The heralded discovery of Jesus' tomb is a phenomenon "between invented archaeology, advertising and sales," says a research center.
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has released a statement denouncing a new television program which purports to show the "tomb of Jesus." Catholic League President, Bill Donohue, writes that James Cameron has produced a "titanic fraud." Donohue says that the Discovery Channel show is just another in a laughable string of Hollywood productions aimed at discrediting the basic tenets of Christianity. "Not a Lenten season goes by without some author or TV program seeking to cast doubt on the divinity of Jesus and/or the Resurrection."
Germany's defense minister said he expects widespread parliamentary approval for the planned deployment of Tornado jets in Afghanistan.
German plans to put forward new proposals on the stalled EU constitutional process drew support from Denmark but hesitancy from the Czech Republic Tuesday. Berlin will likely have to lower the bar.
The European Union failed to overcome deep divisions about whether to adopt a common method for taxing companies, despite general acceptance of the need to cooperate to combat tax fraud, the bloc's finance ministers said. Each of the 27 EU members has its own tax system, but several EU members with low corporate tax rates objected to plans by the current EU president, Germany, to create a single standard for calculating taxes on profits from companies.
The Danish social model, proposed by the European Commission as an example for EU states to follow, cannot be emulated in most other countries, the secretary general of the OECD said. The model, called "flexicurity" because it is based on worker flexibility and security, needs a system of high taxes that is unlikely to be accepted elsewhere in the world.
Some 15,000 Serbs protested outside the US embassy in Belgrade to denounce a Western-backed plan to give independence to the Albanian majority of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province.
The European Union insists the new Palestinian government accept outstanding international demands and is waiting for its formation before deciding how to deal with it, a senior EU official said.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews have joined Muslims in a demonstration against Israeli excavations near the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. They carried banners, some written in Arabic, that read: "Jerusalem belongs to the Palestinians" and "Jews are forbidden to insult Islamic religious sites".
Vice President Dick Cheney's recent visit to Pakistan was far from a gesture of friendship. The US are putting massive pressure on Pakistan to finally take action against the Taliban active on the country's border. But can Musharraf afford it?
A suicide attack at an Afghan air base where Dick Cheney was staying shows that the Taliban and al-Qaeda have penetrated local intelligence agencies, analysts and officials said. "They must have had information (a) few days before that the US vice-president would be in town and stay at Bagram. This is not something you can plan with 12 hours notice."
President Bush has signalled a dramatic shift in his Middle East policy by agreeing to discuss the future of Iraq with Iran and Syria despite his belief that the two countries are fuelling the insurgency that has plunged the country into civil war. The shift appeared to be part of a strategy of increasing diplomatic engagement while stepping up criticism of Iranian activities in Iraq and threatening military retaliation in the form of a naval carrier group patrolling the western coast of Iran in the Gulf.
(Op-ed: A necessary retreat)
(UPI analysis: Iraq's last chance summit)
President Ahmadinejad arrived in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, today. The two presidents are scheduled to begin private talks after the ceremony. Their talks will be followed by a first round of talks of senior delegations of the two countries.
[WAR: Prince of Persia visiting the Kingdom of the South...]
Oh puh-leaze!...
An Israel security official told the Israel News Agency that the recent launch of a missile from Iran into space illustrated a direct threat to both Europe's and US national security. "If we don't see severe economic sanctions coming from Europe in the next few weeks, we will witness a catastrophe." The source would not give his name because he would lose his position, but the matter of urgency had him staring at this writer praying to get the message out.
The winds of fortune in the Iranian nuclear standoff seem to have shifted, judging by the US's new confidence. But in Washington's apparent quest to get an upper hand, misreading the causes of the backlash against President Ahmadinejad in Iran may cause the US to lose rather than gain leverage.
Karen Kwiatkowski, a veteran of the Pentagon with firsthand experience of the administration's cherry picking of intelligence, reveals why Bush thinks he can win a war with Iran, why few politicians are serious about withdrawal and why "when they call Iraq a success, they mean it."
A lengthy article in this week's New Yorker magazine by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh provides further evidence that the Bush administration has not only set course for war against Iran, but has over the past few months embarked on a reckless and incendiary strategy that has the potential to unleash sectarian Sunni-Shia conflicts throughout the Middle East. Taken together, the Bush administration's strategy for the Middle East can only produce a catastrophe for people throughout the region, in the US and internationally. Any US attack on Iran has the potential to plunge the entire Middle East into conflict, drawing in America's European and Asia rivals, whose vital economic and strategic interests are at stake. Having gambled and lost with their criminal invasion of Iraq, the gangsters in the White House are doubling their bets across the board and dicing with the future of humanity.
Unless Vice President Dick Cheney and his political influence are removed from Washington immediately, the momentum building towards a US military strike on Iran may become irreversible. According to Washington sources, the planned attack against Iran could come by May. All the pieces are coming into place, from a military standpoint, and the propaganda machines are working overtime. At the same time, however, it must be stressed that the clear recognition of the nature of the war danger and what it would unleash, is prompting powerful political forces, inside the US as well as abroad, especially in Russia, to intervene to prevent a new catastrophe.
Two major events, both taking place this week, underscore the fact that the Anglo-Dutch oligarchy, centered in the City of London, is arrived at a moment of truth that could determine, in the immediate hours and days ahead, whether the planet is plunged into a civilizational dark age.
In the most dysfunctional administration of our time, the vice president's office felt free to use classified information to bolster a false impression of Saddam's nuclear capabilities — going to absurd lengths to keep the truth from the American people and perhaps even the White House. According to testimony, Cheney got Bush to declassify secret material, but the president was not told how Cheney was going to use it.
According to one well-informed Washington, D.C. intelligence source, the major question being asked after the first day of the trial of Vice President Dick Cheney's national security advisor Lewis "Scooter" Libby was: "Why was the Vice President not indicted?"
Yesterday...
Global stock markets tumbled yesterday after a near 9% drop in the Chinese market—the biggest fall in a decade—sparked fears that a series of financial imbalances in the global economy could start to cause serious problems. The immediate cause for the China slump appears to have been concerns that financial authorities were about to take action to curb speculation, including a lift in interest rates and a capital gains tax. The rumoured action has sparked fears that riskier financial trades and investments around the world could now be in danger. Whatever the immediate outcome of the latest market turbulence, the events of yesterday are a reminder of how rapidly the situation can turn in conditions where trillions of dollars shift around the world every day.
Is this the crash for which we've been flying a flag for weeks now? No. It's more of a collision than a crash, the kind of thing that happens when you go over a speed bump too quickly. You bang your bumper into the asphalt. It's not so much that there were a lot of sellers yesterday, but that there were a lot fewer buyers. OR, here's a conspiratorial thought: Maybe all of this is an elaborate plot orchestrated by the GoldmanSachs/White House plunge protection team to drive global saving back into the US bond market, just as the government needs to refinance its deficit and pay for its wars.
Today...
Most Southeast Asian stocks suffered their biggest one-day declines since Asia's 1997 financial meltdown, as investors sold off shares in a panic, following the slump in global markets.
Worldwide share prices have continued to fall, triggered by Tuesday's 9% losses on the Shanghai stock market.
The euro was weaker against the dollar today as fears of a worldwide slump in markets weighed on the common currency.
Despite the illusions of small investors who are being led by the nose, allowing themselves to be blinded by record numbers on the stock markets; and despite the promises of countless analysts, that the decision of the Japanese central bank to raise interest rates from 0.25 to 0.5% would have only an insubstantial influence on the so-called "carry-trade," this rate increase could actually have a dramatic effect on the world financial system, and could even generate a systemic collapse. "There is nothing in the global financial system, that is not ultimately connected to this yen carry-trade," said a continental European banker.
China is securing an ever-bigger share of the world market with the methods of a planned economy. Competitors and economists alike are astounded by the country's seemingly unstoppable march to becoming a global economic superpower. The development has left many wondering: Does communism work after all?
Taking certain vitamin supplements may adversely affect people's lifespan, researchers have suggested. Millions worldwide use antioxidant supplements such as vitamins A and E, and beta-carotene. Looking at dozens of previous studies, Copenhagen University researchers suggested these appeared to raise, not lower, the risk of early death.
The phrase "he's got a low IQ" would be often used as a euphemistic description of somebody believed to be a plain fool. The verdict is far from being the ultimate truth because IQ is a score derived from one of several standardized tests designed to measure intelligence. Therefore, the tests are designed to determine a special skill or "group factor" such as verbal ability, spatial visualization, or mathematical reasoning.
"If a man does not find those things for which his heart is made, if he is never even invited to live for them from his deep heart, he will look for them in some other way. ... Every man knows that something's happened, something's gone wrong . . . we just don't know what it is."
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