Global News Journal
Beyond the World news headlines
Should Norway bail out Iceland?
While not exactly pocket change, Iceland’s $5.5 billion Icesave debt to Britain and the Netherlands amounts to just 1.2 percent of the value of Norway’s offshore wealth fund. For Iceland, it’s more than $15,000 per citizen.
Given the two countries’ close historic links — Norwegian Vikings discovered the Atlantic island where people still speak a version of “old Norwegian” — speculation about Oslo coming to the rescue has Reykjavik licking its lips.
It would take some coaxing of the Norwegian electorate, but why shouldn’t Oslo help out its crisis-hit cousin, Icelandic newspapers are asking.
On muted idea has Norway buying Icesave debts and allowing Reykjavik to repay the loans on better terms than it has gained from the Dutch and British governments.
Unlike Germany, which fears it will have to bail out fellow euro-member Greece by taking cash from its own people or issuing more debt, Oslo would simply tap into savings and ensure the loan gets repaid before its oil runs out in a few decades.
But finding bailout advocates in Oslo is proving tough.
EU vote result adds to Turkey’s membership woes
The results of European Parliament election have caused deep concern in European Union candidate Turkey, where gains made by conservatives and some far-right parties have been read as a clear win by the “No to Turkey” camp” and thus a blow to Ankara’s already troubled EU membership quest.
Trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the vote as a “futile effort by those who cannot digest Turkey’s enormity and strategic importance”. He said politicians who vilified Turkey to win votes in the short term would be judged by history.
Erdogan was probably referring to anti-immigration parties that have openly campaigned against predominantly Muslim Turkey’s accession bid, among them the Dutch Freedom Party of Geert Wilders who promised that Turkey would not join the union: “Not in 10 years, not in a million years.”
It’s very easy to see what is happening once one gets in tune with what is written as prophecy in the Bible. The rise of Islam can not be stopped, at least according to the two witnesses that appear in the Bible in Revelation 11:3. There is so much profound information that was put forth by the two witnesses. Go to thegoodguise at wordpress. There you will find the first true account of the two witnesses and the prophecies they put forth during the 1,260 days they delivered prophecy to the world. Leave your comments and get involved. The time is coming soon (within 40 years) that everything the two witnesses prophesied about will come to pass. If not for you, then do it for you children.
from FaithWorld:
Exercised over yoga in Malaysia
Of all the things to get exercised about, yoga would seem to be an unlikely candidate for controversy. But such has been the case in Malaysia this week.
Malaysia's prime minister declared on Wednesday that Muslims can after all practice the Indian exercise regime, so long as they avoid the meditation and chantings that reflect Hindu philosophy. This came after Malaysia's National Fatwa Council told Muslims to roll up their exercise mats and stop contorting their limbs because yoga could destroy the faith of Muslims.
It has been a tough month for the fatwa council chairman, Abdul Shukor Husin, who in late October issued an edict against young women wearing trousers, saying that was a slippery path to lesbianism. Gay sex is outlawed in Malaysia.
The council's rulings, and other religious controversies, might at first blush seem to indicate a growing strain of conservative Islam in mostly Muslim Malaysia. But it could also reflect the growing unease of Islamic authorities in defending the faith in a rapidly modernising Malaysia where non-Muslims constitute 40 percent of the population and are increasingly asserting their rights.
The yoga fatwa stirred up a hornet's next, not only in the blogosphere where that could be expected, but in another deeply conservative Malaysian institution -- the sultans. Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, who presides ceremonially over the central state of Selangor, said Abdul's fatwa council should have consulted the nine hereditary Malay rulers who take turns being Malaysia's king before announcing the ruling. The highly unusual comment from one of the sultans on a policy matter suggests some discord about who speaks for Malaysia's Muslims on matters of faith. Islam is the official religion in multi-religious Malaysia and the constitution designates the nine sultans as guardians of the faith. The (rotating) king is the head of Islam in Malaysia.
The sultans, for their part, have seen what remains of their secular powers eroded over the years, particularly under the two-decade administration of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. They could be defending a last bastion of royal prerogoative in the religious arena.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badaw, who has been preaching a moderate brand of Islam called Islam Hadhari, moved to contain the damage saying Muslims can do exercises like the "sun salutation" so long as they don't start chanting.
I am confused! How has Iceland got a debt to Holland or the UK? Individuals and in the UK’s case Local Authority gambled on high returns and no tax at home for their money by investing in Icelandic banks. These went through because they had bought worthless sub-prime exposure sold by US banks.
GovUK then had the usual knee jerk reaction, look good for the sound bite, promise them their money back. Why? They did not invest in UK to pay UK taxes. Therefore if any one needed to bail them out, and why should they be bailed out (as they took the higher risk for higher gain)? It should be Iceland direct. The lamentable thing is the govUK was too dumb to charge them the avoided tax first.