Benedict XVI says youth will find meaning in their lives if they acknowledge the existence of their Creator. And, he affirms, the theory of evolution does not require denying God. He said that today in Germany, and also in the US, there is a "fervent debate between so-called creationism and evolutionism, presented as if one of these alternatives excluded the other: Whoever believes in the Creator cannot think about evolution and whoever affirms evolution must exclude God."
Interreligious and intercultural dialogue are linked, and Benedict XVI has been a key figure in both, says Cardinal Poupard. "There cannot be authentic interreligious dialogue if it is not founded on culture, and vice versa, every instance of intercultural dialogue is, in the end, dialogue about the great religious questions."
When age-old religious issues were making headlines with the Benedict XVI's election, many were confronted with something new, especially in eastern Germany, said an adviser to Chancellor Merkel. In this interview, Andrea Schneider discusses what Benedict XVI's election to the pontificate has meant for Germany, Catholic social teaching and the role it plays in her life.
A new Jewish community center to open in Berlin next month includes an accurate replica of Jerusalem's holy Western Wall or Wailing Wall. The community center shows the increasing vitality of Berlin's Jewish community.
Even if the EU manages to avoid referendums on its new Reform Treaty, ratification of the text may prove less easy than has been assumed so far, a Brussels think tank has warned. A paper by the European Policy Centre highlights "hurdles and traps" in member states' ratification of the reform treaty.
(LT op-ed: EU treaty: Apathy is not the answer)
Why the EU is spending billions in rich countries. The scandal is not that the EU shifts money from rich countries to poorer newcomers, but that it recycles large sums straight back to wealthy countries. Some of the least needy countries in the EU recoup tens of billions of euros.
Turkey's newly elected government is prepared to turn its back on its long-standing alliance with the US to counter the threat of Kurdish terrorism, one of the closest allies of the prime minister has warned. Turkey's generals want to go after the Kurdish terrorist group because of a sudden upsurge in attacks, many from across the Iraqi border, and there has been a steady Turkish military build-up on the frontier between the two countries. "We would not hesitate for a second and we would not ask anyone's permission."
In A.D. 551, a massive earthquake spawned huge tsunamis that devastated the coast of Phoenicia, now Lebanon. Now a new underwater survey has finally uncovered the fault likely responsible for the catastrophe and shown that it rumbles approximately every 1,500 years—which means a disaster is due any day now.
France's Foreign Minister has warned that Lebanon faces the danger of renewed war if there is not a resumption of political dialogue.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has said last summer's war with Israel had foiled US plans for a new Middle East. "This war aimed to impose a new Middle East, broken up into confessional and ethnic mini-states, serving the interests of the United States and Israel."
The US is reported to be preparing a major arms deal with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states worth $20bn over the next decade. It is said to be an attempt to counter the regional threat posed by Iran.
Taking strong note of US warnings to strike inside Pakistan, the [Pakistan] Senate Foreign Relation Committee on Saturday adopted a resolution warning that in case of any unilateral, unprovoked US/NATO military action across the border inside Pakistan, Islamabad should withdraw its cooperation in the war against terrorism.
President Musharraf of Pakistan was yesterday manoeuvring for survival after finding himself entrapped in a bloody chain of events that threatens his country with civil conflict. Having launched a confrontation with Al-Qaeda that many Pakistanis believe he cannot win, he visited Saudi Arabia - spiritual home of the terrorist movement. Earlier, he had what the Pakistani media described as a secret summit in Abu Dhabi with Bena-zir Bhutto. The exiled former prime minister is said to be central to American plans, supported by Britain, for shoring up Musharraf as a bulwark in the war on terror.
German press...
President Sarkozy went to Tripoli on Wednesday and struck a number of deals with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, including promises to build a nuclear reactor. Now critics in Germany and France are crying foul, accusing him of going it alone and potentially endangering Europe.
It's always about the oil...
The release of 6 foreign medical staff sparks a renewed rush for Libyan energy contracts, with profound implications for domestic social cohesion and the regional power balance.
The German daily Der Spiegel has unveiled that the US is increasing its pressure on German banks to cease cooperation with Iranian banks. The newspaper noted that the US opposes cooperation between Iran and Germany in all areas. It quoted a German bank official as saying that German banks are banned from offering services to their Iranian clients residing in Iran.
Western media relaying on their expertise and professional abilities are imposing biased analysis on other nations under the name of news dissemination, Iran's culture minister said. He said working as a journalist is a hard and "sensitive task as an imperfect and false flow of information may change a nation's destiny." "All those involved in media should be trained so that they can realize the truth among heavy waves of false reporting."
In an alarming exposure of the acceleration and urgency of the American war party's push towards catastrophic war with Iran, a former CIA counter terrorism officer has debunked the NeoCons' repeated myth of Iran's support for Al-Qaeda as a pretext for war. Whilst acknowledging Iran's helpfulness in trying to establish security in both Afghanistan and Iraq, he spoke of the US's hypocritical and illegal support for terrorist separatists groups inside Iran, and various plans and scenarios which have been drawn up to destroy Iran's military and economic infrastructure by massive bombardment, with the use of nuclear bombs a real and stated possibility.
Last week the Christians United For Israel organization held its annual show-of-force in our Nation's Capital and Max Blumenthal recorded for posterity – if, God Willing, there is to be one – this most "politically extreme, outrageous" spectacle. According to the Jewish Blumenthal, the typical CUFI member apparently believes "God" wants Bush to do what Lieberman and the Likudniks are urging him to do – nuke Tehran – to trigger an all-out nuke war to bring on Armageddon. Surely neither President Bush or any of his close associates hold such naïve and foolish religious beliefs. Right?
Former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev has said that the complicated situation in the world is largely due to the position of the US. "The US is always anxious to win. The fact that they suffer from this disorder, the winner complex, is the main reason why things are so complicated in the world."
Gordon Brown has reaffirmed the UK's close relationship with the US ahead of talks with President Bush. "It is a relationship that is founded on our common values of liberty, opportunity and the dignity of the individual. And because of the values we share, the relationship with the United States is not only strong but can become stronger in the years ahead."
(LT op-ed: G&G will get along just fine)
(LX op-ed: Joined at the hip)
Didn't see that coming...
The mistake is just one example of bungling by the CIA chronicled in a new history of the agency by the Pulitzer prize-winning author, Tim Weiner, who has covered intelligence matters for The New York Times for 2 decades. He paints a portrait of a rogue agency which devoted more time to covert action to oust governments than to gathering information about America's enemies, and which failed to predict every big international event from the outbreak of the Korean War to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 9/11 attacks.
Oil prices closed over $77 a barrel, near an all-time high on Friday on technical buying and news of faster-than-expected economic growth. At the pump, meanwhile, gas prices fell to their lowest level since late May.
Stocks fell sharply on Wall Street on Friday, a day after the market tumbled because of worries about slowing domestic growth and tighter borrowing conditions. It was the worst week for the US stock market in nearly 5 years.
Jittery stock markets, an economy drunk on credit, and politicians calling for varieties of dictatorship: what a sense of déjà vu! Let us recall that the world went bonkers for about 10 years way back when. You see, the American economy may look good on the surface but underneath, the foundation is cracking. The debt is unsustainable. Savings are nearly nonexistent. Money supply creation is getting scary. The paper-money economy can't last and won't last. One senses that the slightest change could cause unforeseen wreckage. What would happen should the bottom fall out? Scary thought.
As America's subprime-mortgage tempest spreads, Wall Street's latest parlour game is to bet on who will be next to get caught in the storm. A fair few have placed their chips on the so-called monoline insurers, an obscure but important bunch who guarantee the timely repayment of bond principal and interest when the issuer defaults.
The governments of China and Singapore take stakes in Barclays, giving some clues about how sovereign investors plan to operate.
(Economist op-ed: Government's go shopping)
"Without [the health sector], the nation's labor market would be in a deep coma." Between 2001 and 2006, 1.7 million new jobs were added in the healthcare sector. Meanwhile, the rest of the private sector added exactly 0 new jobs (net) during that period.
The relationship between the press and government in the US during times of war is changing. War Made Easy offers a timely criticism of the media, and portends an ominous future for the US news viewing public should they sit back and accept without question the pronouncements of political leaders and evening news anchors.
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