You can participate (really) in eight different languages–check through it carefully.

Check out this hugely significant event which begins today.

The dollar tumbled against most major currencies on Thursday, prompting warnings that the weakness of the world’s reserve currency could destabilise the global economy and push other countries into retaliatory devaluations to underwrite their exports.

Increasing expectations the Federal Reserve will pump more money into the US economy next month under a policy known as quantitative easing sent the dollar to new lows against the Chinese renminbi, Swiss franc and Australian dollar. It dropped to a 15-year low against the yen and an eight-month low against the euro.

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An ecumenical delegation of Sudanese religious leaders met with U.N. officials and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Oct. 11 to express its fear of what might happen if the Jan. 9 referendum in which south Sudan is expected to vote for independence from the north is not carried out as planned.

“We told him we came to raise an alarm to the United Nations,” said Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul of the Episcopal Church of Sudan during a press conference held at the Church Center for the United Nations, following a day of U.N. meetings.

“We are the church, we are in the ground. We are with the people. And we are knowing every thing that is happening in the ground there. So because of that we are here,” Deng said.

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It is curious, but the Web 2.0 industry has “robbed” from Christian language the model of communication it pursues: the community. And community is communion. The Church has created communities for 2,000 years. Now, the great marketing success on the Web 2.0 depends on the capacity to create “communities,” which later are reduced to groups of common interest to which it is possible to sell products of specialized announcers, who today are the ones who pay the most.

If, in communicating on the Internet the Church does so as Church-communion, if her “community” life is reflected on the Web, then she will also be able to build “community” on the Internet. For the surfer visiting her services, it will become something almost evident to enter into contact with the diocese’s closest reality, which can be his own parish, Caritas’ service, or the diocesan choir.

When a Church communicates on the Internet as communion, in community, the reality moves from being virtual to something real, as it puts the surfer in contact with the real life of the diocese, parish or community. And it is then that the greatest interactivity is achieved, when from the virtual reality one moves to “encounter,” which is, when all is said and done, what changes a person’s life.

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Look at the world economy as a whole, and you could be forgiven for thinking that the recovery is in pretty decent shape. This week the IMF predicted that global GDP should expand by 4.8% this year””slower than in the boom before the financial crisis, but well above the world’s underlying speed limit of around 4%. Growth above trend is exactly what you would expect in a rebound from recession.

Yet this respectable average hides a series of problems. Most obviously, there is the gap between the vitality of the big emerging economies, some of which have been sprinting along at close to 10%, and the sluggishness of many rich ones. Macroeconomic policy is also weirdly skewed: many emerging economies are loth to let their currencies rise to reflect their vigour, even as fragile rich ones are embarking on austerity programmes. And finally there is a crucial missing ingredient just about everywhere: “micro” structural reform, without which current growth rates are unlikely to last.

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Willis Hawley and Reed Smoot, you may recall, sponsored the Tariff Act of 1930 that raised tariffs to record levels on more than 20,000 imported goods. The duo said this would protect American jobs and revive the economy. It did the reverse, plunging the nation into an even deeper depression. Other nations retaliated. Global trade plummeted. Americans got poorer, as did millions of others around the world.

Why do I think we’re on the way back to Smoot-Hawley? Because with Republicans and blue-dog deficit hawks gaining ground after November 2, the chance of boosting the economy with an “infrastructure bank,” another big spending package, or even a big round of middle-class tax cuts is roughly nil. This means a lousy economy ”” possibly for years.

And that leaves trade as a sitting duck.

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The dollar hit fresh lows against several currencies Thursday, raising pressure on global leaders to address worsening tensions among countries vying to keep their currencies weak and exports competitive.

The relentless rise of currencies from the Japanese yen to the Australian dollar is threatening to derail economic recoveries and global cooperation. In the six weeks since the Federal Reserve began discussing the prospect of further easing monetary policy, the dollar has fallen 7% against a basket of currencies.

Compounding matters are frustrations with the Chinese government’s unwillingness to allow its currency, the yuan, to significantly appreciate.

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As the U.S. prepares to embark on a new round of Federal Reserve quantitative easing, there are plenty of reasons to doubt that it is the right course for the economy and job creation.

Here’s another: The voyage might have to be aborted ”” or at least diverted ”” soon after QE2 leaves the dock because the Fed may be sailing into a political hurricane.

Even before the anticipated launch of the next round of Treasury purchases ”” it’s expected to be made official on Nov. 3 ”” the Fed’s unmistakable signals have fueled commodity price gains as the dollar has sagged….

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The challenge for AHN is to connect people with similar interests so that collaborative venture can add value to Anglican health ministries.

Modern technology makes that possible, and we are about to launch into the next stage of web design to try to make that effective amongst our existing 250 members and those many more who will join us in due course. In the meantime, here is a snapshot of what conversations and projects are taking place…:

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The global economy will grow slightly more slowly than previously expected next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

It predicted GDP would increase by 4.2% in 2011, down from an earlier forecast of 4.3%.

And while economic recovery was likely to continue, it warned that risks were high.

There are worries that as governments try to reduce their debt burdens and cut spending, growth may suffer.

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We’d really rather take a taxi.

American adults walk less than adults in some other countries with lower obesity rates, according to a new study in the October issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

Researchers compared 1,136 U.S. adults wearing pedometers with adults involved in similar studies in Australia, Japan and Switzerland. The mean number of steps Americans take in a day is 5,117, compared with 9,695 for Australians, the walking leaders among the four countries. The USA’s 34% adult obesity rate is more than double Australia’s 16%.

“It did surprise me how sedentary U.S. adults are,” says David Bassett, the lead author of the study. “The additional walking seems to have an enormous public health benefit for those (other) countries.”

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British scientist Robert Edwards, the man who devised the fertility treatment IVF, has been awarded this year’s Nobel prize for medicine.

His efforts in the 1950s, 60s and 70s led to the birth of the world’s first “test tube baby” in July 1978.

Since then nearly four million babies have been born following IVF.

The prize committee said his achievements had made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition affecting 10% of all couples worldwide.

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China is pouring another $7bn (£4.4bn) into Brazil’s oil industry, reigniting fears of a global “land grab” of natural resources.

State-owned Sinopec clinched the deal with Spain’s Repsol yesterday to buy 40 per cent of its Brazilian business, giving China’s largest oil company access to Repsol Brasil’s estimated reserves of 1.2 billion barrels of oil and gas. The whopping price tag for Repsol Brasil ”“ which values the company at nearly twice previous estimates ”“ is a sign of China’s willingness to pay whatever it takes to lock in its future energy supplies and avoid social unrest. It will give the company enough cash to develop all its current oil projects, including two fields in the Santos Basin.

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Now is the time for prophetic action. The world leaders have come to New York briefed by their own economists and political advisors. They are negotiating commitments and generating their collective resolve as governments to achieving the MDGs by 2015. Clearly none disputes the worthiness of the MDGs. But even as they debate the best roadmap to 2015, world leaders are also weighing the probability that any specific commitment they make will pass muster with their citizenries.

But prophets don’t trade in probabilities. Maimonides, the Jewish scholar of the 12th century, argued that prophetic hope is belief in the “plausibility of the possible” as opposed to the “necessity of the probable.” Likewise, biblical faith calls Christians to something more in this Kairos moment than settling for realistic probabilities. Biblical prophets and Jesus’ ministry calls us to sustain a vision where the needs of all are met in the economy of God.

At this difficult time in our human global economy, the prophetic witness asked of us cannot merely be one of words but of vociferous, concrete action. Now is the time to move from MDG education and promotion to a model that will enfranchise Episcopalians for goal-oriented action and commitment.

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Federal prosecutors in New York have opened a criminal probe of one of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s brothers, raising the stakes in Washington’s sometimes-contentious dealings with the Karzai government.

U.S. officials said Mahmood Karzai has become a focus in a corruption probe handled by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, an office that has a history of charging, extraditing and trying suspects in far-flung parts of the world, including Afghanistan.

ny move to indict Mahmood Karzai, who is a U.S. citizen, carries huge risks for American officials, whose anticorruption efforts have often provoked sharp backlashes from President Karzai.

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Anglicans from across the world have contributed to a report to the United Nations about church-supported projects that are working to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

Between the 20 and 22 September global leaders are meeting in New York for the UN’s review of its Millennium Development Goals. The Anglican Observer at the UN Ms Hellen Wangusa has compiled a report on what Anglicans are doing to contribute towards the global effort to halve poverty by the UN’s 2015 deadline.

Ms Francisca Bawayan of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines reported that the construction of post-harvest facilities and provision of a micro hydropower supply are just two of the ways in which the Community Based Development Program (CBDP) of her Province has responded to MDGs 1 (Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger) and 7 (Ensure environmental sustainability).

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The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is holding an extraordinary meeting in Rome sparked by global fears about high food prices.

Friday’s meeting will include Russian grain executives. Moscow banned exports after its harvest was hit by drought.

Flooding in Pakistan and China has added to pressure on the market.

Price rises have already sparked riots in Mozambique and are prompting fears of a massive price spike similar to that of 2007-8.

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The Archbishop of Canterbury has urged world leaders not to use the current economic crisis as a pretext to scale down efforts to fulfil the Millen­nium Development Goals (MDGs).

Speaking in a video message, recorded to coincide with this week’s United Nations (UN) summit on the MDGs in New York, Dr Williams said that, although progress had been made in some areas ”” for example, reducing the spread of diseases such as malaria and HIV ”” “we are all bound to be painfully con­scious that there is a very long way to go” in achieving the goals.

“This is not just about ideals in a vacuum: this is about the lives of millions of billions of people; and our call is still to make a real difference to them.

“It’s quite easy, especially in the light of the last couple of years, to think that we haven’t really got the resources for this after all.

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To visit China today as an American is to compare and to be compared. And from the very opening session of this year’s World Economic Forum here in Tianjin, our Chinese hosts did not hesitate to do some comparing. China’s CCTV aired a skit showing four children ”” one wearing the Chinese flag, another the American, another the Indian, and another the Brazilian ”” getting ready to run a race. Before they take off, the American child, “Anthony,” boasts that he will win “because I always win,” and he jumps out to a big lead. But soon Anthony doubles over with cramps. “Now is our chance to overtake him for the first time!” shouts the Chinese child. “What’s wrong with Anthony?” asks another. “He is overweight and flabby,” says another child. “He ate too many hamburgers.”

That is how they see us.

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Lately, stories about Google often seem to be stories about conflict ”” Google knocking heads with China or the Justice Department or Facebook.

For Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, that is a good sign. “This is winning,” he said this week, speaking to a group of reporters at Google’s Zeitgeist conference in Arizona. “If we were losing, we would not have these problems.”

Mr. Schmidt gave a few updates on those conflicts and rivalries, as well as some others. Expect to see social tools from Google this fall, he said, but do not expect a brand new social network. Instead, Google will add social components to its core products.

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The U.S. tied with Switzerland for fifth place in a “world giving index” by the British-based Charities Aid Foundation that measured charitable behavior across the globe.

The ranking in the “World Giving Index 2010” was based on the U.S.’s showing in three categories””60 percent of Americans gave to an organization; 39 percent volunteered for a group; and 65 percent were willing to aid a stranger.

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The international outcry over a tiny Florida congregation’s plan to burn copies of the Koran on Sept. 11 intensified on Thursday, drawing vocal condemnations from world leaders and touching off angry protests in corners of the Muslim world.

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During the recession, political and business leaders have held out the promise that American advances, particularly in green technology, might stem the decades-long decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs. But as the lighting industry shows, even when the government pushes companies toward environmental innovations and Americans come up with them, the manufacture of the next generation technology can still end up overseas.

What made the plant here vulnerable is, in part, a 2007 energy conservation measure passed by Congress that set standards essentially banning ordinary incandescents by 2014. The law will force millions of American households to switch to more efficient bulbs.

The resulting savings in energy and greenhouse-gas emissions are expected to be immense. But the move also had unintended consequences.

Rather than setting off a boom in the U.S. manufacture of replacement lights, the leading replacement lights are compact fluorescents, or CFLs, which are made almost entirely overseas, mostly in China.

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Three sets of walls are being built. The first is national. China’s “great firewall” already imposes tight controls on internet links with the rest of the world, monitoring traffic and making many sites or services unavailable. Other countries, including Iran, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, have done similar things, and other governments are tightening controls on what people can see and do on the internet.

Second, companies are exerting greater control by building “walled gardens”””an approach that appeared to have died out a decade ago. Facebook has its own closed, internal e-mail system, for example. Google has built a suite of integrated web-based services. Users of Apple’s mobile devices access many internet services through small downloadable software applications, or apps, rather than a web browser. By dictating which apps are allowed on its devices, Apple has become a gatekeeper. As apps spread to other mobile devices, and even cars and televisions, other firms will do so too.

Third, there are concerns that network operators looking for new sources of revenue will strike deals with content providers that will favour those websites prepared to pay up.

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The global median proportion of adults who say religion is an important part of their daily lives is 84%, unchanged from what Gallup has found in other years. In 10 countries and areas, at least 98% say religion is important in their daily lives.

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Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has described radical Islam as the greatest threat facing the world today.

He made the remark in a BBC interview marking the publication of his memoirs.

Mr Blair said radical Islamists believed that whatever was done in the name of their cause was justified – including the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

Mr Blair, who led Britain into war in Afghanistan and Iraq, denied that his own policies had fuelled radicalism.

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I was perilously close to becoming an agnostic””at least about certain statistics. Specifically, I really didn’t know the data on Christians in China, and for a while I was not sure if anyone did. Only now, perhaps, do we have the glimmerings of an answer to one of the most pressing questions in global religion: just how many Chinese Christians are there?

This question matters enormously because of China’s vast population””now over 1.3 billion””and its emerging role as a global superpower. If Christians make up even a sizable minority within that country, that could be a political fact of huge significance.

Some years ago, veteran journalist David Aikman suggested that China’s Christian population was reaching critical mass and that Christianity would achieve cultural and political hegemony by 2030 or so. Writing in First Things last year, Catholic China-watcher Francesco Sisci agreed that “we are near a Constantinian moment for the Chinese Empire.” If we could say confidently that China today had, say, 100 or 150 million Christian believers, that would also make the country one of the largest centers of the faith worldwide, with the potential of a still greater role in years to come.

But what can we actually say with confidence when honest and reliable authorities differ so widely on the basic numbers?

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Katherine Marshall, 63, a senior fellow at Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, spent more than three decades with the World Bank, working in part to create space for faith in discussions about development. She sat down with The Washington Examiner to share her beliefs, and why due respect for religion can make all the difference….

Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?

I was raised an Episcopalian, and spent part of my childhood in England, where there was an intensely Anglican focus to my school. As students, we attended chapel, and regularly studied the Bible as a subject, and performed church music and dramas. Through that I came to appreciate the cultural heritage, and also to a degree the intellectual grounding of the faith. I still consider myself an Episcopalian, and I admire and support the global focus of the Episcopal Church, and its integral concern for issues of social justice and combating poverty.

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