Today's solemnity of Corpus Domini, which in the Vatican and other nations was already celebrated this past Thursday, invites us to contemplate the great mystery of our faith: the most holy Eucharist, the real presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the altar.
More than 2 years into his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI has proven to be a very patient decision-maker - so patient that even some of his Vatican bureaucrats are chafing a little. "There are all these decisions that you thought were already made, and then nothing happens." Why are things taking so long? The main reason, according to those inside the Curia, is that the pope believes some of these questions call for consultation and fine-tuning, rather than snap decisions.
Benedict, proving he is just as much a man on a mission as Bush, left the Vatican in a motorcade shortly after his meeting with the president, while Bush was still in his meeting at the Secretariat of State.
Edmund Stoiber, the leader of Germany's Christian Social Union, has demanded an end to the "background noises" about extra-marital affairs and illegitimate children among party leaders that has hit the conservatives. A battle to replace Stoiber has turned ugly. He is retiring as state premier of Bavaria and CSU chairman in September.[??!] "There is quite a bit of background noise at the moment, but none of it is coming from me. It's only distracting the CSU from the job at hand and it's got to be stopped!"
Suspicious sleepovers, naked beach games and public holding of hands: is it true love for Günter Verheugen, the most powerful German in Brussels, or simply a creative new approach to shaping EU industrial strategy? And has he been bending the rules? Mr Verheugen, Vice-President of the European Commission, says that everything is above board but pressure was piling on him last night to come clean about his relationship to his chief of staff – or to step down.
French leader Nicolas Sarkozy's remark at the G8 summit about a deal with Tony Blair on a new EU treaty has been followed by renewed pressure for a referendum in the UK, with London planning to insist on keeping the veto on foreign, employment and criminal law policies at next week's EU talks.
Prospects of a deal on the future of Europe at Tony Blair's final summit are threatened by fears that a rash of demands for opt-outs from EU laws will turn the negotiations into a farce.
Projections after the first round of France's parliamentary elections suggest President Sarkozy's party is heading for a landslide. Although most seats will not be decided until next week's 2nd round, polling firms said Sarkozy's UMP party would win at least 383 of the 577 seats.
Belgian voters handed a stinging defeat Sunday to center-right Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt in legislative elections, taking a big step towards a change of government.
Fears grew of renewed conflict in the Balkans after ethnic Albanian leaders in Kosovo gave warning they may declare independence unilaterally if their statehood was not internationally sanctioned soon. Kosovo's prime minister said over the weekend that he would "not rule out" a unilateral declaration to split from Serbia after the failure of last week's G8 summit to resolve the issue.
Is Russia embarked on a return to authoritarianism? The answer has to be an unequivocal no. The neocons, by the way, are deeply committed to the Chechen cause and have been in the vanguard of the movement to demonize Putin as a latter-day Stalin.
A group of hundreds of prominent Israeli rabbis today urged Knesset members here against electing former prime minister Shimon Peres for president, calling Peres an "existential threat" to the Jewish state.
President Bush is to blame if Israel goes to war with Syria, former Foreign Ministry director-general Dr. Alon Lial charged. He said Bush refused to discuss with Assad a "major deal", by which Syria would "defect" from the Iranian camp in favor of the moderate Sunni alliance and the West. Thus there is no point in talking peace with Syria, Lial said, and tensions are only increasing towards a possible war this summer.
"The Americans have tried to kill me in the past, but have failed... It is certain that the Americans still want me dead and are still trying to assassinate me. I am an Iraqi, I am a Muslim, I am free and I reject all forms of occupation. I want to help the Iraqi people. This is everything the Americans hate."
News that Iranian and Turkish forces are shelling the PKK hideouts in northern Iraq from their own territories apparently in a coordinated manner has created deep discomfort in Baghdad, Erbil and Washington prompting the Iraqi government to hand a diplomatic note to Turkey calling "to act together" against the militants.
He was born a prince with a bloodline stretching back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the son of an Ethiopian emperor and heir to the treasures of one of Africa's richest royal dynasties. But, taken as a boy to Victorian England by British soldiers who ransacked his father's mountain-top palace, Prince Alemayehu died alone aged 18 in Leeds, 128 years ago. Now the Ethiopians want his body returned to mark their millennium [2000] which, according to the Ethiopian calendar, falls on Sept 12 this year.
[WAR: As I've asked before: What if Ethiopia has the correct year - as opposed to the miscalculation of the Catholic Church?]
Iran on Sunday slammed a threat by the G-8 of new sanctions against Tehran over its controversial nuclear programme. "We have to say that we regret and deplore that such repetitive positions have been adopted."
American and Israeli air forces on Sunday began week-long joint exercises in southern Israel, simulating dog-fights and bombing targets on the ground. Army radio said the exercises were taking place in the context of recent discussions between Israel and its main ally on the controversial nuclear programme of the Jewish state's arch-foe Iran.
Predicting that Iran will obtain a nuclear weapon within 3 years and claiming to have a strike plan in place, senior American military officers have told The Jerusalem Post they support President Bush's stance to do everything necessary to stop the Islamic Republic's race for nuclear power. According to a high-ranking American military officer, the US Navy and Air Force would play the primary roles in any military action taken against Iran. One idea under consideration is a naval blockade designed to cut off Iran's oil exports.
[WAR: By cutting-off Iran's oil exports, we'll be pissing-off a lot of countries that rely on Iran's oil.]
Iran is in discussions to store strategic oil in China and to build refineries around Asia, Iran's Oil Minister said today, as it seeks secure outlets for its crude in the face of Western economic sanctions.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman said Sunday the US should consider a military strike against Iran because of Tehran's involvement in Iraq. "I think we've got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq."
America is facing its worst summer drought since the Dust Bowl years of the Great Depression. Or perhaps worse still. From the mountains and desert of the West, now into an 8th consecutive dry year, to the wheat farms of Alabama, where crops are failing because of rainfall levels 12 inches lower than usual, to the vast soupy expanse of Lake Okeechobee in southern Florida, which has become so dry it actually caught fire a couple of weeks ago, a continent is crying out for water.
The changes they have wrought since 1801, the year Jefferson was inaugurated, have gone far toward eliminating 3 basic features – republicanism, federalism, and limited government – from the federal system.
How can this country survive much longer, when the younger generation is so appallingly ignorant? Only half of them can name the first book of the Bible, or any of the 4 Gospels. Today's atheists baffle me too. If they don't believe God exists, why do they hate him so much?
To British ears, an American southern accent carries connotations of cowboys and country singers, but in the US it signals something quite different: political success. "No accent telegraphs more information faster than a southern one. It exudes approachability, an absence of pretence and a penchant for plain talk."
The earth moved in global financial markets at the end of last week. After March's sharp tremors across the world's stock markets, this time it was the turn of the bond markets to shake up investors. There now seems little doubt that we are approaching a watershed at which global financial conditions, which have been remarkably benign for a protracted period, are shifting to a new and more unpredictable dynamic – one with far-reaching repercussions.
Our president's economic advisers lowered their forecast for economic growth in 2007 to 2.3% from 2.9%, which they forecast six months ago. Now all the "experts" are projecting an average growth rate of 2.8%. We see 1.8% to 2%, but we'll never really know because our government lies about everything.
The increasing disappearance of the honeybees had that feel of an urban legend, a phenomenon so esoteric and strange that it sounded like something out of science fiction. Except it's not: It's a frightening trend that, according to those hard at work at solving the problem at universities and organizations worldwide, could lead to everything from a radically transformed diet to an overall wipeout of the world's food supply.
Warrior worries...
Only 55% of men are satisfied with the penis nature gave them. Now British scientists are trying to persuade men suffering from penis anxiety not to worry, saying most men afflicted by "small penis syndrome" actually have average-sized members.
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