"The WAR on error"
"If the Christian takes seriously the incarnation, the idea that the divine takes on human flesh, then it is necessary to take seriously where and when that happened. ... There was a specific time and a specific place, and that needs to be considered."
In his most powerful statements to date on issues involving sexual morality, Pope Benedict XVI said homosexuals end up destroying themselves so the Church has a duty to speak out on moral issues that affect the very spiritual and physical lives of man.
There is mutiny afoot in the Vatican's Swiss Guard, the world's smallest but probably most pampered army. The focus of discontent at the barracks is what many papal bodyguards see as the heavy-handed policies of the current commanding officer who has banned men from holding the traditional year-end parties on the terrace atop their barracks.
Germans have a rather peculiar New Year's Eve tradition. Everybody — yes, really, everybody — gathers around the TV to watch "Dinner for One," a short black-and-white comedy, in English, about an aristocrat and her butler. So what exactly is "Dinner for One," and why does it have such a hold on the German imagination?
Chancellor Merkel today urged Europe to show greater unity as Germany prepares to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union. "Europe can only succeed together. Only a united Europe can meet the challenges posed by globalization, ... violence, terrorism and war. A divided Europe is condemned to failure."
In a world apart from the euphoria with which 12 nations switched to the euro on New Year’s Day in 2002, hostility towards the single currency is growing as a wider malaise over an expanding Europe takes hold. More worrying to Brussels was evidence that resentment of the euro was spreading to other parts of the empire. A majority of Germans also long to have their old currency back. All of this reflected a wider European malaise: rejection of the EU constitution has left Europe rudderless and adrift. As Germany takes over the rotating presidency of the organisation this week the Franco-German axis, traditionally a motor of decision making in the EU, has never seemed weaker.
As European nations criticized the execution of Saddam Hussein out of opposition to the death penalty, Sunday newspapers across the continent were pessimistic as to whether the hanging would solve any of Iraq's problems.
Saddam Hussein never bowed his head, until his neck snapped. His last words were equally defiant. “Down with the traitors, the Americans, the spies and the Persians.”
Arab pilgrims in Mecca expressed outrage on Saturday that Iraqi authorities had chosen to execute former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on a major religious holiday, saying it was an insult to Muslims. Muslim countries often pardon criminals to mark the feast, and prisoners are rarely executed at that time. The death could harden hatred for Shi'ite Muslims in Saudi Arabia, a bastion of Sunni Islam whose Islamic orthodoxy regards Shi'ites as virtual heretics.
Although the news of Saddam Hussein's execution was widely anticipated in the region, it has been greeted with a mixture of surprise and anger in some quarters - and notable silence in others.
New divisions appear to be opening up between Iraqi political and religious leaders following the execution of Saddam Hussein.
A top Taliban commander warned that the execution Saddam Hussein would galvanise Muslim opposition to the United States. “Saddam’s hanging on the day of Eid is a challenge to Muslims. His death will boost the morale of Muslims. The jihad in Iraq will be intensified and attacks on invader forces will increase. Thousands of people will rise up with hatred for America.”
We've shut him up. The moment Saddam's hooded executioner pulled the lever of the trapdoor in Baghdad yesterday morning, Washington's secrets were safe. The shameless, outrageous, covert military support which the United States - and Britain - gave to Saddam for more than a decade remains the one terrible story which our presidents and prime ministers do not want the world to remember.
Ethiopian tanks were rolling south through Somalia for a final showdown with the hardline Islamists driven from power in a 10-day military offensive.
State media says, "Shiite messiah will kill archenemy in Jerusalem, could come during spring equinox".
Iran will never give up its nuclear program and unfair treatment of the country over its atomic work will have consequences for the West and the Middle East, powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said today. "This is a dangerous resolution ... It will not bring about the desired outcome. No resolution can make us give up atomic work. They (Westerners) are creating problems for themselves and the region ... the consequences of this fire will burn many others."
Israel and the pro-Israel lobby in Washington are pushing the Bush administration into war on Iran, according to charges in a new book written by a former United Nations weapons inspector. Scott Ritter, who also has been a strong opponent to the American war in Iraq, wrote in "Target Iran" that the United States is preparing to attack Iran. "If there is an American war with Iran, it is a war that was made in Israel and nowhere else."
Until a generation ago, the two principal tribes in these islands had a wholly divergent approach to the year's final week.
At midnight tonight the Bank of England will transfer $83m to the US Federal Reserve. This will be a historic moment: the last repayment of the loan that the United States made to Britain in 1946 and the final chapter in the story of Britain’s alliance with America in WW2.
It will be a Cinderella moment for the band of researchers who study the hidden history of the U.S. government. At midnight on Dec. 31, hundreds of millions of pages of secret documents will be instantly declassified. Secret documents 25 years old or older will lose their classified status without so much as the stroke of a pen, unless agencies have sought exemptions on the grounds that the material remains sensitive.
2006 Has Been a Tough Year for the US Dollar - Euro Surges After Strong Inflation Data Confirms Need for More Rate Hikes - US Dollar Hits 8 Month High Against Canadian Dollar.
A year that showed why a shrinking globe is not always a safer one.
Jews do not celebrate New Year's Eve on December 31th. No siree, we have our own calendar, thank you. So what do we do in Israel? ... And they make a solemn oath never to celebrate this "gentile custom" again. Never ever. The decision holds for 364 days.
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