THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Hundreds of people are detained in Moscow and St Petersburg in what authorities say is a move to prevent new outbreaks of ethnic violence. Video courtesy of Reuters.
Friday, December 17, 2010
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Swiss bank UBS released a detailed employee dress code with suggestions on perfume and eating habits that is raising eyebrows across the internet. WSJ's Elva Ramirez discusses the controversy.
Related >>>
THE GUARDIAN: Passage of bill reflects weakness of both the presidency and the Democratic party after Republican wins in November elections
The US president, Barack Obama, will today sign into law measures approved by Congress extending tax cuts introduced by George Bush amid Democratic complaints that the breaks favour the rich.
Despite objections from many of Obama's fellow Democrats, the House of Representatives passed the $858bn (£548bn) package of renewed tax cuts last night. The package, which also extended benefits for the long-term unemployed for 13 months, was passed by 277 votes to 148. On Wednesday the Senate passed it by an overwhelming 83-15 margin.
Passage of the bill reflects the relative weakness of both the presidency and the Democratic party after the Republican sweep in November's congressional elections, giving them a majority in the House and big inroads into the Democratic majority in the Senate.
Obama has been forced to bend to the resurgent Republicans, his current position on taxes contrasting sharply with his stance earlier this year when he and his fellow Democrats fought against renewing tax reductions for the wealthiest Americans – those with household incomes above $250,000 – while supporting continued cuts for middle-class taxpayers. >>> Mark Tran | Friday, December 17, 2010
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Der inhaftierte Wikileaks-Chef Julian Assange ist wieder auf freiem Fuß: Am Abend wurde er gegen Zahlung einer Kaution aus dem Gefängnis entlassen. Das höchste britische Zivilgericht hatte die Freilassung zuvor angeordnet.
Der Wikileaks-Gründer Julian Assange ist aus der Haft entlassen worden. Das berichtete die britische Nachrichtenagentur PA am Donnerstag. Er muss sich in den kommenden Wochen auf einem Landsitz in England aufhalten, den er als ständige Adresse angegeben hat, und unter anderem eine elektronische Fußfessel tragen, hatte ein Gericht zuvor entschieden. >>> FAZ | Donnerstag, 10. Dezember 2010
THE GUARDIAN: The intelligence analyst suspected of leaking US diplomatic cables is being held in solitary confinement
As Julian Assange emerged from his nine-day imprisonment, there were renewed concerns about the physical and psychological health of Bradley Manning, the former US intelligence analyst suspected of leaking the diplomatic cables at the centre of the storm.
Manning, who was arrested seven months ago, is being held at a military base in Virginia and faces a court martial and up to 52 years in prison for his alleged role in copying the cables.
His friends and supporters also claim they have been the target of extra-judicial harassment, intimidation and outright bribery by US government agents.
According to David House, a computer researcher from Boston who visits Manning twice a month, he is starting to deteriorate. "Over the last few weeks I have noticed a steady decline in his mental and physical wellbeing," he said. "His prolonged confinement in a solitary holding cell is unquestionably taking its toll on his intellect; his inability to exercise due to [prison] regulations has affected his physical appearance in a manner that suggests physical weakness."
Manning, House added, was no longer the characteristically brilliant man he had been, despite efforts to keep him intellectually engaged. He also disputed the authorities' claims that Manning was being kept in solitary for his own good. >>> Heather Brooke | Thursday, December 16, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: An Austrian man has been fined for yodelling while mowing his lawn because it caused offence to his Muslim neighbours.Helmut Griese, 63, was found guilty of "ridiculing" their religious beliefs and fined nearly £700 by a court in Graz. Rather than face a protracted court case, with all its attendant legal costs, Mr Griese agreed to pay.
The court heard how the Muslim family regarded Mr Griese as a "grumpy old man" whose open-air Alpine chanting was intended as a taunt aimed at their religion. The retiree was accused trying to "mock and imitate" the call of the Muezzin, who calls the faithful for prayer in mosques. They alleged that he always began his yodelling just as they knelt down to pray. >>> Alex Hall in Berlin | Thursday, December 16, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The daughter of a former British nuclear scientist could face the death penalty in Malaysia after being arrested on suspicion of drugs trafficking.Mother-of-two Shivaun Orton, 41, from Bangor, Wales, whose father Mike Orton worked at the Atmoic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, was arrested after a drugs raid on a holiday resort which she and her husband run.
Police seized 225g of heroin, as well as cannabis, amphetamines and ecstasy during the raid on the resort on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
Orton, 41, was arrested along with her Malaysian husband Abdul Harris Fadilah, 46, following a raid by Malaysian narcotics police at the Ranting Resort which the couple run in Cherating. >>> Andrew Drummond in Bangkok | Thursday, December 16, 2010
LE POINT: Interpol fait état de signes inquiétants en provenance de la nébuleuse al-Qaeda.
Interpol a annoncé jeudi à l'AFP avoir reçu de son bureau à Bagdad des informations sur de "possibles menaces" d'attentats d'Al-Qaeda aux États-Unis et en Europe. "Nous avons reçu hier du bureau d'Interpol à Bagdad des informations sur de possibles menaces, particulièrement aux États-Unis et en Europe, en raison d'ordres donnés à des cellules d'Al-Qaeda par des commandants" du groupe terroriste, a déclaré une porte-parole de l'organisation policière internationale, dont le siège est à Lyon. >>> Source AFP | Jeudi 16 Décembre 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Corruption charges against Dick Cheney, the former US Vice-President, have been dropped after Halliburton, the oil firm he used to run, agreed to pay $250 million in fines, according to reports.
Mr Cheney, who was chief executive of Halliburton between 1995 and 2000, and three other bosses were last week charged with bribery by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The company itself and four related businesses were also charged. It is alleged that bribes were paid to Nigerian officials to secure contracts for the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in the Niger delta.
Nigerian newspapers reported on Wednesday that the charges had been dropped after a deal was struck with help from George H.W. Bush, the former US President. >>> Jon Swaine, New York | Thursday, December 16, 2010
Related articles here and here
BBC: A glitzy hotel in Abu Dhabi has put on show a jewel-encrusted Christmas tree which it says is worth over $11m (£7m).
Items of jewellery studded with scores of precious stones are draped on the tree's branches, along with more traditional baubles and lights.
While the tree alone is worth a mere $10,000, the jewellery adds more than $11m to the value, said the hotel's general manager Hans Olbertz.
He admitted the idea for the tree was hatched by the hotel's marketing team.
The hotel has a tree every year, Mr Olbertz said.
But this year, "we said we have to do something different", AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
The vast majority of the population of the oil-rich UAE are Muslim.
But Mr Olbertz said he did not think the tree would offend local sensibilities.
"It's a very liberal country," he said, according to AFP. >>> | Thursday, December 16, 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: LONDON — A London court ordered on Thursday that Julian Assange, the founder of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks be released on bail while he fights extradition to Sweden on alleged sex offenses.The High Court decision reversed a ruling two days ago to deny bail. The terms Thursday included strict conditions on where he may live until another hearing on Jan. 11.
The hearing was formally separate from Mr. Assange’s role in the publication of some 250,000 American diplomatic documents and came as federal prosecutors in Washington looked for evidence that would enable them to charge him with helping with an Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking the information.
The American prosecutors believe that if he did so, they could charge him as a conspirator rather than a passive recipient of the documents.
Mr. Assange’s court appearance in London, however, is related to allegations of sexual misconduct on three occasions with two young Swedish women in Stockholm last August, something he denies. Swedish prosecutors say they want him to be returned to their country to question him in connection with accusations that he broke Swedish rape and other laws.
Mr. Assange has said the encounters were consensual but his accusers say they ceased to be consensual when a condom was not being used. >>> Ravi Somaiya in London and Alan Cowell in Paris | Thursday, December 16, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Europe's foreign ministers have threatened to recognise an independent Palestinian state to punish Israeli refusal to halt "illegal" Jewish settlements.
A text, seen by The Daily Telegraph, warned of EU "readiness, when appropriate, to recognize a Palestinian state" increasing the international pressure on Israel following the effective collapse of direct Middle East peace talks last week.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, on Monday called "on the EU to take a step towards recognition of the state of Palestine based on the 1967 borders".
"We hope that the EU will take this step to maintain the requirements for the success of the peace process, which was thwarted by Israel," said Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator.
There has been a week of intense EU diplomacy after an initiative by the so-called "quint" of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the US, to push Israel into negotiations.
"There is growing frustration with Israel after its refusal to commit to a new settlements freeze and patience is running out," said a European diplomat. >>> Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem and Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Monday, December 13, 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: An enraged father who disapproved of his daughter's older boyfriend went to his home and castrated him with a bread knife.
Helmut Seifert, 47, an ethnic German originally from Russia, was enraged when he heard his 17-year-old daughter was having a relationship with Phillip Genscher, 57.
He went to police in the town of Bielefeld where he lives but officers said they were powerless to intervene.
"The man then recruited two work colleagues at his factory and then went to the house of the victim," said police. >>> Allan Hall, Berlin | Sunday, December 12, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Swiss banking giant UBS has issued a strict dress code for employees, calling on them to wear "skin-coloured" lingerie and to ditch "fancy and coloured" artificial fingernails.
In a document stretching to more than 40 pages, UBS described a head to toe company dress code, including permissible hairstyles, what cut of skirt and which type of socks to wear.
Women should not wear "flashy" jewellery or skirts that are "too tight behind."
Underwear must not be "visible against clothing or spilling out of clothing." Rather, they should be "skin-coloured under white shirts."
Employees should also ensure that natural roots are not showing if they have coloured their hair, the document dictated.
Men should wear a "straight-cut two button jacket and pants that make up part of a classic professional suit." >>> | Thursday, December 16, 2010
ADVOCATE: The U.S. House of Representatives approved a stand-alone bill Wednesday to repeal the 17-year-old law barring lesbian and gay service members from serving openly in the military by a vote of 250-175.
Rep. Patrick Murphy, who championed the repeal effort, said those who oppose repeal had exhausted “every excuse under the sun.”
“Enough!” Murphy said from the House floor. “Our troops are the best of the best and they deserve a Congress that puts their safety and their collective national security over rigid partisan interests and a closed-minded ideology.”
The bill, introduced Tuesday afternoon by Rep. Murphy and House majority leader Steny Hoyer, will now be sent over to the Senate for consideration. Its language is identical to that of the legislation introduced Friday by Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins, and its “privileged” status will allow it to bypass several procedural hurdles and move directly to a vote that would take 60 senators for passage. >>> Kerry Eleveld | Wednesday, December 15, 2010
I must say it would be so refreshing if the US military were to resolve this issue once and for all, and abolish DADT and give gays full rights in the military. There really isn't any excuse for not allowing them to serve in the military any longer. It's all bigotry.
If gays are allowed to serve, they should be held to the highest standards, and will have to comply with norms of behaviour that everyone else has to comply with. That goes without saying, actually.
But to throw gays out of the military simply because they have a different sexual orientation, and even when they have behaved impeccably, is simply not acceptable in this day and age.
Gays perform perfectly well in the militaries of other countries, notably Israel's military, Germany's, the UKs, Australia's, Switzerland's, Holland's, etc. So what makes the US military folk think that the US military is very different, even extraordinary?
Within a short period of time, the whole matter will die down, and those serving will come to accept the gays they serve with. Young people today are not like the bigots of earlier generations. They are far more open-minded.
It is to be hoped that this time they really will vote for change, really will vote for fairness. – © Mark
This comment also appeared here
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The head of the United States Marines Corps has said that allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the American armed forces could result in deaths on the battlefield.General James Amos, said he oppoosed the campaign pledge by President Barack Obama to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on openly homosexual service members.
He said: "Mistakes and inattention or distractions cost Marines lives. That's the currency of this fight. I don't want to lose any Marines to the distraction.
"I don't want to have any Marines that I'm visiting at Bethesda [National Naval Medical Centre near Washington] with no legs be the result of any type of distraction."
Democrats in Congress are attempting to lift the ban but have thus far not attracted enough Republican support.
Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, has said that if Congress does not repeal the law, the courts will probably overturn it instead, giving the military much less flexibility in terms of implementation and management. Read on and comment >>> Toby Harnden, Washington | Wednesday, December 15, 2010
LE POINT: Des propos péjoratifs tenus par le président américain Richard Nixon sur les Juifs, les Noirs, les Irlandais et les Italiens figurent dans des enregistrements audio de la Maison-Blanche qui viennent d'être rendus publics. "Les Juifs ont certaines caractéristiques", déclare Richard Nixon, qui fut président de 1968 à 1974, au cours d'une conversation avec un conseiller en 1973 qui figure dans les 265 heures d'enregistrements sur des bandes publiées par la Bibliothèque présidentielle Richard Nixon en Californie. "Les Juifs ont une personnalité très agressive, mordante et odieuse", déclare le président, tout en faisant une distinction entre les Juifs israéliens - qu'il admirait - et les Juifs américains. Les enregistrements ont été mis en ligne et le New York Times en a publié des extraits samedi. >>> Par Source AFP | Dimanche 12 Décembre 2010
LE POINT: La Ligue arabe va saisir le Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU pour tenter d'obtenir une résolution contre la colonisation israélienne, selon le communiqué final d'une réunion de l'organisation mercredi à laquelle a participé le président palestinien Mahmoud Abbas. >>> AFP | Mercredi 15 Décembre 2010
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Ein Bundesrichter in Virginia hat ein Kernstück von Präsident Obamas Gesundheitsreform für verfassungswidrig erklärt: Die Regierung habe kein Recht, die Amerikaner zum Abschluss einerrankenversicherung zu zwingen. Letztlich wird der Supreme Court entscheiden müssen.Der schwelende Streit über die im März beschlossene Gesundheitsreform in den Vereinigten Staaten erhält neuen Zündstoff. Der Bundesrichter Hudson an einem Bezirksgericht in Virginia entschied am Montag, dass eine Kernpassage des Gesetzes nicht verfassungsgemäß sei.
Der Kongress in Washington dürfe die Amerikaner nicht zwingen, eine Krankenversicherung zu kaufen, und ihnen bei Nichtbeachtung eine Strafzahlung auferlegen. Eine solche Verpflichtung „lade zu einer ungehemmten Ausdehnung der föderalen Macht ein“, heißt es in dem Urteil. Für Präsident Barack Obama und die Demokraten, die ihre Gesundheitsreform im März als historischen Erfolg gefeiert hatten, ist der Urteilsspruch eine Niederlage. Die Regierung wird wahrscheinlich Berufung einlegen. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben >>> Von Patrick Welter, Washington | Mittwoch, 15. Dezember 2010
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Jean-Claude Juncker, Ministerpräsident und Finanzminister von Luxemburg, hat viel Einfluss in der EU. Immer wieder setzt er eigene Vorstellungen durch. So zählte er zu den Schöpfern der starken Währung Euro. Mit Härte und Humor vertritt er die Interessen des Bankenplatzes Luxemburg. Im Bedarfsfall zögert er nicht, den mächtigen Franzosen Nicolas Sarkozy zur Ordnung zu rufen. Aber der 53jährige Christlichsoziale ist nicht nur ein mit allen Wassern gewaschener Macher, der als Präsident der Euro-Länder derzeit die internationale Finanzkrise managt. Er ist auch europäischer Nachdenker und Vordenker - und wahrscheinlich der beste, schlagfertigste Redner unter Europas Politikern. Viele sehen in Juncker den künftigen Präsidenten der Europäischen Union; er scheint wie geschaffen für dieses Amt, das der neue EU-Vertrag vorsieht. Roger de Weck befragt Jean-Claude Juncker zu Europa, aber auch zur Schweiz, die in ihrer Europapolitik oft auf den luxemburgischen Partner baut.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Indonesian prosecutors on Tuesday sought a seven-month prison sentence for a US retiree accused of blasphemy after he allegedly pulled the plug on a mosque loudspeaker during a prayer reading.
The August 22 incident in the middle of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan resulted in retired Californian engineer Gregory Luke, 64, needing a police escort from his home on Lombok island as a mob tore it to pieces around him.
Prosecutors said Luke had blasphemed against Islam, the dominant religion in Indonesia, when he allegedly barged into the mosque to complain that a nightly Ramadan prayer reading was too loud.
"We recommend a sentence of seven months' jail as he is guilty of blasphemy and committing an act of hatred," prosecutor Baiq Nurjanah told a court in Praya, Lombok. >>> | Tuesday, December 14, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain's 38 million savers have been urged to invest their money in the stock market after being warned that for many of them it is now a "waste of time" putting their cash into a savings account.
The warning came after official figures indicated that the cost of living had increased once again in November, making it nearly impossible to earn a real rate of return on any bank or building society savings product.
As the London stock market closed at a two-and-a-half-year high, experts said that for many savers taking the risk of abandoning a deposit account and placing it in a high-yielding collection of shares was a more sensible option.
The dearth of decent savings products was laid bare by figures from the personal finance website Moneyfacts which showed that there were just three accounts – out of a total of 2,203 on the market – that paid a real rate of return, and only one for higher-rate taxpayers. >>> Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor, and Garry White | Tuesday, December 14, 2010
To suggest that people with hard-earned savings expose themselves to the vicissitudes of fortune that the stock market can bring within nanoseconds, and to suggest that it would be a good idea for the uninitiated to risk their future security on a market which is subject to the vagaries of the experienced investor, is the height of folly and irresponsibility on the part of Darius McDermott.
If this man is such an expert, he should know that the first law of successful stock market investing is to buy low and sell high. That means to say that it is not a good idea to buy stocks and shares at the top of the market. The fact that the stock market is at a two-year high should raise the alarm bells.
The stock market is highly speculative. One has to know what one is doing. It is no place for people who do not understand the workings of the marketplace. Moreover, it is certainly no place for the inexperienced. And that is especially true today, when the economy is so volatile, the world political situation is so fragile, and the financial system is in total disarray.
Further, it is sound advice, especially for people who have been savers hitherto, to avoid the stock market unless they have money they can well afford to lose. Because it must be stressed that the value of stock market investments, as we all know, can go down as well as up; and often so quickly that people do not have the time to take their money out of the market before a crash, before disaster strikes.
For people who wish to avoid future poverty, they might be better advised to ignore Mr. McDermott and hold on to their money, however poor the rate of return on their savings. At least they’ll end up with their capital intact. That way they will be keeping their powder dry for a time when the economy returns to a certain equilibrium, and returns to a state which rather more resembles normality. – © Mark
This comment also appears here
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Some four-and-a-half years ago, a book of mine was published that caused something of a sensation.
It was called Londonistan, and it was about the way in which - astoundingly - Britain had become the most important centre, outside the Islamic world itself, for the production and export of Islamic terrorism.
Worse yet, I wrote, even after the 9/11 attacks and the 7/7 London Tube and bus bombings, the British political, legal and security establishments were still refusing to get to grips with the threat posed to Britain by militant Muslims who wanted to conquer it for Islam.
For my pains, I was called ‘mad’ by the Guardian, ‘bonkers’, ‘alarmist’, ‘hysterical’ and, of course, ‘Islamophobic’.
Indeed, I had a hard time getting the book published at all. It was turned down by every mainstream London publisher because they regarded my views as dangerous extremism. One even remarked: ‘I’d rather take the poison ricin than publish this.’ Nice! Read on and comment >>> Melanie Phillips | Tuesday, December 14, 2010
THE CUTTING EDGE: The list of prominent U.S. admirers of Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s former Deputy Prime Minister, on trial for corruption and sodomy, is impressive. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, former President of the World Bank James Wolfensohn, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Letters of support on his behalf praise his leadership and fight “for international justice, peace and development.” Strangely, these prominent figures fail to notice that Anwar’s fight is not for democracy, justice and peace according to Western principles. Instead, his call is for democratization “on the platform of Islam.”
It is Anwar’s constant advocacy of Islamic rule that led the Qatar-based spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Yusuf Qaradawi, to join the defenders of the Malay politician. >>> Rachel Ehrenfeld | Monday, December 13, 2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Kurz nachdem Ministerpräsident Silvio Berlusconi im italienischen Parlament zwei Misstrauensvoten gewonnen hat, sind in Rom heftige Krawalle ausgebrochen. Hunderte Demonstranten lieferten sich Straßenschlachten mit der Polizei, mindestens 40 Menschen wurden verletzt.
Rom - Nach den Vertrauensvoten der beiden Kammern des italienischen Parlaments für Ministerpräsident Silvio Berlusconi haben landesweit Zehntausende Regierungs-kritiker gegen das Abstimmungsergebnis protestiert. Nach Angaben von Organisatoren der Demonstrationen gingen allein in Rom rund 100.000 Menschen auf die Straße. Einige warfen mit Farbbeuteln und Feuerwerkskörpern auf die Gebäude der beiden Parlamentskammern, Abgeordnetenhaus und Senat.
Bei den Protesten kam es zu heftigen Krawallen: Eine Gruppe von mehreren hundert Demonstranten lieferte sich im historischen Stadtzentrum Straßenschlachten mit der Polizei. Demonstranten zündeten drei selbstgebaute Sprengsätze in einer Gasse in der Nähe des Parlaments. Andere bewarfen die Beamten mit Eiern und Farbe. Auf der zentralen Via del Corso gingen zahlreiche Schaufenster zu Bruch. >>> ore/dpa/AFP | Dienstag, 14. Dezember 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Riots break out in Rome after Silvio Berlusconi survives confidence votes: Hooded protesters set up flaming barricades as police baton-charge demonstrators in several parts of capital's historic centre >>> John Hooper, Rome | Tuesday, December 14, 2010
LE TEMPS: L’Irakien d’origine, marié avec trois enfants, s’est radicalisé en Grande-Bretagne où il vivait. Il est revenu en Suède, pays de son adolescence, pour commettre son acte, la veille de ses 29 ansQui est le jeune homme tué à Stockholm samedi soir par sa propre charge explosive, et dont l’Audi blanche (le véhicule était à son nom) s’était embrasée une poignée de minutes plus tôt? Les premiers éléments d’enquête laissent perplexe. Les documents du véhicule renvoient à son adolescence suédoise dans l’agglomération de Tranaas. Ses e-mails de revendication et les enregistrements vocaux qui y étaient joints mènent à un téléphone portable qui, lui-même, fait remonter les enquêteurs à son domicile actuel de Luton, en Grande-Bretagne. Mais la teneur du message renvoie à l’implication des forces armées suédoises en Afghanistan… Or Taimour Abdul Wahab al-Abdaly est né à Bagdad, pas à Kaboul. Qui était ce shahid, martyr et «modèle» encensé depuis lundi par Al-Qaida en Irak, mais qui semble avoir lui-même été déchiré entre plusieurs modèles culturels? En quête d’une seconde femme >>> Alain Lallemand | Mardi 14 Décembre 2010
MAIL ONLINE: A school district is being sued for not allowing a Muslim teacher to take unpaid leave to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Federal Government has brought the case on behalf of Safoorah Khan, claiming that it is a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
It is the duty of every Muslim to join the million of pilgrims at the Hajj in Mecca at least once in their lifetime - and the middle school teacher had hoped to go in 2008.
Khan had started at Berkeley School, in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, in 2007 and asked for unpaid leave of three weeks to visit Saudi Arabia.
After the education district twice denied her request, Khan wrote to the board that 'based on her religious beliefs, she could not justify delaying performing Hajj'. Read on and comment >>> Mail Foreign Service | Tuesday, December 14, 2010
THE TIMES: Sudan protesters arrested after video shows woman flogged by police >>> Tristan McConnell, Nairobi | Tuesday, December 14, 2010 (£)
Sunday, December 12, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A suspected terrorist blew himself up in an apparent suicide bomb attack in central Stockholm which left two injured and caused panic among Christmas shoppers.
Two explosions rocked the busy shopping street of Drottninggatan among the afternoon crowds.
A Swedish news agency said it had received messages about 10 minutes before the blasts in Arabic and Swedish, warning of unspecified “action”.
The email warning, 10 minutes before the bombs, protested about the country’s presence in Afghanistan, where it has a force of 500 soldiers, mainly in the north of the country.
“Our acts will speak for themselves,” the agency quoted the message as saying. “Now your children, your daughters and your sisters will die as our brothers, our sisters and our children are dying.”
The email had sound files in Swedish and Arabic. >>> Alastair Jamieson | Saturday, December 11, 2010
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Sweden hit by twin blasts in terrorist attack >>> Lucinda Beaman | Sunday, December 12, 2010 (£)
Saturday, December 11, 2010
FOX NEWS: TEHRAN, IRAN – An Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery confessed to helping a man kill her husband and re-enacted the alleged crime in an interview broadcast Friday by Iranian state television — an apparent effort by the government to deflect international criticism over the case.
It was the fourth time Sakineh Mohammedi Ashtiani has been shown on TV as Tehran has faced an international outcry over the announcement that she would be stoned to death, the latest source of friction between Iran and the West.
Authorities announced her conviction in the murder case only after the uproar over the stoning sentence erupted last summer, and her lawyer — who has since been arrested — said she was never formally put on trial for the killing and was tortured into confessing. Iranian authorities could use the murder charge to justify executing Ashtiani by hanging instead of stoning.
In the new footage broadcast on English-language Press TV, the 43-year-old mother of two was brought from the prison to her home outside the city of Tabriz in northwestern Iran where she was shown acting out the alleged December 2005 killing, complete with an actor portraying her husband.
Ashtiani, dressed in black with a beige scarf covering her hair, described how she began an affair with another man identified as Isa Taheri. She said she gave her husband an injection that rendered him unconscious, then Taheri came to her house and electrocuted him.
Amnesty International criticized the broadcast, which was announced by Press TV earlier Friday, saying it violated international standards for a fair trial by having Ashtiani implicate herself in a crime. >>> Associated Press | Friday, December 10, 2010
THE TIMES: Iran ‘freed Ashtiani to frame case against her’ >>> Martin Fletcher, Hugh Tomlinson | Saturday, December 11, 2010 (£)
Dormeuil, which makes 80 per cent of its fabrics in Britain, said it will launch six suit fabrics, including the 'Vanquish II', hailed as the world's most expensive suit. It is made of Vicuna, Qiviuk and Pashmina threads and woven into a super-light wool.
The launch is another milestone in India's extraordinary economic growth and reflects the rise of a new class of super rich.
In the last year alone, India has welcomed 69 new billionaires and witnessed a steep rise in the number of millionaires with its economy growing 8.9 per cent in the quarter ending September 30 alone. The rise has seen a surge in demand for luxury goods. >>> Dean Nelson | Friday, December 10, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: David Miliband was paid £25,000 to give a speech on relations between the West and the Muslim world, at a conference held in a “luxurious oasis” resort in the Middle East.
The defeated Labour leadership candidate also had his travel and five-star accommodation covered during the three-day trip, partly by the government of the United Arab Emirates, Parliamentary records show.
It suggests that he is following in the footsteps of his mentor, Tony Blair, by turning to the lucrative foreign lecture circuit after leaving frontline politics.
According to the latest Register of Members’ Financial Interests, Mr Miliband was also paid £2,500 to write a newspaper article defending his “dancing naked women” painting, which his wife had bought him for £800 as a birthday present.
…
The conference - where “opinion-makers and business leaders” discussed “critical challenges for peace and security in the Middle East” - was held at the five-star Qasr Al Sarab resort in Abu Dhabi.
Its website describes it as a “luxurious oasis” in the “legendary Liwa Desert” where guests can “unwind in the unsurpassed comfort of private, palatial-style villas”.
In his speech, Mr Miliband spoke of the responsibility of Muslim countries to “honour international commitments to human rights, independent courts and press freedoms”, and the need for the European Union to admit Turkey as a member.
Read it all and comment >>> Martin Beckford | Friday, December 10, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Legal team for WikiLeaks founder says Washington may be planning to invoke Espionage Act to indict their client
Lawyers acting for Julian Assange, the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, said today they are preparing for a possible indictment by the US authorities.
Jennifer Robinson said her team had heard from "several different US lawyers rumours that an indictment was on its way or had happened already, but we don't know".
According to some reports, Washington is seeking to prosecute Assange under the 1917 act, which was used unsuccessfully to try to gag the New York Times when it published the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s. However, despite escalating rhetoric over the last fortnight, no charges have yet been lodged, and government sources say they are unaware any such move is being prepared.
Robinson said Assange's team did not believe the US had grounds to prosecute him but understood that Washington was "looking closely at other charges, such as computer charges, so we have one eye on it". >>> Steven Morris | Friday, December 10, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: WikiLeaks: Julian Assange ‘could face spying charges’ >>> Nick Squires | Friday, December 10, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Vatican diplomats also lobbied against Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and wanted 'Christian roots' enshrined in EU constitution
The pope is responsible for the Vatican's growing hostility towards Turkey joining the EU, previously secret cables sent from the US embassy to the Holy See in Rome claim.
In 2004 Cardinal Ratzinger, the future pope, spoke out against letting a Muslim state join, although at the time the Vatican was formally neutral on the question.
The Vatican's acting foreign minister, Monsignor Pietro Parolin, responded by telling US diplomats that Ratzinger's comments were his own rather than the official Vatican position.
The cable released by WikiLeaks shows that Ratzinger was the leading voice behind the Holy See's unsuccessful drive to secure a reference to Europe's "Christian roots" in the EU constitution. The US diplomat noted that Ratzinger "clearly understands that allowing a Muslim country into the EU would further weaken his case for Europe's Christian foundations". >>> Heather Brooke and Andrew Brown | Friday, December 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: European regulators are set to tether banker bonuses to the level of basic salaries in a move that could deal the most severe blow yet to the culture of multi-million pound pay-outs.
Under the terms of proposals, expected to be published on Friday, investment banks may be forced to limit bonuses to a set multiple of bankers' salaries that would be agreed with financial watchdogs.
The Committee of European Bank Supervisors (CEBS) wants to see an end to bonuses that can be up to 50 times bigger than a banker's salary. Instead, the group, which is based in London and comprises members of the 27 European Union member states, wants banks to have to agree a maximum ratio of fixed-income to deferred pay with their national regulators.
Jon Terry, head of reward at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, said: "While CEBS is unlikely to set a specific ratio, we expect them to propose a framework from which banks will work with national regulators on agreed bonus multiples, and then to have to justify them in the context of their risk profiles. This is going to be a radical change for many institutions." >>> Louise Armitstead | Friday, December 10, 2010
This is good news. But does it go far enough to curtail the greed of these money-grubbers? If something isn't done about this selfish culture that we now live in, I fear that the riots on the streets of London last night will look like a picnic in the park by comparison with what awaits us. The system we have now works for the good of one group of people only: the rich. The middle classes have been trampled on for far too long. – © Mark
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Thursday, December 09, 2010
BBC: Attempts by online activists to bring down online retailer Amazon's website appear to have failed.
The group Anonymous had pledged to to attack the site at 1600 GMT but the site seems to be functioning normally.
The site was targeted because it withdrew services from whistle-blowing website Wikileaks[.]
The tool through which attacks are carried out against websites perceived to be anti-Wikileaks has now been downloaded more than 31,000 times.
Security experts warned people to avoid joining the voluntary botnet.
Other targets of the loose-knit group Anonymous include Visa, Mastercard and Paypal.
The websites are targetting using the Anonymous attack tool known as LOIC. When a person installs the tool on their PC it enrols the machine into a voluntary botnet which then bombards target sites with data.
These distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are illegal in many countries, including the UK.
Social network Facebook confirmed that it had removed Operation Payback - as the campaign is known - from the site because it was promoting its attack tool. (+ video) >>> | Thursday, December 09, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Think the odd cigarette won't hurt? Just smoking one is enough to block your arteries and trigger a heart attack, America's chief medical adviser has warned.
Tobacco smoke causes 'immediate damage', with each puff circulating hundreds of toxic chemicals to most of your organs.
The 700-page Surgeon General's report found there was no safe level of exposure to cigarette smoke - whether you deliberately inhale or breathe it in second hand.
'That one puff on that cigarette could be the one that causes your heart attack,' said Surgeon General Regina Benjamin. Just one cigarette is enough to trigger a heart attack, says U.S. Chief Surgeon >>> Claire Bates | Thursday, December 09. 2010
Yes, and just crossing the road ONCE is enough to have a FATAL accident! Get a grip, woman! And I write as a non-smoker! That means to say a tolerant ex-smoker. – © Mark
THE GUARDIAN: Forecasters say weekend will warm up before temperatures plummet again at start of next week
Britain will enjoy a brief respite from the worst December weather in almost 30 years, forecasters said today – but temperatures will fall again from the start of next week and stay low for the rest of the year.
The news came as the army was called in to help clear up in Edinburgh city centre after major snowfalls.
Soldiers from First Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland were on the streets of the Scottish capital after being given formal clearance by the Ministry of Defence following a request from the local authority.
The soldiers have been joined by personnel from the Royal Navy and the RAF.
After more than a week of snow, ice and transport chaos, forecasters said the UK would start to thaw, with the mercury almost reaching double figures in some areas.
But bitterly cold winds are expected to return by the start of next week, and bookmakers have slashed the odds on a white Christmas. >>> Helen Carter | Thursday, December 09, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Russia urges Assange nomination in calculated dig at the US over WikiLeaks founder's detention
Russia has suggested that Julian Assange should be awarded the Nobel peace prize, in an unexpected show of support from Moscow for the jailed WikiLeaks founder.
In what appears to be a calculated dig at the US, the Kremlin urged non-governmental organisations to think seriously about "nominating Assange as a Nobel Prize laureate".
"Public and non-governmental organisations should think of how to help him," the source from inside president Dmitry Medvedev's office told Russian news agencies. Speaking in Brussels, where Medvedev was attending a Russia-EU summit yesterday , the source went on: "Maybe, nominate him as a Nobel Prize laureate."
Russia's reflexively suspicious leadership appears to have come round to WikiLeaks, having decided that the ongoing torrent of disclosures are ultimately far more damaging and disastrous to America's long-term geopolitical interests than they are to Russia's. >>> Luke Harding | Thursday, December 09. 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is in a coma and may have only days to live, according to reports from those close to him.
The health of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi has "deteriorated badly" according to the Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi.
Megrahi was given three months to live when he was released from Greenock Prison in Scotland in August last year on compassionate grounds, and flown home to Libya.
The fact that he is still alive 15 months later has added weight to American anger that he was released. Files revealed this week by Wikileaks have also described the pressure Libya brought to bear on the United Kingdom not to allow him to die in prison.
Col. Gaddafi was speaking in the Libyan capital Tripoli, to back Megrahi's family who have said they will sue the Scottish authorities for neglecting Megrahi's health in prison. >>> Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Thursday, December 09, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Anonymous hackers who claim they are defending WikiLeaks brought down the Swedish government's website amid warnings they will attack again.
The official site, regeringen.se, was offline for several hours overnight and only a message saying the site could not be reached was visible.
Commercial websites including Visa, MasterCard and PayPal have already been targeted by co-ordinated action on one of the busiest shopping days of the year after the firms said that they would no longer process donations to WikiLeaks.
A group calling itself Anonymous and operating under the banner "Operation Payback" was behind some of the attacks and there were concerns that Twitter could become a target because it removed Anonymous' listing.
A 22-year-old software engineer who called himself Coldblood said: "The campaign is not over, it's still going strong. More and more people are joining.
"I see this as becoming a war - but not a traditional war: this is a war of data."
He added: "We are trying to keep the internet free for everyone." >>> Andy Bloxham | Thursday, December 09, 2010
Verbunden >>>
BBC: The world is considered a more corrupt place now than it was three years ago, a poll suggests.
Some 56% of people interviewed by Transparency International said their country had become more corrupt.
The organisation put Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq and India in the most corrupt category, followed by China, Russia and much of the Middle East.
Meanwhile, a BBC poll suggests that corruption is the world's most talked about problem.
About one in five of those polled by the BBC said they had discussed issues relating to corruption with others in the last month, making it the most talked about concern ahead of climate change, poverty, unemployment and rising food and energy costs.
In the Transparency International survey, political parties were regarded as the most corrupt institutions, and 50% of people believed their government was ineffective at tackling the problem.
One in four of those polled said they had paid a bribe in the past year - the police being the most common recipient. >>> | Thursday, December 09, 2010
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