"The WAR on error"
Chancellor Merkel avoided supporting the embattled chief of her Christian Democrats' Bavarian sister party, distancing herself from the leadership crisis that has engulfed Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber's Christian Social Union. Stoiber, the longest-serving of Germany's 16 state prime ministers, may be forced by fellow CSU leaders to retire before the summer, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily newspaper said today, citing no one.
Stoiber has never given up hope of becoming chancellor. Bild quoted a CSU leader saying Stoiber will be dumped if he does not set a timetable for his departure. Talk of a putsch against Stoiber, in office since 1993 and until recently one of the country's most powerful figures, filled German media yesterday.
A changing relationship between a nation and its clocks.
The US-based Church of Scientology opened a giant new center in Berlin, sparking fears that the hotly disputed group is trying to muscle in on German politics.
Germany's role in Europe is changing. The words “excitement” and “German presidency of the European Union” would not normally be uttered in the same breath. Yet such are the strange tastes of Europeans that the country's period in charge of the EU's agenda-setting presidency is being greeted with front-page news stories, animated televised discussions and a sort of dignified hoopla.
European leaders are about to squander their second chance to get the constitution right.
Far from concealing its expectations, Moscow has made it clear that it hopes Germany will lead the EU towards rapprochement with Russia during its EU presidency.
Israeli cabinet minister Avigdor Lieberman called for NATO to deploy forces in Gaza after what he predicted would be an "inevitable" Israeli military operation in the coastal strip, a spokeswoman said today.
Israel and the Jews
Jews all around the world are gradually ceasing to regard Israel as a focal point. As a result, many are re-examining what it means to be Jewish.
Ignored by the majority of media sources is the coordinated and synchronized involvement and intervention of both Ethiopian and American military forces and intelligence operations in the Horn of Africa. The crisis in The crisis in Somalia and East Africa, triggered by US interventionism, is intimately related to events in the Middle East in what could become a major regional war against Iran, Syria, and their regional allies. Additionally, what the mainstream media fails to report about is the US-backed Somali government’s attempts at merging Somalia and Ethiopia with unified borders, a single currency, joint management, a single passport, and a joint military force.
The actions of Ethiopia are not only carefully coordinated with the Pentagon and approved by the White House, but they are also part of a broader set of Anglo-American strategic initiatives in the African continent and the Middle East. Events in Somali, as in Sudan, are linked to the international thirst and rivalry for oil and energy, but are also part of the aligning of a geo-strategic chessboard revolving around the Middle East and Central Asia.
Sudan expressed "astonishment" at US efforts to push China, a key ally of Sudan, to exert more influence on Khartoum to resolve the conflict in Darfur.
Southeast Asian leaders gathering in the central Philippine province of Cebu for the annual summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, are confident their dream of regional integration — to become the EU of this part of the world — may not be that difficult to attain.
Iran has demanded the immediate release of five of its citizens held in a US military raid in northern Iraq, who it says are diplomats.
Kuwait media...
The US might launch a military strike on Iran before April, Kuwait-based daily Arab Times released said in a report. The report, citing a reliable source, said that the attack would be launched from the sea, while Patriot missiles would guard all Arab countries in the Gulf.
The White House and the Pentagon are struggling to dispel fears that President Bush's warnings to Syria and Iran over Iraq and a US military buildup in the Gulf had set the stage for war.
The English could be forgiven for thinking the Scots an ungrateful bunch. For 300 years they have been joined with England, enjoying the fruits that marriage brings, asking for and receiving generous gifts (home rule, for instance) while not losing their sense of identity. Yet instead of marking their approaching anniversary with an affirmation of love or a renewal of vows, the Scots seem to be toying with divorce.
Shortly after Jimmy Carter's "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" began appearing in bookstores, the former president stated that one ultimate goal of the book was "to help restart peace talks (now absent for six years) that can lead to permanent peace for Israel and its neighbors." One might assume, then, that Mr. Carter might be troubled by the signal lack of interest and comment the book has stirred in Israel. Unless Carter's beef was not really with Israel. Unless, that is, Carter's true intended target was the organized American Jewish community.
Real estate bubbles
As 2007 dawns, the field day is looking more like a trudge. Rising interest rates around the world are starting to affect real estate markets, leading many economists to predict a slowdown in house-price escalation even in supply-starved areas.
Former groupie explains how she realised morality made more sense for women than free love.
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