Yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights published a judgment in the important case of Fernandez-Martínez c. Espagne (application no 56030/07) in which it concluded by six votes to one that “the choice of the bishop not to renew the contract of a teacher who is a married priest and activist of the Pro-Optional Celibacy Movement comes under the principle of religious freedom, as protected by the Convention”.

The ECLJ intervened in this case as intervening party (amicus curiae) and as legal representative of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, who also intervened in the case. Grégor Puppinck, Director of the ECLJ, greets a significant victory for the freedom of the Church. He rejoices that the Court has strongly and clearly stated the principle of the freedom and autonomy of the Church. This judgment reflects the reasoning of the ECLJ in its written observations of 20 October 2011.

This case questioned the freedom of the Church to withdraw its agreement from a Catholic religion teacher for religious reasons, while the material causes of the withdrawal (marriage and positions taken in the press) enjoy human rights protection, especially the right to respect for private and family life and the right to freedom of expression.

More generally, and as a conclusion, one may rejoice for the freedom of the Church and the protection of the fundamental rights that THE COURT CLEARLY RECOGNISED ITS INCOMPETENCE TO RULE ON THE COGENCY OF A RELIGIOUS DECISION. Human rights are more and more presented as arbiters in the conflicts between religion and culture. Many expect human rights to condemn the position of Christian Churches on issues such as respect for life and family, respect for conscience and moral law, marriage of priests, homosexuality, abortion, divorce etc. This judgment constitutes an important step for the recognition and respect for the freedom of the Church in Europe, within and facing the civil society.

At first it was believed that only honeybees were affected, but then bumblebee populations began to decline. The crisis was eventually given a name: Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD.

CCD is Not a Disease.

There were initially several theories about the cause of CCDE, including Varroa mites, cell phone radiation and a virus similar to AIDS. However, it has now been proven that the bee deaths are actually the result of poisoning from two known pesticides called clothianidin and imidacloprid – manufactured by Bayer. The trade name for clothianidin is Poncho. The trade names for imidacloprid include Gaucho, Admire, Advantage, Merit, Amigo, Premise, Prothor, and Winner.

Why are They Used?

One of our most important crops is corn. But corn has an enemy called diabrotica vergifera vergifera – also known as the “root worm.” It burrows into the roots of the corn plant and causes the plant to wither and eventually die. Major infestations can wipe-out entire crops.

As bad as it sounds, the root worm problem can actually be addressed quite easily with the practice of CROP ROTATION. The larvae must feed on corn roots to survive and cannot travel more than 10 to 20 inches if hatched in a field rotated out of corn. However, rotating a field out of corn can result in LOWER FARM PROFITABILITY if there is less demand for the alternate crop. So in 2003, Bayer Pharmaceutical introduced two pesticides, classified as neonicotinoids, to combat root worms and capitalize on increased farm profits. These pesticides are now two of Bayer’s top agricultural products – even though profits are at the expense of a keystone species.

Read article:- http://www.blacklistednews.com/Bayer_CropScience_and_Bee_Deaths/19574/0/38/38/Y/M.html

The development raises the prospect of already heavily indebted eurozone national governments being forced to take on hundreds of billions of euros of additional debts. “Cracks are appearing in the funding markets for these institutions. If you don’t like the sovereign risk, why would you take the risk of buying the debt of the institutions they support,” said one credit banker.

In France, the authorities are racing to avoid having to rescue Caisse Centrale du Credit Immobilier (3CIF) after Moody’s downgraded the mortgage lender last week, warning it could become totally reliant on taxpayer support within months. The lender is one of France’s largest mortgage providers and is owned by a collection of local authorities and mutuals, giving it implicit government support.

But the troubles at 3CIF are seen as evidence of far wider problems that are likely to face a range of quasi-government borrowers across Europe, as investors become more nervous about exposing themselves to the risk of a break-up of the euro area.

The Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohammed Morsi, an American-educated professor of engineering, this weekend called for the release of Omar Abdulrahman, the Egyptian so-called “blind Sheikh” jailed for life in America for incitement to terrorism.

Wednesday’s election to replace Hosni Mubarak and the interim military government has gripped the country, with thousands enthusiastically attending rallies across the country. It has also highlighted the paradox that, according to a recent opinion survey, most Egyptians both favour Turkish-style multiparty democracy and Saudi Arabia’s strict implementation of Sharia law.

Pope Benedict XVI has already appointed a commission of cardinals to investigate the “Vatileaks” scandal. It erupted earlier this year with the publication of leaked memos alleging corruption and mismanagement in Holy See affairs and internal squabbles over its efforts to comply with international anti-money-laundering norms.

The publication Saturday of “His Holiness” by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, added fuel to the fire, reproducing confidential letters and memos to and from Pope Benedict and his personal secretary which, according to the Vatican, violated the pope's right to privacy. Vatican spokesman Reverend Federico Lombardi said in a statement Saturday the book was an “objectively defamatory” work that “clearly assumes characters of a criminal act.” He warned the Holy See would get to the bottom of who “stole” the documents, who received them and who published them. He warned the Holy See would seek international cooperation in its quest for justice, presumably with Italian magistrates.

The Vatican had already warned of legal action against Nuzzi after he published letters in January from the former second-highest Vatican administrator to the pope. In those letters the administrator begged not to be transferred for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions of euros in higher contract prices. The prelate, Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano, is now the Vatican's US ambassador.

Nuzzi, author of Vatican SpA, a 2009 volume laying out shady dealings of the Vatican Bank based on leaked documents, said he was approached by sources inside the Vatican with the trove of new documents. Most of them are of fairly recent vintage and many of them painting the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in a negative light.

Sheikh Yousef Ideis, head of the Palestinian Territory's Muslim Sharia court, called on Palestinians to flood the Temple Mount on Sunday, which is a highly revered location for both Jews and Muslims, in order to be present should Jewish "fanatics decide to break into it," according to WAFA.

Police in Jerusalem announced this week that the annual Dance of Flags in honor of the national holiday - which marks the capture and unification of Jerusalem following the 1967 Six-Day War - will not pass through east Jerusalem or the Muslim Quarter due to disruptions during last year's march.

The parade, which in 2011 attracted up to 40,000 people and features live music and floats, will snake its way from King George Street in downtown Jeruaslem to Argon to the Old City, remaining in mostly Jewish-populated areas. Last year, 24 people - the majority of them Jewish - were arrested and three wounded by flying rocks as Palestinians and Jews clashed during the parade.

Diplomatic sources said that Mr Hollande plans to: withdraw French troops from Afghanistan long before the British plan to leave; abandon his predecessor Mr Sarkozy’s support for Mr Cameron’s demands to freeze the European Union budget; and push for a Europe-wide financial transaction tax, which will hit the City of London most severely.

Other points on Mr Hollande's agenda include launching a fresh bid to end Britain’s EU budget rebate, won by Margaret Thatcher, and fighting harder to protect France’s Common Agricultural Policy payments.

He plans to promote wider EU defence co-operation, INCLUDING THE PROSPECT OF A EURO ARMY LONG RESISTED BY BRITAIN, and will also argue that EU countries should abandon austerity measures to boost growth. Mr Cameron and Mr Hollande will meet in Washington today ahead of the G8 summit at Camp David and a Nato summit in Chicago this weekend.

News of the nuclear-capable ballistic missile launch broke on the Pakistani-based Geo News Saturday, Pakistan Defense reports. Nasr, the Arabic word for “victory’, is a Battlefield Range Ballistic Missile (BRBM) that uses the solid fuel propellant system. It has an effective operation range of up to 110 miles and is capable of being armed with both nuclear and conventional high-explosive warheads.

The Pakistani military says the next generation system was specially designed to quickly react to a variety of threats. Earlier this month, the Pakistani military announced the launch of the Hatf III Ghaznavi Short-Range Ballistic missile at an annual field training exercise by the Army Strategic Force Command. The Hatf III has a range of 180 miles.

And on April 25th, Pakistan launched a Shaheen-1A intermediate-ranged missile in response to its sworn enemy India’s Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test. After a series of four or five more tests, the Agni-V will join India’s military arsenal before 2015. Currently, only the United States, Russia, China, France and the UK possess operational intercontinental ballistic missiles. Fearing India’s increased military capability, the Pakistani Shaheen-1A covered upwards of 2,500 miles when fired over the Indian Ocean last month, making any target within India within striking distance.

The Miami-based center said Alberto was centered about 105 miles (170 kms) southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, at 2 am EDT and moving toward the southwest near 6 mph (9 kph). It added that a tropical storm watch continued for South Carolina from the Savannah River to the South Santee River. Forecasters have advised coastal interests from Georgia to North Carolina's Outer Banks to track the storm, citing the potential for dangerous surf.

The 2 am EDT Sunday advisory said Alberto, meanwhile, was expected to turn toward the west-northwest later in the day and then head to the north and northeast sometime Monday. Little change in strength was forecast over the coming 48 hours, the center added, noting the maximum sustained winds were at 50 mph (85 kph) with higher gusts. Forecasters added that tropical storm force winds extended about 45 miles (75 km) out from the center of Alberto.

The officials say the three victims died when the buildings they were working in overnight collapsed. Italian TV showed damaged factories and church steeples in the region. Aftershocks have been reported. Rescue teams are now combing the area amid reports that a number of people may be buried under rubble.

The earthquake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 10km just after 0400 local time (0200 GMT). Northern Italy is frequently rocked by minor earthquakes, but the country is well-prepared to deal with them, the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome reports. The last major quake to hit the country killed nearly 300 people in the central town of L'Aquila in 2009.

A quadrillion is a big number: 1,000 times a trillion. Yet according to one of the world's leading derivatives experts, Paul Wilmott, who holds a doctorate in applied mathematics from Oxford University (and whose speaking voice sounds eerily like John Lennon's), $1.2 quadrillion is the so-called notional value of the worldwide derivatives market. To put that in perspective, the world's annual gross domestic product is between $50 trillion and $60 trillion.

To understand the concept of "notional value," it's useful to have an example. Let's say you borrow $1 million to buy an apartment and the interest rate on that loan gets reset every six months. Meanwhile, you turn around and rent that apartment out at a monthly fixed rate. If all your expenses including interest are less than the rent, you make money. But if the interest and expenses get bigger than the rent, you lose.

Britain’s biggest companies lost about £18 billion of their value, with the FTSE 100 tumbling 70.8 points to 5267.6. Lloyds fell 1¾p to 26p, RBS 1p to 20p and Barclays 5¾p to 176p. Oil prices dropped on concerns that a Greek exit will spark a slump in demand, while the pound and the euro slid against the dollar.

Concerns were sparked by savers pulling money out of banks in Greece, Spain and other countries on Europe’s periphery on fears their deposits will be devalued if their countries were forced out of the euro. ANY MOVE TOWARDS A BREAK-UP WILL BE PRECEDED BY RULES STOPPING DEPOSITORS FROM WITHDRAWING THEIR MONEY. M&G analyst Mike Riddell said deposit flight was a “rational response to the perceived increase in the risk of the single currency disintegrating”, and was “exceptionally worrying”.

The news follows comments by the EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht claiming that the European Commission and the European Central Bank were working on an emergency scenario for a Greek exit from the euro. He told the De Standaard newspaper: "A year and a half ago there may have been the danger of a domino effect. But today there are, both within the European Central Bank and the European Commission, services that are working on emergency scenarios in case Greece doesn't make it.”

It is the first time an EU official has confirmed the existence of contingency plans. The threat of a Greek exit intensified yesterday after a ratings agency further downgraded the economy from -B rating to CCC. The statement from the agency Fitch read: "The downgrade of Greece's sovereign ratings reflects the heightened risk that Greece may not be able to sustain its membership of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)."

In addition to its acute financial woes, Greece has entered a protracted political crisis after elections on May 6 left no party with enough seats in parliament to govern alone, and nine days of hectic talks failed to reach a coalition deal.

Either way, our single largest trading partner being in crisis creates practical difficulties for British businesses trying to sell goods and services to Europe. It affects orders, investment, profits, growth and jobs in the UK. There is some good news. British banks are not directly overly exposed to stricken Greece, unlike the French and German banks and governments who lent far too much. The Treasury took precautions last year and asked UK banks to reduce their exposure.

Britain also retains its own currency and our trade outside the EU is showing serious signs of improvement. During the crisis the pound has also recovered, making this a good year to holiday in Europe. Against a backdrop of gridlocked negotiations, and with evidence of runs on some banks in the eurozone, it looks as though it is all but over for Greece in the euro. In European capitals, contingency planning is under way.

If Greek withdrawal happens, and that could be within days, it will be very sudden. An emergency government in Athens will have to relaunch the drachma and probably impose something close to martial law to keep order. The real difficulty for Britain comes if there is then contagion, with panic spreading to bigger European countries such as Spain and Italy, which are also struggling with debts and uncompetitive economies. If that cannot be contained, expect the return of the “credit crunch” across Europe, which would make banking difficult, freeze trade and deepen Britain’s recession.

A summit of the G8 leading industrialized nations came down solidly in favor of a push to balance European austerity - an approach long driven by German Chancellor Angela Merkel - with a dose of US-style stimulus seen as vital to healing ailing euro-zone economies.

"We commit to take all necessary steps to strengthen and reinvigorate our economies and combat financial stresses, recognizing that the right measures are not the same for each of us," leaders said in a bold statement issued at their meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

The message sent by the summit hosted by President Barack Obama reflected his own concerns that the euro-zone contagion, which threatens the future of Europe's 17-country single currency bloc, could hurt the fragile US recovery and his own re-election chances in November. In their final economic communique, the Group of Eight leaders welcomed discussions in Europe to broaden the focus to more pro-growth remedies and said: "We reaffirm our interest in Greece remaining in the euro zone while respecting its commitments."