Sunday, February 26, 2012
20 MINUTEN ONLINE: Nach dem ägyptischen Abgeordnetenhaus haben die Islamisten auch die Mehrheit im Oberhaus gewonnen. Die Partei der Muslimbrüder errang bei der Wahl zur Schura 105 Sitze, wie die Hohe Wahlkommission am Samstag mitteilte.
Die salafistische Nur-Partei erhielt 45 Mandate, die liberale Wafd-Partei 14 und der liberale Ägyptische Block 8 Sitze. Weitere acht Sitze gingen an mehrere kleine Bewegungen. » | sda | Sonntag, 26. Februar 2012
20 MINUTES ONLINE: A une semaine de l'élection, plusieurs milliers de manifestants ont formé dimanche une chaîne humaine anti-Poutine le long du boulevard de 16km entourant le centre de Moscou.
Les militants d'opposition, se tenant par la main, constituaient une chaîne pratiquement ininterrompue le long de ce périphérique d'une circonférence de 16 kilomètres, ont constaté plusieurs journalistes de l'AFP.
Beaucoup de participants portaient des rubans blancs à la poitrine ou d'autres emblèmes de cette couleur, choisie par l'opposition comme le symbole de la contestation depuis les manifestations de décembre.
La police de Moscou a estimé le nombre de participants à 11'000, l'opposition à 30'000. » | ap/afp | dimanche 26 février 2012
20 MINUTES.fr: DOHA - Le Qatar a appelé dimanche à la création d'une commission d'enquête de l'ONU sur la judaïsation de Jérusalem et averti que les pays du Printemps arabe n'accepteraient plus l'occupation de la Ville sainte par Israël.
"Nous devons agir rapidement pour mettre fin à la judaïsation d'Al-Qods (Jérusalem)", a déclaré l'émir du Qatar, cheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al-Thani, à l'ouverture d'une conférence internationale sur Jérusalem.
Il a appelé l'ONU à former une commission pour enquêter "sur toutes les mesures prises par Israël à Jérusalem-Est depuis son occupation en 1967 pour effacer le caractère arabo-islamique de la ville". » | AFP | dimanche 26 février 2012
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Syria's Bashar al-Assad and his wife voted in a referendum on Sunday on a new constitution aimed at defusing nearly a year of protests that have brought the country to the brink of civil war.
Assad and wife Asma struggled to reach the voting centre at the headquarters of state-owned television and radio, as cheering employees crowded to greet them, in footage aired on Syrian television.
"Allah, Syria and Bashar only," chanted the crowds to Assad who turned out in a navy blue suit. The blonde-haired first lady, in a black and grey suit, waved to onlookers.
The couple went together behind the booth curtain where voters are supposed to make their choices in privacy, before casting their ballots.
"The attack on us is a media assault," he said addressing the crowds on the staircase, apparently referring to a continuous coverage by Arab satellite channels of his forces' deadly crackdown on protests.
"It is true that media is important, but it does not beat reality," he said.
The West immediately dismissed the vote as "a sham". » | Sunday, February 26, 2012
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Syria: Will anyone dare stop the Syrian slaughter? – As the death toll mounts across Syria – and calls grow louder for the rebels to be armed with Western weapons – the fear on the ground is that things are only going to get worse. » | Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Sunday, February 26, 2012
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: Through years of outreach, Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren is part of an effort named King's Way that's attempting bring evangelical Christians and Muslims together.
The Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest and one of America's most influential Christian leaders, has embarked on an effort to heal divisions between evangelical Christians and Muslims by partnering with Southern California mosques and proposing a set of theological principles that includes acknowledging that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
The effort, informally dubbed King's Way, caps years of outreach between Warren and Muslims. Warren has broken Ramadan fasts at a Mission Viejo mosque, met Muslim leaders abroad and addressed 8,000 Muslims at a national convention in Washington D.C.
Saddleback worshippers have invited Muslims to Christmas dinner and played interfaith soccer at a picnic in Irvine attended by more than 300 people. (The game pitted pastors and imams against teens from both faiths. The teens won.)
The effort by a prominent Christian leader to bridge what polls show is a deep rift between Muslims and evangelical Christians culminated in December at a dinner at Saddleback attended by 300 Muslims and members of Saddleback's congregation.
At the dinner, Abraham Meulenberg, a Saddleback pastor in charge of interfaith outreach, and Jihad Turk, director of religious affairs at a mosque in Los Angeles, introduced King's Way as "a path to end the 1,400 years of misunderstanding between Muslims and Christians." » | Jim Hinch | Thursday, February 23, 2012
WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES: I would not want to live under Sharia law in America, a real threat only in the eyes of America’s lunatic fringe. I also would not want to live under Roman Catholic Canon Law, which is becoming an increasing threat.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the freedom of religion. What Jefferson referred to as the “wall of separation between church and state” is intended to protect the practice of religion from interference by the state, as well as to protect citizens from religious interference. Some conservatives today are misinterpreting that principle as providing freedom for the Catholic Church and evangelical Christians to impose their religious teachings on America’s secular society.
What qualifies the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church to determine what should be covered in our health insurance policies? All sacred religious institutions are explicitly and appropriately exempted from the provisions of the health care policy under debate. However, so-called “Catholic Charities” is an organization two-thirds of whose “good works” are funded by tax dollars. Catholic hospitals and colleges are also largely supported by public money. Should all their employees be denied access to comprehensive health care coverage because of that church’s religious doctrine? » | Rev. David Weissbard | Sunday, February 26, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Germany’s interior minister called for Greece to leave the eurozone on Saturday as hopes that the world’s richest countries would stump up more cash to help the International Monetary Fund (IMF) fight Europe’s debt crisis faded.
Becoming the first member of Germany’s cabinet to openly call for a Greek exit, Hans-Peter Friedrich told Der Spiegel magazine that Greece’s chances of restoring its financial health would be greater outside the euro.
“I’m not saying that Greece should be thrown out but rather to create incentives that it can’t say ‘no’ to,” he added.
His comments came as eurozone leaders faced calls to increase their own efforts before any more money is made available from the IMF. Fresh from agreeing a second €130bn (£110bn) bail-out for Greece, there were hopes that this weekend’s gathering of G20 finance ministers in Mexico City would achieve a deal on how to ramp up the IMF’s own European war chest by as much as $600bn (£378bn).
UK Treasury officials made it clear that any new deal with the IMF was now likely to be delayed until meetings in April. Eurozone leaders have been negotiating with the US, China and Japan to contribute more to the IMF to build a “financial firewall” that would shield the likes of the Spanish and Italian economies from any intensification of the region’s crisis this year. » | Richard Blackden, in Mexico City | Saturday, February 25, 2012
THE GUARDIAN: Iranian general says attack would lead to collapse of Israel amid rising international tension over uranium enrichment
Iran has warned Israel against mounting an attack on its nuclear facilities amid rising international tension over its uranium enrichment programme.
General Ahmad Vahidi issued a statement warning Israel that an attack would lead to the collapse of the Jewish state.
The warning on Iran's state-run Press TV website came after a UN report said Iran had tripled its production rate of enriched uranium over the past three months. » | Damien Pearse and agencies | Saturday, February 25, 2012
Saudi Arabia has been accused of breaching the spirit of the Olympic movement by discriminating against women in sport and failing to bring a female team to the 2012 London Games.
Tessa Jowell, the former culture secretary and Olympics minister – who is now a member of the Olympic Board – said the Saudis were "clearly breaking the spirit of the Olympic Charter's pledge to equality" with their attitude to women in sport and the Games.
The Saudi government, which closed private gyms for women in 2009 and 2010 and severely limits their ability to undertake physical activity, is under mounting international pressure to adopt a more liberal approach.
Jowell spoke out after a report by Human Rights Watch highlighted the way in which Saudi Arabian women and girls are denied the right to sport.
The report found that, despite pledges to open up more sporting opportunity to women, "the Saudi government continues to flagrantly deny women and girls their right to practise physical education in schools and to practise recreational and competitive sport more generally".
Based on telephone interviews with Saudi women, the report says that, having introduced schooling for girls in the early 1960s, the country "never added physical education classes to the girls' curriculum".
Those fighting for change have faced opposition at every turn. "Opponents of sports for women and girls put forward the 'slippery slope' argument that, once women start to exercise, they will shed modest clothing, spend 'unnecessary' time out of the house and have increased possibilities for mingling with men," the report says.
"Others propose endless conditions for women and girls practising sport (for example that they must wear modest clothing and engage in sports away from the prying eyes of men)." » | Toby Helm | Saturday, February 25, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A skiing accident has left Prince Friso of the Netherlands fighting for his life. And his family is now having to face up to their worst fears, write Harriet Alexander, Adam Lusher and Joan Clements.
His life was one which many would envy. A successful London financier, with a beautiful loving wife and two young daughters, Johan Friso seemed to have the world at his feet as he set off on his annual ski holiday.
His wife, Princess Mabel, a highly-respected human rights specialist and CEO of Nelson Mandela's Global Elders group, has been keeping a vigil at his bedside since the accident. His mother, who has reigned for 22 years, has been seen looking tearful outside the hospital in Innsbruck, her eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses.
And the reorganisation is going to be exceedingly painful and difficult for all concerned.
Prince Friso's doctors have said that he may never regain consciousness after being starved of oxygen for so long. The prince was skiing off-piste in the Lech resort with a childhood friend when the avalanche struck. » | Saturday, February 25, 2012
My comment:
I find this news both extremely sad and very moving. Prince Johan Friso has been in my thoughts ever since the terrible news broke. I have also been following the news direct from Austria about this very unfortunate incident.
One can only imagine how traumatizing this must be for both his wife and Queen Beatrix, his mother; in fact, they must be devastated. My deepest sympathy is with them, and all their family, at this time.
One can only hope that by some miracle the prince will start improving. The outlook, however, appears to be very grim indeed. – © Mark
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YAHOO! NEWS – COMMENTARY: Jonathon Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, reports on a disturbing case in which a state judge in Pennsylvania threw out an assault case involving a Muslim attacking an atheist for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Judge Mark Martin, an Iraq war veteran and a convert to Islam, threw the case out in what appears to be an invocation of Sharia law.
The incident occurred at the Mechanicsburg, Pa., Halloween parade where Ernie Perce, an atheist activist, marched as a zombie Muhammad. Talaag Elbayomy, a Muslim, attacked Perce, and he was arrested by police.
Judge Martin threw the case out on the grounds that Elbayomy was obligated to attack Perce because of his culture and religion. Judge Martin stated that the First Amendment of the Constitution does not permit people to provoke other people. He also called Perce, the plaintiff in the case, a "doofus." In effect, Perce was the perpetrator of the assault, in Judge Martin's view, and Elbayomy the innocent. The Sharia law that the Muslim attacker followed trumped the First Amendment.
Words almost fail. » | Mark Whittington | Yahoo! Contributor Newtwork | Friday, February 24, 2012
HT: Roberts Spencer @ Jihad Watch »
* Kira Davis
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Two Americans, believed to be senior US army officers, were shot dead by a gunman on Saturday in a secure area deep inside one of the most high-security buildings in Afghanistan.
The shootings came after five days of protests against the burning of copies of the Muslim holy book at an American base in Afghanistan.
A Taliban spokesman immediately claimed responsibility for the shootings. A Nato source said an "aggressive search" was underway for the gunman, who was believed to be Afghan.
The two officers, a colonel and a major, were killed inside the interior ministry in Kabul, where they had been advisers working with Afghan counterparts. » | Telegraph reporter and agencies in Kabul | Saturday, February 25, 2012
MAIL ONLINE: A town in California is proposing to ban smoking outside, even for residents lighting up on their own property.
Smoking is already banned indoors in public places in most of the country, and in California it is illegal to smoke in parks and playgrounds too.
The town of Rocklin, near Sacramento, could take the draconian regulations further by extending them to private property as well.
The unusual legislation was prompted by a local family annoyed with their neighbour smoking outside and causing smoke to waft near their house.
They claimed their children's health had been jeopardised by second-hand smoke, according to CBS 13. » | Daily Mail Reporter | Saturday, February 25, 2012
My comment:
The 'Land of the Free' has sadly become a misnomer. The USA ceased to be truly free many, many years ago. The country is over-regulated in the extreme, California especially so. Americans have forgotten the concept of 'joie de vivre' if indeed they ever knew it. As much as I love the States in many ways, Americans have lost sight of what's important. If they keep on like this, nobody from the outside world will want to travel to the country. – © Mark
NZZ ONLINE: Wenige Tage vor den geplanten gemeinsamen Manövern der USA mit Südkorea hat Nordkorea von einer «stillen Kriegserklärung» gesprochen, auf die man entsprechend reagieren werde. Die gemeinsamen Militärübungen seien auch eine Schändung der Trauerperiode in Nordkorea. » | sda/afp | Samstag, 25. Februar 2012
BIKYA MASR: CAIRO: Foreign and “unnamed hands” are targeting Islam, the Islamic world and Arabs in the recent events in the region, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah said.
The king, who was giving a televised address Friday night to a conference of prominent Saudis, did not name any country in particular.
But Saudi officials have used similar terms in recent weeks to suggest a connection with Iran, a Shia country at odds with Sunni Saudi Arabia.
“There were hands that are known to you all … behind what has happened in the Arab world, regrettably targeting Islam and the Arabs,” he said. » | Bikya Masr Staff | Saturday, February 25, 2012
The allegations come just a week after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apologised when it was brought to light that the parents of Holocaust survivor and Jewish rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal were posthumously baptised by church members at temples in Arizona and Utah in late January.
Mormon researcher Helen Radkey, who revealed the Wiesenthal baptisms, said this week she found Anne Frank's name in proxy baptism records dated Feb 18, showing the ritual was performed in the Santo Domingo Temple in the Dominican Republic.
The Mormon church almost immediately issued a statement, though it didn't mention Frank by name.
"The Church keeps its word and is absolutely firm in its commitment to not accept the names of Holocaust victims for proxy baptism," the Salt Lake City-based church said. "It is distressing when an individual wilfully violates the Church's policy and something that should be understood to be an offering based on love and respect becomes a source of contention." » | AP | Friday, February 24, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A former medical director of the country’s largest abortion provider said it was “well known” that women were terminating pregnancies because of the gender of the child and that he had been asked by women to arrange the procedure for this reason.
Dr Vincent Argent, who previously worked for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and is now a GP and consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, said he had “no doubt” that women were terminating pregnancies because of the sex of the baby and that he believed the practice was “fairly widespread”. This week The Daily Telegraph disclosed that women were being offered illegal abortions by doctors on the basis of the gender of the foetus.
Dr Argent said there were “an awful lot of covert abortions for sex selection going on” where women would have a scan or blood test to find out the sex, then ask for a termination without telling the doctor the real reason.
However, he said there were also “ones where the patient actually says that it is the reason she wants the termination of the pregnancy”. He confirmed that he had been asked to arrange abortions for this reason but had told the patients it was unethical and he could not help them. There is nothing to suggest that the terminations Dr Argent described were arranged at BPAS clinics.
Dr Argent also disclosed that he believed that some colleagues had arranged terminations relating to the sex of the foetus and they felt it was reasonable to do so. » | Claire Newell, and Holly Watt | Friday, February 24, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
MAIL ONLINE: Vatican 'wants to see' 1,500-year-old ancient script Has been hidden by Turkish state for 12 years Handwritten in gold-lettered Aramaic
A secret Bible in which Jesus is believed to predict the coming of the Prophet Muhammad to Earth has sparked serious interest from the Vatican.
Pope Benedict XVI is claimed to want to see the 1,500-year-old book, which many say is the Gospel of Barnabas, that has been hidden by the Turkish state for the last 12 years.
The £14million handwritten gold lettered tome, penned in Jesus' native Aramaic language, is said to contain his early teachings and a prediction of the Prophet's coming.
The leather-bound text, written on animal hide, was discovered by Turkish police during an anti-smuggling operation in 2000.
It was closely guarded until 2010, when it was finally handed over to the Ankara Ethnography Museum, and will soon be put back on public display following a minor restoration. » | Daily Mail Reporter | Friday, February 24, 2012
TODAY’S ZAMAN: 1,500-year-old handwritten Bible kept in Ankara, ministry confirms » | FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK, İSTANBUL | Thursday, February 23, 2012
TODAY’s ZAMAN: 1500-year-old gospel kept in Ankara excites Vatican, report claims: The Vatican has requested that Turkey allow it to examine a 1500-year-old copy of an apocryphal gospel that was discovered by Turkish police during an anti-smuggling operation in 2000 and handed over to the Ankara Ethnography Museum, the Turkish Bugün daily reported on Thursday. » | TODAYSZAMAN.COM | Thursday, February 23, 2012
Lynne Featherstone directly challenges the role of the Church in the debate over homosexual weddings, saying it does not “own” marriage.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Miss Featherstone says the Government has a right to change the definition of marriage and pledges to challenge those who “want to leave tradition alone”.
Citing the words of the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, who is a prominent opponent of the Coalition’s plans to allow same-sex couples to marry, she insists that how marriage is defined is up to “the people”.
In a direct address to the Christian opponents of the proposed changes, she says: “We understand how strongly some religious groups feel about the issue, which is why we are listening and we want to work with them.
“But there is a range of other views we need to listen to as well.
“I want to urge people not to polarise this debate. This is not a battle between gay rights and religious beliefs. This is about the underlying principles of family, society and personal freedoms.” » | John Bingham, Social Affairs editor | Friday, February 24, 2012
My comment:
One way out of this impasse would be for the UK to adopt a Swiss-style system in which everyone who marries has to marry in what we would call a registry office. That makes them married in the eyes of the law. Then, in Switzerland, if people feel so inclined, they are also entitled to have a second ceremony in a house of worship, making them married in the eyes of God. The former is a legal must; the latter, a preference. If the UK adopted this system, much of this debate would become irrelevant. – © Mark
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Hugo Chavez a pris l'avion ce vendredi pour La Havane afin de se faire opérer d'une tumeur maligne, située au même endroit que celle que les médecins cubains lui avaient enlevée en juin dernier. «J'ai pris la décision d'aller à La Havane. Tout est prêt là-bas. Les médecins qui m'ont opéré en juin m'attendent», a indiqué le président du Vénézuela[.]
Mercredi, il a pris le temps de réunir les responsables de son gouvernement et de son parti, le PDVSA, pour les préparer à son absence, qui pourrait se prolonger plusieurs semaines. Il est déjà resté tout un mois hors du Venezuela en juin 2011, n'annonçant son cancer que début juillet. Des informations concordantes semblent confirmer qu'il s'agit d'un cancer du côlon. » | Par Patrick Bèle | vendredi 24 février 2012
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Verwandt »
Johan Friso, the second of Dutch Queen Beatrix's three sons, was buried for 25 minutes before rescuers found him. It then took nearly 50 precious minutes to reanimate the prince after he was pulled from the snow, time that may have cause permanent damage, said Dr. Wolfgang Koller, head of trauma at the Innsbruck hospital where he is being treated.
"It is clear that the oxygen starvation has caused massive brain damage to the patient," Koller said. "At the moment, it cannot be predicted if he will ever regain consciousness."
The 41-yaer-old Friso, who is married and has two young daughters, will be moved later to a rehabilitation clinic for further treatment. But Koller cautioned that it may take years before he awakens from his coma -- if he ever does -- and any recovery from such significant brain damage is a process of "months or even years."
Friso was skiing off-trail in Lech, Austria, despite avalanche warnings, with a childhood friend from the alpine village the Dutch royal family has been visiting each winter for years.
The friend was carrying an avalanche "air bag" and escaped without serious injury. Friso was found with the help of a signaling device he was carrying and flown by helicopter to the Innsbruck Clinic.
But "50 minutes of reanimation is extremely long. You could say too long," Koller said.
The doctor said that due to protocols for minimizing brain damage after such an accident, it had only been possible to conduct an MRI scan of Friso's brain on Thursday.
"We had hoped that the slight cooling of the patient would protect his brain from too serious damage. Unfortunately this hope was not fulfilled," he said.
Friso is in a coma, a state of unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened with external physical or auditory stimulation. There are different levels of unconsciousness and unresponsiveness depending on how much brain function there is. Doctors did not give further details of Friso's diagnosis. » | Associated Press | Friday, February 24, 2012
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Die vielleicht bedrückendste Begleiterscheinung der Euro-Krise ist die Renaissance des nationalen Vorurteils. Hemmungslos schlagen sich die europäischen Völker charakterliche Zerrbilder um die Ohren, die man in dieser Ballung lange nicht gehört hat. Die Deutschen sind wieder die Nazis (milde Version: die Bismarcks), während südliche EU-Mitglieder als faule Säcke und kleine Betrüger gelten (Griechen: große Betrüger). In der Presse der Mitgliedstaaten fehlt kein Klischee, vom elektronischen Stammtisch im Internet ganz zu schweigen. Manche Sätze, die da in jüngster Zeit zu lesen waren, erinnern an die Jahre vor und zwischen den Weltkriegen. » | Nikolas Busse, Brüssel | Mittwoch, 22. Februar 2012
Saudi Arabia has backed the arming of Syria's opposition guerrilla army in remarks that could signal an intervention by the Sunni Muslim superpower in the Assad regime's crackdown on an anti-government uprising.
The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, described the arming of the Free Syrian Army as an "excellent idea" at an inaugural meeting in Tunisia of an anti-Assad group the Friends of Syria, convened to find a solution to the crisis ravaging the country.
But the Saudi delegation later walked out of the summit citing "inactivity" among the member states gathered.
Qatar's foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, called for the creation of an Arab force to "open humanitarian corridors to provide security to the Syrian people".
In the Syrian city of Homs, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had begun to evacuate women and children from the Baba Amr district, where western journalists including the injured Le Figaro reporter Edith Bouvier and the Sunday Times photographer Paul Conroy had become stranded. » | Martin Chulov and Matthew Weaver | Friday, February 24, 2012
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Syrien – Streit in Tunis über Intervention: Ein arabische Friedenstruppe? Ein Ultimatum an Assad? Sein Abtritt und Exil in Russland? Die Bewaffnung der Opposition? Die Syrien-Kontaktgruppe diskutiert in Tunis zahlreiche Vorschläge - eine Einigung ist nicht in Sicht. » | Von Andreas Ross und Rainer Hermann | Freiteg, 24. Februar 2012
A producer for a BBC1 documentary called The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Song told a journalist in Australia that the country's prime minister, Julia Gillard, would not be suitable for interview because “she is pro-republican” and would not fit the film’s “positive angle”.
The producer added: “We are not interested in hearing a personal bad word against the Queen.”
The exchanges were contained in two emails leaked to the anti-monarchy group Republic, which accused the BBC of “censorship”.
The first of the emails was sent on Feb 16, in which the sender explained that the BBC was making a documentary about the singer Gary Barlow’s visits to Commonwealth countries to write and record a song for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, commissioned by the Queen.
As well as filming Barlow’s meetings with musicians, the producer explained, “we are also hoping to speak with people…who have a respect for the Queen. » | Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter | Friday, February 24, 2012
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