Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
On Thursday, in the Grotto of the Annunciation located in Nazareth's Basilica of the Annunciation, Pope Benedict XVI presided at Vespers.
"The wonder of the Incarnation continues to challenge us to open up our understanding to the limitless possibilities of God's transforming power, of His love for us, His desire to be united with us".
(Wiki: INCARNATION)
The pope's visit to the Holy Land adds another public-relations disaster to the string that already exists. Why should this be?
Pope Benedict has ended an 8-day tour of the Holy Land.
The BBC's Middle East Editor assesses from Jerusalem what has been a highly eventful visit.
(And: B16's TRIP WAS A SUCCESS)
While several prominent conservative Catholics in this country are apoplectic over the University of Notre Dame's invitation of the pro-choice Barack Obama to give the school's commencement address, the Vatican has stayed completely silent on the matter.
(And: BISHOP ADDRESSES SITUATION)
A German court has ordered the country's far-right National Democratic Party to pay a 1.27 million euro fine for accounting irregularities, rejecting an appeal by the extremist neo-Nazi group.
One single short article in the Wall Street Journal that merely acknowledges this weekend's Bilderberg Group meeting in Athens is the only US media coverage of a confab involving around 150 of the globe's most influential movers and shakers.
Back to the future...
Italy has sanctioned the creation of vigilante patrols for the first time since Benito Mussolini's notorious Blackshirt volunteer militia.
A new law gives an official stamp of approval to vigilante groups that have sprung up in several Italian cities, especially in the northern strongholds of the Right-wing, anti-immigrant Northern League.
Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, is poised to become a key figure in the creation of a new far-right group in the European Parliament.
Fears are growing he will be at the centre of a wave of victories in next month's elections that would give nationalist parties a firm foothold in Europe.
A week chock full of summits with countries beyond the European Union – China, Russia and Korea - kicks off on Monday with a meeting of the bloc's foreign, defence and development ministers.
Russian natural gas giant Gazprom has signed deals with companies from 4 European nations, paving the way for a new natural gas pipeline that sidesteps the Ukraine and worries Brussels.
Of all the countries lining up to get under the United States' protective shield in the NATO alliance, Ukraine is the most important for the United States and Russia.
Right on Russia's border, Ukraine's admission to a hostile alliance could permanently cripple US relations with Russia.
The admission of Ukraine is not in the interests of Russia, the US, or, surprisingly, even Ukraine.
Along with the US grab for influence over Caspian Sea oil and gas pipelines and the proposed installation of missile-defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic, the admission of Ukraine would naturally make Russia feel encircled.
Turkey's President has urged Israel to resume peace talks with Syria as Tel Aviv says it will not return the occupied Golan Heights to Syria.
Barack Obama plans to ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze Jewish settlements in the disputed West Bank during their first White House meeting Monday, US officials said, potentially setting up a confrontation between Obama and a close US ally.
While it isn't known how hard Obama will press the point or the precise outlines of his request, but by raising the settlements issue now, he's wading into one of the most sensitive areas of US-Israeli relations — one that's confounded many of his predecessors.
As Iran finds itself locked in an escalating cold war-style conflict with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations, the quietly influential Sultanate of Oman has accelerated its cooperation with Tehran, nurturing an alliance that helps empower Iran while highlighting the deep divisions among Arab capitals.
India's Prime Minister has told Barack Obama that nuclear sites in Pakistan's restive frontier province are "already partly" in the hands of Islamic extremists, an Israeli journal has said.
Sudan Friday accused its neighbor Chad of launching 2 bombing raids on its territory, describing the attacks as "an act of war."
The accusation comes a week after Chad said Sudan sent rebel forces over its border, raising fears of the collapse of a recent peace deal.
Nigeria's rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) on Friday declared "all-out war" in the country's southern oil-producing region after clashes with the security forces.
The announcement was coupled with a new warning to foreign oil producers to pull out of the region by midnight or risk being caught up in increasing violence.
Ahead of his Monday meeting with Obama, the Israeli prime minister wants to make Iran's nuclear ambitions the focus of regional diplomacy.
Many Middle East analysts say Netanyahu's focus on Iran may be an attempt to divert attention from the peace process.
The Israeli Air Force is training against warplanes in service with Arab nations and Iran amid worries in the White House that Tel Aviv would start a war without US consent.
An Ohio State University associate professor who includes election law among his specialties says there is a logical legal strategy to convince the US Supreme Court to rule on the issue of Barack Obama's eligibility to be president.
I've said it all along. Sooner or later, the truth is going to come out about Barack Obama's eligibility – or ineligibility – to serve as president.
The theme running through all of this is Obama's struggle to balance a set of liberal campaign promises with the priorities as a commander-in-chief who has inherited 2 wars from the Bush Administration.
The danger is that the smoke over security issues will consume all the oxygen needed for Mr Obama's legislative agenda.
(Analysis: LEADING BY 2ND THOUGHT)
Andrew Bacevich has written a powerful but flawed criticism of American foreign policy.
Both an academic historian and a professional soldier, he is exceptionally qualified to undertake such a critique.
HERSH ON CHENEY'S ASS-WING (Video)
Pulitzer prize-winning American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh recently said that Dick Cheney headed a secret assassination wing that targeted America's enemies abroad.
Gulf News catches up with Hersh on his trip to Dubai for the Arab Media Forum to ask about those revelations.
Celebrities and everymans are the pundits of choice for the GOP. Is it any wonder Republicans are in total chaos?
As California ceases to function like a sensible state, a new constitution looks both necessary and likely.
Without the 10th Amendment, or rather the clear allocation of powers it reaffirms, the Constitution can guarantee nothing but it's own eventual demise.
The very recent revival of the 10th Amendment on both popular and political landscapes has underscored the ever-present demarcation between liberty and statism.
So how does the American central government feel about secession? They like it as long as it is happening to other nations.
Doh!...
Things go missing. It's to be expected. Even at the Pentagon.
But what's truly chilling is the fact that the Pentagon has lost track of the mother of all weapons: a hydrogen bomb.
The weapon has been sitting somewhere off the coast of Savannah, Georgia for the past 40 years.
The Air Force has gone to greater lengths to conceal the mishap than to locate the bomb and secure it.
Deep in the Gulf of Mexico, an end to the 1962 US trade embargo against Cuba may be lying untapped, buried under layers of rock, seawater and bitter relations.
Oil, up to 20 billion barrels of it, sits off Cuba's northwest coast in territorial waters, according to the Cuban government -- enough to turn the island into the Qatar of the Caribbean.
Relations between Obama and US corporate leaders have grown tense in recent weeks, with business groups bristling over his sharp rebukes of lenders and multinational companies in particular.
On Wednesday, the Obama administration fired a shot across the bow of lobbyists — and their friends in Congress — who have been guarding against regulation of derivatives, the financial instruments at the center of the financial crisis.
In a brief letter, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner suggested how new laws might help regulators oversee this $600 trillion shadow market.
There is no single big remedy for the banks' flaws. But better rules — and more capital—could help.
The declaration was made as it emerged that Germany's economy has now suffered a worse "lost decade" than Japan and is deeper in recession than any other major economy.
On a day of dismal news for the European economy, official figures also showed that Italy, Austria, Spain and the Netherlands are facing their biggest combined slump in post-war history, sparking warnings about the potential for social unrest throughout Europe.
A growing number of so-called "economic survivalists" are convinced that when oil supply wanes, the world will head for calamity; governments and the global economy will dissolve into chaos and collapse, the group believes, changing life as we know it.
[CFR Opinion Roundup][Newseum][Global Incident Map][Earthweek][Day-Night Map][Tonight's Sky][Moon phase]
A BLONDE OUT OF GAS! (Pics)
In case you had not realized it yet, according to the Christian calendar, we are living in the third millennium.
We have been doing so for some 10 years.
[WAR: According to the Gregorian (papal/pagan) Calendar, this is the year 2009.
But according to the Ethiopian Calendar, this is only the year 2001.
So which one is right -- or at least most correct?
If I had to bet my life on it, I'd chose the Ethiopian one -- considering the vital links between Israel/Judah and ancient Ethiopia.]
Israel razed their ancestral village 56 years ago, but some Christians are determined to preserve its heritage by keeping alive the language that Jesus spoke.
The children get free lessons in Aramaic, an ancient tongue spoken during the time of Jesus Christ and kept alive down the centuries by fellow Maronites.
(And: HISTORY OF ARAMAIC)
"In the 1st month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the 14th day until the evening of the 21st day."(Exo 12:16,18 / 13:6 / Lev 23:8)
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