κυριε, ελεησον

Tibet - China
China intensifies Tibet monasteries siege
Times Online - 1 hour ago
Beijing laid siege to at least three monasteries in Tibet today, leaving monks trapped with dwindling food supplies, as the biggest anti-Chinese demonstrations in nearly two decades intensified.
Video: Tibetan activists condemn Beijing Olympics - 13 Mar 08 AlJazeeraEnglish
China admits Tibet monk protests BBC News

Israel - Palestine
'Assassination planned against Salah'
Jerusalem Post - 58 minutes ago
By JPOST.COM STAFF Some 20 Kassam rockets hit the western Negev on Thursday, shattering a period of relative calm during which the IDF refrained from conducting operations in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian gunmen largely kept from launching attacks ...
Israeli Airstrike Hits Palestinian Rocket Launcher Voice of America
Warplanes, rockets end Gaza lull AFP

Iraq - Chaldean Catholic Church
Kidnapped Iraqi Archbishop Is Dead
New York Times - 1 hour ago
By ERICA GOODE BAGHDAD - The body of the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, Faraj Rahho, who was kidnapped by gunmen in Mosul in northern Iraq late last month as he drove home after afternoon Mass, was discovered Thursday in an area south of the ...
Archbishop's Body Found in Iraq The Associated Press
Chaldean archbishop kidnapped in Iraq found dead
AFP - 24 minutes ago
MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) — The body of a kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop was found in northern Iraq on Thursday, sparking outrage from Prime Minister Nuri ...

Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho
near St Peter's, Rome, November 2007
Photo from Associated Press

Chad - Sudan - Netherlands
Chad-Sudan hostility overshadows bid to revamp OIC
Reuters - 2 hours ago
By Alistair Thomson and Lamine Ghanmi DAKAR, March 13 (Reuters) - Leaders of the world's biggest Muslim body opened talks on Thursday to tackle difficult issues from poverty to hostility toward Islam, but those goals were quickly overshadowed by a ...
Netherlands criticized for doing little to stop "Islamophobia" Xinhua
Muslim leaders discuss Islamophobia Ynetnews


Greece
Greek tourist ship runs aground
BBC News - 1 hour ago
Greek authorities have begun evacuating a ship carrying 280 passengers, mostly tourists, which ran aground near the island of Poros, south of Athens.

United States
Bush Remarks on FISA
Washington Post - 1 hour ago
PRESIDENT BUSH : Last month House leaders declared that they needed 21 additional days to pass legislation giving our intelligence professionals the tools they need to protect America.
Bush threatens intelligence bill with veto Washington Times
Bush Warns House on Surveillance Bill New York Times

Pentagon seeks uniformity on taping interrogations
Reuters - 48 minutes ago
WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The US Defense Department is reviewing the practice of videotaping interrogations with the aim of developing a uniform policy on recording those sessions, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
Pentagon has no uniform policy on saving interrogation videotapes WOI
Pentagon Cites Tapes Showing Interrogations New York Times

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of war financiers; others, as usual, must suffer
US Stocks Tumble on Carlyle Fund's Default, Retail Sales
Bloomberg - 2 hours ago
By Eric Martin March 13 (Bloomberg) -- US stocks fell for a second day after the default of a Carlyle Group bond fund added to turbulence in financial markets, and an unexpected drop in retail sales signaled the economy has slid into a recession.
Affiliate of Carlyle Group nearing collapse Bizjournals.com
Carlyle Capital in default, on brink of collapse Reuters

Axis of Corporate Evil illustration from here

More on Carlyle Group here and here and here
More critical comments here and here

Iraq War- Iran
Petraeus Wins in Iraq Battle, Kills Iran War
Washington Post - 2 hours ago
The departure of Adm. William J. ("Fox") Fallon gives us a rare insight into a secret world of relationships between the highest-ranking general officers and their civilian masters.
Fallon vs. Petraeus Los Angeles Times
Speculation persists about Admiral Fallon's departure from Pentagon Christian Science Monitor

The WaPo article by William M. Arkin goes on to say:

In the end, Fallon ended up as an outlier on virtually every aspect of his portfolio: Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran. I argued yesterday that he was put into an impossible position -- theater commander but not really in charge, and at odds with the White House (though not necessarily with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates) over Iran. Eventually, in the words of one Pentagon official, Fallon became what is called a "hall walker," with less and less responsibility and little to do.

The scuttlebutt in the Pentagon, though, is that ultimately it wasn't just his dissent or his big mouth that sealed Fallon's fate. It was also that in this hyper-hierarchical world, where the supremacy of the "commander" is taken to almost fetishistic extremes, Fallon faced an untenable job: There was an officer under his command who effectively outranked him, one who had a direct pipeline to the president, and one who in his own imperious fantasy started the ball rolling to destroy his uncooperative boss.

The man most responsible for the departure of Fallon is Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, the savior of the war and the Bush administration with the surge, the counter-insurgency genius, the Washington-savvy Princeton grad, and a pretty boy called "King David" by many. His boss in the military is Fallon, commander of the Central Command, but from day one of his assignment to Iraq, Petraeus reported directly to the White House, thus circumventing the chain of command and virtually ignoring the views of his superior officer.

Rocket fire kills 3 US troops in Iraq
Boston Globe - 12 hours ago
BAGHDAD - A barrage of rockets targeting an American military base in southern Iraq yesterday killed three US soldiers, bringing to 12 the number of Americans killed in Iraq in the past three days. Just after 6 am, about four rockets crashed down on ...
3 US soldiers killed in rocket attack in Iraq Los Angeles Times
Five held after suicide bomb attack on US troops in Iraq AFP

Catholic Bishop - "Gay Lobby"
Bishop condemns 'gay war' on Christianity
Telegraph.co.uk - 3 hours ago
By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent A senior Roman Catholic bishop has launched a scathing attack on the "gay lobby", accusing homosexual campaigners of a "huge and well-orchestrated conspiracy" against Christian values.
Fury at bishop’s gay ‘persecution’ claim The Herald
Bishop accuses gays of 'conspiracy' against the Catholic Church Times Online

I think he's forgotten just who burned whom at the stake. When he faces death tied to a post with a bunch of flaming faggots, we can talk.

Mediterranean Union getting tepid response at EU
Merkel confía recabar apoyo de socios europeos a Unión por ...
Terra España - hace 3 horas
La canciller alemana, Angela Merkel, confió hoy en recabar el apoyo de los líderes europeos al proyecto de Unión por el Mediterráneo (UPM) impulsada por el presidente francés, Nicolás Sarkozy, y respaldada por Berlín. A su llegada a la reunión en la ...
La Unión Mediterránea de Sarkozy no entusiasma a la UE ABC
UE abre cumbre de Bruselas con tibio apoyo a "Unión Mediterránea ... AFP

La Commission européenne soutient l'Union méditerranéenne
Le Point - Publié depuis 1 heure
La Commission européenne présidée par José Manuel Barroso a apporté son soutien à l'Union pour la Méditerranée, un ralliement crucial avant la présentation du projet franco-allemand aux dirigeants européens réunis en sommet. ...
Union/Méditérranée: Merkel relativise Le Figaro
VU D'ALGÉRIE • Le Nord cogite, le Sud attend Courrier International

Latin America
Un desertor de las FARC cooperó en la muerte de "Ivan Ríos"
IBLNEWS - hace 19 minutos
Un desertor de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) cooperó para la muerte del dirigente de esa guerrilla "Ivan Ríos", según él número de la revista colombiana "Cambio" que salió hoy a la venta. El hombre de unos 35 años, ...
Más de 200 rebeldes de FARC fueron ejecutados por orden de jefe ... Unión Radio
'Iván Ríos' ordenó asesinar a más de 200 supuestos infiltrados en ... Terra España

OEA termina su misión en Colombia
El Universal (México) - hace 8 horas
BOGOTÁ (Agencias).— El secretario general de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), José Miguel Insulza, confió ayer que el informe que revelará la próxima semana sobre la incursión de efectivos colombianos a Ecuador pueda solucionar las ...
Confía OEA que informe solucionará diferencias entre Colombia y ... Milenio
Abierta OEA a recibir demanda por víctimas mexicanas El Financiero (México)

O Lord, I know not what to ask of thee; thou alone knowest what are my true needs. Thou lovest me more than I know how to love myself. Help me to see my real needs which are concealed from me. I dare not ask either a cross or consolation. I can only wait on thee. My heart is open to thee. Visit and help me for thy great mercy’s sake, strike me and heal me, cast me down and raise me up. I worship in silence thy holy will and thine inscrutable ways. I offer myself as a sacrifice to thee. I put all my trust in thee. I have no other desire than to fulfill thy will. Teach me how to pray, pray thou thyself in me. Amen.
—Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

--the BB