(PHOTO: Patrick Kennedy speaks at funeral of his father, Senator Edward Kennedy, 29 Aug 2009/Brian Snyder)

"The bishop instructed me not to take communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me communion,” the Rhode Island Democrat was quoted as saying this week in the Providence Journal.

On the pages of the same paper the bishop fired back, asserting that it was a "request," not an instruction.  “If he took it as an instruction, so be it, but it was really a request,”  the bishop was quoted as saying.

The request was apparently made back in 2007 but the trigger for the most recent twist in the saga seems to have been Kennedy's comments to CNSNews.com in October that the Catholic Church was fanning "the flames of dissent and discord" by insisting that healthcare reform legislation include explicit bans on funding for abortion.

Such a provision was included in the House version of the bill that narrowly passed but not in the one under consideration in the Senate. The stakes could hardly be higher as an overhaul of America's healthcare system is President Barack Obama's top domestic agenda.

(Photo: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry at the Charles Street AME Church in Boston, 4 April 2004/Jim Bourg)

The whole issue has highlighted divisions in the U.S. Democratic Party, which has regained control of Congress and expanded its majorities there in the last two election cycles by widening its tent to include moderates and conservatives. Some of these new Democrats oppose abortion rights, making them an awkward fit in a party that has long supported them.

This also seems to be a never-ending dilemma for the U.S. Catholic Church and one which haunted John Kerry when he ran for president in 2004 -- should it distribute communion or not to public figures who support abortion rights, given the Church's teaching that abortion is the taking of innocent life and therefore a grave evil.

Holy Communion is a sacrament of the Catholic Church and denying it to a Catholic is a rare and serious step. Even the U.S. bishops are divided over whether to do this. Those who favor denial say the Church has to take a public stand against politicians who ignore its teachings. Those opposed to it say denial involves them in political fights that have no place at Mass.

We asked back in August if Teddy Kennedy should have a Catholic funeral. Many who did not think he deserved one based their view on his support for abortion rights. Many who thought he deserved such a ceremony pointed to his advancement of causes championed by Catholic social thinking.

This leads to a question about the consistency of views in the U.S. Catholic Church leadership. The Church opposes abortion and therefore liberal politicians who support abortion rights risk being refused communion. The Church supports a healthcare overhaul that would make the system more equitable. So does a conservative Catholic politician who opposes this reform risk being denied communion for ignoring the Catholic social teaching that justifies it?

(Photo: Anti-abortion protesters outside St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, 16 June 2004/Jeff Christensen)

How about support for capital punishment, which the Vatican says is unjustified in almost all possible cases, or for war? In the build-up to the Iraq war, Pope John Paul was so opposed to the plan that he sent a personal envoy to Washington to argue against it. Did bishops threaten any measures against Catholic politicians who energetically supported that war despite Vatican opposition?

Years ago in Britain, the Church of England used to be called "the Tory party at prayer."  Does this apparent difference in treatment of liberal and conservative Catholics risk making the U.S. Church into one section of  "the Republican Party at prayer?"

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"String of pearls" is how MphasiS Chief Executive Ganesh Ayyar refers to the Indian IT services provider's strategy of going for small to mid-size acquisitions. The bigger ones can become a "noose around your neck", Ayyar said.

The company, 61 percent owned by Hewlett-Packard, is buying the India-based IT services arm of troubled U.S. insurer American International Group. Ayyar, who spoke to us about the company's "ambidextrous approach" to business, indicated today that any future acquisitions would be in the AIG ballpark.

DELIVERY CAPACITY 

Ayyar also told us that MphasiS was close to opening its first offshore global delivery center outside India.   He offered us no color, telling us to "let it remain a monochrome." All we know for now is that this center will be in a low-cost emerging market. Your guess is as good as ours.

Hold it right there, Blog Guy! I'm calling you out on something! Yesterday, you had a supposed beauty pageant shot where the contestants were all standing in front of a faraway building. Was that the ONLY picture you had from that event?

No, of course not. In addition to the So Far Away They Look Like Ants photo, we did cover the other portions of that pageant. Have a look:

• Contestants stand akimbo in a dimly-lit interrogation room
• Contestant inspects empty office space
• Contestants jammed into Over-Capacity Glass Elevators smile as they hurtle to certain death

There, does that answer your concerns?

No, I'm also concerned you used the word akimbo in a blog where we're never supposed to learn anything.

Well then, whatever you do, don't click on it.

Miss Sevilla slideshow

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Top left: Contestants of the Miss Sevilla pageant wearing traditional Sevillana dresses wait backstage before a presentation in Seville, Spain, November 24, 2009.

Top right: A contestant of the Miss Sevilla pageant wearing a traditional Sevillana dress walks during a presentation.

Contestants of the Miss Sevilla pageant wearing traditional Sevillana dresses stand in elevators during a presentation.

REUTERS photos by Marcelo del Pozo

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But sceptics are using a flood of leaked e-mails from a British University -- dubbed "Climategate" -- to question the findings.

You can read the Copenhagen Diagnosis here, by 26 researchers worldwide.  It says a thaw of summer sea ice around the North Pole, for instance, has far outpaced projections in a report by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) two years ago. They say world emissions must peak by 2020 to avoid the worst of climate change.

They say that sea levels could rise by perhaps a metre, at worst 2 -- a figure also mentioned recently by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon -- and far above scenarios in 2007 by the IPCC. More than 190 nations will meet in Copenhagen from Dec. 7-18 to try to agree a new pact to combat global warming.

But the leak of thousands of hacked documents from the University of East Anglia has added fuel to the debate because they include snide comments about climate sceptics and exchanges about how to present the data to make the global warming look convincing.

Phil Jones, head of the Climatic Research Unit at the university, is quoted today as saying that he "absolutely" stands by his findings and says the suggestion that there was a conspiracy to alter evidence was "complete rubbish".

I've had a several e-mails from people who doubt humans are to blame for global warming saying that "Climategate" indicates that the Copenhagen Diagnosis is a new example of alarmism. Will this be a new pattern before Copenhagen?

Experts say the leaks from the University don't affect conclusions by scientists who found in the 2007 IPCC report that it was more than 90 percent sure that human activities, led by burning fossil fuels, were to blame for warming over the past 50 years. Governments -- including the United States when President George W. Bush was in office -- also signed off on those findings.  

But the U.S. Senate has not agreed carbon-capping legislation and the leaks are hardly a good argument to persuade waverers to join other industrialised nations in capping carbon emissions.

(Picture: Icebergs float in the calm waters of a fjord, south of Tasiilaq in eastern Greenland August 4, 2009. REUTERS/Bob Strong)

SAP has focused in the past on contracts with large customers but is increasingly turning towards mid-sized companies. While talking to us on a conference call from Singapore, Watts compared
small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to breakfast. "Life begins with a good breakfast," he said, emphasising the importance the company gives to SMEs.

SAP's high-growth markets in the region are obviously China and India, but potential rising stars, as far as Watts is concerned, include Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

DEAL TALK 

Watts said SAP is "continuing to look at acquisitions" but he didn't specify where. References to somewhere on the big planet, which is 70 percent water, can't exactly be classified as helpful. But then for a person who works from 5 to 9 (and not the other way around), a sense of humour may just be the right elixir.

For the latest deals news from Reuters, click here.

And here’s the top stories from the newspapers (some external links may require subscription):

Private equity firm Endless and convenience store chain Costcutter have ruled themselves out of the race to acquire chunks of the Threshers off-licence empire, owned by First Quench Retailing, the Independent says, leaving rival retailers Bargain Booze, EFB Retail and Rhythm & Booze still in the chase.

The practice of burning moxa, the herb mugwort, above or on the skin can treat many ills, according to moxibustion therapist Fan Changwei.

Usually associated with just needles, acupuncture in fact consists of two elements, demonstrated by its Chinese name "zhen jiu". "Zhen" is the inserting of needles into acupoints in the body and "jiu" is moxibustion, the burning of moxa over the body.

Fan plans to use the moxa as his own vehicle to battle winter flu, including H1N1. He advises a moxibustion treatment which focuses on the Shenzhu acupoint on the upper back, believed to strengthen the immune system.

Or there is the more invasive option.

Wet cupping is said to be good for respiratory conditions.

Professor Jia Yucheng makes a cut on the skin and then uses the traditional medicine treatment of cupping to draw blood out of the incision.

Photo credit: David Gray

Video credit: Wang Shubing

The new shares will raise 13.5 billion pounds, of which 500 million pounds will disappear in the expenses of the offer. Much of this is paid to the banks which are guaranteeing that Lloyds gets its money, a reward for the risk they are taking that the shareholders will fail to take up their rights.

So just how big is this risk? Here’s one way to look at it. The rights price is 37 pence, and as long as the Lloyds share price remains above that, the risk is minimal. At 37 pence, engorged Lloyds, with 63,666,770,945 in issue, would be capitalised at 23.5 billion pounds, including the 13.5 billion pounds of new money. On Tuesday, the day the issue was priced, with Lloyds old shares at 91 pence, the business was valued at 23.5 billion pounds.

 In other words, for the underwriters to pay up, the value of old Lloyds would have to slump from 23.5 billion pounds to 10 billion pounds – and all by December 11, the day on which the new money is due.

 This is a grotesque parody of the role of underwriters. The risk is minimal, the rewards absurd. So who are these lucky businesses? Atop the document are those two fine investment banks, BofA Merrill Lynch and UBS. The usual suspects appear further down the notepaper.

 The Lloyds shareholders, as they cough up to keep their business out of the state’s intensive care, might recall that both these banks have themselves had hugely dilutive and expensive refinancings, and ask who benefits from this mutual back-scratching, since it’s clearly not the battered shareholders in UBS, BofA or Merrill Lynch.

 The answer, of course, is that this is how the bankers’ bonuses are generated. Bank A’s rescue gets underwritten by Bank B, and in turn Bank B underwrites Bank A. The costs, in each case, may not reach the 500 million pounds of the Lloyds issue, but enough will stick to the shovels wielded by those Masters of the Universe who organize the issues to pay eight-figure bonuses to the fortunate few.

 Of course any company is welcome to try and break the cartel, and see where it gets them. Just don’t expect a bank to try. Their bankers are worth every penny.