Pope Benedict XVI supports Iran's right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, reports a local news agency. Like other big states, Iran should use peaceful nuclear energy, he said. He pointed to freedom of religions in Iran and added there was peaceful coexistence and respect among religions in the country.
(Zenit: B16 receives former Iranian leader)
Benedict XVI met with prelates from a bishops' conference based in Belgrade and reminded them that Christ wanted his Church to be open to everyone.
Pope Benedict XVI will fly to Brazil next week to try to shore up flagging support for the Roman Catholic Church against a wave of evangelical Protestantism. The Vatican has also planned a series of showy events to draw Brazilians back into the Catholic fold.
Beyond mere policy, Catholic social doctrine seeks to clarify the proper order and harmony among societies, says a Catholic author and professor.
Just can't let it go...
An Israeli charity is making plans to launch a class action suit against Germany on behalf of thousands of children of Holocaust survivors who need psychological treatment. But the German government says it will only make payments to those directly affected.
The Defense Minister has turned down a request from Kabul to send soldiers to the turbulent south of the country amid concerns the deployment would amount to a direct participation in combat operations.
In an attempt to resuscitate the Arab Middle East peace plan, the German Foreign Minister has invited several Arab foreign ministers to a meeting in Brussels later this month.
German press...
This Sunday, French voters are deciding between 2 very different candidates in the final round of the presidential elections. The vote will not only decide the future path of France, German commentators point out, but it will also have huge implications for Europe.
With the situation finally becoming clear on who will be sitting around the EU negotiating table for France, this week is set to be dominated with speculation about what the new president will mean for the future of European politics. Another issue of political interest around Europe will be UK leader Tony Blair's expected resignation speech.
In a sweeping move that has garnered surprisingly little attention this week the US and EU have signed up to a new transatlantic economic partnership that will see regulatory standards "harmonized" and will lay the basis for a merging of the US and EU into one single market, a huge step on the path to a new globalized world order.
[WAR: They will both fall very soon - and then Germany will finally be free in order to fulfill its prophetic destiny.]
Turkey's parliament has failed for a second time to elect the Islamist-rooted governing party's candidate for president, Abdullah Gul. Not enough MPs were present for the election to be valid.
It is a big and strategically important country, has the largest army in NATO after America's, offers a crucial energy route into Europe that avoids Russia and is the source of much of the water in the Middle East.
Ehud Olmert's prospects of remaining Israel's prime minister faced a new threat on Friday as coalition allies pushed for their party to quit his government in a move that could trigger a snap election.
Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu has emerged as the frontrunner to succeed Ehud Olmert, the prime minister who has been fiercely criticised for his management of the war in Lebanon. If he returns to office he will be expected to adopt an aggressive approach to his Middle Eastern neighbours and to display his confidence in Israel's use of military force and political muscle.
The brouhaha over last summer's war against the Islamist guerrillas of Hizbullah in Lebanon has nearly been forgotten. But it was not long after the end of both clashes that some Israeli officials began prophesying a new one.
A former nuclear negotiator for the Iranian regime was arrested on Wednesday at his home and taken to Tehran's Evin prison on national security-related charges, specifically "communication and exchange of information with foreign agents." This carefully timed arrest appears to be yet another move in the covert intelligence war between Iran and the US.
Under fire for stalling a 130-nation nuclear meeting, Iran accused the US of being the real culprit, as the conference adjourned for the weekend in deadlock over Tehran's opposition to language of the gathering's agenda. Iran's chief delegate to the meeting said Washington was to blame, accusing it of manipulating the meeting's chairman to work against Tehran. "I'm sure the United States is hiding behind and pushing him."
A top journalist tracking the dispute between Iran and the international community over its nuclear program has suggested in an interview published at the Harpers' website that an uptick in tensions between the US and Iran could emerge this fall. "If by September the 'surge' is deemed to be ineffective, the Bush Administration may seek to blame Iran for its continuing difficulties."
Twenty stark years ago, on May 17, 1987, a double act of Exocet missiles skimmed through the air and slammed into the American Perry-class frigate the USS Stark.
It was supposed to be a ballot on the future of the Union but it was misplaced efforts at unity that turned the Scottish elections into a fiasco.
The SNP has won the largest number of seats in the Scottish Parliament; therefore, Alex Salmond was in a strong position last night to negotiate a deal whereby he would become First Minister at Holyrood. Even if he achieves this, however, it does not follow that he has a mandate to push Scotland towards independence. He has nothing of the sort.
Britain emerged from Thursday's elections as a divided nation after the Scottish National Party became the largest party in the Scottish Parliament, Labour lost ground in the south of England and the Tories failed to make a major breakthrough in the North.
Forget Whisky Galore. This is Politics Galore, a Scottish farce in which the joke is on the voters. That almost 100,000 ballot papers were spoilt, thanks to a confusing plethora of voting systems and electronic mayhem, is bad enough. But now, steaming through the Scotch mist comes the story that could really cap it all.
Tony Blair intends to use his remaining weeks in office to surrender British powers to Brussels as part of his drive for a European "legacy", senior Whitehall officials claim. Leading civil servants fear the Prime Minister will effectively bind the hands of Gordon Brown by signing Britain up to a rewritten version of the EU constitution days before he finally resigns at the end of June.
Thousands of riot police will be deployed in Paris tonight after warnings that victory for Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative candidate in today's presidential election, could spark violent protests.
(The Economist: The final countdown)
The American dream of home ownership is turning sour for many. Up to 2 million people with so-called subprime, or high risk, mortgages have already had their homes repossessed, or will default on their loans in the coming months, according to industry estimates. The explosion in defaults began last autumn, but many Americans are now realising that the contagion is spreading.
Remember the Wall Street crash of October 1987 when stocks had their worst single day in history? Older market professionals certainly do. They also recall that the 1987 crash came after a sharp weakening of the US dollar and a rally in stocks. Is that not what we are seeing again now?
IMF predicts growth, CDO failures, losses of over 1.3 trillion dollars, IMF's predictions of swirling seas of money, dumped by China and other asian powers, Karl Rove revelations of election fraud, was the Ohio election rigged? Measuring the dow in gold, and a Weimar Republic for America...
Asian nations agreed to an ambitious plan to pool the region's vast foreign currency reserves to weather future financial crises like the one that battered the continent a decade ago. China, Japan, South Korea and the 10-member ASAN agreed that a self-managed "pooling arrangement" of the region's massive reserves would help secure cash in times of need.
Every day, newspapers and television broadcasts are full of numbers that supposedly tell the public how the global economy is doing. Like the markings on a thousand thermometers, the numbers go up and down: stock market indexes, payroll data, interest rates, quarterly earnings, trade deficits, you name it. The problem is, none of these numbers tells you how the global economy actually works.
After this year the majority of people will live in cities. Wisely or not, Homo sapiens has become Homo urbanus.
They're right, yet wrong...
By day, Joe Zamecki works as a landscaper and valet in Austin, capital of George W Bush's home state of Texas, which is regarded by many natives as God's own country. In his spare time, however, he is quietly working to undermine the dominance of America's God-fearing majority. He is one among a growing band of "out" atheists, and wants a US that is "one nation under no god".
Today in Scripture
* "He is to wave the sheaf before YAHWEH so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. ... From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off 7 full weeks." (Lev 23:11,15)
* "Early on the 1st day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance..." (John 20:1-29 / Mark 16:1-8 / Luke 24:1-53 / Matt 28:1-20)
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