Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
Horst Seehofer, Prime Minister of the Free State of Bavaria, will be received next Thursday in a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI. In December the pope received former Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber in a private audience.
Benedict XVI is calling a synod for one of the Eastern Catholic Churches so that a new patriarch can be elected.
In conformity with the Code of Canon Law for Eastern Churches, the Pope called a weeklong synod for the Syrian Catholic Church to take place in Rome starting this Saturday, the Vatican reported. The Church's see is located in Lebanon.
The Eastern Catholic Churches are Churches originating in Eastern Europe, Asia or Africa, with their own legal and liturgical systems. They are identified by the national or ethnic character of their region of origin.
The Vatican's most secretive tribunal has revealed how the Catholic Church deals with the worst sins divulged in the confessional.
The Apostolic Penitentiary, or "tribunal of conscience", has been shrouded in secrecy ever since it was established by Pope Alexander III in 1179 and until now has never provided details of the cases it scrutinises.
They are considered so heinous by the Catholic Church that only the Pope can grant absolution to those who perpetrate them.
There are certain virtues that keep society working, things like honesty and participation -- and without families, those virtues would cease to exist.
Doctor Pierpaolo Donati, a member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, at the 6th World Meeting of Families, contended that society utterly depends on families for the virtues it needs to continue existing.
A US bishop is calling meritless a lawsuit that protests money allotted to a bishops' committee by the US government for services to victims of human trafficking.
The prelate noted that the Church's network of social services in the US is "second to none."
On Monday, an Agreement was signed in Kiel, Germany, between the Holy See and Schleswig-Holstein, regulating relations between the Catholic Church and that German Land.
"Among other things it establishes norms for the teaching of Catholic religion in State schools; State recognition of Church-run schools; university education; Church activity in the fields of pastoral care, social work, healthcare and charity; ecclesiastical tax and the maintenance of church buildings which have the status of monuments. In brief, the role of the Catholic Church in the society of Schleswig-Holstein is recognised."
The year 2009 is full of elections in Germany, with voters in 5 states set to cast their ballots and a nationwide vote scheduled for September. The result may be a fundamental shift in the country's political landscape.
EurActiv asked European Commission director generals to spell out their hopes for 2009.
Some crises bring partners closer together. Some, as investors in the euro zone are likely to discover this year, drive them apart.
Look for rising tensions about fiscal and monetary policy among the bloc's 16 member nations and for a bigger penalty to be imposed on the euro and some euro zone assets against the possibility of a breakup or a secession from the currency group.
More than a week after the European Union put its credibility on the line by intervening in an energy dispute between Russia and Ukraine, the diplomatic gamble has failed to get the gas flowing - damaging the prestige of the 27-nation bloc in the process.
But after 8 days of hectic negotiating, exasperated Europeans now are resting their hopes for a breakthrough on a meeting today between Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, in his first visit to Berlin since he stepped down as president last March.
Were this breakthrough to happen, though, it would only underline Russia's preference for dealing with big European nations individually rather than the EU, further undermining the tattered image of Brussels and the institutional machinery that relies on the rotating presidency to lead Europe's dealings with the rest of the world.
(And: EU RETURNS EMPTY-HANDED)
Russian PM Vladimir Putin will face pressure to find a solution to Europe's gas crisis during a visit to Germany.
He will meet Chancellor Merkel, who has warned that Russia's reputation as a reliable energy supplier is on the line.
The gas shortage in Europe sparked by the Russian conflict with Ukraine inspires the political will to move ahead with the Nabucco pipeline, officials said.
The $10 billion Nabucco project would carry gas from the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia to European customers.
Russia has taken a political decision to establish naval bases in Libya, Syria and Yemen, according to a Russian naval official quoted in the media.
Israeli military action in Gaza is comparable to that of German soldiers during the Holocaust, a Jewish UK lawmaker whose family suffered at the hands of the Nazis has claimed.
A British lawmaker declared that Israel was taking advantage of the guilt many non-Jews feel over the Holocaust to ruthlessly press ahead with its offensive in Gaza.
[WAR: That's why it's so important to understand the truth about what did/didn't happen in WW2 -- and pull the "moral" rug out from under "Israel" and its policies/actions.]
Israel said the conflict in Gaza was poised to enter its "final act" as diplomatic efforts in Cairo to negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas moved close to completion.
(And: US RACES TO SECURE TRUCE)
(And: 2-WEEK TRUCE AGREED?)
(Cartoon: TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR)
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and some Gulf countries have argued that they had to do everything possible to halt the progress of "non-State actors" - read Hezbollah and Hamas - from consolidating in the Arab world.
Of them all, Egypt is the one that must shoulder most blame.
Two days before the Israeli invasion of Gaza, Israel's Foreign Minister Livni, visited Cairo and met with President Mubarak. There Livni told Mubarak of the attack on Gaza and got Mubarak's approval for a "rapid, surgical operation" aimed at overthrowing Hamas and clearing the way for the return of Mahmoud Abbas and his men.
Welcome to the new Middle East, characterised not just by the Arab-Israeli conflict, but by Arab nationalists versus Islamists.
Recognising this reality, the Palestinian Authority and virtually all the Arab countries other than Iran's ally Syria, want to see Hamas defeated in the Gaza Strip.
The crisis in Gaza is only one aspect of the much wider battle shaking the region.
Helping Hamas would empower radical Islamism and Iranian ambitions, and undercut the Palestinian Authority and everyone else, not just Israel.
Arab states don't want to help their worst enemy, so why should anyone else?
(And: IT'S RELIGION, STUPID!)
Lebanon rejects Hezbollah involvement in a recent rocket attack on Israel, suggesting that the launch may have been a ploy by Tel Aviv.
Hezbollah and Palestinian factions have dismissed involvement in the attacks. Israeli forces have, meanwhile, massed along the Lebanese border and are speculated to be planning to open a 2nd front by waging war on Lebanon.
Israel has reportedly threatened Lebanon with massive aerial bombardment as it continues a deadly full-scale offensive against the Gaza Strip.
Tel Aviv has also put its forces on high alert along the Lebanese border, calling up thousands of its reserve troops.
Russian Military Analysts are reporting today that President Bush, after consultations and agreement with Barack Obama, granted 'unprecedented' permission for Iran to join with Turkey in attacking Israeli-backed Kurdish military forces based in Iraq over Israel's plan to bring down the moderate Islamic government of Turkey by the assassination of its democratically elected leaders.
Unlike the American people though, the new realities of the Middle East are not lost upon the Israelis, and who in seeking to reestablish the ancient Nation of Kurdistan, and should they succeed, would become the most powerful nation on Earth due to their controlling the outlets to both the West and East of the vast oil and gas wealth of Central Asia.
The family of Sudanese Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi, 76, say he is in solitary confinement and they are increasingly worried for his health.
His son, Siddig al-Turabi, told the BBC that he is concerned that intense interrogation could be bad for his father's health.
Iran Wednesday signed a $1.7bn oil contract with China, bypassing international sanctions on its nuclear programme.
US security and law-enforcement officials say they have fresh evidence of recent efforts by Iran to evade sanctions and acquire metals from China used in high-tech weaponry, including long-range nuclear missiles.
(But: CIA: NO PROOF OF IRAN NUKES)
Is the US-Israel "special relationship" fraying around the edges?
On the public stage, all has been hunky-dory for the US and Israel, and yet when it comes to the murky world of spycraft, the US has lately been on the warpath.
Iran is the issue that has divided the US and Israel, and the gulf is only going to widen: that's because the objective interests of the US and Israel are increasingly in conflict.
Events are rapidly reaching a dramatic climax, and Gaza is just the start.
George W Bush has said farewell to Americans, asking the nation that elected him twice, but now regards him as the worst US president of the modern era, to understand that he had always tried to do the right thing.
(And: FULL TEXT OF SPEECH)
(Op-ed: HE WASN'T EVIL, JUST INEPT)
(And: BUSH'S PLACE IN HISTORY)
(Op-ed: HISTORY WILL SHOW HE WAS RIGHT)
Thousands of urgent appeals for the Supreme Court to consider the question of Barack Obama's eligibility to be president are being delivered to the justices as part of WND's campaign to seek the truth.
The high court has conferences scheduled on cases addressing Obama's eligibility today and again on Jan. 23.
An unprecedented security blanket has been draped over the US capital for Barack Obama's inauguration next week, and the threat level to the country's first black president is expected to remain high well beyond his swearing-in.
(And: 42,500-STRONG SECURITY FORCE)
(Cartoons: OBAMA'S INAUGURATION)
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) likely will introduce his controversial legislation to reinstate the draft again this year, but he will wait until after the economic stimulus package is passed.
A federal "hate crimes" bill that officially is to enhance punishments for "violence motivated by bias that is a relic of slavery" but is feared by Christians as a potential bludgeon against basic biblical teachings has been returned to the congressional agenda.
The proposal had been stymied during the Bush administration by his threat of a veto but Barack Obama's own website has promised an expansion of federal "hate crimes" laws.
The US will need $1.6 trillion to repair damage to its infrastructure from a massive influx of immigrants, a new report reveals.
The CEO of the Canada Arizona Business Council tells the Phoenix Business Journal he expects Obama to push for a North American Union.
Obama will focus on a "continental North America" scheme in response to the not only the drug violence in Mexico but also the faltering economies of Canada, Mexico, and the US, both closely related and engineered contrivances of the global elite.
Bank of America agreed to pay $44 billion for a company that would have been worth $18 billion. Why? I sense a shotgun wedding sponsored at gunpoint by the Fed.
A shotgun wedding at a purposely ridiculous price with an agreement from the Fed to pick up the pieces later if necessary sounds just like what the doctor ordered.
Of course it could be pure incompetence by BOA CEO Lewis, or a pure gamble by him that the Fed (taxpayers) would pick up the pieces if it all came crashing down.
One point to remember is that the Fed is desperate to buy time. The Fed seems willing to lie, threaten, postpone, and usurp authority [and to assassinate?] to buy that time. Time is up for this maneuver.
Bank of America has already received $25 billion of TARP money. The source said BOA has threatened to walk away from the Merrill deal if it did not receive more government aid.
Russian Military Intelligence reports circulating in the Kremlin today state that an attempt to shoot down an American passenger plane over New York City carrying some of the top officials from the Bank of America failed when the pilot quickly reacted to his crippled and burning aircraft by landing it in the Hudson river extinguishing the spreading flames and saving the lives of all aboard.
The FSB additions to these reports state that 'without a doubt' the missile used to attack this US aircraft was a Russian made Igla-S man-portable air-defense system, due to its 'unique frequency signature' recorded by [listening devices] located at Russia's UN Mission offices in New York City and orbiting satellites.
To the reason behind this attack upon some of the most powerful bankers in the US, these reports continue, was to further the collapse of the American economy by 'assassinating by plane crash' BOA's top officials who were returning to their home base in North Carolina after negotiating a $138 Billion US government bailout, and which would 'totally destroyed' the stock value of Americas largest bank plunging the US into further financial chaos.
The upcoming Financial Stimulus package courtesy of the new Economic dream team has left numerous economists and analysts quaking in their boots.
We are seeing predictions of hyperinflation, the destruction of the dollar, the flight of US creditors, the prospect of widespread civil unrest and a descent in to a Greater Depression.
Societe Generale said on Thursday that the United States' economy looks likely to enter a depression and China's could implode -- (with) the danger of a global trade war with China.
Financial crisis affecting the entire world now; no end it sight for this recession' job losses mounting; a new deal will be unsuccessful; big power grab to come; the Real Estate game has come to an end; bailout avoids addressing systemic problems; bond market next to fail; no jobs; a purging of the system is what is to come...
Last fall, as Federal Reserve and Treasury Department officials rode to the rescue of one financial institution after another, they took great pains to avoid doing anything that smacked of nationalizing banks.
They may no longer have that luxury. With 2 of the nation's largest banks buckling under yet another round of huge losses, the incoming administration of Barack Obama and the Federal Reserve are suddenly dealing with banks that are "too big to fail" and yet unable to function as the sinking economy erodes their capital.
"We are down a path that this country has not seen since Andrew Jackson shut down the Second National Bank of the United States. We are going to go back to a time when the government controlled the banking system."
The United States Senate on Thursday voted to release the second $350 billion installment of the $700 billion bailout fund for the banks.
Some commentators have equated this government bailout of the banks with "nationalization." But as the World Socialist Web Site has pointed out, it could be more accurately described as the "privatization" of the government.
There's no guarantee that Obama's stimulus package will work, but there is growing consensus that something has to be done...and fast! The economy is contracting faster than anytime since the 1930s.
Germany's Deputy Economy Minister said in a newspaper interview the new U.Sgovernment should impose strict curbs on its "explosion" of borrowing or it risks damaging the global economy.
"I view the debt explosion in the world's biggest economy with concern. The global rise in government debt could become a serious burden for the world economy. The United States should also adopt an effective means of limiting debt because financing American government bonds is becoming harder."
The European Central Bank on Thursday moved to lower its key interest rate by 1/2% to its lowest point in 2 years. This marks the agency's 4th successive downward adjustment since the start of the global economic downturn last autumn.
(And: ECB HINTS AT MORE TO COME)
The ECB duly cut interest rates, but said it would effective pause, and not cut again in February, despite signs of a severe and worsening economic crisis.
The ECB head said that the current position was in line with medium term price stability, and the expected upswing later this year could bring inflationary dangers.
This confirms our view that the pace of rate cuts will slow down. The euro fell to $1.30 in response to the announcement, and traders said, according to the FT, that the fall in the currency was due to the ECB not having done enough.
At an international conference in Paris held on January 8, French President Sarkozy lashed out against what he called "finance capitalism."
However, Sarkozy continued, the crisis of "finance capitalism" was not a crisis of capitalism itself. Anti-capitalism was a dead end, he declared, the negation of everything bound up with the idea of progress.
One had to morally shape capitalism and not destroy it. The task was to restore the balance between the state and the market.
But, the state whose influence Sarkozy intends to increase is the capitalist state. It defends the interests of big business, not those of working people.
By "return of the state" Sarkozy does not mean the subordination of private profit interests to the requirements of society as a whole. He intends to place French corporations under state protection in order to strengthen them in the conflict with the French working class and their international rivals.
It is truism that the world economy now stands at the crossroads, with a system that brought much prosperity to most parts of the world in the past two decades, namely the combination of laissez faire capitalism and globalization, being blamed for a bulk of the world's ills.
The colorful currency is printed by a nonprofit group to encourage people to spend close to home.
Customers who use the money also get a built-in 10% discount, since they can get 100 BerkShares for just $90 at local banks.
The BerkShares program is one of the most successful of its kind in the country, and it is attracting attention as other communities look for ways to insulate their economies from the deepening financial crisis.
No single element has tantalized and tormented the human imagination more than the shimmering metal known by the chemical symbol Au.
For thousands of years the desire to possess gold has driven people to extremes, fueling wars and conquests, girding empires and currencies, leveling mountains and forests.
Gold is not vital to human existence; it has, in fact, relatively few practical uses.
Yet its chief virtues — its unusual density and malleability along with its imperishable shine — have made it one of the world's most coveted commodities, a transcendent symbol of beauty, wealth, and immortality.
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Hegemony is the dominance of one group over other groups, with or without the threat of force, to the extent that, for instance, the dominant party can dictate the terms of trade to its advantage; more broadly, cultural perspectives become skewed to favor the dominant group.
A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals the shocking extent of how corrupt drug companies are.
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