Thursday, November 07, 2013
Wednesday, November 06, 2013
Germany: Hotel Sorry for Spa Break Named after Nazi Attacks
Berlusconi Says His Kids Feel Persecuted Like Jews by Hitler
Berlusconi's comments came from an advance excerpt, released on Wednesday, of an interview with him by Italian television journalist Bruno Vespa for his latest book.
Replying to a question about whether his five children had asked him to sell his media empire and leave Italy to escape his legal troubles, Berlusconi said: "My children say that they feel like Jewish families in Germany under Hitler's regime. Truly, everyone is against us." » | Steve Schere | Reuters | Wednesday, November 06, 2013
London Mask March: Scuffles with Police as Anonymous Allies Rally
Face Time: Hundreds March in DC in Anonymous-inspired Protest
Alltag unterm Hakenkreuz – Hitlers Geliebte Eva
New VIP Visa Service for Wealthy Foreigners
Ministers are creating a new visa system for global business leaders amid concerns that moves to tighten immigration rules are deterring “high-value” individuals from overseas.
Around 100 wealthy foreigners will initially be invited to join a new “bespoke” visa service which the Home Office said will ensure their passage through the UK border system is “swift and smooth.” » | James Kirkup, Political Editor | Wenesday, November 06, 2013
Bill de Blasio Wins New York Mayoral Election
Bill de Blasio has become the first Democrat in almost 25 years to be elected Mayor of New York City, crushing Joe Lhota, his Republican opponent, by more than 50 percentage points, according to exit polls.
Mr de Blasio, a Left-wing city official who has called for an increase in taxes on Manhattan's millionaires, beat Mr Lhota, a former city transport boss, by 79-19 among women and 69-27 among men, according to the polling, by Edison Research for The New York Times.
"The bottom line is we have to get to work immediately," he said earlier on Tuesday, while casting his vote in his home neighbourhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn.
According to the surveys, which saw Mr de Blasio declared the 109th mayor immediately after polls closed at 9pm, he triumphed among every age group, ethnicity, income bracket and education level and even secured the votes of 43 per cent of New Yorkers defining themselves as conservatives.
The decisive victory was hailed by Mr de Blasio's supporters as proof that New Yorkers – struggling like many Americans to fully recover from recession – yearned for a radical departure from Michael Bloomberg's 12-year tenure as the billionaire pro-business chief executive of America's biggest city. Read on and comment » | Jon Swaine, in New York | Wednesday, November 06, 2013
My comment:
I guess that New Yorkers got tired of tyrants. Enough already! – © Mark
This comment appears here too.
Tuesday, November 05, 2013
Erdogan kritisiert gemischte Studenten-Wohnheime
Der türkische Ministerpräsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan hat mit Kritik an gemischten Studenten-Wohnheimen für Empörung gesorgt. "Studentinnen und Studenten können nicht in einem Haus wohnen, das widerspricht unseren konservativ-demokratischen Strukturen", sagte Erdogan laut Medienberichten vom Montag vor Mitgliedern seiner islamisch-konservativen Partei für Gerechtigkeit und Entwicklung (AKP) in Ankara. Zugleich kündigte er demnach bei der Rede am Sonntag an, "auf die eine oder andere Weise" die Situation in den immer seltener werdenden gemischten Wohnheimen zu überwachen. » | APA/AFP | Montag, 04. November 2013
Arabie saoudite: des milliers d'immigrés illégaux arrêtés
Des patrouilles de police ont procédé lundi, au lendemain de l'expiration d'une amnistie royale, à quelque 4000 interpellations à Jeddah (ouest), a indiqué un porte-parole local de la police, le sous-lieutenant Nawaf al-Bouq.
Dans la région de Riyad, 818 étrangers illégaux ont été arrêtés mardi, a déclaré à l'AFP le porte-parole de la capitale, le général Nasser al-Qahtani.
Dans d'autres villes et localités du royaume, la police a arrêté des centaines d'expatriés en situation irrégulière, selon la presse locale.
À Jeddah, des travailleurs indonésiens se sont rassemblés lundi devant leur consulat pour protester contre la lenteur des procédures administratives en cours pour organiser leur départ, selon la presse.
Le départ de près d'un million d'expatriés illégaux dans le cadre de l'amnistie a été fortement ressenti par la population. » | Agence France-Presse | Riyad | mardi 05 novembre 2013
Merkel will wegen Snowden keinen Bruch mit USA riskieren
SophieCo: 'Encrypted Services Easier to Hack Than Typewriters - For Safety Go Back to Basics'
'Shake the System!' Far-right On Rise ahead of 2014 EU Vote
Rocky Relationship: Partisan Politics Push Rural Colorado to Vote on Secession
Watchful Friends: Latest Revelation Shows GCHQ Has Listening Post in Berlin
Related »
#MillionMaskMarch: Anonymous Supporters Rally Worldwide to Protest Corruption, Police State
OECD Engages in Crap Talk! Britons Happier Than Before Financial Crisis as Contentment Plummets in Europe – OECD
British people have emerged from global financial crisis happier than before in stark contrast with their counterparts in most other European countries, a major international study shows.
Levels of general satisfaction with life have also edged upwards in the UK, bucking the trend in much of the rest of the developed world, a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found.
Even trust in government, which has tumbled in many Eurozone countries in particular in the last five years, has risen in the UK over the same period.
Although the recession sent unemployment rising and put a squeeze on living standards in Britain as elsewhere, the drop in national morale seen in other countries is simply “not visible” in the UK, according to the OECD. » | John Bingham, Social Affairs Editor | Tuesday, November 05, 2013
Obama's Rant: Vote for McAuliffe Is Vote for Progress
South Korea Refuses to Forgive Japan’s Wartime Atrocities
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| South Korean President Park Geun-hye |
Old hatreds bred from old atrocities and injustices are slow to disappear. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said at the start of visits to France and Britain this week that she is willing to hold a summit anytime with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, whose country intermittently threatens war against South Korea.
But she rejects flatly any idea of meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe until Japan apologises for wrongdoings during its 35-year occupation of Korea.
In particular, South Korea wants a deeper apology and greater compensation for an estimated 200,000 South Korean “comfort women” who were forced to work as prostitutes in Japanese military brothels during the occupation. Everything to do with the 1910-45 Japanese occupation of Korea, brutal and authoritarian even compared with most other imperial occupations, still festers. The Japanese response to Ms Park’s remarks – that what happened during the occupation and Second World War is very ancient history – is not going to mollify South Korean resentments. » | Patrick Cockburn | Tuesday, November 05, 2013
Germany Calls In British Ambassador Over Berlin Spying Claim
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| Simon McDonald, UK Ambassador to Germany |
Germany called in the British ambassador to hear a formal protest on Tuesday after reports suggested that British intelligence runs an eavesdropping centre in Berlin.
The facility, allegedly sited on the roof of the British Embassy in Berlin, is supposedly operated by the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the UK’s largest intelligence agency.
Germany took the unusual step of requesting Simon McDonald, the British ambassador, to attend a meeting at the foreign ministry. The German diplomat responsible for relations with European countries “asked for an explanation of current reports in British media and indicated that tapping communications from a diplomatic mission would be a violation of international law”. Read on and comment » | David Blair | Tuesday, November 05, 2013
My comment:
We Brits never did quite grasp the concept of being communautaire, did we? It's as if we never really joined the EU, and it's as if WWII never ended. Shame on us! – © Mark
This comment appears here too.
Anger Grows Over British Spying in Berlin »
Free Press? Editor Laments 'Retrogressive' Government Action
Et Tu, UK? Anger Grows over British Spying in Berlin
Germany has been rocked by the revelation that yet another close ally might be spying on its leaders from an embassy in Berlin. The London-based newspaper The Independent revealed Monday that British intelligence had established a "secret listening post" in the British Embassy like the one recently revealed by SPIEGEL to be in the US Embassy on the same large block. The British post, like the American one, is located near the German parliament, the Reichstag, and was disclosed in the trove of data leaked by American intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden. » | tmr | Tuesday, November 05, 2013
Nordkorea: Kims Tante soll in die USA geflohen sein
Eine südkoreanische Zeitung hat angebliche Details aus dem strikt abgeschotteten Privatleben von Nordkoreas Machthaber Kim Jong Un enthüllt. Demzufolge flüchtete dessen Tante 1998 in die USA. Ko Yong Suk habe den Sohn von Staatschef Kim Jong Il eigentlich während seiner Schulzeit im schweizerischen Bern betreuen sollen. Sie nutzte diese Möglichkeit aber zur Flucht nach Übersee, berichtete das Blatt "JongAng" am Dienstag. Die Tageszeitung beruft sich auf einen ranghohen Ex-Geheimdienstmitarbeiter und einen südkoreanischen Diplomaten, die damals in Bern stationiert waren. » | ler/AFP | Dienstag, 05. November 2013
Kerry Hails Saudi Leadership as He Bids to Repair Relations
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| U.S. Secretary of State meets with King Abdullah in Riyadh |
John Kerry played down rifts with Saudi Arabia, saying relations between the two countries were "strategic and enduring" and that both agreed negotiations were the only way to stop Syria's civil war.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, in Riyadh after talks with King Abdullah, Mr Kerry said: "This is a deep relationship and it has endured for 75 years and it will endure well into the future."
He also reiterated Washington would not let Iran develop an atomic bomb. "The United States will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. That policy has not changed."
The Saudis have complained that the United States did not follow through on its threat to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad with military strikes for his government's use of chemical weapons.
Last month, the Saudis won but turned down an elected seat on the UN Security Council, saying the body had proved itself largely meaningless because of its inability over two years to address the crisis in Syria. The Saudis also have watched with increasing nervousness as President Barack Obama has approved a cautious opening with their archrival Iran. Read on and comment » | Alex Spillius, and Agencies | Monday, November 04, 2013
Monday, November 04, 2013
Frosty Reception: Rouhani’s Thaw Doing Little to Rid Skepticism of US
Charged Atmosphere: Sparks Fly at Morsi Trial between Supporters & Journos
Talk to Al Jazeera: Michelle Bachelet: 'I Love My Country'
Iranians Cry 'Death to America' in Huge Rally
Verwandt »
Modernist Art Haul, 'Looted by Nazis', Recovered by German Police
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| Hitler shows off modernist, impressionist and cubist art in Berlin in 1939 |
About 1,500 modernist masterpieces – thought to have been looted by the Nazis – have been confiscated from the flat of an 80-year-old man from Munich, in what is being described as the biggest artistic find of the postwar era.
The artworks, which could be worth as much as €1bn (£860m), are said to include pieces by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, Max Beckmann and Emil Nolde. They had been considered lost until now, according to a report in the German news weekly Focus.
The works, which would originally have been confiscated as "degenerate art" by the Nazis or taken from Jewish collectors in the 1930s and 1940s, had made their way into the hands of a German art collector, Hildebrand Gurlitt. When Gurlitt died, the artworks were passed down to his son, Cornelius – all without the knowledge of the authorities.
Gurlitt, who had not previously been on the radar of the police, attracted the attention of the customs authorities only after a random cash check during a train journey from Switzerland to Munich in 2010, according to Focus. Further police investigations led to a raid on Gurlitt's flat in Schwabing in spring 2011. Police discovered a vast collection of masterpieces by some of the world's greatest artists. » | Philip Oltermann in Berlin | Monday, November 04, 2013
Bahrain Jails Shias over 'Iran-backed' Assassination Plans
A Bahraini court has sentenced four Shia Muslims to life and six others to 15 years in jail on charges of setting up a militant cell linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard aimed at assassinating public figures in the Gulf Arab kingdom.
In February, Bahrain, a western ally which hosts the US Fifth Fleet, accused Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard of setting up the "terror" cell, which it said planned to attack its airport and government buildings.
Bahrain has accused Shia-led Iran of fuelling unrest in the country since a 2011 uprising by majority Shias demanding reforms and a greater say in running the kingdom ruled by the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty.
Tehran denies the accusation. » | Reuters in Bahrain | Monday, November 04, 2013
L'odieuse campagne de machos américains
Depuis quelques semaines, le "fat shaming" (littéralement "honte aux grosses"), qui explose sur les réseaux sociaux, amuse certains, mais indigne beaucoup d'autres, comme le souligne le site des Inrocks. Le principe : ridiculiser les femmes enrobées pour les convaincre de perdre du poids.
L'initiative est partie du site internet américain Return of Kings. Le blog, qui "prône un retour de l'homme masculin", a lancé la "fat shaming week", une semaine de dénigrement des femmes en surpoids, à l'aide d'articles aux titres aussi évocateurs que "5 raisons pour lesquelles les grosses n'ont pas droit à l'amour", "5 façons d'humilier une grosse lors d'un rendez-vous" ou encore "l'obésité est une menace plus grande qu'al-Qaida". » | Source Sipa Media | lundi 04 novembre 2013
Iran: Tausende demonstrieren gegen USA
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| Teheran: Tausende demonstrieren gegen USA |
Teheran - Mehrere tausend Iraner haben am Montag vor dem Gebäude der früheren US-Botschaft in Teheran gegen die USA demonstriert. Es nahmen mehr Menschen an den Protesten anlässlich des 34. Jahrestags der Stürmung der US-Vertretung als in den Vorjahren teil, wie Reporter der Nachrichtenagentur AFP berichteten.
Der Protest, zu dem konservative Gruppierungen aufgerufen hatten, richtete sich auch gegen Irans Erzfeind Israel. Die Demonstranten riefen "Nieder mit Amerika" und "Tod für Israel", einige Teilnehmer zündeten Flaggen der Länder an. » | heb/AFP/AP | Monday, November 04, 2013
Debatte über Snowden: Gewähren Sie Asyl, Frau Bundeskanzlerin!
Asyl für Edward Snowden? Die Frage stellte sich schon im Sommer, und damals hat die Bundeskanzlerin abgelehnt. Sie versteckte sich hinter einer Floskel: "Das Bundesinnenministerium und das Auswärtige Amt sind nach ihrer Prüfung zu dem Ergebnis gekommen, dass die Voraussetzungen für politisches Asyl oder eine Aufenthaltsgewährung aus anderen Gründen nicht vorlagen."
Das war schon damals falsch.
Aber heute lässt sich das gar nicht mehr halten. Wir wissen jetzt, dass es den Amerikanern bei unserer Überwachung nicht um Sicherheit geht, sondern um Macht. Angela Merkel sollte also dem Mann Schutz und Asyl gewähren, der uns die Augen für das wahre Verhältnis von Sicherheit und Macht im digitalen Zeitalter geöffnet hat. Asyl für Snowden, das wäre ein mächtiges Signal dafür, dass wir unsere Rechte nicht der amerikanischen Herrschaft unterordnen - und überhaupt nicht der digitalen Herrschaft, denn das läuft heute auf dasselbe hinaus. » | Eine Kolumne von Jakob Augstein | Montag, 04. November 2013
White House Rejects Notion of Clemency for Edward Snowden
A senior White House aide and top US lawmakers on Sunday rejected intelligence leaker Edward Snowden's request for clemency following his disclosures of widespread government surveillance.
White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer and the heads of America's Senate and House intelligence committees spoke just days after a German lawmaker published a letter from the fugitive and said Snowden was ready to testify to Congress to shed light on "possibly serious offences."
"Mr Snowden violated US law," Pfeiffer told ABC television's "This Week" program. "He should return to the US and face justice." But Senator Dianne Feinstein said the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor had missed his chance.
"He had an opportunity, if what he was was a whistleblower to pick up the phone and call the House Intelligence Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee and say, 'Look, I have some information you ought to see,'" she told CBS television's "Face the Nation." » | AFP | Monday, November 04, 2013
Report Calls for Female Genital Mutilation to Be Treated as Child Abuse
Thousands of girls in danger of genital mutilation are being failed by the health and justice systems, a coalition of health professionals has warned in a report that recommends aggressive steps to eradicate the practice in the UK.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) should be treated the same as any other kind of child abuse and evidence of it must be reported to the police, according to the report.
Janet Fyle, a policy adviser of the Royal College of Midwives and one of the report's authors, said that just as it was inconceivable that a health worker would not report evidence of child abuse to the police, it should be equally important to report evidence of FGM.
"If we are applying child protection laws, we cannot pick and choose which crimes against children we pursue," she said.
"We are not asking for more money or legislation, we are just asking that child protection laws should work for all children not just some." » | Conal Urquhart | Monday, November 04, 2013
Kerry Meets Saudi Leaders to Ease Tensions
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| John Kerry meets Saudi Foreign Minster, Prince Saud Al-Faisal |
United States Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Saudi Arabia hoping to repair ties with America's longstanding ally, which have frayed over the Syrian conflict and US outreach to Iran.
Kerry was greeted on Sunday night in Riyadh by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud.
The top US diplomat is already on his second stop of an 11-day trip which has become an exercise in damage control, as regional turbulence stirs tensions with longtime US partners.
Saudi Arabia, locked in a decades-long rivalry with Iran, is concerned that proposed Syrian peace talks could leave a Tehran-backed government in Damascus and that a breakthrough in nuclear negotiations could see US-Iranian relations restored. » | Source: AFP | Sunday, November 03, 2013
Egypt's Deposed President Morsi Goes On Trial
Germany 'Should Offer Edward Snowden Asylum after NSA Revelations'
An increasing number of public figures are calling for Edward Snowden to be offered asylum in Germany, with more than 50 asking Berlin to step up it support of the US whistleblower in the new edition of Der Spiegel magazine[.]
Heiner Geissler, the former general secretary of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, says in the appeal: "Snowden has done the western world a great service. It is now up to us to help him."
The writer and public intellectual Hans Magnus Enzensberger argues in his contribution that "the American dream is turning into a nightmare" and suggests that Norway would be best placed to offer Snowden refuge, given its track record of offering political asylum to Leon Trotsky in 1935. He bemoans the fact that in Britain, "which has become a US colony", Snowden is regarded as a traitor.
Other public figures on the list include the actor Daniel Brühl, the novelist Daniel Kehlmann, the entrepreneur Dirk Rossmann, the feminist activist Alice Schwarzer and the German football league president, Reinhard Rauball.
The weekly news magazine also publishes a "manifesto for truth", written by Snowden, in which the former NSA employee warns of the danger of spy agencies setting the political agenda. » | Philip Oltermann in Berlin | Sunday, November 03, 2013
SPIEGEL ONLINE: NSA-Affäre: US-Politiker wollen Snowden keine Gnade gewähren: "Wer die Wahrheit ausspricht, begeht kein Verbrechen", sagt Edward Snowden. Doch das Weiße Haus und der US-Geheimdienstausschuss teilen diese Meinung offensichtlich nicht - und sprechen sich gegen eine Begnadigung des ehemaligen Geheimdienstmitarbeiters aus. » | sun/AP/AFP | Sonntag, 03. November 2013
UK Government Reaction to NSA Leaks Eroding Freedom, Rights Groups Warn
Seventy of the world's leading human rights organisations have written to David Cameron to warn that the government's reaction to the mass surveillance revealed by Edward Snowden is leading to an erosion of fundamental rights and freedoms in the UK.
The coalition, which includes organisations from 40 countries, said it had become increasingly alarmed at the way the UK government had applied pressure on media groups covering the leaks and its use of national security concerns to close down important public interest debates.
"We have joined together as an international coalition because we believe that the United Kingdom government's response to the revelations of mass surveillance of digital communications is eroding fundamental human rights in the country," the letter states. "The government's response has been to condemn, rather than celebrate investigative journalism, which plays a crucial role in a healthy democratic society." Read on and comment » | Matthew Taylor and Nick Hopkins | Sunday, November 03, 2013
Open letter: Human rights groups' open letter to David Cameron on surveillance: 'National security should never be used to justify preventing disclosures of illegalities or wrongdoing,' says coalition »
Sunday, November 03, 2013
Mein erstes Mal – Fünf Frauen erzählen (Doku)
Innenansichten – Deutschland 1937 (Arte)
UKIP Nigel Farage – Speech in Canada 2013
Venture Capital: Muslim Money & Extending Bitcoin Influence
How Wild Rumour Led a Mob to Murder an Innocent Man
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