17. August 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Die iranische Regierung weist Appelle zum Verzicht auf die Steinigung einer Ehebrecherin zurück. Das Verfahren gegen die Frau, der auch Beihilfe zum Mord vorgeworfen wird, verlaufe nach den Gesetzen Irans und juristisch korrekt.
Die Regierung in Teheran hat den Westen aufgefordert, sich nicht in den Fall einer zum Tod durch Steinigung verurteilten Ehebrecherin einzumischen. Die Ermittlungen zu dem Fall von Sakine Mohammadi-Ashtiani dauerten noch immer an. Dieser wird auch Beihilfe zum Mord an ihrem Ehemann zur Last gelegt.
«Unabhängige Nationen können nicht akzeptieren, dass andere Länder in ihre richterlichen Entscheidungen eingreifen», sagte ein Sprecher des Aussenministeriums am Dienstag. Das Vorgehen der Gerichte sei strikt geregelt. Der Fall werde «akribisch» geprüft. Weiter lesen und inen Kommentar hinterlassen >>> sda/afp | Dienstag, 17. August 2010
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Wer an Scharia hört, denkt an die Steinigung von Ehebrecherinnen. Tatsächlich steht die Scharia in manchen Teilen im Widerspruch zu den Menschenrechten. Trotzdem gibt es in Grossbritannien seit Jahrzehnten legale Schariah-Gerichte. Doch auch Muslime kritisieren diese religiöse Sondergerichte.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
RUSSIA TODAY: Islamophobia, America’s new anti-communism: Islamophobia was quick to rise after the 9/11 attacks in the US but recently it has emerged again, following controversial plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero, with President Obama backing the decision. >>> Published Sunday, August 15, 2010; Edited Tuesday, August 17, 2010
RUSSIA TODAY: Ramadan kicks off amid rise in Islamophobia: It is just another day of the week for most us, but for Muslims worldwide, it’s the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. >>> | Published Thursday, August 12, 2010; Edited Friday, August 13, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Julia Gillard, the Australian prime minister, has said Australia should cut its ties with Britain and become a republic when the Queen dies or abdicates.
Ms Gillard, who was born in Wales and moved to Australia with her parents aged five, acknowledged that many Australians had “deep affection” for the Queen, but said that the status quo could not remain.
“What I would like to see as prime minister is that we work our way through to an agreement on a model for the republic,” she said during an election campaign stop in Queensland.“I think the appropriate time for this nation to move to be a republic is when we see the monarch change.
“Obviously I’m hoping for Queen Elizabeth that she lives a long and happy life, and having watched her mother I think there’s every chance that she will.”
While it has its own flag and national anthem, Australia currently operates as a constitutional monarchy, which means that the Queen, as head of state, has the same formal role as she does in Britain. Her representative, the governor-general, is in charge of the army, must give assent to all laws passed by parliament and has the power to dissolve both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The role of the Queen as Australia’s monarch was laid down at federation in 1901 and a complex system of constitutional ties would have to be unravelled for the nation to become a republic. >>> Bonnie Malkin, Sydney | Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
ZEIT ONLINE: Michail Chodorkowski kommt nicht auf freien Fuß. Ein Moskauer Gericht hat entschieden, dass der frühere Chef des Ölkonzerns Yukos bis November in U-Haft bleibt.
Ein Gericht in Moskau hat die Untersuchungshaft für den früheren Ölmagnaten Michail Chodorkowski verlängert. Das Gericht folgte damit einem Antrag der Staatsanwaltschaft, die eine dreimonatige Verlängerung der Untersuchungshaft für Chodorkowski und seinen früheren Geschäftspartner Platon Lebedew bis Mitte November gefordert hatte.
Richter Viktor Danilkin begründete die Entscheidung damit, dass der im Frühjahr 2009 eröffnete Prozess gegen die beiden Männer nicht bis zum Ablaufen der ersten Frist der Untersuchungshaft am Dienstag beendet werden könne.
Chodorkowskis Anwälte kündigten an, gegen die Gerichtsentscheidung Rechtsmittel einzulegen. Sein Verteidiger Wadim Kljuwgant sprach von einem "ungeheuerlichen Verstoß" gegen geltendes Recht. >>> Zeit Online, AFP | Montag, 16. August 2010
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – DANIEL HANNAN: Barack Obama is abandoned by the Left as his approval ratings collapse: When your own tribe turns on you, you’re in serious trouble. Barack Obama was never going to convert Republican irreconcilables. Many US conservatives had convinced themselves before the election that Obama would be an interfering socialist. Fair enough: he was never really after their support. >>> Daniel Hannan | Monday, August 16, 2010
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