Remember this Pope is considered by the consensus of his academic colleagues, regardless of their individual Christian denomination, an eminent theological scholar. There are no shallow or throwaway lines in this address.
The Vatican has confirmed the existence of a directive from Pope Pius XII, asking Catholic clergy and religious to shelter Jews from the Holocaust. Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, acknowledged in short April 19 announcement that Pope Pius XII issued instructions for all religious institutions to open their doors to Jewish people. The catacombs of Rome were also made available for shelter.
US diplomatic facilities have increased their security due to a "heightened threat," the US Embassy in Berlin said today. "US diplomatic and consular facilities in Germany are increasing their security posture. We are taking these steps in response to a heightened threat situation."
Interior Minister Schäuble's plans to do away with the presumption of innocence for terror suspects have caused consternation in Germany, with some politicians saying the proposed measures are reaching draconian levels.
Germany's 2 top federal ministers are increasingly at odds over how much leeway authorities should have when combating terrorism.
German press...
Interior Minister Schäuble has caused an outcry by suggesting that the principle of "innocent until proven guilty," the foundation of a liberal justice system, should not apply in the fight against terrorists. Media commentators say the hardline crimefighter is moving onto dangerous ground.
Relations between Angela Merkel and Helmut Kohl have reached a new low point. Merkel has refused to actively promote the European statesman's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.
European interior ministers have agreed to make incitement to racism an EU-wide crime, but have stopped short of a blanket ban on Holocaust denial. The agreement makes it an offence to condone or grossly trivialise crimes of genocide - but only if the effect is incitement to violence or hatred. The deal follows 6 years of talks, and will disappoint Germany, which pushed hard for a Holocaust-denial law.
Italian and German conservatives on Thursday said the killing of three Christians at a Bible publishing house in Turkey showed Ankara could not control violent Islamists and was thus unfit to join Europe. "Yet another attack against Christian values. Turkey should forget about the European Union."
A leading German legislator and foreign policy expert in Chancellor Merkel's conservative bloc warned the US against unilateral recognition of Kosovo. He said that any US rush toward recognition would lead to serious divisions in the trans-Atlantic position.
Russia has warned against any unilateral attempt to recognise the independence of Kosovo, in an apparent riposte to the US. Lavrov insisted that "any solution to the Kosovo issue must be acceptable to both Belgrade and [the Kosovo capital] Pristina". He added that "unilaterally imposing any solution to the Kosovo problem is unacceptable".
Kosovo's parliament will declare independence following the approval of a UN Security Council resolution on the province's future by early June, a key ethnic Albanian leader said Thursday.
The Israel Air Force has expressed newfound interest in receiving the F-22 - a US-developed 5th generation stealth fighter jet - and has requested that the Defense Ministry present the request on its behalf to the Pentagon. While the sale or transfer of F-22s to Israel did not come up in talks Wednesday between Defense Minister Peretz and US Defense Secretary Gates, defense officials told the Post that Israel would ask to receive the aircraft in order to retain its "military edge" in the Middle East.
Without the US, Israel could not survive. Washington supplies this minute wealthy country with economic, military and strategic aid and virtually gives it carte blanche to behave as it pleases. One after the other, US presidents and senators pay annual obeisance to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee and pledge their allegiance to the special relationship between the two countries. To do otherwise is tantamount to political suicide.
PresidentAhmadinejad said today that the Iranian nation extended the hand of friendship to all nations inviting them to negotiations, brotherhood and obeying logic. Addressing residents of the provincial city of Jahrom in this southern province, he urged bullying powers to respect rights of other nations, follow the path of divine prophets and also respect the law. He warned big powers that they would be "brought down by other nations if they continued to impose their dominance on world nations. "The big powers lie when they say that they are concerned about proliferation of nuclear weapons, as they are using it as an excuse to prevent other nations from obtaining progress and prosperity."
News outlets were able to shelve stories that had started to grow a little stale – like that one about the US government supporting terrorist attacks in the Middle East. Oh wait, you didn't hear that one? But as it is the US government that his been implicated, the nation's leading news outlets are silent. But the news that the US may be backing militant extremists should come as no surprise.
"A pretext is not a problem. It's obvious the British sailors had been given specific orders to cross Iran's sea border to gauge the reaction of the Iranians. That's why the 15 well-trained and armed members of the British Royal Navy didn't put up any resistance at the time of their capture. Consequently, the whole world could see that Iran was hell-bent on playing with fire without giving slightest consideration to possible consequences. The Iranians are acting on the premise that they've already won the war. Perhaps the sailors will be given orders to use their weapons when they're out on a similar mission next time. In times like these, a drop of blood shed in another accident would be more than enough for sending the bombers."
A retired, senior officer of the nation's intelligence community has confirmed to this newspaper that the German military-intelligence operative, Andreas Strassmeir, was in fact "working for the German government and the FBI" while residing at the neo-Nazi compound known as Elohim City. This intelligence officer identified a specific document, a post-bombing report, that listed Strassmeir's role as an agent reporting on neo-Nazi activities as part of a campaign being waged by both German and American governments against such activities.
The debate about gun control in the US that began in Europe immediately after Monday's shootings at Virginia Tech angered many of our American readers. We published their letters, and now we're posting some of the responses we've received here in Germany.
If we are to believe the emerging timeline of events, Cho Seung-Hui killed a woman and her RA in a dorm, went back to his dorm and captured a QuickTime video rant, burned a DVD, trekked to the post office with two 9mm weapons in tow, mailed the DVD, along with photos and miscellaneous writings to NBC, and then marched over to Norris Hall and killed another 30 or so people execution-style.
Add to this a bevy of "experts" on television this evening declaring Cho Seung-Hui to be obviously paranoid schizophrenic. Excuse me, but paranoid schizophrenics, minus medication, have a difficult time stitching 2 coherent sentences together, let alone methodically engaging in homicide, managing to escape undetected, and then recording thoughts after the fact and conjuring up the wherewithal to send out a press release. I'm not buying it.
From April, 23 to April 27, the elite echelon of the military are running Noble Resolve 07, a 4-day marathon of "simulated" terror attacks across the US and Europe. This includes a simulated detonation of a "loose" 10-kiloton nuclear weapon Virginia harbor, smuggled in by a "foreign nation." This week Dick Cheney also been warning of the "very real" threat of a nuclear attack on an American city. Could the Nobel Resolve drills be used as a screen for a false-flag attack to be blamed on Iran, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda or sheep-dipped Americans like Adam Gadahn?
What use is the political left? This is a serious question, not a rant. The same question can be asked about the political right. The question does not imply derogatory implications about individuals on the political left or the political right. Rather, the question concerns the basket of emotions, issues, and knee-jerk responses associated with the political left and the political right.
The president of the Catholic League spoke about the decision by the US Supreme Court to ban partial-birth abortions. "We are waiting for the anti-Catholic bigots to go bonkers over the fact that all 5 of the justices who voted against infanticide are Roman Catholic."
Tony Blair today gives his starkest warning to the Scottish people that they risk breaking the Union by using the May 3 election as a protest vote against him and the Labour Party. In an exclusive interview with The Scotsman, the Prime Minister concedes that many voters do not share his conclusions about the consequences of an SNP victory, meaning they will treat the poll like a by-election instead of a "defining moment" in Scottish history.
Racked by high unemployment and low growth and facing a severe crisis of confidence in a globalised world, France is heading for crucial presidential elections on Sunday. What is clear though, is that whoever gets the keys to the Elysee Palace will inherit a France that is both economically and socially fragile.
As France prepares to go to the polls, even moderate candidates are trying to score points with right-wing slogans, while the real right-wingers are attempting to woo immigrants from the suburbs.
The French approach this Sunday's first round of voting for a new president in a mood of grumpiness and disillusionment after 12 years of stasis under Jacques Chirac. Rarely have so many French voters been so undecided this close to polling day. But rarely have the French faced such a crucial political crossroads.
With the arrival of the election season, there has been a great deal of commentary about France and "the French model." The fact is, the rest of the world is jealous of France.
Australians have been told to pray for rain or face a ban on irrigation in the main food-growing region so that there is enough water to drink. The Prime Minister's warning yesterday heralded a dramatic increase in food prices and the prospect of tens of thousands of farmers having to watch their crops fail.
Australia is in the midst of a crippling drought, the country's worst on record. Many towns and cities have been forced to enact drastic water restrictions as reservoirs have run dry. Rivers have been reduced to a trickle. The drought has severely damaged the agricultural sector. Farmers are raising emaciated cattle and sheep. Cotton-lint production has plummeted. Wine grape and rice output has collapsed. Agricultural production has fallen by almost one-quarter in a year.
Crude oil rose on speculation violence in Nigeria will hurt the country's exports and supplies from OPEC will decline.
The euro crept closer to its all-time high against the dollar, extending its 2-year peak as stock markets steadied after Thursday's anxious session. Comments from a German central banker and member of the European Central Bank's governing council helped spur the single currency along. He mentioned an "extremely positive" outlook for the eurozone and added there were price risks in the medium term that needed to be countered.
It's not easy being the greenback these days, and it's unlikely to get better soon. The dollar has taken a beating this week, falling to a 26-year low against sterling and a 2-year low against the euro, owing largely to expectations that British and euro-zone interest rates will rise and US rates will fall.
The relatively sanguine views of the average market participant means the potential for the US housing market to slow further could have more serious repercussions for that economy - and the rest of the world - than expected. Moreover, the emergence of the subprime mortgage lending market has taken the housing market into uncharted territory. The warning remains: Danger Ahead!
In the ashes of the Branch Davidian site where 81 people died in a 1993 blaze after an armed standoff with federal agents, a new religious community is slowly taking shape. Charles Pace, leader of The Branch, The Lord of Righteousness sect of the Branch Davidians, hopes to open a museum for tourists in addition to building a tabernacle and wellness center as part of his new church. But the few remaining Branch Davidians who once lived at the compound oppose Pace and his plans, saying the museum won't be an accurate representation of the events of April 19, 1993, because he was not there and despised their leader David Koresh.
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