Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis,
Laudamus te, benedicimus te,
adoramus te.
Glorificamus te. Gratias agimus tibi,
propter magnam gloriam tuam.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis,
Laudamus te, benedicimus te,
adoramus te.
Glorificamus te. Gratias agimus tibi,
propter magnam gloriam tuam.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Writing in The Telegraph, Sir Gus O’Donnell asks whether the Union can survive increasing pressure for Scottish independence.
Sir Gus, who is the head of more than 440,000 civil servants in England, Scotland and Wales, says the future of the Union is one of several “enormous challenges” facing the political establishment in the coming years.
The admission from such a senior non-political figure that the break-up of Britain is now a real possibility is likely to push the issue up the political agenda.
“Over the next few years there will be enormous challenges, such as whether to keep our kingdom united,” he warns officials and politicians.
The remarks in today’s Daily Telegraph are Sir Gus’s final public comments before he steps down as Cabinet Secretary and head of the Civil Service on Jan 1.
In the exclusive article, Sir Gus also warns that Britain faces major challenges as its economy falters and says that the Civil Service has to overcome its own “cultural inertia” to help lead Britain out of the economic downturn. » | Christopher Hope, and James Kirkup | Wednesday, December 21, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Alex Salmond: Sir Gus O’Donnell is right to recognise possibilty of Scottish independence: Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister, dubbed Sir Gus O'Donnell 'a model civil servant' after the outgoing cabinet secretary questioned the future of the United Kingdom. » | Christopher Hope, and James Kirkup | Thursday, December 22, 2011
Fünf Monate nach den traumatischen Terroranschlägen von Norwegen, bei denen 77 Menschen ums Leben kamen, hat der Vater des Attentäters sein Schweigen gebrochen. Er fühle sich indirekt mitschuldig, sagte Jens Breivik dem stern [sic]. "Wahrscheinlich wäre das alles nicht passiert, wenn ich mich mehr um Anders gekümmert hätte."
Der 76-jährige ehemalige Diplomat zeichnet in dem Interview von seinem Sohn das Bild eines apolitischen, nicht sonderlich intellektuellen faulen Jungen. Ihr letzter Kontakt sei ein Telefongespräch vor etwa sechs Jahren gewesen. » | Mittwoch 21. Dezember 2011
In his most ferocious attack to date, the Hollywood star vented his anger at the President's failure to bring about change in America.
He said: "I've talked to a lot of people who worked for Obama at the grassroots level. One of them said to me, 'Never again. I will never be fooled again by a politician,'".
"You know, a one-term president with some balls who actually got stuff done would have been, in the long run of the country, much better."
His latest attack was made in an interview for Elle magazine to promote his new film "We Bought a Zoo."
Damon, 41, was one of the biggest Hollywood stars to stump for Obama during his 2008 election campaign. » | Paul Thompson | Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
REUTERS FRANCE: BEYROUTH - Les forces syriennes ont fait de la journée de mardi "la plus sanglante de la révolution syrienne" en tuant 111 personnes, dit mercredi une ONG d'opposants, à la veille de l'arrivée d'observateurs de la Ligue arabe.
"Une tuerie d'une ampleur sans précédent a eu lieu en Syrie mardi, causant près de 120 morts", a dit le porte-parole du ministère français des Affaires étrangères, Bernard Valero.
"Il est urgent que le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies se prononce par une résolution ferme qui exige la fin de la répression", a-t-il ajouté.
Rami Abdoulrahmane, de l'Observatoire syrien pour les droits de l'homme, affirme que 111 civils et activistes ont été tués, auxquels il faut ajouter une centaine de déserteurs tués dans la région d'Idlib depuis lundi.
Les rebelles ont détruit 17 véhicules militaires dans la province d'Idlib depuis dimanche et tué 14 membres des forces de sécurité mardi dans une embuscade près de Deraa, dans le Sud.
Par ailleurs, cinq techniciens iraniens ont été enlevés par des inconnus à Homs, autre foyer de la contestation du régime du président Bachar al Assad. » | par Dominic Evans | mercredi 21 décembre 2011
REUTERS.COM: North Korea will shift to collective rule from a strongman dictatorship after last week's death of Kim Jong-il, although his untested young son will be at the head of the ruling coterie, a source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing said.
The source added that the military, which is trying to develop a nuclear arsenal, has pledged allegiance to the untested Kim Jong-un, who takes over the family dynasty that has ruled North Korea since it was founded after World War Two.
The source declined to be identified but has correctly predicted events in the past, telling Reuters about the North's first nuclear test in 2006 before it took place.
The comments are the first signal that North Korea is following a course that many analysts have anticipated -- it will be governed by a group of people for the first time since it was founded in 1948. » | Benjamin Kang Lim | BEIJING | Wednesday, December 21, 2011
REUTERS FRANCE: La Corée du Nord se dirige vers un pouvoir collegial : PEKIN - Le nouveau dirigeant de la Corée du Nord, Kim Jong-un, partagera le pouvoir avec un de ses oncles et l'armée après la mort de son père survenue samedi, a-t-on appris mercredi auprès d'une source proche de Pyongyang et de Pékin. » | Benjamin Kang-Lim, Marine Pennetier pour le service français | mercredi 21 décembre 2011
REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Nordkorea steuert auf Machtteilung zu: Peking - Nach dem Tod von Nordkoreas Alleinherrscher Kim Jong Il steuert das kommunistisch regierte Land erstmals in seiner Geschichte auf eine Machtteilung zu. ¶ Kims politisch unerfahrener Sohn Kim Jong Un werde nicht als Autokrat, sondern gemeinsam mit seinem Onkel Jang Song Thaek und dem Militär herrschen, sagte am Mittwoch eine Person mit engen Verbindungen zu den Regierungen Nordkoreas und Chinas der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters. Formell allerdings werde der von seinem Vater als Nachfolger aufgebaute junge Kim an der Spitze der Führungsriege stehen. Die Generäle hätten ihm die Treue geschworen. Ein Putsch sei damit sehr unwahrscheinlich. Die Lage in dem Land, dass nach seiner Gründung 1948 zuerst von Kim Jong Uns Großvater und dann von seinem Vater streng autokratisch geführt wurde, scheine stabil zu sein. Auch sei vorerst nicht mit einem weiteren Atomtest zu rechnen. » | Reuters | Mittwoch 21. Dezember 2011
The wailing and gnashing of teeth inside North Korea was not entirely unexpected. That the death of Kim Jong-il has plunged other parts of the world into grief may come as more of a surprise.
Communist ally Cuba has declared three days of mourning, with flags to be flown at half mast, while Nicaragua and Venezuela also expressed sorrow. The Korean Central News Agency's website carries messages of condolence from the emir of Qatar, the former president of Moldova and the "Great King and Great Queen of Cambodia".
Not to be outdone in the contrarian stakes, Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe's loyalists have paid tribute to North Korea's "dear leader", who died from a heart attack aged 69.
"He was a lovely man whom we associated with," Didymus Mutasa, the secretary of administration for Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, told Zimbabwe's Voice of the People radio. "He was our great friend, and we are not ashamed of being associated with him." » | David Smith in Johannesburg | Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Le chef de l'État turc Abdullah Gül a appelé, mardi, la France à abandonner une proposition de loi "inacceptable" sanctionnant la négation du génocide arménien, que les députés français doivent voter jeudi. "Il n'est pas question pour nous d'accepter cette proposition de loi (...) qui dénie le droit de rejeter des accusations infondées et injustes contre notre pays et notre nation", souligne le président, selon son service de presse. "Nous attendons que la raison et le bon sens l'emportent en France et que l'on renonce dans les plus brefs délais à ce projet", souligne le texte. » | Source AFP | mardi 20 décembre 2011
Dienstag früh, kurz nach 7 Uhr in einer Seitengasse des Tahrir-Platzes im Herzen von Kairo: Nebelschwaden ziehen durch die Straßenzüge, ein paar streunende Hunde suchen in umgestürzten Mülltonnen nach fressbaren Abfällen, beim Bahnhof brennt ein Stapel mit alten Autoreifen. Im improvisierten Straßencafé ziehen Bauarbeiter seelenruhig an ihren Wasserpfeifen - Alltag in der Metropole. » | Gregor Brandl, Kronen Zeitung/red | Dienstag 20. Dezember 2011
The regime placed the body of Kim Jong-il, the late dictator who died on Saturday, on display in a glass coffin in the capital, Pyongyang, on Tuesday. His son and successor was among the first to pay his respects and observe a moment of silence.
The official media have begun fashioning a personality cult around Mr Kim, who became a general last year despite lacking any military experience. The young man - officially 29 but probably only 27 - has been officially labelled the "great successor" and a "lighthouse of hope".
Yet his inexperience has opened the way for more practised operators to increase their influence. "For someone who was meant to be all-powerful, this was hardly the kind of succession that Kim Jong-il would have wanted," said Kerry Brown, head of the Asia programme at Chatham House.
Despite "intricate calculations that have gone on for quite a while", there was only a "very rickety consensus" behind the succession of the late dictator's third and youngest son, added Mr Brown. "This choice was a big, big compromise," he said.
Three factions may now be taking shape behind the new leader. Perhaps the most significant is led by Chang Sung-taek, a pillar of the regime who serves as vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission. His wife, Kim Kyong-hui, is the younger sister of the late leader. » | David Blair, Chief Foreign Correspondent | Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The European Commission has imposed tough new restrictions on the export of anaesthetics used to execute people in the US, in a move that will exacerbate the already extreme shortage of the drugs in many of the 34 states that still practice the death penalty.
The EC has added eight barbiturates to its list of restricted products that are tightly controlled on the grounds that they may be used for "capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". The eight include pentobarbital and sodium thiopental – the two drugs on which almost all American executions currently depend.
The EC said its move, which follows restrictions introduced unilaterally by the UK in November 2010, was designed to forward the European Union's stated mission to abolish the death penalty around the world. "The decision today contributes to the wider EU efforts to abolish the death penalty worldwide," said the commission's vice president, Catherine Ashton. » | Ed Pilkington in New York | Tuesday, December 20, 2011
North Koreans have been introduced to their youthful new leader in a style that befits the last truly totalitarian state on earth. Kim Jong-un, the “Great Successor”, has been hailed variously as a martial genius and the “outstanding leader of our party, army and people”.
The rise of the younger Kim, officially 29 but possibly only 27, has mirrored his father’s physical decline: last year, while the “Dear Leader” ailed, the son was hastily made a four-star general and awarded a senior post in the military high command. When the armed forces bombarded a South Korean island with heavy artillery, before sinking one of their neighbour’s warships with a well-aimed torpedo, stories were circulated giving the new general the credit.
Not many countries would deliberately promote their future leader as a child soldier given to impulsive attacks on other countries. The portrayal of the younger Kim reveals much about the psychology of North Korea’s ossified regime, glorying in its own isolation and obduracy. In particular, it reveals the two principal strands of the impoverished state’s official ideology: militarism and an obsession with racial purity.
Thus North Korea spends about a third of its total gross national product on the armed forces, rendering it probably the most militarised state in the world. If Britain were to follow this example, we would have a defence budget exceeding £400 billion – significantly bigger than America’s. A country in which people eat roots and berries to avoid starvation has built a small arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Instead of being the world’s last Communist state, North Korea is best understood as a murderous laboratory for the utopian fantasies of the fascist Right. Its official propaganda glorifies the moral superiority of the Korean race, as compared with the decadence and depravity of the outside world. The North Korean people are portrayed as being almost childlike in their innocence and purity – so different from the amorality of their neighbours, supposedly corrupted by Western materialism and the corrosive influence of America. Read on and comment » | David Blair | Monday, December 19, 2011
THE TIMES: France and Turkey accuse each other of perpetrating some of the 20th century’s most horrific massacres as their diplomatic ties hit crisis point » | Adam Sage, Paris | Tuesday, December 20, 2011 [£]
REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Iligan - Die Folgen des Taifuns "Washi" sind auf den Philippinen möglicherweise durch Menschenhand verstärkt worden.
Präsident Benigno Aquino setzte nach einem Besuch des Katastrophengebiet eine Untersuchungskommission ein, die klären soll, ob die Überschwemmungen und Erdrutsche hätten verhindert werden können. Ermittelt werden soll vor allem, ob ein landesweites Verbot des Holzfällens missachtet wurde. "Wenn wir wollen, dass dies die letzte Katastrophe dieser Art war, müssen wir aus unseren Fehlern lernen", sagte Aquino am Dienstag. Die Zahl der Toten stieg mittlerweile auf fast 1000. » | Reuters | Dienstag 20. Dezember 2011
REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Berlin - Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel hat die Gewalt der syrischen Regierung gegen das eigene Volk scharf verurteilt.
Die Kanzlerin sei zutiefst besorgt über die fortdauernde Verletzung der Menschenrechte und der elementaren Grundfreiheiten in Syrien, sagte Regierungssprecher Steffen Seibert am Dienstag in Berlin. "Sie fordert die syrische Regierung auf, die brutale Gewalt gegen Zivilisten und Kinder und Frauen sofort einzustellen, wie auch die Gewalt gegen Deserteure aus der syrischen Armee", fügte Seibert hinzu. » | Reuters | Dienstag 20. Dezember 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, has signed into effect a law imposing the death penalty on anyone arming "terrorists", according to state media amid mounting clashes with rebel troops.
"The law provides for the death penalty for anyone providing weapons or helping to provide weapons intended for the carrying out of terrorist acts," the official SANA news agency said.
The decree also imposes life imprisonment with hard labour for arms smuggling "for profit or to carry out acts of terrorism," and 15 years' hard labour for arms smuggling for other purposes.
The Syrian authorities contend that protests raging since March are the work of "armed terrorists" not civilian demonstrators as maintained by Western governments and human rights groups. » | Tuesday, December 20, 2011
After the hysterical scenes which greeted news of Kim Jong-il's death, North Korean media struck a more solemn mood on Tuesday as mourners filed past his body and the state prepared for the succession of Kim's youngest son.
North Korean state TV showed weeping mourners pass their former leader, whose body is on display in a glass coffin at the Kumsusan memorial palace in the capital, Pyongyang.
TV screenshots show Kim dressed in his trademark khaki suit, his head on a white pillow and a plain red sheet covering him from the chest down. The bier supporting his casket is bedecked with red and white flowers.
Among the mourners was his youngest son and successor, Kim Jong-un, accompanied by senior figures from the military and ruling Workers' party.
The younger Kim was quoted as expressing the "bitterest grief" over his father's death – a significant choice of words as it was used to describe the nation's mood during the funeral of his grandfather and North Korea's founder, Kim Il-sung, in July 1994. » | Justin McCurry in Tokyo and Tania Branigan in Beijing | Tuesday, December 20, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Kim Jong Il body displayed, North Korea media hail son » | AP foreign | Tuesday, December 20, 2011
They howled and whimpered and scrubbed raw eyes with fists. They flailed their arms in grief and marched in their thousands to the capital's landmarks. But no one, outside of North Korea, really knows what North Koreans felt at news of Kim Jong-il's death.
There was shock, of course. Some perhaps wept from sorrow for their Dear Leader, some from sorrow for themselves. Some cried for fear that inadequate public anguish might damn them, and some from anxiety about what lay ahead. Kim veiled his country throughout his life and uncertainty shrouded his death.
State media said he died at 8.30am on Saturday, felled by a heart attack "due to physical and mental overwork", as he travelled by train on one of his innumerable inspection visits. There had been not a whisper of anything unusual in the two days before the announcement.
The official news agency KCNA swiftly hailed his third son, Kim Jong-un, as the "great successor" and "the eminent leader of the military and the party". The young man, thought to be just 28, has been groomed as heir since his father's apparent stroke in 2008.
The 69-year-old left his son a nuclear-armed but impoverished country where food is scarce and human rights abuses rife, and his unexpected death sent a chill far beyond the 24 million inhabitants of North Korea. Politicians in Washington, Seoul, Tokyo and beyond weighed the prospects of a third generation of this communist dynasty with the risk of regional instability. Concerns were underscored by South Korean media reports on Monday that the North had fired short-range missiles, although the Yonhap news agency said the tests had been conducted before the death announcement. The defence ministry in Seoul did not comment.
The South's military was already on high alert, while a spokesman for the Japanese prime minister said he had set up a crisis management team. » | Tania Branigan in Beijing and Justin McCurry in Tokyo | Monday, December 19, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Just days before Christmas, a new study has emerged that suggests that one of Christianity's most prized but mysterious relics – the Turin Shroud – is not a medieval forgery but could be the authentic burial robe of Christ.
Italian scientists have conducted a series of advanced experiments which, they claim, show that the marks on the shroud – purportedly left by the imprint of Christ's body – could not possibly have been faked with technology that was available in the medieval period.
The research will be an early Christmas present for shroud believers, but is likely to be greeted with scepticism by those who doubt that the sepia-coloured, 14ft-long cloth dates from Christ's crucifixion 2,000 years ago.
Sceptics have long claimed that the shroud is a medieval forgery, and radiocarbon testing conducted by laboratories in Oxford, Zurich and Arizona in 1988 appeared to back up the theory, suggesting that it dated from between 1260 and 1390.
But those tests were in turn disputed on the basis that they were skewed by contamination by fibres from cloth that was used to repair the relic when it was damaged by fire in the Middle Ages.
The new study is the latest intriguing piece of a puzzle which has baffled scientists for centuries and spawned an entire industry of research, books and documentaries. » | Nick Squires, Rome | Monday, December 19, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
La mort soudaine du «cher leader» nord-coréen complique l'agenda de Barack Obama dans la région. L'Administration américaine devait prendre ce lundi d'importantes décisions sur la reprise des négociations sur le dossier nucléaire et l'octroi d'aide alimentaire au «royaume ermite». Ces arbitrages devraient, au minimum, être retardés.
La Maison-Blanche a réagi avec prudence à l'annonce du décès de Kim Jong-il, se gardant de commenter la disparition du dictateur. «Nous exprimons à nouveau l'espoir d'une amélioration de nos relations avec le peuple de Corée du Nord et restons profondément soucieux de son bien-être», a indiqué lundi soir Hillary Clinton, espérant une transition «stable et pacifique». Washington stationne toujours 29.000 GI en Corée du Sud.
Dès minuit, dans la nuit de dimanche à lundi, Barack Obama a appelé le président sud-coréen, Lee Myung-bak. L'Administration est également en contact étroit avec les autorités japonaises. Le président s'est toutefois gardé pour l'heure d'offrir ses condoléances à la Corée du Nord. S'il devait faire un tel geste, cela indiquerait une volonté de saisir l'opportunité de la succession à Pyongyang pour tendre la main au nouveau leader désigné, Kim Jong-un. Mais cela pourrait se révéler prématuré, compte tenu de l'incertitude qui enveloppe l'avenir politique de la Corée du Nord et les intentions du «grand successeur». » | Par Adèle Smith | lundi 19 décembre 2011
China has endorsed Kim Jong-un as North Korea's new leader in a gesture of support designed to bolster Pyongyang and avoid regional instability.
The Chinese government announced that co-operation with North Korea would continue. It hailed the late Kim Jong-il as a great leader and a close friend, and called on the North Korean people to unify under the leadership of "comrade Jong-un" and turn their "anguish into strength".
China is crucial to the survival of Pyongyang in the face of international isolation. It has provided economic assistance to North Korea since 2006, when US and South Korean aid dried up after Pyongyang carried out the first of two nuclear tests. In the past 18 months Kim Jong-il travelled four times to China. He also visited Russia, North Korea's other key partner.
Beijing is anxious to avoid any collapse of its often troublesome neighbour, reasoning that this would lead to a flood of refugees and economic migrants across its border. Unlike the US, which wants North Korea to scrap its nuclear capabilities, China's chief strategic concern is to maintain regional stability.
The White House said it was closely monitoring developments on the Korean peninsula following Kim Jong-il's death. It restated its commitment to the "freedom and security" of its allies, with Barack Obama phoning South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak, at midnight. They agreed to stay in close contact. » | Luke Harding, Tania Branigan in Beijing and Justin McCurry in Tokyo | Monday, December 19, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Religious groups are boycotting Tesco after a senior executive at the supermarket giant described Christians as “evil” for opposing gay marriage.
Nick Lansley, Tesco’s head of research and development, said he was actively taking a stand “against evil Christians” who opposed the right of same-sex couples to marry.
In a message on his profile page on Flickr.com, he said: “I’m…campaigning against evil Christians (that’s not all Christians, just bad ones) who think that gay people should not lead happy lives and get married to their same-sex partners.”
The remarks, which have now been removed from the photo sharing website, caused outrage among Christian groups, who said they would refuse to shop in the chain’s stores in protest.
Colin Hart, director of the Christian Institute, said: “I won’t be shopping at Tesco this Christmas, and I am repeatedly hearing from other Christians who have already come to the same conclusion.
“Mr Lansley is entitled to his opinions, and Christians are entitled to choose not to shop at Tesco.” » | Monday, December 19, 2011
"Don't mention the war", lautet die Grundregel für deutsche Besucher in Großbritannien. Das hinderte Außenminister Guido Westerwelle nicht daran, bei seinem London-Besuch am Montag ausführlich über seine prägenden Kindheitserlebnisse im Nachkriegseuropa zu berichten.
In den siebziger Jahren sei er mit zwei Schulfreunden zum Zelten in der Bretagne gewesen, erzählte er staunenden britischen Journalisten in einer Pressekonferenz. Als sie sich in einem Tante-Emma-Laden eindecken wollten, brach die französische Inhaberin in Tränen aus und verschwand, als sie den starken deutschen Akzent des Teenagers hörte. Kurz darauf erschien ihre Tochter und erklärte den verdutzten Jungs, sie sollten es nicht persönlich nehmen, ihr Vater sei im Krieg von den Deutschen getötet worden.
Westerwelle erzählte die Anekdote - und eine weitere über die Berliner Mauer -, um den Briten die Bedeutung der EU aus deutscher Sicht zu erklären. "Bitte verstehen Sie: Für uns ist Europa mehr als eine Währung oder ein gemeinsamer Markt", sagte der Liberale in fließendem Englisch. "Wir wollen eine politische Union".
Die britischen Zuhörer schwiegen betreten, das Wort "politische Union" ist auf der Insel eine Chiffre für EU-Diktatur. Gastgeber William Hague, britischer Außenminister und führender Euro-Skeptiker, lobte pflichtschuldig den "eindringlichen" Beitrag seines deutschen Kollegen. Doch verzichtete er selbst komplett auf Pathos, als er das britische Verhältnis zu Europa beschrieb. Gemeinsam mit den Deutschen wolle man für mehr Wettbewerb im Binnenmarkt kämpfen, sagte Hague. Man plane eine Reihe von neuen Initiativen.
In den beiden Aussagen wurde das ganze Ausmaß der Entfremdung zwischen Kontinentaleuropa und Großbritannien deutlich. Die einen betrachten die EU als Schicksalsgemeinschaft, die anderen sehen nichts als einen großen Absatzmarkt. Und an diesem fundamentalen Unterschied, das machte die Pressekonferenz deutlich, wird sich auch künftig nichts ändern. » | Von Carsten Volkery, London | Montag 19. Dezember 2011
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: In Britain, distrust of Europe goes hand-in-hand with distrust of Germany. Relations between the two countries have cooled following the furore caused by the latest EU summit, and British euroskeptics are once again resorting to old stereotypes.
British Prime Minister David Cameron had only been in office for seven weeks when he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to watch a football match together to get to know each other better.
It was on June 27, 2010, and it was the World Cup quarter final in South Africa. It was also a match between two classic rivals: Germany and England. Thomas Müller scored a goal in the 67th minute, bringing the score to 3:1 -- to the consternation of British fans and the delight of the Germans.
In Toronto, where the two leaders were attending the G-20 summit, a beaming Merkel leaned over to Cameron and said, with typical German anti-triumphalism but a lack of linguistic finesse: "I really am terribly sorry."
When the Germans scored another goal three minutes later, Merkel said she was "sorry" again. As Cameron later said, half-jokingly, the shared experience was "a form of punishment I wouldn't wish on anyone." Nevertheless, he added, Mrs. Merkel "is one of the politest people I have ever met."
After that, Merkel and Cameron made a concerted effort to get along with each other. A little more than a year ago, Cameron reached into his bag of tricks once again. He invited the chancellor to Chequers, the magnificent country residence of Britain's prime ministers, where he and Merkel watched her favorite crime series, "Midsomer Murders," which led to another, urgently needed upturn in German-British relations. Merkel had, in fact, never really forgiven Cameron for having led his Conservatives out of the European People's Party, a conservative group in the European Parliament.
For a while, the charming Cameron was far up on Merkel's list of favorite European colleagues -- until, with his lone veto against EU-wide treaties to resolve the debt crisis, he catapulted himself back to the bottom.
The English Channel has suddenly become wider, deeper and foggier once again. The London-based Daily Telegraph newspaper has warned its readers against what it calls Berlin's blatant effort to dominate Europe and already sees "a new era of Anglo-German antagonism" on the horizon -- again characterized by two leaders who are bound together in their sincere dislike for each other, like past leaders of the two countries: Helmut Kohl and Margaret Thatcher, or Gerhard Schröder and Tony Blair. Reverend Peter Mullen, the Anglican chaplain to the London Stock Exchange, where he is not popular for his crude views, goes even further. According to Mullen, Germans tried to achieve hegemony in Europe by military force in 1870, 1914 and 1939, and now Merkel is trying to do the same with the weapons of the financial system. 'Welcome to the Fourth Reich' » | Marco Evers | Monday, December 19, 2011
Kim Jong-il, who has died aged 69, was the general secretary of the Workers party of Korea, and head of the military in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). He was one of the most reclusive and widely condemned national leaders of the late 20th and early 21st century, leaving his country diplomatically isolated, economically broken and divided from South Korea.
Unsurprisingly for a man who went into mourning for three years after the death in 1994 of his own father, the legendary leader Kim Il-sung, and who in the first 30 years of his political career made no public statements, even to his own people, Kim's career is riddled with claims, counter claims, speculation, and contradiction. There are few hard facts about his birth and early years.
The DPRK propagated an extraordinary tale of his birth occurring on Mount Baekdu, one of Korea's most revered sites, being accompanied by shooting stars in the sky. It is more likely that he was born in a small village in the USSR, while his father was serving as a Soviet-backed general during the second world war [sic].
Kim's early life was spent in the shadows of a self-created legend, his father Kim Il-sung, who was to return to Korea in 1945 after independence from Japan, and establish, initially with Soviet and Chinese support, the DPRK. His brother and mother both died before he was eight. He was to witness the Korean war from 1950 to 1953, in which hundreds of thousands of Koreans, Chinese and Americans as part of a UN force fought across the country, returning almost to the point at which they had started. The armistice signed in 1953 settled the border between South and North Korea at the 38th Parallel.
With the descent of the cold war, relations between the two countries (for this is, to all intents and purposes, what they became after the end of the war) were almost completely broken off, with whole families split for the ensuing decades, some for ever. This event and its after-effects, along with the war against the Japanese in the 1940s, was to cast a long shadow over the years ahead, and led to the creation of the wholly unprecedented worship of Kim Il-sung, and his elevation to almost God-like status. It was also to create the system in which his son was to occupy almost as impossibly elevated a position.
Kim was educated at the newly founded university in Pyongyang, named after his father, graduating in 1964. The 1960s and early 1970s were the golden years for the DPRK. It undertook rapid industrialisation, economically outstripped its southern competitor, and enjoyed the support of both the People's Republic of China, and the Soviet Union. A state ideology, mixing nationalism, and basic Marxist economics, going under the name "Juche", was constructed, and Kim Il-sung effectively silenced, disposed of and cleared away any opposition, isolating the country and exercising an iron grip on the military, the state media and the government and party organs. » | Kerry Brown | Sunday, December 18, 2011
NZZ ONLINE: «Ein Machtvakuum wird es nicht geben» : Der Tod Kim Jong Ils verändert nicht die familiär geprägten Struktur an der Staatsspitze Nordkoreas Der Nordkorea-Experte Walter Klitz geht nicht von einem Machtvakuum in Nordkorea aus. Der angeschlagene Gesundheitszustand des verstorbenen Diktators Kim Jong Il sei bekannt gewesen, als Nachfolger werde schon länger sein Sohn Kim Jong Un aufgebaut. Klitz hält darum die ersten besorgten internationalen Reaktionen für überzogen. » | Interview: Stefan Reis Schweizer | Montag 19. Dezember 2011
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Der nächste Kim: Kim Jong-un ist gefährlich jung für einen Erben der Kim-Dynastie. Seine Ähnlichkeit zu seinem Großvater Kim Il-sung, der möglicherweise chirurgisch nachgeholfen wurde, soll dem Volk suggerieren, dass bald alles wieder wird wie in besseren Zeiten. » | Von PETRA KOLONKO | Montag 19. Dezember 2011
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Kim Jong-il gestorben – Nordkorea feuert Rakete ab - Sohn Nachfolger: Kim Jong-il ist tot. Der 69 Jahre alte Staatschef Nordkoreas erlag einem Herzinfarkt. Nur wenige Stunden nach Bekanntgabe des Todes feuerte Pjöngjang offenbar eine Kurzstreckenrakete ab. » | Quelle: DPA, Reuters | Montag 19. Dezember 2011
LIBÉRATION: «Le pouvoir nord-coréen risque d'être déstabilisé» : Pour Barthélémy Courmont, spécialiste de la Corée du Nord, professeur de science politique à Hallym University en Corée du Sud, la succession de Kim Jong-il peut surtout entraîner des tensions en interne. » | RECUEILLI PAR QUENTIN GIRARD | lundi 19 décembre 2011
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Corée du nord: Kim Jong-Un, «le grand successeur» formé en Suisse : PORTRAIT | A moins de trente ans, Kim Jong-Un, plus jeune fils de l’ex-numéro un nord-coréen Kim Jong-Il, accède à la tête de l’unique dynastie communiste au monde, dotée de l’arme nucléaire. Il n’a rien laissé transparaître de sa personnalité. On sait seulement qu'il parlerait bernois. ¶ «A l’avant-garde de la révolution coréenne se trouve à présent Kim Jong-Un, grand successeur de la cause révolutionnaire du Juché et chef remarquable de notre parti, de notre armée et de notre peuple», a rapporté l’agence officielle nord-coréenne. ¶ Le Juché désigne l’idéologie développée par le fondateur de la République populaire démocratique de Corée (RPDC), Kim Il-Sung, père de Kim Jong-Il et grand-père de Kim Jong-Un, mélange de communisme et d’autosuffisance. » | ATS/AFP | lundi 19 décembre 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Kim Jong-il: double rainbows, fear of flying and Godzilla – 10 things you might not know » | Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo | Monday, December 19, 2011
THE TIMES: Not mad, or bad ... North Koreans are victims of Cold War bad luck » | Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor | Monday, December 19, 2011 [£]
THE GUARDIAN: Kim Jong-il is understood to have suffered a heart attack on Saturday due to physical and mental over-work
Kim Jong-il, the "dear leader" still venerated by many in North Korea but reviled abroad, has died aged 69, state media announced on Monday morning.
The official KCNA news agency described his young son and heir apparent as "the great successor", urging the nation, people and military to rally behind and "faithfully revere" Kim Jong-un.
The North Korean leader suffered a heart attack on Saturday due to physical and mental over-work, KCNA reported. He was on his train, travelling to offer "field guidance" to workers, when he died.
Kim had recovered from a reported stroke in 2008, and Monday's announcement was unexpected. But he had already begun grooming Kim Jong-un to take control of the "hermit state", appointing him a general last year and giving him several high profile roles.
Experts say there is increasing domestic cynicism about the regime, which has proved incapable of meeting basic economic needs while exerting rigid control. Collective punishment has left an estimated 200,000 people in prison camps and last year the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea described the country's situation as "sui generis", adding: "Simply put, there are many instances of human rights violations which are both harrowing and horrific."
But people in the streets of Pyongyang burst into tears as they learnt of Kim's death, Associated Press reported. At a North Korean restaurant in Beijing, staff wept hysterically when told what had happened.
"It is the biggest loss for the party ... and it is our people and nation's biggest sadness," a tearful anchorwoman clad in black Korean traditional dress told viewers as she announced Kim's death.
She urged the nation to "change our sadness to strength and overcome our difficulties". » | Tania Branigan in Beijing | Monday, December 19, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Václav Havel obituary: Czech playwright and former dissident who led his nation after the collapse of communism » | WL Webb | Sunday, December 18, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Václav Havel: a life in pictures – Václav Havel, playwright and former leader of the Czech Republic, has died. The dissident writer became Czechoslovakia's first post-communist president after leading the 'velvet revolution' » | Sunday, December 18, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Václav Havel: director of a play that changed history – The former president of the Czech Republic was the epitome of a dissident because he persisted in his struggle, patiently, non-violently, with dignity and wit » | Timothy Garton Ash | Sunday, December 18, 2011
Related »
The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, denounced the proposal and insisted that couples married for love, not to “get some cash back from the state”.
While Liberal Democrat colleagues supported Mr Clegg’s robust stance against traditional Conservative values, senior Tories insisted they would continue to campaign for the protection of the special status of marriage.
Mr Clegg will set out his views in detail in a keynote speech today, in which he roundly criticises the “oppressive” influence of social conservatisim.
Speaking to the Murnaghan programme on Sky News, yesterday Mr Clegg claimed he was not “against marriage”.
“Getting married is probably the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said. “But just as a liberal I think there are limits to how the state and government should try to micromanage or incentivise people’s own behaviour in their private lives. » | Tim Ross, Political Correspondent | Sunday, December 18, 2011
This is not a question of preserving 1950s values "in aspic". This is a question of preserving the family and giving children stable homes in which to grow up. Whilst Nick Clegg can be right on some issues, he is simply wrong on this one. Let us do everything to preserve the family – an institution which has served us so well over the centuries. – © Mark
Moments earlier she had been struck countless times in the head and body with metal batons, not content with the brutal beating delivered by his fellow soldier, one man stamped on her head repeatedly.
She feebly tried to shield her head from the relentless blows with her hands.
But she was knocked unconscious in the shameful attack and left lying motionless as the military men mindlessly continued to beat her limp and half-naked body.
Before she was set upon by the guards, three men appeared to carry her as they tried to flee the approaching military.
But they were too slow and the soldiers caught up with them, capturing the women and knocking one of the men to the ground.
The two other men were forced to abandoned their fellow protestors and continued running, looking helplessly back at the two they left behind being relentlessly attacked as they lay on the ground.
This is just one of the hundreds of shameful injustices seen in Cairo's Tahrir Square where Egypt's military took a dramatically heavy hand on Saturday to crush protests against its rule.
Aya Emad told the AP that troops dragged her by her headscarf and hair into the Cabinet headquarters. The 24-year-old said soldiers kicked her on the ground, an officer shocked her with an electrical prod and another slapped her on the face, leaving her nose broken and her arm in a sling. » | Inderdeep Bains | Sunday, December 18, 2011
There are mounting concerns for the health of the ailing Pope who has appeared increasingly frail and weak in recent weeks.
Aides say Pope Benedict XVI seems worn out and unable to concentrate at times.
He no longer meets individually with visiting bishops and few weeks ago started using a moving platform to spare him the long walk down St. Peter's Basilica.
Benedict turns 85 in the new year, so a slowdown is only natural and expected, the Associated Press reports.
And given his age and continued rigorous work schedule, it's remarkable he does as much as he does and is in such good health overall: Just this past week he confirmed he would travel to Mexico and Cuba next spring.
But a decline has been noted as Benedict prepares for next weekend's grueling Christmas celebrations, which kick off two weeks of intense public appearances.
And that raises questions about the future of the papacy given that Benedict himself has said popes should resign if they can't do the job.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi has said no medical condition prompted the decision to use the moving platform in St. Peter's, and that it's merely designed to spare the pontiff the fatigue of the 100-yard walk to and from the main altar.
And Benedict rallied during his three-day trip to Benin in west Africa last month, braving temperatures of 32 Celsius (90F) and high humidity to deliver a strong message about the future of the Catholic Church in Africa.
Wiping sweat from his brow, he kissed babies who were handed up to him, delivered a tough speech on the need for Africa's political leaders to clean up their act, and visited one of the continent's most important seminaries.
Back at home, however, it seems the daily grind of being pope - the audiences with visiting heads of state, the weekly public catechism lessons, the sessions with visiting bishops - has taken its toll. A spark is gone. He doesn't elaborate off-the-cuff much anymore, and some days he just seems wiped out. Read on and comment » | Associated Press | Sunday, December 18, 2011
My comment:
I am saddened by the mean-spirited comments written about Pope Benedict on 'The Mail On Sunday'. I am not a Roman Catholic, so I speak as an outsider and observer. Frankly, I have always found this pope to be an inspiration. In my humble opinion, he is truly a wonderful man: kind, gentle, understanding, highly-intellectual, and brilliant. He is also an aesthete. As a pope, he has to be a man of principle and wisdom. These qualities he has aplenty. I, for one, am sorry to learn of his health problems; and I, for one, wish him only the very best for a recovery where a recovery is possible, and to be free of pain (for example, his arthritis) where it is not. God bless Pope Benedict! – © Mark
Those are qualities Mitt Romney said he looks for in a leader. Those are qualities Romney himself has demonstrated in his career in business, public service and government. Those qualities help the former Massachusetts governor stand out as the most qualified Republican candidate competing in the Iowa caucuses.
Sobriety: While other candidates have pandered to extremes with attacks on the courts and sermons on Christian values, Romney has pointedly refrained from reckless rhetoric and moralizing. He may be accused of being too cautious, but choosing words carefully is a skill essential for anyone who could be sitting in the White House and reacting to world events.
Wisdom: Romney obviously is very smart. He graduated as valedictorian at Brigham Young University and finished in the top 5 percent in his MBA class at Harvard, where he also earned a law degree. Romney also exhibits the wisdom of a man who listened and learned from his father and his mother, from his church and from his own trials and errors in life. He does not lack self confidence, but he is not afraid to admit when he has been wrong.
Judgment: Romney disagrees with Democrats on most issues, but he offers smart and well-reasoned alternatives rather than simply proposing to swing a wrecking ball in Washington. He is a serious student of public policy who examines the data before making a decision. His detailed policy paper on the economy contains 87 pages of carefully crafted positions on taxes, energy, trade and regulatory policy, complete with 127 footnotes.
Mitt Romney is making his second bid for Iowans’ support after an unsuccessful run in 2008. We did not endorse him then, but this is a different field, and he has matured as a candidate. Rebuilding the economy is the nation’s top priority, and Romney makes the best case among the Republicans that he could do that. » | REGISTER EDITORIAL BOARD | Saturday, December 17, 2011
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Vaclav Havel, the play writer turned dissident who led Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution, had died at the age of 75 after years of battling ill health.
Mr Havel died on Sunday morning at his weekend house in the northernCzech Republic, his assistant Sabina Dancecova said.
A former chain smoker, Mr Havel had been suffering from respiratory and heart problems, and his health had declined over the past few months to the extent that public appearances became rare and his body gaunt and frail.
In 1996 he had part of his right lung removed due to a tumour.
His health had been further stressed by the pressure of producing his last play, Leaving, which made its debut in theatres earlier this year.
The shy and softly spoken intellectual became the figurehead of Czechoslovakia’s 1989 revolution after years of battling the communist establishment. » | Matthew Day, Warsaw | Sunday, December 18, 2011
HUFFINGTON POST: Vaclav Havel Dies: Former Czech President Dead At 75 – PRAGUE — Vaclav Havel wove theater into revolution, leading the charge to peacefully bring down communism in a regime he ridiculed as "Absurdistan" and proving the power of the people to overcome totalitarian rule. » | William J. Kole and Karel Janicek | Sunday, December 18, 2011
LE POINT: Vaclav Havel est mort : L'artisan de la "Révolution de velours" et chef de l'État tchécoslovaque puis tchèque, de 1989 à 2003, s'est éteint dans son sommeil. L'ex-président tchèque Vaclav Havel, longtemps éloigné de la vie publique à cause de la maladie, est mort dimanche à l'aube, à l'âge de 75 ans, a-t-on appris auprès de son office. L'artisan de la "Révolution de velours" anti-communiste 1989 et chef de l'État tchécoslovaque puis tchèque, de 1989 à 2003, s'est éteint dans son sommeil, selon sa porte-parole, Sabina Tancevova. » | Source AFP | dimanche 18 décembre 2011
LE POINT: Merkel rend hommage à Havel, le combattant pour la liberté et la démocratie : La chancelière allemande a salué la mémoire d'un "grand Européen". » | Source AFP | dimanche 18 décembre 2011
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Zum Tode von Václav Havel: Der Dissidentenpräsident – Václav Havel vereinte in seiner Person viele Rollen, von denen die des Präsidenten seine größte war. Zur Politik kam der Theatermann in dem Versuch, Würde und Selbstachtung gegenüber einem Regime zu behaupten, das zum Leben in der Lüge einlud. » | Von Karl-Peter Schwarz | Sonntag 18. Dezember 2011
NZZ ONLINE: «Wir wollen in der Wahrheit leben» : Zum Tode des Dichters und Staatsmanns Vaclav Havel Vaclav Havel hat sich als Dissident und Schriftsteller hartnäckig, aber gewaltlos gegen den kommunistischen Totalitarismus aufgelehnt und dabei viel auf sich genommen. Auch als Staatsmann und Präsident blieb er nach der Wende ein Humanist. » | Andreas Oplatka | Sonntag 18. Dezember 2011
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