Monday, March 18, 2013
DIE PRESSE: Austro-Islamist: Drohvideo beschäftigt Ermittler – Verfassungsschutz wird im Fall von Mohamed Mahmoud aktiv. Die Staatsbürgerschaft verliert er auch nach Verbrennen seines Passes nicht. » | Philipp Aichinger und Helmar Dumbs | Die Presse | Sonntag, 17. März 2013
EXPRESS: Shocking images have shown an Egypt where anarchy rules the streets, as a baying mob stripped, beat and hung two men accused of stealing.
In an extreme case of vigilantism, the two young men - accused of stealing a motorised rickshaw - were attacked by a 3,000- strong mob reportedly chanting "kill, them, kill them!"
Shockingly, amidst the crowd, children can be seen laughing and taking pictures of the dying men.
The lynchings came a week after the attorney general's office encouraged civilians to arrest lawbreakers and hand them over to police.
The worsening security in Egypt, coupled with a police strike, prompted the attorney general's call for citizens' arrests last week.
Egypt's Minister of Justice Ahmed Mekki described the incident as an indication of the state's demise following the 2011 uprising.
The minister condemned the deaths, explaining that residents applied the 'Haraba penalty' of Islamic law. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT » | Charlotte Meredith | Monday, March 18, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Die Zwangsabgabe aufs Ersparte sorgt für massiven Ärger in Zypern. Die Bankkunden sind empört, die politische Mehrheit für die Sondersteuer wackelt. Auch in Deutschland kann sich Kanzlerin Merkel der Unterstützung für die Rettung des Inselstaats nicht sicher sein.
Berlin - Nein, neue Freunde haben Angela Merkel und Wolfgang Schäuble in Zypern nicht gewonnen. Sicher, das krisengeplagte Land wird gerettet, aber zu welchem Preis? Wütend, empört, schockiert - so reagieren die Menschen auf der Mittelmeerinsel, die am Wochenende an den Geldautomaten der Banken ihr Erspartes zu sichern versuchen. Es ist ein Akt der Verzweiflung, denn sie können zwar Bargeld abheben, Transaktionen aber sind nicht mehr möglich. Ein Teil des Geldes ist längst eingefroren.
Mit 6,75 Prozent ihrer Einlagen auf zyprischen Kreditinstituten sollen Bankkunden zur Rettung des taumelnden Euro-Landes beitragen. Wer mehr als 100.000 Euro dort liegen hat, muss sogar 9,9 Prozent abgeben. Die Zwangsabgabe haben die Euro-Partner zur Bedingung für ein zehn Milliarden schweres Hilfspaket gemacht. Vor allem Deutschland drängte darauf - zähneknirschend hat die zyprische Regierung zugestimmt.
Doch das Drama um den Inselstaat ist damit nicht vorbei. Der Unmut über die Sondersteuer ist nicht nur unter den Bankkunden groß, auch eine politische Mehrheit für das entsprechende Eilgesetz ist keineswegs sicher. Präsident Nikos Anastasiades verschob am Sonntag die eigentlich geplante Abstimmung der Abgeordneten um einen Tag auf Montag - offenbar aus Furcht vor einer Ablehnung des Gesetzes. Anastasiades' konservative Partei DISY hat nur 20 der insgesamt 56 Parlamentssitze, der Koalitionspartner DIKO stellt neun Abgeordnete. Nur ein Abweichler könnte für ein Patt im Parlament sorgen. Die Oppositionsparteien haben bereits ihr Nein angekündigt.
Der Aufschub der Abstimmung ist möglich, weil die Banken in Zypern wegen eines Feiertages am Montag geschlossen sind. Die Regierung erwägt aber bereits, die Geldinstitute am Dienstag ebenfalls nicht zu öffnen, sollte das Parlament auch am Montag zu keiner Entscheidung kommen. Andernfalls wird ein Massenansturm empörter Sparer befürchtet, die in Panik ihre Konten leerräumen. » | Von Philipp Wittrock | Sonntag, 17. März 2013
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) says he cannot imagine a situation where his opposition to same-sex marriage would change, not even if a child of his or another loved one came out as gay.
Boehner's remarks come in response to Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, also of Ohio, who reversed his longtime opposition to marriage equality this week, after announcing that his son Will is gay.
THE SUN: HATE cleric Anjem Choudary has described white Islamic extremist Richard Dart as a “victim” and said his terror plot was an act of “resistance”.
Bearded Dart, 29, is one of three fanatics facing long jail terms for a string of hate crimes.
Last week a court heard how ex-BBC security guard Dart and self-confessed terrorist Imran Mahmood plotted to target Royal Wootton Bassett, Wilts, where people line the streets to welcome home the bodies of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan. » | Andy Crick | Sunday, March 17, 2013
LONDON EVENING STANDARD: Man due for sentence over terrorism: Muslim convert Richard Dart is facing a long prison sentence admitting getting involved in terrorism. ¶ Dart became involved in extremism after converting to Islam. He was featured in a BBC Three documentary made by his stepbrother. ¶ He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey with Imran Mahmood and Jahangir Alom to engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorism. They plotted to go to Pakistan to train at a terrorist camp and to travel abroad to commit acts of terrorism. » | Friday, March 15, 2013
THE GUARDIAN: Cypriots rush to ATMs before savings are docked as part of a bailout deal agreed in Brussels
Cypriots reacted with shock that turned to panic on Saturday after a 10% one-off levy on savings was forced on them as part of an extraordinary 10bn euro (£8.7bn) bailout agreed in Brussels.
People rushed to banks and queued at cash machines that refused to release cash as resentment quickly set in. The savers, half of whom are thought to be non-resident Russians, will raise almost €6bn thanks to a deal reached by European partners and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It is the first time a bailout has included such a measure and Cyprus is the fifth country after Greece, the Republic of Ireland, Portugal and Spain to turn to the eurozone for financial help during the region's debt crisis. The move in the eurozone's third smallest economy could have repercussions for financially overstretched bigger economies such as Spain and Italy.
People with less than 100,000 euros in their accounts will have to pay a one-time tax of 6.75%, Eurozone officials said, while those with greater sums will lose 9.9%. Without a rescue, president Nicos Anastasiades said Cyprus would default and threaten to unravel investor confidence in the eurozone. The Cypriot leader, who was elected last month on a promise to tackle the country's debt crisis, will make a statement to the nation on Sunday.
The prospect of savings being so savagely docked sparked terror among the island's resident British community. At the Anglican Church's weekly Saturday thrift shop gathering in Nicosia, Cyprus's war-divided capital, ex-pats expressed alarm with many saying that they had also rushed to ATMs to withdraw money from their accounts. "There's a run on banks. A lot of us are really panicking. The big fear is that there soon won't be cash in ATMs," said Arlene Skillett, a resident in Nicosia. "People are worried that they're automatically going to lose ten present [sic] [of their savings] in deposit accounts. Anastasiades won elections saying he wouldn't allow this to happen." » | Paul Gallagher and Helena Smith | Saturday, March 16, 2013
THE INDEPENDENT: Two directors are undertaking the delicate task of making films about the Prophet of Islam
There are controversial subjects, and then there is Mohamed. Yet the fear of controversy appears not to have deterred film-makers in Iran and Qatar, who are producing a pair of rival biopics of the seventh-century Prophet of Islam.
As a protagonist, the Prophet poses a unique challenge: much of the Muslim world forbids his depiction on screen. The Iranian director Majid Majidi, whose $30m (£19.8m) biopic began shooting last October, reportedly intends to show parts of the Prophet's body, though not his face. While Iran's Shia population may be flexible about such imagery, Sunni Muslims elsewhere are not. Cairo's Sunni-led al-Azhar University has already demanded the unfinished film be banned.
In December, in Sunni-majority Qatar, Alnoor Holdings, the media arm of al-Hashemi construction group, announced plans to spend $1bn on its own series of epic movies about the life of Mohamed. The team has hired the Islamic theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Lord of the Rings producer Barrie Osborne as technical advisers. "They are being understandably very cautious," Mr Osborne told The Hollywood Reporter.
And so they should be. Last September, when clips from a low-budget US-made film about Mohamed surfaced on YouTube, there were angry protests across the Muslim world. Innocence of Muslims portrayed the Prophet in a negative light, yet even positive depictions have proved divisive. In 1977, the Syrian-American producer Moustapha Akkad was forced to go to the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to gather funding for his Mohamed biopic The Message, after Americans backed away from the project. » | Tim Walker | Sunday, March 17, 2013
THE MAIL ON SUNDAY: State-owned Qatar Investment Authority reportedly planning a takeover bid / Trading soared on Thursday and Friday amid rumours of a move on M&S / Iconic High Street chain reported a 1.8 per cent slump in Christmas sales
Marks and Spencer is bracing itself for an £8billion takeover bid from Qatar, according to reports.
The state-owned Qatar Investment Authority is reportedly planning to make a move on the iconic High Street chain and is forming a consortium.
The Gulf nation's sovereign wealth fund already owns Harrods, which it bought in 2010, and has a 26 per cent share in Sainsbury's.
It also has a stake in Heathrow Airport.
The bid would equate to £5 a share and rumours in the City on Thursday and Friday helped fuel soaring trade.
The Qataris are attempting to form a consortium and have approached private equity houses and banks, according to 'senior City sources' quoted by The Sunday Times. » | Becky Evans | Sunday, March 17, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: In a rare interview, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal tells Christian Sylt about his anger over the Forbes Rich List, which estimated that he is worth $20bn – $9.6bn less than he claims and not enough to place him in the coveted top 10.
There is something about the world’s wealthiest people and it tends to show.
An army of waiters swarmed around hotelier Sir Rocco Forte when I interviewed him in the Grill at London’s Savoy hotel. Bernie Ecclestone prefers to meet journalists in his personal playground, the Formula One paddock, whilst Guy Laliberté, billionaire founder of circus company, Cirque du Soleil, chooses his penthouse suite which sits atop the Metropolitan hotel and has floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over Hyde Park. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal outdoes them all.
Prince Alwaleed is the 58-year-old grandson of the founder of Saudi Arabia but not one drop of his fortune comes from oil or inheritance. Instead, he made his money by investing in global brands at a time when their share prices were depressed. Along the way he has built up significant stakes in trophy assets such as Apple, Citigroup, Disney and the Savoy Hotel in London. His portfolio spans the globe and he likes people to know it.
When I first interviewed Prince Alwaleed in 2002 we met on his glitzy 282-ft yacht which was moored off the coast of Cannes. He bought it from Donald Trump in 1991 and the two are kindred spirits.
On board there is a room containing a long golden table laden with magazines showing Prince Alwaleed on their covers. On another occasion, the interview took place at the historic George V hotel in Paris, which Alwaleed rescued in 1996. We met in a reception area lined with 17th century tapestries and armed bodyguards.
Given his penchant for displays of grandeur it is not hard to imagine how he must have felt when, two weeks ago, Forbes, the business magazine, published its annual ranking of the world’s billionaires. It estimated that Prince Alwaleed is worth $20bn – which is $9.6bn less than he claims and not enough to place him in the coveted top 10. » | Christian Sylt | Saturday, March 16, 2013
SAPHIR NEWS: Depuis l'élection du nouveau pape mercredi 13 mars, les organisations musulmanes ont été nombreuses à réagir pour féliciter le monde catholique. Par-delà ces félicitations, toutes en appellent le souverain pontife François à un renouveau du dialogue islamo-chrétien, mis à mal sous le pontificat de Benoît XVI.
Le cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio est devenu pape François mercredi 13 mars.
Au lendemain de cette nouvelle d'importance pour le monde catholique, le Conseil français du culte musulman (CFCM) et la Grande Mosquée de Paris ont tous deux salué l’élection du pape et adressent leurs vœux à ses fidèles, avec l'espoir affiché que ce nouveau pontificat renforce le dialogue islamo-chrétien.
Le CFCM « adresse à sa Sainteté le pape François, ses chaleureuses félicitations et ses sincères vœux de réussite dans la mission qui lui a été confiée à la tête de l’Eglise catholique romaine », déclare son président Mohammed Moussaoui dans un communiqué au lendemain de l’élection.
« Le CFCM espère que ce nouveau pontificat soit l’occasion de renforcer et de consolider le dialogue entre toutes les religions et toutes les convictions au service de la justice, de la paix, de la solidarité et de la fraternité dans le monde », poursuit-il.
Même ton dans le communiqué de la Grande Mosquée de Paris. « A l’heureuse annonce pour les catholiques "Habemus papam", les musulmans de France posent la question "Qualem papam habemus ?", en espérant que la symbolique du nom de François qu’il s’est choisi puisse le rattacher spirituellement à Saint-François d’Assises qui, au début du 13ème siècle, a volontairement initié le premier dialogue islamo-chrétien de l’histoire », fait savoir l’institution. » | Rédigé par La Rédaction | jeudi 14 mars 2013
SAPHIR NEWS: Après l’Allemagne et la Suisse, c’est au tour de la Norvège d’être éclaboussée par un scandale alimentaire de taille pour les musulmans.
Dans le cadre de contrôles effectués après le scandale de la viande de cheval retrouvée dans des plats préparés supposés être au bœuf, le Mattilsyn, l’autorité national de contrôle alimentaire, dit avoir détecté du porc, dans une proportion comprise entre 5 et 30 % dans de la viande « halal » commercialisée auprès des vendeurs de kebabs, rapporte l'AFP. » | Rédigé par La Rédaction | vendredi 15 mars 2013
THE NORTHERN STAR: A WOMAN said she was terrified after she was spat on and called a terrorist at a Murwillumbah service station this week.
The practicing Muslim, who requested to remain anonymous, said she was fuelling her car up when a hostile man pulled up and began to scream abuse at her on Wednesday.
"A man got out (of the car) ... He came towards the bowser and I wasn't sure if he was going to head butt me or punch me, or pour petrol on me and light me up," she said.
"But I knew there was going to be trouble."
She said the man approached her and started to call her a "terrorist" and told her to "go back to where you f***ing came from."
The Tweed Coast resident couldn't believe the man was treating her in such a way and believed it was because she was wearing a traditional Islamic face cover known as a niqab.
"(He was) calling me a terrorist when he was terrorising me," she recalled.
"Calling me oppressed yet he was oppressing me."
"He was loud and he was screeching." » | Emma Galliott | Saturday, March 16, 2013
BBC rolling news coverage from 10pm the day Princess Diana died. Newscaster is Peter Sissons. Gives one a glimpse of how the tragedy was unfolding on that sad day: 31 August 1997.
The Princess's body is flown back to London having been collected in Paris by Prince Charles and Diana's two sisters Sarah and Jane. They are greeted by Prime Minster Tony Blair and Defence Secretary George Robertson, who later became Secretary General of NATO. Kate Adie Reports from Paris and describes how Diana died and the efforts to save her.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, met some of the first Saudi Arabian female MPs during her visit to the kingdom.
Camilla greeted the female members of the Saudi parliament, or Consultative Assembly, at the lavishly decorated Majlis Ash Shura building, saying: “Beneath all those pretty smiles there are a lot of very powerful women here.”
The Duchess was later joined by the Prince of Wales as they were given a tour of the gold encrusted parliament building, in Riyadh.
Hanan Al Ahmadi, one of the female MPs, told the Duchess her visit was an endorsement of the work they were doing as women politicians in what has been a traditionally male dominated society.
She said: “We have been waiting for this for a very long time. It is an emotional and very proud moment for us and carries a great deal of responsibility. You coming here to meet us is an endorsement of what is happening here.”
The Duchess replied: “I am so impressed. You are all so clever and well-educated and are blazing such a trail.” » | Patrick Sawer | Saturday, March 16, 2013
DIE PRESSE: Die „Grand Old Party“ war noch nie so unbeliebt wie heute. Ihre neuen Hoffnungsträger Rubio, Ryan und Paul eint nur die Abneigung gegen das alte Parteiestablishment.
Washington. Hier ist die gute Nachricht für die republikanische Partei: Heute bekennen sich 24 Prozent der Amerikaner als Republikaner – genau so viele wie vor 30 Jahren, als Ronald Reagan im Weißen Haus amtierte.
Und hier ist die schlechte Nachricht: Noch nie in ihrer Geschichte war die „Grand Old Party“ beim Rest der Bürger so unbeliebt wie heute. 62 Prozent der Amerikaner erklärten neulich in einer Umfrage des Pew Research Center, dass die Republikaner den Bezug zu den Menschen verloren haben. 52 Prozent finden sie zu extrem. Und was besonders schwer wiegt: 58 Prozent der unabhängigen Wähler lehnen die Partei ab. Doch das sind genau die Menschen in der Mitte, die man ansprechen muss, wenn man Wahlen gewinnen will. Nur jeder dritte Amerikaner hat heute eine gute Meinung von den Republikanern: so wenige wie noch nie. » | Oliver Grimm, Korrespondent der Presse | Freitag, 15. März 2013
Deux ans après les premières manifestations à Deraa, FRANCE 24 vous propose un documentaire inédit consacré aux origines du conflit en Syrie. Pourquoi, après deux ans de guerre et plus de 70 000 morts, le pays est-il toujours à feu et à sang ?
Avec les équipes de France 24 et nos grands reporters aux 4 coins du monde, découvrez des reportages grand format sur des sujets d'actualité internationale.
Avec les équipes de FRANCE 24 et nos grands reporters aux quatre coins du monde, des reportages grand format sur des sujets d'actualité internationale décryptés par leurs auteurs en plateau à l'issue de leur diffusion. Emission présentée par Antoine Cormery.
L’EXPRESS.fr: Selon le Los Angeles Times, la CIA est actuellement en train de recueillir des renseignements sur des islamistes radicaux en Syrie. L'objectif: les liquider par des frappes de drones, affirme le quotidien.
La CIA recueille actuellement des renseignements sur des islamistes radicaux en Syrie en vue de les liquider ultérieurement par des frappes de drones, rapporte vendredi soir le Los Angeles Times. Citant d'actuels et d'anciens responsables américains, ayant gardé l'anonymat, le quotidien indique que le president Barack Obama n'a pas encore autorisé des attaques de drones en Syrie, mais que le service de contre-terrorisme de la CIA y a récemment affecté plusieurs agents à la surveillance de militants extrémistes. » | Par LEXPRESS.fr | samedi 16 mars 2013
THE INDEPENDENT: The Prince isn't expected to raise the issue of human rights with his hosts. Perhaps he should, wonders Jerome Taylor
They were led out at dawn today, one by one, to the public killing grounds. The Seven Saudi Arabian men had been sentenced to death following what human rights groups and the UN said were deeply flawed trials conducted under Sharia law. Some of them were juveniles when they were charged with being part of a gang of thieves in the Saudi town of Abha. But that didn’t save them from the firing squad.
A few hours later, just over 1,000 miles to the north, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were visiting the victims of another brutal Middle Eastern dictatorship. At a refugee camp in northern Jordan they met some of the one million people who have had to flee the death and destruction now enveloping Bashar al-Assad’s Syria. Charles described the scene he saw as an “unbelievable and heartbreaking situation” while Camilla hailed the “strength of spirit” shown by the women she encountered.
But anyone expecting the Royal couple to show equivalent sympathy for the victims of Saudi Arabia’s authoritarianism when they visit the Kingdom on Friday as part of their Middle Eastern tour will be disappointed. Human rights are off the agenda. Instead, according to the press release put out by Clarence House, the themes of the visit are “military collaboration, opportunities for women in society, inter-faith dialogue, education and environmental sustainability”.
For the struggling human rights activists and reformists in the Kingdom, visits from the US and Britain are a consistent source of disappointment. While London and Washington berate Moscow for its ongoing support of the Assad regime, they rarely if ever go public with criticisms of the Al Sauds – their closest ally in the Gulf. Last week, both the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the Attorney General, Eric Holder, returned from separate trips to the Kingdom. Between their visits, the Saudi regime was emboldened enough to press ahead with the jailing of Mohammed Fahd al-Qahtani and Abdullah al-Hamed – two of the country’s most prominent non-violent reform advocates. In the few days between the US delegations and Prince Charles’ arrival, the King also found time to reject clemency for the Abha Seven, despite documented evidence that confessions were extracted under torture, that the men were not appointed adequate legal representation and that most of them were juveniles when they committed their alleged crimes.
Although the Prince is officially apolitical, human rights advocates have expressed dismay that while he is happy to talk about Britain’s military and commercial links to Saudi Arabia, he avoids topics such as the highest execution rates per capita in the world or something as fundamental as a woman’s right to drive. » | Jerome Taylor | Wednesday, March 13, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Pope Francis has thanked thousands of journalists who covered his election as pontiff this week during an audience in the Vatican.
The former archbishop of Buenos Aires, dressed in white vestments, was greeted by applause and cheers of "Viva il Papa" when he entered the Paul VI Hall.
He spoke from a broad stage, flanked by Swiss Guards in ceremonial uniform. The new Pope called for "a poor Church for the poor", saying he chose his papal name because St Francis of Assisi was "a man of poverty and a man of peace".
The special audience was being billed by the Vatican as part of the greater openness that has characterised the first days in office of the former Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first pope from Latin America.
The 76-year-old pontiff has displayed an informal style that contrasts sharply with that of his more academic predecessor Benedict XVI.
Under the simple slogan of "walk, build, confess" and speaking in a folksy Italian, he has urged Catholic leaders to shun worldly glories and lead a spiritual renewal in the Church that will reach "the ends of the earth".
The son of an Italian emigrant railway worker, he has warned them that without action the Church could end up becoming a "castle of sand" and just a charity with no spiritual foundation. » | Nick Squires, Vatican City, and agencies | Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
THE INDEPENDENT: Archaeologists fear billion-pound development has led to destruction of key historical sites
The authorities in Saudi Arabia have begun dismantling some of the oldest sections of Islam’s most important mosque as part of a highly controversial multi-billion expansion.
Photographs obtained by The Independent reveal how workers with drills and mechanical diggers have started demolishing some Ottoman and Abbasid sections on the eastern side of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca.
The building, which is also known as the Grand Mosque, is the holiest site in Islam because it contains the Kaaba – the point to which all Muslims face when praying. The columns are the last remaining sections of the mosque which date back more than a few hundred years and form the inner perimeter on the outskirts of the white marble floor surrounding the Kaaba.
The new photos, taken over the last few weeks, have caused alarm among archaeologists and come as Prince Charles – a long term supporter of preserving architectural heritage – flew into Saudi Arabia yesterday for a visit with the Duchess of Cornwall. The timing of his tour has been criticised by human rights campaigners after the Saudis shot seven men in public earlier this week despite major concerns about their trial and the fact that some of the men were juveniles at the time of their alleged crimes.
Many of the Ottoman and Abbasid columns in Mecca were inscribed with intricate Arabic calligraphy marking the names of the Prophet Muhammad’s companions and key moments in the founder of Islam’s life. One column which is believed to have been ripped down is supposed to mark the sport where Muslims believe Muhammad began his heavenly journey on a winged horse which took him to Jerusalem and heaven in a single night. » | Jerome Taylor | Friday, March 15, 2013
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE: A recent story about Prince Charles learning Arabic in order to undertake a deeper study of the Qur’an has created a lot of hubbub in the British media.
The story has raised rumors yet again about the heir to the British throne’s deep fascination with Islam.
A decade ago, Islamophobes were already filled with dread that Prince Charles might have already converted to Islam.
So what is behind this attraction to Islam? What about Islam is proving so appealing to Prince Charles himself? To answer that question, let us listen to some of what he has to say.
Charles approaches Islam not primarily through the lens of security threats and international crises, but rather as a body of spiritual teachings.
He states:
The Islamic world is the custodian of one of the greatest treasures of accumulated wisdom and spiritual knowledge available to humanity.
Much of his attractions to Islam actually comes from the insights of the Qur’an that come to identify the natural cosmos as a site where God is revealed and experienced: There is a profound truth in that seemingly simple, old saying of the nomads — that “the best of all Mosques is Nature herself.” » | Omid Safi | Friday, March 15, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: David Cameron has publicly clashed with the new Pope over the Argentine pontiff’s claim that Britain “usurped” the Falkland Islands.
Pope Francis, who is a former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, has previously described the disputed territory as belonging to “the homeland” of Argentina.
However, the Prime Minister told him he should “respect” the islanders’ referendum vote for the Falklands to remain British.
Mr Cameron even dared to make a joke at the expense of the Vatican’s ancient election processes.
“The white smoke over the Falklands was pretty clear,” he said.
His comments, at a press conference at the European Council summit in Brussels, follow the islanders’ referendum that delivered an overwhelming majority in favour of the Falklands remaining a UK overseas territory. » | Tim Ross, Brussels | Friday, March 15, 2013
My comment:
For Cameron to talk like this shows that he is a boy in a man's world. To talk about "white smoke over The Falklands" in the same breath as white smoke emanating from the Vatican on the selection of a new pope is immature at best and stupid at worst. It just goes to show what a secularist Cameron really is. Each and every time Cameron opens his mouth, he puts his foot in it. This time is no exception. Cameron is an embarrassment. – © Mark
This comment also appears here
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: A year ago, a SPIEGEL editor met a Salafist in Hannover. Following several meetings in Germany, he traveled with him to his new home in Egypt. But he could not have anticipated the danger he would encounter there.
It's still dark in Alexandria, and I can hear the Salafist breathing in the dark. He is tiptoeing across the room.
The man approaching my bed picked me up from the airport yesterday. His name is Dennis Rathkamp, and he is a 24-year-old auto mechanic who used to play guitar in his church confirmation class. He moved to Egypt a few weeks ago to learn how to become a good Muslim.
On this morning, my body is lying between Rathkamp and Mecca. He drops to his knees and lowers his forehead to the floor. It's 6:30 a.m., time for early prayers. I hear Rathkamp moving his lips silently. He promised me he would try to be quiet while praying.
I am lying in this bed in a stranger's apartment because I am searching for an answer to the question of what drives the Salafists, a group of people who are feared in Germany. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's domestic intelligence agency, estimates that 60 German Salafists emigrated to Egypt last year. Many chose the city of Alexandria as their new home, and they now live in the Mandara neighborhood in the north of the city.
Rathkamp says that he moved to Alexandria because he wants to learn the language of his prophet -- and because he could no longer endure the discrimination in Germany.
I met him when he was handing out Korans in the northern German city of Hannover last spring. I asked him if he would take me to his mosque, because I wanted to learn more about Islam. I accompanied him to Friday prayers many times after that. We drank tea together and had long conversations. Afterwards, he would drive me to the train station and give me pamphlets explaining women's role in Islam to take home to my girlfriend. » | Takis Würger | Friday, March 15, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A senior Iranian cleric has accused Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of "heresy" after saying Hugo Chavez would be resurrected with the 12th imam.
Ayatollah Ahmed Janati, the hardline chief of the Guardians Council, told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran: "Those comments on Chavez's return with Christ were heresy."
Janati was referring to comments by Ahmadinejad on March 6 in which he called Chavez a "martyr" who would "return, along with the righteous Jesus and the perfect human."
The last was an allusion to Shia Islam's 12th imam that Iran's majority faith believes will return with Christ to bring peace and justice to the world.
Janati said Iran's clergy had been "upset" by the remarks.
"Should people say whatever comes to mind? I wish (Ahmadinejad) had spent a few days in a seminary before discussing such issues," he said.
"Chavez was a populist and anti-American. His political agenda was completely acceptable. But he was not a Muslim," Janati added. » | Source: AFP | Friday, March 15, 2013
Journeyman Pictures: The Crescent and the Cross »
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A father accidentally overhead his son agonising over whether he should come out, but spared him the embarrassment by writing a heartfelt letter saying he loved him no matter what.
Nate and his boyfriend Mike were discussing whether the former should tell his father he was gay, something that had clearly been troubling him.
But his father spared him the worry with a simple yet to the point letter.
The father tells his son he has known that he was gay since he was six, but has loved him ever since he was born. » | Harry Alsop | Friday, March 15, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A former trainee priest is starting legal action against Cardinal Keith O’Brien over allegations he was abused by the disgraced cleric as a teenager.
He is claiming the cardinal groped and kissed him during a visit to an unnamed seminary in the 1980s when he was 19. He made clear his ordeal was not an isolated incident.
The former seminarian is the first of the cardinal’s alleged victims to speak publicly about his experience, having known him since childhood, and said he is prepared to face the cleric in a courtroom to encourage others to come forward.
The man, who is now in his 50s and has asked to remain anonymous, told Glasgow's Herald newspaper he had instigated legal proceedings against both the cardinal and the Catholic Church.
He left the seminary several months after the alleged incident and decided only to break his silence after the recent revelations about the former archbishop’s sexual behaviour indicated there were other victims. » | Simon Johnson | Friday, March 15, 2013
Robert Spencer @ Jihad Watch »
SIOUX CITY JOURNAL: SAN FRANCISCO | San Francisco leaders have denounced a series of what they call anti-Islamic advertisements that began appearing on 10 city buses on Monday, calling them racist and offensive.
At least one of the ads contains a quote attributed to the militant Islamic group Hamas that reads: "Killing Jews is worship that brings us closer to Allah."
Mayor Ed Lee, District Attorney George Gascon and other elected officials joined Arab and Muslim community leaders to publicly condemn the ads on Monday.
"These offensive ads serve no purpose than to denigrate our city's Arab and Muslim communities," Gascon said. » | Associated Press | Friday, March 15, 2013
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MAIL ONLINE: Richard Dart, Imran Mahmood, and Jahangir Alom, plead guilty at Old Bailey / Admit preparing for terrorism or assisting another in terrorism, between July 2010 and July 2012 / Trio travelled to Pakistan for terror training and helped others do the same / Conversations reveal targets were Wootton Bassett and secret services
A former BBC security guard today admitted playing a part in a two-year terror plot, which included a possible attack on Wootton Bassett, the small town in Wiltshire used for military funerals.
White Muslim convert Richard Dart, 29, also planned to wipe out members of the security services including 'MI5 or MI6 heads' after receiving training at Pakistani terror camps.
Dart, who calls himself Salahuddin Al Britani, and co-conspirators Imran Mahmood, 21, and Jahangir Alom, 26, have all pleaded guilty to preparing for acts of terrorism during a brief hearing at the Old Bailey.
The charges said they travelled to Pakistan for terror training, travelled abroad to commit acts of terrorism and provided information about travel to Pakistan, terrorism training and operational security while there.
Detectives had recovered computer conversations between Dart and Mahmood identifying one target as Wootton Bassett, whose streets are always lined with mourners when Britain's war-dead are flown back into the UK.
One conversation between the pair went as follows: 'Yes, yes Wootton Bassett, if not that then all combatants if it comes down to it, it is that or even to just deal with a few MI5, MI6 heads.'
Dart, the son of teachers from Dorset, had appeared in a BBC Three documentary made by his stepbrother after he converted to Islam by radical cleric Anjem Choudary. Read on and comment » | Sam Adams and Martin Robinson | Friday, March 15, 2013
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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Pope Francis came close to losing his position within the Catholic Church after he criticised his predecessor seven years ago.
In 2005, then Pope Benedict, while quoting from an obscure medieval text, declared that the Prophet Mohammed, founder of the Islamic faith, was "evil and inhuman", enraging the Muslim population and causing attacks on churches throughout the world before an apology was issued.
Reacting within days to the statements, speaking through a spokesman to Newsweek Argentina, then Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio declared his "unhappiness" with the statements, made at the University of Regensburg in Germany, and encouraged many of his subordinates with the Church to do the same.
"Pope Benedict's statement don't reflect my own opinions", the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires declared. "These statements will serve to destroy in 20 seconds the careful construction of a relationship with Islam that Pope John Paul II built over the last twenty years". » | Alasdair Baverstock | Friday, March 15, 2013
GATESTONE INSTITUTE: More recently, Salafists have issued death threats against German politicians, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "The groups aim to change our society in an aggressive belligerent way so that democracy would be replaced by a Salafist system, and the rule of law replaced by Sharia law." — Hans-Peter Friedrich, Ministry of the Interior, Germany
Germany has banned three ultra-conservative Salafist Muslim groups which the Interior Ministry says want to overturn democracy and install a system based on Islamic Sharia law.
The ban, which took effect in the western German states of Hessen and North Rhine-Westphalia on March 13, comes amid Islamist death threats against German politicians -- and just days after German intelligence announced that the number of Salafists in Germany has jumped over the past year.
The Interior Ministry said that it had banned the groups "DawaFFM" and "Islamische Audios," as well as "An-Nussrah," which is part of the "Millatu Ibrahim" group that was outlawed in June 2012.
In an effort to enforce the ban, hundreds of German police officers raided the homes of radical Islamists in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Gladbeck and Solingen, and seized computers, cellphones and electronic storage devices, as well as money, documents and Islamic propaganda videos in Arabic and in German.
German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said: "Salafism, as represented in the associations that were banned today, is incompatible with our free democratic order. The groups aim to change our society in an aggressive, belligerent way so that democracy would be replaced by a Salafist system, and the rule of law replaced by Sharia law."
Salafism is a branch of radical Islam based in Saudi Arabia that seeks to establish an Islamic empire (Caliphate) across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe -- and eventually the entire world. The Caliphate would be governed exclusively by Islamic Sharia law, which would apply both to Muslims and to non-Muslims.
Also known as Wahhabis, Salafists believe -- among other anti-Western doctrines -- that democracy must be destroyed and replaced with an Islamic form of government.
Hans-Georg Maaßen, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), told the German newsmagazine Focus on March 10 that the number of committed Salafists in Germany had grown to 4,500 in 2012, compared with 3,800 in 2011.
Although Salafists make up only a fraction of the estimated 4.3 million Muslims in Germany, authorities are concerned that most of those attracted to Salafi ideology are impressionable young Muslims who are especially susceptible to committing suicide attacks in the name of Islam. » | Soeren Kern | Friday, March 15, 2013
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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: British people are too afraid to offend a "vocal and aggressive" section of the Muslim community who demand that their cultural values are accepted by wider society, according to a former adviser to Barack Obama.
Professor Lawrence Krauss said he had been shocked when taking part at a debate hosted by an Islamic group at a leading British university to find that men and women were segregated.
The professor, a leading physicist and prominent atheist, threatened to walk out unless organisers agreed to let men and women sit together, which was eventually agreed - but was then astonished to find himself being accused of intolerance by angry members of the audience.
He said there had been no such problems when he recently took part in a similar debate in Australia.
But he suggested in Britain people were often too polite to object to such practices as well as being cowed by those eager to protest whenever they felt "their cultural norms are not being met".
He said: "People are not only afraid to offend, but afraid to offend a vocal and aggressive group of people.
"There is a segment of the Islamic community that is very vocal about this."
The professor said: "I think the notion that these cultural norms should be carried out within a broader society that not only doesn't share them but that is free and open is a very serious problem." » | John-Paul Ford Rojas | Friday, March 15, 2013
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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Radical British Islamists are travelling to Syria in greater numbers than all other theatres of war, a senior British official has said.
The numbers of young British Muslims travelling to fight with extremist groups battling the Syrian regime has escalated to the point where the conflict already poses a "major threat" to Britain's stability and security.
"This is a horrific situation that is now on a grave trajectory," the official said. "We now have more British jihadists going to Syria than all the other areas of conflict, be it Afghanistan, Pakistan or Yemen combined."
The government is examining ways of isolating jihadist groups in Syria, as Whitehall considers plans to increase assistance to rebels, including sending arms.
Security experts fear a new generation of radicals intent on a career of jihadist warfare is gaining training and experience of war in Syria. The exodus from British towns and cities is believed to have risen to levels last seen decades ago when the Bosnian and Afghan conflicts were at their height. » | Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Thursday, March 14, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
THE GUARDIAN: Former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio ditches Mercedes, ermine and gold cross for simpler style as he begins papacy
It wasn't quite a bus – his days of taking public transport may finally be over – but it certainly wasn't the vehicle of pontiffs, either. The car in which Pope Francis travelled on his first day as head of the Roman Catholic church was a standard-issue, black saloon.
Not for him the Mercedes with the papal number plate SCV1. That – along with the ermine-trimmed mozzetta and the gold pectoral cross – had been left behind. The new pope, said a Vatican spokesman, seemed to have brought "a new style of doing things".
First on the papal agenda on Thursday was a "spontaneous" visit – alluded to on Wednesday night by the just-elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio – to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in central Rome. The church, home to an altar where the Jesuit founder Saint Ignatius of Loyola celebrated his first mass in 1538, had played host to Francis when he was a mere cardinal and archbishop.
Now, he was returning as the world's first Jesuit and Latin American pontiff. Not that there was much difference in the way he behaved, according to one priest, Father Ludovico Melo. "It was a meeting with a father," he said, "and not with a pope." » | Lizzy Davies in Vatican City | Thursday, March 14, 2013
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