A papal document calling for broader use of the Tridentine liturgy has been completed and signed, and is now being translated and prepared for publication, according to 2 different Roman news agencies.
Russia's leading Catholic prelate has confirmed that relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox have improved markedly, and a "summit meeting" between Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Alexei II could soon be arranged.
Members of a newly-formed German political party resulting from the merger of 2 left-wing groupings called for reviving the social state on Saturday, during their first conference. "We are the only party which challenges the (capitalist) system. We want to reintroduce the social state."
When Angela Merkel won her G8 breakthrough by knocking male heads together, the fawning Bild Zeitung dubbed her "Miss World". With record 70 per cent approval ratings it seemed as if the German Chancellor could do no wrong. Now she faces an even tougher challenge to earn her tabloid laurels: in the next few days she has to come up with the outlines of a deal on the European constitution. If she fails, the continent could be heading for a 2 or multiple-speed Europe, an end of the old idea of political integration. The Miss World title would be forfeit.
Are the neighbors exuding a glow of economic vitality at the same time? Merkel's popularity gain and Sarkozy's strong start signal reforms.
It's not just the Poles who are unhappy with Chancellor Merkel's draft EU treaty. Britain, too, is wary of handing over too much power to Brussels. And the Axis of the Disgruntled may be growing.
(Economist: A constitutional conundrum)
(LT op/ed: Our will be done)
(LT op/ed: A con for Europe)
The mood in the Poniatowski Palace in Warsaw is as tense as a war room. Diplomats and advisers come and go and the phone is running hot between President Lech Kaczynski's Chancellery and that of his brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the Prime Minister. The twins like a scrap and, as they head to Germany for talks with Chancellor Merkel all their combative instincts have been aroused. Their credo is straightforward: Polish national sovereignty has to be defended against an EU dominated by Germany and against expanding Russian influence in the politically wobbly borderlands of the East.
(Economist: The square root or death)
Chancellor Merkel failed on Saturday to persuade Poland to drop its threat to veto talks on a new EU treaty.
Tony Blair could end up swapping Downing Street for a job as the first full-time EU president, under a plan being actively touted by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president. Sarkozy is understood to have discussed the idea with other EU leaders ahead of next week's European summit, Blair's last major international event as prime minister. His support for Mr Blair taking on a big European job is a remarkable sign of Anglo-French rapprochement since Sarkozy became president last month.
(Reuters: Blair would shun EU job)
Putin's offer ignored...
The move comes despite an unexpected proposal by President Putin to use a radar base in Azerbaijan instead.
Russia said Friday that it would not rule out a moratorium on participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty after an emergency meeting called by Moscow to change the accord, a cornerstone of European security in the post-Cold War era, ended in failure.
Former FMs...
Eight years ago, many of us - then foreign ministers - put in place an international process to decide who should govern Kosovo. We believe that the only viable option is for Kosovo to become independent under strict supervision.
In Turkey, the military and the government are engaged in an all-out struggle for power. The country is deeply divided, and decidedly unstable. A Turkish writer describes his country's paradoxes and warns of the potentially dire consequences.
For some time I have been warning that the next great global conflict will begin in the Middle East, just as the two world wars had their origins in eastern Europe. The lethal combination of ethnic disintegration, economic volatility and an empire in decline (in this case, the US) makes an upward spiral of violence hard to avoid. Add to that the demographic pressures due to high Muslim birth-rates, the money generated by vast deposits of oil and natural gas, and the risk that the most revolutionary power in the region will soon possess nuclear weapons, and you have a recipe for Armageddon.
The events in Gaza, with what passed for the authority there being overwhelmed by forces supporting an Islamic state, create a new, dangerous situation not merely in the Middle East but also for the world.
The world must come to the aid of the West Bank.
Israel's new defence minister Ehud Barak is planning an attack on Gaza within weeks to crush the Hamas militants who have seized power there. According to senior Israeli military sources, the plan calls for 20,000 troops to destroy much of Hamas's military capability in days.
Forty years after war passed control of the West Bank from Jordan to Israel, cautious talk of a return to something like the prewar borders is now rising above a whisper. Debate has begun in Palestinian and Jordanian newspapers - and in official circles on both sides of the Jordan river - over a plan to incorporate West Bank Palestinians into a confederation with Jordan, creating a kind of bi-national state with two governing assemblies.
The UN Security Council envoys are due to hold talks in Sudan with President al-Bashir on the deployment of almost 20,000 peacekeepers in Darfur.
The drumbeat for war against Iran has begun again, led by Sen. Joe Lieberman and the usual pro-Israel crowd.
(TAP: Let's get serious)
A year after President and Secretary of State Rice announced a new strategy toward Iran, a behind-the-scenes debate has broken out within the administration over whether the approach has any hope of reining in Tehran's nuclear program. The debate has pitted Rice and her deputies against the few remaining hawks inside the administration, especially those in the office of Vice President Cheney who, by some accounts, are pressing for greater consideration of military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
It should come as no surprise neocons and neolibs want to do away with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Neocons have no use for the 1st, 2nd, 4th or any other number of amendments, as they subscribe to the Führerprinzip, that is to say the leadership or Führer principle based on the Auctoritas of ancient Rome.
Michel de Rochambeau, 90, likes to think that the life span of a tree separates him from his most illustrious ancestor. The count has a role as a kind of representative of trans-Atlantic relations, which he and his wife, Madeleine, have taken particularly to heart in recent years, when ties between Washington and Paris have been strained.
The political "blue wave" that is rolling over France is wiping out the country's multiparty system, some fear. After legislative elections today, President Sarkozy's bloc is expected to have a huge majority.
The unusually low interest rates of the last three years have been an enormous boon to almost every corner of the US economy. Now that party may be coming to an end.
Central banks around the world still have some tightening to do.
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Rising bond yields could spell trouble for the economy and the markets.
New Zealand is one of many countries dealing with strong exchange rates.
What physics was to the 20th century, biology will be to the 21st—and RNA will be a vital part of it.
Our scientists readily acknowledge there are still questions to be answered, but are you aware of just how little science can currently explain about even the most common observations? Are you aware of the verified failures of even our most celebrated theories, such as the Big Bang, Special Relativity and General Relativity? And did you know that a solid new theory has arrived that resolves many of the questions that still baffle even our best scientists? Read on to see the fatal flaws in today's science for yourself, hear about the serious failings of our best theories in quotes straight from our top scientists, and learn about an important new scientific understanding.
It's time that we look at the role women play in driving men out of the home and separating them from their children. The role that women play in fathers leaving the home is never discussed on Oprah or written about in any notable publications. This is because women are viewed as innocent and harmless creatures. Most women themselves don't understand why they provoke and agitate their spouse to lash out or run away. They don't understand the subtle control they have over weak men.
Although I have written previously about the hypocrisy of both American Christian soldiers and Christian warmongers, there is another group of Christians that are hypocrites as well: Christian militarists. As I have pointed out again and again, there is an unholy alliance between conservative, evangelical, and fundamentalist Christians and the military. Although some of these Christian militarists may oppose the Iraq War, the stationing of US troops around the globe, and US foreign policy in general, they wholeheartedly support the US military as the defender of our freedoms. They see no problem with Christians joining the military and then going off to fight some foreign war that has nothing to do with defending the US because soldiers should "obey the powers that be" and submit to their commander in chief. In this respect they are hypocrites.
For many Americans, Sunday is unlike any other day of the week. But Sunday is also, for many, the Sabbath - a special day for religious reasons. Not that you would notice. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," we are told in Exodus. Of all the gifts Jews gave the world, that of a weekly day of rest is certainly one to be cherished. And yet the Sabbath is now marked more by its neglect than its keeping. Or so says Christopher Ringwald in his new book "A Day Apart."
[WAR: To hell with both of these "sabbaths"! The "Christian Sabbath" is an obvious hoax, but the "Jewish Sabbath" is the more deceiving - and it's not a gift to be cherished, but a curse to avoid!! Rather, we should enjoy the blessing of remembering/observing "YAHWEH/YAHSHUA's Sabbath" - which is the real sign of Elohim's people, and the test of obedience.]
Today in Scripture
"In the 11th year, in the 3rd month on the 1st day, the word of YAHWEH came to me..." (Eze 31:1-18)
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