Daily Archives: October 8, 2013

‘What will become of us? Who will lead us?’: More than 700,000 mourners attend Israel’s largest ever funeral after the death of ultra-orthodox rabbi

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Jews attend the funeral of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef5

 

At least 700,000 mourners gathered in Jerusalem today for the funeral of influential ultra-orthodox Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

Thousands of police officers were deployed to control the crowds clamouring to stand near the spiritual leader’s body on the day of his death, as per Jewish tradition.

Ambulance workers reported 20 people had been injured in the commotion, also attended by President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Iraqi-born Rabbi – founder of the Shas Party and a leading Torah scholar – was 93 when he died shortly before 1.30pm today.

He was an arbiter of Halacha (Jewish law) and promoted rights for Jews emigrated from the Middle East and North Africa.

Around 100 followers spent the night and day standing outside his ward in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem after doctors announced the situation was critical as they tried to control ‘a total failure of his body systems’.

Mr Netanyahu described Rabbi Ovadia as ‘among the greatest rabbis of our generation’.

‘The Jewish People have lost one of the wisest men of this generation.

‘I admired his amiable personality and his direct approach.

‘In my meetings with him I was always made wiser and learned something.

‘I send my condolences to his family, to his students, and his followers.’

One of the nation’s most important figures, Rabbi Ovadia’s health has been at the centre of media attention over the last few weeks.

He was hospitalised last month after complications following kidney treatment.

 

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef

Has Madonna ditched Kabbalah for Islam? Singer reveals she is studying the Koran

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Madonna

It is almost a quarter of a century since she first sang Like A Prayer.

But it seems the intervening years have done little to help Madonna decide exactly who she’s praying to.

For it appears the queen of re-invention may be on the verge of one of her most startling changes yet, after she revealed she was studying the Koran.

The 55-year-old was raised a Roman Catholic, but for the past 17 years she has been a devout follower of Kabbalah, a mystical offshoot of Judaism.

Now the singer, whose current partner is a Muslim, has begun investigating Islam.

She said: ‘I am building schools for girls in Islamic countries and studying the Koran.

‘I think it is important to study all the holy books.

‘As my friend Yaman always tells me, a good Muslim is a good Jew, and a good Jew is a good Christian, and so forth. I couldn’t agree more.

Madonna has followed Kabbalah since 1996. She famously  persuaded her former husband, British director Guy Ritchie, to attend Kabbalah services before they split in 2008. But she and her current partner Brahim Zaibat, 25, have reportedly argued about religion because of his Muslim faith.

Madonna is said to dilute her children’s orange juice with specially blessed Kabbalah water, and often wears white clothes because they attract ‘positive energy’.

 

Washington shutdown must end, China tells the US: Finance minister demands ‘concrete measures’ to avoid catastrophic default

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China warned U.S. - potential global financial fallout

 

China publicly intervened for the first time in America’s looming debt crisis yesterday, demanding the US take ‘concrete measures’ to prevent a default on government debt that could be globally catastrophic.

China is the U.S’s biggest foreign creditor, holding at least £794 billion in US Treasury bonds, and its leaders warned Washington against jeopardising its huge stake in the American economy.

Expressing concern over the continuing deadlock in Washington about raising the government’s debt ceiling, China’s vice finance minister, Zhu Guangyao, said the ‘clock was ticking’ for the U.S.

As the world’s two biggest economies, ‘China and the US are inseparable,’ he said.

Referring to a similar Washington impasse in 2011 that led to the humiliating downgrading of America’s credit rating, Mr Zhu said: ‘We hope the United States fully understands the lessons of history.’

The U.S. has until October 17th to agree to raise its debt ceiling or the Treasury will run out of money to pay what it owes.

 

Russia Protests Dutch Treatment of Diplomat

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պուտին

 

A diplomatic feud has broken out between the Netherlands and Russia — exactly at the moment the two countries are at odds over Russia’s detention of a group of Greeenpeace activists.

Speaking at a conference in Bali, Indonesia Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded an apology and explanation for an incident in which a Russian diplomat in Netherlands was detained by Dutch police in The Hague.

The diplomat, Dmitri Borodin, says on his Twitter account he was mishandled at his home late Saturday. He and his two young children were taken to a police station and released early the following morning.

Hague police spokeswoman Ellen van Zijl confirmed Tuesday an “incident” with the diplomat had taken place, but she couldn’t give details. The Netherlands’ foreign ministry is formulating a response.