Politics

Roman Catholic leaders criticise Obama over healthcare

By Jon Swaine, Washington
Tuesday February 07 2012

Roman Catholic leaders have furiously criticised President Barack Obama for approving new regulations that compel religious organisations to include morning-after pills and other contraceptives in employee health insurance coverage.

Roman Catholic leaders have furiously criticised President Barack Obama for approving new regulations that compel religious organisations to include morning-after pills and other contraceptives in employee health insurance coverage.

New rules, introduced under Mr Obama's overhaul of the US healthcare system, mean that religious charities, universities and other groups must now provide contraception in staff insurance packages. Read more . . .

Turkey's Erdogan lambasts France on genocide law

By Jonathon Burch and Tulay Karadeniz
ANKARA | Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:15pm EST

(Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan attacked the French parliament on Tuesday for passing a "discriminatory and racist" bill which makes it illegal to deny the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago was genocide.

With passions running high in Turkey on Monday's Senate vote, one newspaper denounced the French president as "Satan Sarkozy" and some politicians have already suggested dredging up France's own colonial history.

However, Erdogan appeared keen to avoid an immediate rupture with Paris, saying there was still hope that NATO ally France "would correct its mistake" and that any retaliatory measures would be held back, depending on French actions.

"We will not allow anyone to gain political benefit at the expense of Turkey; the bill which was passed in France is clearly discriminatory, racist," Erdogan said.

"We will adopt a rational and dignified stance, we will implement our measures step by step. Right now we are still in a period of patience," he told parliamentary deputies of his AK Party. Read more . . .