The Holy See and Israel resumed talks in an ongoing process of negotiations just days before Israeli President Peres is set to visit the Vatican on Thursday. At the end of Monday's 4-hour meeting, the delegations released a joint communiqué, reporting that they "carried forward their work in an atmosphere of cordiality." The next set of meetings between the Holy See and Israeli delegations will take place Nov. 7.
Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II has recognized the Vatican's representative in Russia for his efforts in establishing good relations between the 2 Churches. Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia has awarded Archbishop Antonio Mennini the Order of the Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow, 3rd degree.
In its 28 years of terrorist activity, the Red Army Faction murdered 34 people.
Three men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning a "massive" terrorist attack on US facilities in the country, officials have said. Defence minister Jung said the men had posed "an imminent threat". Media reports said they were planning attacks against a US military base in Ramstein and Frankfurt airport.
Gordon Brown has issued a warning to the leaders of France and Germany that he will have to call a referendum on the new EU treaty if they force Britain to cede more powers to Brussels. The Prime Minister revealed that he had told Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy that he will use the "nuclear option" of a national vote if they try to force his arm in final negotiations next month. Mr Brown knows the warning will have carried weight because the likely result - a No vote from the British people - would throw the European project into turmoil.
The EU has finally crossed the Rubicon by over-riding the Dutch and French "No" votes. There comes a point when you have to take up political arms to defend Parliament. The mere fact of British withdrawal would change the strategic picture. Fifty years of ever-closer union would be thrown into reverse. New game entirely. On the break-up of the euro - as the Latin and Germanic blocs pull further apart - I stand by my position. The timing and severity depends on the actions of the US Federal Reserve, the ECB, and the Bank of Japan.
The Christian world and top US Christian leaders are being urged to petition the Israeli government to immediately halt a massive dig Islamic authorities are conducting on the Temple Mount that is said to be destroying antiquities and what archaeologists believe is a wall from the 2nd Jewish Temple.
They're richer than ever, and they don't need it – so why are we giving it?
Hamas has downplayed the Middle East peace mission of Tony Blair, saying it is part of a plan to wage a war in the region. A spokesman for Hamas' parliamentary bloc told reporters in Gaza: "This tour cannot score a breakthrough because there are no true intentions for peace and there is no peace process at all. (Instead), we believe a dangerous operation, like attacking Syria or Iran, is being arranged. There is a complete plan preparing for a war in the region and pushing the Arab nations for free normalization with Israel."
German press...
British troops withdrew from Basra Monday just as President Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq. German commentators are scathing of both the British and American strategy.
(LT cartoon: Tank man)
(HP: Iraq, Israel, Iran)
A Majlis deputy says the report by IAEA Chief ElBaradei signifies Iran's diplomatic success in winning over the agency on its nuclear program. He said Iran's trust-building measures and the continual inspection of Iran's nuclear facilities by the IAEA have proved the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities. "Eventually these inspections confirmed that Iran has not deviated from IAEA rules. As executive and national security officials have previously declared, Iran's nuclear issue is closed. Iran has no intention of abusing nuclear technology whatsoever."
The effort to keep Iran's doors to the West sealed tight was on display Sunday, when Ahmadinejad announced that Tehran's scientists had developed 3,000 centrifuges and then mocked the West for trying to press Iran to stop uranium enrichment and slow its nuclear program. On Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei tried to use such Western tactics to rally public sentiment behind the government. "Iran will defeat these drunken and arrogant powers using its artful and wise ways."
German technology has made it into an Iranian nuclear power plant despite an export ban. Prosecutors are investigating the case and the German Foreign Ministry is concerned about the damage to Germany's credibility.
UN chief weapons inspector Mohamed ElBaradei spoke to Spiegel about Iran's last chance to convince the world of the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, his problems with the US government and his fear of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists.
Buried in the New Yorker and yet uncovered by Paul Joseph Watson is an item by George Packer about "instructions" handed-down from on-high by Cheney's office—call it Neocon Central—to sell the attack of Iran to the American people. Packer quotes Barnett Rubin, described as having "connections to someone at a neoconservative institution in Washington," and this institution, likely the American Enterprise Institute, where Bush gets his criminal "minds," has instructed the complaisant corporate media to sell the attack."They [the source's institution] have 'instructions' (yes, that was the word used) from the Office of the Vice-President to roll out a campaign for war with Iran in the week after Labor Day."
Sources familiar with the present state of chaos at the Bush-Cheney White House say that the Gonzales departure creates a vacuum at the top of the Justice Department, where more than a dozen investigations into impeachable crimes by the President and Vice President are now ongoing. Any talk of a double impeachment of Bush and Cheney would be worse than folly. Bush without Cheney could be managed, with proper advisors and a Vice President who is not a British war party stooge. To bring down both the President and Vice President at a moment of global financial crisis, when American leadership is key to any viable solution, would be a disastrous, irreparable blunder.
Revelations by Jack Goldsmith - a right-wing, former high-level Bush DOJ lawyer - demonstrate the true extent of the administration's lawlessness. ... But with little meaningful opposition to any of this - either in the media or in the Congress - little attention will be paid to these extraordinary revelations, and our government will continue to be shaped in the image of Dick Cheney and David Addington. Now that they have obtained most of their original wish list from a compliant Congress, just imagine what they are dreaming of, the still new unchecked powers which they believe are only "one bomb away."
The latest book published about George W Bush reveals that the US president was not fully engaged in key policy areas, including the disbandment of the Iraqi army and the build-up to Hurricane Katrina. Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W Bush, highlights both its subject's strong convictions and the poor communication and weak leadership within the administration.
Scientists are secretly working on the design of a revamped British nuclear warhead. The new device, designated the High Surety Warhead is understood to be under development. The top-secret project is being run in conjunction with US efforts to build a range of modernised "failsafe" nuclear firepower for its own submarine-launched Trident missiles. The aim is to produce warheads which contain fewer degradable components, giving them a longer shelf-life, and to make them so dependable that none would have to be detonated in an underground explosion that would contravene the worldwide test ban in place since 1998.
Oil prices jumped above $75 a barrel on Tuesday after a top US hurricane forecaster called for a busy end to the Atlantic storm season, raising concerns over potential disruptions to oil and gas production.
The Bank of England has finally stepped into the liquidity crisis by offering to inject additional short-term cash into the system, but has ruled out taking action to address the escalating problems in the medium-term, 3 month debt markets. The Bank will provide about £4.4bn into the credit markets next week if overnight rates continue to be "unusually high". If the problem persists it has the option of injecting similar amounts in each of the following weeks.
Market turmoil and the woes in the US subprime mortgage market will crimp world economic growth this year, the Organisation of Economic Co-Operation and Development said today, as it called for better regulation to address the "serious imperfections" in US housing markets and credit markets worldwide.
The disclosure by the bailed-out German bank IKB that its losses for the year could total as much as $954 million is unlikely to be the last of such announcements as the impact of the subprime credit crunch spreads.The massive losses suffered by IKB as well as those incurred by the state-owned bank SachsenLB may only be the start.
Germany's finance minister increased political pressure on regional governments to speed up consolidation of the country's public-sector Landesbanken, warning them not to further delay "inevitable" change. Germany's banking market has been the worst hit in Europe by the recent credit market turbulence, which caused two banks to collapse and forced politicians to engineer 2 bail-outs. Analysts see the weaknesses of the banks in one of the continent's most fragmented markets as a central factor in the collapses and a fresh incentive for consolidation.
The German finance minister said that turmoil in credit markets might have made officials in the US and Britain more willing to consider a code of conduct for hedge funds. Germany will continue to push for a voluntary code of conduct by the hedge fund industry, he said.
A number of Italian political and economic leaders have recently spoken out about the systemic character of the current global financial collapse. "We need a new governance. Call it a New Bretton Woods, or whatever you want. The world has changed, and we cannot have a structure of international monetary and financial institutions which reflects the old world, which no longer exists."
The growth of the global financial system is premised upon a very simple fraud, namely the treatment of unpayable accumulated debts as assets. Those "assets" are then leveraged many times over, turning thousands into millions into billions into trillions of dollars of financial bets. With each passing year, the financial system gets further divorced from reality, further past the edge of the cliff.
There are a lot of bad things said about Wikipedia, the ninth most-visited destination on the internet. An encyclopedia that anyone can edit, critics argue, is one that is vulnerable to endless mistakes. Such criticisms have been raised by skeptics since Wikipedia's creation in 2001. The entire system, which is fabulously complex and robust to the contributing editor, is remarkably simple for the basic user, who wants only to find data on an unfamiliar topic. So long as one exercises discretion in accepting information from Wikipedia, and so long as one's research extends beyond the Wikipedia article to the sources it cites, Wikipedia is an exceptional resource that is unique to our generation.
The Maryland Lottery on Tuesday validated a winning Mega Millions ticket purchased by an accountant who teaches the Wiccan religion. Elwood "Bunky" Bartlett said he will take a lump sum cash payment. His quarter share of Friday's Mega Millions jackpot amounts to about $48.6 million, or $32.6 million after taxes. He said his win will allow him to devote his time to teaching people about Wicca, a nature-based religion.
The first detailed map of a man's genes shows the genetic code is even more complex than anyone thought. For instance, science still cannot pinpoint what makes a person's eyes blue.
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