Europa (à portuguesa) engana os cidadãos: "UE nervosa recorreu a Cavaco Silva" in Diário de Notícias, 9 de Janeiro de 2008

O Presidente da República teve um papel preponderante na decisão final de José Sócrates em não convocar um referendo nacional ao Tratado de Lisboa. Segundo soube o DN junto de fontes políticas, Aníbal Cavaco Silva terá recebido nos últimos dias várias mensagens de países com peso na União Europeia. Os contactos diplomáticos, segundo as mesmas fontes, ocorreram com a tensão gerada em muitos países da UE com a mera possibilidade que existia de Sócrates se decidir pelo cumprimento da sua promessa eleitoral.

Estes outputs de países como a Alemanha (o país liderado por Angela Merkel foi o mais incisivo nestes contactos) terão virado inputs de Belém em relação a São Bento, ainda segundo as supracitadas fontes. Ou seja, pelos canais institucionais, a Presidência da República terá feito saber ao Governo qual era o sentimento reinante na maior parte dos países europeus. Indicações que também já existiam em São Bento e que vinham agudizando-se desde que se sabia que, tirando a Irlanda (que constitucionalmente é "obrigada" a fazer o referendo), todos os outros estados europeus haviam já optado pela ratificação parlamentar. Nos últimos dois dias, a Eslovénia considerou o referendo como impensável. Janez Jansa, primeiro-ministro da Eslovénia e presidente em exercício da UE, voltou ontem a subir o tom, dizendo que os países europeus "têm de ter uma visão mais abrangente da questão, não pensar apenas nos aspectos nacionais mas também no interesse europeu". Segundo Jansa, é preciso questionar "até que ponto os eventos num país influenciam eventos noutro onde a situação é algo diferente".

Cavaco Silva, que há meses vinha dizendo que o referendo não era de todo prioritário - embora o convocasse, caso surgisse uma proposta parlamentar nesse sentido, como prometeu em plena campanha presidencial -, disse ontem peremptoriamente que "desperdiçar a oportunidade que o Tratado de Lisboa representa constituiria um preço elevadíssimo para a União Europeia".

O Presidente falava durante a apresentação de cumprimentos de Ano Novo pelo Corpo Diplomático acreditado em Lisboa, que decorreu no Palácio Nacional de Queluz. Uma cerimónia em que, sabe o DN, ficou patente o desconforto de vários diplomatas europeus perante uma eventual decisão pró-referendo. Alguns destes embaixadores já tinham feito chegar, como disseram fontes políticas ao DN, esse desconforto ao Palácio de Belém, inclusivamente através de telegramas diplomáticos.

Na noite da assinatura do Tratado de Lisboa, a 13 de Dezembro, José Sócrates não se esqueceu de referir a posição de Cavaco Silva como sendo contrária ao referendo. Na altura, à SIC Notícias, Sócrates deixou a decisão em aberto, mas tentou vincular o Presidente. Só que Belém acabou por vir lembrar que a promessa de campanha era para manter e se a maioria parlamentar avançasse com o referendo, ele seria convocado.

Promessa eleitoral que Sócrates também tinha (no caso, convocar o referendo), mas optou por ir abrindo espaço para a subverter e não ficar isolado em termos europeus. Na sua edição online de ontem, o semanário Sol afirmava também que "o primeiro- -ministro já sossegou outros líderes europeus, que temiam a consulta popular em Portugal".

O triângulo Cavaco-Durão Barroso-líderes europeus foi decisivo para Sócrates ter os argumentos de que precisava para inverter a promessa eleitoral e dizer "não" ao referendo. Hoje, no primeiro debate quinzenal segundo o novo regimento, Sócrates irá defender que o Tratado de Lisboa é uma coisa e o Tratado Constitucional era outra.
http://dn.sapo.pt/2008/01/09/nacional/ue_nervosa_recorreu_a_cavaco_silva.html
JPTF 2008/01/09

Incidente entre a marinha dos EUA e as lanchas dos guardas revolucionários do Irão no estreito de Ormuz

"Koštunica não pretende a Sérvia na UE" in B92, 7 de Janeiro de 2008

Following the prime minister’s message to Brussels that it needs to choose between signing the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU or sending a mission to Kosovo, the director of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights said that neither Koštunica nor those around him actually wanted Serbia to join the EU.

“It’s an expression of the view that we do not belong there, and that Serbia’s traditional allies are not present there.”

Following an opinion poll that showed that 70 percent of the population supported EU membership, said Dimitrejević, those who opposed EU entry now had to concoct reasons.

According to the NGO director, the first of these was the NATO bombing, as in Serbia it was much easier to attack NATO than the EU, as the military alliance had attacked Serbia.

“The agreement we’re now signing with the EU is purely commercial, which will improve our economic circumstances, and, because of the wish of the people, one cannot directly oppose it, but a situation can be created where we don’t join the EU,“ he explained.

In Dimitrejević’s opinion, that situation is now artificial, inasmuch as they wish to show that, in the post-initialing period, the EU is doing something to damage Serbia territorial integrity, which is why Belgrade should refuse to sign the SAA.

The NGO director believes that undefined borders are not a reason to halt the process of European integration, as “the state can enter international organizations, even without its borders being exactly determined.“

In this respect, he points to the examples of Cyprus who entered the EU without defined borders, and Albania, whose frontiers had not been established when it was accepted into the League of Nations.

“These are neither legal reasons to reject membership, nor are they practical, as I don’t know why it would be any worse for an EU team to govern Kosovo than an American one,“ Dimitrejević added.

The NGO director feels that it is very possible that once the agreement has been signed, parliament may then question its ratification.

Commenting on the EU’s reaction to the prime minister’s statements, he said that “Brussels won’t let herself be provoked that easily, as it has her reasons for wanting Serbia in the EU.”

“However, that desire isn’t as great as we’d like to think in our own media, who believe that the EU is dying for us to enter, and will, as a result, make enormous concessions to us with that aim in mind.”
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=01&dd=07&nav_id=46736
JPTF 7/01/2008

"O multiculturalismo está a criar intolerância" in Telegraph, 7 de Janeiro de 2007

por Philip Johnston

It has taken a long time to happen, but at last an authoritative and senior establishment figure has pointed to the elephant in the room. Before the Bishop of Rochester's article yesterday in The Sunday Telegraph, the debate about immigration focused almost exclusively on who benefits financially. We have tiptoed around its effect on our society and culture. Even the somewhat belated recognition by ministers that newcomers should show a commitment to British values and demonstrate a knowledge of English tends to be couched in economic terms and ones favourable to the immigrants themselves - that they will get a job more easily and their lives will be enhanced if they are more integrated.

However, few politicians have been willing to do what Michael Nazir-Ali has done, which is to question the impact of a growing Muslim population upon the very fabric of the nation, turning it within half a century into a multi-faith and multicultural land. It is hardly surprising, perhaps, for a Christian prelate to lament the powerful appeal of another faith challenging where his own once reigned supreme. Furthermore, the recent immigration of more than half a million eastern Europeans has delighted Roman Catholic leaders whose churches were full to bursting over Christmas.

But they share an historic and religious heritage. The issue that Bishop Nazir-Ali raised has more to do with our failure to integrate Muslims because our political elites were in thrall to what he called "the novel philosophy of multiculturalism". One consequence was the ease with which extremists exploited an emphasis on separatism to recruit among the more impressionable young men in their communities.

Attempts have been made to impose an "Islamic" character in some cities by insisting on artificial amplification for the adhan, the call to prayer, and even to introduce some aspects of sharia to civil law. Sitting in the background, seemingly stalled for the time being, are plans to establish Europe's largest markaz - an Islamic prayer and meeting area able to accommodate at least 40,000 people - right beside the site for the 2012 London Olympics, where it would be a potent icon of how Britain has changed.

In truth, the bishop has simply articulated what many in the Government and in the race relations world have already come to realise (and which most of the rest of us understood years ago), and that is the baleful consequences of three decades of multiculturalism. Last year, even the Commission for Racial Equality, once a cheerleader for the concept, recanted with a report that depicted Britain as an unequal and segregated nation in danger of breaking up.

Like Bishop Nazir-Ali, it feared that extremism was being fostered by the retreat of different groups behind their ethnic walls. For many years, those who wanted Britain to be recognised as a multicultural society which needed to revise, or even jettison, five centuries of Protestant hegemony held centre stage. Anyone who questioned it had their reputations trashed. The multiculturalists even coined an insult - Islamophobia - to try to close down the debate. Some of them yesterday accused the bishop of "scaremongering".

But while multiculturalism began as a facet of Britain's characteristic toleration of other people's ways, religions, cuisines, languages and dress, it metamorphosed into a political creed that held that ethnic minority groups should be allowed to do what they like. It became a guiding principle of governance. When he became prime minister in 1997, Tony Blair urged the nation to embrace multiculturalism. Almost 10 years later, as he prepared to leave Downing Street, he was making speeches informing immigrants they had "a duty" to integrate with the mainstream of society. "Conform to it; or don't come here. We don't want the hate-mongers, whatever their race, religion or creed," he said.

But the "hate-mongers" were already here; and if they weren't they found getting here easy enough. There was a ready-made audience for their anti-western rhetoric among some sections of the Muslim community who had become estranged from the rest of the country - not just from the white Christian majority but from everyone else. So estranged that some were, and still are, prepared to kill others and themselves. When Mohammed Siddique Khan, the leader of the July 7 suicide bombers, spoke in his "martyr video" of "the injustices perpetrated against my people" he did not mean the folk among whom he grew up in Yorkshire.

As Bishop Nazir-Ali recognises, the religious diversity that can - and should - be easily accommodated in a liberal, democratic and (still) overwhelmingly Christian country has taken on a more malign aspect which politicians are belatedly seeking to address. Ministers are even trying to enlist the help of Muslim women in countering the extremists by sending them on training courses to give them the skills and confidence to confront fanatics. This may be a laudable aim but simply is not going to happen in many Muslim communities.

Inevitably, Bishop Nazir-Ali's comments have proven controversial, not least his observation that some parts of the country are no-go areas for non-Muslims. But this segregation has been apparent for many years and was officially acknowledged as long ago as 2001 after riots in some northern towns. The inquiry into their cause was appalled to find British people living "parallel lives", with some young people from ethnic minorities able to go through life exclusively in the company of their own kind.

The diminution of this country's commitment to Anglicanism mourned by the bishop was taking place even without the arrival of another proselytising faith as potent as Islam. However, there is a wider issue that affects everyone: it has to do with the sort of country in which we all want to live. Religious intolerance breeds political intolerance; and we are seeing the great legacies of an enlightened Christian tradition - individual liberty and freedom under the law - squandered because of a need to face down extremists who deride such concepts and who should have been confronted a long time ago.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=C3LSQF2Y4RNOXQFIQMGSFGGAVCBQWIV0?xml=/opinion/2008/01/07/do0702.xml
JPTF 2008/01/07

O marido pode bater na mulher, segundo a Xária (Sharia) islâmica? Clérigo do Bahrain, Adullah Aal Mahmud, pronuncia-se

"Preço do barril de petróleo ultrapassou os 100 dólares" in CNN, 2 de Janeiro de 2008

Oil prices soared to $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time ever, reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products will continue to outstrip supplies.

Surging economies in China and India fed by oil and gasoline have sent prices soaring over the past year, while tensions in oil producing nations like Nigeria and Iran have increasingly made investors nervous and invited speculators to drive prices even higher.

Violence in Nigeria helped give crude the final push over $100. Bands of armed men invaded Port Harcourt, the center of Nigeria's oil industry Tuesday, attacking two police stations and raiding the lobby of a major hotel.

Word that several Mexican oil export ports were closed due to rough weather added to the gains, as did a report that OPEC may not be able to meet its share of global oil demand by 2024.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose $4.02 to $100 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, according to Brenda Guzman, a Nymex spokeswoman, before slipping back to $99.48.

Crude prices, which have flirted with $100 for months, have risen in recent days on supply concerns exacerbated by Turkish attacks on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and falling domestic inventories.

However, post-holiday trading volumes were about 50 percent of normal Wednesday, meaning the price move was likely exaggerated by speculative buying.

"I would imagine the speculators are the biggest drivers today," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp., in Chicago.

It's hard to say whether prices would have risen as quickly on a normal trading day, Flynn said. While crude prices have soared on mounting supply concerns in recent months, speculators have often been cited as a reason for the swiftness of oil's climb.

Moreover, many of the concerns about supply disruptions have yet to materialize, but that hasn't stopped buyers from driving prices higher.

"Although the (Nigerian) violence has not impacted oil flow out of the country, it has reignited supply concerns as militant attacks have reduced Nigeria's crude output by roughly 20 percent since 2006," said John Gerdes, an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey in a research note. Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer.

Separately, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said its member nations may not be able to meet demand as early as 2024, though OPEC also said that deadline could slide for decades if members increase production more quickly. Word that several Mexican oil export ports were closed due to rough weather added to the gains.

On top of those concerns, investors are anticipating that crude inventories fell by 1.8 million barrels last week, which would be the 7th weekly decline in a row.

"(A decline) is not anything unusual for this time of year, but when it happens for 7 weeks in a row, it starts to add up," said Amanda Kurzendoerfer, an analyst at Summit Energy Services Inc. in Louisville, Ky.

Oil prices are within the range of inflation-adjusted highs set in early 1980. Depending on how the adjustment is calculated, $38 a barrel then would be worth $96 to $103 or more today.

At the pump, meanwhile, gas prices rose 0.6 cent Wednesday to a national average of $3.049 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Gas prices, which typically lag the futures market, have edged higher in recent days, following oil's approach to $100.

Gas prices peaked at $3.227 a gallon in May as refiners faced unprecedented maintenance issues and struggled to produce enough gasoline to meet demand. A similar scenario is expected this spring, when gas prices could peak above $3.40 a gallon, according to the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration.

The EIA's inventory report, delayed until Thursday this week due to the New Year's holiday, is also expected to show gains in gasoline supplies and refinery activity, and a decline in supplies of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel.

In other Nymex trading Wednesday, February heating oil futures rose 9.06 cents to $2.74 a gallon while February gasoline futures climbed 7.92 cents to $2.57 a gallon. February natural gas futures advanced 26.7 cents to $7.75 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, February Brent crude rose $3.11 to $97.58 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/01/02/oil.record.high.ap/index.html

JPTF 2008/01/02

Lendo o futuro em 2008, cartoon da revista The Economist

"Funestas coincidências em torno da morte de Benazir Bhutto" in Le Monde, 30 de Dezembro de 2007

por Kamran Haider

Par un funeste caprice du destin, le docteur Mussadiq Khan a tenté en vain de sauver jeudi la vie de Benazir Bhutto, visée par un attentat, tout comme son père avait échoué 56 ans plus tôt à maintenir en vie le Premier ministre de l'époque, également assassiné.

Khan a tout tenté pour essayer de sauver Bhutto lorsqu'elle a été emmenée dans un hôpital de Rawalpindi après avoir été la cible d'un attentat suicide alors qu'elle quittait une réunion électorale organisée dans un parc public de la ville.

Le père de Khan, Sadiq Khan, était de garde dans un hôpital de Rawalpindi en octobre 1951 lorsque le Premier ministre de l'époque, Liaquat Ali Khan, fut emmené après avoir été blessé par balles lors d'un rassemblement... organisé dans le même parc que celui où Bhutto tenait meeting.

Liaquat Ali Khan a perdu la vie et le parc a été rebaptisé "Liaquat Bagh" en sa mémoire. Bagh signifie "jardins" en Urdu.

"C'est la volonté de Dieu", a déclaré Khan à Reuters à propos de cette coïncidence qui a voulu que le père et le fils prennent en charge deux dirigeants pakistanais attaqués au même endroit, à plus d'un demi-siècle de distance.

Khan a indiqué que Bhutto était tout près de la mort lorsqu'elle est arrivée dans son hôpital.

"Elle ne respirait pas. La pression artérielle était nulle, son coeur ne battait plus. Nous avons entrepris une réanimation complète. Nous avons tout tenté mais malheureusement nous n'avons pas réussi à la réanimer", a-t-il expliqué.

"J'ai fait de mon mieux mais je n'ai pas réussi. Que puis-je dire ? (...). C'était une grande dirigeante. C'était notre dirigeante", a-t-il ajouté.

Khan confirme la thèse avancée par le gouvernement sur les circonstances de la mort de Bhutto. Selon lui, celle-ci a été tuée dans le souffle de l'explosion en se cognant la tête contre le levier du toit ouvrant de sa voiture.

Cette version est contestée, notamment par une proche collaboratrice de l'ancien Premier ministre selon laquelle elle a été atteinte d'une balle à la tête.

Autre coup du destin, Bhutto a été tuée à environ deux kilomètres de l'endroit où son père, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, a été pendu en 1979.

Les deux fils de Khan sont médecins. Il espère qu'ils n'auront pas à vivre d'autres coïncidences comme celle-là.

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/depeches/0,14-0,39-33747704@7-37,0.html
JPTF 2007/12/30

"Al-Qaeda reivindica a morte de Benazir Bhutto" in CNN, 28 de Dezembro de 2007

Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a Pakistani Interior Ministry spokesman said Friday.

A report by the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan quoted ministry spokesman Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema as saying, "Al Qaeda in a statement has accepted the responsibility of her assassination, as in the past she had been receiving life threats from this terrorist group."

CNN could not independently confirm that al Qaeda has claimed responsibility.

On Thursday, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin citing an alleged claim of responsibility by the terror network for Bhutto's death, a DHS official said.

But FBI and other law enforcement officials said that the claim is unsubstantiated and that federal officials are not making any comments about its validity.

No one has accepted responsibility for the Pakistani opposition leader's death on radical Islamist Web sites that regularly post such messages from al Qaeda and other militant groups.

Bhutto, 54, was killed Thursday in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, by flying shrapnel stemming from a suicide bombing, the Pakistani government said. See photos from rally and aftermath »

Italian news agency Adnkronos International apparently was the source of the al Qaeda claim, saying the terror network's Afghan commander and spokesman Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid had telephoned the agency with it.

"We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahedeen," the Italian news agency quoted Al-Yazid as saying.

The agency said that al Qaeda's No. 2 official, Ayman al-Zawahiri, set the wheels in motion for Bhutto's assassination in October.

One Islamist Web site repeated the assertion, but experts in the field don't consider the site to be a reliable source for Islamist messages.

The DHS official said the claim was "an unconfirmed open source claim of responsibility" and the bulletin was sent out at about 6 p.m. Thursday to state and local law enforcement agencies. Watch as an analyst says the killing gives al Qaeda "running room" »

The official characterized the bulletin as "information sharing."

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said the validity of such a claim is "undetermined." Kolko said the FBI and the intelligence community is reviewing it "for any intelligence value."

Ross Feinstein, spokesman for Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, said the U.S. intelligence community is monitoring the situation and trying to figure out who is responsible for the assassination.

"We are not in a position to confirm who may be responsible," Feinstein said.

Bhutto had been critical of what she believed was a lack of effort by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's government to protect her.

About a week after an October 18 car-bomb attack on her motorcade in Karachi, Pakistan, Bhutto sent an an e-mail to Mark Siegel, her U.S. spokesman, lobbyist and longtime friend.

Siegel forwarded the message to CNN's Wolf Blitzer with instructions not to report on it unless Bhutto was killed.

In the e-mail, Bhutto said Musharraf should bear some of the blame if anything were to happen to her.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/28/bhutto.dhs.alqaeda/index.html
JPTF 2007/12/28

"Quem matou Benazir Bhutto? Os principais suspeitos" in Times, 27 de Dezembro de 2007

The main suspects in Benazir Bhutto’s assassination are the Pakistani and foreign Islamist militants who saw her as a heretic and an American stooge and had repeatedly threatened to kill her.

But fingers will also be pointed at Inter-Services Intelligence, the agency that has had close ties to the Islamists since the 1970s and has been used by successive Pakistani leaders to suppress political opposition.

Ms Bhutto narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in October, when a suicide bomber killed about 140 people at a rally in the port city of Karachi to welcome her back from eight years in exile.

Earlier that month, two militant warlords based in Pakistan's lawless northwestern areas, near the border with Afghanistan, had threatened to kill her on her return.

One was Baitullah Mehsud, a top commander fighting the Pakistani army in the tribal region of South Waziristan. He has close ties to al Qaeda and the Afghan Taleban.

The other was Haji Omar, the “amir” or leader of the Pakistani Taleban, who is also from South Waziristan and fought against the Soviets with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan.

After that attack Ms Bhutto revealed that she had received a letter signed by a person who claimed to be a friend of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden threatening to slaughter her like a goat.

She accused Pakistani authorities of not providing her with sufficient security and hinted that they may have been complicit in the bomb attack. Asif Ali Zardari, her husband, directly accused the ISI of being involved in that attempt on her life.

Mrs Bhutto stopped short of blaming the Government directly, saying that she had more to fear from unidentified members of a power structure that she described as allies of the “forces of militancy”.

Analysts say that President Musharraf himself is unlikely to have ordered her assassination, but that elements of the army and intelligence service would have stood to lose money and power if she had become Prime Minister.

The ISI, in particular, includes some Islamists who became radicalised while running the American-funded campaign against the Soviets in Afghanistan and remained fiercely opposed to Ms Bhutto on principle.

Saudi Arabia, which has strong influence in Pakistan, is also thought to frown on Ms Bhutto as being too secular and Westernised and to favour Nawaz Sharif, another former Prime Minister.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3100052.ece
JPTF 2007/12/27

"O fim do Império Otomano e a troca de populações entre a Grécia e a Turquia" in História nº 97

É no longo processo histórico que levou à dissolução do Império Otomano e à criação dos Estados-Nação nos Balcãs e na Anatólia, entre os inícios século XIX e as primeiras décadas do século XX, que se encontram as raízes do problema que vamos abordar: a troca de populações entre a Grécia e a Turquia, no quadro da Convenção e Tratado de Lausana, assinados em 30 de Janeiro e 23 Julho de 1923, respectivamente, sendo a Convenção o texto diplomático fundamental para este assunto. Ironicamente, esta ferida traumática da
memória colectiva de gregos e turcos pode voltar a adquirir uma inesperada actualidade, com a perspectiva de adesão da Turquia à União Europeia, pelas razões que veremos mais à frente. Para a correcta compreensão desta questão é necessário efectuar uma retrospectiva
histórica, ainda que breve, sobre a formação da Grécia e da Turquia modernas. Em ambos os casos, estamos a falar de processos históricos complexos e mal conhecidos pelo europeu médio, o que não deixa de ser curioso, especialmente no caso da Grécia, dada a enorme influência da cultura grega da Antiguidade Clássica na formação da Europa e Ocidente Ver texto integral do artigo.

Cartoon da revista The Economist sobre a indústria automóvel e as emissões de CO2 na União Europeia

Cartoon de Luís Afonso sobre o referendo ao Tratado de Lisboa in Público, 17 de Dezembro de 2007

"Padre italiano atacado e ferido na Turquia" in Guardian, 16 de Dezembro de 2007

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - A Catholic priest was hospitalized Sunday after being stabbed, the Italian Embassy in Turkey said. Police said they detained the suspected attacker.

The assault was the latest in a series of attacks on Christians in Turkey and was likely to add to concerns about whether the predominantly Muslim country - which is bidding for European Union membership - can protect its Christian community.

The priest, Adriano Franchini, was stabbed after Sunday Mass at St. Anthony's church in the port city of Izmir, said Simon Carta, the Italian consul there.

The priest is responsible for the Capucine order in Turkey and heads the Church of the Virgin Mary in Ephesus, Carta said. He said the priest was conscious when he was taken to a hospital.

The state-run Anatolia news agency said Franchini was stabbed in the stomach but his condition was not life-threatening.

Police said they detained a man in connection with the attack, but gave no further information.

Private news channel Haberturk said the assailant approached the priest saying that he wanted information on Christianity. An argument broke out between the two shortly afterward and the man stabbed the priest, the report said.

There have been a number of similar attacks over the past two years.

In February 2006, at a time of widespread anger in the Islamic world over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, a 16-year-old boy shot a Catholic priest to death as he knelt in prayer inside his church in the Black Sea city of Trabzon.

Following that murder, a Catholic priest was attacked and threatened in Izmir, and another was stabbed in the Black Sea port of Samsun. In November this year, an Assyrian cleric was abducted in southeast Turkey and rescued by security forces.

In April, three Christians were killed at a publishing house that produces Bibles. Last week, Turkey began an investigation into alleged collusion between police officers and at least one of the suspects charged in the killings. The three victims, a German and two Turks who had converted to Christianity, were tied up and had their throats slit.

Christians make up less than 1 percent of Turkey's population of some 70 million.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7157546,00.html

JPTF 2007/12/17

O excelente fotojornalismo do Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)

Ayman al Zawahiri: "Não renunciaremos às nossas crenças nem ao Al-Ándalus" in Público.es, 14 de Dezembro de 2007

El número dos de la organización terrorista Al Qaeda, el egipcio Ayman al Zawahiri, condena en una grabación difundida hoy la conferencia de Annapolis (EEUU) e insiste en que no renunciará a recuperar Al Andalus (España).

En una grabación de audio, cuya autenticidad no ha podido ser confirmada y que ha sido difundida a través de una página web utilizada normalmente por la organización, Zawahiri califica el acuerdo alcanzado en esa conferencia de "una traición para vender Palestina" y entregarla a Israel.

El discurso, titulado "Annapolis: la traición", aparece acompañado de una imagen fija de Zawahiri en la que está vestido con una túnica y turbante blancos frente a una estantería con libros religiosos y un fusil.

Zawahiri también critica a los líderes árabes que se sentaron junto al presidente estadounidense George W. Bush y al primer ministro israelí, Ehud Olmert, por participar en "uno de los capítulos de la cadena de etapas que tienen como objetivo la venta de Palestina".

El líder terrorista critica especialmente a el secretario general de la Liga Árabe, Amro Musa; al presidente de la Autoridad Nacional Palestina, Mahmud Abás; al presidente egipcio, Hosni Mubarak; y al rey de Arabia Saudí, Abdulá bin Abdelaziz.

El lugarteniente de Osama bin Laden también dijo, dirigiéndose a la comunidad islámica y a los islamistas revisionistas que quieren abandonar la violencia que él que no renunciará a Al Andalus (España), Ceuta y Melilla por muchas conferencias de Annapolis que se celebren.

"No detendremos nuestra guerra santa"
"Juramos por Dios que no abandonaremos las armas, no detendremos nuestra guerra santa, no renunciaremos a nuestras creencias ni a Al Ándalus, Ceuta, Melilla... por mil conferencias de Oslo, Annapolis, Londres o Salahadin que se celebren", asegura Zawahiri.

La cinta, que tiene una duración de 20 minutos, ha sido editada por la productora islamista As-Sahab, encargada de transmitir los mensajes de la red terrorista.

Asimismo, se dirige a los muyahidines (combatientes de la guerra santa) y les pide que no abandonen al pueblo palestino y que lo defiendan "con todos los medios a su alcance".

También, llama a los "hermanos palestinos" a unirse bajo el estandarte del islam y en el camino de la guerra santa "contra el enemigo cruzado-sionista".

Zawahiri se dirige a Egipto y la comunidad islámica de este país, así como a los miembros de los grupos radicales que están renunciando al uso de las armas para preguntarles que "dónde está su papel para detener el ataque contra el islam y los musulmanes y para luchar contra los sionistas (israelíes)".

En la grabación califica a Egipto de "régimen agente" de Israel y EEUU y llama a su pueblo para enfrentarse a Mubarak que "mata y encierra a vuestros hijos", "quita el hiyab (el pañuelo) y el niqab (tela que cubre la cabeza y el rostro) de las mujeres" y "quiere que participemos en el cerco impuesto a nuestros hermanos palestinos".

El islamista de origen egipcio se dirige a todos los musulmanes para que sigan en la lucha por el camino de Dios y no se dejen engañar por la "conspiración" de la conferencia de Annapolis.
http://www.publico.es/agencias/EFE/027763/numero/qaeda/insiste/renunciara/andalus/ceuta/melilla
JPTF 2007/12/14

"Organizações marroquinas criam uma 'frente nacional' para reclamar Ceuta e Melilla" in El Pais, 14 de Dezembro de 2007

La coalición durante una marcha por la "liberación" de ambas ciudades españolas en la que han participado medio centenar de personas.- Pretende defender la soberanía marroquí de los enclaves frente al "colonialismo español".

Dos organizaciones marroquíes han anunciado este viernes la creación de un frente nacional para defender la soberanía marroquí de las ciudades autónomas españolas Ceuta y Melilla, enclavadas en el norte de África. La presentación de la coalición ha tenido lugar en el marco de una marcha por la "liberación" de los enclaves españoles situados en el norte de África, que ha congregado a medio centenar de personas ante la frontera ceutí y el islote de Perejil.

El objetivo de la formación, creada por la Coordinadora de las Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil en el Norte de Marruecos y el Comité para la Liberación de Ceuta y Melilla, será dar a conocer "la situación" de esas dos ciudades autónomas españolas y denunciar ante la opinión pública internacional lo que los creadores califican de "colonialismo español" en el norte de Marruecos.

El anuncio de esa coalición que agrupa a "partidos políticos, sindicatos y asociaciones de la sociedad civil" tuvo lugar en una conferencia de prensa celebrada en el marco la llamada "caravana de liberación y de desarrollo", que ha reunido a unas 50 personas. La marcha partió anoche de Nador, ha alcanzado esta mañana la frontera con Ceuta, para dirigirse después frente al islote de Perejil, y tiene previsto finalizar el próximo lunes en la frontera con Melilla.

"Pedimos a España un diálogo urgente y serio con nuestro Gobierno para retirar sus fuerzas y finalizar el colonialismo español en las dos ciudades", ha declarado Abdelmonen Chauki, representante de la Coordinadora de las

Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil en el Norte de Marruecos.
Chauki ha asegurado que llevarán a cabo nuevas concentraciones hasta que las autoridades españolas dialoguen con las marroquíes sobre esos territorios. Los organizadores de la protesta han expresado, además, en nombre de toda la población marroquí, su voluntad de que se alcance "una solución política al conflicto" y su deseo de que "la retirada española" tenga lugar "de manera diplomática".

Los manifestantes, que ondearon tanto banderas marroquíes
como palestinas y portaban una pancarta en la que se podía leer "Juntos por la libertad de todas nuestras ciudades ocupadas", equipararon "la ocupación española sobre Ceuta y Melilla a la israelí sobre los territorios palestinos".

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Organizaciones/marroquies/crean/i/frente/nacional/i/reclamar/Ceuta/Melilla/elpepuesp/20071214elpepunac_20/Tes
JPTF 2007/12/14

"Lídere europeus assinam Tratado marcante" in BBC News, 13 de Dezembro de 2007 (por isso, convém não efectuar referendo)

EU leaders are preparing to sign a treaty in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, that will greatly alter the way members govern themselves.

The treaty creates an EU president and a vastly more powerful foreign policy chief for the Union's 27 nations.

At the same time the document scraps veto powers in many policy areas.

It is a replacement for the EU constitution abandoned following French and Dutch opposition. EU leaders insist the two texts are in no way equivalent.

But the Lisbon treaty incorporates some of the draft constitution's key reforms, and several governments face domestic pressure over the document.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has chosen not to attend the ceremony, citing a prior engagement in the British parliament.

However, he will sign the treaty separately, later on Thursday.

The UK's opposition Conservatives accused Mr Brown of "not having the guts" to sign the treaty, which is politically controversial in Britain, in public.

Having started this year with a celebration of its 50th birthday, the EU hopes the signing of the Lisbon treaty will end the serious mid-life crisis brought about by the death of the constitution, the BBC's Oana Lungescu reports.

There will be a lot of relief, said a senior European diplomat, but also some apprehension about what happens next.

Ireland is the only country planning to hold a referendum, but most voters there seem either undecided or indifferent.

Parliaments in Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark are also expected to give a turbulent reception to the 250-page text.

However, Germany, France and Poland have pledged to be among the first to ratify it, so that the new reforms can come into force in 2009 as planned.

Slimmed-down

The treaty is a slimmed-down version of the European constitution, with a more modest name and without any reference to EU symbols such as the flag and anthem.

It is meant to ease decision-making, by scrapping national vetoes in some 50 policy areas, including sensitive ones such as police and judicial co-operation.

There will also be a foreign policy chief, controlling a big budget and thousands of diplomats and officials, and a permanent EU president appointed for up to five years.

But some already fear that instead of giving Europe a strong single voice in the world, the new posts will only generate more rivalry, our correspondent adds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7141651.stm
JPTF 2007/12/13