Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
Archbishop Migliore, Permanent Observer of the Holy See at the UN, said today that both mere economic interests as well as ecological extremism must be avoided to solve the spike in food prices that is affecting poor nations.
"The world is currently facing a challenge of meeting this very goal in the form of a global food crisis. This crisis reveals the delicate and interlinking nature of agriculture, rural development, land reform, drought and desertification, and presents a daunting yet important and urgent task to policy makers and civil society."
(And: Full text of address)
Despite an improved economic situation, more Germans relocated outside the country in 2007 than in any year since reunification in 1990, raising concerns over a demographic crisis in the near future. The top destinations were Switzerland, the US, Poland and Austria.
The European Commission has tabled a compromise deal to liberalise the EU's gas sector, bowing to pressure from a group of member states, who firmly oppose the idea of separating gas companies' production and supply wings.
From the very start, EU capitals have been split into 2 camps on the issue. Ireland, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK are among those who favour the radical asset break-up idea.
On the other hand, 8 EU states - Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, France, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovakia - reject full separation of energy assets, claiming the idea violates the right to private property and runs the risk of EU companies falling under the control of non-European firms.
Europe's farm chief took aim at wealthy farms and a string of "old-style" agriculture support schemes on Tuesday in a reform blueprint intended to help farmers respond to growing demand for food. One of the plans' most controversial ideas is to reduce handouts to larger farms by siphoning off the cash, via a tiered system of income thresholds, into rural development projects.
Vladimir Putin says Russia needs to cut its dependence on food imports in order to protect the population from sharp price rises.
This is the Kodori Gorge, the tense front line between Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia, that is becoming a flashpoint in the relationship between Russia and the West. Russia and Georgia have acknowledged that they are close to war, ringing alarm bells in the US and EU.
Prime minister to submit to 2nd round of interrogation Friday morning over bribery allegations.
Why has Israel become the place to test an American politician for loyalty and strength? Loyalty to what and strength about what?
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu opened the Likud faction meeting by saying that "the Olmert-Kadima government has no mandate to negotiate on Israel's borders. This government was elected under different circumstances and times. Most of the public knows that any land we give away will become a terror base for Islam extremists under Iran's patronage. The government must return the mandate to the people to choose another government."
President Bush wrapped up his 5-day Mideast tour Sunday with little visible progress on either of the main issues he highlighted: rising oil prices and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Instead, he was subjected to a wave of criticism as he delivered a lecture to the Arab world on the benefits of democracy.
Egypt's Foreign Minister says that the presence of Israeli and US tanks on Arab soil is leading to more instability in the region. He added that the instability in the region also came from a lack of political determination to solve the region's problems, particualrly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Russia's Foreign Minister has urged countries set to take part in a Mideast peace conference in Moscow to agree on a timetable for the meeting as soon as possible.
There is one place in the Middle East where Arabs and Jews seem to be getting along quite well. It's an Israeli Web site where amateur pornography features Arabs and Jews at each other's throats - but only for erotic purposes.
German special forces had an important Taliban commander in their sights in Afghanistan. But he escaped -- because the Germans were not authorized to use lethal force. The German government's hands-tied approach to the war is causing friction with its NATO allies.
Fresh clashes have broken out in the Sudanese region of Abyei, in the oil-rich border area between north and south Sudan. The status of the area remains contested between north and south Sudan three years after the end of the country's civil war.
Hassan al-Turabi, the Sudanese Islamist leader detained for a few hours last week after the unprecedented rebel assault on the capital, is a veteran politician who has been in and out of jail over a career spanning some four decades.
An Islamist ideologue with influence beyond Sudan's borders, Turabi is Western-educated, with a master's degree from London and a doctorate from Paris's Sorbonne University.
He speaks English, French and German fluently as well as Arabic, and his language skills have helped him gain access to foreign news media through which he has issued repeated calls for an international Islamic revolution.
The UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei has once again highlighted the lack of evidence to prove Iran is after a nuclear bomb. "We haven't seen indications or any concrete evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon and I've been saying that consistently for the last 5 years."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution says the 'self reliance' of nations has forced hegemonic powers like the US to retreat. "Global conditions have changed in the past 20 years. The awakening of nations and some state leaders has forced hegemonic powers such as the United States to back away," said Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei today.
"The US and Israel have always been against close ties among independent nations and therefore played a key role in creating disasters in Africa and provoking ethnic and political conflicts."
Leaders of the US House of Representatives say they do not rule out any option including a military action against the Islamic Republic. The high-ranking 13-member congressional delegation is on a 4-day visit to Israel.
"A little learning is a dangerous thing," wrote Alexander Pope. Daily, our 42nd president testifies to Pope's point. Addressing the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's birth, Bush said those who say we should negotiate with Iran or Hamas are like the fools who said we should negotiate with Adolf Hitler. Bush dismissed the idea we could ever successfully negotiate with Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran.
(And: Dear Admiral Fallon)
President Bush intends to attack Iran in the upcoming months, before the end of his term, Army Radio quoted a senior official in Jerusalem as saying today. The official claimed that a senior member of the president's entourage, which concluded a trip to Israel last week, said during a closed meeting that Bush and Vice President Cheney were of the opinion that military action was called for.
However, the official continued, "the hesitancy of Defense Secretary Gates and Secretary of State Rice" was preventing the administration from deciding to launch such an attack, for the time being."
Bush, the officials said, opined that Hizbullah's show of strength was evidence of President Ahmadinejad's growing influence. They said that according to Bush, "the disease must be treated - not its symptoms."
(But: White House denounces story)
A new way of understanding how the US is controlled
It is not news that the US is in great trouble. The problem is that there are too many things going wrong at the same time for anyone to have a broad understanding of the disaster that has overcome us.
I wonder how we would react if 50,000 of us got killed in one whack, as apparently has happened in the China earthquake. Or, God forbid, 121,000, which is the high estimate for the number of dead in the Myanmar cyclone. Judging from our reaction to the terror attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which claimed 3,000 lives, I suspect we would go nuts.
Two million British citizens have left the UK in a decade, the greatest exodus from this country in almost a century, new figures will show. Some historians say the departure is almost unparalleled in the country's history.
The dollar fell against the yen and euro after the International Monetary Fund said the US housing slump still poses "serious risks" to financial markets.
Billionaire investor George Soros has given his gloomiest assessment of the state of the US and world economies. He told the BBC that the "acute phase" of the credit crunch may be over but effects on the real economy are yet to be felt.
He warned the "financial bubble" of the last 25 years could be drawing to an end and the post WW2 "super-boom" era could also be over. He predicted a "more severe and longer" US slowdown than most people expect.
Even as investors are hearing the worst is over, HSBC, Crédit Agricole, and others are taking further writedowns. Are they being too cautious?
The euro is showing all the signs of strain of being the new international key currency. Manufacturers in Europe complain that its rise is imposing new levels of pain. Politicians in many countries across Europe are pressing to have more influence on monetary policy. For many of their constituents, the euro has become one of the whipping boys of globalisation.
The EU has many economic advantages but also substantial political vulnerabilities. It is not easy being the world's main currency. It is even possible that the new strains might lead to the break-up of the monetary union.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company has drawn up a list of acquisition targets in the US. "We're continuing to look at possible defense acquisitions. As the level of the dollar allows it and we have the firm desire to be present in the American defense, services and security market. We have a target list."
There are so many petards in central banking anyway; Bernanke and company were bound to get hoisted on one of them.
The Federal Reserve crossed a Rubicon of sorts, lending tens of billions of dollars, not to a commercial bank, as has been its historical practice, but for the first time to an investment bank.
Invoking an obscure, never-before-used legislative provision, the Fed made billions of dollars available to JPMorgan Chase to acquire another investment bank, the essentially insolvent Bear Stearns.
The Fed-engineered JPMorgan takeover of Bear raises startling questions: What is the degree of cooperation between the Fed and JPMorgan? Was this an impromptu alliance, or had it been plotted in advance? Was JPMorgan drafted against its will to absorb Bear Stearns, or did the central bank give JPMorgan a plum that it already coveted? More importantly for the country, what will be the relationship of JPMorgan and the Fed going forward?
Why does it take two incomes to support a middle-class lifestyle that used to require one?
Oil rose to a new record above $129 a barrel today, spurred by strength in refined oil products markets, led by diesel, and a weak dollar.
OPEC's president on Monday warned oil prices could hit $200 a barrel and there would be little the cartel could do to help.
[WAR: This was on Drudge today (Monday afternoon), but it was actually posted by the a few weeks ago.]
US food prices will rise by 5% this year, the largest increase since 1990 and propelled by sharply higher prices for bread, cookies and other bakery products. It would be the 2nd year in a row of high food-price inflation, with another year or 2 of large increases expected.
The Earth's natural resources must be shared more equally between rich and poor nations, Germany's environment minister said Monday at the start of a UN biodiversity conference.
"The industrialised countries must recognise the need to share natural resources with those with those who have safeguarded them. It is a question of principle, a question of justice. The developing countries are right to speak of 'biopiracy', when the industrialised world use their resources without authorisation and without paying a penny."
[CFR Opinion Roundup][Newseum][Global Incident Map][Earthweek][Day-Night Map][Tonight's Sky][Moon phase]
President Chávez warned Colombia not to allow a US military base on its border with Venezuela, saying he would regard such an act as "aggression."
He said Wednesday that he would not let the US-backed Colombian government establish an American military base in La Guajira, a region spanning northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela. The Venezuelan leader said that if Colombia allowed the base, his government would revive an old territorial conflict and claim the entire region.
* "Then YAHWEH said to Moses: "Tell the Israelites: 'When any of you or your descendants are unclean because of a dead body or are away on a journey, they may still celebrate YAHWEH's Passover. They are to celebrate it on the 14th day of the 2nd month at twilight." (Num 9:9-11)
* "The king and his officials and the whole assembly in Jerusalem decided to celebrate the Passover in the 2nd month. ... They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the 14th day of the 2nd month." (2Chr 30:2,15)
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