Print Page - Birth Pangs of Matthew 24, Jan. 16-19, 2007

Hancock Co. relief workers report mystery skin lesions
Associated Press

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. - State Department of Health officials are investigating bizarre skin lesion and blisters reported by many storm-relief volunteers working in Hancock County.

For the past several months, health officials have collected evidence and interviewed workers, said Robert Travnivcek, the department's district medical director.

Travnivcek said epidemiologists will determine whether the lesions are part of a disease outbreak, a rise in a common infection or simply a coincidence involving unrelated volunteers, who are all working in Hancock County and bothered by similar afflictions.

"For a long time now we've been seeing localized rashes and some of them even look like sores," said Shana Blakeny, a nurse practitioner in the emergency room at Hancock Medical Center.

Blakeny said some sores have been large enough to ooze fluid, that is collected and tested in a local lab. She said often the results have shown a staph infection, which can range from a minor skin lesion to life-threatening bloodstream disorders.

The cause of staph infections is a common bacterium that usually lives on the skin or in the nose. The bacterium gets into the body through a cut or medical incision.

For about five years the county has dealt with such cases of the disease, Blakeny said the situation has gotten worse since Hurricane Katrina.

Blakeny said it is likely locals are suffering form the same type of lesions, but have become more accustomed to the infection.

Hancock Co. relief workers report mystery skin lesions (http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/local/16489735.htm)

3,000 Christians added daily in China
Faithful undefeated by beatings, arrests, confiscations and destruction of churches
Posted: January 18, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Part of China's mission field

Worship services are being broken up by baton-wielding police officers, participants arrested, Bibles confiscated and Christian church buildings demolished. But still, an estimated 3,000 people every day come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ in China.

The report comes from Voice of the Martyrs, a U.S.-based Christian group that works specifically to help those members of the persecuted Christian church worldwide.

The most recent arrests happened just a few days ago, when a house church meeting in Henan province was broken up and 11 people arrested, the organization said.

(Story continues below)

"Police from Yongfeng township police station in Xiuwu county, Henan province, raided a Christian meeting in a home in Chencun village. Eleven Christians were arrested, two were released the next day and nine remain in jail," the report said.

"Police broke in and proclaimed the gathering a cultic and illegal activity," the report said.

Legal and financial help is being provided to those people during their detention.

However, VOM said that a more than 50-year campaign to eradicate Christianity from China has left that nation with the equivalent of a new mega-church being added each day.

"Chairman Mao Zedong declared the Peoples Republic of China in 1949 and quickly sought to purge society of anything religious, causing China's people to endure great hardship ever since," a VOM analysis of the nation said. "Mao's Great Leap Forward in the late '50s and the Cultural Revolution in the '60s and '70s left millions of his countrymen dead or victimized.

"Today, with its policies of forced abortion and sterilization, China's human rights record is one of the worst in the world. Authorities reportedly sell the organs of executed prisoners to meet the demand for transplants. Its system of 're-education through labor' detains hundreds of thousands each year in work camps without even a court hearing. China's 'strike-hard' policy, presented as a crackdown on criminals, is hardest on Christians, putting more believers in prison or under detention than in any other country. The confiscation of church property and Bibles continues – even Bibles officially printed by the government," the report said.

"Yet the church grows: an estimated 3,000 Chinese come to Christ each day. China's house church movement, which comprises approximately 90 percent of China's Christians, endures unimaginable persecution, yet stands on its commitment to preach the gospel no matter the cost."

Two of the people in the latest raid by police were released a day later, but nine remained in jail, according to VOM and China Aid Association, which also reported on the arrests.

Among those still being held in detention for worshiping in the home were Ju Xiang, 48; Liu Xiaoduo, 42; Wang Shegin, 40; Fu Juyi, 36; Hong Xia, 37; Xue Xianghuo, 49; and Xue Xiaona, 34, officials said.

VOM said the persecution is having little effect on the desire to know more about Christ. "In the past year, we received more requests for Bibles and Christian books from Chinese believers because they wanted to share the gospel with others," a VOM source within the restrictive nation said. "The Communist government of China does not see Christ as the most important person in an individual's life. Christians count it a privilege to believe in and suffer for Jesus Christ."

The contact said Christians simply adjust to the persecution at hand – including arrests, demolished buildings and confiscated materials.

VOM currently is supplying Bibles and copies of other Christian books, including "Tortured for Christ" by VOM founder Richard Wurmbrand, to Christians in China.

"American Christians have also mailed more than 107,310 New Testaments to China through Bibles Unbound," VOM said. "Pray God will protect believers in China and give them strength and courage to continue their faith in him."

VOM is a non-profit, interdenominational ministry working worldwide to help Christians who are persecuted for their faith, and to educate the world about that persecution. Its headquarters are in Bartlesville, Okla., and it has 30 affiliated international offices.

It was launched by the late Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, who started smuggling Russian Gospels into Russia in 1947, just months before Richard was abducted and imprisoned in Romania where he was tortured for his refusal to recant Christianity.

He eventually was released in 1964 and the next year he testified about the persecution of Christians before the U.S. Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee, stripping to the waist to show the deep torture wound scars on his body.

The group that later was renamed The Voice of the Martyrs was organized in 1967, when his book, "Tortured for Christ," was released.

3,000 Christians added daily in China (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53808)

Believers executed in N. Korea; Venezuela’s Chavez
pushes socialism; Honduran Christian in hiding;…
By Mark Kelly
Jan 16, 2007

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea is well-known as a country where Christians are persecuted for their faith. Because the government there keeps a tight lid on communication, however, only rarely does specific information leak out. This month, details about four Christians executed for their faith have been released through the World Bible Translation Center’s Gary Bishop.

One man who worked as an evangelist was executed after being caught with two Korean New Testaments in his possession, Bishop told Mission Network News. A woman and her grandmother were washing clothes when a New Testament fell out of the woman’s clothing. Somebody reported it, and both she and her grandmother were quickly executed. And an army general who had become a believer was caught evangelizing men in his unit and was executed by a fellow officer.

Despite the oppression -– or perhaps because of it -– God seems to be working, Bishop said: “People are looking for an answer other than their own government. And, I believe that's awakening the resilience of believers in North Korea to say, 'We have another answer. There is another way to believe.'"

VENEZUELA’S CHAVEZ ACCELERATES SOCIALISM -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced plans to nationalize the country’s telecommunications and electricity industries and four major oil fields, a move that sent Venezuela's financial markets tumbling. He also pledged to strip Venezuela’s central bank of its autonomy and to pressure national lawmakers to give him the power to legislate by presidential decree.

Chavez revealed the plan Jan. 9 in Caracas as he swore in a new cabinet, the day before his own inauguration for third term in office, according to a report from the Voice of America. "We're moving toward a socialist republic of Venezuela, and that requires a deep reform of our national constitution," Chavez said in a televised speech. "We're heading toward socialism, and nothing and no one can prevent it."

After his December re-election to a term that runs until 2013, Chavez pledged to take a more radical turn toward creating a "Socialist Republic of Venezuela." Critics fear he will use his sweeping victory to tighten his grip on power and establish a dictatorship modeled after Fidel Castro’s rule in Cuba.

Venezuela is the eighth largest exporter of crude oil worldwide and the fourth largest foreign supplier to the United States. Much of Chavez' plans to relieve poverty are based on revenues collected from Venezuela's energy sector. Nationalization of such industries, however, could result in the revenue stream drying up.

"Nationalization has a long and inglorious history of failure around the world," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters.

HONDURAN CHRISTIAN LEADER IN HIDING -- The president of a Christian organization that helps poor people in Honduras has gone into hiding after a lawyer for the group was murdered in December. Carlos Hernandes of the Association for a More Just Society received a death threat immediately after an associate, attorney Dionisio Diaz Garcia, was shot to death on his way to court, Steve Geurink of Worldwide Christian Schools told Mission Network News.

Hernandes was meeting with church and community leaders, families, teachers and school boards in the capital city of Tegucigalpa about a Christian school improvement process, Geurink said. His success may have caused corrupt elements in the local government to feel threatened.

The organization is raising funds to cover the cost of protecting Hernandes and his family, Geurink said.

ANTI-CONVERSION BILL RAISES CONCERN IN INDIA -- Christians in northern India’s Himachal Pradesh state could be subject to up to two years in prison and heavy fines for evangelizing if a bill recently passed by the government is signed into law, according to Jerry Dykstra of Open Doors, an organization that ministers to persecuted Christians. People who want to become Christians would be required to give at least 30 days prior notice to the government or face a fine.

The bill, which has not yet been signed into law, is worded in a manner that leaves great leeway for police or local government officials to define what constitutes “forcible” conversion, Dykstra told Mission Network News. Radical Hindu elements in such offices have used similar laws in five other states to punish and restrict Christian activity at their pleasure.

Of the 6 million people in Himachal Pradesh, Christians number only about 8,000.

N. KOREA, IRAQ TOP LIST OF WORST PERSECUTORS -- North Korea and Iraq are the world’s worst persecutors of Christians, according to a report recently released by International Christian Concern, a human rights group based in Washington, D.C. The annual “Hall of Shame” awards also ranked Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iran, Eritrea, China, Vietnam and Pakistan in the top 10.

The worst persecution against Christians is shifting from nations with communist governments to Islamic countries, ICC President Jeff King told Mission Network News. Unrest in Iraq has forced many Christians out of that country and anarchy in Somalia helped radical Muslims gain a foothold in the Horn of Africa, contributing to a sharp rise in violence against Christians in Somalia and Ethiopia.

"Persecution must and can be fought,” King said. “Concerned individuals should get involved in the fight by contacting their elected representatives and by calling embassies and requesting fair treatment for Christians overseas."

A NEW STYLE FOR CUBAN LEADERSHIP -- Cuba will get relief from rambling speeches that lasted for hours, micromanagement of government policies and unquestioned decisions if Raul Castro continues to function as provisional leader of the country, say longtime observers of the communist nation that sits barely 500 miles off the Florida coast.

Raul Castro recently told about 800 university leaders they should "fearlessly" engage in public debate and analysis, and in late December said he would delegate more duties, according to a report from the Associated Press. He said that as defense minister he had learned to listen to and discuss differing ideas.

Those signals indicate a leadership style dramatically different from that of his 80-year-old brother, Fidel, who ruled Cuba with an iron fist for 47 years until “temporarily” ceding power to Raul in late July. In the past, Raul Castro has expressed interest in China's model of capitalist reform with one-party political control. He is seen as a pragmatist who is more likely than his brother to embrace limited free enterprise.

ISRAEL ARRESTS DEPORTED MUSLIM CLERIC -- A Muslim cleric deported by the United States for ties to a terrorist organization was arrested by Israeli authorities when he arrived in the Middle East, according to Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service. Fawaz Damra was deported because he applied for American citizenship in 1994 without revealing his ties to Islamic Jihad, a militant Palestinian group with links to Iran and Syria that has carried out suicide bombings and rockets attacks against Israel.

Damra, who is the former imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, Ohio's largest mosque, was delivered by U.S. agents to the Allenby Bridge, an Israel-controlled crossing into the West Bank, AP reported. When he failed to arrive at home, family members inquired, and a lawyer was able to confirm that he was being held at Israel’s Kishon prison.

Believers executed in N. Korea; Venezuela’s Chavez pushes socialism; Honduran Christian in hiding (http://www.bpnews.net/printerfriendly.asp?ID=24779)

Hurricane sweeps across Europe
POSTED: 8:02 a.m. EST, January 18, 2007

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- Germans were told to stay indoors and many schools across the country closed early on Thursday as a rare hurricane bore down on the country, cutting air traffic at its biggest airport by half.

Germany's DWD meteorogical service said the storm "Kyrill" could generate winds of up to 180 km/h (112 mph) in high and exposed areas and as much as 130 km/h in lower-lying regions.

"What's unusual about this storm is that it will affect the whole country and not just certain zones," said Christoph Hartmann, a spokesman for the DWD in Offenbach.

The northwest of Germany would be the first to feel the full impact of Kyrill from early afternoon, before the storm swept across the rest of the country and moved eastwards into Poland, the Czech Republic and northern Austria, the DWD said.

Rain would likely continue into the weekend in affected areas, as the storm's force gradually dissipated, it added.

As Germans were warned on the radio and television to keep their cars away from trees and to stay indoors, authorities in states stretching across the length and breadth of the country said many schools were closing early due to Kyrill's arrival.

Rescue services around Germany said they had mobilized extra staff to prepare for potential flooding and destructive winds.

German airline Deutsche Lufthansa said it expected numerous flight cancellations and delays on Thursday, while Frankfurt airport said takeoffs and landings were cut by half.

Germany was not the only country hit. British and French rescue services rushed to pick up sailors forced to abandon a container ship after it began sinking in stormy waters in the Channel.

Hurricane sweeps across Europe (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/18/germany.storm.reut/index.html)

Anglican Churches Request Alternative Diocese in America

By Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Wed, Jan. 17 2007 03:54 PM ET

More than 17 Anglican churches across the South requested the Church of Kenya to form a diocese in America.

fter three-and-a-half years of oversight from the Anglican Church of Kenya, St. Peter's Anglican Church in Memphis, Tenn., along with other congregations, put in the request to Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, who visited the church over the weekend.

There were 17 churches represented at the weekend meeting, according to the Rev. Stephen Carpenter, founding priest of St. Peter's. An additional congregation in Boston, Mass., not present at the meeting, also backed the request.

The 18 U.S. churches, presently affiliated with the Church of Kenya, join a growing number of congregations that are establishing a conservative alternative to the Episcopal Church.

Nine conservative churches in Virginia recently joined the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), which was established as an outreach initiative of the Church of Nigeria. Nigerian bishops expressed delight over the continual growth of the splinter group.

Similarly, Anglican dioceses in the South and the Northeast are hoping to build its own province with approval from the Archbishop of Kenya.

Nzimbi said he will discuss the request at the February Primates meeting which will gather representatives from around the world. He hopes to have an answer by April.

"We must go slowly and assure that in every step we are giving honor and glory to God," said Nzimbi at the weekend meeting, according to Memphis' The Commercial Appeal.

Congregations began to split from the Episcopal Church when the 2an openly gay bishop was consecrated in 2003. While homosexuality triggered the exodus of churches from the national body, the conservative groups have emphasized that the Episcopal Church's departure from Scriptural authority caused their breakaway.

Early this week, Bishops in Nigeria warned the worldwide Anglican Communion that they would go separate ways if the Episcopal Church does not repent of its apostasies.

"Christian unity must be anchored on Biblical truth," the Most. Rev. Peter Akinola of the Church of Nigeria stressed.

As conservative Anglicans in the U.S. patiently await a response from the Archbishop of Kenya, Carpenter said their goal is "for the Episcopal Church to sort of see the error of its ways and reunite with all of us," according to the local newspaper.

Otherwise, they hope to establish a single Anglican communion in America, said Carpenter.

"Establishing an Anglican diocese with a bishop here in America would give all of us a new home."

Anglican Churches Request Alternative Diocese in America (http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070117/25236_Anglican_Churches_Request_Alternative_Diocese_in_America.htm)

NIGERIA: STATE’S POLICIES SAID TO STRANGLE CHRISTIANITY

Rev. Jerry Modibo
LAFIA, Nigeria, January 15 (Compass Direct News) – As soon as Christians in this capital city of Nasarawa state tried to rebuild a Reformed Church building that Muslims burned down two years ago, more than 200 Islamists attacked the workers.

The rebuilding came to a halt, and the Nasarawa state government subsequently banned reconstruction of the facility. The church had been planted more than a century ago by missionaries of the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa under the auspices of the then-Sudan United Mission, headed by German missionary Dr. Karl Kunn.

“I personally witnessed the attack on the workers at the reconstruction site of the church,” said the Rev. Jerry Modibo, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Nasarawa state chapter. “The Muslims were chanting, ‘Death to Christians, death to infidels. This town is for Muslims, we don’t want Christians here.’”

The church was known as NKST, or Nongo u Kristu u ken Sudan hen Tiv, Church of Christ in the Sudan Among the Tiv. The Tiv are an ethnic group of central Nigeria. The congregation in the Angwan Tiv area of Lafia had lost their church building in religious rioting.

Angwan Tiv is just one of many areas of Lafia town where the government now forbids building churches, Modibo said. At the same time, he said, the Nasarawa administration has financed the building of mosques across the state with public funds. Some of these mosques have been built on the premises of various government ministries and agencies.

The church leader said Nasarawa state has also built mosques in the Governor’s House and in the state House of Assembly, or parliament.

“If you are traveling from Lafia to Akwanga through Keffi to Abuja, you will see mosques being built along the road,” Modibo said. “These mosques are being built by the state government in towns and villages like Shabu, Nasarawa Eggon, Akwanga, Sabon Gida, Keffi, and Gora. Yet no single church or chapel has been built for Christians in this state.”

Christian public servants recently raised funds to build a chapel within the confines of the office of the deputy governor, who happens to be a Christian, Modibo said.

“They were ordered by the governor to stop the building of the chapel,” he said. “But there are two mosques built by the government in the same premises. That is the kind of injustice confronting us in this state.”

Gov. Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu was not available for comment, and his commissioner for information and internal affairs, Suleiman Adokwe, declined to speak on these and other issues to Compass. “Religious issues are sensitive, and I cannot therefore speak on them,” Adokwe said.

Muslim Chiefdoms

Nasarawa state policies are strangling Christian presence in the central Nigerian state, Modibo said. Officials deny Christians appointments to government institutions; at the same time, they promote junior-ranking Muslims above Christians in public service positions.

Nasarawa state has 51 “traditional rulers,” or community leaders recognized by the government. Modibo said that of this number, only 10 are Christians – the other 41 are Muslims.

“Abdullahi Adamu, the governor, did this by creating more chiefdoms to favor Muslims, and meanwhile he was stifling Christian community leaders by making them second fiddle in the scheme of things in this state,” Modibo said.

Discrimination in public service, the Christian leader said, has become a lifestyle for Christian public servants in the state. Of the 18 commissioners in government service, he said, only six are Christians.

“Last year Gov. Adamu appointed 18 commissioners, and 12 are Muslims,” he said. “Yet Christians constitute the largest population of the state – if you visit all 29 local government areas of this state and take statistics of all the people of these areas, you will discover that Christians constitute well over two-thirds of the state’s 1.2 million population.”

In addition, Modibo said, in the past 10 years appointments of federal ministers and ambassadors – based on recommendations from the state governor – have favored Muslims.

“Only one Christian in the past 10 years has ever been appointed a minister, and even then he was not allowed to complete his term of office,” Modibo said. “The same scenario played out in ambassadorial appointments – only one Christian has been appointed an ambassador in the past 10 years from this state.”

In the Christian-majority state, elections have been manipulated to perpetuate Muslim political leadership, he added.

Modibo, also a pastor with the Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ said Christians have made concerted efforts to dialogue with Gov. Abdullahi Adamu on these issues without success.

“Several attempts have been made by us to sit with the governor on a round table to discuss and find solutions to these issues, but our efforts yielded no results,” Modibo said. “In addition to personal contacts with officers of the protocol department, we have written thrice seeking to have an audience with the governor but have waited almost eternally.”

Pilgrimage to Justice

Nigerian state governments have assumed responsibility for helping to finance pilgrimages for Muslims to Mecca and for Christians to Jerusalem. Christians in Nasarawa believe the state has discriminated against them in this area as well.

In 2005, Nasarawa state budgeted and distributed 200 million naira (US$1.6 million) for Muslim pilgrims. The state budgeted 15 million naira (US$121,832) for Christians.

“Even this amount was not released for the sponsorship of Christian pilgrims after its approval,” Modibo said. From 2000 to 2005, Muslim pilgrims to Mecca sponsored by the state totaled 6,220, while the state supported only 355 Christians – and many of those encountered difficulties in obtaining the assistance, Modibo said.

“We have been facing a lot of tribulations, trials, and frustrations here in Nasarawa state,” he said. “The church here is facing the most difficult period of her life.”

Modibo noted that Proverbs 31:8-9 advocates speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves, defending the rights of the destitute, and letting justice flow.

“So, we are demanding that there be justice and fairness to all,” he said. “All religions in this state should be treated fairly.”

NIGERIA: STATE’S POLICIES SAID TO STRANGLE CHRISTIANITY (http://www.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&lang=en&length=long&idelement=4732)

Solana set for four-day Mideast tour
By DPA
Jan 16, 2007, 16:50 GMT

Brussels - European Union chief diplomat Javier Solana heads to the Middle East this week for a four-day tour aimed at increasing pressure for Israeli-Palestinian peace, EU officials said Tuesday.

Solana, a frequent visitor to the region, will kick-start his tour on January 18 with talks in Egypt, followed by visits to the West Bank, Jordan and Israel.

EU diplomats said Solana's visit was meant to highlight the bloc's determination to step up its presence in the Middle East and to voice support for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The EU's foreign and security policy chief will reiterate backing for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's efforts to set up a national unity government including his moderate Fatah group and the radical governing Hamas movement.

Previous attempts to form a unity cabinet floundered in part over Hamas' refusal to moderate its hardline stance toward Israel, which led the international community to boycott the Palestinian government, and in part over the distribution of portfolios.

EU diplomats said Solana had 'not lost hope' that the formation of a new government would be possible, allowing European governments to resume direct contacts with the Palestinian Authority.

The EU and the US suspended direct aid to the Palestinian government last year following the victory of Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by both Brussels and Washington.

European and American officials have said repeatedly that aid will only restart once Hamas recognizes Israel, renounces violence and agrees to abide by past peace treaties.

Solana will report on his trip to EU foreign ministers who meet in Brussels on January 22.

Solana set for four-day Mideast tour (http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/printer_1247293.php)

Merkel calls for EU constitution by 2009

By JAN SLIVA, Associated Press Writer Wed Jan 17, 7:18 AM ET

STRASBOURG, France - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday outlined an ambitious program for her country's European Union presidency, saying the bloc must set a timetable for adopting an EU constitution. Merkel told EU lawmakers during her first appearance at the EU assembly that a decision on what to do with the constitution must be reached by June. The constitution was ratified by 18 states but rejected in Dutch and French referendums in 2005.

Merkel said she would consult all 27 EU nations to hear their reservations about the landmark charter and to determine which parts can be rescued to form the basis of a new document.

Germany wants to save as much as possible of the draft text, which was designed to accelerate policy-making and give the EU, now with 489 million people, more visibility on the world stage by creating the posts of EU president and foreign minister.

"We need a foreign minister for Europe. That's enough of a reason to adopt a constitutional treaty," Merkel told the European Parliament, earning a standing ovation. "We must give a soul to Europe; we have to find Europe's soul. Any failure could be a historic failure."

Merkel also said that completing global trade talks would be one of the priorities of Germany's six-month presidency, urging Europe to take a "resolute stand" to achieve a successful outcome.

She called for a broad partnership with Russia, but warned that the EU cannot ignore Russia's squabbles with neighboring countries. She called Russia's recent decision to cut oil exports in a dispute with neighboring Belarus worrying.

"We intend to do everything we can for a new partnership and cooperation agreement with Russia to begin under the German presidency," she said. "We need reliable partnership with Russia."

A dispute between Russia and Poland over a pipeline carrying Russian gas to Europe is holding up negotiations on a new EU-Russia accord. The issue is sensitive amid concerns in many EU nations that they are becoming too dependent on Moscow for oil and gas.

Addressing EU lawmakers two days after a new far-right group was established in the legislature, Merkel warned that tolerance is under threat and that EU countries must demonstrate solidarity with one another in order to coexist.

"Europe cannot tolerate intolerance, violence from the far right, far left, violence inspired by religion," she said.

Merkel gave no details on how to achieve the goals she outlined. She gave no hints about whether she would push for a cut in EU farm spending, which diplomats say is key to any global trade deal.

Merkel calls for EU constitution by 2009 (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070117/ap_on_re_eu/eu_merkel)

Jordan will develop nuclear power
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent

Jordan aspires to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes and believes that unless all sides move quickly toward a peace settlement in the region, the recent confrontation in Lebanon is only a hint of disasters to come. In an exclusive interview with Haaretz on Thursday, King Abdullah II of Jordan spoke with Akiva Eldar:

"I can say that on behalf of the U.S. president and the secretary of state, and I've talked to both, that they're very serious and very committed to moving the peace process forward, because they realize the dynamics of the region at the moment.

"And this is the opportunity to reach out to the Palestinians and the Israelis and say, look, this is the golden chance and to an extent, maybe the last possibility. We had a conflict this summer.

"The frequency of conflict in this region is extremely alarming, and the perception, I believe, among Arabs, and partly among Israelis, is that in the summer Israel lost this round... And that creates a very difficult and a very dangerous precedence for radical thinking in the area. The stakes are getting higher and higher.

"So this is an opportunity to reach out to each other and make sure that the crisis of this summer doesn't happen again. If we don't move the peace process forward, it's only a matter of time until there is a conflict between Israel and somebody else in the region. And I think it's coming sooner rather than later.

"We all need to work together, because solving the Israeli-Palestinian problem allows us to tackle the other issues around us. All of us are looking at Iraq with concern, we don't know what's going to happen in Lebanon, although we hope that they're moving in the right direction... Whether people like it or not, the linchpin is always the Israeli-Palestinian problem."

Do you see a clear link between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Iranian nuclear threat and the threat of terrorism?

"Through Hamas, Iran has been able to buy itself a seat on the table in talking about the Palestinian issue. And, as a result, through Hamas it does play a role in the issue of the Palestinians, as strange as that should sound.

"If we start moving the process forward, then there's less reason for engagement on the Palestinian issue.

"But, the rules have changed on the nuclear subject throughout the whole region. Where I think Jordan was saying, 'we'd like to have a nuclear-free zone in the area,' after this summer, everybody's going for nuclear programs.

"The Egyptians are looking for a nuclear program. The GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] are looking at one, and we are actually looking at nuclear power for peaceful and energy purposes. We've been discussing it with the West.

"I personally believe that any country that has a nuclear program should conform to international regulations and should have international regulatory bodies that check to make sure that any nuclear program moves in the right direction."

In other words, you're saying that you expect Israel to join the NPT.

"What's expected from us should be a standard across the board. We want to make sure this is used for energy. What we don't want is an arms race to come out of this. As we become part of an international body and its international regulations are accepted by all of us, then we become a united front."

Would you first deal with the Palestinian track and then move on to the Syrian-Lebanese track?

"Syria seems to be of tremendous interest in the Israeli public opinion, but I think that the priority, if you want to get the guarantees that Israel wants for a stable future, the core issue takes the priority. We have to launch the Palestinian process and then hope that things will go easier with the other players.

"You have to start with the Palestinian first and look at the other ones as a close second. I would hedge my bets on how successful the other tracks would be if the Palestinian one is not solved. And, we don't know how much of a smokescreen the other tracks would be and if we don't get the right nuances for what we need on the ground for the next year, then the future for us looks extremely dismal, for all of us in the region, if we don't move the process along.

"What happened this summer is just a taste of a lot of worse things to come if we don't change the direction of this discord.

"We're all on the same boat. The security and the future of Jordan is hand-in-hand with the future of the Palestinians and the Israelis. ... So, a failure for us is a failure for you, and vice versa."

How do you think the Americans should further the process?

"You have the road map, you have Taba, you have the Geneva Accords. So, we don't have to go back to the drawing board. Most of us know the facts and the issues extremely well. My only issue about the road map is that circumstances have changed since the road map was launched, and the sort of long drawn out phase approach, I don't think works anymore. So, we're looking at combining phases, I think, to move people as quickly as possible. The silent majority can be easily intimidated or swayed. And, I promise you, if tomorrow, [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and President [Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas sit down and shake hands and launch a peace process, there'll be extremists on either side that create violence and loss of life to try and destabilize the conflict. That is a given. We have to be stronger than that to be able to move the process forward."

Would you suggest we go back to Yitzhak Rabin's formula: to pursue the peace process as if there were no terrorism, and to fight terrorism as if there were no peace process?

"I personally believe that my father's last biggest disappointment and sadness to him was that he lost a partner for peace. And, he believed that if PM Rabin hadn't been assassinated, we wouldn't be talking about a peace process today. In the last years of His Majesty's life, I saw him looking at the Middle East and realizing that there wasn't somebody with the courage to be able to take the process forward. It is our responsibility to move it forward.

"His late Majesty, when he started discussions with prime minister Rabin, they both looked at it the same way, I mean these were two statesmen that looked at it from an emotional point of view, in that 'who is my partner on the other side? What are his fears and his insecurities?' If I could put myself in his shoes then I could understand what to negotiate ... it was a unique relationship between His Majesty and Rabin. When it came to the Arab-Israeli Peace Initiative, we tried to do the same thing. An agreed solution on the issue of refugees.

cont'd next post

Part II

Jordan will develop nuclear power

"Why do we want a two-state solution? We want a two-state solution because we envisage the future of Israel not just having borders with Jordan, Syria or Egypt. The future of Israelis, if I was to put myself in your shoes, is to be welcomed from Morocco on the Atlantic to Oman on the Indian Ocean. I think that is the prize for the Israelis. But that comes at a price and that is the future of the Palestinians. So although we're talking politics, I think that we have a physical problem and we're running out of time, maybe the wall, maybe the settlements, the lack of hope for the Palestinians will bring us to a point in time in the near future where a two-state solution is no longer anything concrete to talk about, then what happens? If we don't solve the Israeli-Palestinian issue, then we may never be able to solve the Arab-Israeli issue. Is this what we want to give our children? Do they have to be brought up like we were brought up ... in conflict or do we want to give them hope?"

If you were Israel's prime minister, would you settle for a hudna?

"I mean, you talk about the hudna. Tell me what you mean about hudna. If you and I have a problem and we want to go to the endgame, then we say, let's hold off with each other so we can have an atmosphere to sit down and talk. If it's a hudna, you do your thing and I do my thing for x amount of years and then we'll decide what happens. No, that doesn't solve the problem. In my vocabulary, a hudna is a truce that allows people to sit around the table to solve the problem, which I believe is a two-state solution, then I support that type of hudna. But a hudna to say you mind your business and I'll mind mine for an indefinite period of time really doesn't get us anywhere, does it?"

But in our case, Hamas insists on its refusal to recognize even our right to exists. So, what kind of solution can we talk to Hamas about?

"But, if you've noticed, and I'm not agreeing with either side, but even the language recently coming from Hamas, even from the Damascus bureau, is quite interesting. Palestinians are suffering terribly, and I have major concerns. I hear from Israeli politicians that we don't have a partner for peace. But the clock is ticking and we're running out of opportunity.

"Palestinians tend to ask, where is the Arab street? Where are the Arab leaders? We've always been there to support the Palestinians and a two-state solution, but today, where are the Palestinians for themselves? My concern is that as we're trying to move the process forward, it may be the Palestinians that may lose the future of Palestine if they don't get their act together, if they don't put their differences aside. At the end of the day, a cohesive Palestinian leadership that can negotiate the future of Palestine is what's needed today, and if we don't have that in six months or a year, then there may not be a two-state solution and I fear that the Palestinians may be the ones to lose."

There are Israeli politicians who say that publicly Jordan supports a full-fledged Palestinian state, but off-the-record that it is not very excited about having a Palestinian state right there in the Jordan valley and would rather have Israel on the other side of its border. What would you say to them?

"I do not know anybody, any Jordanian, who would say that there is a shred of common sense to that. The true future of our little area is going to be Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian, and it has to be separate entities. There are also Israelis who want to push the problem to Jordan. An independent Palestinian state allows us a different future of how we move economically, socially and even politically."

Jordan never gave up playing a constructive role in the holy cities of Jerusalem. Do you see a Jordanian role in Jerusalem as part of a final status solution?

"I look at Jerusalem as being a beacon for the three monotheistic religions. Now, where Jordan plays a role is obviously from a Muslim point of view, we, as Hashemites, have a historical role in Jerusalem, but also all the Christian churches are credited to us. So, there is obviously a role for Jordan in finding a solution to Jerusalem that is acceptable to all of us. Jordan will be a very positive element in that."

You're in a very special position, because Jordan is caught right in the middle of two conflicts: Iraq and Palestine. Is the solution for Iraq sending more troops?

"Iraq is a challenge that is as important to Jordan as it is to Israel, as it is to Egypt, as it is to any other country - and to the U.S.

"All we can say about Iraq is that the president has listened to the Maliki government. He's come up with a statement saying, I'm going to benchmark you, but you need to make some major changes. "

Next month marks eight years since your coronation. You haven't visited us yet. When are you coming to Israel?

"We're hoping that in the near future, and that could be weeks or maybe in a month or two, there'll be an opportunity to re-launch our final chance for a future for all of us in the region. And, if we're successful in doing that, then this will allow me to come and visit, and to try and bring the parties closer and closer together. I'm quite willing to explain the Arab proposal to the Israeli people and to create an internal dialogue about this issue. The Arabs are coming to say we want peace, and we want formal relations. And, as a human being, I can't understand how anybody would not want that.

"We look at the neighborhood and we're all concerned. But, the people who need to be equally concerned are the Israelis and sometimes, they see the conflict happening in the Middle East and think well, that's not our problem. But unfortunately, everything that happens in the Middle East is interlinked. And so, this is a challenge we all face."

Jordan will develop nuclear power (http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/815304.html)

January 17, 2007, 11:07AM EST text size: TT
Middle East big issue at World Forum

By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER

GENEVA

Middle East turmoil will take center stage at this year's World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, with Israeli and Palestinian officials, Middle Eastern leaders and Iraqi politicians attending, organizers said Wednesday.

The lineup for this year's meeting lacks a big-hitter from The White House, but several Bush administration officials and presidential hopefuls will attend. The guest list includes Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan's King Abdullah II, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and key Shia, Sunni and Kurdish politicians from Iraq.

Israel will be represented by Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at the Forum, which begins next Wednesday just a couple of weeks before a meeting between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as part of a U.S. effort to breathe life into moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

"The Middle East issue is the most crucial issue for the world at this moment," said Klaus Schwab, head of the foundation that hosts the annual meeting of more than 1,000 business and political leaders and officials in Davos.

One Middle East session is titled "Enough is Enough." Another on the future of the region includes European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and ex-Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, a frequent guest.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will open the five-day meeting in her new role as head of the 27-nation European Union and the Group of Eight industrialized countries, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will close it, but much of the talk in between will focus on the shift in power away from Europe and the United States to emerging countries in Asia and Latin America.

"Our world is rapidly changing and power is shifting geopolitically," Schwab told reporters at the Forum's Geneva headquarters. "Power, wealth and well-being are spread in ever more complex ways, leading to a world which is harder and harder to understand."

In total 24 heads of government or state will be present, he said. They include Africa's first female president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, new Mexican President Felipe Calderon and frequent attendee Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil.

Excluded from the "shifting power equation" that is the Forum's theme this year is Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a left-wing critic of the United States who has been lining up allies in Latin America and Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who were not invited.

Previous key U.S. speakers at the forum have included former U.S. President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, Vice Presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney and Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell. Condoleezza Rice, the current secretary, addressed the meeting by satellite link last year.

Potential U.S. presidential hopefuls Christopher Dodd, John Kerry and John McCain will attend. They will be joined by other U.S. senators including Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Patrick Leahy and Republicans Trent Lott and Saxby Chambliss.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was expected to attend, but had to cancel after a ski accident, Schwab said.

"We hope he'll be here next year," Schwab added.

Top Bush administration officials attending include Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and top trade negotiator Susan Schwab will be meeting on the sidelines of the Forum with two dozen of their international counterparts in an effort to revitalize stalled World Trade Organization talks.

Although the WTO's five-year-old Doha round of trade negotiations were never legally or formally suspended, momentum has been gathering for a staged "official relaunch" of talks aimed at slashing subsidies and cutting tariffs for global trade in goods and agriculture.

Perhaps conscious of the failures of previous trade meetings, the organizers of the Davos get-together are setting ambition at an absolute minimum.

"The aim of the meeting is ... to take stock on ministerial level and exchange ideas on the road ahead and how to advance the process," the Swiss Economics Ministry said this week.

The Forum will also address many of the same threats to global welfare from previous years, from climate change to terrorism and energy security to bird flu.

Stars will be less conspicuous than in previous years. Bono is back, as is Peter Gabriel, but there will be no Angelina Jolie or Sharon Stone.

While that may cool the paparazzi's interest, over 800 corporate chairmen and chief executives will be on hand, including Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian billionaire hoping to complete by June a US$33.4 billion merger that would create the world's largest steelmaker.

Up to 5,500 Swiss army soldiers will be on duty to protect the Davos meeting, while the air force is patrolling the skies, the Swiss Defense Department has said.

Middle East big issue at World Forum (http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8MN4JSO0.htm)

EU ready for more military operations, Solana says
18.01.2007 - 17:43 CET | By Andrew Rettman
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Europe says it is ready for more military action under the EU flag in 2007 after its "success" in Congo last year, with the German EU presidency putting Kosovo, Bosnia, Lebanon and Afghanistan at the top of its defence agenda for the next six months.

"We begin 2007 ready to take up our responsibilities if needed - which I sincerely hope won't be the case - but we are in a position of readiness," EU top diplomat Javier Solana said in Brussels on Wednesday (17 January), after recalling that the EU's "battle group" structure reached "full operational capacity" on 1 January.

The EU now has two units that can be deployed for "crisis-management" anywhere in the world 10 days after member states take a unanimous vote, in a decision that would "as a rule" follow a UN security council resolution but that could also see the EU go it alone.

Each group brings together 1,500 soldiers from two or three member states, which hold joint training exercises and wear both national and EU insignia - a blue disk with 12 gold stars - on the model of EU police missions in Bosnia and Macedonia.

"Europe can assume very important peacekeeping and peacemaking functions in this world," German defence minister Franz Josef Jung said, while standing next to Mr Solana. "Europe is a great peace project and we will continue to make our contribution [to global stability]."

EU army by stealth?
No EU battle group has ever been tested in a real operation, but last year saw two major EU military projects: member states coordinated sending 9,000 European peacekeepers under a UN flag to Lebanon and dispatched 1,400 soldiers under an EU flag to Congo.

"Now we really have the beginning of a European army," French general Christian Damay said in Kinshasa in December, with France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland broadly supporting a gradual move toward a permanently standing EU force that could number several thousands of soldiers.

Other states, such as the UK and the Netherlands, are more worried about trespassing on NATO turf however, with no high-profile discussion of the concept taking place at EU level for now. "An EU 'army' is a very big word, but [any army] would be something very small," an EU official told EUobserver.

The notion of an EU army is a red rag to eurosceptic parties in Europe, but some pro-integration politicians such as British liberal MEP Graham Watson also believe the trend toward ever-closer practical defence co-operation should be subject to open discussion on political implications.

"I don't think governments can go on building a European army by stealth - we need a proper public debate," Mr Watson stated, adding that more and more policies are "being done in the council [the EU member states' secretariat] and reported after the fact."

Kosovo to dominate 2007 agenda
Apart from building-up battle group capacity, the German EU presidency will focus on managing the "EU-dominated" force in Lebanon and exploring ways for EU police to support NATO in Afghanistan.

A gradual pull-out of the EU police mission from Bosnia is also on the agenda - but a new EU police force will replace NATO soldiers in Kosovo after the region's final status is settled, Germany's Mr Jung said.

The EU is currently preparing what is expected to be the biggest-ever security operation in its history in Kosovo, involving policing but also institution-building, due to start this summer at the earliest.

Brussels is currently awaiting the result of Serbian elections on Sunday before UN envoy Marti Ahtisaari presents a proposal for the final status of the territory in February.

EU ready for more military operations, Solana says (http://euobserver.com/9/23295)

Israeli, Syrian representatives reach secret understandings
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent

In a series of secret meetings in Europe between September 2004 and July 2006, Syrians and Israelis formulated understandings for a peace agreement between Israel and Syria.

The main points of the understandings are as follows:

An agreement of principles will be signed between the two countries, and following the fulfillment of all commitments, a peace agreement will be signed.

As part of the agreement on principles, Israel will withdraw from the Golan Heights to the lines of 4 June, 1967. The timetable for the withdrawal remained open: Syria demanded the pullout be carried out over a five-year period, while Israel asked for the withdrawal to be spread out over 15 years.

At the buffer zone, along Lake Kinneret, a park will be set up for joint use by Israelis and Syrians. The park will cover a significant portion of the Golan Heights. Israelis will be free to access the park and their presence will not be dependent on Syrian approval.

Israel will retain control over the use of the waters of the Jordan River and Lake Kinneret.

The border area will be demilitarized along a 1:4 ratio (in terms of territory) in Israel's favor.

According to the terms, Syria will also agree to end its support for Hezbollah and Hamas and will distance itself from Iran.

The document is described as a "non-paper," a document of understandings that is not signed and lacks legal standing - its nature is political. It was prepared in August 2005 and has been updated during a number of meetings in Europe.

The meetings were carried out with the knowledge of senior officials in the government of former prime minister Ariel Sharon. The last meeting took place during last summer's war in Lebanon.

Government officials received updates on the meetings via the European mediator and also through Dr. Alon Liel, a former director general at the Foreign Ministry, who took part in all the meetings.

The European mediator and the Syrian representative in the discussions held eight separate meetings with senior Syrian officials, including Vice President Farouk Shara, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, and a Syrian intelligence officer with the rank of "general."

The contacts ended after the Syrians demanded an end to meetings on an unofficial level and called for a secret meeting at the level of deputy minister, on the Syrian side, with an Israeli official at the rank of a ministry's director general, including the participation of a senior American official. Israel did not agree to this Syrian request.

The Syrian representative in the talks, Ibrahim (Abe) Suleiman, an American citizen, had visited Jerusalem and delivered a message to senior officials at the Foreign Ministry regarding the Syrian wish for an agreement with Israel. The Syrians also asked for help in improving their relations with the United States, and particularly in lifting the American embargo on Syria.

For his part, the European mediator stressed that the Syrian leadership is concerned that the loss of petroleum revenues will lead to an economic crash in the country and could consequently undermine the stability of the Assad regime.

According to Geoffrey Aronson, an American from the Washington-based Foundation for Middle East Peace, who was involved in the talks, an agreement under American auspices would call for Syria to ensure that Hezbollah would limit itself to being solely a political party.

He also told Haaretz that Khaled Meshal, Hamas' political bureau chief, based in Damascus, would have to leave the Syrian capital.

Syria would also exercise its influence for a solution to the conflict in Iraq, through an agreement between Shi'a leader Muqtada Sadr and the Sunni leadership, and in addition, it would contribute to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the refugee problem.

Aronson said the idea of a park on the Golan Heights allows for the Syrian demand that Israel pull back to the June 4 border, on the one hand, while on the other hand, the park eliminates Israeli concerns that Syrians will have access to the water sources of Lake Kinneret.

"This was a serious and honest effort to find creative solutions to practical problems that prevented an agreement from being reached during Barak's [tenure as prime minister] and to create an atmosphere of building confidence between the two sides," he said.

It also emerged that one of the Syrian messages to Israel had to do with the ties between Damascus and Tehran. In the message, the Alawi regime - the Assad family being members of the Alawi minority - asserts that it considers itself to be an integral part of the Sunni world and that it objects to the Shi'a theocratic regime, and is particularly opposed to Iran's policy in Iraq. A senior Syrian official stressed that a peace agreement with Israel will enable Syria to distance itself from Iran.

Liel refused to divulge details about the meetings but confirmed that they had taken place. He added that meetings on an unofficial level have been a fairly common phenomenon during the past decade.

"We insisted on making the existence of meetings known to the relevant parties," Liel said. "Nonetheless, there was no official Israeli connection to the content of the talks and to the ideas that were raised during the meetings."

Prior to these meetings, Liel was involved in an effort to further secret talks between Syria and Israel with the aid of Turkish mediation - following a request for assistance President Assad had made to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

That attempt failed following Israel's refusal to hold talks on an official level - and a Syrian refusal to restrict the talks to an "academic level," similar to the framework of the talks that had preceded the Oslo accords.

There was no initial formal response from the Prime Minister's Office after the story broke early on Tuesday. But the Israel Radio quoted unnamed senior Israeli officials as stating that Israel is not holding contacts with Syria.

Israeli, Syrian representatives reach secret understandings (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/813817.html)

U.S. State Department Reveals North Korea’s Misuse of U.N. Development Program Funds and Operations

Friday , January 19, 2007

By George Russell

NEW YORK — Has North Korean leader Kim Jong Il subverted the United Nations Development Program, the $4 billion agency that is the U.N.’s main development arm, and possibly stolen tens of millions of dollars of hard currency in the process?

According to a top official of the U.S. State Department — using findings made by the U.N.’s own auditors — the answer appears to be a disturbing yes, so far as UNDP programs in North Korea itself are concerned.

And just as disturbingly, the U.N. aid agency bureaucracy has kept the scamming a secret since at least 1999 — while the North Korean dictator and his regime were ramping up their illegal nuclear weapons program and making highly publicized tests of intermediate range ballistic missiles.

Nothing was disclosed even to the UNDP Executive Board, which oversees its operations and is composed of representatives of 36 nations — including the United States and, this year, North Korea itself.

That fact is sure to be a bombshell at the Executive Board’s regular annual meeting, which begins Friday and extends through Jan. 26. Among the main items to be discussed is the $18 million, two-year UNDP budget in North Korea.

Moreover, the period of scandal and secrecy in the UNDP’s North Korean operations coincided in large measure with the tenure of Mark Malloch Brown, most recently Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations itself, as administrator of the UNDP.

Malloch Brown took over the UNDP in July 1999, and stayed in his post even after August 2005, when he also became chief of staff for then-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who at the time was reeling under the effects of the Oil for Food scandal.

In March 2006, Malloch Brown took over as Deputy Secretary General from Louise Frechette, who suddenly left the U.N. ahead of schedule, after her own role in Oil for Food became widely known and criticized. Only then did Malloch Brown give up his UNDP fiefdom.

Malloch Brown left the U.N. along with Annan at the end of last year and has since been harshly critical of the Bush Administration and its former ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, for their demands for greater U.N. transparency and reform.

From at least 1999 to at least 2004, it appears the UNDP, and the U.N. itself, had no idea what Kim Jong Il did with the aid agency’s money, ostensibly intended for aid programs ranging from development of energy programs and small and medium sized businesses, and for environmental protection.

But the UNDP had plenty of warnings from auditors it had contracted to look at the program during that period, and who signaled loudly that something was badly awry.

In a letter sent to the UNDP on Jan. 16, Mark Wallace, the U.S. State Department ambassador at the U.N. for management and reform, wrote that the auditors’ testimony shows it is “impossible” for the U.N. aid agency to verify whether its funds “have actually been used for bona fide development purposes or if the DPRK [North Korea] has converted such funds for its own illicit purposes.”

Click here to read U.S. Ambassador Mark Wallace's letter to the UNDP. (pdf)

Ironically enough, neither Wallace nor the U.S. government has been allowed to obtain copies of the audits, which are deemed “management tools” by UNDP bureaucrats and therefore not even available to governments that pay for the organization.

Their contents came to light only after Wallace and the U.S. demanded an opportunity to view the audits at UNDP headquarters, and took careful notes based on the documents. Wallace reiterated the contents in his letter, addressed to Ad Melkert, the UNDP’s No. 2 official.

The difficulties in finding out what the UNDP was doing in North Korea were apparently something that U.S. diplomats and UNDP auditors shared.

Wallace relates in his letter that whenever the auditors, contracted from the consulting firm KPMG, tried to discover what was going wrong, they were either limited in what they were allowed to investigate, or they were forced to accept “sham” audits done by the North Koreans themselves.

The picture painted by the auditors, according to Wallace, shows a U.N. agency that “operated in blatant violation of U.N. rules.”

The UNDP allowed members of Kim’s regime to “dominate” local UNDP staff, who were apparently first selected by the North Korean government itself, the auditors said, and added that Kim’s operatives even ran “core” financial and managerial functions directly.

The regime also demanded cash payments from the aid agency in violation of U.N. rules, and kept UNDP officials from visiting many of the sites where development projects were supposed to be underway.

On at least three occasions, in 1999, 2001 and 2004, the KPMG auditors filed reports that brought troubling aspects of the situation to the attention of UNDP headquarters, recommending “timely corrective action.” There is no evidence that any such action took place.

Just exactly how much money the UNDP funneled into North Korea in all those years is not revealed in Wallace’s letter. But he notes that in 1999 there were 29 ongoing UNDP projects in North Korea, with a total budget of $27.86 million. Two-thirds of the programs were so-called “National Execution programs” run by North Korea directly, using UNDP money. The other third was ostensibly run by UNDP itself.

But that may not have made a difference. The auditors complained that even UNDP-run programs paid for everything in cash, which is against UNDP policy, at prices set by the Kim regime, and to suppliers that the regime designated. There were not even any purchase orders involved. The regime provided no audits of the programs under its own direct control.

In his letter to Melkert, Wallace called for a “full independent and outside forensic audit” of UNDP’s programs in North Korea, going back to at least 1998.

Only “the bright light of real oversight” would allow the UNDP’s overseers to decide whether any or all of the programs should be continued, he said.

UPDATES:

In the wake of this FOX News story, Republicans in Congress have started to take up the issue. Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, ranking Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called on the UNDP Friday to end its project funding in North Korea. She further called on newly inaugurated U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to hold accountable officials who had allowed the North Korean regime to control UNDP programming. "This is yet another example of the abuses made possible by the lack of accountability within the U.N. system," Ros-Lehtinen said.

A representative speaking for Ban Ki-Moon announced Friday that in response to the allegations regarding North Korea and the UNDP, the secretary-general has called for "an urgent, systemwide and external inquiry into all activities done around the globe done by the U.N. funds and programs."

U.S. State Department Reveals North Korea’s Misuse of U.N. Development Program Funds and Operations (http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,244799,00.html)

Japan, Australia Ask China to Explain Space Missile (Update5)

By Paul Tighe and Takashi Hirokawa

Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Japan and Australia asked China to explain the test firing of a missile into space that destroyed an obsolete Chinese weather satellite orbiting the Earth.

The satellite was hit by the missile on Jan. 11, Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said yesterday. Li Junhua, a Chinese envoy to the United Nations in New York, said in a telephone interview that he ``never heard of that.'' The Chinese Foreign Ministry didn't reply to fax and phone queries.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said China should explain its actions while Australia summoned the Chinese ambassador in Canberra and asked for details of the test. The missile launch runs counter to the ``spirit of cooperation'' in civilian space exploration, the U.S. government said yesterday.

President George W. Bush signed a policy paper in October that asserts a U.S. right to use force against any countries or groups whose hostile acts disrupt American satellites.

The U.K. has ``raised concerns'' about the test and possible damage any debris may cause with Chinese authorities, Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman Tom Kelly told reporters. ``We don't believe it contravenes international law,'' Kelly said. ``We are concerned about the lack of consultation.''

U.S. government officials have said that some countries are acquiring capabilities to attack civilian and military space systems. While they declined to identify the countries, Defense News, an independent weekly publication, reported in September that China has been conducting tests aimed at blinding U.S. satellites with lasers.

Weather Satellite

The Feng Yun 1C polar orbit weather satellite was hit by a ``kinetic kill vehicle'' on board a ballistic missile fired from or near the Xichang Space Center, Aviation Week and Space Technology reported, citing unidentified individuals in the space field. U.S. intelligence agencies are working to obtain detailed data on the test, the publication said on its Web site.

``We and other countries have expressed our concern to the Chinese,'' said Johndroe.

Australia sought an explanation from the Chinese ambassador on Jan. 16 about China's future plans for developing and deploying weapons systems capable of destroying space assets, Scott Bolitho, public affairs officer at the department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said in an e-mailed statement.

``We're concerned about the militarization of outer space on the one hand and, secondly, we're concerned about the impact that debris from destroyed satellites could have on other satellites,'' Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today, according to an e-mailed statement from the ministry.

No Chinese Comment

China's Foreign Ministry and the ambassador aren't aware of the issue and will ``get back to us and provide us with some information about it,'' he said. ``The Chinese, at this stage, are looking into it.''

The Japanese government is ``certainly concerned about the report in light of the need for peaceful use of space and security,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said at a regular press conference in Tokyo. Japan is asking China through its embassy in Beijing to explain its actions, he added.

The government hasn't concluded that China is a military threat, Shiozaki said, adding: ``I hope China takes into account that a lack of transparency will invite various speculation.''

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that China has stated in the past its activities in space are peaceful. He declined to make a specific comment on the test.

Chinese Space Probe

China in 2003 became the third country, after the U.S. and Russia, to send a person into space aboard its own rocket. The communist country, fueled by the fastest-growing major economy, plans to send a robot to the moon to fetch lunar soil by 2017.

``American satellites are the soft underbelly of our national security,'' Representative Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said yesterday in a statement. ``It is urgent that President Bush move to guarantee their protection by initiating an international agreement to ban the development, testing, and deployment of space weapons and anti-satellite systems.''

The Chinese satellite was stationed about 500 miles (800 kilometers) above the Earth, and its debris may become a problem for other satellites, said Markey, the chairman of the House subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet.

A cloud of debris may threaten vital U.S. space-based machines, he said. These include a constellation of 66 communications satellites on which commercial and military clients rely.

The U.S. is especially vulnerable to interference with its machines in space because it is so dependent on them. Power, water supply, gas and oil storage, banking and finance and government services rely on communications via satellites.

The military uses satellites for missile tracking, intelligence gathering and secure voice communications with troops on the ground.

Japan, Australia Ask China to Explain Space Missile (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aQSEcxOJNoPI&refer=home)

Iran to start assembling centrifuges
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 18, 2007

Iran is ready to start assembling 3,000 centrifuges to produce enriched uranium - a possible pathway to nuclear arms - after finishing most preliminary work on an underground facility housing such machines, a diplomat and a UN official said Thursday.

The two - who demanded anonymity in exchange for divulging confidential information - said much, but not all of the hardware needed for the installation of the centrifuges was now in place at the Natanz facility designated to house Teheran's industrial-scale enrichment program.

Both men emphasized that the facility had been ready for some time, and there was no sign that actual work on putting in the centrifuges would begin at any particular date.

Still, there has been speculation that the hard-line leadership might start doing so next month, to celebrate the 28th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that brought the clerical leadership to power.

The revelations - based on reports by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency visiting Natanz this week - appeared to strengthen claims from Teheran that it is moving toward large-scale enrichment involving 3,000 centrifuges, which spin uranium gas into enriched material. Low-enriched uranium can be used to generate power, while highly enriched levels serve as the fissile core of nuclear warheads.

"We are moving toward the production of nuclear fuel, which requires 3,000 centrifuges and more than this figure," government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham told reporters Monday. "This program is being carried out and moving toward completion."

Iran's leaders have suggested those machines would be in place by March 20, the end of the Iranian year. But the diplomat and official said quick completion of such a large-scale project was unlikely, describing the complicated process of setting up linked "cascades" of thousands of centrifuges that are needed to repeatedly spin uranium to varying degrees of enrichment as taking "months," even for countries with more technically advanced enrichment programs than the Islamic republic.

Another point of uncertainty is how many centrifuges Iran has assembled. The IAEA has not seen any beyond the few hundred Teheran has shown inspectors. But David Albright, whose Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security tracks Iran's nuclear activities, said Teheran technicians are likely to have built more than 1,000 of the machines at a secret location.

The United States and some of its allies accuse Iran of trying to produce nuclear weapons.
Iran denies this, saying its program is only for generating electricity. Teheran says that as a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, it has the right to develop a peaceful uranium enrichment program to produce nuclear power.

The IAEA has said it has found no evidence that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons, but it has criticized the country for concealing certain nuclear activities, conducting experiments with possible links to weapons programs, possessing a drawing linked to nuclear warheads and failing to answer questions about the program.

Iran first showed its ability to enrich uranium in February, when it produced a small batch of low-enriched material using a first set of 164 centrifuges at its pilot complex in Natanz.

Iran plans to ultimately expand its enrichment program to 54,000 centrifuges, which spin uranium gas into enriched material to produce nuclear fuel. That would give if the capacity to produce dozens of nuclear warheads a year, if it chose to develop weapons.

The diplomat - who had been briefed on the IAEA inspectors' latest findings - said the Iranians recently finished "putting down the cabling, the air conditioning and all the other hardware," all part of the preliminary setup for the installation of centrifuges linked in cascades.

While "they are bound to have some technical problems, they are capable" of setting up the machines and running them, he told The Associated Press.

The only known assembled cascades for now are above ground at Natanz, consisting of two linked chains of 164 machines each and two smaller setups.

The two larger cascades have been running only sporadically to produce small quantities of non-weapons grade enriched uranium, while the smaller assemblies have been underground "dry testing" since late November, IAEA inspectors have reported.

That has led to experts and diplomats speculating that Iran was hesitant to provoke UN Security Council sanctions harsher than the relatively mild penalties agreed on last month in response to Teheran's refusal to heed a council deadline to suspend enrichment. Or, they said, it could be a sign of headway by relative moderates in the leadership unhappy with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's confrontational manner.

But the president denounced his critics Thursday, saying their calls for compromise echo "the words of the enemy" and will not affect his government's nuclear policies.

Iran's refusal to suspend enrichment work led the Security Council to impose sanctions on Dec. 23 - relatively mild penalties banning specified materials and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

It also imposed an asset freeze on key companies and individuals in the country's nuclear and missile programs named on a UN list and gave the country 60 days to comply or face the likelihood of tougher nonmilitary sanctions.

Iran to start assembling centrifuges (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467763039&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter)

Group won't reveal PM's message
January 19, 2007 01:16pm

THE Prime Minister has been caught in a religious row after taping a goodwill message for a fundamentalist Christian group previously accused of inciting anti-Islamic hatred.

The Prime Minister has appeared in a DVD message for a major multi-denomination gathering in Melbourne on Australia Day that is being sponsored by the controversial Catch the Fire ministries.

Organisers are refusing to release the content of the Prime Minister's message, other than to confirm it was on "Australian values" - saying anyone interested in hearing it will have to come to the event.

But it has been reported that in the message, Mr Howard says Christianity has been a force for good in the world. A spokesman for the PM has said Mr Howard does not regret recording the message.

The PM's decision has been described as "dangerous". Muslim community leaders said Mr Howard risked legitimising hateful anti-Islamic views.

Yasser Soliman, a member of Mr Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group and a former president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, said today while Mr Howard is free to address whom he chooses, he should have thought twice.

"What he says is extremely influential and what he fails to say is also influential. I would hope that he would clearly condemn hate speeches in all their forms, irrespective of who the perpetrators are," he said.

"I can't stop the Prime Minister addressing who he wants to, but he should be very cautious, especially with groups which have a history of toxic-hate speech."

Last month the Victorian Court of Appeal threw out the charges brought in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal which had sought to jail Pastor Danny Nalliah and Daniel Scot for allegedly inciting hatred, contempt, revulsion and ridicule of Muslims.

The outcry comes as federal police launched an investigation into inflammatory comments by Sydney's Sheik Feiz Mohammed, which included a description of Jews as pigs and calls for children to die as "martyrs of faith".

Friday's Christian rally at Melbourne's Festival Hall is expected to attract up to 5000 people of various denominations.

Mr Howard is being promoted in flyers as delivering a keynote message which will be "personally directed to Catch the Fire ministries".

The rally will also say prayers against terrorism, for divine protection for Australia's armed forces and for the Government, according to organisers.

Pastor Nalliah, one of two Catch the Fire ministers charged with breaking state vilification laws in 2002, has refused to divulge what Mr Howard has said in his recorded message for fear it will be taken out of context.

"I have kept it confidential up until Australia Day," he said.

"The best thing is for the media to come and listen to it firsthand on Australia Day, then say what they believed they heard the Prime Minister said."

He said the event involves a wide range of religious groups including the Salvation Army, Presbyterian and Anglican churches and smaller organisations.

"It's about coming together to pray for a nation and I think it's a great opportunity," he said.

Pastor Nalliah said Treasurer Peter Costello, Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaille and former deputy PM John Anderson had addressed Catch the Fire meetings in the past.

Islamic Council of Victoria board member Waleed Aly described Catch the Fire as "spectacularly ignorant", claiming its members were in alliance with the far-Right League of Rights.

Amid the fallout of Sheik Feiz's lecture DVD becoming public, Acting Attorney-General Kevin Andrews said the Government was worried about a pattern of behaviour among outspoken Islamic leaders.

Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd called the sheik's rant obscene and demanded action.

"As I see it, Sheik Mohammed's comments add up to an incitement to terrorism," Mr Rudd said.

Mr Howard is in Brisbane today for the funeral of Liberal stalwart Sir James Killen.

Group won't reveal PM's message (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,21082402-2,00.html?from=public_rss)

ChristiansUnite Forums

Theology => Prophecy - Current Events => Topic started by: Shammu on January 19, 2007, 09:16:39 PM