Dispel the Illusion

MI5 and MI6 could be forced to share their intelligence with the rest of Europe under new proposals from the EU. Under the plans, seen by the Daily Telegraph, all countries would feed secret information into a central intelligence unit so that any member state can use it. But the proposals risk hard won intelligence gathered by British agents being leaked by less scrupulous security services, particularly in the former Communist states of Eastern Europe.

Union workers and officials at a Tyson Foods plant in Tennessee said Friday they have agreed to reinstate Labor Day as a paid holiday, and the plant will also observe the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr this year. Tyson had previously agreed to drop Labor Day and substitute the Muslim holiday as part of a new 5-year contract to accommodate Muslim workers at the plant in Shelbyville, which is about 50 miles south of Nashville. The decision sparked widespread criticism, from local politicians to talk radio to the Internet.

UPWARDS OF 150,000 people are expected to take part in this year's novena at the Marian Shrine in Knock, Co Mayo, which begins next week. The 31st national solemn novena begins on Thursday, August 14th, and continues until August 22nd. The theme of the novena is "the creed that is dear to the Church".

Victoria Gordon Campbell's B. C. Liberal government has approved massive pay raises for public service executives. As of Aug. 1, the deputy minister to the premier qualifies for a $100,000 raise, with the maximum salary in that position going to $348,600 from $243,936. Other deputy ministers qualify for close to a $77,000 raise, with the new maximum for that position rising to $299,215.

The tumour in Debbie Trelenberg's abdomen was so large she was unable to fasten her jeans. She feared the mass might rupture – a sentiment shared by her family doctor – but an operation to remove it in Edmonton was nearly four weeks away. So Ms. Trelenberg packed a bag, put on sweatpants and headed to the United States. A grain farmer near Leduc, Alta., south of Edmonton, she paid $78,000 – money borrowed from her mother – for treatment that included surgery and a hospital stay in Amarillo, Tex., around this time last year.

China has been making progress in building a vibrant, modern society, but inevitably it still has to cope with massive problems left by its turbulent past. Still, that progress is clearly remarkable by any standard. China has raised more people out of poverty than any nation has ever done, and it is deeply committed to its objective of ensuring that those who have been left behind are able to participate in the benefits of its dynamic economy.

Mayor Tom Barrett promised Monday to try to help a disabled man after the city foreclosed on his house to collect fines that resulted from a $50 parking citation, but the mayor stopped short of saying the city would drop its pursuit of the $245,000 house. It's before the courts right now," Barrett said.

A California abortion practitioner was arrested on Saturday after allegedly assaulting a pro-life advocate who wanted to take pictures of him. The incident involves abortion practitioner Howard Pfupajena, who went to work at the Clinica Medica Para La Mujer abortion center that has been in trouble with the law. The pro-life advocate, a man named Tim who doesn't want his full name released to the public, was first shoved, then battered, punched and choked by Pfupajena as he attempted to take photographs of him.

China has made headlines in its efforts to clean smog from Beijing's Olympic skies, but word is leaking out that the government is also making efforts to clean Christians out of the streets as the games draw near. "There's been a dramatic rise in cases of persecution that we've seen in the months leading up to the Olympics," a staff writer for China Aid Association, Daniel Burton, told WND. "We've received reports that the government wants to eradicate the house church before the start of the Olympics."

Marriage gets little respect on network TV shows that instead revel in the pleasures of extramarital and even kinky sex, according to a study released Tuesday. The study by the Parents Television Council includes a strongly worded condemnation of prime-time TV, contending it "seems to be actively seeking to undermine marriage by consistently painting it in a negative light.” Even more troubling, according to the watchdog group, is what it characterized as TV's recent obsession with what it termed "outre" or bizarre behavior, including partner swapping and pedophilia.

Rwanda has accused France of playing an active role in the genocide of 1994, in which about 800,000 people were killed. A justice ministry report said France was aware of preparations for the genocide and helped train the ethnic Hutu militia perpetrators. The report also accused French troops of direct involvement in the killings. It named 33 senior French military and political figures that it said should be prosecuted. France has previously denied any such responsibility.

A Montreal hospital will look into complaints a 21-year-old pregnant woman was twice refused admission over the weekend, and as a result had to give birth to her baby in the bathroom of her apartment. Tracy Alphonse claims she was turned away from the St. Mary's Hospital Centre Friday even though her doctor warned her a Cesarean section might be required. When she returned by ambulance after her water broke Saturday, she claims she was again sent home by someone on duty who told her not to be overly concerned.

The Church's teaching, which insists on sexual abstinence outside marriage and lifelong, mutual fidelity within marriage, is indeed scientifically valid and has offered evidence-based proof that people who observe such behavior have been able to prevent the spread of HIV. Studies in countries where the HIV prevalence rate has been decreased in recent years, such as Uganda, Kenya, and Thailand, indicate that people in these countries were more disposed to reduce the number of their sexual partners and/or to delay the onset of sexual activity than to adopt the use of condoms.

Gilbert noted gay and bisexual men are at increased risk of anal cancer caused by HPV ... He noted the number of gay and bisexual men diagnosed with HIV and syphilis is increasing annually in Metro Vancouver ... Gay men with HIV or AIDS will often seek out men with the same health status for sex, said Gilbert. But because they're having unprotected sex, other sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis and hepatitis C can still be passed on.

The prominent scientist Richard Dawkins has been denounced as a "secularist bigot" by a philosopher who was himself once renowned for being an atheist. He is accused by Prof Antony Flew of being more interested in promoting his personal views than finding the truth, in the latest controversy over his best-selling book The God Delusion. Prof Dawkins, professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, is also said to have "scandalously" selected particular quotes from Einstein to back up his claims that God does not exist and that people who believe in a divine creator despite an abundance of contradictory evidence are delusional.

The Olympic Games have become the occasion for a broad crackdown against dissidents, gadflies and malcontents this summer. Although human rights activists say they have no accurate estimate of how many people have been imprisoned, they believe the figure to be in the thousands.

As the amount spent on political and issue advertising creeps toward $800 million, and the average weekly spending now more than $23 million ($10 million more than the same time in 2004), we appear well on the way to set new records for political and issue ad spending in Campaign 2008.

Sexuality and procreation, when linked in marriage, are dual facets of that great and fulfilling good, and both perfect the lives of married persons. At the same time, they come with significant responsibilities, as all goods do: the virtue of chastity, marital and extra-marital, and openness to the gift of new life as a natural fruit of marital love, don’t always come easily to us.

New estimates show that least 56,000 people become infected with the AIDS virus every year in the United States -- 40 percent more than previous calculations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday ... “The data really confirm that there is a severe impact of this epidemic among gay and bisexual men in the United States ... There are things that you and I can do to stop the disease ... correctly, abstain from sex."