London's Times Online recently reported that, according to Vatican sources, Pope Benedict XVI is working on his second encyclical, a doctrinal pronouncement that will condemn tax evasion as "socially unjust." The pontiff will denounce the use of tax havens and offshore banking by wealthy individuals because it reduces tax revenues for the benefit of society as a whole.
In his new book, Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church, Pope Benedict XVI shows clearly the real relationship between Christ and His Church by way of His earliest followers. In just 163 pages, Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church presents a clear, undistorted picture of Christ and His early Church – through which the faithful today can still know the real Jesus. The book is intended to have wide appeal to all Christians, with its focus on the authentic, historical Jesus and the genuine story of His first disciples.
Benedict XVI's visit to Austria can be traced back to a promise made in 2004, before he ascended to the papacy. After a visit to the pilgrimage site Mariazell, home of the "Magna Mater Austriae", then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger promised to return for the 850th anniversary of site dedicated to the veneration of the Virgin Mary. Mariazell is Austria's main pilgrimage site, attracting around 1 million visitors annually. In Vienna, Benedict's first stop is "Am Hof". The square's church, an eclectic mix of gothic and baroque architecture, served in 1806 to announce the end of the Holy Roman Empire.
An attack on 8 Indians in the eastern town of Mügeln has triggered renewed calls for a ban on the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany. But the NPD, which received €1.4 million in public funds last year, is protected by legal obstacles to outlawing political parties.
Food is getting a lot more expensive in Germany. First it was bread, then milk and butter, now cheese prices are set to soar. The retailers insist they have no choice - the dairy industry is hiking its prices by up to 53% and it is the consumers who will end up paying through the nose.
The European Commission has asked the Italian government to explain a tax break for Catholic Church clinics or hostels that may break EU rules on state subsidies by giving an unfair advantage over rivals. "Once a body has economic activities attached to it, then there can be a distortion of competition and it wouldn't be the first time we look at advantages given to the Church in various member states."
German press on...
President Sarkozy made his first major foreign policy speech Monday, in which he set forth his thoughts on the EU's growing membership and its changing role in world affairs. German commentators take a look.
Poland's nationalist-conservative government could claim as much as $20 billion in compensation from Germany for the destruction of its art treasures during the Nazi occupation, in what is becoming a growing dispute between the countries as Polish parliamentary elections approach, officials in Warsaw said Tuesday.
Germany's Defense Minister leaves later today for a 3-day visit to the Balkans, where the status of Kosovo is to be the focus of talks.
An observant Muslim with a background in Islamic politics was voted in on Tuesday as president, breaking an 84-year grip on power by the secular establishment and ushering a new religious middle class from Turkey's heartland into the center of the staunchly secular state.
Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov of the Academy of Geopolitical Sciences, one of Russia's most prestigious think tanks, has filed a report with the Kremlin today warning that Israel's Mossad is preparing to launch a coup against the present Israeli Government. According to this report, the current Director of Mossad is locked in a bitter struggle with Prime Minister Olmert over Olmert's backing of the US planned escalation to Total War by attacking Iran and Syria , and which Director Dagan believes could lead to the destruction of Israel
So where does the daily talk about war come from? If nobody wants it, why is there so much talk about it? Why do the media, in Israel and throughout the world, report "tension on the Northern border of Israel"? Why is the Israeli army frantically conducting maneuvers on the Golan? Why are there reports about a rapid upgrading of Syrian weaponry and the hectic building of fortifications against Israel? Why is the Turkish government offering urgent mediation between Israel and Syria? All very mysterious. It seems that the key to this mystery is not to be found in Jerusalem or Damascus, but in Washington.
A controversial new history of the Indian Mutiny, which broke out 150 years ago and is acknowledged to have been the greatest challenge to any European power in the 19th century, claims that the British pursued a murderous decade-long campaign to wipe out millions of people who dared rise up against them. In War of Civilisations: India AD 1857, Amaresh Misra, a writer and historian based in Mumbai, argues that there was an "untold holocaust" which caused the deaths of almost 10 million people over 10 years beginning in 1857.
Iran celebrates the middle of Sha'ban with special ceremonies commemorating the auspicious birth anniversary of the last Shia Imam Mahdi. He was born in the year 255 After Hijra, about 1490 of the Common Era. For reasons yet not fully disclosed to mankind, he went into occultation. Shia all around the world pray for his reappearance, a day that will see justice in the world and all humanity freed from tyranny.
Iran's deal with United Nations inspectors to resolve questions about its nuclear program will fall short of dispelling suspicions about clandestine efforts to build nuclear weapons, according to diplomats.
President Ahmadinejad warned that a power vacuum is imminent in Iraq and said that Iran was ready to help fill the gap. "The political power of the occupiers is collapsing rapidly. Soon, we will see a huge power vacuum in the region. Of course, we are prepared to fill the gap, with the help of neighbors and regional friends like Saudi Arabia, and with the help of the Iraqi nation."
President Ahmadinejad dismissed the chance of any US attack on Iran over its nuclear drive, saying a warning by his new French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy only showed his inexperience. Ahmadinejad said Iran was now cooperating so well with the UN atomic agency that the long-running investigation into its nuclear programme was now "closed" and further UN sanctions action against Tehran were improbable. "There is no way a possibility of such an attack by the United States. Even if they take such a decision, they cannot implement it."
Israeli officials warned the Bush administration that an invasion of Iraq would be destabilizing to the region and urged the US to instead target Iran as the primary enemy, according to a former administration official.
Just 4 days after the American Enterprise Institute will launch its September 6 "All or Nothing" campaign to save the Surge, it will debut "Freedom Scholar" Michael Ledeen's forthcoming book, "The Iranian Time Bomb: The Mullah Zealots' Quest for Destruction", a rehash of neo-con arguments for "regime change" – by military force, if necessary – in Tehran.
For months we at Antiwar.com have been monitoring the situation between Iran and the US, parsing the words of administrations pokesmen for any hints of when and how hostilities might begin. We've been running reports from insiders saying that the Cheney faction is pushing for an attack, that Bush is quite amenable but is biding his time, and that an assault on Tehran is imminent. Now the president has come out openly with his warlike intentions. In a speech delivered Tuesday, he reiterated recent charges by Washington that Iran is arming and training Iraqi Shi'ite groups who are launching attacks on American forces in Iraq, and he announced: "I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran's murderous activities." Translation: The bombing begins shortly.
The US has the capacity for and may be prepared to launch without warning a massive assault on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities, as well as government buildings and infrastructure, using long-range bombers and missiles, according to a new analysis. Plesch and Butcher examine "what the military option might involve if it were picked up off the table and put into action" and conclude that based on open source analysis and their own assessments, the US has prepared its military for a "massive" attack against Iran. And they conclude that even "if the attack is 'successful' and the US reasserts its global military dominance and reduces Iran to the status of an oil-rich failed state, then the risks to humanity in general and to the states of the Middle East are grave indeed."
Presidential candidate Ron Paul believes that an attack on Iran is highly likely within a year and that the Bush administration is simply waiting for the right opportunity, or event on which to blame Iran, before launching the assault. "The radical Neo-Cons are still there - they may have been diminished a little bit but they're still very very influential and very very powerful and they have the President's ear so I think they're just laying the plans, waiting for the opportunity."
Leading circles in Washington are expressing fears that the escalating press drumbeat around former Iraq Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's campaign against current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a very strong signal of possible war-fighting with Iran within as soon as days. The evidence available, is that strikes against Iran targets could come within days, but there is no proof yet that an actual commitment to launch such attacks has been issued. Nevertheless, the drumbeats are cause for alarm.
The image of thousands of conservative Christians from the heartland waving the flags of a foreign nation would have astounded anyone 50 years ago—except maybe George Orwell. CUFI knits theology and politics to powerful effect: Christian Zionists support Israel because God commands them to do so.
There is one overriding issue that opinion polls show is increasingly bringing together many evangelical Christians and Jews in an uneasy alliance: The state of Israel. Many evangelicals now call themselves "Christian Zionists." They're supporting Israel against its Middle Eastern foes mainly because of the way they interpret biblical prophecy about the Apocalypse.
Ford and General Motors have threatened to leave Detroit and take their car manufacturing operations overseas if unions do not agree to a massive pay cut for hourly paid workers. Their biggest burden is the current labour cost per vehicle - an estimated $71 per man hour. Workers earn about $27 an hour with the remainder made up of overheads such as pensions and healthcare costs for the thousands of retirees on their books.
European shares have seen mixed trading today as US housing and credit woes continue to cast a shadow over global stock markets.
(IHT: Asia markets fall sharply)
To have a house of your own is the essence of the American Dream. The problem is that that dream shows signs of turning into a nightmare. And all of the world now shares it. Risk aversion returned on Tuesday, with stocks in the US and Europe falling more than 2%, volatility spiking, a flight to Treasuries, and a fall in the dollar against the yen.
Ron Paul says that attempts to rescue an ailing stock market last week, during which the Fed pumped in billions in liquidity, were merely a stop gap measure - and that an economic collapse is all but inevitable.
No one can predict how deep the decline in Western economies that is underway will go, because there is so little transparent information. Within the US, the government is hiding the severity of the crisis in order to prevent a collapse of consumer confidence. In the absence of purchasing power, the Federal Reserve has chosen the strategy of trying to outrun collapse by creating inflation. This is the meaning of the bail-outs that are going on. There are major players in the markets who see an even steeper decline coming even sooner. Some say as soon as a month.
Around the world, governments are forcibly injecting trillions of dollars into stock markets. What are the effects of this "supercharging"?
Politicians, regulators and financial specialists outside the US are seeking a role in oversight of American markets, banks and rating agencies in the wake of recent problems related to subprime mortgages. Their argument is simple: The US is exporting financial products, but losses to investors in other countries suggest that American regulators are not properly monitoring the products or alerting investors to the risks.
Francisco's plight is the latest episode in a growing number of "gunpoint medicine" episodes where individuals are being arrested at gunpoint and thrown into jails or detainment centers until they submit to treatment with pharmaceuticals, chemotherapy, radiation or surgery. You now surrender your rights when you walk into a hospital. You are not a patient; you are a prisoner. And if the medical authorities, in their own opinion, perceive you as resisting their authority, they can have you arrested on the spot, without a court order, without a trial, and even when you pose no threat to others (such as having cancer). Remember this the next time you enter a hospital or clinic: By subjecting yourself to the false authority of a doctor, you are in effect surrendering your freedoms and shall only be allowed to leave the hospital or clinic by the grace of the physician!
First off, the above statement used for identifying the nature of a problem is more complex than it seems. It requires a detailed analysis on the part of a full-fledged intellect, which simply cannot exist without examining something carefully and in detail so as to identify its causes, key factors etc.
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