By: Andrew Rettmann – EUobserver

Atheists could attack galleries for showing religious art and witches could claim the right to use church halls under a draft EU equal rights law, the Roman Catholic church has warned.

The EU bill aims to curtail discrimination on grounds of religion, disability, age or sexual preference in social situations not covered by existing labour law, such as renting properties.

The directive could enter into force in 2011 if member states give unanimous approval in discussions planned for November by the Swedish EU presidency.

The criticism was put forward in recent days by the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales as part of a British government consultation procedure.

The bishops’ group “commends” the EU effort to protect “the innate dignity of every person.”

But it calls for the legal text to soften a clause against creating an “offensive environment” and to add an exemption to let religious organisations “function in accordance with [their] ethos.”

“There is a risk that practical implementation may effectively turn the directive into an instrument of oppression against one or other group,” the church paper, signed by bishops’ conference general secretary Monsignor Andrew Summersgill, says.

“Homosexual groups …may declare themselves offended by the presentation of the Catholic Church’s moral teaching on homosexual acts; Catholics may declare themselves offended by a ‘Gay Pride’ march; an atheist may be offended by religious pictures in an art gallery.”

“It is not clear whether [the bill] would apply to the activities of a Catholic priest, if, as recently occurred, he were to refuse to take a booking for a Church Hall from a group of witches,” it adds.

The European Parliament passed the draft law in April by 363 votes against 226. Left-leaning and liberal MEPs championed the bill. But centre-right deputies said it will create too much red tape.

By: Valentina Pop – EUobserver

Nato’s new secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen wants to improve the alliance’s practical co-operation with the European Union by trying to persuade Greek and Turkish leaders to set aside their bilateral disputes blocking the interaction of the two organisations.

“We all know that there are other obstacles towards an improved co-operation between Nato and the EU. This is a priority for me, to get rid of these obstacles,” Mr Rasmussen said on Monday (3 August) during his first press conference as secretary general of the North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato). He formally took over the post on 1 August.

First day at work for new Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen (Photo: Nato)

His predecessor conceded a month ago his “disappointment” over the lack of a strategic partnership between the two organisations both located in Brussels and sharing 21 of the EU’s 27 and Nato’s 28 members.

The main sticking point in EU-Nato relations is the unresolved status of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Its southern, Greek-Cypriot part, is a member of the EU, while the northern Turkish dominated part of the island is only recognised as an independent state by Ankara. As a result, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey refuse to allow the EU and Nato to share security information.

Mr Rasmussen on Monday said Greece and Turkey would be among the first Nato members for him to visit this month, and “obviously this issue will be one of my focal points.”

The Dane hailed France’s return to the military structures of the alliance earlier this year and was confident that this decision “will definitely facilitate a process towards strengthening co-operation between Nato and the EU.”

He also pledged to draw on his “network” of EU leaders he knows very well as a a former Danish premier in the past eight years in order to make the two organisations work together properly.

Mr Rasmussen’s task will be to chair Nato meetings and co-ordinate the decision-making process among member states, as well as the drafting and negotiating of a new strategic concept for the alliance.

The new document, to be adopted by member states next year in Lisbon, would upgrade the security priorities of Nato, taking into account new threats such as terrorism, piracy, energy disruptions and climate change.

The new Nato secretary general will be advised by a group of 12 experts, chaired by former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and Jeroen van der Veer, former CEO of Royal Dutch Shell.

An online discussion forum was also launched on Monday, with Mr Rasmussen stressing that he wanted “to assure everyone who shares their views with us, that they will be heard.”

Mending ties with the Arab world

Dialogue with the Arab world was of particular importance to the new secretary general, who announced that he would meet in person with each ambassador of the 11 partners in Northern Africa and the Middle East, in an effort to mend ties after the so-called cartoon row back in 2005 when he was prime minister of Denmark.

Mr Rasmussen became embroiled in a dispute with Muslim countries outraged by the publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. As a premier, he refused to take any government actions against the paper and cited freedom of expression as one of the founding elements of democracy.

Nato has invited Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Mauritania, Morocco, Qatar, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates to work more closely with it on security in two groups known as the Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Co-operation Initiative.

“Let me assure the governments and people that I am fully committed to building stronger relations with them on the basis of mutual respect, understanding and trust,” Mr Rasmussen said.

No dreams about Russia

Strained after the Georgian war a year ago, Nato-Russia relations would be one of Mr Rasmussen’s main priorities, he said.

“Now, I’m not a dreamer,” Mr Rasmussen admitted. “It is obvious that there will be fundamental issues on which we disagree. We have to insist, for example, that Russia fully complies with its international obligations, including respecting the territorial integrity and political freedom of its neighbours,” he said in reference to the Russian military presence in Georgian breakaway provinces Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Moscow has recognised as independent countries.

“But we can not let those areas of disagreement poison the whole relationship,” he added.

Nato froze ties with Russia after the war in August last year, but re-started formal co-operation in spring.

Regarding Ukraine and Georgia’s prospects of becoming Nato members – another sticking point in Nato-Russia relations – Mr Rasmussen said that either country can join once it fulfills the criteria, but neither has done so yet.

“I consider it a very important challenge to convince the Russian people and leadership that Nato is really not an enemy,” he explained.

By: Lisbeth Kirk – EUobserver

The European Union’s population is set to reach the 500 million mark in 2009, new figures from Eurostat, the bloc’s statistics agency, showed on Wednesday (3 August).

On 1 January 2009 the population was estimated to stand at 499.8 million, compared with 497.7 million on 1 January 2008.

Germany is still the most populous EU state, but has the lowest birthrate (Photo: wikipedia)

The EU population has been on the rise since 2004 due to an increase in birth rates combined with annual immigration of between 1.5 and 2 million people.

Last year, 5.4 million babies were born in the 27 EU member states, which translates as 10.9 per 1,000 inhabitants.

Only in Germany fewer children were born in 2008 than in previous years (8.2 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2008 compared to 8.3 in 2007).

Outside the EU, Turkey also saw a significant drop in its birth-rate (from 19.4 in 2007 to 17.9 in 2008).

Ireland still holds the record as the most fertile EU country (16.9 per 1,000 inhabitants) followed by France (13.0), the UK (12.9), Estonia (12.0), Sweden (11.9) and Denmark (11.8).

At the other end, Germans are making the fewest babies. Austria had the second lowest birthrate in the EU (9.3) and despite the Italians’ reputation for romance, the country had the third lowest figure (9.6).

At the other end of the scale, the EU27 deathrate was stable at 9.7 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants in 2008, the same as in 2007.

Bulgaria has the highest deathrate among member states (14.5), followed by Latvia (13.7). The lowest deathrates were recorded in Ireland, Cyprus and Turkey (6.4).

Germany is still by far the most populous EU country with 82 million inhabitants on 1 January 2009, followed by France (64 million), the UK (62 million) and Italy (60 million).

On immigration, Luxembourg welcomed the most newcomers per capita (15.8 per 1,000 inhabitants), followed by Slovenia (9.6), Spain (9.1) and Italy (7.3).

Four countries are shedding people however, with people leaving Lithuania (-2.3 per 1,000 inhabitants), Latvia (-1.1), Poland (-0.4) and Bulgaria (-0.1).

* Abbas: Keep on with talks ‘as long as there’s a tiny bit of hope’ At the opening of Fatah’s sixth general assembly Tuesday morning, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that his people must persist with peace negotiations with Israel.

* EU population to hit 500 million The European Union’s population is set to reach the 500 million mark in 2009.

* Zawahri: Israel must be wiped off map Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaida’s second-in-command, said on Monday that Israel should be wiped off the map.

* Arab leaders, on U.S. visits, put onus on Israel Two visiting Arab leaders sought to ratchet up diplomatic pressure on Israel in Washington.

* US Mideast plan anticipated ‘in matter of weeks’ Despite recent Arab statements opposing US demands for confidence-building steps towards Israel, the US anticipates it will have the pieces in place to formally re-launch the Arab-Israel peace process.

* Global economy at risk from oil price rise The world economy cannot sustain any further rise in the oil price, the International Energy Agency’s chief economist warned as oil prices rose toward a record high for the year.

* New Nato chief pledges to fix relations with EU Nato’s new secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen wants to improve the alliance’s practical co-operation with the European Union.

* ‘Israel soon to be larger than Diaspora’ Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu welcomed a planeload of olim on Tuesday at Ben Gurion Airport, telling them “we’re close to a tipping point.”

* Bill Clinton on N Korea mission Former US President Bill Clinton has arrived in North Korea on a surprise visit to discuss the fate of two jailed US reporters.

* Catholics alarmed by EU equal rights law Atheists could attack galleries for showing religious art and witches could claim the right to use church halls under a draft EU equal rights law.

* Iran poll critics shun ceremony Senior Iranian political figures appear to have snubbed the formal endorsement of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

* Scientists find new strain of HIV Gorillas have been found, for the first time, to be a source of HIV.

* Warning: Oil supplies are running out fast Catastrophic shortfalls threaten economic recovery, says world’s top energy economist

* Iran is ready to build an N-bomb – it is just waiting for the Ayatollah’s order Iran has perfected the technology to create and detonate a nuclear warhead and is merely awaiting the word from its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to produce its first bomb.

* 700 die in fighting in northern Nigeria Some 700 people have been killed in clashes with Islamic militants in Nigeria, a military commander told CNN.

* Turkey marks 50 years as EU suitor Turkey has marked a sad anniversary of 50 years knocking on Europe’s door, with some enthusiasts hoping that the EU’s recent deal on the Nabucco gas pipeline could speed up Ankara’s membership bid.

* Afghan insurgents are weakened Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell has said insurgents in Afghanistan have had their “command and control” weakened by Operation Panther’s Claw.

* Georgia says Russia is trying to seize more land Georgia accused Russia on Monday of trying to take more territory outside the breakaway province of South Ossetia as tensions rose before the first anniversary of the Russian-Georgian war last summer.

* Berlin starts talks over Lisbon treaty law Leading representatives of the German governing parties will meet in Berlin to formulate legislation on how to implement the EU’s Lisbon treaty, as requested by the country’s constitutional court.

* Lieberman: I’ll resign if A-G indicts me Foreign Minster Avigdor Lieberman said he would resign if Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz decides to press charges against him, but does not see that happening in the near future.

By: Yisrael Medad – Los Angeles Times

Today, the 9th of Av, there are many new threats to Jerusalem, including the recent diplomatic dissing of Israel by the U.S. Fortunately, the words of President Obama and other U.S. officials have served to reinforce a consensus among Israelis that Jerusalem must remain exclusively under Israeli control and that even communities of Jews living outside the former Green Line, the armistice line drawn after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, must remain a part of Israel.

A liberal Washington think tank, the Center for American Progress, recently conducted a panel discussion based on the premise that the Old City of Jerusalem is the main impediment to solving the Israeli-Arab conflict. The group’s plan recommends that Israel and a future state of Palestine appoint a third-party administrator that would run and police the city. An audience member who asked why the status quo could not be retained was informed by a panelist that that “would be too intangible.”

We have to hope Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton knows better than to upset the status quo. As longtime diplomat Dennis Ross informed us in his book, “The Missing Peace,” the only new idea Yasser Arafat raised at Camp David in 2000 was that the temple didn’t exist in Jerusalem, claiming it had been located in Nablus. Her husband, then-President Clinton, was astonished at this. Instead of “Holocaust denial” we were given “temple denial.”

U.S. policy toward Jerusalem has long tended toward the “denial” side of the equation. If an American living in Jerusalem gives birth to a child in either West Jerusalem or post-1967 East Jerusalem, for example, her progeny is not recognized by the U.S. as being born in Israel. The birth certificate and passport will list only a city name — Jerusalem — as the place of birth.

This rule follows the U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual, which notes: “For a person born in Jerusalem, write JERUSALEM as the place of birth in the passport. Do not write Israel, Jordan or West Bank …” The “logic” for this is that Israel is considered by the United States to be “occupying” territories — including Jerusalem — whose final status must be negotiated.

As State Department spokesman Ian Kelly admitted on June 22, before being reined in, the recent Obama administration fixation on a “settlement freeze” also targets neighborhoods in East Jerusalem whose Jewish population’s “natural growth” is to be halted.

And there is more State Department trickery. Births of children of American citizens in any of the Arab towns or Jewish communities outside of Jerusalem and beyond the Green Line will have their birthplace noted, as per the above-mentioned regulations, as the “West Bank.” Is the “West Bank” a state? Is the State Department engaged in creating new states?

This is an illogical and quite unreasonable bureaucratic situation. On the one hand, the State Department has fashioned a new “state” while, on the other, it is ignoring Israel’s status in its own capital.

The “West Bank” never existed as a geopolitical entity until April 1950, when Jordan annexed the area. That annexation, incidentally, was considered by all the world — except for Britain — as an illegal occupation. Yet the U.S. has established the “West Bank,” with the stroke of a pen, as if it were a state entity.

If the U.S. insists on using boundaries dating to 1948, shouldn’t it also use the place names in use at that time? “Judea” and “Samaria” were both names written into the U.N. partition resolution. A baby born to U.S. citizens in Shiloh, for example, should therefore be registered as having been born in “Shiloh, Samaria.”

Today is a day of lament for a long-ago event seared into the collective memory of Jews the world over. But the contemporary pressures the Obama administration has brought on Israel have created another lamentable situation between the two nations. This year, the ancient fast days will also provide an outlet for contemporary frustration over issues of sovereignty, political independence and security.

* Assad: Golan will return to Arab hands After the foreign minister of Saudi flatly rejected US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s request that his country make goodwill gestures toward Israel.

* Iran poll protests trial begins The trial has begun in Iran of 100 people arrested for their alleged involvement in post-election violence.

* Saudi FM: No gestures toward Israel Saudi Arabia on Friday sharply rejected American calls for gestures towards Israel.

* ‘Fatah conference to harden party line’ The Palestinian Fatah movement will attempt to bring its platform up to date during a conference next week in Bethlehem.

* Lebanese cleric: Arab patience with Obama wearing thin An influential Lebanese Shi’ite cleric said Friday that President Barack Obama’s outreach to the Arab and Islamic worlds has failed to improve ties.

* Iraqis fear al Qaeda violence after mosque bombs Iraqis said on Saturday they feared al Qaeda was trying to tip their country back into the sectarian strife.

* Russia could use military force to defend S. Ossetian residents Russia’s Defense Ministry is concerned over recent shots on South Ossetia’s capital Tskhinval and its suburbs.

* Settlers flock to new outpost on Shabbat eve Some 30 right-wing activists set up illegal outpost near West Bank settlement of Kedumim.

* ‘German charity front for Hizbullah’ A German charity for Lebanese orphans is a front organization raising funds for Hizbullah suicide bombers.

* Ahmadinejad denies rift with Khamenei Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at critics within his own hard-line camp.

* Temple Altar Construction Begins on Day of Destruction The Temple Institute has already built several of the Temple vessels such as the Ark and the menorah.

* Islamist death ‘good for Nigeria’ A Nigerian government minister has expressed relief at the death of an Islamic sect leader, Mohammed Yusuf.

* Jewish, Not Arab, Roots in Judea and Samaria US Pres. Obama’s demand that Israel not settle Jews in the Biblical areas of Judea and Samaria ignores thoroughly-documented Jewish roots in the Land of Israel.

* Israel says Gaza war ‘necessary’ An Israeli government report has said that the Israeli military campaign in Gaza earlier this year was “necessary and proportionate”.

* Holy Temple Festival in Samaria A first-of-its-kind all-night Holy Temple Festival will be held Saturday night in the Jewish town of Tapuach in Samaria.

* Israel ranked one of world’s least peaceful states For the third year in a row, Israel fared very poorly in the Global Peace Index, being placed just 141 out of 144 countries, and ranked more peaceful than only Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.

* Iran blames West for protester deaths The Iranian foreign minister is blaming foreign countries for the deaths of opposition supporters in Iran’s post-election turmoil.

* Iran president: No rift with supreme leader President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says there is no rift between him and Iran’s supreme leader, lashing back at criticism from within his own hard-line camp.

* U.S. troops accused of damaging Babylon’s ancient wonder The U.S. military did major damage to the site of one of the wonders of the ancient world while converting it into a base.

* Afghan civilian deaths increase The number of civilians killed in the conflict in Afghanistan so far this year has risen 24% compared with the same period last year.

* US misstepped regarding settlements The current tensions between Israel and the United States might have been avoided had US President Barack Obama not taken such a harsh stance against settlement construction.

* China concerned about abortions Authorities in China have highlighted inadequate knowledge of contraception and poor sex education as major factors in the high number of abortions there.

* Stone Vessel with Priestly Inscription Uncovered In Jerusalem A rare 2,000-year-old ritual earthenware vessel inscribed with 10 lines of text has been discovered in an excavation near the Zion Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem.

* Turkey seeks active role in Hamas-Fatah reconciliation Palestinian sources tell Al-Jazeera Ankara’s request part of general goal to play greater role in Arab-Israeli peace process.

* Netanyahu freezes East Jerusalem construction Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has frozen a project for the construction of some 900 apartments in East Jerusalem.

* Nigeria forces storm sect mosque Nigerian security forces have stormed a mosque where militants from an Islamic sect blamed for days of deadly violence have been hiding out.

* PA, Israeli ministers meet in Tel Aviv The first ministerial level meeting between Israel and the Palestinian authority since the establishment of the Netanyahu government took place yesterday in Tel Aviv.

* Why Iran’s conservatives are airing their dirty laundry In the final days before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s inauguration next week, splits among the country’s conservative elite have become increasingly conspicuous.

* N Korea seizes S Korea vessel A South Korean fishing boat has been towed away by a North Korean patrol boat off the peninsula’s east coast, South Korean officials say.

By: Yehudah Lev Kay – Arutz Sheva

(IsraelNN.com) The Temple Institute will begin building the sacrificial altar on Thursday, Tisha B’av, a fast day when Jews mourn the destruction of the Temple some 2,000 years ago.

The sacrificial altar was located in the center of the Temple, and upon it the Kohanim (priests) offered the numerous voluntary and obligatory sacrifices commanded in the Bible.

The Temple Institute, which has already built many of the vessels for the Holy Temple, such as the ark and the menorah, has now embarked on a project to build the altar. Construction begins Thursday in Mitzpe Yericho (east of Jerusalem) at 5:30 p.m.
“Unfortunately, we cannot currently build the altar in its proper place, on the Temple Mount,” Temple Institute director Yehudah Glick said. “We are building an altar of the minimum possible size so that we will be able to transport it to the Temple when it is rebuilt.”

Even a minimum size altar will work out to be approximately 4 meters tall, 6 meters long, and 6 meters wide. Workers have collected around 10 cubic meters of rocks weighing several tons already.

The rocks were gathered from the Dead Sea area and wrapped individually to assure they remain whole and are not touched by metal, as the Bible requires.

“The Torah says that no iron tools should be used on the altar’s stones,” Glick explained. “The altar represents a connection to life and to the creation of the world. Iron is the opposite – it is used to build tools of war, death, and destruction.”

The stones will be cemented together with a mixture of sand, clay, tar, and asphalt. Researchers from the Temple Institute visited the Finish glass factory near Yerucham to learn how to create a mixture which would remain as cool as possible under the altar’s unremitting fires and protect the Kohanim, who always worked in the Temple barefoot.

Glick said that Tisha B’av, a day associated with mourning, is really the ideal time to begin to build the Temple. “People mistakenly think Tisha B’av is only a day to cry,” he explained. “It also has to be a day of action. We have the ability in our era to begin the construction of the Temple.”

“There are many positive developments recently with regard to the Temple,” Glick added. “Hundreds of Jews visited the Temple Mount this week, and more and more continue to come, after undergoing the requisite ritual immersion.”

The Temple Institute is searching for donations to help build the altar, which will cost around NIS 100,000 (approximately $26,000). More information is available at https://www.templeinstitute.org/main.htm.