A book on Jesus by Pope Benedict XVI is a runaway success in Italy with 50,000 copies sold on the first day and a second edition already planned, the publishers Rizzoli said Tuesday. "Jesus of Nazareth" was launched on the pontiff's 80th birthday on Monday and is billed as his answer to popular publications such as Dan Brown's best-selling "The Da Vinci Code". It aims to reconcile the historical figure of Christ with that of the Gospels.
Benedict XVI says that the peace promoted by the Christian faith is key to avoiding the so called clash of civilizations. The Pope said this on Monday, in the meeting he had with Cardinal Wetter, retired archbishop of Munich, who was accompanied by 50 delegates. The pope told them briefly about the audience he had just had with Edmund Stoiber, minister-president of the Pope's native Bavaria, and Peter Harry Carstensen, minister-president of Schleswig-Holstein.
Three Central American governments have banned a man claiming to be the Antichrist from entering their countries, outraged by his inflammatory preaching against the Catholic Church and organised religion. He calls other priests "faggots," and makes fun of Holy Week customs in Latin America, calling the statues of Jesus that Catholics parade though streets "little dolls." "The Pope should be ashamed. He should wear pants like a man."
German press...
Günther Oettinger has backed away from his speech praising a former Nazi judge. But German commentators are not willing to let him off the hook yet.
Here we go again. Two years ago the French and Dutch public demolished Europe's plans for a new constitution. Now the German presidency of Angela Merkel wants to resurrect it in the guise of a new treaty. Europe is on the verge of repeating history rather than learning from it.
Serbia will be the focus of intense diplomatic attention this week as senior Russian and Chinese officials visit Belgrade, the US Congress debates the UN independence plan for Kosovo and Europe's top diplomats travel to Moscow.
The hate campaign against Russia is really quite extraordinary, not only on account of its relentless ferocity but also because of its brazen reliance on rumor, exaggeration, and – all too often – utter falsehood. The campaign to demonize Russia, and target Putin in particular, is motivated by the Russian president's angular stance against American hegemony. As the US seeks to encircle Russia with a string of "color revolutions" from Ukraine to Georgia to the wilds of Central Asia, a geopolitical game is being played out, one that involves an increasing risk of violent conflict.
European history is a chronicle of the rise and fall of its geographic center. As Germany rises, the powers on its periphery buckle under its strength and are forced to pool resources in order to beat back Berlin. As Germany falters, the power vacuum at the middle of the Continent allows the countries on Germany's borders to rise in strength and become major powers themselves. A strong Germany means consolidation followed by a catastrophic war; a weak Germany creates a multilateral concert of powers and multistate competition (often involving war, but not on nearly as large a scale). For Europe this cycle of German rise and fall has run its course 3 times - the Holy Roman Empire, Imperial Germany, Nazi Germany - and is only now entering its 4th iteration with the reunified Germany. Russia's cycle, however, is far less clinical than Europe's.
Lebanon and Israel apparently prefer Germany over Turkey to lead the UNIFIL naval force off Lebanon's coast. Germany currently heads the UN-led naval force tasked with securing the Lebanese coast with 2 frigates, a supply ship and 2 speed boats, but the German mandate for the mission runs out at the end of August.
Defining "Jew" has never been simple. Is he someone who practices Judaism, the Jewish religion, or is he identified by his ancestry? While many Americans assume that Jews are essentially a religious group, Jews themselves take for granted that their community is much more ethnic-national than it is religious.
President Ahmadinejad said the world should know the Iranian nation would insist on its nuclear rights with tied fists. "Arrogant powers insist on their own values. They overlook freedom of human beings, rights of nations and democracy to maintain their dominance. They do not let other nations scale peaks of science, welfare and progress. They are angry with progress made by the Iranian nation because they are interested in their own monopoly on science, technology and development and want war and cruelty for other peoples."
If there was any doubt that Vice President Dick Cheney still presides over a powerful war party faction inside the Bush White House that is committed to engineering a military confrontation with Iran, Tuesday's meeting of the President's key foreign and national security advisors proved the point. All this makes for a hyper-volatile situation. The efforts to offset the Cheney factor in the White House, to date, have failed. Another HMS Cornwall incident in the Persian Gulf, this time involving an American naval vessel, could easily turn into a shootout, providing Cheney with exactly the pretext he seeks to bypass Congress and the UN and go to war.
Thanks, but no thanks...
The worst peacetime gun massacre in American history has moved leaders in Europe and elsewhere to share their sympathy - and their advice about gun control.
Moses' fault?...
With a view to Monday's deadly shooting rampage, European newspapers are blaming the lack of gun control measures in the US and implying that Charlton Heston is indirectly responsible for the scope of the killings.
The deadliest shooting rampage in US history sent shudders around the world, setting off shock and sympathy along with questions over gun control in the USA. Edmund Stoiber said the fact that more than 30 people could be "mowed down" was "beyond what is humanly imaginable."
Winston Churchill remarked that "the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilization of any country ... [these actions] mark and measure the stored-up strength of a nation, and are the sign and proof of the living virtue in it."
So many Americans graduate high school and college having learned what to think as opposed to acquiring the tools of critical, independent thinking. Americans' ignorance of our history and inability to think critically have provided considerable ammunition for those who want to divide us in pursuit of their agenda. I don't usually buy into conspiracy theories, but it's tempting to think America's charlatans, quacks and demagogues are in cahoots with the teaching establishments at our government schools and colleges to dumb down the nation.
To the barricades!...
Probably the only fact one needs to know about the French presidential election, whose first round takes place next Sunday, is that approximately 45% of the 44 million electorate still haven't decided, or won't admit to pollsters that they have decided, how they might vote. The real fight in recent days, though, has been between Mr Sarkozy and Mr Le Pen. Le Pen told a packed rally in Paris on Sunday that Mr Sarkozy was "an example of political scum", which went down incredibly well with the thousands present.
Many analysts, obsessed with France's rejection of the draft European constitution and opposition to the Iraq war, view that country's presidential election as a potential watershed in Paris's foreign policy. Yet the French role in world affairs is far more moderate and constructive than it seems, and the approaching election is almost certain to render it even more so - no matter who prevails.
Discussion about regulating the hedge funds is gaining wider support: the Finance Ministry of China endorsed the German initiative for hedge fund transparency, as an important step to maintain financial stability on a global scale, and the Chinese also urged supervision of transactions, of the scope and operational plans of the funds.
The impending breakup of DaimlerChrysler is fraught with risks for both sides. The Americans face the threat of a fire sale, while the Germans are more vulnerable to a corporate takeover. But investors are lining up to get a piece of the action - and CEO Zetsche has a secret plan.
British researchers said Monday they were stunned to discover that people get more of a buzz from eating chocolate than passionately kissing their lovers.
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