Tag Archives: spain

EU foreign ministers want West Bank settlement goods labelled

Posted on April 21, 2013

(JERUSALEM) – EU foreign ministers, among them Britain’s William Hague and Laurent Fabius of France, have said they will back EU efforts to label products from Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, according to a letter obtained by AFP on Friday.

Israel complained that the initiative was discriminatory and unfair.

“We warmly welcome your commitment to work with fellow commissioners to prepare EU-wide guidelines on the labelling of settlement produce,” said the letter by 13 ministers, addressed to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and dated April 12.

“This is an important step to ensure correct and coherent application of EU consumer protection and labelling legislation, which is in fulfilment of our previous commitments and is fully consistent with long-standing EU policy in relation to Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

“We stand ready to assist you in taking forward this important work,” added the signatories, which also included the chief diplomats of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Ireland and Slovenia.

Britain and Denmark have been at the forefront of calls for clear and unambiguous labelling of settlement products.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said on Friday that, by concentrating on Israel, the campaign was unfair.

“This whole labelling initiative is fundamentally discriminatory as it singles out one country and one area for labelling,” he told AFP. “Surely the EU feels strongly about quite a wide number of areas in controversy around the world and indeed in Europe itself.”

“If the labelling initiative had been universal and should it affect all controversial areas then it would have been a fair measure,” he added.

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem are illegal under international law, and goods produced there are not eligible for the same preferential tariffs enjoyed by Israeli exports to the EU.

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Several hundred thousand due in Paris to protest gay marriage

Posted on January 13, 2013

PARIS (Reuters) – Several hundred thousand people are expected to march through Paris on Sunday against the planned legalization of same-sex marriage in the first mass protest against the unpopular President Francois Hollande.

Strongly backed by the Catholic hierarchy, lay activists have mobilized a hybrid coalition of church-going families, political conservatives, Muslims, evangelicals and even homosexuals opposed to gay marriage for the show of force.

So many are expected to converge on Paris from around France that police had organizers split it into three separate columns starting from different points around the city and meeting in the Champ de Mars park at the Eiffel Tower.

Frigide Barjot, an eccentric comedian leading the so-called “Demo for All,” insists the protest is pro-marriage rather than anti-gay and has banned all but its approved banners saying a child needs a father and a mother to develop properly.

“We’re all born of a man and a woman, but the law will say the opposite tomorrow,” she said last week. “It will say a child is born of a man and a man.”

Hollande, who promised to legalize gay marriage and adoption during his election campaign last spring, has a comfortable parliamentary majority to pass the law by June as planned.

But his clumsy handling of other promises, such as a 75 percent tax on the rich that was ruled unconstitutional or his faltering struggle against rising unemployment, has soured the public mood. A mass street protest can hardly help his image.

MARRIAGE OR JOBS FOR ALL?

Same-sex nuptials are already legal in 11 countries including Belgium, Portugal, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Norway and South Africa, as well as nine U.S. states and Washington D.C.

Gay marriage opponents such as Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, head of the Catholic Church in France, have asked why Hollande is pushing through a divisive social reform called “marriage for all” when voters seem more concerned about “jobs for all.”

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Several hundred thousand due in Paris to protest gay marriage

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A Collection of 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films – Video

Posted on December 22, 2012



A Collection of 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films
wpshapes.com A Collection of 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films BINTA AND THE GREAT IDEA (BINTA Y LA GRAN IDEA)SPAIN 30 MinutesOscar Nominees Javier Fesser Luis MansoBinta, a 7-year-old girl, sets out to change the life of her young cousinERAMOS POCOS (ONE TOO MANY)Kimuak/SPAIN 16 MinutesOscar Nominee: Borja CobeagaWhen his wife leaves him, Joaquin asks his son to help him persuade his mother-in-law to do the housework.HELMER SONDENMARK 12 Minutes Live Action Shorts: West Bank Story (Oscar Winner), Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gram Idea),ramos Pocos(One Too Many), Helmer Son, The Saviour. Animated Shorts: The Danish Poet (Oscar Winner), Maestro. Bonus Feature Shorts: The Wraith of Cobble Hill, The Passenger, Gentlemen's Duel, Guide Dogm, One Rat Short Surviving the Rush. *Compilation and bonus features subject to change. List Price: $ 14.98 Price: $ 6.52 www.ssms1.comFrom:Steve JonesViews:0 0ratingsTime:01:31More inEntertainment

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A Collection of 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films – Video

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Israel Responds to the UN Vote – Video

Posted on December 8, 2012



Israel Responds to the UN Vote
Israel responds to the Palestinians UN status upgrade by authorising plans for 3000 new settlements causing international uproar. The mountains of Israel are indeed being prepared for the return of Christ. This is Matt Davies joining you for another Bible in the News. Following on from last week's Bible in the News special, we again see Israel at the heart of international controversy. On Friday 30th of November, after the United Nations voted overwhelmingly to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to a “non-member observer state”, Israel responded by announcing it was authorising plans to be drawn up for 3000 new settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem – in an area called “E1″. The proposed settlements will connect Jerusalem with one of the largest Jewish settlements in the West Bank “Ma'ale Adumim”. There are also other plans afoot for more building in Judea and Samaria. Over the past week, the international community have been protesting against these Israeli settlement plans. France, Britain, Spain, the EU, Denmark, Sweden, Australia and Egypt have all summoned their respective Israeli ambassadors to express their strong disapproval at Israel's response to the recent UN vote. Israel's move has also drawn criticism from many other nations including, the United States, Russia and Japan. On 3rd December, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was keen to point out that the unilateral action pursued by the Authority at the UN was directly against the Oslo …From:benzion888Views:16 0ratingsTime:08:06More inEducation

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Netanyahu's Israeli settlement push could be ballot box boon

Posted on December 4, 2012

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – For Benjamin Netanyahu, plans to expand Israeli settlements may risk a diplomatic crisis with Europe but could prove a good bet at the ballot box.

With a January 22 election looming, the Israeli leader has defied long-standing international opposition to settlements and announced plans to build at least 3,000 more homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem after the United Nations’ de facto recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Standing up to Europe, where a string of Israeli diplomats were summoned for reprimands by the governments of Britain, France, Spain, Sweden and Denmark on Monday, could help cement right-wing voter support for the conservative prime minister.

“We feared that politicians would clamber over themselves to show who could be tougher with the Palestinians. However we had hoped that Netanyahu would show more restraint. It didn’t happen,” said a Western diplomat in Jerusalem.

“We did not want the Palestinians to go to the United Nations during an Israeli election campaign precisely for this reason,” the diplomat said.

Israel rebuffed European protests and appeals to reverse course on the settlement drive, saying it would “stand by its vital interests, even in the face of international pressure”.

Settlement projects on land Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War are considered illegal by most world powers and have routinely drawn condemnation from them. Some 500,000 Israelis and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

But this time, the government also ordered new “planning work” in one of the most highly sensitive areas of the West Bank known as “E1″. Israeli housing on its barren hills could split the West Bank in two, denying the Palestinians a viable state.

Many Israelis have traditionally viewed the United Nations and many European governments as being particularly sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

And in an aside by Netanyahu during a visit to the United States, Israel’s main ally, he appeared to indicate he shared those sentiments.

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Netanyahu's Israeli settlement push could be ballot box boon

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Gladio in Spain, interview with Daniele Ganser – Video

Posted on November 23, 2012



Gladio in Spain, interview with Daniele Ganser
Daniele Ganser, author of NATO's Secret Armies. Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe interviwed by Tania Glvez San Jos. “Operation Gladio” (named after the after the Italian branch) was a network of NATO's stay behind-armies trained by western intelligence and military intelligence agencies to counter the possible communist/Soviet/ Warsaw Pact takeover of Europe after WWII. en.wikipedia.org Elitist-criminal element within the structures of western governments, also called “deep state” or “shadow government”, manipulated European politics by manipulating both left- and right wing radical groups to start political street wars and terror campaigns to steer western nations according to their agenda.. …which could be described as a “takeover by international bankers and industrialists”. Some call this agenda the “New World Order”. The NATO stay behind army-networks had arms caches hidden all over European NATO-countries (also in non-aligned countries such as Finland, Operation Stella Polaris), and military explosives from these caches were used in some of the deadliest terror bombings in the cold war Europe. To mention few of these cases: Italian investigators discovered that the explosives used in '1972 Peteano carbomb' was C-4, and came from Gladio-arms cache, althou explosives expert for Italian police at first claimed the Peteano-exposives matched the kind used by left wing radicals, the Red Brigades. en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org *** Explosives used in …From:911operationgladioViews:1 2ratingsTime:01:23:21More inPeople Blogs

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Gladio in Spain, interview with Daniele Ganser – Video

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Vatican digs in after gay-marriage advocates' victories in U.S., Europe

Posted on November 11, 2012

VATICANCITY TheVaticanis digging in after gay marriage initiatives scored big wins this week in the U.S. and Europe, vowing to never stop insisting that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.

In a front-page article in Saturday’sVaticannewspaper L’Osservatore Romano, the Holy See sought to frame itself as the lone voice of courage in opposing initiatives to give same-sex couples legal recognition. In a separateVaticanRadio editorial, the pope’s spokesman asked sarcastically why gay marriage proponents don’t now push for legal recognition for polygamous couples as well.

Catholic teaching holds that homosexuals should be respected and treated with dignity but that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.” TheVaticanalso opposes same-sex marriage, insisting on the sanctity of marriage between a man and woman as the foundation for society.

TheVatican’santi-gay marriage media blitz came after three U.S. states approved same-sex marriage by popular vote in the election that returned Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency, Spain upheld its gay marriage law, and France pushed ahead with legislation that could see gay marriage legalized early next year.

“One might say the church, at least on this front, has been defeated,” L’Osservatore Romano wrote. “But that’s not the case.”

The article insisted that Catholics were putting up a valiant fight to uphold church teaching in the face of “politically correct ideologies invading every culture of the world” that are backed by institutions like the United Nations, which last year passed a non-binding resolution condemning anti-gay discrimination.

“The church is called to present itself as the lone critic of modernity, the only check … to the breakup of the anthropological structures on which human society was founded,” it said.

Vaticanspokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi, for his part, said gays can have their rights protected by means other than through legal marital recognition. He stressed that children should have a right to say they have a father and a mother.

“If not, then why not contemplate freely chosen polygamy, and naturally so as to not discriminate, polyandry?” he asked sarcastically. Polyandry is when a woman has two or more husbands.

“As a result, don’t expect the church to stop insisting that society recognizes a specific place for marriage between a man and woman,” he said.

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Gay Marriage Bill Advances in France

Posted on November 7, 2012

PARIS The French cabinet approved a draft bill legalizing same-sex marriage on Wednesday after weeks of loud opposition, especially from religious figures and the political right.

During his successful campaign for president, Franois Hollande promised to legalize same-sex marriage. On Wednesday, he said the measure represented progress for all of society. Mr. Hollande and his Socialist Party have a majority in both houses of Parliament, and the bill is expected to pass sometime early next year.

The draft law redefines marriage to stipulate that it is contracted between two persons of different sex or of the same sex, and the words father and mother in existing legislation are replaced by parents. The bill would also allow married gay couples to adopt children.

Christiane Taubira, the justice minister, told the conservative newspaper La Croix that marriage for all, as the government calls it, was a response to a demand for equality.

But the move to legalize same-sex marriage has been controversial, and the bill was subject to delays in a country where only married couples can adopt. Opinion polls indicate that a majority of the French support gay marriage, but only half approve allowing gays to adopt.

On Wednesday, Serge Dassault, an influential senator from the center-right Union for a Popular Movement, the party of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, said the bill represented the end of the family, the end of childrens development, the end of education. He called it an enormous danger to the nation.

Dominique Bertinotti, the minister of family affairs, rejected that criticism, saying, On the contrary, it is a legal protection.

The cabinet decision came a day after Maine and Maryland became the first American states to approve same-sex marriage in a popular vote. Also on Tuesday, Spains highest court upheld that countrys law allowing same-sex marriage seven years after it was passed and after more than 21,000 same-sex couples had married.

If the French bill passes, France will become the 12th country, including Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Spain and Sweden, to make its marriage laws gender neutral. In Germany, registered same-sex couples have essentially the same legal rights as married heterosexual couples, but same-sex marriage is not legal.

Last month, several hundred people demonstrated against the bill in several cities across France, including Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Lille, emphasizing their opposition to the adoption of children by gays.

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Gay Marriage Bill Advances in France

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A look at gay marriage and adoption worldwide

Posted on November 6, 2012

PARIS (AP) France is unveiling a draft law this week that could see marriage and adoption legalized for homosexual couples.

If the law is passed, France would become the 12th country in the world to allow gay marriage. It would also become the world’s biggest country, both in terms of population and economy, to permit it.

Since 2001, 11 countries have legalized same-sex marriage. They are: Denmark (2012), Portugal (2010), Iceland (2010), Argentina (2010), Sweden (2009), Norway (2008), South Africa (2006), Canada (2005), Spain (2005), Belgium (2003) and the Netherlands (2001).

Some jurisdictions inside countries also allow gay marriages.

In the United States, six states have legalized it: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, in addition to the District of Columbia and two Native American tribal jurisdictions.

In 1996, under President Bill Clinton, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was passed to prevent the federal government from recognizing gay marriage, allowing each U.S. state to refuse recognition of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. Support for gay marriage has grown considerably in the U.S. since the start of the 21st century.

Mexico City also recognizes gay marriage, although Mexico as a whole doesn’t.

Adoption for gay couples is more widespread, being allowed in 13 countries including in Brazil and the United Kingdom. France would become the 14th country where gay couples can adopt.

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A look at gay marriage and adoption worldwide

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Questions and Answers About Gay Marriage, Adoption

Posted on November 6, 2012

France’s government is introducing a bill this week that would let homosexual couples marry and adopt children. Such a law would make France the 12th country to legalize gay marriage, and the biggest country both in population and economy to do so.

Q: WHAT COUNTRIES HAVE LEGALIZED GAY MARRIAGE?

A: The Netherlands (2001); Belgium (2003); Spain and Canada (2005); South Africa (2006); Norway (2008); Sweden (2009); Argentina, Iceland, Portugal (2010); Denmark (2012).

Q: HAVE OTHER PLACES LEGALIZED GAY MARRIAGE?

A: In the United States, a law prevents the federal government from recognizing gay marriage, but six states have legalized it Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont as have the District of Columbia and two Native American tribal jurisdictions. Mexico City also recognizes gay marriage, although Mexico as a whole doesn’t.

Q: WHAT ABOUT ADOPTION FOR GAY COUPLES?

A: Gay couples can legally adopt in all of the countries that have legalized gay marriage, plus Brazil and the United Kingdom.

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Questions and Answers About Gay Marriage, Adoption

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