In the News
WORLD
MUNICH, Germany- Pope Benedict XVI rebuked his fellow Germans and other Western societies Sunday, saying they often shut their ears to the Christian message and insisting that the modern world’s science and technology alone cannot combat AIDS and other social ills.
WORLD
MUNICH, Germany- Pope Benedict XVI rebuked his fellow Germans and other Western societies Sunday, saying they often shut their ears to the Christian message and insisting that the modern world’s science and technology alone cannot combat AIDS and other social ills.
Addressing 250,000 pilgrims at an open air mass, Benedict said modern people suffer from “hardness of hearing” when it comes to God and complained that “mockery of the sacred” is viewed as an exercise in freedom.
He said faith must come first if social problems like the AIDS epidemic in Africa are to be solved.
“Hearts must be converted if progress is to be made on social issues and reconciliation is to begin, and if, for example, AIDS is to be combated by realistically facing its deeper causes,” Benedict said.
The message was consistent with church teaching that sexual abstinence and faithfulness to one’s spouse – not condoms – are the best way to fight
the disease.
The need for Western Europe to return to its Christian roots is one of Benedict’s favorite themes. Benedict criticized the German church for putting social service projects and technical assistance to the poor ahead of spreading the Christian message.
CHULABHORN NAVAL BASE, Thailand – The Chulabhorn naval base, on the Gulf of Thailand in Narathiwat province, opened its heavily guarded gates on a recent Sunday to a training course for 100 public school teachers, mostly Buddhist men and women who say bringing a gun to school has become essential.
More than 1,700 people have been killed across Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat-the only Muslim-majority provinces in this otherwise peaceful, tourist-friendly Buddhist country.
Among them was a teacher gunned down at his blackboard in July as his 4th graders watched in shock, and a Buddhist art teacher clubbed by a village mob in May until her skull shattered.
Teachers may be targets, officials say, because they are symbols of the central government’s authority, and militants want send the message that only Islamic schools are safe. They may also be taken hostage to be traded for
captured insurgents.
Srisompob Jitipirmosri, a political science professor at Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani province who tracks the violence, said his studies show that nearly 300 schools and teachers have been targeted.
NATIONAL
TAMPA, Fla.- A magnitude 6.0 earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico sent shock waves through an area from Louisiana to southwest Florida on Sunday, but no damage was reported, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The earthquake, centered about 260 miles southwest of Tampa, was too small to trigger a tsunami or dangerous waves, the agency said. The USGS received almost 1,600 reports from people who felt the 10:56 a.m. temblor.
Florida counties along the Gulf of Mexico called the state emergency operations center with reports of tremors, spokesman Mike Stone said. Gov. Jeb Bush was informed of the situation, Stone said.
The epicenter is an unusual location for earthquake activity, but scientists recorded a magnitude 5.2 temblor in the same location on Feb. 10.
STATE & LOCAL
RICHMOND – Nancy Reagan on Friday told Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb, a former Reagan White House military aide, not to use video of her husband praising Webb in a campaign ad.
A three-paragraph letter from the former first lady’s office said using footage of President Reagan is “neither authorized nor appropriate.”
The ad Webb intends to begin televising today features Reagan praising Webb-then an assistant secretary of defense-during the 1985 U.S. Naval Academy commencement.
“James’ gallantry as a Marine in Vietnam won him the Navy Cross and other decorations,” Reagan says on the video.
By invoking the ultimate Republican hero, the ad sends a powerful sentimental message directly to independent, moderate and conservative voters vital to Sen. George Allen’s success. Interspersed with the Reagan video are black-and-white photos of Webb on combat duty in Vietnam, as a Naval Academy cadet and shaking hands with Reagan himself.