Benedict XVI and the president of the Palestinian Authority discussed difficulties which Catholics face in the latter's territories and the commitment to relaunch the peace process with Israelis.
Getting Assyria ready...
Experts in the government and academia are astonished over the strength of Germany's economic recovery. Unemployment is declining more rapidly and the government coffers are filling more quickly than during any other economic recovery in postwar German history. What's causing the powerful economic upswing?
A dialogue of the deaf is being conducted in Europe's capitals. The rejection of the European Union's draft constitution by French and Dutch voters 2 years ago has not dissuaded some EU leaders from trying, trying, trying again.
The EU plans to use high-level political meetings, education, trade and a string of new EU institutes across Central Asia to nurture stability and diversify gas supplies, according to a draft German policy paper to be attached to the June EU summit conclusions.
The result of new presidential elections in France will definitely change the political atmosphere in the country. Relations with Russia may radically change as well. As for France's foreign policy the country is to take a really crucial decision: either to establish closer relations with the USA or resist 'the Anglo-Saxon world order'.
Moscow has explicitly threatened to use its UN security council veto on an EU and US-backed plan to give independence to the Serb province of Kosovo, dinting hopes that Russia might abstain from the UN vote. "A decision based on Martti Ahtisaari's draft will not get through the UN security council."
Understanding the Yeltsin legacy and its catastrophic effect on Russia is key to grasping the Putin phenomenon. Although the former KGB officer who rose from obscurity to become the most formidable Russian leader since Peter the Great owes his present job to Yeltsin, the Yeltsin clique didn't fare so well at the hands of their fallen leaders' designated successor. Putin turned against "the Family" and drove most of the oligarchs out of power and into exile, where they are even now scheming to make a comeback.
A truce Hamas made with Israel in Gaza last November is "officially over," Hamas leaders told WND today, threatening to send suicide bombers into Tel Aviv if the Jewish state retaliates for a major attack carried out this morning.
Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced articles to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney, basing his decision on Cheney's initial push to send the US into war with Iraq. "The vice president is beating the same drums of war against Iran that he beat against Iraq under false pretenses, and he's doing it all over again, against Iran. And I say that it's time to stand up to that. Our country couldn't afford this last war. We can't afford to go into another one. And somebody has to challenge the conduct of this Vice President."
From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all.
The euro rose to within a whisker of its all-time high against the dollar today as a pair of lackluster economic reports weighed on the US currency.
Asian stocks fell today after data suggested economic growth will keep slowing in the US, the top overseas market for Asia's exporters.
The trans-Atlantic rift of the past few years has been accentuated, in part, by anti-Americanism and anti-Europeanism in the media when covering "the other side." But although there are real cultural differences, the time has come for both sides to ditch the easy clichés and stereotypes and foster some cultural understanding.
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