Today I intend to focus on the pastoral visit that I had the joy of making a few days ago to Austria, a country that is especially familiar to me, because it borders my native land and because of the numerous contacts that I have always had with it. Throughout my visit, I saw the vitality of the Church, which, in today's Europe, is called "to look to Christ" ever anew, as she carries out her mission in service of the Gospel and the true progress of the human family.
Ecclesiastical heraldry is as relevant today as it ever was, and should be valued as part of the Church's rich cultural and artistic patrimony, according to an author of a book on papal arms.
Stoiber to the rescue?...
A simmering sex scandal at the top of the European Commission is set to come to a head with new allegations that could derail Angela Merkel's coalition. Claims that Gunter Verheugen, the 2nd most influential man at the Commission, promoted his lover to chief of staff are to be published in the German media today. Angela Merkel has intervened personally with Mr Barroso to back up the beleaguered German representative, according to senior EC sources. Her fear is that the forced resignation of Mr Verheugen, a Social Democrat, would create a chain reaction in the German Government that could lead its eventual break-up. The Social Democrats would insist on putting one of their own people in his place – and the only politicians of sufficient seniority are the Finance, Foreign and Environment ministers who are indispensable to the approaching general election campaign. The Christian Democrats, meanwhile, will put Merkel under heavy pressure to place one of their own in Brussels – a clear breach of the coalition agreement between the parties.
Germany's next general election might still be 2 years away, but political parties have already begun looking for coalition partners to replace the current government. Some even go so far as to propose party mergers.
DW-World spoke with political scientist Thomas Meyer about the Social Democratic Party's current identity crisis and where it can go from here.
The UK Ministry of Defense announced plans to shift several thousand British soldiers from Germany to the UK to increase operational capabilities. Officials say more than 15,000 service personnel are expected to remain in Germany.
Gordon Brown's efforts to prevent a referendum on the new EU treaty were damaged yesterday when a powerful alliance of European nations attempted to seize more power for Brussels over foreign and justice policy. The move by Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Luxembourg to "claw back" more of the abandoned European Constitution - and erode British sovereignty in the process - came as the Prime Minister suffered two other setbacks over his EU policy.
President Sarkozy, a self-proclaimed Gaullist, may be ready to reverse one of the most celebrated actions sanctioned by Charles de Gaulle – France's abrupt exit from the military wing of NATO in 1966. After a hint dropped by Sarkozy last month, the country's Defence Minister has raised the possibility of France rejoining the integrated, military structure of the alliance. In return, he suggested, France would want the US to lift its objections to the development of a EU defence policy linked to NATO. Paris would also want NATO to rethink its overall strategy and structures.
The German government plans to host an international conference in October to discuss the future of the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty. It's survival is threatened since Russia decided to pull out.
The promise President Bush made in June to Albania's Prime Minister that Kosovo would be independent by the end of 2007 has polarised Europe and antagonised Russia. A declaration of independence could encourage further separatist sentiments, pogroms and bloodshed despite the US insistence that Kosovan independence is a "one-off" case. The International Crisis Group are pressing the EU to use the "breathing space" offered by the talks to set up "a coalition of willing states" that would also recognise a unilateral proclamation of Kosovan independence and prevent the discrediting of the EU's foreign policy and "its efforts to project itself as a credible international actor in conflicts elsewhere." This is the sort of language that could lead to war.
Speculation is mounting about the extent to which Western nations are preparing themselves for Kosovo's possible independence in the coming months, sidestepping both Russia and the UN. But the analysis surrounding this speculation fails to ask why western nations are not actually taking the step. The main stumbling bloc to Kosovo's independence inside the EU bloc is Germany, which is establishing a new energy partnership with Russia.
Farmers here are rushing to meet a deadline more sacrosanct than the usual demands of the fall harvest. By Wednesday evening, the start of the Jewish year, farming in any part of the country defined as the "Land of Israel" should come to a halt in compliance with the biblical commandment to let the land lie fallow once in every 7 years. But the solution to keep Israel fed this coming year involves Jewish-Arab cooperation and the promise of the increased purchase of Palestinian produce by Israeli wholesalers. Israel has now temporarily sold a huge portion of its farmland to an Arab-Druze citizen of Israel and is in discussions with Fatah officials in the West Bank to significantly increase the amount of fruit and vegetables making it to Israeli buyers.
Israel has refused to authorise a meeting between Tony Blair and a senior human rights activist from Gaza, effectively snubbing the former prime minister in his new role as international envoy to the Palestinians.
The senior UN envoy to Afghanistan criticised the restricted role of the German army in the strife-torn country. "I think the German army stationed there should support the police in the fight against drugs and drug laboratories and not say: 'That has got nothing to do with us.'"
(UPI analysis: Berlin committed to Afghanistan)
China has suffered "massive" and "shocking" losses of state and military secrets through the Internet, a senior government official said, urging a sweeping crackdown on computer threats and uncensored news.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has joined the world's wheat export market. "It is an honor for Iranian producers to have joined the club of wheat exporters. Not only have we achieved self-sufficiency in wheat production, but we have also succeeded in raising the quality of our wheat produce."
Iran wants "peace and friendship for all," the country's president said while again denying Western assertions his nation is pursuing nuclear weapons and trying to destabilize Iraq. But Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took a hard line against Israel, calling it "an invader" and saying it "cannot continue its life." "We can help solve many problems in Iraq. We can help secure Iraq. We can help the attackers leave Iraq if the American government and British government correct themselves."
A senior Kremlin official in Moscow has stressed that Russia would not back a new Security Council resolution on Iran's nuclear program. "As far as Iran's nuclear program is concerned, we have passed resolutions in the UN. So far, it's enough."
Nuclear chess...
It seems that Iran's well-calculated steps have once again pushed the US into the corner and Washington warmongers have to face a bitter and unprecedented isolation in international community.
If the Bush administration launches an attack on Iran, the reason won't be that Iran was about to obtain a nuclear weapon. The real reason will be that US, as the world's only superpower, wants to establish clearly that it - not Iran - is the dominant power in the Middle East. That would make us all less secure, but the insistence on asserting dominance in the Middle East is the essence of the Bush administration's policy.
Contrary to rumors surrounding the Air Combat Command's stand-down of all 100,000 active-duty airmen ordered for tomorrow, the U.S. will not be devoid of fighter aircraft to protect the nation. Michael Kucharek, spokesman for NORAD and USNORTHCOM, told WND the stand-down does not include the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves assigned to NORAD.
A military stand down scheduled for this Friday has kicked started a buzz across the blogosphere that some kind of false flag attack may be planned. Rest assured that if criminal elements within the government were planning another false flag operation they certainly wouldn't advertise the fact so blatantly.
The 9/11 Commission was hamstrung by official obstruction. It never managed to ascertain the whole truth of what happened. The chair and vice chair of the 9/11 Commission assert in their book, Without Precedent, that they were "set up to fail" and were starved of funds to do a proper investigation. They also confirm that they were denied access to the truth and misled by senior officials in the Pentagon and the federal aviation authority; and that this obstruction and deception led them to contemplate slapping officials with criminal charges.
Oil prices remained near record highs today after US crude stocks fell and drove oil futures in the previous session above $80 a barrel for the first time ever.
In an unusual public display of discord, the Bank of England criticized other major central banks for injecting cash into the financial system to help stabilize credit markets, saying such a policy amounted to a bailout of investors who had made bad decisions.
The European Central Bank warned today that inflation still threatened the eurozone but said it wanted more data on financial market uncertainty before deciding whether to raise interest rates.
Analysts said the strength of the euro adds to the increased pressures facing economic growth in the 13-nation single currency zone.
Under the old rule one should never believe anything until it has been officially denied, then whenever some authoritative public figure solemnly asserts that "the economic fundamentals are good" it may be time to sell everything and buy gold. We all know what causes recessions and depressions, and few know better than Bernanke; the Fed chairman is an expert on the Great Depression. But we are in a season when the passions of politics are outweighing the logic of economics. These are dangerous times.
The way fresh water is supplied to disaster-hit regions could be revolutionised after businessman invented a £190 bottle that makes foul-smelling water drinkable in seconds. He hopes that the bottle could be a life-saver for refugees in disaster regions where access to clean drinking water is vital. The bottle can clean up any water - including faecal matter - using a filter that cuts out anything longer than 15 nanometres, which means that viruses can be filtered out without the use of chemicals.
The hidden content in ancient works could be illuminated by a light source 10 billion times brighter than the Sun. Intense light beams will enable scientists to uncover the text in scrolls and books without having to open - and potentially damage - them.
The holy fasting month of Ramadan began in Iran today, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's Office announced. The office quoted the Supreme Leader as certifying reports of the sighting of the moon in different parts of the country.
* "However, Muslims don't all agree about when their lunar-linked holidays begin. Should they use pure astronomical calculations about the date of the new moon? Or should they depend on a sighting of the crescent moon? And if they use a sighting, do they depend on a local sighting or on one in Saudi Arabia, where the Muslim faith was born?" (Dallas Morning News)
[WAR: Even Islam has its calendar problems - with their "authorities" lying to the faithful (just like in Judaism, the COGs, and "Yahweh assemblies"). Looking at my SkyGlobe (astronomy program) it looks like it was impossible to see a crescent moon last night in Iran - or anywhere else in the Mideast. And just go to Crescent Moon Watch and scroll down to see the diagram showing the world visibility chart for last night (Sept 12). So how could there be "reports of the sighting of the moon"? Nothing but reports of lying men.]
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