Saturday, February 08, 2014
Ultra-Orthodox Jews Protest against Plan to Draft Them into Israel Defense Forces
Protesters Clash with Police, Set Government Buildings Ablaze in Bosnia
The capital Sarajevo, rioters set the Presidential building ablaze, along with police cars and tires. Authorities fired rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas to disperse the crowds. In other parts of the country protesters hurled rocks at security forces and torched local government buildings.
The unrest initially erupted over the closure of several state-owned companies that were sold off and then collapsed under private ownership.
Outsiders Out? Swiss Decide on Tougher Immigration Limits
Google s'immisce dans le débat sur la législation anti-gay en Russie
C'est un doodle politiquement engagé. Le moteur de recherche Google célèbre vendredi l'ouverture des Jeux olympiques d'hiver de Sotchi en affichant sur sa page d'accueil un logo aux couleurs du drapeau arc-en-ciel de la communauté gay. Chaque case comprend une lettre, une couleur et une discipline sportive représentée à ces JO d'hiver. En dessous, Google a repris un extrait de la Charte olympique: «La pratique du sport est un droit de l'homme. Chaque individu doit avoir la possibilité de faire du sport sans discrimination d'aucune sorte et dans l'esprit olympique, qui exige la compréhension mutuelle, l'esprit d'amitié, de solidarité et de fair-play». » | Par lefigaro.fr | vendredi 07 février 2014
Une loi Internet «liberticide» en Turquie
«Big brother» a les Turcs à l'œil. Le gouvernement islamo-conservateur a toujours eu Internet dans le collimateur mais de là à placer sous surveillance tous ses utilisateurs, il y a un pas… qui a été franchi. En dépit des inquiétudes des organisations des droits de l'homme, des partis de l'opposition à l'unisson ou de l'Union européenne, qui la jugent liberticide, une loi contrôlant strictement le Web a été votée par les députés turcs. » | Par Laure Marchand | vendredi 07 février 2014
Friday, February 07, 2014
Kenyan 'Cutter' Says Female Genital Mutilation Is Her Livelihood
THE GUARDIAN: Margaret, who has put more girls through FGM than she can remember, says cutters ask her how they will eat if they stop
There can be few women who understand both the agonies and the economics of female genital mutilation better than Margaret, a grandmother in her 70s from Pokot, northern Kenya.
Her life has spanned the clumsy colonial efforts to ban the practice, which saw it become a cultural cornerstone of the Mau Mau uprising against British rule, right through to independent Kenya's decision to re[-]impose the prohibition.
She has also put more girls than she can remember under the knife. When Margaret started, the tool of choice was a curved nail; more recently this has been replaced with imported razor blades.
The work, she concedes, is gruelling: frightened young girls would typically sit naked on a rock; once done, their excised clitorises would be thrown to the birds. For the cutters, or "koko mekong", who can earn 2,500 Kenyan shillings (£18) for each girl, it is a livelihood.
"The cutters ask me: 'If we leave doing this thing, what will we eat?'" Margaret says. "Tell the government to give us what to eat. If it's just workshops then it will be no use. The circumcisers will not leave their career simply because they're being told to leave it."
The "cut" has been outlawed in Kenya since 2001. Despite this, a public health survey in 2009 found that 27% of women had been subject to FGM. Among some ethnic groups – such as the Somalis (98%) and Masai (73%) – that figure is much higher. » | Daniel Howden in Baringo County | Friday, February 07, 2014
Iranian Women Footballers to Undergo Gender Tests
Footballers in Iran's professional women's league are to undergo mandatory gender tests to establish that they are fully female.
The country's football governing body is bringing in the random checks after it was revealed that several leading players - including four in the national women's team - were either men who had not completed sex change operations, or were suffering from sexual development disorders.
Gender change operations are legal in Iran according to a fatwa - or religious ruling - pronounced by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spiritual leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution. The law contrasts with the strict rules governing sexual morality under the country's Sharia legal code, which forbids homosexuality and pre-marital sex.
Medical examiners will turn up unannounced at training sessions of teams playing in Iran's women's premier league, as well as those playing in the indoor league, known as footsal.
Ahmad Hashemian, head of the Iranian football federation's medical committee, said the clubs themselves were now obliged to carry out medical examinations to establish the gender of their players before signing them on contracts. » | Robert Tait, Middle East Correspondent | Friday, February 07, 2014
World War I in Color & HD: Episode 8: Making The Series
Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 »
Spanish Royal Family Braces for Princess Cristina's Court Appearance
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| Princess Cristina de Borbón and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin |
When a boulevard in Palma de Mallorca was renamed to honour Princess Cristina de Borbón and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarín, in 1998, it seemed like a good fit. It was one of the city's most regal thoroughfares, lined with trees and dotted with fountains and Roman statues, and they were the feted new couple of the Spanish crown. The princess's father, King Juan Carlos, had recently given the pair the titles the Duke and Duchess of Palma.
Fifteen years later, the city changed its mind. Urdangarín was under investigation for embezzlement and questions were being asked about how much his wife knew. "He has conducted himself poorly and has shown a lack of consideration towards the title and the name of our city," said a spokesperson in explanation for why the city was reverting back to the old name of the boulevard.
On Saturday, just a few streets away from the renamed La Rambla, Spain's royal family will live out another chapter in their steady fall from grace. At 10am Princess Cristina de Borbón has been summoned to the city's imposing stone courthouse to answer allegations of money laundering and tax evasion.
The 48-year-old princess will be the first royal-born member of Spain's ruling Bourbons to appear in court since the monarchy was restored in 1975. She will be questioned by prosecutors, the investigating judge José Castro and dozens of lawyers over her role in one of Spain's longest-running corruption scandals. Both Cristina and her husband have denied any wrongdoing.
At its best, Cristina's appearance in court on Saturday could be cathartic for Spain's ailing monarchy, clearing her of wrongdoing and showing the world that justice plays out equally for every Spanish citizen, royal or not.
But at its worst, this weekend's court appearance could result in criminal charges against the princess, and up to six years of jail time and steep fines. Read on and comment » | Ashifa Kassam in Palma de Mallorca | Friday, February 07, 2014
Family Blames Saudi Gender Segregation Rules for Student's Death
The family of a Saudi woman student who died of heart problems has said her university prevented medics from getting to her in time because of rules barring men from the women-only part of the campus.
The King Saud University in Riyadh denied the accusation and said Amena Bawazir, who had a history of heart disease, received quick medical attention after suffering a stroke last Sunday, causing her heart and lungs to stop functioning.
The case has revived memories of a 2002 incident in which 15 schoolgirls in Jeddah died in a fire after the Saudi morality police sent them back into the building because they were not veiled.
Al-Arabiya television's news website quoted Amena's sister, Fahda Bawazir, as saying that medics arrived at a campus gate shortly after her sister fell ill at around 11 a.m.
"But the medics were not allowed to enter the campus until 1 p.m.," she said, in a report published late on Thursday. » | Friday, February 07, 2014
Printemps arabes : une catastrophe économique
"C'est pire qu'avant." Du Caire à Tunis ou à Tripoli, dans les maisons confortables ou les quartiers miséreux, la phrase revient comme une litanie lancinante. Le Printemps arabe n'a pas seulement débouché sur un grand chaos politique. Les pauvres sont plus pauvres, les classes moyennes laminées, les économies encalminées. La misère progresse. » | Par Pierre Beylau | jeudi 06 février 2014
First Major US Drugstore Drops Cigarettes
Related video »
Thursday, February 06, 2014
Obama's Ex-Bodyguard: Scandals 'Worse Than You Know'
Dutch Populist Politician Geert Wilders Wants Netherlands to Leave EU
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| Geert Wilders |
He claimed Thursday a "NExit" -- Netherlands exit from both the European Union and euro currency zone -- would add nearly 10,000 euros ($13,000) to GDP per capita over two decades, from around 35,000 euros now.
The Dutch government rejects Wilders' views, saying a pullout from the European Union would cause irreparable damage to trade relations in a country heavily reliant on trade, and a euro departure would lead to a new financial crisis.
"I cannot explain to any voters in the Netherlands that we have to raise taxes, cut health care for the elderly, for example, but that we send billions of euros to the Southern European countries (for bailouts), or all the fees we pay to Brussels," Wilders said at a press conference outside Dutch parliament.
Wilders' views on leaving the European Union have so far gained little traction in the Netherlands, and are seen as practically unworkable. However, his euro-skeptic stance, like that of other parties elsewhere on the political extremes -- such as France's Marine Le Pen, Greece's Alexis Tsipras and Britain's Nigel Farage, does resonate with a wider public. » | Toby Sterling, The Associated Press | Thursday, February 06, 2014
Tunisia: Free Blogger Jailed for Mocking Islam
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: (Tunis) – Tunisian authorities should mark the celebration of the country’s new constitution on February 7, 2014, by immediately quashing the sentences of anyone convicted under laws that violate human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. One of these is Jaber Mejri, a blogger imprisoned since 2012 for publishing caricatures deemed insulting to Islam. Many foreign heads of state and officials, including the President François Hollande of France, will attend the ceremony.
On March 28, 2012, the First Instance Criminal Court of Mahdia sentenced Mejri and another blogger, Ghazi Beji, to seven-and-half years in prison for harming “public order or good morals” and “insulting others through public communication networks.” Beji fled and became the first Tunisian to gain political asylum in France since the 2011 revolution. Mejri is in Mahdia prison. The courts of appeal and cassation confirmed the lower court ruling. President Moncef Marzouki has the authority to pardon Mejri and should, Human Rights Watch said. » | Thursday, February 06, 2014
HRW: Tunisie : Il faut libérer le blogueur emprisonné pour avoir tourné l'islam en dérision : Un premier test pour la nouvelle constitution tunisienne » | jeudi 06 février 2014
HRW: باللغة العربية »
British Politician Wants UK Muslims to Denounce Parts of Quran
Gerard Batten, an MEP, renewed his suggestion first proposed in 2006 while speaking to the British daily news website the Guardian, adding that Europe made a huge mistake by allowing “an explosion of mosques across their land.”
“If that represents the thinking of modern people, there's something wrong, in which case maybe they need to revise their thinking,” Batten said.
“If they say they can't revise their thinking on those issues, then who's got the problem – us or them?” he added.
During the interview, Batten said: “I would expect the fundamentalists to agree with me that democracy is incompatible with fundamentalist Islam. Moderate Muslims have to decide which side of the argument they are on.”
"Muslims need to sign the charter and accept to “re-examine and address the meaning and application of certain Islamic texts and doctrines,” Batten said in a statement released on Ukip’s official website.
Batten said he stood by the 2006 “charter of Muslim understanding.”
In the charter, Muslims are requested to reject parts of the Quran which promote that “violent physical Jihad” should be regarded as “inapplicable, invalid and non-Islamic,” a move Batten said would not be an issue for “any reasonable, normal person.” » | Eman El-Shenawi | Al Arabiya News – Dubai | Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Related »
Bahraini Activist Speaks Out
CNN: New law: Insult Bahrain's king, get thrown in jail: Bahrain's king has ratified a new law that imposes a prison sentence of up to seven years and fine of up to $26,500 for anyone who publicly insults him, state-run media said. » | Schams Elwazer, CNN | Thursday, February 06, 2014
Locals Help Police Target Homosexuals in Bauchi State, Nigeria
Homosexuality has long been illegal in the country, with a recent law extending the penalty for those convicted to 14 years in prison.
But in Bauchi State in northern Nigeria, some of those standing trial could face the death penalty.
Will Ross reports. (+ BBC video) » | Thursday, February 06, 2014
Female Genital Mutilation: A Family Speaks Out against the Practice
The practice has been illegal in Britain since 1985, but no-one has ever been prosecuted for FGM, which is widely carried out by communities originally from the Middle East, Africa or Asia.
At least 66,000 girls and women in the UK are believed to be victims.
Three generations of one Somali family, scarred by the practice, have spoken out.
Reeta Chakrabarti reports. (+ BBC video) » | Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Female genital mutilation: Hospitals to log victims » | Thursday, February 06, 2014
Female Genital Mutilation: 'I Was Screaming'
Specialist agencies have warned that the procedure is conducted here because the country is seen as "a soft touch".
Fatou Baldeh, remembers being cut aged seven: "I remember I was screaming for my mum and my grandmother to help me but no-one did."
Lucy Adams has been investigating the issue for BBC Scotland. (+ BBC video) » | Friday, November 15, 2013
Inside Story: Is 'Brand Israel' Under Threat?
Turkish MPs Endorse Internet Control Law
Related »
Nick Clegg's Ex-headmaster Jailed for Abusing Boys
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| Roland Peter Wright was led away from court by prison officers |
Roland Peter Wright, 83, of Farnham Royal, Buckinghamshire, abused boys aged between eight and 13 at Caldicott Preparatory School from 1959 to 1970.
His sentencing went ahead despite the death of another former teacher who had been due to appear with him.
Hugh Henry, 82, apparently threw himself under a train on Tuesday.
Judge Joanna Cutts QC told Wright: "These offences were so serious that it is beyond question that only a custodial sentence can be justified.
"I have to sentence you for multiple offending against each of these victims.
"This was prolonged activity, the boys were groomed by a master at a school responsible for their care."
Mr Clegg was a pupil at the school from 1974 until 1980 and was joint head boy in his final year.
When Wright was convicted in December, Mr Clegg said: "I am shocked and appalled by the gross betrayal of trust and violation of childhood innocence that has been shown to have taken place at Caldicott." » | Thursday, February 06, 2014
Royal Cousins at War: A House Divided
Ban Ki-moon Condemns Persecution of Gay People in Russia
The United Nations secretary-general has used a speech ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi to condemn attacks on the LGBT community, amid growing criticism of Russia's so-called "gay propaganda" laws.
Ban Ki-moon, addressing the IOC before Friday's opening ceremony, highlighted the fact that the theme of the UN's human rights day last December was "sport comes out against homophobia".
"Many professional athletes, gay and straight, are speaking out against prejudice. We must all raise our voices against attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people," he said. "We must oppose the arrests, imprisonments and discriminatory restrictions they face."
"The United Nations stands strongly behind our own 'free and equal' campaign, and I look forward to working with the IOC, governments and other partners around the world to build societies of equality and tolerance. Hatred of any kind must have no place in the 21st century." » | Owen Gibson and Shaun Walker | Thursday, February 06, 2014
THE GUARDIAN: Russian laws choking free speech must be repealed now » | The Guardian | Thursday, February 06, 2014
Turkey Pushes Through New Raft of 'Draconian' Internet Restrictions
The Turkish government has been accused of imposing draconian censorship after pushing harsh new internet curbs through parliament. The new internet law was met with outrage in Turkey on Wednesday night, with opposition parties accusing the government of wanting to introduce ever tighter control by bypassing the courts.
The regulations were adopted after a heated Parliamentary debate yesterday, during which one MP of the main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) compared Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyıp Erdoğan to Hitler. The law now needs to be signed by Turkish President Abdullah Gül to go into effect.
"When you came into power you talked of increasing democracy in Turkey, but now you are trying to implement fascism," Hasan Ören said. "Remember that Adolf Hitler used the same methods when he rose to power."
The new measures will allow Turkey's telecommunications authority (TIB) to block any website in 24 hours and without first seeking a court ruling. The law also obliges internet providers to store all data on web users' activities for two years and make it available to the authorities upon request.
Deputy prime minister Bülent Arınç rejected all accusations of censorship. "We are freer and have more press freedom than many other countries in the world", he said.
However, critics say that the law violates citizens' rights to freedom of expression and current privacy rights, turning Turkey into an Orwellian surveillance state. » | Constanze Letsch in Istanbul | Thursday, February 06, 2014
Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Fury as Racist Christian Patrol Drive Armoured Car in Muslim Street Giving Out Booze
The Bishop of Stepney and the chairman of the East London Mosque issued a statement yesterday to call for a halt to the stunt.
They were reacting to a recent incident in which nationalist group Britain First drove two Gulf War armoured Land Rovers down the length of Brick Lane, one of the most famous streets in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets.
The group said they were there to “defend British soil against Muslim extremists”.
They said they were reacting to the so-called “Muslim Patrols” who were convicted in December for threatening non-Muslims in the area.
Britain First’s chairman Paul Golding, a former Sevenoaks councillor for British National Party in Kent, told the East London Advertiser he was deliberately taunting people with beer and cigarettes. (+ video) » | Ted Jeory | Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Schröder: "USA haben keinen Respekt vor Deutschen"
Da hatte er noch Vertrauen in die USA: Ein Bild aus dem Jahr 2005 zeigt den damaligen deutschen Bundeskanzler lachend bei einem Besuch beim damals amtierenden US- Präsidenten George W. Bush. Doch angesichts neuer Berichte über eine NSA- Abhöraktion gegen ihn in seiner Zeit als Bundeskanzler (siehe Story in der Infobox) dürfte nun auch Schröder die Beziehungen zwischen Berlin und Washington in einem neuen Licht sehen.
Gegenüber der "Bild"- Zeitung bekräftigte Schröder, er habe ein solches Vorgehen der USA "nicht für möglich" gehalten. "Dass sich Staaten gegenseitig ausspionieren, ist zwar keine neue Erfahrung. Aber das Telefon einer Bundeskanzlerin oder eines Bundeskanzlers abzuhören, geht eindeutig zu weit." » | AG/red | Mittwoch, 05. Februar 2014
Wendi Deng's 'Love Note for Tony Blair' Published
Wendi Deng, the former wife of Rupert Murdoch, allegedly developed a passionate obsession with Tony Blair and wrote a note in which she rhapsodised about his “good body and really really good legs [and] Butt”.
Miss Deng is said to have become infatuated with the former Prime Minister while she was still married to the media mogul.
In the note, Chinese-born Miss Deng wrote in broken English: “Oh, s***, oh, s***. Whatever why I’m so so missing Tony. Because he is so so charming and his clothes are so good.
“He has such good body and he has really really good legs Butt… And he is slim tall and good skin. Pierce blue eyes which I love. Love his eyes. Also I love his power on the stage… and what else and what else and what else… [all sic]”
The contents of the sensational note are detailed in Vanity Fair magazine, which described it as “a steamy, lovelorn missive”.
Mr Blair has denied all allegations of an affair with Miss Deng. Friends of Miss Deng say the pair were never more than friends. » | Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor | Wednesday, February 05, 2014
DAILY EXPRESS: Murdoch spitting blood after 'love' note from ex-wife to Tony Blair surfaces: IT has always been one of the weirdest true stories in modern history. ¶ Time was when Rupert Murdoch and leaders of the Labour Party hated each other with a vengeance but in the mid-Nineties Tony Blair shocked the traditional wing of his own party by jetting off to a shindig hosted by the News Corp tycoon on an Australian island. From then on it was kissy-kissy all the way, with Murdoch a frequent visitor to No 10 once Blair was in power. » | Simon Edge | Thursday, February 06, 2014
World War I in Color & HD: Episode 6: Victory and Despair
Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 »
World War I in Color & HD: Episode 5: Mayhem on the Eastern Front
Episodes 1, 2, 3 & 4 »
World War I in Color & HD: Episode 4: Killers of the Sea
Episodes 1, 2 & 3 »
World War I in Color & HD: Episode 3: Blood in the Air
Episodes 1 & 2 »
Merkel sceptique sur une entrée pleine de la Turquie dans l'Europe
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| Recep Tayyip Erdogan et Angela Merkel à Berlin, mardi 4 février |
En difficulté sur le plan intérieur, Recep Tayyip Erdogan cherche des soutiens étrangers. Après avoir accueilli François Hollande à Ankara il y a une semaine, le premier ministre turc était mardi à Berlin.
C'est en Allemagne que se trouve la plus forte communauté turque d'Europe, avec environ trois millions de personnes. Reçu par la chancelière Angela Merkel, Recep Tayyip Erdogan a une nouvelle fois plaidé pour l'entrée de son pays dans l'Union européenne. «Nous souhaitons que l'Allemagne s'engage plus fortement qu'elle ne l'a fait jusqu'ici, a-t-il déclaré. Une entrée de la Turquie dans l'Union européenne apporterait une contribution considérable à la paix régionale et mondiale.»
Ses arguments n'ont pas tout à fait convaincu. Mardi, Angela Merkel a souhaité que les discussions, «qui ne sont pas soumises à une limite dans le temps», aboutissent à un résultat: «Les négociations d'adhésion avec la Turquie sont un processus dont l'issue est ouverte», a-t-elle expliqué. «Mais je suis sceptique sur un statut d'État membre complet», a-t-elle ajouté. » | Par Nicolas Barotte | mardi 04 février 2014
L'Arabie saoudite s'en prend aux djihadistes
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| Le roi d'Arabie saoudite Abdullah |
Craignant un dangereux retour de flammes, le roi Abdallah vient d'adopter un décret qui prévoit des peines de trois à vingt ans de prison pour les Saoudiens qui participent à des conflits à l'étranger. Ce durcissement est d'abord destiné à tarir le flot des candidats à la guerre sainte en Syrie, où les ressortissants du royaume wahhabite sont les plus nombreux parmi les djihadistes qui luttent pour renverser le régime de Bachar el-Assad.
Dans le passé, l'Arabie, patrie d'un islam ultrarigoriste, a souffert du retour de ses ressortissants d'Irak après l'invasion américaine de 2003. La branche locale d'al-Qaida en avait alors profité pour perpétrer de nombreux et sanglants attentats, jurant même de faire tomber la famille régnante, qui vécut de difficiles «années de sang» entre 2003 et 2005.
Selon ce décret, les Saoudiens qui rejoignent ou soutiennent des organisations considérées comme terroristes, à l'intérieur comme à l'extérieur du pays, s'exposeront pour leur part à des peines allant de cinq à trente ans d'emprisonnement. » | Par Georges Malbrunot | mercredi 05 février 2014
London geht gegen Möchtegern-Dschihadisten vor
Die Behörden auf der Insel gehen mit neuer Härte gegen britische Staatsbürger vor, die sich am Bürgerkrieg in Syrien beteiligen wollen. Seit Jahresbeginn wurden bereits 16 Möchtegern-Dschihadisten festgenommen, gegen sieben hat die Staatsanwaltschaft Anklage erhoben. Zu den Verdächtigen zählten auch zwei 17-jährige Mädchen, deren geplante Reise in die Region am Flughafen Heathrow endete.
Der Besuch eines Terror-Ausbildungscamps oder die aktive Teilnahme an Kämpfen sei "ein Verbrechen, selbst wenn es um den Sturz eines scheußlichen Diktators geht", sagt die zuständige Londoner Oberstaatsanwältin Sue Hemming.
Die Londoner Ermittlungen passen in das bedrückende Bild, das die UN in einem neuen Bericht von den Ereignissen in Syrien zeichneten. Während das Regime von Präsident Baschar al-Assad für die Folterung von Kindern und Jugendlichen verantwortlich sei, würden Oppositionsgruppen vielerorts Minderjährige zum Kampf mit der Waffe rekrutieren. Gerade in Flüchtlingslagern sähen viele junge Menschen es "als ihre Pflicht an, sich der Opposition anzuschließen", sagte UN-Generalsekretär Ban Ki-moon in New York. "Das Leid der Kinder in Syrien ist inakzeptabel." » | Von Sebastian Borger, London | Mittwoch, 05. Februar 2014
Witness: Ukraine: State of Chaos
Inside Story: Facebook at 10: Hip or Has-been?
Britain's Military Power Is Waning, Thinktank Warns David Cameron
Britain's role as one of the world's leading military powers is under threat, an authoritative thinktank warns in a report that directly challenges claims by the prime minister, David Cameron.
The UK has fallen behind Saudi Arabia and is now fifth in the arms expenditure league table, says the latest annual Military Balance survey, published by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
Responding to US criticism of cuts in military spending, Cameron repeatedly insisted that Britain still had the fourth biggest defence budget.
"We have the fourth largest defence budget anywhere in the world. We are a first-class player in terms of defence and, as long as I am prime minister, that is the way it will stay," Cameron said last month after the former US defence secretary Robert Gates said cuts meant Britain's armed forces were no longer able to stand by the US as a "full partner".
The IISS survey makes it clear that while military spending is falling in the UK and throughout the west, it is rising fast elsewhere, notably in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. Greater defence spending will lead to a relative shift towards Asia and away from Europe in a new balance of military power, the report suggests.
The US remains by far the world's biggest spender on weapons, with a defence budget last year amounting to over $600bn (£370bn), followed by China ($112.2bn), Russia ($68.2bn), Saudi Arabia (an estimated $59.6bn) and the UK ($57bn). » | Richard Norton-Taylor | Wednesday, February 05, 2014
British Girl Leads Guardian Campaign to End Female Genital Mutilation
Sign the petition here
Tory MP Says Ukip Politician's Call for Muslim Code of Conduct Is Frightening
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| Gerard Batten, UKIP MEP |
Gerard Batten, the senior Ukip politician who called for Muslims to sign a code of conduct, has been accused of taking an "unbelievably sinister" position that is comparable to asking members of the faith to wear a yellow star.
Robert Halfon, a Conservative MP, called on the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, to sack Batten for his comments, after it emerged the Ukip MEP had helped write a "charter of Muslim understanding". The document calls on Muslims to sign a declaration rejecting violence and accepting the need to modify the Qur'an.
Halfon, who is Jewish and has spoken out repeatedly against Islamic extremism, told the Guardian he considered Batten's views "unbelievably sinister" and "frightening".
He tweeted: "Big difference btwn lawful Muslims & extreme Islamists. UKIP MEP Batten's statement a 1st step to wearing a Yellow Star."
Sarah Ludford, a Liberal Democrat MEP for London, also criticised the comments, saying they "rip apart Ukip's pretence" that it treats everybody equally.
"His offensive blanket stereotyping of Muslims speaks volumes about Ukip's extremism and should warn voters that voting Ukip means associating with hatred and Islamophobia," she said.
Two prominent Muslim MPs, Sadiq Khan and Rehman Chishti, have also condemned the "offensive" idea of a charter for Muslims. Chishti said Batten, who is Ukip's immigration spokesman, should not be allowed to stand again as an MEP. » | Rowena Mason, political correspondent | Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Related »
Head of Mormon Church Thomas Monson Summoned by British Magistrate's Court over Adam and Eve Teaching
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| Thomas S. Monson, worldwide leader of the Mormon Church |
A British magistrate has issued an extraordinary summons to the worldwide leader of the Mormon church alleging that its teachings about mankind amount to fraud.
Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been ordered to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London next month to defend the church’s doctrines including beliefs about Adam and Eve and Native Americans.
A formal summons signed by District Judge Elizabeth Roscoe warns Mr Monson, who is recognised by Mormons as a God’s prophet on Earth, that a warrant for his arrest could be issued if he fails to make the journey from Salt Lake City, Utah, for a hearing on March 14.
In one of the most unusual documents ever issued by a British court, it lists seven teachings of the church, including that American Indians are descended from a family of ancient Israelites as possible evidence of fraud.
It also cites the belief that the Book of Mormon was translated from ancient gold plates revealed to the church’s founder Joseph Smith by angels and that Adam and Eve lived around 6,000 years ago.
The document suggests that asking members of the church to make contributions while promoting theological doctrines which “might be untrue or misleading” could be a breach of the Fraud Act 2006. » | John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor | Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Ukip MEP Says British Muslims Should sign Charter Rejecting Violence
A Ukip MEP believes that British Muslims should sign a special code of conduct and warns that it was a big mistake for Europe to allow "an explosion of mosques across their land".
Gerard Batten, who represents London and is member of the party's executive, told the Guardian on Tuesdaythat he stood by a "charter of Muslim understanding", which he commissioned in 2006.
The document asks Muslims to sign a declaration rejecting violence and says parts of the Qur'an that promote "violent physical Jihad" should be regarded as "inapplicable, invalid and non-Islamic".
Critics said his comments represent the "ugliest side of Ukip" and "overlap with the far-right", in spite of the efforts of party leader Nigel Farage to create a disciplined election machine ahead of the European elections. » | Rowena Mason, political correspondent | Tuesday, February 04, 2014
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