Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
One of the Babylonian Mysteries...
Benedict XVI says the feast of the Immaculate Conception points to two fundamental Christian beliefs: original sin, and Christ's triumph over it.
He said this Monday, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, when he prayed the Angelus with crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square.
(And: FULL TEXT OF ADDRESS)
Here is a translation of the message Benedict XVI sent to the presidents of the pontifical councils for interreligious dialogue and culture on the occasion of the Dec. 4 study day on "Cultures and Religions in Dialogue."
The Pope has appointed Cardinal Llovera - known as "Little Ratzinger" - as the new Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship.
(And: SPANISH PRELATE APPOINTED)
With dismal economic news continuing to roll in, pressure is mounting on Chancellor Merkel's government to take additional steps aimed at boosting Germany's flagging economy.
Still, nothing is likely before Easter -- which may be too late, experts fear.
A European economic crisis summit without German Chancellor Merkel?
British Prime Minister Brown, French President Sarkozy and European Commission President Barroso say there's nothing odd about Merkel not getting invited to the meeting. German politicians and media disagree.
The far-right Swiss People's Party has regained its place in the government as MPs elected conservative Ueli Maurer to the cabinet.
US congress members have poured cold water on a European Parliament query about potential foreign funding for the anti-Lisbon treaty campaign in Ireland, in line with expectations.
Czech MPs yesterday decided to postpone voting on the Lisbon Treaty, putting paid to hopes that they would ratify the controversial treaty before they adopt the rotating EU presidency.
Greece came to a standstill today as a nationwide strike piled pressure on the government as it struggled to deal with the worst rioting in decades.
Banks, schools and public transport were shut and hundreds of flights in and out of the country were cancelled as air traffic controllers also went on strike.
(And: WHO ARE THE PROTESTERS?)
(Analysis: SPOILING FOR A FIGHT)
(Op-ed: GREEK TRAGEDY)
Police and judges from the European Union began to take over from UN staff in Kosovo after months of delays and despite opposition from both Serbs and Albanians.
The deployment provoked demonstrations in Pristina, the capital, by Albanian Kosovans concerned that the EU's role in tandem with the UN in the north would lead to de facto partition.
Unless the US and UK make the right changes, their power and prestige in the world will decline as Europe grew in strength and unity eventually coming under dominant German and Russian leadership with Latin/Latin American influence.
President Medvedev said: "The world should be multipolar. A single-pole world is unacceptable. Domination is something we cannot allow. We cannot accept a world order in which one country makes all the decisions, even as serious and influential a country as the United States of America. Such a world is unstable and threatened by conflict."
Though opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu has opened up a lead in the race for Israel's premiership, his campaign hit a snag Tuesday after members of his Likud party backed a parliamentary candidate linked with settler radicals.
Iran's former president and influential cleric is warning Israel of the consequences of the ongoing siege of the militant Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Ayatollah Rafsanjani says Muslim anger over the siege will eventually explode and "burn" Israelis.
He also criticized Muslim countries for their passivity over the siege, saying "this disgrace will remain" a stain on those states.
Iraq has unveiled plans for the creation of a regional economic and security union for the Middle East explicitly modelled on the European Union.
Talks on the plan with the country's neighbours are already underway.
Informal discussions on "Regional Economic Partnership" have reportedly been launched with Kuwait, Syria and Turkey, though not yet Iran.
The aim would also to be to bring on board Jordan and Saudi Arabia and - in a subsequent phase - the Gulf states of Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, but not Israel.
The proposal is the latest in a long line of regional groupings modelled on the European Union.
Fragments of bricks, engraved with cuneiform characters thousands of years old, lie mixed with the rubble and sandbags left by the US military on the ancient site of Babylon in Iraq.
Archaeologists say a year of terracing work and 18 months of military presence, with tanks and helicopters, have caused irreparable damage.
Because of the ISI/MI-6 involvement, Mumbai could not have happened at this time, unless the British were involved in it.
The Mumbai attacks were directed not only at India but also at Pakistan's new democratic government and the peace process with India that we have initiated.
Supporters of authoritarianism in Pakistan and non-state actors with a vested interest in perpetuating conflict do not want change in Pakistan to take root.
The US has made clear to Pakistan it will do whatever is necessary to protect American soldiers and civilians, President Bush said Tuesday.
Press TV is available in the US through special servers via the internet.
I think the audience will certainly get a very different perspective to that on other channels of world events and they may be surprised to see that many of the people interviewed on the channel – from Noam Chomsky to Gore Vidal to Amy Goodman – are all American.
German exports to Iran are up 10% this year, prompting Israel's ambassador to Berlin to say the German authorities are "not doing enough" to keep Tehran isolated until it abandons its alleged efforts to develop nuclear arms.
When Barack Obama starts work in January[?], one of his top priorities will be defusing tensions with Iran over its nuclear program.
And that could lead him into direct conflict with Germany.
Less than 2 weeks ago, business people, trade experts and bankers gathered in Hamburg for a seminar sponsored by the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce entitled "Iran Sanctions -- Practical Consequences for German Companies."
The seminar was aimed at helping companies maintain a profitable relationship with Iran in the face of UN sanctions against Tehran. And therein lie the seeds for conflict between Washington and Berlin.
As Germany feels the effects of the worldwide recession, Merkel has shown that she is prepared to put economic matters above other issues.
Would Israel attack Iranian nuclear facilities without the cooperation and approval from the US? If they have to, you betcha.
The "brains" behind Oliver Stone's JFK movie, Jim Marrs, examines the issues and potential conspiracies surrounding the Barack Obama birth certificate controversies.
A California public interest legal group has taken on a high-profile battle that already has at least 3 entire law firms lining up on the other side.
But the group has promised to fight until a resolution is reached in the dispute over Barack Obama's eligibility to be president.
Although there are over a dozen cases nationwide challenging Obama's constitutional eligibility to be president, USJF attorney explain why their case is different.
Unlike other cases that have been rejected because the plaintiffs allegedly lacked "standing" to complain, the parties in this case definitely "have standing to bring this litigation."
That's because the plaintiffs, including former presidential candidate Alan Keyes and Wiley Drake, were both candidates on this year's California ballot. Keyes was a U.N. ambassador during the Reagan administration.
Perhaps never before in American history has the Electoral College had before it such an awesome responsibility.
Rendering the birth dispute mute?...
The most dangerous and devastating thing that could happen to the US, and, by extension, to the world as a whole, is an assassination of Barack Obama, while George Bush is still occupying the White House. This means that the greatest danger is the period between today and Jan. 20.
The opportunity to create the kind of national emergency, from which American democracy would never re-emerge, is too overwhelming for the British to pass up.
The British know that an assassination of Obama, while George Bush is still in power, would tear the United States apart, and lay the basis for the kind of lockdown of the system, that would mean the end of our Constitutional Republic.
What happened, under Bush and Cheney, following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, gives a taste of the kind of top-down repression that Cheney and his puppet Bush would impose, under the conditions of chaos set off by an assassination of Obama.
The corruption arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich is raising questions about what Barack Obama knew of the Illinois Democrat's alleged activities, including his apparent offer to appoint Obama's preferred candidate to serve in the US Senate in return for "private sector" help from Obama.
"This is a burgeoning crisis for Obama that should shake his presidency to its core," said the hief of the Judicial Watch organization today.
(Cartoons: SENATE SEAT FOR SALE!)
Sources are reporting that Barack Obama's appointee for US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, after a visit to the State Department headquarters, plans to install her own transition team, independent of incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's, in the department.
The battle for the control of the Presidency is on
There is more than a little touch of irony in the current situation around the incoming Obama Administration.
On the one hand, we have a President-elect who was backed by the British and their lead agent George Soros, and has shown virtually no understanding of the current existential strategic and economic crisis which the world faces.
On the other hand, that same President-elect has appointed a cabinet in which, to their obvious chagrin, Soros interests have no predominance. Rather, a good section of Obama's appointments hail from a grouping associated with the Clintons.
A broad onslaught against the US Congress as an institution is underway, to remove or demote Members with the potential to implement Franklin Roosevelt's approach, as the current financial system vaporizes.
The FBI has launched more than a score of known investigations of members, some through illegal methods, to keep them from bucking the "principalities and powers" based in the City of London.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has, in "shock and awe" style, smashed the House "seniority system," which gives experienced members the power to stop unconstitutional moves against the American people, and check power grabs by the Speaker or other branches of government.
You know you are in a perilous period in American history when the optimist and pessimist no longer vie with each other but eerily agree that the glass is neither half full nor half empty but is ... shattered.
The government is set to wheel out 5 more tortured detainees in a desperate effort to prop up the thoroughly discredited official 9/11 story, including another appearance for the ultimate patsy - Khalid Sheik Mohammed.
Everyone knows that the Great Depression followed the "Roaring Twenties". But how many Americans know that the easy credit and loose lending of the Twenties was what caused the Great Depression?
Will we ever learn? There can never be a "new era" where a horrible crash does not follow limitless credit expansion like night follows day.
Politicians must prepare themselves for the possibility that global economic growth shrinks for the first time since WW2, according to the World Bank.
In comments which underline the scale of the international recession, the Washington-based institution said even as things stand growth next year will be the worst since comparable records began in 1970.
However, it said the time had come for policymakers to contemplate an even worse outcome.
The Greeks are a feisty people. That said, these riots are roughly what eurosceptics expected to see, at some point, at the periphery of the euro-zone as the slow-burn effects of Europe's monetary union begin to corrode the democratic legitimacy of governments.
Without wanting to rehearse all the pros and cons of euro membership yet again, or debate whether EMU is a "optimal currency area", there is obviously a problem for countries like Greece that were let into EMU for political reasons before their economies had been reformed enough to cope with the rigours of euro life - over the long run.
The underlying rot was disguised by the global credit bubble, and by the Greek property boom. It is now being laid bare.
I am a little surpised that the riot phase of this long politico-economic drama known as EMU has kicked off so soon, and that it has done so first in Greece where the post-bubble hangover has barely begun.
The crisis is much further advanced in Spain, which is a year or two ahead of Greece in the crisis cycle.
The picture is going to get very ugly as Europe slides deeper into recession next year. In the end, a currency union is no stronger than the political will of the constituent states.
This is not just a slow-down. It is also a financial crisis. What if the solvency of a eurozone member came into doubt?
Sterling hit a record low against a basket of currencies today after the pound sank to new lows against the euro overnight, weighed by a grim outlook for the UK economy and the prospect of more rate cuts.
When was the last time you invested in something that you knew wouldn't make money?
In the market equivalent of shoveling cash under the mattress, hordes of buyers were so eager on Tuesday to park money in the world's safest investment, US government debt, that they agreed to accept a 0% rate of return.
The rapid decline in Treasury yields also renders the Federal Reserve less effective, as investors and banks stuff the money that the central bank is pumping into the financial system into Treasuries, rather than fanning it out across the broader economy.
"The last time this happened was the Great Depression, when people are willing to accept no return on their money, or possibly even a negative return."
Regional bank presidents of the Federal Reserve have described the ongoing financial policy making of Washington officials as a complete usurpation of authority and an invocation of emergency powers.
Several former and current regional bank presidents have intimated that they now have little to no influence over the Federal Reserve's actions and that the central bank has effectively been completely hijacked by high ranking insiders.
The White House and Congress are reportedly close to a deal to provide a $15 billion bridge loan to General Motors and Chrysler.
The proposed legislation would establish the framework for drastically shrinking the US auto industry and sharply cutting the wages, health benefits and pensions of autoworkers.
The choice of the term "czar" is apt because the official will have dictatorial powers to tear up union contracts, review financial books and records of the companies and approve or reject all capital expenditures over $100 million.
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Several stone sculptures recently found in central Mexico point to a previously unknown culture that likely built a mysterious pyramid in the region, archaeologists say.
A swarm of stars orbiting a vast black hole at the centre of the Milky Way has been mapped with remarkable precision, providing astronomers with their most detailed look yet at the heart of our galaxy.
The black hole, known as Sagittarius A* ("Sagittarius A-star"), cannot be seen directly, but its nature can be inferred from the pattern of motion of the stars that surround it.
"From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians" tells the epic story of the rise of Christianity.
The 4 hours explore the life and death of Jesus, and the men and women whose belief, conviction, and martyrdom created the religion we now know as Christianity.
The waxing gibbous moon can be found in the east on these December evenings.
Tonight, let the moon guide your eye to the Pleiades star cluster. If the moonlight is too blinding, try using binoculars to gaze at the Pleaides.
The Pleiades are also called the Seven Sisters, though most people can only see 6 stars with the unaided eye.
[WAR: "He is the Maker of ... the Pleiades." (Job 9:9 / Amos 5:8). "Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades?" (Job 38:31)
"These are the words of him who holds the 7 spirits of God and the 7 stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead." (Rev 3:1).]
"These are the words of him who holds the 7 spirits of God and the 7 stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead." (Rev 3:1).]
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