Tuesday, January 24, 2012
THE JERUSALEM POST: Islamic-based anti-Semitism present among German Muslims
BERLIN - The German government released on Monday the findings of a two year inquiry into modern anti-Semitism in the Federal Republic, showing that latent anti-Semitism affects one of every five Germans.
The 202 page study, entitled "Anti-Semitism in Germany," covered a wide spectrum of German anti-Semitism, including hatred of the Jewish state as a manifestations of anti-Semitism within the Left movement and Islamic-animated loathing of Israel and Jews, especially from Iran's regime and the Turkish media.
Dr. Wahied Wahdat-Hagh, a member of the ten member commission, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, that the "experts came to the conclusion that the ideology of the Iranian regime is anti-Semitic." According to the report, "The state anti-Semitism is, however, not only relevant on the propaganda level" in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The study notes that Iran's anti-Semitic ideology plays a role in Germany.
When asked what the report means by Iran's regime not limiting its anti-Semitism to its domestic agenda, Wahdat-Hagh said, Iran supports foreign anti-Semitic entities "militarily, financially and ideologically." He cited the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
In Germany the strong presence of Iran's regime is located in Hamburg. "In view of the facts that the political head of Iran is also considered a spiritual figure for many extremist thinking Muslims," wrote the commission's authors. The study says that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader in Iran, is the sponsor of the Islamic Center in Hamburg (IZH).
According to one commission member, Dr. Juliane Wetzel, hyperbolic criticism of Israel as an expression of anti-Semitism exists between 40 and 50% of the population. However, Dr. Clemens Heni, a leading German scholar of contemporary German anti-Semitism, said Wetzel plays down the widespread form of anti-Israel anti-Semitism in the Federal Republic. » | Benjamin Weinthal, Jerusalem Post Correspondent | Tuesday, January 24, 2012
CBN: JERUSALEM, Israel -- With Islamists poised to take over governments overthrown during the "Arab spring," Christians and other minorities may soon be subject to Sharia (Islamic) law.
Some say assurance by Islamist groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafis, and Ennahda, that non-Muslims would not be mistreated under Sharia is, at best, questionable.
In Egypt, attacks on Coptic Christians have increased exponentially since the fall of Hosni Mubarak's regime last year.
Egyptian Christians have been beaten, shot and stabbed to death, and their homes and churches have been fire bombed by angry Muslims.
On Monday, Egypt's Islamist-dominated parliament held its first session. The Muslim Brotherhood now holds 47 percent of the seats, and the Salafist al-Nour party 25 percent.
Syrian Christians have also come under increasing persecution.
"The Christian community in Syria has been hit by a series of kidnappings and brutal murders; 100 Christians have now been killed since the anti-government unrest began," the Jerusalem Post quoted the Pakistan Christian Post. » | Tzippe Barrow | CBN News Internet Producer – Jerusalem | Tuesday, January 24, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Nicolas Sarkozy has apparently admitted that he is facing the end of his political career and may soon devote himself to "making money".
The French President reportedly made the admission as new polls suggest he will be defeated if, as expected, he stands for re-election in the Spring.
"In case of failure, I stop politics. Yes, that is a certainty," said Mr Sarkozy, 56. "Anyway, I'm at the end. In any case, for the first time in my life, I'm confronted by the end of my career."
The comments, which were made to key aides over the past few days and reported in Le Monde, also included the words: "I am not a dictator".
Mr Sarkozy has made it clear to political allies that he would like to follow in the footsteps of Tony Blair, who went on to make millions after stepping down as Prime Minister.
The President is said to have told his governmental colleagues: "Me too – in the future, I'd like to make money." » | Peter Allen in Paris | Tuesdaay, January 24, 2012
“Turkey’s response to the adoption of the bill had long been decided. These measures will stay in place as long as the law stays in force,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters yesterday.
French senators passed the bill following a marathon session, with 127 legislators voting in favor of the bill and 86 voting against the motion in the legislature’s upper house, which has 348 members.
France’s lower house voted to make such denials a crime last month, prompting Turkey to suspended military, economic and political ties. With the motion’s passage through the Senate, Turkey is now expected to unveil a new raft of measures that will affect educational and cultural ties with France.
The bill will become law once it is approved by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and enters the Official Gazette.
Making a speech on behalf of the government, French Minister of Relations with Parliament Patrick Ollier said the bill complied with French and EU laws. Ollier said two “genocides” were now recognized by France.
“The denial of the Jewish genocide is penalized; [now we are making that] this possible for the Armenian genocide as well,” said Ollier. » | Hürriyet Daily News | ANKARA | Tuesday, January 24, 2012
HÜRRIYET DAILY NEWS: 'Genocide' bill 'null and void for us': Erdoğan » | Hurriyet.com.tr | Tuesday, January 24, 2012
THE GUARDIAN: Employees in Florida and California will be allowed beards or goatees, providing they are kept short
A mere 12 years since it made the landmark decision to allow employees to emulate the late Walt by sporting moustaches, the famously image-conscious outfit has opened the doors of the kingdom to men with the right kind of facial hair.
From 3 February, employees in Florida and California will be allowed to report for duty with beards or goatees – providing they are less than a quarter of an inch long. » | Sam Jones | Tuesday, January 24, 2012
HERALD SUN: PROMINENT Australians have urged their compatriots to fly the flag with pride, despite claims the national symbol is a sign of race hate.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Premier Ted Baillieu led the charge to dismiss a study suggesting Aussies who attached flags to their cars for Australia Day were more likely to have racist views.
But an Islamic leader claimed the country could not deny some flag-flying patriots were racist and that the flag had allegedly been used as a "weapon" against some Australians.
The flag furore follows neurosurgeon Dr Charles Teo's claim that racism still plagued Australia and migrants were victimised.
University of WA researchers found in a survey of 513 people last Australia Day that one in five attached flags to their cars, and that flag-flyers "tend to express more racist attitudes" than others. » | Wes Hosking, Aleks Devic with Stephen Drill | Herald Sun | Wednesday, January 25, 2012
When the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, visited the Maldives late last year, she urged that the practice of flogging women for having sex outside marriage - while very rarely punishing men for the same - should be abolished.
"This practice constitutes one of the most inhumane and degrading forms of violence against women," she told local reporters then.
The response was as fierce as it was unexpected. The next day protesters rallied outside the UN building, carrying placards that read "Ban UN" and "Islam is not a toy" and threatened to "Flog Pillay". A website later promised to "slaughter anyone against Islam".
Similar protests have followed, and a growing religious divide between moderate and fundamentalist Muslims - constitutionally, all Maldivians are obliged to follow Islam - has led many to question the direction of religion in the Maldives and, in particular, the place of women in Maldivian society.
In an interview with the Herald, the Maldivian President, Mohamed Nasheed, conceded an emergent religious fundamentalism had changed the way women were viewed, and treated, in his country. » | Wednesday, January 25, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Sir Salman Rushdie has launched a fierce attack on the Indian government for pandering to extremist Muslim groups and failing to protect freedom of speech after threats of violence forced him to withdraw from a top literature festival.
According to eyewitnesses, a group of around 50 Muslim men had infiltrated the crowd shortly before the session was due to begin an dwere intimidating members of the audience to give up their seats. Organisers were said to bewildered over how they managed to get past a bar code security pass system and hundreds of police.
Jaipur's police commissioner B. L Soni said protesters had earlier registered as delegates and were present inside in significant numbers.
In a television interview Sir Salman said he believed the government had sought to stop him from appearing at the festival to win Muslim votes in its key Uttar Pradesh state election campaign and had circuited [sic] “fantastically fishy” intelligence reports of assassination plots to stop him to force his withdrawal.
He said the arts were under assault from both Hindu and Muslim extremists and that “if it goes on, India will cease to be a free country.” India had been the first country in the world to ban his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, ahead of Muslim countries which denounced it as ‘blasphemous’, and today lagged behind countries like Turkey, Egypt and Libya which have lifted the ban. » | Dean Nelson, New Delhi and Rachel Rickard Straus in Jaipur | Tuesday, January 24, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Sir Salman Rushdie prevented from speaking by video link at Jaipur literature festival: Sir Salman Rushdie was prevented from speaking to the Jaipur literature festival audience by video link today after a Muslim mob infiltrated the venue, the police warned of violence and the organisers received death threats. » | Dean Nelson, New Delhi | Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The Turkish foreign ministry branded the decision "irresponsible" and threatened swift retaliatory measures.
Armenia says that up to 1.5 million people died in 1915-16 as the Ottoman empire split.
Turkey rejects the term genocide and says the number was much smaller.
The bill will now be sent to President Nicolas Sarkozy to be signed into law, which he is expected to do before the end of February.
'Total rupture'
Correspondents say the move threatens to cause a serious rift between France and Turkey, who are Nato allies.
"France opened a black page in its history," said Volkan Bozkir, head of the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs committee, on Twitter.
Turkey's ambassador to France, Tahsin Burcuoglu, said the vote could cause a "total rupture" of relations between the two countries. » | Monday, January 23, 2012
Related »
DAILY EXPRESS: A HATE preacher once described as Osama Bin Laden’s “right hand man in Europe” could be freed from a UK jail in just two weeks.
Abu Qatada is fighting deportation to Jordan on terror charges from Long Lartin Prison in Worcester. He could be freed after a bail hearing set for February 6. » | Daily Express Reporter | Tuesday, January 24, 2012
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES: The nude photo of Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani has enraged several members of the Muslim community, particularly since one of the more principal tenets of Islamic fundamentalism has always been to ban women from any degree of nudity.
The decision by Farahani, therefore, is a bold one and one that has, predictably, sparked controversy across the world. However, she isn't the first Islamic actress who has shed her clothes and her inhibitions.
There are at least 3 others who have already bared it all, on different occasions, and faced similar criticism from conservative families and the religious community.
Who are these 4 actresses?
Golshifteh Farahani
Golshifteh Farahani, an Iranian actress whose nude photos were published in a magazine called Madame Le Figaro, has been banned from entering her native country, following a decision by the Iranian government. Farahani, who played a pivotal role in the Hollywood film "Body of Lies", opposite Leonardo Di Caprio, was then also condemned by the conservative Iranian regime for violating Islamic law by appearing without a hijab in a few scenes.
Meanwhile, Farahani is already living outside of Iran; she left the country last year to protect the strict rules mandated by Islamic law and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Iranian cinema. » | Sangeeta Mukherjee | Monday, January 23, 2012
AL JAZEERA ENGLISH: Many young men and women are now protesting by the only means left: using their bodies - whether by burning or exposing.
New York, NY - Reflecting the public gesture of the Egyptian blogger Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, who posted naked pictures of herself late last year on her blog by way of a protest "against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy", a young Iranian actress now living in France, Golshifteh Farahani, has recently created a sensation in and out of her homeland, especially in the social networking cyber society, by posing half naked for Madame Le Figaro, and also appearing topless in a short black-and-white video clip. It's called "Corps et Ame [sic] [Corps et Âmes]/Bodies and Souls" and is produced by the prominent French fashion photographer and music video director Jean-Baptiste Mondino.
As with the case of Elmahdy and her compatriots, the nude picture and video clip of Farahani have sharply divided Iranians around the world; some celebrating her act as courageous, pathbreaking, dismantling ancient and sacrosanct taboos - and thus revolutionary, while others condemning her as opportunistic, obscene, immoral and damaging to the cause of liberty in Iran. The Islamic Republic has reportedly banned her from returning to her homeland.
Whence the outrage? In its widest sense, clothing is the civilising posture of humanity. No society, no community, no human gathering is devoid of one form of clothing or another as the formal decorum of becoming a full and public human being: it might be as little as a mere bamboo sheath around the groin or it might extend to fully covered veiling, without even the eyes visible to any intruding gaze. But clothing of one sort or another is definitive to all forms of civility.
Our manner of dressing ourselves is the most immediate habitat of our humanity - violently disrupted at times by tyrants who sought to give a different look to that humanity. When Reza Shah (who reigned in Iran from 1925 to 1941) banned the mode of "veiling" in Iran he had deemed unseemly to his vision of "modernity", there were women who remained home and never appeared in public until their dying day - because for them to appear in public without their habitual clothing was like forcing New Yorkers to go to work in their bikinis.
When Khomeini re-imposed that almost-forgotten manner of veiling decades later, generations of women had grown up entirely alien to that manner of veiling. Reza Shah and Khomeini - two tyrants interrupted by one weakling potentate - had fought their fateful battles over the site of our mothers' and daughters' bodies. » | Hamid Dabashi | Monday, January 23, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: As the president prepares his State of the Union address, the future looks more hopeful – the US economy is recovering, Republicans are weak and he is untainted by scandal.
For each of his three years in office it has been well above that, peaking at 10 per cent in 2010. But crucially for the White House, and for the country, this most vital indicator, the release of which unemployed workers and Washington’s army of pundits alike anticipate keenly every month, is moving in the right direction.
Unemployment is now at 8.5 per cent, the lowest since February 2009, Mr Obama’s first full month in office. And it is not the only encouraging number. Gross domestic product is creeping up, the stock market is nearly double the low reached following the financial debacle of autumn 2008 and consumer confidence is returning.
Republican activists and voters caught up in the excitement of their party’s primary campaign tend to assume rather gleefully that the sluggish economy will doom Obama to the ignominy of a single term. They lap up candidates’ routine denigrations of the president as a “radical” driving the United States to “European-style socialism”, and harp on the danger of the world’s most powerful economy facing a Greek-style collapse. » | Alex Spillius | Monday, January 23, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
LE POINT: La loi, déjà votée par l'Assemblée, est donc définitivement adoptée par le parlement français. Ankara a immédiatement exprimé sa colère.
Le président de la Commission des Affaires étrangères du parlement turc, Volkan Bozkir, a pour sa part indiqué sur son compte Twitter que "la France a(vait) ouvert une page sombre de son histoire" en pénalisant la négation du génocide arménien sous l'Empire ottoman, de 1915 à 1917. L'ambassade turque à Paris a pour sa part annoncé des "conséquences permanentes" si la loi était promulguée. Continuez à lire et ajouter un commentaire » | LePoint.fr | lundi 23 janvier 2012
Verwandt »
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Der Pariser Senat hat am Montag trotz aller Drohungen der Türkei ein neues Völkermordgesetz verabschiedet. Das Gesetz stellt die Leugnung von gesetzlich anerkannten Völkermorden unter Strafe.
Mit dem neuen Gesetz kann auch der Tod zahlloser Armenier während des Ersten Weltkriegs im Osmanischen Reich bestraft werden. Die Türkei als Nachfolger des Osmanischen Reiches streitet einen Völkermord ab und hat für den Fall einer Annahme des Gesetzes mit schweren Konsequenzen gedroht. » | dpa/gern | Montag 23. Januar 2012
After Gingrich's 13-point victory in South Carolina, the primary here next Tuesday is a must-win for the former Massachusetts governor.
New polls from the Sunshine State indicate that Gingrich has powerful momentum.
In the course of a press availability here in Tampa that lasted a little over six minutes, Romney called the former House Speaker 'highly erratic', described him as having 'gone from pillar to post almost like a pinball machine', branded him an influence-peddling 'lobbyist' and suggested he was unstable.
Romney demanded that Gingrich return the $1.7million he earned as a self-described 'historian' for federal housing agency Freddie Mac and that he authorise the House of Representatives release all the documentation relating to an ethics investigation that led to his censure and a $300,000 fine.
Oh and Romney floated the idea that Gingrich might be guilty of criminal activities. Read on » | Toby Harnden | Monday, January 23, 2012
Comment on the article here
A member of Catherine Ashton's office, the high representative of foreign policy for the EU, confirmed to Al Jazeera that the decision to go ahead with sanctions was ratified by all 27 member states.
Our correspondent Nick Spicer, reporting from the sidelines of the meeting in Brussels, said: "There will be a review of sanctions in three months, in May, to see how things are going and then the embargo will begin in full force on July 1.
"The reason for that is so that countries heavily dependent on Iranian oil, namely Greece, Italy and Spain, some of the most ailing members of the eurozone, can find new sources of supply, and secondly, to see what steps Iran is taking to come back to the negotiating table."
Our correspondent says that details regarding freezing the assets of the Iranian Central Bank would be divulged at a news conference expected to take place later on Monday.
Related »
A war of words broke out between Tehran and Washington on Monday over Iran's nuclear programme after Europe struck at the Islamic republic's lifeblood by agreeing to impose an oil embargo on it.
Tehran threatened to respond by closing the strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil supplies pass, while a senior US official vowed that the west could use force to keep the route open.
The decision by EU foreign ministers in Brussels raised the stakes dramatically in the standoff between Iran and the west.
The EU decided that there could be no further oil contracts struck between its member states and Iran, but existing oil delivery deals would be allowed to run until July.
Sharply escalating the sanctions regime against Tehran, the EU also froze the Iranian central bank's assets in Europe and banned gold, precious metals and diamond transactions.
While the sanctions take effect from Tuesday, it will be the summer before the full impact is felt. Senior Iranian figures promptly upped the war of words with the west.
"If any disruption happens regarding the sale of Iranian oil, the strait of Hormuz will definitely be closed," warned Mohammad Kossari, deputy head of the Iranian parliament's foreign affairs and national security committee. Closing the strait would choke off global oil supplies and send international tensions soaring. » | Ian Traynor in Brussels and Nick Hopkins | Monday, January 23, 2012
Verwandt »
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Spätestens vom 1. Juli an soll kein iranisches Öl mehr in die EU importiert werden. Auch Konten der iranischen Zentralbank werden gesperrt. „Wir können nicht akzeptieren, dass Iran nach der Atombombe greift“, sagt Guido Westerwelle nach dem Beschluss der EU-Außenminister.
Im seit Jahren währenden Streit über das iranische Atomprogramm hat die EU am Montag ein Ölimportverbot verhängt und damit zum ersten Mal die wichtigste Industrie des Landes mit Sanktionen belegt. Die Außenminister der 27 Mitgliedstaaten beschlossen, dass keine neuen Verträge über die Lieferung von Rohöl und Benzinprodukten aus Iran nach Europa abgeschlossen werden dürfen, für laufende Verträge gilt eine Übergangsfrist bis zum 1. Juli. Das soll die weitere Finanzierung des iranischen Atomprogramms aus Geschäften in Europa unterbinden.
Außerdem werden die Konten der iranischen Zentralbank in der EU eingefroren, um den bilateralen Zahlungsverkehr zu unterbrechen. … » | Von Nicolas Busse, Brüssel | Montag 23. Januar 2012
LE FIGARO: «L'embargo sur le pétrole iranien est contreproductif» : Avec les sanctions validées lundi, l'UE espère contraindre Téhéran à abandonner la menace nucléaire. Pour Thierry Coville, chercheur à l'Iris, cette mesure ne fera que renforcer le régime en place. » | Par Laura Raim | lundi 23 janvier 2012
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Yet he comes out of his drubbing in South Carolina with a perfect problem.
Rarely has there been a figure in American politics whose personality and achievements—taken as individual parts—so powerfully conveyed both uncommon success and a kind of reassuring conventionality.
But these same traits—taken as a whole—have produced someone struggling mightily to connect with the national mood and moment, much less reassure voters that his experiences and values align with their own.
The widening gap between Romney in theory, a man who oozes plausibility as a potential president, and Romney in practice, a candidate who just might be missing some kind of intangible something, is now a dominant storyline in the GOP presidential race.
There may be many reasons Romney had troubles in South Carolina—more than 70 percent of primary voters on Saturday wanted someone else—but the fact that he lost so resoundingly to a man with a political and personal journey as turbulent as Newt Gingrich's suggests a possibility more far-reaching than last weekend’s surprise.
Americans may prefer politicians with visible flaws—outsized appetites and messy scandals like Gingrich and Bill Clinton—or at least with twisting and improbable personal journeys. Of the past two presidents, George W. Bush had two decades of drift and excess before finding direction, and Barack Obama described his own history of alienation and painful searching that preceded his political success. » | Jonathan Martin and John F. Harris | Monday, January 23, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Senator Rand Paul, the son of the libertarian Republican candidate Ron Paul, was detained by guards at a Tennessee airport on Monday after apparently refusing to submit to a full body pat-down.
The younger Mr Paul, who like his father is a fierce advocate of civil liberties, was reportedly held at Nashville International Airport by agents from the Transport Security Administration (TSA), an agency he has repeatedly criticised for encroaching on Americans' freedoms.
A spokeswoman for the Kentucky Senator said he was being held "indefinitely" after he set off an alarm in an image scanner used at the airport's security check point. » | Raf Sanchez, Washington | Monday, January 23, 2012
POLITICO: Rand Paul Detained by TSA (Transportation Security Administration) » | Tim Mak | Monday, January 23, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: India is to formally object to a joke by US TV host Jay Leno in which he said that the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, was a summer home for wealthy presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Minister Vayalar Ravi termed the gag by "The Tonight Show" host as "quite unfortunate and quite objectionable" and said the Indian embassy in Washington would raise the issue, the Press Trust of India reported on Monday. » | Monday, January 23, 2012
"One woman was immediately killed and her companion who was driving the car was hospitalised after she suffered several injuries" when their four-wheel-drive vehicle overturned late on Saturday, said police spokesman Abdulaziz al-Zunaidi.
Ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. » | Monday, January 23, 2012
While the network news shows spend this Sunday marveling over Newtmentum in South Carolina, Rick Santorum will quietly make his first stop in Florida, site of the next primary on January 31. He'll be dropping in to see the honorary chairman of his state campaign—a Bush-connected Islamophobic pastor who says gays "make God want to vomit."
Santorum, the other conservative darling in the Republican presidential race, plans to speak from the pulpit at the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach on Sunday morning. It might seem a strange stop for a white Catholic Republican from the Northeast: While the ocean-facing side of Pompano is affluent and conservative, WWC literally sits on the wrong side of the tracks in the Collier City neighborhood—a poor, tight-knit African American district that swung strongly for Barack Obama in 2008. But WWC is different: It's run by the Rev. O'Neal Dozier, a firebrand social conservative who's tried to turn this depressed community red, and has been rewarded handsomely by Republican politicians for his efforts. » | Adam Weinstein | Saturday, January 21, 2012
In June last year Carnita Matthews, 47, successfully appealed against her conviction and six-month jail sentence for knowingly making a false complaint.
The charge was in relation to a now infamous incident in June 2010 when she was stopped by a highway patrol officer at Woodbine, in south-west Sydney.
It was alleged that Ms Matthews later claimed in a statutory declaration that, after she refused to remove her veil fully for the purposes of identification, the officer tried to remove it himself.
This declaration was later found to be false, and she was charged.
However, a judge later found there was no evidence the statutory declaration had been made by Ms Matthews or even that it was knowingly false.
She then claimed that the entire prosecution was improper and unreasonable and demanded that NSW Police pay her legal costs.
That claim was rejected by Judge Clive Jeffreys in the Downing Centre District Court today. » | Paul Bibby | Monday, January 23, 2012
Every family has its black sheep but few families are as shrouded in myth as the reclusive Kim regime of North Korea. Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of the recently deceased dictator Kim Jong-il, famously left the family fold and apparently spends much of his time in the Chinese gambling resort of Macau. Until this month, he was known mainly for a bizarre clandestine attempt to visit Tokyo Disneyland in 2001. He used a fake passport and Chinese alias that translates as "fat bear" – a stunt that reportedly embarrassed his father and ended any chance he had of becoming leader.
Now Kim Jong-nam has offered a rare glimpse behind the family curtain in an extraordinary book – My Father, Kim Jong-Il and Me, published by Bungei Shunju – in which he reveals his love for his "tender-hearted" father, his fears for North Korea's future, the Chinese spies who watch and protect him and his father's doubts about handing power to his youngest son and Kim Jong-nam's half-brother, Kim Jong-un.
"My father was more opposed to the third-generation hereditary succession than anybody and there must have been internal factors that forced him to change his view," he said. "But the North Korean people are so used to obeying orders solely based on their belief in bloodline of [North Korea's founder] Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il that they may have trouble accepting any successor outside of that bloodline." Kim Jong-Nam warns that the succession risks making his country a "laughing stock". » | David McNeill | Monday, January 23, 2012
THE INDEPENDENT: In Africa and Latin America researchers found that 95 to 97 per cent of abortions were unsafe
Abortion rates are higher in countries where the procedure is illegal and nearly half of all abortions worldwide are unsafe, with the vast majority in developing countries, a new study concludes.
Experts could not say whether more liberal laws led to fewer procedures, but said good access to birth control in those countries resulted in fewer unwanted pregnancies.
The global abortion rate remained virtually unchanged from 2003 to 2008, at about 28 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, a total of about 43.8 million abortions, according to the study. The rate had previously been dropping since 1995. » | Maria Cheng | Friday, January 20, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
BBC: Sri Lanka has reportedly ordered 161 foreign Muslim preachers to leave the country for flouting visa regulations.
A senior immigration official was quoted as saying that the clerics had no right to preach in mosques because they had arrived on tourist visas.
He also said that some local Muslims had complained that the visitors were not teaching a moderate form of Islam.
The preachers - from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the Maldives and Arab nations - must now leave by 31 January.
'Laughable idea'
"They have violated immigration laws. A tourist visa is to have a holiday or visit friends and family, and not to preach Islam," Sri Lanka's immigration head Chulananda Perera told the AFP news agency.
Mr Perera said the group belonged to Tablighi Jamaat - an international Islamic movement popular in Sri Lanka and the region. » | Sunday, January 22, 2012
BBC: The president of a London university atheist society has resigned over a row about an image of the Prophet Muhammad.
The society at University College London (UCL) published an image on its Facebook page showing "Jesus and Mo" having a drink at a bar.
The atheist group was asked by the UCL union to remove it, but refused and started a petition defending its freedom of expression.
A student Muslim group began a counter-petition asking for its removal.
UCL's Atheist, Secularist and Humanist society said its president Robbie Yellon was stepping down to be replaced by former vice president Michael Thor.
"Robbie stepped aside because he signed up as president to organise events and run a student society," said Michael Paynter, secretary for the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies.
"He did not appreciate the stress he would be under when dealing with a controversy like this, so he wanted to make way for someone else." » | Catrin Nye and Athar Ahmad, BBC Asian Network | Thursday, January 19, 2012
ONISLAM: CAIRO – Infuriated by offensive remarks by White House aspirant Rick Santorum, a leading US Muslim group has urged the Republican candidate to read more about Islam and the Muslim holy book to know more about Muslims.
"We suggest that Mr. Santorum educate himself about Islam and the American Muslim community by reading the Qur'an that we will send to his campaign headquarters next week," Ibrahim Hooper, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)'s National Communication Director, said in a statement obtained by OnIslam.net.
Santorum said Saturday, January 21, that the concept of equality "doesn't come from Islam" or "Eastern religions".
He argued that equality comes from "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
“I get a kick out of folks who call for equality now, the people on the left, ‘Well, equality, we want equality.’ Where do you think this concept of equality comes from?” Santorum asked supporters packed into a restaurant in South Carolina.
"It doesn’t come from Islam. It doesn’t come from the East and Eastern religions, where does it come from? It comes from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that’s where it comes from.”
Hooper said the Republican candidate, who seeks the country's highest seat, has inaccurate information about religions.
"The Qur'an, Islam's revealed text, is the best refutation of Mr. Santorum's inaccurate and offensive remarks, which are unbecoming of anyone who hopes to hold our nation's highest office," he said.
"Christians, Jews and Muslims all worship the same God and share religious traditions that promote justice and equality." » | OnIslam Staff | Sunday, January 22, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)