"THE WAR ON ERROR"
The head of the powerful Orthodox Church of Greece will meet with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican next month. It will be the first official visit by a Greek church leader to the Vatican, with which the eastern Orthodox church split in the acrimonious Schism of 1054.
A retired priest committed suicide by setting himself on fire in a German monastery in protest at the spread of Islam and the Protestant Church’s inability to contain it.
Plans to boost NATO's co-operation with countries such as Australia and Japan in an effort to forge a partnership against terrorism have been blocked by France. The French opposition comes as a blow to the US, which spearheaded the proposal.
A European Union of 27 gets harder to run.
Spain, long one of Europe's also-rans, is about to join the big league; Italy is going in the other direction.
Politics in the Balkans has been going through a surreal phase—but reality is around the corner, in the form of Kosovo's independence. Despite its last-minute manoeuvring, Serbia now seems certain to lose Kosovo.
Israel is ignoring deals on the policing of Lebanese airspace and is struggling to accept international peacekeepers in the region, a German deputy foreign minister was quoted as saying. "That Israel is still trying to control the airspace over Lebanon despite the international presence of French, Italian and other soldiers, runs contrary to every agreement."
"I think an armed conflict is more likely than continuation of the calm. Both sides are now preparing for the next round, with Hezbollah and Israel saying it's coming simply because the last round of violence did not lead to a conclusion and simply because the international force, the UNIFIL force and the UN are not doing a good enough job in order to prevent both sides from arming themselves again and becoming interested in the next round."
"The need for an initiative for Central Asia by the European Union has never been clearer to me than after this trip. The region is too important for us to push out to the edge of our consciousness. It is absolutely justified that we (the EU) be present here with our strengths."
Saddam Hussein has been convicted of crimes against humanity by a Baghdad court and sentenced to death by hanging. As the judge began reading the death sentence Saddam Hussein shouted out "Allahu Akbar! Long live Iraq! Long live the Iraqi people! Down with the traitors!"
After a three-month wait, the judges in the first trial of the former Iraqi President over crimes against humanity delivered their verdict, just two days ahead of the crucial U.S. mid-term congressional elections. "This court is a creature of the U.S. military occupation, and the Iraqi court is just a tool and rubber stamp of the invaders."
The red carpet has been laid out for 48 African leaders as China revels in hosting its biggest summit with the continent since the foundation of the People’s Republic in 1949. Yesterday, China promised to double its aid to Africa and pledged billions of pounds in loans to forge a “strategic partnership” between the two giants as a political and economic counterweight to western power.
(The Economist: China and Africa)
Iran has announced it had successfully test-fired new armour-piercing weaponry and an anti-helicopter missile system on the third day of its latest war games. "The new generation of anti-helicopter and anti-armour weapons were successfully tested on day three of the manoeuvres."
It is difficult to look into the future when you are going through what America is going through. All I can say about the atmosphere in the United States right now is that it feels as if the country is about to vomit. The nausea is there; the vote is imminent; and the purge necessary. And yet it hasn’t happened yet. Americans are still staring at the porcelain.
President Hugo Chavez vowed to win the upcoming Dec. 3 election and warned that Venezuela could halt oil exports to the United States if his opponents, joined by the U.S. government, attempt to destabilize his leftist administration.
US diplomats emailed a warning to Americans in Nigeria: "The US government has learnt that a militant Niger Delta group may have finalised its plans for a unified attack against oil facilities in the region."
A 7-year mission to make the world's banks more efficient runs into trouble. Since 1999 banks have been cajoled, at some cost to themselves, toward a new regulatory regime that will affect the all-important cushion of capital they hold to prevent a run on deposits. So when the head of the Association of German Banks issued a warning two months ago that Basel 2, as the new framework is known, might fail, there was a note of despair in his voice. Since then things have got, if anything, worse.
Be a WARrior and support the WAR effort by:
* Clicking on the ever-changing and news-related ads at the top.
