Here is a translation of the final part of a speech given by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone. He gave it at the presentation of a book by Andrea Tornielli, "Pio XII: Un Uomo Sul Trono di Pietro" (Pius XII: A Man on the Throne of Peter).
Hamburg's Archbishop, the delegate of Christian charity Misereor at the German Conference of Catholic Bishops, spoke to Spiegel Online about the gross flaws in Western foreign aid to developing countries.
Paderborn is a small cathedral city. The cathedral is stunning and it is here, in 799, that Charlemagne was made the first ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.
[WAR: It's really amazing how history is not even agreed upon - or at least assumptions are made that shouldn't be. But here is an article in the London Times that states a fabrication of history - as do all the COG "prophets" and ministers when it comes to this subject. Charlemagne was NOT crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire! He was "crowned Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800, in an attempted revival of the Roman Empire in the West." The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation didn't come on the scene until Otto the Great was crowned by Pope John XII in 962, and ended (received its "mortal wound") in 1806. So if the "prophets" and ministers don't have their history correct, then how reliable are their "prophecies"?]
Minority shareholders have their ways of controlling European firms.
"Work more to earn more." That was the slogan President Sarkozy was elected on last month, and this week he put the finishing touches on a €11 billion legislative plan to shake up the French labor market. But his biggest proposal - relaxing the 35-hour workweek by making all overtime tax-free - is already being criticized by the Socialist opposition and some mainstream economists, who say it will discourage companies from hiring new workers. But the measures have also drawn fire from abroad. Sarkozy rejected such criticism, vowing to press ahead with his policies.
President Sarkozy said that he and Prime Minister Blair had struck a deal on reforming the EU's institutions while Germany reported progress toward a treaty.
For a place that revolves around a big, radical idea—the "ever closer union" of Europe—Brussels is oddly bad at big, radical thinking. It is a (rare) point on which Eurosceptics and pro-Europeans agree: given the importance of decisions taken by the EU, both the level and quality of public debate in the EU capital are depressingly low.
The EU's transport ministers are meeting to decide the future of the Galileo navigation system this week. The stalled system was originally intended for purely civilian purposes, but now the military is getting interested, given the satellites' importance in modern warfare.
The eagle was also the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire and was very well known in the Balkans.
NOT-SO-GREAT G-8
President Bush is the man G8 protestors love to hate. US citizens who oppose Bush's policies are increasingly making themselves heard, and Europeans are listening.
German press...
The peaceful blockades by anti G-8 demonstrators at the summit in Heiligendamm have allayed fears of mass violence stoked by last Saturday's riot in Rostock, and have won praise in the German media. Also, commentators say America is starting to budge on global warming.
Europress...
Never before has the mood at a G-8 summit been as tense as this year. Spiegel Online presents a selection of commentaries on the summit from some of Europe's leading newspapers.
Europress...
As the G-8 summit moves into its 2nd day, European papers reflect over the "compromise" on climate change the first day of talks brought.
The G-8 countries are claiming a breakthrough in Heiligendamm. They have agreed to "consider" halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but haven't set concrete targets for themselves. Chancellor Merkel says it's a big success. Greenpeace has criticized the compromise.
(LX: The Baltic pact)
President Putin has proposed that Russia and the US jointly use an existing radar station in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan as a way to resolve their dispute over the planned US missile shield in Eastern Europe. George W. Bush called it an "interesting proposal." Is the ice breaking?
(UPI: US-Russian rockets project?)
The leaders held their joint session without President Bush, who was ill and stayed in his room after meeting privately with President Sarkozy.
Ankara, Washington, and Baghdad all rushed yesterday to deny an Associated Press dispatch that the Turks had begun an invasion of northern Iraq. Should Turkey invade Iraqi Kurdistan, it would pit two American allies in the wider war against Islamic terror against each other.
(Reuters: Turkish invasion would be US nightmare)
(Economist: To go or not to go)
(Economist: Turkey and its army)
As the situation on the ground in Iraq veers out of control, the rest of the Middle East is coming undone – a state of affairs directly attributable to our policy of "regime change" throughout the region. Superimposed on the twin crises currently unfolding in Iraq and Iran, these new threats to regional stability threaten to ignite a conflagration on a par with both world wars.
Almost 2 months after the Arab League renewed its peace initiative, Israel finally responded. In 2-paragraph letters to her Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts, Foreign Minister Livni invited them and "any other relevant parties" to come "as representatives of the Arab League" and discuss "the possible ways in which the Arab League can support the peace process." This was no acceptance of any part of that initiative but a noncommittal message: Let's talk.
Former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad said during secret peace talks in the 1990s he was ready to leave a strategic Golan Heights stronghold under Israeli control, ex-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "People don't know that Assad ceded the Hermon. I told him 'I have a pre-condition,' that's what I told him, 'I have a pre-condition -- the Hermon.' He asked me 'why do need this pre-condition?' and I said 'because the Iranian threat... there is a threat from Iran, and I need to have eyes looking east.' And he gave me the Hermon."
Stock markets shuddered in the shadow of rising borrowing costs and fears of inflation today as a more than 5 year bond-buying spree looked to be at an end. European and Asian shares fell, following losses on Wall Street overnight, while bond yields rose again. The dollar firmed as popular currency "carry trades" were seen to be in danger of buckling.
Where do the Gulf states invest their immense wealth?
Today (June 8) marks the 40-year anniversary of Israel's bloody attack on the USS Liberty, a lightly armed US Navy ship sailing off the coast of Egypt at the time. Over the years, there have been numerous reports indicating that the unprovoked assault caught the White House and the military by surprise. New information, however, reveals that officials in various agencies in the US government played a key role in setting up the Liberty for the purpose of drawing the Soviet Union into a fight in the Middle East and ultimately igniting WW3.
Today/tomorrow in Scripture
Today: "On the 6th day, they gathered twice as much - 2 omers for each person - and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. He said to them, 'This is what YAHWEH commanded: "Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to YAHWEH. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning."'" (Exo 16:22,23)
[WAR: First of all, notice that the manna was linked - lock-stock-and-barrel - to the morning of each day all week long - not one word about sunset, evening or night. So the formula is: morning=manna=day. Also notice that YAHWEH (as quoted by Moses) did not say: "Tomorrow - which starts tonight at sunset - is to be a day of rest." No, He said: "Tomorrow (the next/following day) is to be a day of rest." And we all know what "tomorrow" means - the next day! If it's the following night, then we say "tomorrow night." Now, for the nail-in-the-coffin of the "Jewish" Sabbath...]
Tomorrow: "So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 'Eat it today,' Moses said, 'because today is a Sabbath to YAHWEH. You will not find any of it on the ground today. Six days you are to gather it, but on the 7th day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.' Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the 7th day to gather it, but they found none. Then YAHWEH said to Moses, 'How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that YAHWEH has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the 6th day he gives you bread for 2 days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the 7th day; no one is to go out.' So the people rested on the 7th day. (Exo 16:24-30)
[WAR: What could be more plain and simple?!! It's as-plain-as-DAY (pun very intended)!! The 7th morning - not sunset - was the 7th day!! And this is exactly what it says in Genesis 1, but the translators have mispunctuated it (Jer 8:8) in order to support the Babylonian-inspired Rabbinical concept of the day being from sunset to sunset. So each day of the re-creation should read: "And evening fell (or "came to pass"). Then morning became the # day."
So a day starts in the "morning" and continues through the "evening", ending at dark/night! And remember the "morning and evening sacrifices/offerings"? They were done at the start of the day, and the end of the day. Oh the simplicity!!
But hey, read what the Rabbis admit - but don't practice: In the Bible, the season of light (Gen. i. 5), lasting "from dawn [lit. "the rising of the morning"] to the coming forth of the stars" (Neh. iv. 15, 17). And: According to the strict interpretation of the Mosaic law, every day begins with sunrise and ends with sunset.
So the conclusion of the matter is that the "Jewish Sabbath" (The Encyclopedia Britannica 11th Edition renders it: "Rabbinical Sabbath" and "Sabbath of the Scribes"!) is from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, but YAHWEH's Sabbath (whom YAHSHUA is lord/master of) is "SaturDAY" from dawn to dark!! And whether you realize it or not, there is around an hour difference between sunset and dark. So if you follow the Jewish Sabbath, you are taking the risk of violating the last hour of YAHWEH's Sabbath DAY!! And who wouldn't mind at all if people kept a "24 hour Sabbath", but sinned during the last hour of the Sabbath DAY? That's right - him!
So the Sabbath DAY really is the test commandment as we're told just before the manna was given: "In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions." (verse 4) - and just after: "How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?" (verse 28). So, will you pass the test?! Will you continue to refuse to keep His commands and instructions? . . . ]
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