Here is a Vatican translation of Benedict XVI's statement to Kahjun Handa on the 20th anniversary of the religious summit meeting on Mount Hiei - home to the headquarters of the Tendai sect of Buddhism.
The ruling coalition met this week to map out its strategy for the next 2 years. Afghanistan, a minimum wage for postal workers and a controversial high-speed train project in Munich topped the agenda.
The uncertainty gripping Germany's banks intensified Tuesday after the chief executive of one of its leading lenders issued an unusually frank warning about the troubled state of the country's banking industry. "We sense in the markets that the readiness of foreign banks to extend credit lines to German banks has become difficult."
(FT: German banks)
Tabloid newspapers play a central role in creating artificial tensions between Britain and Germany, an academic claimed. "The obsessive anti-European sentiment expressed by the Conservative Government under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s allowed the British tabloids to use increasingly hostile and often xenophobic language against the UK's continental European partners, particularly France and Germany. This legacy has lingered on and becomes particularly bad during football competitions."
Hans-Gert Pöttering addressed participants at a Communion and Liberation conference, telling them that Europe should be characterized by values. The president of the European Parliament joined with a columnist for the Irish Times to discuss "What Identity for Europe?" on Sunday at the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples, hosted by the Communion and Liberation Movement in Rimini, Italy. Pöttering said he wished that a mention of Christianity would have been included in the European constitution.
Chancellor Merkel will meet her UK counterpart Gordon Brown in London today amid speculation about whether the EU treaty will be on the agenda. A Downing Street spokeswoman told the BBC that the talks would probably focus on "international issues" and refused to say whether Europe would be discussed. But she said "they will discuss the key issues facing them both."
Thanks, but no thanks...
The EU has strongly criticised death penalties carried out in Texas, calling on its authorities to halt the 400th execution in the US state. "230 years ago, our forefathers fought a war to throw off the yoke of a European monarch and gain the freedom of self-determination," Governor Perry pointed out, adding "While we respect our friends in Europe, Texans are doing just fine governing Texas."
After years of shunning involvement in a war it said was wrong, France now believes it may hold the key to peace in Iraq, proposing itself as an "honest broker" between the Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions. During a 3-day visit to Baghdad, the French foreign minister said that the time had come for France, and Europe, to play a greater role in Iraq.
Baghdad's new Kurdish-Shiite coalition may end efforts at national reconciliation with the Sunnis. But a government pursuing common interests is Iraq's only hope. Even stability brought about by a Shiite-dominated regime would be better than the chaos that currently reigns.
President Ahmadinejad has said big powers face no option but to cooperate with Iran over its peaceful nuclear technology program. "Big powers are well aware that their stance vis-à-vis Iran will have no influence on the nation's will and that they will be obliged to openly acknowledge Iran's nuclear rights." And he reiterated Iran's intentions to use nuclear technology for the advancement and welfare of people. "We are principally against proliferation of chemical and biological weapons as well as weapons of mass destruction."
Of course!...
The White House judged "encouraging" but "not sufficient" an agreement Tuesday by Iran and the UN atomic authority on a timetable for Tehran to answer concerns about its nuclear program. "Therefore, we will continue to pursue a 3rd resolution."
Fox News asked former CIA field officer Bob Baer on Tuesday whether the US is "gearing up for a military strike on Iran." Baer has written a column for Time indicating that Washington officials expect an attack within the next 6 months. "We won't see American troops cross the border. ... If this is going to happen, it's going to happen very quickly and it's going to surprise a lot of people."
(AW: A CIA analysis of Bush)
President Bush used the occasion of the first Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America summit in Waco, Texas, in 2005 to call The Minuteman Project "vigilantes." Yesterday, at the 3rd SPP summit in Montebello, Quebec, he charged that anyone who was concerned the SPP was advancing a North American Union agenda or supporting NAFTA Superhighways was a "conspiracy theorist."
[WAR: This is kind of like the debates over the EU: Yes, the EU is a "union" - but no, it's not (and never will be) a "superstate".]
Dick Cheney has left little doubt about the branch of government he would prefer to serve in: the monarchy. Unfortunately, as a citizen of a republic that rejected the divine right of kings 231 years ago this summer, Cheney finds himself in the unfortunate circumstance of having to select from 1 of the 3 branches of government established by the American Constitution.
The vice president is the single greatest threat to American and international security in the world today. Granted unprecedented oversight over national security and foreign policy by executive order in early 2001, Cheney has single-handedly steered America away from being a nation among nations (albeit superior), operating (roughly) in accordance with the rule of law, and toward its present manifestation as the new Rome, a decadent imperial power bent on global domination whatever the cost.
But not the Daily WARriors!...
Poll results show two-thirds of US adults know nothing about world politics and only a third are aware of US politics. Global political knowledge was miniscule, with just 3% of women and 14% of men saying they are extremely knowledgeable on world politics. One reason for the knowledge gap is lack of interest.
European stocks were ahead in early trade, spurred by hopes of an interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve to help calm recent market volatility.
(IHT: Fed must do more for markets)
Central bankers everywhere, finally given their "independence," were raising and lowering their official short-term interest rates to stabilize capitalism's old-time business cycles. "Inflation targeting" was their mantra.
(LX op-ed: Now it's time to name the guilty parties)
Our monetary addiction is a progressive disease now in an advanced state. Cheap and plentiful credit is what caused the current mess. More of the same can only make it worse. It is only a matter of time before this shot of credit heroin wears off.
Don't be deterred by the finance industry's jargon (which is intended to numb your brain and keep regular folks from even trying to figure out what's going on). At its core, this is a classically simple story of banker greed and outright sleaze. And the astonishing part is that nearly all of the rank injustice perpetrated by today's money changers is considered legal and is practiced by supposedly reputable financial firms.
The American poor, who are usually tactful enough to remain invisible to the multi-millionaire class, suddenly leaped onto the scene and started smashing the global financial system. Incredibly enough, this may be the first case in history in which the downtrodden manage to bring down an unfair economic system without going to the trouble of a revolution.
For years, the Bush administration has shrugged off concerns about the trillions of dollars that the US owes to China, Japan and oil-producing countries in the Middle East, arguing that these debts give no undue leverage to foreign governments. But at a time of global financial instability, the administration has started to worry. Officially, the US welcomes all investments - except those that could compromise national security.
Turmoil in the financial markets will affect growth worldwide, John Lipsky, the #2 official at the International Monetary Fund, said on Tuesday. "It is far too optimistic to assume there will be no impact."
Russia is backing former Czech central bank head Josef Tosovsky to lead the International Monetary Fund. The move comes after former French finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn was nominated by the EU, increasing competition for the post.
By the time you finish reading this sentence, you'll be 25 miles closer to the planet Mars. Earth and Mars are converging, and right now the distance between the 2 planets is shrinking at a rate of 22,000 mph. Ultimately, this will lead to a close approach in late December 2007 when Mars will outshine every star in the night sky.
Contrary to rumor, though, Mars is never going to outshine the Moon. There is an email circulating the internet—called the "Mars Hoax" or the "Two Moons email"—claiming that Mars will soon swell as large as the full Moon, and the two will hang together side by side on the night of Aug. 27th. "Mars will be spectacular," it states. "No one alive today will ever see this again." No one will see it, because it won't happen.
The constellations of Andromeda, Hydra and Vulpecula are now just a mouse click away for amateur star-gazers, following the launch of Google Sky. Optional layers allow users to explore images from the Hubble Space Telescope as well as animations of lunar cycles.
Today in Scripture
"On the 7th day of the 5th month, in the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem." (2Kings 25:8)
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