Pope Benedict warned Catholic politicians they risked excommunication from the Church and should not receive communion if they support abortion. It was the first time that the Pope, speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him on a trip to Brazil, dealt in depth with a controversial topic that has come up in many countries.
(Zenit: B16 comments clarified)
Upon landing in Brazil, the destination of his sixth apostolic trip, Benedict XVI defended life, the family and the Catholic identity of Latin America. Benedict XVI, referring to the missionary theme of the Aparecida conference, said that the Church, "transformed by the Holy Spirit, is called to become a witness before the world of the love of the Father who wishes to make humanity a single family in his Son."
(Zenit: B16 address upon arriving in Brazil)
Heiligendamm is normally a sleepy seaside resort on the Baltic. But with the G-8 coming in June, the town has been transformed into a well-fortified stronghold. And the German authorities aren't the only ones who have been preparing for confrontation.
Since the end of the monarchy in a country whose lands had once belonged to the Habsburgs, Charles's would-be successors, Otto and Otto's son, Karl, have distinguished themselves as scholars and spokesmen for European unity.
Now that France has been to the polls, the battle over a new European constitution enters its decisive phase. The EU's current president, Angela Merkel, faces resistance to her plan to salvage the "substance" of the treaty - but resistance is one thing she understands.
The Czech Republic wants a new EU treaty to include a clause allowing groups of EU states to opt out of Brussels legislation, in a plan set to re-ignite the debate on a 2-speed Europe. Prague believes the mechanism is necessary in light of the voting system proposed in the EU constitution, giving more power to big member states. And Poland, which shares the Czech concern about Germany getting too much voting power in the EU constitution, reacted lukewarmly to the Czech idea.
Nicolas Sarkozy will clash with Tony Blair over "non-negotiable" French plans to cut national vetoes and to transfer new powers to Brussels as part of a new EU treaty. Downing Street had hoped that the new French president would share the Prime Minister's aim of agreeing an uncontroversial "amending treaty" to replace the EU constitution. But a close adviser on the EU to Sarkozy and tipped to become France's Europe minister in the new government unveiled next week, predicts a confrontation at a June 21 Brussels summit.
The European Commission is expected to announce today that it will scrap plans to build a satellite navigation system in partnership with private industry after the consortium chosen for the most ambitious European technology project became mired in disputes about funding, jobs and the management structure. Instead, the commission is likely to propose that the €7/$9 billion cost of the project, known as Galileo, be wholly financed by the public sector if the project is to survive and compete with US, Russian and Chinese satellite navigation systems.
The Serbian parliament elected the far right nationalist Tomislav Nikolic to the post of president on May 8. Moderate nationalists, led by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, backed Nikolic and paved the way for the emergence of a social-nationalist bloc.If nationalist, anti-EU parties prevail by parliamentary or electoral means, the EU's efforts to quickly integrate Serbia into the Union will suffer a critical setback. Such an outcome will increase geopolitical instability in the western Balkans, as Kosovo strives for independence from Belgrade.
Chancellor Merkel called Serbia's caretaker prime minister to express her concern about the election of a nationalist hardliner as parliamentary speaker.
Tony Blair decided to wage war on Iraq after coming under the influence of a "sinister" group of Jews and Freemasons, a Muslim barrister who advises the Prime Minister has claimed. "Pressure was put on Tony Blair before the invasion. The way it works is that pressure is put on people to arrive at certain decisions. It is part of the Zionist plan and it is shaping events."
Africa, a continent largely written off by many Western governments and companies as hopelessly corrupt and socially dysfunctional has seen a dramatic increase in Chinese investment.
The new scramble for Africa – about 120 years after the first one – is inflaming conflicts that could dog the rest of this century. This remake of history could have some even nastier endings than the Victorian version.
The Kuwaiti government on Wednesday briefed MPs on contingency plans to face a possible breakout of hostilities between the US and Iran, a senior minister and lawmakers said.
Iran will face further sanctions in June if it continues to defy UN demands that it stop uranium enrichment work, a senior US official said on Wednesday. "If Iran doesn't say yes to negotiations ... they're going to find a 3rd Security Council resolution in the month of June."
German press...
Bitter foes put the past behind them in Belfast on Tuesday, pledging to work together after decades of violence. Tony Blair hopes history will remember him more for brokering peace in Northern Ireland than for his role in the war in Iraq.
But for all the years of fanfare heralding Brown's ascendancy, the details of his vision for Britain, particularly its relationship with the US, remain opaque to many of those he will govern.
President Putin obliquely compared the foreign policy of the US to the Third Reich in a speech commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, in an apparent escalation of anti-American rhetoric within the Russian government.
There are rumblings in the GOP that, if they get much louder, threaten to split the Republican Party over the war issue. The realization that the neocons are doing to the Republican Party what they're doing to the US military – driving it into the ground – is now widespread in GOP circles.
Ron Paul emerged from last week's GOP debate as completely victorious according to every available benchmark and yet there is still a deliberate ploy to push the Texas Congressman to the sidelines on behalf of a terrified corporate media. Every single major online poll shows conclusively that Ron Paul won the debate by a mammoth margin, trouncing the bought and paid-for shill Neo-Con candidates that the establishment press are sworn to uphold.
There is no doubt that the actions of the US military around the world are provoking a level of disgust and anger that could well produce misguided terrorist attacks within the US itself. Nonetheless, the various terrorist "plots" exposed by the Bush administration have virtually without exception been characterized by a similar lack of any real preparation for violence combined with the central role of a covert informant/agent provocateur.
Calling for a moratorium on immigration raids and deportations that have separated hundreds of illegal immigrants from their US-born children, the New Sanctuary Movement is opening churches and places of worship to harbor families who risk being torn apart.
Nature's fury made life miserable Wednesday from one end of the nation to the other, with people forced out of their homes by wildfires near both coasts and the Canadian border and by major flooding in the Midwest.
The Federal Reserve acknowledged Wednesday that the US economy was slowing, but offered little hint that it was ready to lower interest rates anytime soon. As widely expected, the central bank kept the benchmark interest rates on overnight loans at 5.25% - the same level it has been ever since the Fed began its "pause" almost one year ago.
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