VATICAN - The scandal of divisions among Christian believers was one of the many themes discussed by bishops from around the world at the October Synod on new evangelisation. In their list of propositions presented to Pope Benedict at the conclusion of the three week encounter, the bishops stressed that seeking to overcome divisions between the different Christian Churches is an essential task as the message of the Gospel is to be a credible witness to men and women today. This week the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity is following up that theme with a plenary assembly focused on ‘The importance of Ecumenism for New Evangelisation’.

SRI LANKA - The Holy See (Vatican) alone among the 98 countries that made interventions during the recently concluded Sri Lanka’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group at the UNHCR in Geneva categorically highlighted the need for Sri Lanka to promote itself as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural country.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI granted a rare interview to the creators of a documentary in which he said that he is “convinced” that “there will also be a new springtime for Christianity” in Europe. “The challenge for Europe,” he asserted, is for its Christian soul “to find a shared expression in ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Churches” and then “encounter this abstract reason. In other words, it must accept and maintain the freedom of reason to criticize everything it can do and has done, but to practice this and give it concrete form on the foundations and in the context of the great values that Christianity has given us.”

UK - Fraser Nelson’s article about the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the Right Reverend Justin Welby, in the Telegraph last Friday, noted two aspects of our country that still remain in my mind. Referring to Bishop Welby’s predecessor, Rowan Williams, Nelson wrote, “Dr Williams has had to keep the Church alive in one of the least religious countries on earth.”

PORTUGAL - Following her visit to Greece a few weeks ago, Angela Merkel made her first official visit to crisis-plagued Portugal on Monday. With the trip, the German chancellor sought to bring a bit of hope to the struggling nation. But as in other Southern European countries, a weary public greeted her with angry protests. It didn't take long after her plane landed in Lisbon for it to become clear just how poorly some in Portugal regard Angela Merkel. "Hitler go home," read one banner held up by a man standing on the sidewalk as the German chancellor's motorcade passed by. A few meters further, a person waved a black flag and two others stretched their arms out to give the Hitler salute.

USA - It is becoming a growing form of protest over the outcome of the Presidential Election; people flying the American Flag upside down. But now those protests are sparking a protest of their own.

On rooftops or front porches, our flag is displayed as a symbol of our national pride. Larry Guerrieri fought beneath the flag in Vietnam, but outside his Dorseyville home Thursday it was flying upside down.“That’s a sign of distress; this country is in distress right now,” said Guerrieri. “The flag is flown upside down in times of distress,” said Clark Rogers, the acting director of the National Flag Foundation. Whether you agree with the sentiment or not it is protected as free speech by the Constitution.

USA - Houston, we have a problem: more than 70,000 people have signed a petition on the website of the White House asking for Texas to secede from the United States. Less than a day after RT first reported that a petition demanding the secession of The Lone Star State from the US was on track to cross the 25,000 signature threshold to warrant an official response, the tally of people requesting the speedy removal of Texas from the United States tripled, going from 21,777 signees to 72,861 in under 24 hours. The next step, according to a guide posted on the executive office’s website, will be a full review followed by a response.

USA - Residents from 20 states have filed petitions with the White House to secede from the country. Louisiana became the first of the 50 united states that managed to collect enough signatures to have their petition for secession added to the White House’s website last week, and so far they’ve had no problem finding company. A petition asking for the government to “Peacefully grant the State of Louisiana to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government” garnered more than 14,000 signatures since going live on November 7, and so far 19 other states have managed to attract similar success.

HOLLAND - Say goodbye to online service providers protecting the identities of their users. With just a bit of begging, a Texas-based intelligence firm succeeded in convincing Skype to send over sensitive account data pertaining to a teenage WikiLeaks fan. Reports out of Amsterdam this week suggest that Microsoft-owned Skype didn’t wait for a court order or warrant with a judge’s signature before it handed over the personal info of a 16-year-old Dutch boy. The youngster was suspected of being involved in Operation Payback, an Anonymous-endorsed initiative that targeted the servers of PayPal, Visa, Mastercard and others after those companies blocked WikiLeaks from receiving online payment back in December 2010.

GERMANY - Right-wing extremist attitudes are on the rise in parts of Germany, particularly in the east, according to a study released on Monday. Young people appear to be at the highest risk, the researchers warn. They are calling for greater social engagement and educational programs to combat the problem of xenophobia. As Germany continues to grapple with the fallout of the discovery of the murderous far-right terrorist group the National Socialist Underground (NSU), researchers have come to the "unsettling" conclusion that right-wing extremist thought has increased in the country.

ISRAEL - Israeli forces say they have fired warning shots into Syria after a mortar round fired from Syria hit an Israeli post in the Golan Heights. It is the first time that Israel has fired on Syrian forces since the Middle East war of 1973. The latest incident comes days after Israeli troops were put on high alert after a vehicle was hit by Syrian fire in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The two countries are formally at war and a UN force patrols the buffer zone.

UK - London can expect to lose its crown as the leading global centre for high finance this year amid a barrage of City job cuts, falling bonuses and competition from rival hubs led by New York, Hong Kong and Singapore, according to a study. By 2015 the explosion in jobs in Hong Kong will have pushed the Square Mile into third place on a league table of international financial centres, says the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). The CEBR also had more immediate bad news for London's bankers, suggesting combined City bonus pools are likely to slip to £4.4 billion this year, down from £6.75 billion for 2011 and £11.56 billion in 2008.

USA - Sandy victims hit out after being forced to spend 12 days without power. An estimated 300 residents in Hicksville, Long Island, took to the street on Saturday, protesting the Long Island Power Authority for ongoing power outages. There are still over a quarter million New York customers without power. Early on Saturday more than 500 people lined up in Far Rockaway with empty fuel cans.

USA - A Texas megachurch pastor recently claimed that President Barack Obama's re-election victory would lead to the rise of the Antichrist. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at the First Baptist Church in Dallas, made remarks on Sunday before the election that should [Mr] Obama win, his victory would lead to the reign of the Antichrist. "I want you to hear me tonight, I am not saying that President Obama is the Antichrist, I am not saying that at all. One reason I know he's not the Antichrist is the Antichrist is going to have much higher poll numbers when he comes," said Jeffress. "President Obama is not the Antichrist. But what I am saying is this: the course he is choosing to lead our nation is paving the way for the future reign of the Antichrist."

USA - Gun sales in America are soaring in the wake of President Barack Obama's re-election with weapons retailers reporting AK-47s flying off shelves "like hotcakes." Owners of guns have been stocking up because they are concerned about a potential tightening of regulations on assault weapons in the president's second term. Mel Bernstein, owner of Dragonman Arms in Colorado Springs, told KOAA-TV that sales of semi-automatic weapons had boomed in recent days. He said: "We're going from normally six to eight guns a day, to 25. I stocked up, I got a stockpile of these AK-47s, we're selling these like hot cakes. Luckily I had an idea of what was going on because it happened with [Mr] Clinton."