THE DAILY WAR!
Non-pagan/papal date: 10-22
THE HOLY ROMAN
Here is a translation of B16's address when praying the Angelus with people gathered in St. Peter's Square.
B16 blessed the Swiss Guards yesterday as the Vatican celebrated the 500th anniversary of its private army with a mass in St Peter's Basilica.
Turkey's top court has ruled that Mehmet Ali Agca had not spent enough time in jail for killing a Turkish journalist in 1979.
EMPIRE OF THE GERMAN NATION
Angela Merkel has been in office but 2 months and she's already outrun her predecessors in the popularity stakes. It could have something to do with her foreign policy.
As Merkel prepares to hold talks with President Chirac on the future of the EU and the Iran crisis, German opposition parties have urged her to distance herself from France's controversial nuclear plans.
EUROPE/RUSSIA
Papers are concerned about a power vacuum of another kind in Kosovo. And the new German leader's visit to France arouses great expectations.
French President Jacques Chirac has proposed the creation of an elite bloc within the EU that would be able to forge closer links in the absence of a new EU constitution.
The government's updated euro-convergence program shows Poland won't meet requirements for adopting the euro before 2010.
As the EU and the US increase pressure on Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program and weigh referring Iran to the UN, companies are becoming anxious about whether sanctions may be imposed on Tehran. Germany, France and Italy lead the field among the Europeans, each exporting over E3.5 billion worth of goods to Iran in 2004.
MIDEAST/AFRICA/ASIA
The German Foreign Minister warned yesterday that any thought of using military force against Iran to settle differences in views on the country's nuclear program would be "dangerous."
The Israeli Defense Minister warned the Iranian people Saturday that they faced "destruction" unless they managed to restrain their new President. "I know that a large part of the people of Iran do not support his policies but his despicable acts could bring destruction to all of you."
Muqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi cleric, has said his al-Mahdi Army will help to defend Iran if it is attacked.
The US goal of dominance and the Iranian goal of independence are irreconcilable. This is why the US and Iran are in conflict. What’s going on at present is a series of bluffs, threats, moves and countermoves by both sides designed to keep the other side off balance and gain some advantage.
As the Bush administration and its European allies pursue a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear standoff, some top legislators of both parties pressed for a more vigorous approach, including a possible military option.
If diplomacy fails, does America have a military option? And what if it doesn't? The problem is not that Washington lacks targets. The problem is the global consequences of an attack to cripple them.
HOUSE OF ISRAEL
The population of the US will reach 300 million in October, but America is approaching the landmark with some anxiety about what this means for the future. It is highly possible that the milestone will be achieved not by a birth on American territory but by Mexicans who are preparing to slip across the US border this autumn and join the ranks of an estimated 10 million illegal immigrants already in the country.
(CHART: ETHNIC BREAKDOWN)
ECONOMY
This may sound eerily familiar: oil prices are spiking, sending shivers from Wall Street to Main Street. Since the new year began, crude oil has soared more than $7 a barrel - the highest level since late August when hurricane Katrina roiled energy markets.
A surge in oil prices last week to almost $70 a barrel on concerns about the restart of Iran's nuclear program only hints at what may lie ahead. Prices could soar past $100 a barrel, experts say, if the U.N. Security Council authorizes trade sanctions and Iran curbs oil exports in retaliation. A sharp global economic slowdown could follow.
MISC
Bamako hosted the opening ceremony of the World Social Forum on Thursday 19th January, the first time an international forum has come to Africa.
A small Italian town is expected to be the epicenter of worldwide focus this week as legal proceedings begin in a lawsuit over the existence of Yahshua Messiah of Nazareth.
The Chaldean Church, whose patriarch resides in Baghdad, Iraq, takes pride in its ancient liturgy which uses the same language Yahshua used.
There are some people who claim they can live without food and water for years.
The University of California scientists found that the only culprit they could "exclusively identify" is oxybenzone, used to protect the skin from the ultraviolet component of sunlight. The stuff is not only on our skin: it's in our tap water and lunches too.
FROM A READER AND NEIGHBOR!:
"I intend to expose you and your bizarre beliefs to all who will listen ... You are a menace to the world." :-)
#10-22
