Benedict XVI's tendency to set aside formality in order to warmly greet the faithful was apparent was his first hours in Brazil. The Pontiff broke protocol more than once to see and bless the Brazilian faithful who anxiously waited to see him.
(Zenit: B16's address to Brazil's bishops)
The Church has a natural affinity for governments that promote liberal social policies, according to the Vatican Secretary of State, but cannot accept regimes that undermine human rights.
Holo-cost-a-lot...
Since 1951 Germany has paid more than 102 billion marks, about $61.8 billion at 1998 exchange rates, in federal government reparation payments to Israel and Third Reich victims. In addition, Germans have paid out billions in private and other public funds, including about 75 million marks ($49 million) by German firms in compensation to wartime forced laborers.
[WAR: This was back in '98, so no telling what the amount is now!]
The Social Democrats are hoping for a victory Sunday in Bremen's regional elections to end the 12-year-old coalition with the conservatives.
Spiegel speaks to Croatian President Stjepan Mesic about his country's ambition of joining the EU, corruption in Croatia and his country's judicial reforms.
Changes in France, Germany and Great Britain very likely portend a weakening of the integrationist impulse in Europe and a return to what has traditionally been the European mode – balance-of-power politics. The Russians are certainly watching with interest.
Serbia's pro-democracy parties have agreed to form a new power-sharing government, Parliament's speaker said Friday - an arrangement that would exclude anti-Western ultranationalists who had supported Slobodan Milosevic.
Analysis...
The UN Security Council is considering independence for Serbia's province of Kosovo - described as calm but tense - where the population is now about 90% ethnic Albanian. Serbs reject any such move because they consider Kosovo their cultural and historical heartland.
The Israel Defense Forces have been involved in 3 "incidents" with UN naval peacekeepers under German command off the coast of Lebanon. Several Israel Air Force fighter jets made an approach towards the German frigate Niedersachsen off the Lebanese coast on Wednesday.
A senior British diplomat has claimed that Pakistan continues to be used by al-Qa'eda terrorists who pose a threat to security in Britain. The British High Commissioner to Pakistan said that the terrorist organisation's presence in Pakistan's mountainous tribal areas was of "great concern".
President Musharraf could declare a state of emergency in Pakistan amid growing civil unrest against his increasingly embattled regime. Security forces were placed on high alert yesterday, detaining hundreds of activists on the eve of an anti-government rally in Karachi.
The invasion and occupation of Somalia coincided with the Pentagon's now operational plan to build a new 'Africa Command' to deal with what the Christian Science Monitor dubbed 'strife, oil, and Al Qaeda'. Last week came the news that the US now imports more oil from Africa than from the Middle East; with Nigeria, Angola and Algeria providing nearly one-fifth of it - more than from Saudi Arabia. On file are plans - put on hold amid continuing conflicts - for nearly two-thirds of Somalia's oil fields to be allocated to the US oil companies Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips.
Underscoring the essential objective of his Middle East tour, Vice President Cheney used the deck of an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf Friday to deliver a bellicose threat against Iran.
German papers...
With the announcement on Thursday he will step down, the era of Tony Blair will soon end. Editorialists at Germany's top newspapers take stock of a man who brought economic success to his country but also pulled it into a deeply unpopular war.
Tony Blair became the first foreign leader to see the newly-elected French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, when they met yesterday in Paris.
[WAR: I think that it's very symbolic - with a hint of prophetic - that "Reuben" met "Ephraim" first, rather than with Assyria. This could very well indicate how the European cookie is going to crumble...]
Swedish magician Joe Labero has provoked a strong reaction with suggestions that Las Vegas is controlled by "Jewish business syndicates, American dollar millionaires and homosexual booking agents".
Ancient Romans built their towns using astronomically aligned grids, a recently concluded Italian study has revealed. As part of the study, researchers examined the orientation of some 38 towns in Italy, and found that all of them followed strong symbolic aspects linked to Astronomy.
Former cult leader Yahweh Ben Yahweh, who was linked to nearly 2 dozen gruesome killings in the 1980s and said to have ordered victims' ears cut off as proof they were killed, has died. He was 71. Yahweh, who had been fighting prostate cancer, died in his sleep Monday night. The self-proclaimed "Black Messiah" founded the Nation of Yahweh and preached religious separatism for blacks.
[WAR: "You shall not misuse the name of YAHWEH your ELOHIM, for YAHWEH will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name."!! (Exo 20:7 / Deut 5:11)]
Today in Scripture
"On the 24th day of the 1st month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris . . . 'As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.'" (Dan 10:4-12:13)
All Men Die; Few Men Ever Really LIVE
The most dangerous man on earth is the man who has reckoned with his own death. All men die; few men ever really live. Sure, you can create a safe life for yourself . . . and end your days in a rest home babbling on about some forgotten misfortune. I'd rather go down swinging. Besides, the less we are trying to "save ourselves," the more effective a warrior we will be. Listen to G. K. Chesterton on courage:
"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. 'He that will lose his life, the same shall save it' is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. The paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may save his life if he will risk it on the precipice. He can only get away from death by continually stepping within an inch of it. A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine." (Wild at Heart , p. 169)
"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. 'He that will lose his life, the same shall save it' is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. The paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may save his life if he will risk it on the precipice. He can only get away from death by continually stepping within an inch of it. A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine." (Wild at Heart , p. 169)
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