Here is the first part of a Vatican translation of Benedict XVI's July 24 Q&A session with priests from the dioceses of Belluno-Feltre and Treviso, Italy, during the Pope's vacation.
Bavaria's Christian Social Union prepares for a post-Stoiber future. The roots of Edmund Stoiber's demise lie in his greatest triumph. In 2003, a year after he narrowly lost the federal chancellorship to Gerhard Schröder, the CSU won an unprecedented two-thirds majority in Bavaria's parliament. Founded in 1946 as a more inclusive heir to the Bavarian People's Party, the CSU operates only in that state. The party is also seeing its influence in Berlin wane. German unification reduced Bavaria's share of Bundestag seats from 18% to 13%.
Neo-Nazis on Thursday were still fighting in courts for permission to stage marches in memory of Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess, who died 20 years ago on Aug. 17.
(IHR: The legacy of Rudolf Hess)
(IHR: The murder of Rudolf Hess)
German press...
Wednesday's deaths of 3 German security officers in Afghanistan have again sparked a debate in Germany about whether it should continue its military deployment in the country. Newspaper commentators warn that Germany must keep the commitment it has made to the Afghan people.
Turkey is once again undergoing preparations for a possible invasion of northern Iraq to disrupt the activities of the Workers' Party of Kurdistan.
After 7 years of violence and terrorism, stagnation and unilateralism, the US has finally decided to re-engage, pushing Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas to talk about peace.
Palestinian negotiators drafting an agreement behind the scenes with Prime Minister Olmert's office have made clear they will not accept any final peace deal with Israel unless the Jewish state forfeits the Temple Mount. A chief Palestinian negotiator said yesterday, "there can be no agreement with Israel unless we get complete sovereignty of the Mount. Once Palestinian control over the [Temple Mount] is fixed, then we will make assurances for Jewish visits to the site."
A verbal war has broken out between the Saudi Arabia's ruling family and the Syrian government over dominance in the Arab world.
The Mahdi was a man called Mohammed Ahmed, who, after immersion in the teachings of the Prophet, declared himself in 1881 to be Allah's messenger, come to redeem Sudan and the world for Islam.
The leaders of Russia, China and Iran said Thursday that Central Asia should be left alone to manage its stability and security - an apparent warning to the US to avoid interfering in the strategic, resource-rich region. The veiled warning came at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and on the eve of major war games between Russia and China.
President Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, will attend an unprecedented show of joint military force today amid fears that the Russian leader is trying to turn an increasingly powerful central Asian alliance into a 2nd Warsaw Pact. The US will be anxiously watching the military manoeuvres - held under the auspices of the 6-member Shanghai Co-operation Organisation - from afar after its request to send observers was rejected.
Iran's presidential advisor has said making massacre weapons does not conform to the Iranian morality. He said Iran is not after massacre weapons especially the atomic ones.
President Ahmadinejad urged the international community to adopt a respectful and fair view to rights of nations. "We are regretful certain government in the world still speak with language of bullying and threat while the world needs peace and security more than everything else. Peace and security will be established in light of spiritual and humanitarian values. Unfortunately, nations see the continued occupation in certain parts of the world during the past several year. New attacks on countries and their interests took place which were aimed at occupying and imposing a new political plan in the Middle East."
Washington's envoy to Iraq warned Americans on Thursday that pulling US troops out of the country could open the door to a "major Iranian advance" that would threaten US interests in the region.
It is now clear that Dick Cheney is conspiring to push through a specific plan for war with Iran. And Senator Joe Lieberman is an active part of that conspiracy. The Cheney proposal for an airstrike against 3 bases in Iran can have only one purpose - to provoke an Iranian retaliation that would then make it possible to unleash a full-fledged strategic air attack against Iran. Whether the Cheney's conspiring with Lieberman and the US command is part of an "end-run strategy" or are sanctioned by Bush, Cheney's ability to manipulate Bush poses the chilling possibility that a hapless president will commit the ultimate blunder of war with Iran.
The power of the Israel lobby over American foreign policy is considerable. Jimmy Carter was the last American president who stood up to Israel and demanded that US diplomacy be, at least officially if not in practice, even-handed in its approach to Israel and Palestine. Since Carter's presidency, even-handedness has slowly drained from US policy in the Middle East. The neoconservative Bush/Cheney regime has abandoned even the pretense of even-handedness.
Every time the US threatens a potential adversary with nuclear weapons it tells the world that these weapons are acceptable instruments of modern warfare and that there are no political or moral constraints on US behavior.
World stocks took another dive today despite early attempts at a rebound in Europe while currency dealers drove the Japanese yen to a 14-month high against the dollar, throwing out risky leverage. "Everyone's still scared and many people want to cash out in the short term."
Financial market turmoil spread around the world on Thursday as investors fled Asian and European stocks and risky currency trades and sought the safety of short-term US government debt.
Shares on the London stock market plunged yesterday in their biggest 1-day fall for more than 4 years amid fears that the British economy could be badly damaged. The dramatic falls are hitting not only private investors but also the millions of people who have pension funds, individual retirement accounts and insurance policies that are tied up in shares.
Audio report...
As stock markets continue to fear further fall-out from the global credit crunch Ambrose Evans-Pritchard tells Robert Miller that some traders are braced for an asset sell-off at any price.
The Economist...
In a special section, we look at how trouble in the credit markets has led to a crisis of confidence in global finance.
(Op-ed: Surviving the markets)
The collapse of the subprime market, and the increasing problems in the mortgage market as a whole, have now led to the eruption of a global financial storm. It is surely a measure of the historic crisis of the world capitalist economy that a global economic disaster could now occur because of the dependence of major financial institutions on dubious financial schemes aimed at taking advantage of the daily struggle of millions of working people to secure a family home.
What last week's turmoil reminds us is that the world of finance is, by its nature, something of a Ponzi scheme. That's not to say that it's fraudulent or abusive, though the behavior of some subprime mortgage brokers and their Wall Street enablers could certainly be characterized as such. But what it does mean is that the business of extending credit is fundamentally a confidence game that quickly degenerates when people start to become nervous about getting repaid.
The financial health of the largest US mortgage lender was called into question yesterday as Countrywide Financial was forced to draw on its entire $11.5bn credit line and its debt was downgraded to just one notch above junk.
President Sarkozy has called on G7 governments to work with the IMF and central banks on financial transparency following a week of turbulence on world markets over US mortgage sector problems. "It seems essential to me that we monitor the transparency of the markets' operations and their ability to finance the world economy in a stable and effective way."
A balloon of no-money-down home loans and easy credit for corporate buyouts, followed by the perfect storm of inflation and declining home values, has set the stage for what economic experts believe could end up a literal "meltdown" in the global economy. It's the result of a combination of factors, but some warn that as bad as it is, it would undoubtedly be aggravated by a major terrorist attack, which would create tremors felt by millions. "Homeland Security is warning [about the potential] over the next 2 to 3 weeks of another terrorist attack. If we are hit with terrorism, it would send these markets into a tailspin."
Ever wonder what doctors have nightmares about? Perhaps it's about giant bottles of vitamins stealing their patients! Vitamins, you see, help keep people healthy and prevent disease, and that reduces the repeat business for doctors. And I'm not talking about those cheap, chemical-based store-bought multivitamins you got on sale at the local Wal-Mart; I'm talking about quality vitamins.
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