Tuesday, April 19, 2011
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Nicht nur in Finnland verzeichnen Rechtspopulisten einen großen Wählerzuspruch: Der rechtsextreme Front National kam in Frankreich auf zwölf Prozent der Stimmen, in den Niederlanden wählte jeder Sechste die Partei der Rechtsliberalen. Ein Überblick. » | Von Anne-Christin Sievers | Montag, 18. April 2011
THE WASHINGTON POST: TRIPOLI, Libya — Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the influential second son of Moammar Gaddafi who was once seen as the great hope for reform in Libya, is clear on two points: He and his government have done nothing wrong, and they are not going to back down.In an interview that reflected the defiance of the Gaddafi family more than two months into its efforts to put down a rebellion supported by the United States and its allies, the 38-year-old said the world had gone to war with Libya based on nothing more than rumor and propaganda.
In Saif Gaddafi’s telling, he has been betrayed by his “best friend,” who defected to join the rebels. His father’s government is besieged by al-Qaeda. And President Obama has proved no different from his predecessor, George W. Bush.
The comments underscore the uncompromising stance of the Libyan government at a time when the fighting has stalemated and NATO faces internal squabbling. Although there had been indications this month that Saif Gaddafi was interested in a diplomatic solution to the crisis that has divided his nation, his tone during an hour-long interview suggested that the core decision-makers in Tripoli are in no hurry to find a political way out.
As if to bolster that point, forces loyal to the Gaddafi regime on Sunday heavily shelled the besieged city of Misurata, the only rebel outpost in western Libya. A city council spokesman said 17 people were killed and more than 100 were injured. Government troops also attacked rebel positions in the strategically critical eastern city of Ajdabiya, sending some opposition fighters fleeing back to their de facto capital, Benghazi.
One month after the uprising, the United Nations authorized a no-fly zone over Libya in March to counter the government’s attacks on civilians. Obama has said that international military action saved countless Libyan lives, by preventing Moammar Gaddafi’s men from carrying out a massacre in Benghazi.
But in Saif Gaddafi’s view, Obama has it all wrong.
“We want the Americans tomorrow to send a fact-finding mission to find out what happened in Libya. We want Human Rights Watch to come here and to find out exactly what happened,” he said. “We are not afraid of the International Criminal Court. We are confident and sure that we didn’t commit any crime against our people.” » | Simon Denyer | Sunday, April 17, 2011
Transcript of interview »
LE POINT: Seif el-Islam : "Nous n'avons commis aucun crime" : Pour le fils du colonel Kadhafi, les tirs de l'armée contre des opposants au régime ne sont que des allégations. » | Source AFP | Lundi 18 Avril 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Ratings agency cuts long-term outlook from stable to negative for first time since Pearl Harbor attack 70 years ago
Shares fell heavily on Wall Street on Monday after a leading ratings agency fanned fears of Europe's debt crisis spreading across the Atlantic by issuing a strong warning about America's failure to tackle its budget deficit.
In a move seen by Wall Street as a "shot across the bows" of bickering politicians in Washington, Standard and Poor's (S&P) said it was cutting the outlook on the US's long-term rating from stable to negative for the first time since the attack on Pearl Harbor 70 years ago.
The announcement surprised the financial markets, where attention in recent months has been focused on the problems of the weaker nations of the eurozone. Renewed speculation that Greece will be forced to default on its debts led to a sharp sell-off in the euro, but S&P stressed that the US was not immune from the sovereign debt crisis.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average ended the day down 140 points, or 1.1%, with the dollar weaker on the foreign exchanges and yields rising on US treasury bills. The FTSE 100 in London was down 126 points at 5870 – a drop of more than 2% – as ongoing concerns about the eurozone's debt crisis were compounded by the setback for the world's biggest economy. » | Larry Elliott, Economics editor | Tuesday, April 19, 2011
here and here
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Thousands gather in city after reports that security forces shot dead 17 citizens on SundaySyrian forces fired shots at hundreds of protesters who had gathered overnight in Homs city in defiance of warning by the authorities to halt what they called an insurrection.
A member of the security police addressed the protesters at Clock Square through a loud speaker asking them to leave, and then the forces opened fire, said a human rights campaigner, who is in contact with protesters in the square.
Tear gas was also used. At least one protester was injured, the activist added. Two residents of Homs also said they heard the sound of gunfire coming from around the square.
Several hours earlier, Syrian state television broadcast an interior ministry statement that described the wave of unrest in Syria as an insurrection, pointing specifically to Homs as one of two cities where "armed groups belonging to Salafist organisations" were trying to terrorise the population.
Salafism is a strict form of Sunni Islam which many Arab governments equate with militant groups like al-Qaida. » | Reuters | Tuesday, April 19, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Police in Dubai have ordered a second post mortem into the death in custody of a British man whose relatives say he was beaten to death.
Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Bin Tamim, head of Dubai Police, said police doctors were examining the body of Lee Bradley Brown, 39, who was on holiday at the Burj al-Arab Hotel in the city when he was arrested for threatening a Nepalese housekeeper.
The Dubai authorities repeated denials that Mr Brown had been "tortured". A previous post mortem, conducted by the prosecutor's department, said he had choked on his own vomit, and that there were traces of cannabis in his system.
Lt Gen Khalfan said: "We do not doubt the first report but we just want to confirm it. Two doctors started examining the body on Saturday and we will reveal the results soon. » | Richard Spencer, Dubai | Sunday, April 17, 2011
Related »
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A moonwalking Romanian politician has been ordered by leaders of his political party to tone down his antics.
Edmond Talmacean, a 40-year-old Bucharest-based politician, has inspired national headlines with his Michael Jackson-inspired moonwalk on a television show and his impersonations of the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
His impersonation of a well-known sports commentator during a serious political debate also stunned other lawmakers into silence.
"Dancing is another kind of political message to appeal to the younger generation, that it is good to have fun ... that you can go to a disco and dance," Mr Talmacean said.
Party leaders, however, say enough is enough and have ordered him to tone down. » | Monday, April 18, 2011
Edmond Talmacean »
Monday, April 18, 2011
YNET NEWS: Op-ed: Christians must realize Israel’s fate intertwined with fate of non-Muslims in region
This is the saddest Easter in the long epic of Arab Christianity: The cross is near extinction in the lands of it origin. The much-vaunted diversity of the Middle East is going to be reduced to the flat monotony of a single religion, Islam, and to a handful of languages.
In 1919, the Egyptian revolution adopted a green flag with the crescent and the cross. Both Muslims and Christians participated in the nationalist revolution against British colonialism. Now, according to the Egyptian Federation for Human Rights, more than 70 Christians a week are asking to leave the country due to Islamist threats.
The numbers are telling. Today there is only one Middle Eastern country where the number of Christians has grown: Israel. As documented in the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, the Christian community that numbered 34,000 people in 1949 is now 163,000-strong, and will reach 187,000 in 2020.
In the rest of the Middle East, the drive for Islamic purity is going to banish all traces of pre-Islamic pasts. This has affected not only Christians, but other non-Islamic communities too, such as the Zoroastrians and Baha’is in Iran (the late also found refuge in Israel, in Haifa.)
The silence of the global forums, the flawed conscience of human rights groups, the self-denial of the media and the Vatican’s appeasement is helping facilitate this Islamist campaign. According to a report on religious freedom compiled by the US Department of State, the number of Christians in Turkey declined from two million to 85,000; in Lebanon they have gone from 55% to 35% of the population; in Syria, from half the population they have been reduced to 4%; in Jordan, from 18% to 2%. In Iraq, they will be exterminated.
Should the exodus of Christians from Bethlehem continue in the next two or three decades, there may be no clergy left to conduct religious services in Jesus’ birthplace. In Iran, Christians have become virtually non-existent since 1979, when Khomeini ordered the immediate closure of all Christian schools. In Gaza, the 3,000 who remain are subjected to persecution. In Sudan, Christians in the South are forced into slavery. Israel’s flag a symbol of hope » | Giulio Meotti | Monday, April 18, 2011
YNET NEWS: Iraqi man sends letter to Foreign Ministry saying Hamas has made him ashamed of being Arab
The Foreign Ministry's Arabic-language website received a letter Saturday from a repentant Iraqi man who says he and his fellow citizens have been "brainwashed against Israel".
The man added that Hamas's recent attacks on Israeli civilians have caused him "shame" for being an Arab and a Muslim.
"For a long time we believed that Israelis are dangerous barbarians due to the brainwashing we underwent during Saddam (Hussein)'s rule but now I see (Arabs) being massacred in a wretched and shameful manner by Sunni and Shiite rulers," the letter says.
The man added that Hamas's recent attacks on Israeli civilians have caused him "shame" for being an Arab and a Muslim.
"For a long time we believed that Israelis are dangerous barbarians due to the brainwashing we underwent during Saddam (Hussein)'s rule but now I see (Arabs) being massacred in a wretched and shameful manner by Sunni and Shiite rulers," the letter says. » | Roee Nahmias | Monday, April 18, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: America's ability to tackle its deficit has been given a strong vote of no confidence, after leading rating agency Standard & Poor's said the chances are rising that the country will lose its prized AAA status.S&P downgraded the outlook for the US government's debt to negative from stable on Monday in a clear shot across the bows of Congress and The White House.
In sharp contrast to every other developed economy, the US has increased its budget deficit in the last year in an effort to accelerate the economic recovery here.
While President Barack Obama and the Republicans have in the last month laid out plans to reduce the deficit, S&P warned that a plan needs to be agreed upon within the next two years for the US to retain its status as a top borrower.
"More than two years after the beginning of the recent crisis, US policymakers have still not agreed on how to reverse recent fiscal deterioration or address longer-term fiscal pressures," said Nikola Swann, an analyst at S&P.
The move by S&P sparked an immediate reaction in financial markets, with US government bond prices falling alongside the S&P 500. Gold prices jumped to a new record of $1,496. » | Richard Blackden, US Business Editor | Monday, April 18, 2011
Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, says the country's state of emergency should be lifted by next week.
Inside Story, with presenter Darren Jordon, discusses with guests: Walid Saffour, president of the Syrian Human Rights Committee; Ivan Eland, a senior fellow and Director of the Centre of Peace and Liberty, at the Independent Institute.
This episode of Inside Story aired on Sunday, April 17, 2011.
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The right-wing populist party True Finns won 19 percent of the vote in Finland on Sunday. The euroskeptic party has said it is opposed to a bailout package for Portugal, which could spell trouble for the euro zone.Now, it is Finland's turn. Following in the footsteps of several northern European countries in recent years -- and continuing a trend that has been particularly apparent in Scandinavia -- Finnish voters on Sunday threw substantial support behind the right-wing populist party True Finns.
The party, led by Timo Soini, 48, grabbed 19 percent of the vote, more than quadrupling its result in 2007. And while Soini adheres to the standard collection of xenophobic and anti-Islam positions common to the right wing everywhere, it is his party's position on the euro which has engendered the most concern across Europe.
"We have to this point been too soft when it comes to Europe," Soini said on Monday, basking in his election success. "That has to change." In particular, Soini said, the euro-zone bailout package currently being designed for Portugal must be revisited. » | cgh -- with wire reports | Monday, April 18, 2011
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Germany saw an increase in the number of violent neo-Nazis by 600 to 5,600 last year, according to the country's domestic intelligence agency. In the year 2000, there were just 2,200. Still, the far-right scene as a whole is shrinking, and the NPD party is losing members.The number of violent neo-Nazis in Germany rose by more than 10 percent to 5,600 people in 2010, the head of the country's domestic intelligence agency said in an interview published on Monday.
"The neo-Nazi scene that is prepared to commit violence has become larger. It grew by 600 to 5,600 people in 2010," Heinz Fromm, the president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper. In 2000, the number had been far lower, at 2,200.
Fromm said the number of neo-Nazi anarchists, a relatively recent trend consisting of violent youths, often masked, bent on committing violence at far-right demonstrations, had increased from 800 to 1,000 people last year.
The overall number of right-wing extremists in Germany fell last year by 1,600 to around 25,000, said Fromm. » | cro | Monday, April 18, 2011
NEUE OSNABRÜCKER ZEITUNG: Neonazis auf dem Vormarsch: Osnabrück. Nach Angaben des Verfassungsschutzes ist die Zahl gewaltbereiter Rechtsextremisten in Deutschland 2010 erneut deutlich gestiegen. » | Autor: Sven Rebehn | Sonntag, 17. April 2011
DAILY EXPRESS: ISLAMIC extremists bent on imposing Sharia law have threatened women and told them to cover up their heads, it has been claimed.One woman was told she faced death if she failed to don the hijab, or headscarf, in east London’s Tower Hamlets.
Signs warning the area is a “gay-free zone” have also been seen while posters at bus shelters featuring models and a Bollywood film have been defaced with black paint. Incidents involving posters have also happened in Birmingham. » | Anil Dawar | Monday, April 18, 2011
THE SUN: Wear hijab or die: ISLAMIC extremists bent on establishing Sharia law in Britain have threatened to kill women who do not cover their heads. » | Anthony France | Monday, April 18, 2011
THE TELEGRAPH (AUSTRALIA): A JORDANIAN court will try Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard over a controversial caricature of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.Zakarya Sheikh, spokesman for a group of local media outlets that sued Westergaard in 2008 for depicting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, said the artist and others have been summoned by a magistrates' court in Amman to stand trial on April 25.
the [sic] subpoena states Westergaard "is accused of the crime of blasphemy."
"These legal measures seek to prevent attempts to insult Islam and incite racial hatred against Muslims worldwide, particularly in Europe," Sheikh said. » | NewsCore | Friday, April 15, 2011
BBC: At the instant she and Prince William are pronounced "man and wife", Catherine Middleton will begin a new life and take on a whole new identity.She will automatically become Her Royal Highness, Princess William of Wales.
However, she does not automatically become Princess Catherine - and certainly not Princess Kate.
The reason is very simple (if anything in this arcane area can be considered anything other than totally mystifying): Catherine Middleton is not of royal blood.
The Queen's late sister Margaret was entitled to call herself Princess Margaret. The Queen's daughter is Princess Anne and her granddaughters are Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. They are, or were, of royal blood, so they are princesses in their own right.
But Sarah Ferguson was never Princess Sarah and Sophie Rhys-Jones (wife of Prince Edward) is not Princess Sophie.
And, to the astonishment of many, Lady Diana Spencer was never officially Princess Diana. She was the Princess of Wales and, after her divorce from Prince Charles, she was Diana, Princess of Wales. » | Nicholas Witchell, Royal correspondent | Saturday, April 16, 2011
BBC: Kate Middleton’s family history »
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: At least 45 people have been killed after a powerful storm over the weekend whipped up tornadoes in seven southern US states.
The tornadoes left a trail of destruction in North Carolina, flattening homes and businesses and causing power cuts.
The fast-moving storm toppled trees and power lines, tore roofs off houses and scattered farm trailers across highways.
Some two dozen tornadoes were reported in the southern states of Mississippi and Alabama on Friday, a day after 15 tornadoes struck in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas, the US National Weather Service said. » | Sunday, April 17, 2011
THE KANSAS CITY STAR: South looks to recover from killer twisters » | Emery P. Dalesio and Brock Vergakis, Associated Press | Sunday, April 17, 2011
Related video »
The western Libyan city of Misurata continues to be under siege by Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
Its only lifelines are the sea routes to Benghazi, Tunis, and Malta, from where a steady stream of supplies has been trickling in over the past few weeks. However, supplies such as food and medicine are running short in Misurata, Libya's third largest city.
Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull and cameraman Craig Pennington, boarded a trawler carrying humanitarian supplies, for a 24-hour voyage to the city.
Warning: This exclusive package contains images that may disturb or offend some viewers.
THE GUARDIAN: Foreign Office issues call following Bahraini targetting of participants in peaceful protest outside BBC in ManchesterThe government has called on Bahrain to respect the right to peaceful protest. The move follows claims that families of students studying in Britain, who were photographed attending a peaceful protest in Manchester in solidarity with the country's pro-democracy movement, had been targeted.
The Foreign Office said it was aware of the actions of Bahraini citizens living in the UK campaigning against the regime and said they had a right to voice their concerns without intimidation or retaliation. "We have made clear to the Bahraini government that, unless these individuals commit a criminal offence in the UK, they will be free to carry out their activities in line with UK laws."
Students told the Guardian the Bahraini authorities had stripped government-funded scholarships from those who attended the event outside the BBC building last month and told parents to order their children home.
Students said they had "strong and well-founded" fears they and their families could suffer beatings and torture following Bahrain's crackdown on the protests 3,000 miles away and they were likely to be arrested on their return. » | Matthew Taylor | Sunday, April 17, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Christians across the globe celebrated the last Sunday of Lent, distributing palms and attending mass
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The rapid spread of Muslim political parties ahead of September's parliamentary elections has strengthened fears that Egyptian democracy will be dominated by radical Islamic movements.The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamic movement and the founder of Hamas, has set up a network of political parties around the country that eclipse the following of the middle class activists that overthrew the regime. On the extreme fringe of the Brotherhood, Islamic groups linked to al-Qeada are organising from the mosques to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of the dictatorship.
The military-led government already faces accusations that it is bowing to the surge in support for the Muslim movements, something that David Cameron warned of in February when he said Egyptian democracy would be strongly Islamic.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, warned on Sunday that the direction of Egyptian politics was anti-Israeli. He told diplomats last week that Egyptian officials – including Nabil al-Arabi, the foreign minister – were pandering to political militants by branding Israel as the "enemy".
"I am very concerned over some of the voices we've been hearing from Egypt recently," Mr Netanyahu said. "I'm especially concerned over the current Egyptian foreign minster's statements."
An Egyptian court on Saturday disbanded the National Democratic Party, which won 80 per cent of seats in parliament in December's rigged election. Hosni Mubarak, the ousted president, and his protégés are under arrest and threatened by prison.
Mohammed Badie, the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader, last week predicted the group's candidates would win 75 per cent of the seats it contested. » | Damien McElroy, Cairo | Sunday, April 17, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS: AN INVESTIGATION was launched last night into more than £1million of Government contracts awarded to the brother of Britain’s most notorious hate cleric who is plotting to ruin the Royal Wedding.Vince Cable’s business department is examining whether funds given to Yazdani Choudary for IT training and apprenticeship projects over the past seven years were “allocated properly”.
Mr Choudary, 48, is the wealthy elder brother of Anjem Choudary, 44, whose fanatical groups such as Al-Muhajiroun and Islam4UK, are banned in Britain.
Anjem, who wants a worldwide Islamic state and threatened a rabble-rousing march through Wootton Bassett to disrupt coming home ceremonies for dead British soldiers, is UK spokesman for Al Qaeda sympathiser Omar Bakri Mohammed.
The latest group with which he is involved, Muslims Against Crusades, is planning to cause chaos at next week’s wedding with a “forceful demonstration”.
The group has warned Prince William “and his Nazi best man” Prince Harry that unless they immediately withdraw from the military, the “day which the nation has been dreaming of for so long will become a nightmare”. » | Ted Jeory, Whitehall editor | Sunday, April 17, 2011
TAGES ANZEIGER: Flüchtlinge, die via Italien reisen wollen, sorgen zwischen den EU- Ländern für böses Blut. Frankreich verweigerte Zügen aus Ventimiglia die Weiterfahrt nach Frankreich. Einwanderer besetzen den Bahnhof.Alle Züge wurden auf Anordnung der Polizeipräfektur von Nizza (Alpes-Maritimes) [F] [E] annulliert. Zur Absicherung der Zone entsandten die Behörden gar ein Bataillon der französischen Einsatzpolizei CRS nach Menton, dem ersten Ort auf der französischen Seite der Grenze.
Aus Protest gegen den Stopp der Züge besetzten am Sonntag etwa 200 Menschenrechtsaktivisten aus Italien und Frankreich sowie tunesische Einwanderer in Ventimiglia den Bahnhof. » | pbe/sda | Sonntag, 17. April 2011
LE FIGARO: Piss Christ, une photographie représentant un crucifix plongé dans de l'urine, a été détruite dans un musée d'Avignon. Des associations catholiques avaient dénoncé une oeuvre blasphématoire.Un Christ sur sa croix dans un bain d'urine. Exposé à Avignon, le cliché de l'artiste américain Andres Serrano n'est pas passé inaperçu à la veille du week-end pascal. Samedi, plus d'un millier de manifestants s'étaient réunis devant le palais des Papes à l'appel de plusieurs associations catholiques et d'organisations d'extrême droite pour dénoncer une œuvre «blasphématoire». L'évêque d'Avignon, Mgr Jean-Pierre Cattenoz, a demandé le retrait de la photographie, dénonçant un cliché «odieux» qui «bafoue l'image du Christ».
Le cliché, daté de 1987, était présenté à la collection d'art contemporain Lambert dans le cadre d'une exposition anniversaire intitulée «Je crois aux miracles» prévue jusqu'au 8 mai et financée en partie par la municipalité, la région et l'État. » | Par lefigaro.fr | Dimanche 17 Avril 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The party appears to have returned to the old model of gentry-led Conservatism , says Janet Daley.There is an election coming. So the Prime Minister is touring the country trying to persuade Conservative voters in various states of disgruntlement and suspicion that they should support the party. He is hitting a number of refrains that are calculated to have that effect: we are doing what you know in your hearts needs to be done to the economy. We are bravely reforming welfare, education and health (whoops, no – maybe not health). And, rather startlingly, we are cracking down on immigration – or at least we are prepared to acknowledge that you have legitimate concerns about immigration.
But even in the midst of these various strands of more-or-less persuasive appeal there is an odd kind of vacuum – a hole where the central theme should be. The Conservatives may be doing quite a few things of which their supporters approve, most notably taking on what had seemed the intractable problems of welfare dependency and collapsing educational standards. But if people choose to vote Tory now it will be more a consequence of what the party seems to be getting done from one day to the next, than of what it is in itself. There is no longer a clear sense of basic common purpose – of fundamental driving principle – at the heart of Conservatism. Who the party speaks for, and what it stands for, is a matter of confusion and contradiction. This is not, as some apologists might claim, a simple re-assertion of pragmatism over ideology. Pragmatism is the doctrine of do-what-works but what counts as working is established on the basis of values: governments can only know when they have achieved something worthwhile if they have an idea of what is worth achieving.
If you are between the ages of, say, 30 and 45, you probably thought you had a fairly clear conception of what you were supporting when you voted for the Tories (or of what you hated when you voted against them). Since the 1980s, Conservatism had stood for free-market economics and self-improvement: the party had come to represent the striving, sometimes vulgar but always determined and hard-working, upwardly mobile classes. This provoked a revulsion on both the Left and the more traditional Right which was as much to do with snobbery as it was with political beliefs. Margaret Thatcher was dismissed as a “greengrocer’s daughter”, and her philosophy derided as “bourgeois triumphalism”. The Tory party had cast itself as the voice of the most productive, creative, energetic – and unfashionable – people in the country. Read on and comment » | Janet Daley | Saturday, April 16, 2011
My comment:
Nothing will ever change in this country, since snobbery is written in the Brits’ DNA. The class system is perpetuated by the monarchy, which, while its pageantry is charming and delightful to watch, its effect on society is toxic. Little people who think they are big simply because daddy was very rich and mummy was a lady-in-waiting! It’s a case of the best ‘jobs for the boys,’ and university places in the best universities, especially Oxbridge, are reserved for the aristocracy.
I used to feel very pro-monarchy and pro-establishment until I had a rude awakening and discovered what the establishment of this country was truly like.
To call this country a democracy is a joke indeed. This country is a plutocratic aristocracy. Closed to all that weren’t born in the right circles, scornful of achievement, and distrustful of true academic success. (The aristocracy, traditionally, never had to work for doctorates and higher degrees, because they had their status from birth.)
Until this country can be turned into a true meritocracy, there will never be true advancement, and the country will always be held back and chained to its feudal past.
Other successful countries in Europe cast off the spell of aristocracy long ago, and they embarked on the bourgeoisification of their countries, thereby shrinking the lower class and upper class, and giving everyone a fair chance in life by including them in the middle class. Not so, this country. In this country, successive governments have deliberately not embarked on bourgeoisification: the Labour Party wanted to keep the working classes down so as to keep them all in power; the Conservative Party wanted to keep the working classes down, too. That way they could hold on to the reins of power, and maintain a good, solid supply of cheap labour for the overlords.
This Coalition government, headed by the Caminicks, is run by the snobs for the snobs. They couldn’t give a damn about the ‘little people.’ If one hasn’t got gazillions, preferably inherited gazillions of course, then one doesn’t belong in their midst. It’s a public school, old-boy network. They’ll get ever richer, despite the austere times, but God help the rest of us! – © Mark
This comment also appears here
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: The brutality of attacks on the rebel city reveal how important reclaiming the port is to Col GaddafiThe "dawn chorus" came in on time, salvos of missiles crashing down with shattering noise, burning buildings, killing and maiming people. It was the start of another day in Misrata, the city whose fate may decide the military outcome of this brutal civil war.
The besieged and battered bastion has become Libya's Stalingrad. The fall of Misrata would not only be a huge symbolic and psychological triumph for Muammar Gaddafi, but also end significant opposition to his rule in the west of the country.
It is this defiance and determination only 150 miles from where he sits in Tripoli that seem to enrage the dictator of Libya. The daily rocket and artillery attacks are vengeful and often indiscriminate, destroying homes and killing and maiming civilians. More than 200 attacks have been launched in the past 48 hours, killing 40 people and injuring 105 others.
Even by the standards of Misrata, the bombardment at the end of the week was particularly brutal. Missiles landed in residential areas, on a school, and in a street on which a queue outside a bakery had formed. Some people waiting for bread escaped the initial onslaught and fled to a garage that promised protection. But the next round hit the entrance, starting a fire from which they could not escape. Among those to die was a mother aged 33 and her two daughters, both under 10. » | Kim Sengupta | Sunday, April 17, 2011
AL-MASRY AL-YOUM: Tripoli -- With most of his flock having fled Libya's violence, Tripoli's Roman Catholic bishop now focuses on keeping the power struggle between Muammar Qadhafi and anti-government rebels out of his church.
But it's getting harder.
After a recent Mass, several Muslim women, all Qadhafi supporters, followed Bishop Giovanni Martinelli into the vestry, tearfully demanding that he call the Vatican to get the pope to halt NATO airstrikes.
Some of his parishioners, especially African migrant workers, have been using his St. Francis Church as a sanctuary, saying they dread going into the streets because they are frequently stopped and harassed by Qadhafi's security forces.
The war has hit hard Christian communities in Tripoli, which include African migrant laborers, Filipino health care workers and European expatriates, among them foreign women married to Libyan men. Libya is an overwhelmingly Muslim country, and missionary activity is not allowed, though clergy say the regime has respected Christians' freedom of worship.
Martinelli and the head of the five other churches in Tripoli — all led by foreign clergy with congregations made up almost entirely of foreigners -- have staked out a cautious middle ground in the conflict that has split Libya into a Qadhafi-controlled west and a rebel-run east.
In a statement this week, just before Sunday's start of Easter Week, the Tripoli churches called for an immediate cease-fire and said dialogue is the only way to end the two-month-old crisis.
Attempts to dislodge Qadhafi by force will only make him more determined to hang on, said Martinelli, an Italian who came to Libya just a year after Qadhafi seized power in 1969.
"He is a Bedouin, he is very strong," the bishop said, tapping his forehead to illustrate hard-headedness. » | AP | Sunday, April 17, 2011
WIKI: Christianity in Libya »
AL-MASRY AL-YOUM*: Under heavy guard, toppled president Hosni Mubarak was transferred Saturday from Sharm el-Sheikh hospital to the International Medical Center of the Armed Forces, located near Cairo.
According to medical sources, Mubarak was flown on a military plane that landed at a military base near the hospital, along Cairo-Ismailia high road.
Military reinforcements and soldiers from the special forces were sent to guard the hospital, where he is detained pending investigation.
Mubarak had been admitted to Sharm el-Sheikh hospital after the attorney general decided to investigate him on charges of inciting the killing of protestors and gaining illicit funds. Mubarak's condition is not critical, and he is only suffering from the symptoms of aging, according to media reports. [Source: Al-Masry Al-Youm] | Staff | Saturday, April 16, 2011
AL-MASRY AL-YOUM: Disbelief and satisfaction follow Mubarak arrest » | Noha El-Hennawy |Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Al-Masry Al-Youm »
* Egypt Today
THE OBSERVER: Four British prisoners 'traumatised' in Dubai police station where it is claimed Lee Bradley Brown was beaten to deathForeign Office officials were attempting last night to move four British prisoners out of a notorious Dubai police station in the wake of claims that a British tourist was beaten to death there.
Discussions continue with the Dubai authorities about moving the prisoners to another jail. They are said to be traumatised after allegations that Lee Bradley Brown died after being beaten up by up to six police officers and dragged from his cell in the Bur Dubai station.
British embassy staff visited the police station yesterday to reinterview the British inmates. There are fears that they may be at risk of reprisals following reports that they blew the whistle on the alleged beating.
Negotiations are focusing on a possible transfer to the new Dubai Central Prison, in the middle of al-Aweer desert, which is the emirate's largest jail with room for 4,000 inmates.
Radha Stirling, of the Detained In Dubai charity, said talks were continuing about moving the Britons to a "safer place" while a Foreign Office spokesman confirmed they had "made a number of requests" to the Dubai authorities. Among them is the need for a "fair and proper" investigation into the death of Brown, 39, from Ilford, Essex. Dubai police maintain Brown's body had no signs of bruising or evidence of assault when he died last Monday. They claim he suffocated on his vomit in his cell. » | Mark Townsend | Sunday, April 17, 2011
Related here and here
THE GUARDIAN: Pete Pattison investigates the trafficking of people escaping poverty and conflict in Nepal. Unscrupulous agents take huge sums of money from them for work abroad then consign them to slavery and appalling conditions in the Middle East. Many are abused by their employers and some are killed at the hands of agents
Anti-Slavery: Today’s fight for tomorrow’s freedom »
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Hosni Mubarak is in hospital with a suspected heart attack; when he gets out, he could be hanged, and his sons are currently in prison. Nick Meo charts the dramatic downfall of Egypt's former first family.The first shock for the sons of Egypt's former president when they arrived at Cairo's notorious Tora prison, looking dazed according to witnesses, was having their mobile phones taken away.
Then guards thrust rough regulation uniforms into their soft, manicured hands, and led them away to their cells.
The nation they had lorded over for decades, and allegedly plundered on an epic scale, could hardly believe it was seeing the humiliation of Gamal and Alaa Mubarak.
Few Egyptians were more surprised than Wael Khalil, a pro-democracy activist who had been thrown into Tora prison by the regime of their father, Hosni Mubarak.
"Their arrest is a symbol of the triumph of the revolution and the undoing of the old regime," said Mr Khalil, who during his stay was given just slops to eat and had to sleep on the floor.
"But for me it brought back all my memories of that prison - the anxieties, the fear, not to mention the awful food, the rough guards and sleepless nights.
"If anyone deserves to be sent there they do. But to tell you the truth I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."
The pair, two of Egypt's biggest businessmen, were arrested last week on corruption charges and sent to the high-security prison, a collection of sun-baked, H-shaped blocks in a bleak suburb of the capital. Egyptians had believed the two were untouchable. » | Nick Meo, Cairo | Sunday, April 17, 2011
THE OBSERVER: Violence on the streets as backlash grows over Greece's austerity package and €110bn bailoutA growing chorus of voices is urging the Greek government to restructure its debt as fears grow that a €110bn bailout has failed to rescue the country from the financial abyss and is forcing ordinary people into an era of futile austerity.
"It's better to have a restructuring now … since the situation is going nowhere," said Vasso Papandreou, whose views might be easier to discount were she not head of the Greek parliament's economic affairs committee.
Other members of prime minister George Papandreou's party have said that Greece is locked in a "vicious cycle", unable to dig itself out of crisis with policies that can only deepen recession.
International fears of a Greek default rose last week after the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, refused to rule it out and markets, sensing upheaval, sent Greek borrowing costs soaring.
The normally mild-mannered prime minister has vehemently rebuffed the prospect of Greece failing to meet its debt obligations, saying restructure would not only be catastrophic for the country – blocking its access to markets for years – but also for the eurozone's delicate economy. "Our problems will be addressed in depth not if we restructure our debt but if we restructure the country," he said, announcing the "road map" that would lead Greece out of crisis.
Amid speculation over the country's ability to avoid default, a wave of civil disobedience is causing many to wonder if Greece is becoming ungovernable. Read on and comment » | Helena Smith in Athens | Sunday, April 17, 2011
THE OBSERVER – EDITORIAL: To have different levels of tolerance for different despots raises awkward questions
One obvious lesson for the west from recent upheaval in the Middle East is that propping up authoritarian regimes on the grounds that they make stable allies is a terrible policy.
The stability procured by despotism is an illusion. Brittle police states can contain, but never satisfy, a captive people's appetite for better lives. Eventually, they shatter and the more rigid the apparatus of repression, the more explosive the change when it comes.
That has been demonstrated clearly enough in North Africa and yet the west struggles to apply the lesson to the Arabian Peninsula. The contagious spirit of democratic springtime that provoked protests in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya also reached Bahrain, Yemen, Saudi Arabia. But there the west has been markedly less inclined to cheer it on.
The Observer carries the chilling testimony of a young Bahraini caught up in the small Gulf kingdom's brutal crackdown on civil dissent. It is a story that struggles to be heard as foreign media are increasingly denied access to the country and the local press is muzzled.
As many as 30 people are thought to have been killed as anti-government demonstrations have been violently suppressed. Hundreds of protesters have been detained and employees have been dismissed from state-owned enterprises in a move to purge dissent.
As our report makes clear, the unrest is increasingly sectarian in character. The Khalifa royal family and ruling elite are Sunni, while the majority of the population is Shia. That religious, cultural and economic division was politicised before the current crackdown, with the main parliamentary opposition coming from Shia parties. The government has flirted with a plan to ban those groups on the grounds of "disrespect for constitutional institutions". There has been widespread intimidation and abuse of Shia communities, carried out in part by security forces "invited" from neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
It would be unfair to say that the violence carried out by Bahraini authorities has passed entirely without comment from the UK. There have been pained expressions of discomfort and urgings of restraint on all sides.
Elsewhere in the region, those noises were precursors to more robust language. But in the Gulf there is a subtle difference of tone. In a statement to Parliament, William Hague, foreign secretary, was keen to recognise "important political reforms" which he welcomed in the context of "the long friendship between Bahrain and the UK". » | Editorial | Sunday, April 17, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: The gap between the Saudi regime's conservative ideology and modern urban reality has fed discontent across societyThe Saudi regime is under siege. To the west, its heaviest regional ally, the Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, has been ousted. To its north, Syria and Jordan are gripped by a wave of protests which shows no sign of receding. On its southern border, unrest in Yemen and Oman rages on. And troops have been dispatched to Bahrain to salvage its influence over the tiny kingdom exerted through the Khalifa clan, and prevent the contagion from spreading to Saudi Arabia's turbulent eastern provinces, the repository of both its biggest oil reserves and largest Shia population.
Such fears of contagion no longer seem far-fetched. Shortly after the toppling of the Tunisian dictator, an unidentified 65-year-old man died after setting himself on fire in Jizan province, just north of the border with Yemen. Frequent protests urge political reform, and internet campaigns demand the election of a consultative assembly, the release of political prisoners, and women's rights – one that called for a day of rage on 11 March attracted 26,000 supporters.
The government's response was in keeping with a country named the region's least democratic state by the Economist Intelligence Unit last year. Tear gas and live bullets were fired at peaceful demonstrators as helicopters crisscrossed the skies. One of the 11 March organisers, Faisal abdul-Ahad, was killed, while hundreds have been arrested, joining 8,000 prisoners of conscience – among them the co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, Mohammed Saleh al-Bejadi. Many Saudis have even been detained when seeking news of relatives at the interior ministry, like Mubarak bin Zu'air, a lawyer whose father and brother have long been held without charge, and 17-yearold Jihad Khadr whose brother Thamir, a rights activist is also missing. A short video tackling the taboo of political prisoners attracted over 72,000 views since its release 4 days ago.
Although demands for change date back to 1992's Advice Memorandum – a petition for reform submitted by scholars to the king – the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions have accelerated them. In an unprecedented move, a group of activists and intellectuals defied the official ban on political organisation to announce the formation of the kingdom's first political party (all 10 founding members have since been arrested). And calls for reform have even come from the royal family, with Prince Turki Al Faisal appealing for elections to the Shura, the appointed parliament, at the Jeddah Economic Forum two weeks ago. Continue reading and comment » | Soumaya Ghannoushi | Thursday, April 14, 2011
THE OBSERVER: The Al-Khalifa family, who control Bahrain, has cracked down on dissent with little condemnation from the westHistory and geography explain why Bahrain's peaceful uprising was the early exception to the "Arab spring", which began with high hopes in Tunisia and Egypt but now faces bloody uncertainties in Libya and Syria.
Sitting astride the faultline between the Shia and Sunni worlds, the small Gulf island state lies at the heart of a strategically sensitive region that is dominated by bitter rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia – both very tough neighbours.
Bahrain was always going to be a prime candidate if unrest erupted in the Arabian peninsula. But it was not easy to predict that the Al-Khalifa dynasty, Sunnis who rule over a restive 70% Shia majority, would react so brutally when protests mushroomed in February. Still, the activists who streamed to Manama's Pearl roundabout in a deliberate echo of Cairo's Tahrir Square were demanding reform, not the overthrow of the regime.
By regional standards, King Hamad was not the most repressive of rulers. Bahrain, unlike Saudi Arabia, has a parliament and a legal opposition. Bahrain's press operated within "red lines" but had a margin for manoeuvre. Expensive western PR companies were employed to promote the country's image.
Prospects for political change looked reasonable until last summer when a sudden security crackdown began. The government was alarmed by joint Shia-Sunni demands to investigate the acquisition of prime real estate by the royals: Google Earth showed just how much of the island – where public beaches are rare – was already owned by the Al-Khalifa family.
Last October the mildly Islamist Shia opposition party al-Wefaq won a plurality of seats in the lower house of parliament – despite being smeared by the government as Hezbollah-type extremists. But progressives in Bahrain emphasise nationality, not religious sect – thus the catchy slogan "not Shias, not Sunnis, we are all Bahrainis". » | Ian Black, Middle East editor | Saturday, April 16, 2011
THE OBSERVER: Mahmoud, a Shia who lives near Bahrain's capital tells how Saudi soldiers wage a campaign of sectarian violenceSince the Gulf soldiers came to Bahrain, life in the Shia villages and suburbs of the capital, Manama, has been non-stop intimidation, violence and threats. Even trying to move around in normal ways has become life-threatening. They are trying to beat down the opposition with a long campaign against us.
I live in one of the villages near Manama. One night about 7.30pm, I parked in front of my father-in-law's house and walked towards the door, when at least 50 armed and masked thugs – they were not in security forces uniform – appeared from one of the village lanes and told me to stop, pointing their shotguns at me. I ran away and they followed, but I managed to hide in one of the houses and they did not see me.
I heard them talking to each other, saying: "Don't worry, we will find him." I was taking a look from the window and they stayed at the car park opposite the house I was hiding in, and they were smashing the windows of parked cars and wrecking and stealing from them. Some had Saudi accents; they are very different from Bahraini and easy to tell.
At 8pm most nights people go up on their roofs and chant Allahu Akbar ["God is greatest"] and the thugs start shooting randomly in the air and at the top of the roofs. That night the area was covered with tear-gas grenades and rubber bullets, while the roads around the house were deserted except for thugs. » | 'Mahmoud' | Saturday, April 16, 2011
THE OBSERVER: Arrests and troop movements signal another government crackdown on protests in the tiny Gulf stateBahrain is braced for a fresh bout of violent repression as new arrests and the alleged death of a female student fuel sectarian tensions in the tiny Gulf state.
Armoured vehicles and security forces were reported to be gathering in the streets of the capital, Manama, and in surrounding suburbs and villages.
Meanwhile, evidence has emerged that Saudi forces have been involved in violence against the opposition in the mainly Shia villages and suburbs around Manama. In a graphic eyewitness account of the repression given to the Observer, a Bahraini who has been caught up in the violence claimed that officers with Saudi accents, in plainclothes but armed with automatic weapons, had led attacks on members of the Shia opposition on several occasions over the past month.
When Saudi and UAE troops from the Gulf Peninsula Shield force entered the kingdom at the request of the government last month, it was said that they were there to guard strategic buildings and infrastructure.
Reports from the city said that a young woman – beaten up last month by government supporters at Bahrain University – had died. A family member confirmed her death but the circumstances remained unclear. Arrests of lawyers and doctors working for the opposition continued. » | Foreign staff | Saturday, April 16, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain's most senior Catholic leader has warned David Cameron not to use the Big Society as "a cloak for masking cuts".The Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, criticised the Prime Minister's flagship policy as lacking "teeth". The archbishop has been one of the most prominent supporters of the Big Society, but he told The Sunday Telegraph that he feared communities hit by the economic downturn would suffer if they did not get support.
The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales said Catholics were afraid the Coalition was "washing its hands" of its responsibilities to communities and expecting volunteers to fill the gap.
"It is all very well to deliver speeches about the need for greater voluntary activity, but there needs to be some practical solutions," he said.
"At the moment the Big Society is lacking a cutting edge. It has no teeth." » | Jonathan Wynne-Jones | Saturday, 26. April, 2011
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Samedi matin, un nouveau séisme de 5,8 s'est produit au nord de Tokyo. La secousse est intervenue vers 11h19 (3h19 heure suisse). Aucune victime n'est pour l'instant à déplorer.
Un séisme de magnitude 5,8 s’est produit samedi matin au nord de Tokyo, où les immeubles ont fortement tremblé, a rapporté l’Institut de géophysique américain USGS.
L’épicentre de cette secousse, survenue à 11H19 (02H19 GMT), se trouvait dans la partie sud de la préfecture d’Ibaraki (centre-est), à quelque 80 kilomètres au nord de la capitale, a précisé l’Agence météorologique japonaise. » | AFP | Samedi 16 Avril 2011
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