Here is the statement which the Holy See's permanent observer at the UN gave at the 61st session of the UN general assembly on the implementation of the declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS.
Jerusalem's Latin-rite Patriarch Michel Sabbah has echoed the recent appeal by Pope Benedict XVI for international leaders to promote peace talks between Israel and Palestine. Sabbah said that the Pope's words to world leaders, issued during his Sunday public audience on May 20, "help us not to lose hope." He said that he hoped the Pope's appeal for international leadership would be answered, "because this is not a local but an international conflict."
The black legend about Pope Pius XII is so widespread that many consider it to be more true than the actual historical facts, says a papal biographer. Contrary to the Pius XII presented by his opponents as the "Pope of silence," a different Pius XII emerges from the pages of Tornielli's book. "From these never before seen papers we can see Pius XII's concern about the birth of Nazism and about its strong anti-Christian nationalism."
German press...
The SPD has struggled to capitalize on the successes of Germany's grand coalition. Now party leader Kurt Beck is bringing out the big guns. He has named 2 cabinet ministers as his deputy leaders, in a bid to raise the party's profile and lay groundwork for the 2009 election.
A perfect storm of political summits, police raids and a tense soccer game will make Hamburg a potentially violent town in the coming weeks. First there's an ASEM summit, then the G-8 - and vandals may have started things off with a car burning on Tuesday.
The split between Daimler and Chrysler marks the beginning of a new era in the automobile industry, which has become vulnerable to the attacks of private equity investors for the first time. It's a threat that also menaces top brands like Mercedes.
A vanguard of EU members could move ahead with closer integration if leaders fail to agree next month on a new treaty to reform the bloc's institutions, Prime Minister Prodi of Italy said Tuesday.
Gordon Brown a Euro-sceptic? Pah! Name one thing - one thing - that he has done to strengthen British sovereignty. If Mr Brown's sole intent as Chancellor had been to prepare this country for the euro, he couldn't have been more thorough. The key point about his five tests was not that he set them, but how hard he strove to meet them.
President Sarkozy is to travel to Brussels today to discuss France's vision for a new treaty for the bloc.
Napoleozy...
Newly elected French president Nicolas Sarkozy has used the first days in office to concentrate a broad range of power in his hands comparable only to that possessed by former French leader Gen. Charles de Gaulle. Even prior to the parliamentary elections in June, Sarkozy is undertaking a series of initiatives which will allow him to govern without any effective external control. To this end he is exploiting the constitution of the Fifth Republic to its limits—and beyond.
Chancellor Merkel left last week's EU-Russia summit disappointed. President Putin's aggressive posturing is splitting Europe, and the German government, over how best to engage Moscow.
Two simmering problems threaten to boil over in Turkey this summer with greater international consequences than ever before. On both counts, time is short and the summer months may be critical to forestalling what are now clearly looming catastrophes.
The key player is the Saudis. What I was writing about was sort of a private agreement that was made between the White House, we're talking about Richard Cheney and Elliott Abrams, one of the key aides in the White House, with Bandar. And the idea was to get support, covert support from the Saudis, to support various hard-line jihadists, Sunni groups, particularly in Lebanon, who would be seen in case of an actual confrontation with Hezbollah would be seen as an asset, as simple as that.
The West has to get used to the fact that Iran has a nuclear program, a leading German Mideast expert said Tuesday in Berlin. "It all boils down to the question, can we live with nuclear Iran? A nuclear Iran is still the second best solution. Sanctions are the wrong way." He urged European countries to step up pressure on the US to follow "a policy change instead of regime change."
French neocon...
Iran has to decide whether it wants to cooperate with the international community regarding its nuclear programme or face harsher sanctions, President Sarkozy was quoted as saying today.
The Guardian offered its May 22 front page as a propaganda conduit for the Bush administration to provide preemptive justification for an escalation of the US military "surge" in Iraq and possible military action against Iran. Under the headline, "Iran's Secret Plan for Summer Offensive to Force US out of Iraq," the newspaper printed almost without qualification statements made to it by an anonymous "senior US official in Baghdad" - with no other source cited and no evidence asked for.
War-whore...
Iran could be able to build a nuclear bomb in less than a year and confronts the world with one of its most "urgent" threats, David Cameron said yesterday. In his first detailed statement on Iran, the Conservative leader urged the Government to mobilise the UN Security Council and the EU to impose tougher sanctions on Teheran.
(LT cartoon: "Let's bomb Iran!")
Provocative!...
Nine US warships carrying 17 000 personnel entered the Persian Gulf today in a show of force off Iran's coast that navy officials said was the largest daytime assembly of ships since the 2003 Iraq war. US Navy officials said Iran had not been notified of plans to sail the ships, which include 2 aircraft carriers, through the Straits of Hormuz. Most US ships pass through the straits at night so as not to attract attention, and rarely move in such large numbers. Navy officials said the decision to send a 2nd aircraft carrier was made at the last minute, without giving a reason.
Yes!...
The administration is building the case for war against Iran - a job made easier by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent announcement that Iran can now enrich uranium on an industrial scale - despite the fact that many Iran-watchers and nuclear experts consider their claims of enrichment capacity to be an overblown boast.
The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell ABCNews.com. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.
At the recent "debate" between Republican presidential candidates in South Carolina, Rep. Ron Paul dared to tell the truth. The thunderous applause from the Republican audience to Giuliani's put-down of the only honest person present underlines that the Republican Party is incapable of leadership to end a futile and lost war that under international standards is a war crime, an unprovoked, naked aggression based entirely on lies, deception, and a secret agenda.
The drums are being beaten more insistently, the ominous sound of a march towards a trade war. As Hank Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, stood with Wu Yi, the Vice-Premier of China, on a Washington stage draped in the flags of their countries, he warned that this historic economic summit would have to be more than a talking shop, if it is to lessen the protectionist pressures building in Congress.
British Petroleum said Tuesday it would shut down one-quarter of its Alaskan oil production, or 100,000 barrels a day, for a "few days" after discovering a water pipeline leak. Analysts said the temporary loss of output at Prudhoe Bay should not have a dramatic impact on world oil markets, but with supplies already tight, any snag in the industry tends to make energy traders jittery.
Decrying near-record high gasoline prices, the House voted Tuesday to allow the government to sue OPEC over oil production quotas. The White House objected, saying that might disrupt supplies and lead to even higher costs at the pump. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is the cartel that accounts for 40% of the world's oil production.
A real estate investment and analysis firm, John Burns Real Estate Consulting, said on May 21 that it is "going public with our concerns" that the national sales information for both new and existing homes, is misleading and covering up a deep plunge of the housing sector. "The housing market has softened much more than is being reported" by the Fed, and the National Association of Realtors. "In summary, we believe that the Fed should know that the housing market correction has been quite steep, and is also not showing signs of bottoming out."
The crisis has ended over Paul Wolfowitz, with his resignation as president of the World Bank last week. But the bank's identity crisis has just begun. The entire international economic architecture established after WW2 - the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and what is now called the World Trade Organization - is buckling under the weight of globalization, trade disputes and the ambitions of rising economic powers in Asia and elsewhere, experts and policy makers say.
Do what?!!...
Meet the women who find rippling muscles and chiselled good looks a complete turn-off.
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