During his address, the Pope underlined that "human life, and the values of human life, must always be the foundation and the final aim of the economy." Citing the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, he noted that business managers must see beyond the economic objectives of a company. "It is also their precise duty to respect concretely the human dignity of those who work within the company. In important decisions concerning strategy and finances, in decisions to buy or sell, to resize, close or to merge a site, financial and commercial criteria must not be the only considerations made."
Pope Benedict XVI has decided to restore the power and prestige of the Vatican department that oversees dialogue with Islam.
Thirty-eight men from 18 countries were ordained to the priesthood for the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei. "Many Americans are understandably discouraged by the so-called vocations crisis here at home. They should go to Rome. There's no doubt that God is renewing the Church from its heart in Rome."
[WAR: Translation: "There's no doubt that the Pimp of this age is renewing his Whore from its heart in Babylon."]
Sexual abuses mixed with allegations of Church abuse make for an explosive media formula, as Italians can testify. The state-owned television broadcaster, RAI, sparked a debate after it announced that it wanted to buy the rights to transmit a BBC program, "Sex Crimes and the Vatican."
Germany's Environment Minister said Germany had been frustrated by the difficulties of reaching agreement on climate change with the US.
Germany's Foreign Minister said that Berlin would battle with Washington "to the last minute" to win US backing for a strong stand on climate change at the G8 summit.
Seven Westerners have reportedly been kidnapped from a finance ministry building in central Baghdad. Those abducted are reported to include 3 experts advising the Iraqi finance ministry, thought to be German, and their 4 Western bodyguards.
It discusses how the Roman empire's collapse gave birth to the proto-nations within it, and how the rise of Islam helped to shape the identity of the European superstate of Christendom.
Chancellor Merkel has said she is determined to find a way out of the EU's institutional impasse before Berlin gives up the bloc's presidency at the end of next month. Speaking before a meeting with Austrian leader Alfred Gusenbauer today, she said that it was important to her that "a fair compromise" is found.
Prime Minister Prodi of Italy backed President Sarkozy's proposal for a simplified European treaty, saying he wanted to get rid of the idea of a Europe "paralyzed by vetoes."
Russia today called for an emergency meeting with the US and European countries to discuss the future of a treaty that President Putin suspended last month and has threatened to withdraw from altogether.
Change happens fast in Russia, and today, buoyed by booming energy markets and the widely held belief that a strong central authority has finally smoothed out the chaos of the 1990s, it is rapidly claiming its wounded pride and confidence. It is starting to again push its weight around, making sure its neighbors, Europe and the US remember that it is a power to be respected.
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz was ousted as leader of the Labour party on Monday night, brought down by his bungling of the Lebanon war last summer.
Warning that "our patience has run out," the Turkish government has authorized the army to draft a plan for a major military thrust into Iraq to smash Kurdish rebel bases there "once and for all."
The US and Iran traded accusations over the bloodshed in Iraq today during the first high-level direct official talks between the arch-foes in 27 years.
Battle over Kingdom of the South...
President Bush has decided to implement a plan to pressure Sudan's government into cooperating with international efforts to halt the violence in its troubled Darfur region. Administration officials said yesterday that the Treasury Department will step up efforts to squeeze the Sudanese economy by targeting government-run ventures involved with its booming oil business, which does many of its transactions in US dollars.
(DPA: China opposes new sanctions)
Recent revelations illustrating the fact that the US government is using a Sunni Al-Qaeda terrorist group to carry out bombings in Iran undermines the entire war on terror as a monumental hoax that is being exploited purely to realize a geopolitical agenda.
"I believe," Podhoretz told the Israel Broadcast Authority, "contrary to what many people assume, that [Bush] will [attack Iran] before he leaves office, possibly shortly before he leaves office. I think he agrees with the analysis that I offer that there is no alternative to military action."
Britain's prime minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown refused Saturday to rule out military action against Iran over its programme of nuclear enrichment.
Confronted with strong opposition to his Iraq policies, President Bush decides to interpret public opinion his own way. Actually, he says, people agree with him. Increasingly isolated on a war that is going badly, Bush has presented his alternative reality in other ways, too.
We're at the brink of the police state, the Orwellian 1984 surveillance and control society, and on top of this horror there seems to be an environmental disaster approaching. All kinds of bad things seem to be happening in the not so distant future.
American men in their 30s today are worse off than their fathers' generation, a reversal from just a decade ago, when sons generally were better off than their fathers, a new study finds.
As if there were not enough mysteries involving the medieval chapel that featured in The Da Vinci Code, the plot thickened further yesterday. Rosslyn Chapel has, at one time or another, been suggested as the resting place of the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant and even the mummified head of Christ. Now cosmology has been added to this rich brew after the ornate symbols on its walls were likened to giant cloud formations photographed on Saturn.
Some of the most famous pieces of paper in the world have a friend in Yuma. The 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls are hailed as the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th Century and a Yuma professor wants to help the world understand their message and mystery.
Tired of the happy-clappy modernism taking root in churches? You do have a choice. Find a path to truth through the rites of the past.
[WAR: Yes, the Whore is very senuous in her rites - they appeal to the human senses, and can be intoxicating.]
Visualize this spectacle: a debate between a neocon and a progressive. The subject is religion. One of them is there to defend religion, to praise God, to cheerlead for even the most devout. The other -- his opponent -- is an atheist. He skewers deities and those who follow deities. He calls them evil. Toxic. Childish. He mocks doctrine. Railing that the devout want to kill us and control the world, he is on a mission, as it were, to vanquish missions. You'd expect the liberal to be the atheist and the neocon to vouch for the devout. No-brainer, right? Well, no.
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