Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
The success of the first volume of Pope Benedict XVI's life of Christ in Italy has a religious publisher eyeing the pontiff's backlist. Long before he became pope, Joseph Ratzinger was a prominent theologian and the author of 132 books and articles. Now, the Vatican publishing operation is working with the biggest European Catholic publishing house to reprint his early writing.
In the town of Soragna it is possible to meet Prince Diophebo Meli-Lupi, a fully fledged prince of the Holy Roman Empire, riding a bicycle in the cobbled streets around his castle.
(And: Outside Parma, the castle of Rocca di Soragna, complete with living prince, full name Diophebo Mello Lupi di Soragna.)
Leading German politicians have strongly criticised President Bush's terms in office ahead of the US leader's farewell visit to Berlin next week. A survey of leading German politicians on US President Bush's legacy by newspaper Stuttgarter Nachrichten, to be published on Monday, has found that the majority believe Bush has made the world more unsafe.
On Tuesday, Slovenia, which currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency, will host an EU–US summit centred on a variety of topics. All eyes will be set on Ireland this week as the Irish people vote on the EU's Lisbon treaty on Thursday in what will be a decisive referendum for the controversial document.
European leaders are bracing themselves for a constitutional crisis after a poll indicated that Irish voters are to reject the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum. It would be another blow to the EU project, which has struggled to recover from the rejection in 2005 of the predecessor to the Lisbon document, the Constitutional Treaty, by voters in France and the Netherlands.
Friday night there were signs that Brussels officials would try to convene an emergency summit of EU leaders in the event of a "No" vote to find a way to satisfy Irish voters, before calling for a repeat referendum.
A confidential 5-page document, detailing France's enthusiasm for common EU funding of military operations, has been circulated to European governments.
Turkey steers into a dangerous identity crisis
Turkey's highest court in Ankara ruled on Thursday that a law passed by Erdogan's government easing the ban on headscarves at universities was unconstitutional. The ruling is a precursor to a dramatic confrontation likely to emerge in the coming months between Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AKP party and the country's secularist forces, led by the powerful military.
Mediterranean countries due to launch a regional union next month have yet to agree an overall vision for the project and questions remain over Israel's role, Algeria's foreign minister said. Arab states are worried that joining with Israel in the union would imply a normalization of ties with the Jewish state.
The Syrian government has foiled an attempted coup some 4 months ago, the German daily newspaper Die Welt reported on Saturday. The paper reported that President Assad's brother-in-law (head of Syria's military intelligence) had tried, assisted by hundreds of officers, to drive the president from power.
In einem Artikel, der Ende Mai in der englischsprachigen Ausgabe des Daily Star (Libanon) und der National Post (Kanada) erschien, warnt der ehemalige deutsche Außenminister und führende Grüne, Joschka Fischer vor einem Angriff Israels auf den Iran in naher Zukunft.
Russia has reportedly announced that preparations for the launch of a nuclear power plant in Iran are scheduled to begin this autumn. According to Iran, the reactor will begin operation in late October.
Israel's infrastructure minister has threatened to obliterate Iran if Tehran even dreams of attacking Israel. "We must tell them: If you so much as dream of attacking Israel, before you even finish dreaming there won't be an Iran anymore."
Iran protested to the UN on Saturday over a warning by an Israeli minister that it faces attack over its contested nuclear programme. "The Israeli regime has been emboldened by the Security Council's indifference and... in blatant violation of the principles of the United Nations continues to threaten Iran with force."
(And: IAEA slams Israeli warning)
President Bush plans to urge European leaders to exert pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, one of his top aides says. "We are taking action ourselves and urging other countries to increase pressure on Iran. We think that's an element of the solution."
Neoconservative political analyst Daniel Pipes says if a Democratic nominee is elected President, Iran should 'watch out' for a US attack. In an interview with National Review Online, Pipes said in case Barack Obama becomes president, President Bush would take matters into his own hands and declare war on Tehran.
Growing tensions within a militarized state
The sudden sacking of both the senior civilian and military commanders of the US Air Force Thursday is symptomatic of the growing tensions within an American government dominated by militarism and torn by divisions over what strategy Washington should pursue to defend its global interests.
A sudden shakeup within the top ranks of the military like this week's unprecedented simultaneous removal of a service's civilian secretary and uniformed chief raises a number of disturbing possibilities.
Is the gov't compiling a secret list of citizens?
In the spring of 2007, a retired senior official in the US Justice Department sat before Congress and told a story so odd and ominous, it could have sprung from the pages of a pulp political thriller.
Much of his testimony centered on an operation so clandestine he wasn't allowed to name it or even describe what it did. He did say, however, that he and Ashcroft had discussed the program in March 2004, trying to decide whether it was legal under federal statutes.
The Continuity of Governance program encompasses national emergency plans that would trigger the takeover of the country by extra-constitutional forces. In short, it's a road map for martial law.
(And: Legislating tyranny)
Bilderberg '08 (Day 2) (Day 3) (videos)
Speculation about Obama, Clinton attending Bilderberger meeting
Barack Obama ditched his unsuspecting press entourage to attend a secretive meeting with Hillary Clinton. But where did that meeting take place? Was it at the secretive Bilderberg conference in Chantilly, Va.? So far, neither campaign is talking.
The only way this election year could get much more exciting is if Hillary Clinton is named as a vice presidential candidate. It occurs to me she could be chosen by either Barak Obama or John McCain.
Think about it. Why wouldn't McCain consider her? They aren't that far apart politically. In fact, McCain, Obama and Hillary have co-sponsored 86 pieces of legislation in the US Senate since 2005. They agree on more than they disagree.
(Op-ed: A marriage made in hell)
Barack Obama's nomination as the presidential candidate of a major political party in the US has caused a great deal of excitement in Africa. Africans clearly seem ecstatic and the American with Kenyan roots has a huge fan club.
We should listen to Goethe, Hugo Chavez betting on the wrong commodities, communism and corporate fascism, disinformation about democracy, resources in Montana and other states...
By refusing to confirm new governors, Congress is putting the world's most important central bank at risk. The Fed has a dual mandate — to promote full employment and price stability — and no explicit inflation target.
With its fuzzier goals, America's central bank is more vulnerable than some others. A set of doveish appointments could soon dissipate the Fed's inflation-fighting credibility. Economic growth is weak and prices are rising uncomfortably fast. Central bankers face difficult decisions.
(And: Dollar dilemmas)
The CEOs at the world's biggest financial institutions might have been a bit too optimistic by declaring we may be nearing the end of the global credit crisis. Just as Wall Street started to look safer for investors, another wave of anxiety about the financial industry, inflation and the economy dragged down stocks this past week.
Analysts say they are scrutinizing every move the financial sector makes to determine when the elusive rebound will happen. And, after 5 days of more bad news for banks and brokerages, they are still no closer to answers.
If the theme of last year was turmoil in financial services, then 2008 could be the year when financial stress goes on to harm the economy. And it is not too fanciful to imagine a vicious circle: as the economic downturn causes more financial pain, so confidence will crumble further.
It seems far too early to say the financial world has seen "the beginning of the end" of the credit crunch. Indeed, the rest of Winston Churchill's quote about the progress of the war may even be too optimistic. The world may not even have seen "the end of the beginning".
President Medvedev said "economic egoism" has led to what may be the worst economic contraction since the depression of the 1930s, and placed some of the blame on the US. The Russian leader said no single country, even the US, can reverse the global economic decline alone, and claimed a role for Russia in finding a solution.
A decade on, the single currency area is still enduring the co-ordination problems that have bedevilled it from the outset. While the Anglo-Saxon world (UK/US) have borne the brunt of the "sub-prime" crisis, the eurozone has by no means escaped scot-free.
I don't want to join the euro for the simple reason that I'm an economist - and I understand the single currency to be a dangerous and inherently unstable system. Sceptics like me have always said the euro's operational viability wouldn't be fully-tested until there's a serious downturn. That moment may be about to come.
Interest rates spreads between government bonds in France, Spain, Germany and Italy are considerable. In other words, the markets feel it is by no means impossible the eurozone could break up. I genuinely believe the euro may ultimately not survive.
The euro has been a success, but its biggest test is still to come
Although the overall performance of the euro area has been satisfactory, the divergence among its members is growing. This should worry those who have been gaily celebrating the ECB's 10th birthday, for 2 reasons. One is that the economic outlook for the euro area, as for the world economy, is darker than it has been for many years. The other is that the euro remains unloved by most citizens.
(And: The ECB: A decade in the sun)
The US and the 4 largest economies in Asia are to voice "serious concerns" over "unprecedented" oil prices. Under pressure from the US, Japan, China, India and South Korea have agreed on the need to end fuel subsidies, blamed for boosting demand. But correspondents say there are major differences over the speed and extent to which the changes should be made.
Gold jumped the most in 6 months after the US jobless rate had the biggest gain in more than 2 decades, spurring a drop in the dollar. Gold futures for August delivery rose $23.50, or 2.7%, to $899 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Silver also rose. Silver futures for July delivery advanced 26 cents, or 1.5%, to $17.43 an ounce. The metal is up 27% in the past year.
The president of the American Agriculture Movement (AAM), has raised concerns over the issue of US grain reserves after it was announced that the sale of 18.37 million bushels of wheat from USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust.
"According to the May 1, 2008 CCC inventory report there are only 24.1 million bushels of wheat in inventory, so after this sale there will be only 2.7 million bushels of wheat left the entire CCC inventory.
"Our concern is that the US has nothing else in our emergency food pantry. There is no cheese, no butter, no dry milk powder, no grains or anything else left in reserve. The only thing left in the entire CCC inventory will be 2.7 million bushels of wheat which is about enough wheat to make ½ of a loaf of bread for each of the 300 million people in America."
These initial struggles have exposed the contradiction between the elementary demand of the world's masses for affordable food and the workings of the capitalist market.
Even were this sum ($30bn) to be allocated, it would not begin to address the sources of the current crisis, which lie in economic and political processes of privatization and price speculation that have unfolded over the past 3 decades and are bound up with the globalization of capitalist agriculture.
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A king with no throne might seem as pointless as an admiral with no ships. But history suggests that, with a bit of grit and imagination, being an ex-monarch can be a pleasant and even profitable occupation.
Summertime! (cartoons)
Because I like living my life with as few complications as possible, I have a particular interest in simple living -- which can be crystallized, distilled, condensed and reduced down to 3 words. Three profound, easy-to-remember words: Make good choices. That's it. Almost everything in life – the good, the bad and the ugly – can be reduced to the choices you make.
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