Five more ambassadors were received by the Holy See. In receiving the new representatives, Benedict XVI took the opportunity to address the obligation of richer nations to not exploit poorer nations and the role of religion in its interaction with society.
What's true and what's not about the Masons is the topic of a recent book by an expert in the history of religions. In this interview, he says that "the Masonic method, atheistic in nature, reflects historical relativism and leads to the socio-cultural relativism that it promotes."
Chancellor Merkel will this week host the G8 summit of the world's most industrialised nations in the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm. And the European parliament holds a mini-session in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday.
President Putin will use charm — laced with characteristic severity — to assert Moscow's return to great power status at this week's G8 summit in Germany amid yawning East-West divisions, analysts say. Analysts believe Putin will use his final G8 summit before leaving office in 2008 to insist, as he did last week, that Russia is no "monster that just left the forest."
President Putin has warned the US that its deployment of a new anti-missile network across Eastern Europe would prompt Russia to point its own missiles at European targets and could trigger nuclear war. "This system of missile defence on one side and the absence of this system on the other . . . increases the possibility of unleashing a nuclear conflict."
As the 40th anniversary of the June 67' war approaches, Israel is once again mobilising troops in the north near the ceasefire lines with Syria. There are rumours that this time Israel may launch an war with Syria in this summer.
The march to war in the Middle East is well underway. The war dossiers against Iran Syria Middle East , are being built. General Wesley Clark, the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in Europe , has confimed that the White House has been plotting a course based on a major military roadmap in the Middle East , Central Asia , and East Africa that would start in Afghanistan Iraq Iran Afghanistan Iraq , Syria Lebanon Libya Somalia Sudan Iran.
The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that the independent Iranian nation would never implore the world's bullying powers in its peaceful nuclear program.
President Ahmadinejad stressed that dialogue, obeying the laws and administering justice are only solutions to Iran's nuclear case.
Stronger penalties are needed against Iran, "not next year or the year after, but right now" because of the uncertainty over how soon Tehran may acquire a nuclear weapon, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday. He did not rule out military action to stop Iran's program, though he said it was an unattractive option.
We know that the Bush neocons want to invade Iran and we know that European Illuminist interests want to stop an Iranian invasion. The Europeans know that an attack using low yield nuclear devices against Iran would lead to global nuclear war. No nation would be left untouched.
The Associated Press reports that Cheney's office ordered the Secret Service last September to destroy all records of visitors to the official vice presidential mansion - right after The Washington Post sued for access to the logs. That move was made in secret, naturally. It came out only because of another lawsuit, filed by a private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, seeking the names of conservative religious figures who visited the vice president's residence. This disdain for accountability is distressing, but not surprising. Cheney seems unconcerned about little things like checks and balances and traditional American notions of judicial process. He is the driving force behind the Bush administration's theory of the "unitary executive," which holds that no one, including Congress and the courts, has the power to supervise or regulate the actions of the president.
At Riverwalk Records, the all-vinyl record store just down the street from the state Capitol, the black "US Out of Vt.!" T-shirts are among the hottest sellers. But to some people in Vermont, the idea is bigger than a $20 novelty. They want Vermont to secede from the United States - peacefully, of course. Disillusioned by what they call an empire about to fall, a small cadre of writers and academics is plotting political strategy and planting the seeds of separatism.
A US military analyst who's served in the armed forces and has written on international affairs for more than 2 decades, is issuing a warning today about the collapse of the US as a superpower. He predicts that the Iraq war has set in motion events that will radically transform not only the Middle East but the role of the US in the world.
Talk about a honeymoon. Not only is Nicolas Sarkozy basking in the glow of implausible approval ratings at home, but the charm of France's new president has crossed the Atlantic to dazzle the American chattering classes. Even those who made French-bashing an industry have called off hostilities against the cheese-eating surrender monkies.
China's stock market fell more than 8% today despite government reassurances, extending last week's big losses after the government increased the trading tax to cool market frenzy.
As more Internet users grow cautious about Google's seemingly unquenchable desire for the private, personal data of its users, one entrepreneur is using the search engine giant's own algorithms to offer consumers a choice. It's called Scroogle and offers searchers all the power of Google but none of the privacy concerns.
Today in Scripture
* "In the 600th year of Noah's life, on the 17th day of the 2nd month - on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened." (Gen 7:11)
* "(On the 2nd) morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away..." (Exo 16:21)
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