Benedict XVI launched a call for a more just distribution of the wealth of the planet. "It is not possible to continue using the wealth of the poorest countries with impunity, without them also being able to participate in world growth. Authorities in all countries have a duty to work together to ensure greater distribution of the wealth and resources of the planet. Collaboration to this end will also have an effect on solidarity, peace and fraternity, within countries and between countries."
I wish to conclude by expressing my deep respect and admiration for the religious heritage that has inspired the human development of your country, and continues to animate its aspirations for greater peace and mutual understanding. Christians and Muslims both worship the One God, the Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. It is this belief that moves us to unite minds and hearts as we work tirelessly for peace, justice, and a better future for mankind. Be assured that the various departments of the Roman Curia stand ready to offer their services to help achieve these noble goals.
On June 9, President Bush will visit Rome and meet Pope Benedict XVI. The US ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Rooney, agreed to sit down with Inside the Vatican correspondent Serena Sartini to discuss his expectations for the upcoming meeting.
The bishops of 7 of the world's leading industrial countries have written to G-8 leaders to urge them to take bold action on global poverty. "We urge you to act out of the moral obligation that we all share for the well-being of every human person, but also because replacing despair with hope in Africa will lead to a more secure world for all nations."
European Catholics arrive in Aachen this week to see a 2,000-year-old dress reputedly worn by Mary when she gave birth to Jesus. Christian relics continue to draw crowds, but for most people seeing isn't believing.
Read 'n weep, all you COG "prophets"...
An SS general close to Adolf Hitler foiled a plot to kidnap Pope Pius XII during WW2 and to put the Vatican and its treasures under Nazi control, according to a new book. The book, "A Special Mission" by Dan Kurzman, refutes arguments that Pope Pius XII maintained a public silence about Nazi actions during WW2 because he was anti-Semitic or because he was sympathetic toward Hitler. "They were bitter, bitter enemies. They despised each other." The pope hated Hitler "not only for his inhumanity but because he threatened the whole church structure." Hitler, for his part, "saw the pope as his greatest enemy" and as someone with whom he was "competing for the minds and souls that he wanted to control."
Protesters have clashed with police at a largely peaceful anti-globalisation rally in the city of Rostock. Rocks, bottles and sticks have been hurled at riot police, who are using tear gas and batons charges to try to disperse the hundreds of rioters.
Bush's "Trojan Horse"
President Bush seems confident that his climate change initiative will find broad support. But the first reactions out of Europe have been far from positive. Chancellor Merkel's aids are preparing for a failure of climate talks at the G-8 summit.
The Prime Minister will be told by Angela Merkel that he faces isolation and a bruising battle over British opposition to new powers for the EU.
The European Commission still believes Europe can break Russia's stranglehold on Central Asia gas supplies with a Trans-Caspian pipeline, but a new Russian deal and internal EU divisions are hampering the project.
President Putin has threatened to target Europe with missiles, including potentially nuclear weapons, in a dramatic escalation of his Cold War-style showdown with the US. "It is obvious that if part of the strategic nuclear potential of the United States is located in Europe, and according to our military experts will be threatening us, we will have to respond. What kind of steps are we going to take in response? Of course, we are going to get new targets in Europe."
Scientists from a Norwegian environmental group say they have obtained a leaked report by the Russian government's highest nuclear authority warning of imminent risk of explosion in the enormous tanks holding discarded submarine fuel rods at its Andreeva Bay facility on the Arctic Ocean. "We are sitting on a powder keg with a fuse that is burning, but we don't know how long that fuse is."
Forty years after the 6-Day War, Israel continues to face problems on its borders, from shootouts in Gaza to fighting in Lebanon. Indeed, the Israeli triumph of 1967 has proven to be a false victory.
On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the 6-day war, stances taken back then still loom over the Middle East peace process.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has cautioned Turkey against sending troops into northern Iraq, as it has threatened, to hunt down Kurdish rebels it accuses of carrying out terrorist raids inside Turkey.
Pakistan is at a cross-roads: it can take the path of being a sectarian, fundamentalist state ruled by clerics, or it can become an enlightened, moderate country, informed by the best traditions of Islam, tolerant of other faiths and open to change. Procrastination is not an option. In the present international climate, the direction taken by Pakistan will be of high interest to the global community.
The fight against Islamic militants in Somalia has dramatically moved to the relatively peaceful northeast of the country, opening up a new battlefront between them and Somali government forces and their allies who have previously fought only in the country's south. At least one US warship late Friday pounded the area. A Pentagon spokesman told The Associated Press he had no information about the incident. "This is a global war on terror and the US remains committed to reducing terrorist capabilities when and where we find them."
The African Union has objected to a proposed joint AU-UN peacekeeping force in Sudan's troubled Darfur region because the UN would be in command.
Benedict XVI asked for a negotiated solution to the bloody situation in the Darfur region of Sudan when receiving the letters of credence of the new ambassador to the Holy See from Sudan.
Russia has told Britain and America to stop being "so emotional" about Darfur and to accept that they cannot force Sudan to find a peaceful solution to conflict in the region.
When Washington announced this week that it intends to freeze the assets of 31 government-affiliated Sudanese companies, most of them associated with the country's burgeoning oil sector, it was as if Goliath had decided to take on David, with Khartoum playing David and Washington Goliath. Washington purports to uphold the moral upper hand. For altruistic purposes it intends to intervene on the behalf of the hapless people of Darfur. More cynical observers, though, believe the move is simply part of America's strategy to lay its hands on Sudanese oil. "The Americans are only interested in Darfur's oil" is how Hassan al-Turabi sums it up.
President Ahmadinejad today said the world would witness the destruction of Israel soon, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Ahmadinejad said last summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah showed for the first time that the "hegemony of the occupier regime (Israel) had collapsed, and the Lebanese nation pushed the button to begin counting the days until the destruction of the Zionist regime. God willing, in the near future we will witness the destruction of the corrupt occupier regime."
[WAR: Once again, he's saying "Zionist regime" - and not "Jewish state/country/nation."]
Iran's top national security official told the US to stop "exaggerating" the cases of 4 US-Iranians charged by Tehran with harming national security. "We do not think it is necessary for the Americans to exaggerate what has happened. The way the US government has chosen to raise this topic is not very fair."
Oh, okay...
The US is not preparing for war against Iran and Vice President Dick Cheney supports that policy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says, taking a swipe at a UN official who says he's worried about "crazies" who want to start bombing.
You'd think terrorists would supply Our Rulers with all the hobgoblins they need to keep Americans scared and submissive. But no. Now they're exploiting the seriously sick. Who's telling the truth? My money's on Andy rather than a bunch of butt-covering bureaucrats. But the CDC's tyrants are too busy finessing Andy's kidnapping to worry about the Constitution.
Paris Hilton injured no one while behind the wheel, and damaged no one's property. The only complaints against her have been brought by the state. The state, in other words, places itself on an equal standing with the sovereign citizen. Claiming to be the servant of the public, it demands to be served by the public. It has rights, which it has given itself, and which you dare not ignore. Doing so is an offense punishable by imprisonment.
Yes, shut 'em all up, and down!...
A Christian church in Kansas has told the IRS that it will not stop teaching and preaching God's Word, "even if it relates to contemporary issues in the world," after the federal agency demanded answers to 31 questions about its beliefs and warned about "political" activity.
Saddam Hussein may have been deposed in order to limit Iraq's oil production and thus keep world oil prices artificially high. "Whether by design or happenstance, this decline in (Iraqi) output has resulted in tripling the profits of the 5 US oil majors to $89 billion for a single year, 2005, compared to pre-invasion 2002." In addition to clapping a lid on Iraqi production, Palast charges the US "promoted sabotage of oil piping, loading and refining systems in Venezuela" to limit that country's production.
The US dollar is facing imminent collapse in the face of an unsustainable debt, the UN has warned. US debt, which had now deepened to well over $3 trillion, might turn out to be unsustainable in the rest of 2007 or next, putting further downward pressure on the dollar.
The Bush economy is ripe for a depression. The US dollar is still afloat only because of frenzied consumer spending, which makes up 70% of the GNP, and the fact that 70% of the world's oil is traded in US dollars, forcing central banks to amass it in huge quantities. However, both of those underpinnings are beginning to crack.
European Bilderbergers are not at all happy with continuing the status Quo of having the US nominated candidate become the world bank President.
Christopher Hitchens was 9 when he decided that his schoolteacher was talking nonsense about God. In a new book he finally challenges all religion, arguing that the world would be a better place without it.
At the moment, largely, cows eat grass and silage, and as we've seen, this is melting the ice caps and killing us all. So they need a new foodstuff: something that is rich in iron, calcium and natural goodness. Plainly they can't eat meat so here's an idea to chew on. Why don't we feed them vegetarians? ;-)
Today in Scripture
"...in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp... (Exo 16:13-20)
[WAR: I will be following Exo 16 all this week to prove when the Sabbath DAY is...]
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