"The WAR on error"
Whatever one makes of Pope Benedict XVI’s shift from a “red light” to a “yellow light” on Turkey’s candidacy for the European Union, it was actually not the most jarring discontinuity between Joseph Ratzinger the cardinal and Benedict the pope during the Turkey trip.
In a December 9 address to the Italian Union of Catholic Lawyers, Pope Benedict XVI rejected the vision of secular government that calls for “an exclusion of religion from various society environments and as its exile in the framework of the individual conscience."
Restoration work in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls made possible the rediscovery of the sarcophagus which, according to tradition, contains the remains of the Apostle to the Gentiles. So explained Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, archpriest of the basilica, when presenting the results of archaeological research that had ended Sept. 22.
Vatican experts said they hoped to be able to examine the coffin more closely and maybe even to open it.
With only three weeks to go until Germany assumes the presidencies of the EU and G8, cracks are emerging in Chancellor Merkel’s coalition on key foreign policy issues ranging from EU ties with Turkey to aid for Iraq. A weekend exchange of views through the media has betrayed underlying differences on major policy areas and raised questions as to whether the coalition will be able to agree and execute clear goals during its dual presidencies.
German press on...
Germany may be sure it wants the US to take the Iraq Study Group's proposals on board, but Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier are sending mixed messages as to exactly what Germany's role should be.
Eight months after losing the April parliamentary elections the Italian right are continuing to contest their defeat. Last week, under pressure from the right-wing opposition, the Electoral Oversight Committee of the Senate, the second chamber of parliament, decided to permit the examination of 700,000 blank and invalid ballot papers in seven regions. If irregularities are found the checks will be extended into other regions and any valid ballots will be included in a recount. Since the election result was extremely close it cannot be excluded that this process could result in a change of government.
European Union foreign ministers agreed to partially suspend Turkey's membership talks because Ankara has refused to open its ports and airports to Cyprus. But, in an apparent compromise, the ministers did not set a deadline for compliance.
Shell is being forced by the Russian government to hand over its controlling stake in the world's biggest liquefied gas project, provoking fresh fears about the Kremlin's willingness to use the country's growing strength in natural resources as a political weapon. After months of relentless pressure from Moscow, the Anglo-Dutch company has to cut its stake in the $20bn Sakhalin-2 scheme in the far east of Russia in favour of the state-owned energy group Gazprom.
A decades-long silence about Israel's possession of nuclear weapons has been broken in an apparent slip of the tongue by the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert. Currently visiting Germany, Mr Olmert appeared to admit in an interview with a German television station that Israel was among the states that possess an atomic bomb.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has warned Germany against drawing Syria into the Middle East peace process a day before he meets with Chancellor Angela Merkel today in Berlin.
Hmmm...
Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, flew out of Washington yesterday after informing Condoleezza Rice and his staff that he would be leaving the post after only 15 months on the job. There has been no formal announcement from the kingdom. The abrupt departure is particularly striking because his predecessor, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, spent 22 years on the job. The Saudi ambassador is one of the most influential diplomatic positions in Washington and is arguably the most important overseas post for the oil-rich desert kingdom.
President Bush doesn't have much time to implement a change in strategy in Iraq. And anything he does is likely to be questioned in the Middle East. Reactions from the region have been full of skepticism.
Islamic militiamen were moving on an Ethiopian border town to try to seal the 1,000-mile frontier and keep out any advancing Ethiopian troops while trapping those already in Somalia.
Iran opened a conference to discuss the Holocaust, saying that the meeting offers a chance to debate the issue in an atmosphere free of Western taboos.
Ali-Akbar Mohtashamipour, emphasizing need for survey and research on Holocaust, said, "Results of surveys so far show Holocaust is no more than a myth. "The Western and Zionist media have always been aggrandizing the dimensions of the reality of Holocaust, mixing a bit of truth with a lot of lies. Results of surveys and research work at hand today around the globe prove the fact to the world nations that much of what has been said in the West about the Holocaust is nothing but a big myth."
Haredi Jews who attended Holocaust conference in Tehran express support for Ahmadinejad's ideas. According to their representative in Jerusalem: Iran's goal isn't to exterminate Israel, but to take action against Zionism.
The German and Italian governments, involved in international efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program, give billions of dollars in loan guarantees each year to firms doing business with Iran, a practice that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to forcefully come out against during his talks over the next two days in Berlin and Rome.
Spiegel interview with Olmert
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert discusses his peace offer to the Palestinians, the threat of civil war in Lebanon and Washington's shifting strategy in the Middle East.
Russia hailed changes to a European draft resolution urging UN sanctions to force Iran to halt uranium enrichment but objected to a proposed travel ban on officials linked to Tehran's nuclear and missile programs.
Iranian voters hit the polls on Friday to elect one of Iran's most powerful institutions, the Assembly of Experts. The panel of religious leaders appoints the Supreme Leader, a post that has been held for over 20 by Ayatollah Khamenei. Can Ayatollah Jasdi, a rising contender, usurp his throne?
In a farewell speech yesterday, retiring United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan delivered a tough critique of President Bush's policies. He accused the administration of trying to secure the United States from terrorism in part by dominating other nations through force, committing what he termed human rights abuses and taking military action without broad international support.
The Iraq Study Group didn't just advise Bush to change strategy in Iraq. It also urged the president to stop lying to the American people.
The role of the president as commander in chief is to direct our armed forces in carrying out policies established by the American people through their representatives in Congress. He is not authorized to make those policies. He is an administrator, not a policy maker. Foreign policy, like all federal policy, must be made by Congress. To allow otherwise is to act in contravention of the Constitution.
Alan Greenspan said the dollar will continue to drift downwards on growing signs that OPEC nations are shifting their assets out of the US dollar towards the euro and yen.
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