THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Egypt 'could slide into civil war': Egypt's leading religious authority has warned of "civil war" calling for calm after a member of the Muslim Brotherhood was killed ahead of mass rallies against the rule of President Mohamed Morsi. » | Reuters | Friday, June 28, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Egypt 'could slide into civil war': Egypt's leading religious authority has warned of "civil war" calling for calm after a member of the Muslim Brotherhood was killed ahead of mass rallies against the rule of President Mohamed Morsi. » | Reuters | Friday, June 28, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Civil servants have overruled the Oxford English Dictionary and hundreds years of common usage effectively abolishing the traditional meaning of the words for spouses.
The landmark change is contained in the fine print of new official legal guidance drawn up for MPs and peers as the Government’s same-sex marriage bill is debated.
It comes as part of a Government initiative to “clarify” what words will mean when gay marriage becomes law.
But critics described it as the vocabulary of “cloud cuckoo land”.
It follows claims by opponents of the redefinition of marriage that universally understood terms such as father and mother might be simply deleted by bureaucrats on official forms. » | John Bingham, Social Affair Editor | Thursday, June 27, 2013
BBC: US President Barack Obama has called on African governments to give gay people equal rights by decriminalising homosexual acts.
Mr Obama made the comments in Senegal after meeting President Macky Sall on the first leg of his African tour.
Mr Sall said Senegal was a "very tolerant" country but it was "not ready to decriminalise homosexuality".
Homosexual acts are still a crime in 38 African countries, where most people hold conservative religious views.
In 2011, the US and UK hinted that they could withdraw aid from countries which did not respect gay rights. (+ video) » | Thursday, June 27, 2013
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
LIBERTY GB: : Liberty GB supporter Walter Tyler has written to Home Secretary Theresa May condemning her decision to bar American counter-jihad activists Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller
Ref: Refusal to admit Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller
26th June 2013
CC Bill Cash
Dear Home Secretary,
I write in response to your refusal to admit Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller to the UK. I have noted with increasing despondency the way in which Muslims in this country allied with various nefarious leftist elements are able to subvert 'free speech' by protesting the action of law abiding citizens.
I am a former sociologist and have studied Islam in great detail. I would suggest that you delineate between what is religious within Islam and what is political. Clearly killing people in the name of Jihad is not religious and is entirely political. Therefore countering political Islam by protest is entirely legal and should be permitted in a free and democratic society.
Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller, two people whose writing and interviews I am familiar with, have never to the best of my knowledge criticised the five pillars of Islam which are its spiritual tenets and its religious aspects. They have therefore not transgressed any law other than the self-appointed Islamic Sharia as applied in this country through you because you are scared of the threats of force made against the government by Islamic groups.
Slander and defamation in Islam is constituted by speaking the truth about someone/ something that the other person does not want uncovered or not advancing Islam. The social situation in this country is declining to such a state where there is an apartheid application of laws against the majority in favour of a politically supremacist minority. The propagation of Islam under British law is illegal since Islam calls for the annihilation of the Jews and the second class dhimmi status for other religious groups and the subsequent payment of protection money or 'jizya'.
Could you advise me what is being done to protect the majority in terms of the law from Islamic attacks including rape which is permitted in the Quran against non-believers? I understand that the law has never been applied against racist or religious attacks against white people or Christians in this country – please advise how the present laws protect both groups?
I also note that your Government is supporting Jihadi groups in Syria who are annihilating minority Shia and Alawite Muslims and Christians. Why are you supporting these groups when Assad is by far the lesser of the two evils?
I have come to the conclusion that Islam and Western Civilization are entirely incompatible. I remind you of the words of Sir Winston Churchill to Neville Chamberlain when he returned from Munich in 1938: "You had the choice between war and dishonour, you chose dishonour but you will get war".
Furthermore, you will be aware of Karl Popper's dictum that if you tolerate the intolerant then your tolerant society will be destroyed.
It appears that the government of this country cares more for the wellbeing of its enemies than it does for its own people. Such a civilization will not survive and indeed does not deserve to survive. The people will not forget and at some stage the belief in the social contract will falter if decisive action is not taken. The people will not have to follow any law of a morally corrupt government that protects a politically supremacist ideology over the interests over its own citizens.
Wat (Walter) Tyler | Leave a comment » | Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer co-founded anti-Muslim group Stop Islamization of America.
They were due to speak at an English Defence League march in Woolwich, where Drummer Lee Rigby was killed.
A government spokesman said individuals whose presence "is not conducive to the public good" could be excluded by the home secretary.
He added: "We condemn all those whose behaviours and views run counter to our shared values and will not stand for extremism in any form."
'Right decision'
Ms Geller, of the Atlas Shrugs blog, and Mr Spencer, of Jihad Watch, are also co-founders of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, best known for a pro-Israel "Defeat Jihad" poster campaign on the New York subway.
On both of their blogs the pair called their bans from entering the UK "a striking blow against freedom" and said the "the nation that gave the world the Magna Carta is dead".
They were due to attend a march planned by the far-right EDL to mark Armed Forces Day on 29 June, ending in Woolwich, south east London, where soldier Drummer Rigby was murdered last month.
Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, who had called for the bloggers to be banned from the UK, said: "I welcome the home secretary's ban on Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer from entering the country. This is the right decision. The UK should never become a stage for inflammatory speakers who promote hate."
EDL leader Tommy Robinson, meanwhile, criticised the decision and said Ms Geller and Mr Spencer were coming to the UK to lay flowers at the place where Drummer Rigby died.
"It's embarrassing for this so-called land of democracy and freedom of speech," he said.
"How many hate preachers are living in this country? It just shows what sort of a two-tier system we have here." » | Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Related »
Paul Weston, Chairman of new political party Liberty GB, speaks out about the Woolwich murder, Islam and the state of Britain today.
Liberty GB is here to protect the traditional British way of life, which has been ignored by the so-called 'Conservative' Party. We are a culturist, traditionalist and patriotic party that will talk truthfully about immigration and Islam. We are not career politicians, and we don't respond to whips - we'll always stand up for facts, and we'll always stand against hatred and intolerance.
HT: gerard »
JIHAD WATCH: In a striking blow against freedom, the British government has banned us from entering the country. Muhammad al-Arifi, who has advocated Jew-hatred, wife-beating, and jihad violence, entered the U.K. recently with no difficulty. In not allowing us into the country solely because of our true and accurate statements about Islam, the British government is behaving like a de facto Islamic state. The nation that gave the world the Magna Carta is dead. Leave a comment » | Robert | Wednesday, June 26, 2013
My comment:
I'm sorry to learn that my country has banned your entry into my country. I cannot imagine what the government is thinking about. This is further proof, if indeed further proof is needed, that the United Kingdom is a spent force. It's finished! The Islamisation of the UK from here on in is nothing but a foregone conclusion. The politicians that are elected and paid to lead us are spineless wimps who are incapable of anything other than capitulation. The 'Great' has just been taken out of Great Britain. – © Mark
THE INDEPENDENT: Anti-Ground Zero Mosque campaigners Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer barred from entering Britain to speak at an EDL rally: Theresa May said activists' presence in the UK would 'not be conducive to the public good' ¶ Two of the people behind a campaign against the building of the “Ground Zero Mosque” in New York have been barred from entering Britain to speak at an English Defence League rally in London this weekend, it has been announced. ¶ The Home Secretary Theresa May has told Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, both of the anti-Islamic group Stop Islamization of America, that their presence in the UK would “not be conducive to the public good”. The decision, which they cannot appeal, will stand for between three and five years. » | Kevin Rawlinson | Wednesday June 26, 2013
ADVOCATE.COM: The Supreme Court made history today by deciding two landmark cases on LGBT equality today with far-reaching implications.
With the Supreme Court's rulings today, the part of the Defense of Marriage Act that prevented federal recognition of same-sex marriages is no more. And the Proposition 8 law that banned same-sex couples from marrying in California is once again overturned, clearing the way for marriage equality to resume in California.
The Supreme Court today ruled the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, meaning that legally married same-sex couples can begin claiming a litany of federal benefits immediately, according to the New York Times.
In a 5-4 decision written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the nation's highest court ruled that DOMA denies equal protection to a group of people protected by the Fifth Amendment for no other reason than the group's political unpopularity. » | Advocate.com Editors | Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Intruders broke into the mosque, which is still under construction, early this morning and used paint taken from builders' cabins on the site.
Amid fears of a backlash against the Muslim community following the Woolwich terror attack on Drummer Lee Rigby, racist graffiti was daubed over walls and at least six of the mosque's windows.
Offensive words and symbols with the initials EDL, NF, KKK and racist language were daubed across the new mosque in blue paint.
Due to an increase in "incidents happening nationally," an increased police presence has been implemented in the area.
Police have informed mosque representatives and are guarding the site, in Jinnah Road, Redditch, West Midlands. » | Charlotte Meredith | Wednesday, June 26, 2013
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Revelations that Britain has been expansively spying on German and European data has deepened a public debate over mass privacy violations. German editorialists argue that London and Washington have some explaining to do.
In Germany, a country with a long, troubled history of state surveillance, the revelation that British and American intelligence agencies have been spying en masse on European data communications has not gone over easily.
Last Friday, London's Guardian newspaper published the contents of leaked documents confirming that Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the American National Security Agency (NSA) have been tapping directly into fiber-optic cables to collect vast stores of information that they can then access as needed. Among these cables was the TAT-14, which carries a large share of data communication in and out of Germany, the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung and public radio station NDR reported on Tuesday after viewing documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
According to media reports, neither the German government nor the country's foreign intelligence service, the BND, was apparently aware of the British surveillance operation, dubbed "Tempora," which was reportedly made possible with the cooperation of two telecommunications companies: Vodafone and British telecoms giant BT. Vodafone released a statement saying it abides by the laws of the countries in which it operates, but it declined to give further information, citing "national security." BT has refused to comment.
The ongoing surveillance controversy, which began last month following the disclosure of the NSA's Prism program, has been a heated topic in Germany, where the massive state surveillance of Communist East Germany is still present in the memories of many citizens. » | SPIEGEL ONLINE Staff | Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Islamic Emergency Defence — which pledges to defend Muslims in a “swift and Islamic manner” — has seen splinter groups rise up in Blackburn, Luton and East London.
Its website gives an “emergency hotline” number for Muslims to report attacks rather than call police.
One IED member said he would not be afraid to stand up to people who were anti-Muslim. » | Jonathan Reilly | Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
The two men came from different backgrounds, but shared a belief in Allah and a common goal: power. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Abdullah Gül, now respectively prime minister and president of Turkey, have worked together since the 1990s and their alliance has helped political Islam attain more power than ever before.
The current protests in Turkey, though, are threatening to break that alliance apart. Elements of Turkish society have risen up against their government and called on Prime Minister Erdogan to resign. Yet even as protesters and police clash in the streets, another power struggle is taking place in Ankara. President Gül is increasingly seeking to distance himself from his former political ally.
Erdogan and Gül are different in both background and character. Erdogan worked hard to get where he is today. As a child, he sold sesame rings in Istanbul's port neighborhood of Kasmpasa. He was also an avid soccer player, earning himself the nickname "Imam Beckenbauer." Although he managed to attend university and later became Istanbul's mayor, Erdogan was never able to conceal his simpler origins -- nor did he want to. He is moody, temperamental and unrestrained, qualities that may well be his undoing in the current crisis.
Gül, on the other hand, comes across as being diplomatic and moderate. Unlike Erdogan, he speaks English. Gül's parents were relatively well-to-do, sending their son to study economics in Istanbul and London. Gül worked as a manager for an Islamic bank in Saudi Arabia before being elected to Turkish parliament in the 1990s as part of the Islamist Refah movement. » | Maximilian Popp in Istanbul | Tuesday, June 25, 2013
BBC: EU foreign ministers have backed a German proposal to postpone further EU membership talks with Turkey for about four months.
The EU-Turkey talks had been scheduled to resume this Wednesday.
But Germany, Austria and the Netherlands have criticised Turkey's crackdown on anti-government protests.
Turkish police arrested at least 20 people in the capital Ankara on Tuesday, suspected of attacking police during the recent unrest in Istanbul.
Turkish media say the suspects are also accused of belonging to a "terror organisation".
Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle played down tensions with Turkey on Tuesday, saying he had had a "really good, constructive" discussion with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday evening.
Mr Davutoglu was upbeat, saying he saw "no obstacle" to reopening Turkey's talks with the EU eventually.
Turkey began accession negotiations with the EU in 2005, at the same time as Croatia, which will join the 27-nation bloc next week.
But Turkey's talks have been stalled for three years, and an EU Commission report on Ankara's progress last October highlighted numerous concerns about democracy and human rights.
Like all would-be member states, Turkey has to satisfy a detailed set of EU requirements, called the acquis. Last year Turkey received 856m euros (£727m; $1.1bn) in EU aid to help it make the necessary institutional reforms.>br />
Diplomatic tussle
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel wants Turkey to have a privileged partnership with the EU, rather than full EU membership. She hopes to win re-election in September - before the talks with Turkey resume.
Last week Germany summoned the Turkish ambassador in a row over Turkey's membership bid.
The two countries had earlier exchanged angry words in connection with the Turkish police action against demonstrators. Turkish police have used water cannon and tear gas against protesters - a crackdown widely seen to have fuelled anger against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government. » | Tuesday, June 25, 2013
BBC: Germany's justice minister has written to British ministers seeking information about allegations of mass surveillance by British intelligence.
Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger asked if the surveillance by GCHQ was legal and if Germans were targeted.
Previously she had said the gathering of vast amounts of global data sounded like a "Hollywood nightmare".
Meanwhile, civil rights group Liberty demanded an inquiry into whether its communications were accessed illegally.
The Foreign Office said it does not comment on intelligence matters. Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament two weeks ago, though, that British security agencies uphold the law at all times.
Evidence leaked by Edward Snowden to the Guardian suggests that GCHQ is able to tap into and store internet data from fibre optic cables for 30 days in an operation called Tempora.
And GCHQ is also said to have accessed information about UK citizens from the US National Security Agency's monitoring programme, Prism.
'Germans fear spying'
GCHQ has insisted it is "scrupulous" in complying with the law.
Ms Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger's request for more information from the British government came after German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced unease at the allegations in the Guardian.
The letters Ms Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger sent to Home Secretary Theresa May and Justice Secretary Chris Grayling urged them not to lose the principles of civil rights.
She wrote: "In our modern world, the new media provide the framework for a free exchange of opinions and information. Transparent governance is one of the most important prerequisites that a democratic state and the rule of law requires."
The BBC's Berlin correspondent Stephen Evans said the letters asked four main questions: On what legal basis the spying program was executed; whether general information is collected and does it need a specific reason or is a more general trawl; whether judges had approved the measures; what data was kept and was it on German citizens.
Our correspondent said it is a real and potent issue in Germany because under the Nazi and Communist regimes spying on citizens was widespread and feared. » | Tuesday, June 25, 2013
To this day, Russians have differing opinions on the country's last tsar, Nicholas II, who was executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
Some call him a model statesman and even a martyr - while others dismiss him as a faceless politician who ruined his country.
He's referred to as both Nicholas the Slaughterer and the Tsar-Martyr. So what was the real story behind the last emperor?
REUTERS UK: President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Tuesday a former U.S. spy agency contractor sought by the United States was in the transit area of a Moscow airport but ruled out handing him over to Washington, dismissing U.S. criticisms as "ravings and rubbish".
His refusal to hand back Edward Snowden risked deepening a rift with the United States that has also sucked in China and threatens relations between countries that may be essential in settling global conflicts including the Syrian war. » | Reuters | Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Documentary presented by Rageh Omaar which reveals the lives, hopes and fears of the young generation of Tehran, the most intriguing, talked about but least understood city in the world today.
Omaar and director Paul Sapin spent a year arranging the permissions and contacts for the film, who include a renowned female photojournalist, a woman who is the CEO of an international transport company, the editor of a youth magazine, the staff at a drug rehab centre and a pop star.
What do we really know about the Islamic Republic of Iran, aside from a Cold War rhetoric of politicians on both sides each accusing the other of evil? Rageh Omaar embarks on a unique journey inside what he describes as one of the most misunderstood countries in the world, looking at the country through the eyes of people rarely heard -- ordinary Iranians. It took a year of wrangling to get permission to film inside Iran but the result is an amazing portrayal of an energetic and vibrant country that is completely different to the usual images seen in the media.
AL JAZEERA: Transcript: Emir's speech » | Tuesday, June 25, 2013
AL JAZEERA: A new ruler for a transformed country: Qatar's emir, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, turns over control of a transformed country 18 years after taking power. » | Monday, June 24, 2013
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