Print Page - Birth Pangs of Matthew 24, Jan. 23-26, 2007

Climate change seen fanning conflict and terrorism

By Mark Trevelyan, Security Correspondent Wed Jan 24, 11:21 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Global warming could exacerbate the world's rich-poor divide and help to radicalize populations and fan terrorism in the countries worst affected, security and climate experts said on Wednesday.

"We have to reckon with the human propensity for violence," Sir Crispin Tickell, Britain's former ambassador to the
United Nations, told a London conference on "Climate Change: the Global Security Impact."

"Violence within and between communities and between nation states, we must accept, could possibly increase, because the precedents are all around."

He cited Rwanda and Sudan's Darfur region as two examples where drought and overpopulation, relative to scarce resources, had helped to fuel deadly conflicts.

Experts at the conference hosted by the Royal United Services Institute said it was likely that global warming would create huge flows of refugees as people tried to escape areas swamped by rising sea levels or rendered uninhabitable by desertification.

Tickell said terrorists were likely to seek to exploit the tensions created.

"Those who are short of food, those who are short of water, those who can't move to countries where it looks as if everything is marvelous are going to be people who are going to adopt desperate measures to try and make their point."

BIN LADEN ON CLIMATE CHANGE

John Mitchell, chief scientist at Britain's Met Office, noted al Qaeda had already listed environmental damage among its litany of grievances against the United States.

"You have destroyed nature with your industrial waste and gases more than any other nation in history. Despite this, you refuse to sign the Kyoto agreement so that you can secure the profit of your greedy companies and industries," al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden wrote in a 2002 "letter to the American people."

Paul Rogers, professor of peace studies at Bradford University, said any attempt by countries to build fortress walls to keep out climate change refugees -- what he called the "barbarians at the gate" mentality -- was doomed to fail.

"If you just take the example of Bangladesh, if 60 million of 140 million people could not survive in Bangladesh yet they were kept there, you would have A) gigantic human suffering and B) progressive very deep radicalization -- very, very angry people -- and that is not in anybody's security interest."

Bangladesh, with a 580 km (360 mile) coastline on the Bay of Bengal, is acutely vulnerable to rising sea levels, cyclones and droughts.

Climate scientist Mitchell said the Mediterranean and Middle East were likely to receive less rainfall as a consequence of climate change, adding to existing tensions over water.

John Ashton, special representative for climate change at Britain's Foreign Office, voiced concern that this could further destabilize a region already beset by conflict.

"Given the volatile nature of that region, given the global consequences of that volatility, yes I'm hugely worried by that," he told Reuters.

Climate change seen fanning conflict and terrorism (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070124/sc_nm/climate_security_dc)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So now we have the excuse, "the weather made me do it." Also if poverty causes jihad, why isn't Haiti teeming with suicide bombers? ???

Cities see crime surge as threat to their revival
Louisville, Trenton, N.J., and other metros whose downtowns are booming once again fear nationwide jump in violent crime may hurt prosperity

By Haya El Nasser
USA TODAY

LOUISVILLE — A minister who regularly conducts prayer vigils against violence and counsels crime victims is beaten by a gang of youths. Five people are shot and wounded at a community festival. A softball player is shot and wounded at a game, in front of 100 witnesses. One person is killed and four wounded in a shooting outside a funeral home as people gather for a wake.

These crimes happened in very public settings here last year — two of them within 2 miles of the heart of this Ohio River city's downtown. Such incidents inevitably give communities the jitters, but cities are especially skittish now because the nation's violent crime rate is rising after more than a decade of decline, and the stakes are higher.

The drop in crime helped spark an urban revival that attracted thousands of residents and billions of dollars of investment to downtowns from Louisville to Miami, St. Louis and Denver. Now, city leaders across the nation are fearful that crime will kill the renaissance.

For a city such as Louisville, where downtown is flourishing, keeping crime in check is paramount. More than $1 billion has been invested in the commercial heart of the city this decade. By 2010, at least another $1 billion is expected to come in. Five hotels are set to open, and the 2000 housing units now downtown are expected to double by 2009.

Rising crime "has the potential of being damaging," says Jerry Abramson, mayor of Louisville from 1985 to 1998. He was elected again in 2002 after Louisville merged with surrounding Jefferson County; he was re-elected in 2006. "We all live day by day in terms of concern of some horrific thing happening in our central business district that would set us back."

Murders and robberies continued to rise nationwide during the first six months of 2006, according to the FBI, and violent crime overall appears headed for a second straight year of increases. Mayors and police chiefs regularly assure the public that violent crimes still are confined mostly to poorer drug- and gang-infested areas, but they are sounding alarms:

•One of the first sessions at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' winter meeting that began Wednesday in Washington tackled initiatives to fight rising crime. Mayors are calling for a federal-local partnership to stem double-digit increases in murders, assaults and robberies in some cities.

•The National League of Cities has put the surge in violent crime on its legislative agenda, calling it one of the major challenges affecting quality of life.

•Mayors and police chiefs from about 55 cities who met last fall identified many factors pushing up crime rates: gangs, drugs, truancy, a growing culture of violence among youths, a profusion of illegal guns, unemployment and a wave of more than 600,000 ex-offenders finishing their prison terms and returning to the streets every year.

Abramson and some other mayors also blame the federal government for cutting funding for crime prevention and phasing out a Clinton administration program that added 100,000 police officers nationwide. They say Washington's focus has shifted to homeland security at the expense of hometown security.

"The consensus is that the federal government walked away from that partnership," Abramson says. "Crime all of a sudden begins to ratchet up but police on the street have ratcheted significantly down. We draw a correlation."

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse disagrees. "The increase in violent crime in some areas does not appear to be related to federal spending for law enforcement," he says. "DOJ spending has never accounted for more than 4% of total spending on state and local law enforcement."

Trenton, N.J., Mayor Douglas Palmer, president of the Conference of Mayors, met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this month. He hopes cities can gain more support now that Democrats control Congress.

"Over the '90s, cities have made great strides in coming back, revitalizing neighborhoods, but we've seen an escalation of violence," Palmer says.

"We have fewer police officers in our cities now than ever, with a greater proliferation of guns on the streets. … It is of the highest priority." Signs of the trend:

•The Police Executive Research Forum, a national police advocacy group, reported in October that murder, robbery and assaults had increased substantially in a cross-section of cities. The title of its report: A Gathering Storm — Violent Crime in America.

"There was a general sense that crime for most communities had dropped to such levels that it no longer was the issue that it was in the '90s and '80s," says Chuck Wexler, executive director of the police group. "We've seen a volatility in crime that we haven't seen in the previous eight years — and not just in the inner cities."

•Preliminary FBI data released last month show that violent crime rose 2.2% nationwide in 2005, the largest annual increase in 14 years and the first since 2001. In the latest statistics available, violent crime rose 3.7% from January to June 2006 compared with the first six months of 2005. Murders went up 1.4%, felony assaults 1.2% and robberies 9.7%. Property crime dropped 2.6%.

•The FBI has directed more than 100 additional agents to help local authorities fight violent crime.

Justice Department teams visited 18 cities in November and December to determine why violent crime is spiking in some cities and not in others. They met with state and local law enforcement "to gain a better understanding of what is causing this increase and determine which efforts had been most effective in helping fight violent crime," Roehrkasse says.

•Orlando had 49 homicides last year, more than double the 22 in 2005. About 60% were linked to drugs. In Memphis, homicides rose from 118 in 2004 to 160 last year. Crime is down in Los Angeles and Chicago. In some cities, homicides are down, but robberies are up.

"We had a general rise in violent crime in not all but most cities in every region," says David Harris, professor of law and values at the University of Toledo College of Law.

Mayors find themselves in an awkward spot. On one hand, they want to publicize their crime problems to get more funding. On the other, they worry that too much crime talk will create a negative perception of cities and scare off people.

"It has a very detrimental effect on what mayors work on each and every day to try to entice businesses to come," Palmer says. "Perception is reality."

Adds Harris: "City officials are quite aware that whatever progress they've made in attracting new residents and bringing people back to live in the city would be at risk if people didn't feel safe."

cont'd next post

Cities must deal with crime head-on, says urban historian Joel Kotkin, author of The City. "We all hoped that the days of relatively high crime rates had come and gone," he says. "We now know the problem is not going away."

Many cities are taking action:

•In Trenton, homicides spiked to 31 in 2005 but dropped to 18 last year. More than 70% were gang-related, Palmer says. "We took down the leadership of nine gangs," he says. "They're in jail."

The city is cracking down on truancy and providing job training while redeveloping deserted industrial areas, getting rid of 5,500 deserted properties and building 1,600 homes for working families.

"We're making our cities more livable, but it's all inextricably tied to the whole crime piece," Palmer says. "We need resources."

•In Milwaukee, 1993 saw 160 homicides, a record high. By 2004, it had a record low 88. They climbed the next year to 122, then inched down to 103 last year.

"We did see probably a 20% increase in other categories of violent crime … an increase in armed robberies and shootings," says Mayor Tom Barrett, a former congressman.

Barrett and other mayors are working to strengthen background checks of gun buyers. He launched a fatherhood initiative to address the problem of absentee dads. He cut firefighting staff to start the year with 1,970 sworn police officers, the highest number since 2000, but is struggling to fill almost 200 vacancies, he says.

Downtown is thriving. About 14,000 people live there, 10 times more than a decade ago. Waterfront high-rises are going up. Work is starting on The Brewery, a multimillion-dollar conversion of the 26-acre old Pabst brewery complex into a residential and commercial center. The site borders downtown and inner-city neighborhoods.

"Our downtown is very safe," Barrett says. "I'm concerned about violence that occurs in other parts of the city."

•In Miami, overall crime is down, but homicides are up.

"The market is literally being flooded with assault weapons coming from Eastern Europe, the old Soviet bloc countries," Police Chief John Timoney says. Guns such as AK-47 rifles are selling for $150 to $200 compared with $700 or more not long ago, he says.

"Every jerk who wants one can have one," Timoney says.

Crime, he says, is not affecting Miami's downtown, where thousands of condominiums have been built or are planned. "But I was in New York when there was an all-time record high of homicides," he says. "Three kids were killed. Tourists from Utah were killed in the subway. When you start getting untraditional killings, that's when you get people's attention."

While violent crimes in Louisville have occurred away from downtown, the city has been proactive. Security cameras were installed in high-crime areas and neighborhood watch programs strengthened. Police on horses and bicycles patrol the Fourth Street Live area of clubs, stores and restaurants. The city has razed low-income housing and built mixed-income housing.

"Downtown is one of the, if not the, safest geographic areas in our community," Abramson says.

So far, 70 homicides in 2004 (the highest since 1997 when there were 85), 64 in 2005 and 51 in 2006 have not quelled downtown's resurgence. The Muhammad Ali Center opened in recent years, the convention center was expanded, and an arena is planned. The city soon will break ground on Museum Plaza, a $465 million, 61-story skyscraper that could transform Louisville's skyline.

Police Chief Robert White has reached out to the community since he arrived four years ago. "If we're going to have a long-term effect in fighting crime, we have to get people engaged," he says.

Billboards across town advertise a 24-hour crime tip line, 574-LMPD. The first month in operation, 123 calls came in. Two years later, about 2,000 calls on average led to at least 30 arrests every month. Police credit the tip line with solving 18 homicides and shutting down three methamphetamine labs.

Donnie Morris, who lives in the high-crime West End, runs Prevention 2000 to teach children about gun safety, drugs and other threats. He and his wife, Jefferson County District Court Judge Joan Stringer, encourage churches to report anonymous crime tips they receive from their congregation.

"Areas that are most affected by crime are the ones that don't call the police, but they'll call their clergy," Morris says.

Phil and Kathy Scherer are the kind of empty nesters that many downtowns are attracting these days. The two had always been downtown boosters. After 33 years in the suburbs, they decided to "walk the walk," says Kathy, 58.

They bought a 3,000-square-foot penthouse in Preston Point, a striking modern building with a view of the river. She says she feels more comfortable being alone at night there than she did in her old suburban house.

Young people crowd the streets on their way to a skate park nearby. Joggers run by the waterfront. Mounted police trot past.

"We have always hoped that Louisville would have that 24-hour component," says Phil, 63, a city native and president of a commercial and industrial real estate firm. "I don't see crime as a deterrent."

Mayors hope it stays that way. The police executive association, however, expects the trend of rising crimes to continue this year.

"Robberies are occurring in parts of cities that didn't normally have robberies," Wexler says. "Cities are concerned."

Cities see crime surge as threat to their revival (http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070125/1a_cover25.art.htm)

Abortion protest allowed at school

Eighth-grader settles with Shenendehowa district, can wear T-shirt, offer fliers on Roe vs. Wade anniversary

By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
Click byline for more stories by writer.
First published: Friday, January 19, 2007

ALBANY -- A settlement reached between a 13-year-old Gowana Middle School student and Shenendehowa officials will allow him, during the school day, to protest the upcoming 34th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in Roe vs. Wade that affirmed a woman's right to have an abortion.

This morning, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn will review the agreement that was forged just hours before oral arguments in the case were to begin.

Times Union Traffic
"It's the right thing to have done," said Tom Marcelle, a Bethlehem resident and co-counsel in the case allied with the Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, Ariz., which is representing M.G., as the child is referred to in court papers.

"There is one standard of thought that school can teach you to learn to obey the rules," Marcelle said. "The other, more libertarian component says there is nothing more important than to teach kids to peacefully and civilly exercise their rights."

As part of the pending agreement, M.G. will be allowed to attend school one day wearing a T-shirt expressing his opposition to abortion, court papers said. He can hand out leaflets at tables by the school entrances. The printed material will contain a line explaining that he'll be available at a table just outside the cafeteria during lunch time, should anyone want to talk more.

The boy and his parents filed a federal lawsuit against the Clifton Park school's principal, Jill Bush, last week, claiming her handling of the student's protest in October was discriminatory and humiliating.

The eighth-grader sought a jury trial and permission to wage another silent protest and leaflet campaign on or around Jan. 22, the anniversary of the 1973 landmark decision. It was not clear on Thursday if the demonstration will be on that day, which is Monday, or another.

On Oct. 24, the boy and two friends, with 1,400 other middle and high school students, were participating in the third annual Students' Day of Silent Solidarity, organized by the Stand True ministry of Fredericksburg, Va.

The boy already had permission from his teachers to wear a piece of red tape over his mouth to symbolize aborted fetuses that have no voice. On the tape was the word "Life." He wore a personalized T-shirt and handed out fliers before school and during the beginning of first period while talking to others.

Then Bush called a halt to the activity and collected materials that she hadn't already ordered him to throw away.

Attorney Kathryn McCary, who represents Bush and the school district, declined comment.

Abortion protest allowed at school (http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=555271&category=SARATOGA&BCCode=&newsdate=1/23/2007)

Another Asteroid Collision With Earth: It's Just a Matter of Time
Ex-Astronaut Looks at Ways to Prevent Catastrophe

What are the odds an asteroid or meteoroid will hit the Earth again? Pretty good, according to some scientists.

There are millions of these "rocks" out there, and about 200,000 to 400,000 of them get close enough to be classified as celestial objects that could come within range of our home planet.

But it only takes one, as anyone who has studied the dinosaurs will tell you. Many scientists believe an asteroid impact led to the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Apollo 9 astronaut Russell Schweickart believes it is simply a matter of time before another asteroid targets Earth.

"It could be 20 years, or a hundred years, or a thousand years," he said.

Schweickart is one of the founders of the B612 Foundation, which studies how to alter the orbit of an asteroid to prevent it from hitting Earth. "It's a very infrequent occurrence — an asteroid impacting the Earth — but when it happens, it will be devastating."

Schweickart says he's frustrated because he believes this project should be led by an international organization. He contends there is no way to predict when or where an asteroid will hit the Earth, so no single government should be held responsible for asteroid avoidance.

He wants to see the United Nations set up an agency mandated to prevent an asteroid from colliding with the Earth and has planned a series of meetings around the world to develop a comprehensive plan. Schweickart anticipates a project that would cost several hundred million dollars, a burden for any single country, but something much more practical as a combined effort.

How would you keep an asteroid form hitting the Earth? Schweickart outlined a three-step program.

Early Warning. You need to know it's coming by searching for it. NASA currently has a budget of $4.1 million to look for asteroids.

Take Action. Develop the ability to deflect an asteroid. Some technology is available now, but propulsion that doesn't exist yet will be required — nuclear reactors that could power ion-propulsion systems for interplanetary spacecraft.

Make a Decision. Some agency has to decide to do this and fund it. This isn't about ducking a bullet going past your head; this is about seeing what is coming your way decades ahead and believing in the laws of gravity.

Edward T. Lu is a NASA astronaut who has developed a plan of action for deflecting an asteroid. He and fellow astronaut Stan Love have come up with the concept of a space tug. A space tug is a rocket that would launch to the same orbit as an asteroid threatening to hit the Earth and alter the asteroid's orbit by pushing in the direction of its orbital motion.

Lu told ABC News, "You don't have to change much — one hundred thousandth of a mile an hour is enough, 10 years ahead of time, to cause an asteroid to miss the rendezvous with Earth."

NASA is taking some steps to learn more about asteroids. Chris McKay is a planetary scientist with the Ames Research Center as well as the deputy lead scientist for the Constellation Program — the project to go back to the moon and on to Mars. Orion is the vehicle that will carry the astronauts, launched with an Ares rocket. McKay is exploring ways to use Orion for other missions, like sending a crew to land on an asteroid.

"It is exciting to think about rendezvousing with an asteroid and bringing back samples," McKay said. "What we could learn about the origins of the Earth is mind-boggling."

While McKay is excited about the possibility of landing on an asteroid, he says there is currently no mandate to start deflecting asteroids. "Right now, there is nothing out there that we know of with our name on it, but if we did find something, this mission could give the knowledge to deter a disaster."

An ounce of prevention is the mantra for scientists concerned about asteroids smacking into us. Both Schweickart and McKay use the failure of the levees in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina as an example of poor planning on all levels of government.

Is getting hit by an asteroid something to lose sleep over? Probably not, said Schweickart. But he said that people should be more concerned about the government's role in watching for an asteroid.

NASA's Near Earth Object Observation Program is responsible for tracking any near-Earth asteroids larger than a kilometer in size. NASA is not responsible for preventing an asteroid that it tracks from hitting the Earth. No agency has that mandate right now.

And the lack of a plan, said Schweickart, is something that causes him to lose sleep.

Another Asteroid Collision With Earth: It's Just a Matter of Time (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=2817276&page=1)

More than 80,000 people take to the streets to defend missionaries accused of stealing
The Chattisgarh state government, which accuses missionaries of stealing the land of Tribal people in order to convert, has filed 262 cases against the Church to force it to “give back” the land. Demonstrators defend the Church and want politicians to stop manipulating the law.

Jashpur (AsiaNews/Agencies) – More than 80,000 Tribals have taken to the streets in the eastern state of Chattisgarh in defence of the Church accused by the local government of stealing lands from locals in order to convert them.

The land on which Catholic missionaries have built mission institutions “was not stolen from us, but was regularly sold to the Church by our ancestors, which now uses it to help,” said one demonstrator. “We are happy for the schools and hospitals,” which now stand on the contested land, because they “educate us and provide us with medical care”,.

The demonstration, which took place last Monday, is a response to a local court decision requiring the Sisters of the Holy Cross return to Tribals 12 acres of land on which they built a monastery and a school.

The judge motivated his decision based on local legislation 170 (b) which bans land sales in Tribal areas to non Tribals.

The state government, which is controlled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatya Janata Party, filed 262 cases alleging unlawful occupation of tribal land by Catholic missions.

“We have never asked that the land be returned,” said Tarcitius Toppo, one of the demonstrators. “It was never stolen and is not used to convert us but only to help us. The government should stop manipulating the law for its own purposes.”

More than 80,000 people take to the streets to defend missionaries accused of stealing (http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=8309&size=A)

Reid: 'Send less people to jail'
8.36, Wed Jan 24 2007

Home Secretary John Reid is under fire after he urged the courts to send only the most dangerous and persistent criminals to prison.

Mr Reid, Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer and Attorney General Lord Goldsmith have written to judges and magistrates in a bid to try to relieve some of the pressure on the UK's overcrowded jails.

The move has been branded as "outrageous" by opposition MPs, who claim sentences are being dictated by the prison capacity and not by the crime committed.

But the Home Office defended the move, saying it was a necessary stopgap measure before plans to create a further 8,000 prison places came into being in the spring.

During Prime Minister's Questions, Tory leader David Cameron compared the Government to the ship stranded off the Devon coast.

But Tony Blair said: "He was simply reminding the courts of existing sentencing policy."

Meanwhile, A-wing at HMP Norwich, which was closed at the weekend after being condemned as unfit for human habitation, has been reopened to make 150 more places available for offenders.

The move comes as the prison population of England and Wales hovers around its capacity of about 80,000 places.

The letter is understood to be the first in a series of measures designed to ease prison overcrowding over the coming weeks and months.

Mr Reid said: "It is necessary to a civilised society that those who are a danger to our society are put away.

"The public have a right to expect protection from violent and dangerous offenders. Prisons are an expensive resource that should be used to protect the public and to rehabilitate inmates and stop them re-offending.

"However, we should not be squandering taxpayers' money to monitor non-dangerous and less serious offenders."

Reid: 'Send less people to jail' (http://www.itv.com/news/b4a0a0ab3d1a0bff43e580949332dc56.html)

Are You Afraid Yet?
By David Strom
Thursday, January 25, 2007

Are you afraid? Very afraid?

Well, if you aren’t, you should be. And if you are, you aren’t scared enough.

In just over a week, we are about to be treated to yet another Cassandra-style warning about the “fate of the earth,” this time from the International Panel on Climate Change.

It has become part of the background noise in our daily lives: the constant refrain that the world is rushing headlong into certain doom.

A doom, that is, that you will suffer unless you hand control of the economy and your daily lives over to the very elite that is warning of the impending disaster: the media, the left-leaning political class, and academics. As long as we surrender to the tender mercies of their magnanimity and good will, all might yet be well with the world.

When I was growing up, the crisis was the population bomb. The exponential growth in human population was inevitably leading us all into a bleak future of death, disease, and mass starvation. "The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate..." wrote Paul Ehrlich.

Of course the population bomb blew up in Ehrlich’s face, and now most major countries in the developed world are faced with the economic problem of population decline and increasing obesity, not mass starvation.

But being wrong hasn’t stopped the doomsayers. There is always something to be very afraid of. In the 70’s it was Global Cooling, “limits to growth,” the energy crisis, and the yellow peril of Japanese economic expansion; in the 80’s it was nuclear power, nuclear war, nuclear winter, Alar on our apples, and the conversion of the middle-class into a vast cadre of homeless people; in the 90’s we were introduced to global warming, genetically modified foods invading nature, and the “vast right-wing conspiracy.” These days worries center on global climate change, the bird flu, and peak oil.

The evidence for anthropogenic climate change (man-made global warming to you and me) is said to be “overwhelming” and “irrefutable” in the copious amount of pre-publication press the new IPCC report is garnering.

Well, count me among the skeptical few.

Are You Afraid Yet? (http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStrom/2007/01/25/are_you_afraid_yet)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are bombarded with so much information today it's hard to digest it all and often we're left confused. The media, entertainment industry and politicians use fear as a tool to promote attitudes, trends and causes. No wonder people can't sleep at night! We are in a constant state of fear and stress. And I don't think God meant us to live confused and fearful. But to have our feet planted firmly on the Rock to be confident and steady.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS TO TEACH INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

Zamboanga City, 25 Jan. (AKI) - The largest organisation of Filipino Catholic schools - Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) - is mulling to incorporate the "Inter-Religious Dialogue" (IRD) in its current education curriculum. During the four-day annual assembly of CEAP's superintendents, which concluded in Zamboanga City on Thursday, the group went through a comprehensive discussion on the topic of IRD as a Catholic teaching and cited it as a more positive approach in attaining more harmonious co-existence between Muslims and Christians.

In an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), CEAP Superintendent's Commission Chairman Monsignor Gerardo O. Santos said that the association is also "affirming its commitment for better Catholic school governance that is nuanced by the inter-religious dialogue."

"This year's assembly is anchored on the theme: "Catholic Education as Prophecy" and Inter-religious Dialogue is indeed one of those prophecies," Monsignor Santos told AKI.

Father Prisco A. Cajes of the Christ of the King College based in Calbayog City in Eastern Philippines added that the IRD curriculum in Catholic schools could be the best way to establish inter-religious co-existence in this majority Catholic nation.

"It would make our students better to their brothers and sisters with other faiths, especially towards Muslims, if they are aware of their traditions and cultures. It could set a better inter-personal relationship among individuals," he said.

Father Prisco added that different CEAP-member will prepare their own curriculum on IRD after the assembly.

In the mixed Muslim-Christian City of Zamboanga, Monsignor David Alonzo, of the Immaculate Conception Archdiocesan Schools, said IRD is very important especially for the Mindanao setting.

Mindanao is the second largest among the three main islands in the Philippines, where the four million Muslims of the Philippines, live. Over 90 percent of the country's 85 million people are Christian.

"It (IRD) would lead the populace here into a peaceful and more harmonious relationship," he told AKI.

"You could understand each other better if there is a constant dialogue, if you are willing to respect and listen to each other," shared Father Romeo Villanueva of his experience with the Muslim people. Villanueva is currently assigned at the Vicariate of Jolo in Sulu province, one of among very few Muslim dominated areas in the southern Philippine Archipelago.

Among CEAP's speakers was also Sicilian-born Father Sebastiano D'Ambra of Silsilah Dialogue Movement who shared his struggles and stories of success with different Muslim communities during his four decades of stay in the country.

Muslim representative Zenaida Lim also shared her experiences being with people of different faiths.

"Religion has never deterred us from getting into better camaraderie with people of other faiths," shared Lim, who is also a lead member of a non-government Muslim group Sarang Bangun Foundation.

Besides IRD, the assembly also tackles topics on "Education as Prophecy", "Peace, Culture, and Religion", and "Actualising Vision Statement through Curriculum," among others.

At present, CEAP has about 1200 Catholic institutions all over Philippines as its members.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS TO TEACH INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE (http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.380222926&par=)

Muslims complain of Hollywood "bad guy" image

By Paul Majendie Thu Jan 25, 11:51 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Western movies from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to "Aladdin" promote negative stereotypes of Muslims by casting them all too often as villains, a British Muslim pressure group said on Thursday.

"There is no such thing as a Muslim good guy," said Arzu Merali, co-author of a report by the Islamic Human Rights Commission that argued that movies played a crucial role in fostering a crude and exaggerated image.

The commission's study, based on soundings taken from almost 1,250 British Muslims, also found that 62 percent felt the media was "Islamophobic" and 14 percent called it racist.

"Cinema, both in Hollywood and Britain, has helped to demonize Muslims. They are portrayed as violent and backward. That reinforces prejudices," Merali told Reuters.

"This stretches back before the 9/11 attacks in the United States," said Merali, head of research at the campaigning body.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's government has commissioned studies into attitudes toward racial and religious minorities following bombings in London in 2005 when four British Islamists killed 52 people in suicide attacks on the transport network.

The government has cracked down on radical extremist preachers who, it says, inspire suicide bombers.

But critics say the government's focus on Islam could backfire if Britain's 1.8 million Muslims feel under attack.

The report pointed the finger of blame as far back as the 1981 blockbuster "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in which "the cultural stereotypes and scenarios are patently obvious" as veiled women hurry through the bazaar to snake-charming music.

The 1998 film "The Siege" starring Bruce Willis and Denzel Washington was accused of reinforcing "the monolithic stereotype of the Arab/Palestinian/Muslim being violent and ready to be martyred for their cause."

Disney's cartoon was criticized for describing Aladdin's homeland as "barbaric."

The report called for British film censors to be given greater power to cut out "objectionable material" and said media watchdogs in Britain should be more effective in ensuring "responsible coverage" of Muslims.

Muslims complain of Hollywood "bad guy" image (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070125/film_nm/islam_movies_dc_2)
~~~~~~~~~~

That sad thing is, Hollywood will take notice of this. Watch for an upcoming crop of Muslim hero movies coming to a theater near you soon.

Raiders of the Lost Ark: I thought the character of "Sallah" was not only a "good guy" but critical in his aid to Indy's quest.
Aladdin: "Aladdin" was a bad guy?

Additionally, off the top of my head:
True Lies: "Faisil" was good guy and part of the team.
The Siege: "Frank Haddad" was a good guy.
The Mummy (both movies): "Ardeth Bay" was a good guy.
Rambo III: Rambo was aided by an entire group of Muslims.
The Living Daylights: James Bond was aided by Muslims as well.

IRAN: POPE MAY BE INVITED TO TEHRAN

Tehran, 26 Jan. (AKI) - Pope Benedict XVI could soon be invited to visit Iran, Iranian news agencies reported on Friday, citing foreign ministry sources. Though the Islamic Republic has not yet formally invited the pontiff, Iran's ambassador to the Vatican, Mohammad Javad Faridzadeh, allegedly told Benedict XVI that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the country's supreme leader, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, would be happy to have him as a guest in Iran in what would become the first visit ever by a pontiff to the country.

The inauguration of the church of Hazrat Maryam - the most ancient Catholic church in Iran in Isfahan, central Iran, which is currently being renovated - could provide the right occasion for the pope's visit, Iranian sources say.

Benedict made his first and only trip so far to a Muslim country since his 2005 election when he visited Turkey on 28 November-1 December.

The trip succeeded in improving the Vatican's relations with the Islamic world after a speech made by Benedict XVI during a visit to Germany in September last year drew criticism in parts of the Muslim world for what were deemed to be offensive comments directed at Islam. Benedict XVI denied he has sought to offend Muslims saying that his speech had been misinterpreted.

IRAN: POPE MAY BE INVITED TO TEHRAN (http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.380597166&par=0)

3 reportedly held in 'ghost bride' sale

2 hours, 12 minutes ago

BEIJING - Police in northern China have detained three men for the deaths of two women whose corpses were to be sold as "ghost brides" to accompany dead men in the afterlife, state media said.
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Authorities indicated that the killings last year were not isolated cases, the Legal Daily newspaper said on its Web site, but it did not give any details.

Yang Dongyan, 35, a farmer from Shaanxi province, said he had bought a young woman for $1,600 and planned to sell her as a bride, according to the paper.

But then he met Liu Shenghai, who told him that the woman could command a higher price as a "ghost bride," it said. The tradition, called "minghun" or afterlife marriage, is common in the Loess Plateau region of northern China, where a recently deceased woman is buried with a bachelor to keep him company after his death.

Yang killed the woman in a ditch, bagged her body, and sold her for $2,077 to Li Longsheng, an undertaker, who said he could find a buyer, the paper said.

Yang gave Liu a portion of the profits, it added.

Yang later went to the city of Yan'an and hired a prostitute he had used before, killed her and sold her for $1,000 to Li because she was "less pretty," the paper said.

The report did not give any details of how the women were killed or how the men were detained.

"I did it to earn quick money," the paper quoted Yang as saying. "If I had not been caught this early, I would've done it again."

3 reportedly held in 'ghost bride' sale (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070126/ap_on_re_as/china_corpse_brides)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now this is sick....killing women and selling their bodies to be buried as "ghost brides" for men who die.

Russian influence worrying US: Putin

AP

Moscow: President Vladimir Putin hit out at Western criticism of the Kremlin, saying it was aimed at countering Russia's growing influence in the world.

At a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi after talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin suggested, without naming it directly, that the United States saw Russia as a threat to its unchallenged superpower status.

"Russia's economic, political and military potential is clearly growing and a competitor that had already been written off is emerging in the world," Putin said in comments shown on state television.

"This is the main reason [for criticism], the unwillingness to take into account Russia's legitimate interests and a desire to put it in a position where someone has decided it should be," he added.

Already facing criticism that he has stifled democratic freedoms since coming to power in 2000, Putin's reputation in the West has been severely tarnished by accusations that he has been misusing Russia's oil and gas wealth to bully ex-Soviet neighbours and Western energy companies.

Unreliable partner

Disruptions of Russian gas and oil supplies to Europe in the past year have stoked fears in European capitals that Moscow is an unreliable partner.

A dispute between Russia and Belarus interrupted part of Russia's oil deliveries to the EU earlier this month, a year after a similar cutoff of gas to Ukraine also affected Europe, which relies on Russia for a quarter of its oil and over two-fifths of its natural gas.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met with Putin in his residence in Sochi on Sunday, stressed Russia's importance as an energy provider to Europe and called for "irritations" in supplies to be avoided.

Meanwhile, foreign-controlled energy projects have also come under increasing pressure from the Kremlin in recent months as it pursues a drive to secure majority state control in major oil and gas fields.

In December, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and its Japanese partners sold a majority stake in the giant Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project off Russia's far east to state gas monopoly OAO Gazprom amid intense regulatory pressure.

An Arctic oil and gas development controlled by France's Total SA and the giant Kovykta gas field in eastern Siberia that its owned by the Russian division of BP PLC are seen as the next targets. Putin shrugged off concerns that Russia is throwing its weight around.

Russian influence worrying US: Putin (http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/01/25/10099284.html)

US says its has proof Iran is interfering in Iraq

Thursday, 25 January 2007

Agence France Presse - The United States Wednesday said it had proof of Iran's interference in Iraq, promising soon to publish details of Iranian networks in its strife-torn neighboring country.

"There is solid evidence that Iranian agents are involved in these networks and that they are working with individuals and groups in Iraq and that they are being sent there by the Iranian government," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

"And I would expect that ... in the near future, we are going to try to talk a little bit more in public -- to the extent that we can because, again, you're dealing with intelligence information -- about what we know of Iranian support for these networks," he added.

The United States, which accuses Iran of funding and equipping Shiite militias in Iraq, arrested five Iranians at an office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil on January 11, accusing them of being agents for Tehran, arming militias and inciting anti-US attacks in Iraq.

The arrests triggered a diplomatic row, with Tehran accusing US forces in Iraq of violating international diplomatic regulations, but Washington and the US military in Iraq maintain that those arrested had no diplomatic status.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has said that the five Iranians had been working in Arbil with official sanction, but that their "liaison office" had not yet become a full consulate.

McCormack rejected the idea the detainees were working at a "liaison office."

"One thing we can tell you is they're not diplomats," he said, adding that the detainees were "still in the custody of multinational forces."

The spokesman refused to say whether the US had evidence linking Iran to any of the explosives or bombs that have been set off in Iraq.

However, he said his government was sure of it.

"You don't necessarily have to construct something in Iran in order for it to be a threat to the US or British troops from the Iranian regime," he said.

"There are a lot of different ways you can do that. You can bring the know-how. You can train other people in Iraq to do that. So there are a lot of different ways to do it.

"I would suspect that they're probably trying to hide their tracks somewhat, so you're not going to have a "made in Iran" stamp on all of these items. But certainly the technology and the know-how originates in Iran," said McCormack.

US says its has proof Iran is interfering in Iraq (http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/2802/71/)

Birdcage bomb kills 15 pet lovers in Baghdad
Stephen Farrell in Baghdad

A bomb disguised as a birdcage killed 15 animal lovers in a Baghdad pet market today, in the latest attack apparently designed to disrupt a city-wide security crackdown.

Police said insurgents concealed the explosives inside a cardboard box punched with holes to make it appear a container for pigeons, parrots or other birds which are prime attractions at the market.

The blast, which also wounded 55, hit the Ghazel market on the eastern banks of the Tigris just before the weekly curfew intended to protect crowds attending mosques during noon prayers on the Islamic day of prayer.

Raad Hassan, a regular buyer at the market, said one man arrived with an egg carton containing pigeons for sale then walked off - apparently to get a drink - leaving it to explode as potential buyers gathered around to examine the contents.

"I was about 60 meters from the blast," he said. "My friends and I rushed to the scene where we saw burned dead bodies, pieces of flesh and several dead expensive puppies and birds."

He said dead animals were scattered around and snakes, monkeys and birds escaped from their cages as emergency vehicles converged on the scene, their sirens mixed with the chirping of birds around the city centre market.

Next to the 13th century Sunni Ulama Mosque the former textile industry industrial area has served as an animal market for decades. However, many sellers have left Iraq since the violence began, and set up business in neighbouring countries such as Jordan.

The open soukh is a popular attraction for Sunnis and Shias alike, farmers and pet store owners are drawn by the reptiles, tropical fish and other exotic animals in a city where open air attractions are rare.

However, some extremist Islamist groups in Iraq have issued edicts denouncing the ownership of pets as 'haraam' - prohibited under Islamic law. This is not the first attack on the market - it was also hit eight weeks ago.

Today, police confirmed that 30 people were killed in a suicide car bombing in the central neighbourhood of Karada yesterday, and 61 wounded.

The latest attack came just 24 hours after Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's Prime Minister, warned during an address to parliament that gunmen and bombers would not be able to hide anywhere during the forthcoming US-Iraqi operation, to be codenamed Operation Imposing Law.

"There will be no safe place in Iraq for terrorists," he warned.

"We have no other choice but to use force and any place where we receive fire will not be safe even if it is a school, a mosque, a political party office or home." Hours later bombers hit Karada, and mortars struck the heavily-protected Green Zone which houses the Iraqi government, US and British embassies.

Many predict an upsurge in violence ahead of the Shia religious mourning festival of Ashura, which culminates on Monday.

Hundreds of thousands of Shia pilgrims will converge on the holy city of Karbala from around the country, to mark the slaying of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein, presenting an easy target that Sunni insurgents have used to wreak carnage in recent years.

Birdcage bomb kills 15 pet lovers in Baghdad (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2567777,00.html)

Jordan restores Temple Mount pulpit
Etgar Lefkovits, THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 25, 2007

An ornate wooden pulpit on Jerusalem's Temple Mount that was destroyed nearly four decades ago by a deranged Christian tourist has been completely restored, Israeli and Jordanian officials said Thursday.

The pulpit, which was demolished in a 1969 fire set by the Christian tourist on the Temple Mount, has been remade and transported to its original location next to the Aksa mosque this week, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The new pulpit, which towers six meters high, four meters long and one meter wide and includes 18 steps, was made of Turkish hard wood and Sudanese ivory, Dr. Raief Najim, the vice president of the Jordanian Construction Committee who has been involved in several recent Temple Mount projects, said in a telephone interview from Amman.

He added that the pulpit, which weighs several tons, took Jordanian craftsmen three years to design, and four years to manufacture.

The pulpit arrived in Jerusalem this week from Amman in 25 packages spread out on six trucks, and was brought up to the Temple Mount late Tuesday night in a move coordinated with Israeli officials.

Wakf officials said that it will take a couple of weeks to install the pulpit at the site.

The original 800-year-old inlaid cedar wood pulpit had been donated to the mosque by Salah al-Din in 1178 CE.

It was destroyed on August 21, 1969, when Michael Dennis Rohan, a tourist from Australia and a member of the "Church of God," a Protestant sect, set fire to the mosque in an attempt to hasten the coming of the Messiah. He was judged insane and deported by Israel.

The Foreign Ministry said that the new pulpit was brought to its former location as a gesture to Jordanian King Abdullah II, who initiated the restoration project, due to the close cooperation between the Jewish state and the Hashemite Kingdom.

According to decades-old regulations in place at the Temple Mount, Israel maintains overall security control at Judaism's holiest site, while the Wakf, or Islamic Trust, is charged with day-to-day administration of the ancient compound, which is also Islam's third-holiest site.

Over the last six years of Palestinian violence, Israel has been keen to involve the Jordanians in the ongoing repair work on the Temple Mount, with the Jordanians considered to be more moderate compared to the Palestinian heads of the Wakf appointed by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on his return to the West Bank last decade.

Meanwhile, the Jordanians are pressing ahead with plans to construct a fifth minaret on the Temple Mount, Najim said, with officials currently working on its design.

The planned minaret, which will be constructed on the eastern wall of the Temple Mount near the historic Golden Gate, will tower 42 meters high and will be the highest of the four previous minarets erected at the Jerusalem holy site and the first since Ottoman times.

Israeli authorities have not objected to the plan to date, although it has been condemned by leading Israeli archeologists as a blatant violation of the status quo at the site.

Separately, the Israel Antiquities Authority has started a salvage excavation in an archeological garden adjacent to the Temple Mount ahead of the planned construction of a new bridge leading up to the Mughrabi Gate.

The planned construction of the bridge has set off a new archeological dispute in Israel, with dozens of leading archeologists slamming the current proposal which would see the bridge constructed through one of the most significant archeological parks in Israel and the world.

The current controversy over the bridge has served to temporarily overshadow the Jordanian plans to build the minaret on the Temple Mount.

Jordan restores Temple Mount pulpit (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467815673&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter)

Resolution urges U.S. to withdraw from a North American union
NATHAN JOHNSON - Daily Herald

A House committee unanimously passed a joint resolution Tuesday that urges the president and Congress to withdraw from the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, now moves to the House floor for a vote.

The SPP, while not an institution, is harshly criticized by some Utah groups. Resolution supporters told the committee Tuesday that the purpose of the SPP is to remove sovereignty from the United States and give it to a North American union, similar to the European Union. The SPP involves the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Wally McCormick, of the Utah Constitution Coalition and Utah Minuteman Project, said that the SPP will allow for "a 5-square-mile area, that is supposedly going to be owned by Mexico, within our own country, run by their officers, run by their soldiers."

McCormick called the SPP a scam. Referencing previous testimony, McCormick said that "The federal income tax is the second biggest scam perpetrated on the American people. I extend that further in saying that this scam about the SPP and what it is going to do to America may be the first biggest scam upon the American people."

According to the SPP Web site, it isn't a treaty or agreement. It is "a dialogue to increase security and enhance prosperity among the three countries."

"The SPP builds upon, but is separate from, our long-standing trade and economic relationships," says a statement on the SPP Web site.

The White House released a statement in September of last year highlighting achievements of the SPP. Among them was that "the SPP constitutes a 'comprehensive agenda for cooperation' while 'respecting the sovereignty and unique cultural and legal heritage' of each country."

The SPP also states one of its main goals as recognizing that "our security and our economic prosperity being mutually reinforcing."

The joint resolution addresses concerns of the SPP lacking congressional oversight and a highway planned for north-south travel from Texas.

The bill also expresses the concern of legislators that, "state and local governments throughout the United States would be negatively impacted by the SPP and North American Union process, such as the "open borders" vision of the SPP."

HJR 7, Resolution Urging United States Withdrawal from Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem. This resolution of the Legislature urges the United States to withdraw from the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and any other activity which seeks to create a North American Union.

Resolution urges U.S. to withdraw from a North American union (http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/207700/)

Attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be catastrophic, IAEA chief warns

George Jahn, Associated Press
Published: Thursday, January 25, 2007

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The head of the UN atomic watchdog agency, in an indirect warning to the United States and Israel, said Thursday a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities would have “catastrophic” consequences and only strengthen Tehran’s resolve to make atomic arms.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also cited western intelligence assessments that Iran may be only four years away from having the capacity to produce such weapons. But he stressed that his agency’s inspectors had turned up no firm evidence of such intentions.

Still, he indicated there are some in Tehran who favoured developing such arms.

“A preventive strike would be catastrophic,” ElBaradei said at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum, adding it would only “strengthen the hand of those who say ’let us develop a weapon.”

While ElBaradei did not name any country, his comments were clearly directed at Israel and the United States, which have both suggested a strike on Tehran’s nuclear facilities was not off the table unless the Islamic republic ended its nuclear defiance.

In a clear warning of such possible intentions, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday his country, believed now to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, will respond to the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions “with all the means at our disposal.”

It also came as the United States beefed up its naval presence in the Gulf, sending a second U.S. aircraft carrier group there to signal Iran it will not tolerate any attempts to dominate the region.

The UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Iran last month for defying demands to freeze uranium enrichment. Tehran says it wants to perfect the process to generate electricity, but its other use — creating the fissile core of nuclear weapons — has fed international concerns about Iran’s true intentions.

Instead of compromise, Iran has ramped up the rhetoric and its nuclear activity.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Washington was incapable of inflicting “serious damage” on his country. And UN officials told the Associated Press last week that Iran was ready to start assembling thousands of centrifuges to enrich uranium after finishing work on an underground facility housing such machines.

Even if Tehran proves successful in installing 3,000 centrifuges, in the first stage of what it says will be a network of more than 50,000 such machines, experts estimate it would take several years for all of them to be running smoothly. Once that happens, Tehran could produce two bombs a year.

“They have the knowledge, sure they have the knowledge,” said ElBaradei of Iran’s nuclear program, which has been under IAEA investigation for more than four years. “Are you going to bomb the knowledge?”

ElBaradei indicated he was not against UN-sanctioned force against world renegades as a last option. But “in the case of Iran, we are absolutely far away from it.”

Talks, first between Tehran and European powers Britain, France and Germany and then the five Security Council permanent members and Germany have failed over more than two years to persuade the Islamic republic to shelve enrichment plans and led to the UN sanctions.

But ElBaradei said new negotiations, this time involving not only the great powers but all countries in the region, were the best way to reach compromise. And the “U.S. has to be engaged,” he said, in indirect criticism of the United States’ refusal up to now to hold one-on-one talks with Iran.

Attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be catastrophic, IAEA chief warns (http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=45c6e974-9cf5-424a-bfca-8d6a2c445a15&k=8486)

Lawmaker kills her bill on chip implants

Mary Hodge said she still believes her bill is needed.

By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News
January 24, 2007
A lawmaker on Tuesday killed her bill to ban forced microchip implantation in humans after it became the butt of jokes and editorial criticism.

"I haven't done the background work to get people prepared for the concept," Rep. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, said, after withdrawing House Bill 1081.

Hodge's legislation left some pols laughing. "Is this a problem? Do we have gangs of post-apocalyptic Terminator-style cyborgs roaming the streets of Colorado implanting citizens with microchips?" Rob Fairbank, a former representative turned political consultant, wisecracked in an e-mail to political pals.

The Rocky also editorialized against the bill, saying that oppressive chip-implantation "is not yet a real issue in Colorado."

But Hodge, who carried the legislation at the request of the Adams County library director, who feared forced microchipping could be used in the federal government's war on terror, said she still believes the legislation is warranted.

Her bill would have made it a misdemeanor if, for example, an employer required workers to have the tiny glass capsules implanted under the skin so their movements could tracked by security door scanners at work.

But it would have allowed the encoded gadgets to be voluntarily implanted in patients with Alzheimer's and other medical conditions.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the first "radio frequency identification" - or RFID - device for human use in 2004, so if a patient is unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate in a medical emergency, doctors can quickly retrieve vital health information with a hand-held scanner.

Last May, Wisconsin became the first state to ban forced implantation of the chips on humans, and at least 17 other states have introduced or are considering RFID bills.

While the devices have been used for years to help people track down wayward pets, the gizmos are catching on with two-legged creatures for less urgent or perhaps sinister reasons.

European nightclubs allow patrons to use the under-the-skin devices to pay their tab. And a Washington state techy had chips implanted in his finger and thumb so he could open the doors to his car and home or log onto his computer with a wave of his hand.

"I saw pets getting these things for years," Amal Graafstra told the Seattle Times. "I wanted to use that technology so I don't have to carry any keys."

Lawmaker kills her bill on chip implants (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5300704,00.html)

Palestinian children encouraged to go to jail

Increasing financial hardships lead some poor parents in the territories to encourage underage sons to harass IDF soldiers, get arrested; boys get shelter, families receive benefits from PA government

Ali Waked
Published: 01.26.07, 16:49

Exactly a year after Hamas' January election to the Palestinian government, the wild optimism of early 2005 is noticeably absent. Ongoing inter-faction violence and rising poverty are providing Palestinians with little to be optimistic about.

At this time, both internal and international efforts to advance a Palestinian unity government appear to be at a stand-still.

In a recent bout of infighting Thursday night, two Palestinians – one operative from Hamas and one from Fatah - were killed. Friday afternoon, a Hamas security official, injured earlier during exchanges of fire in Beit Lahiya, died of his wounds.

As if the violence were not enough, the Palestinian Authority has also recently logged an increased number of homeless children. For this problem, however, some Palestinian families seem to have found a unique, if tragic, solution.

Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Issa Qaraqe told Ynet of an increasing phenomenon of Palestinian minors deliberately provoking IDF soldiers at checkpoints in order to be arrested, and thus receive shelter in Israeli prisons.

"Prison time provides these lads with shelter, and also provides their families with prisoners' benefits," Qaraqe explained.

"We were actually amazed to find that some families encourage such a phenomenon in order to reduce expenses, and primarily to receive the weekly benefits given by the Palestinian government to the family of every prisoner," he added.

Qaraqe recounted a recent visit to a family whose underage son had been arrested: "I started to comfort the father and was amazed to hear him say that it's actually not so bad, because now the family will receive a government benefit. It will be their only income."

According to Qaraqe, such sentiments by parents illustrate the financial and emotional hardships suffered by Palestinian families over the past year.

"How can one explain a parent who not only isn't sad that his son is in jail, but rather, encourages him to go there?" Qaraqe queried. "These people are sick, and it indicates the severe deterioration of Palestinian society over the past year."

Palestinian children encouraged to go to jail (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3357313,00.html)

Jewish Withdrawal from Judea and Samaria Back on the Table
22:33 Jan 24, '07 / 5 Shevat 5767
by Hana Levi Julian

The government has agreed in principle to withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria ("Yesha"), in secret talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. So reports WorldNetDaily.

Egypt and the European Union (EU) have been mediating the negotiations, according to the World Net Daily (WND) news website. WND quoted high-level Egyptian diplomatic and intelligence officials, and an aide to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, as saying they have been directly involved in the talks.

Negotiations have been quietly proceeding apace for the past two or three weeks, according to sources quoted by WND reporter Aaron Klein, after PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas suggested to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert late last month that the two men switch to “back channel talks” in order to avoid media coverage.

According to Egyptian and EU sources, one of the plans currently under consideration involves handing over control of central and southern Yesha to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s security forces. In northern Yesha, the transfer of responsibility to Abbas’ security forces over the area would be monitored by Jordan and EU observers.

No word about the fate, under this plan, of the many tens of thousands of Jews living in these areas has been received.

Hamas’s role in the plan remains unclear. The terrorist organization has repeatedly vowed never to formally recognize the State of Israel, renounce terrorism or uphold agreements with Israel signed by the previous, Fatah-led, PA government. That stance is not accepted by the international community.

Talks toward a unity coalition between PA Prime Minister and Hamas chairman Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah faction, are all but dead, leaving Hamas in control of the PA.

The streets of Gaza have become a battlefield as Hamas and Fatah struggle for control of the PA government, with bloody clashes that have resulted in the deaths of both terrorists and innocent PA residents alike in what has become a militia war.

The situation may intensify further and eventually lead to escalated attacks against the Jewish State as well, in the wake of an announcement by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week that the Bush administration has agreed to finance, arm and train Abbas’ security force.

The force will reportedly include the Fatah-controlled Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, one of the most vicious groups engaged in the terrorist war against Israel. Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades has shared responsibility with the Islamic Jihad terror group for the suicide bombings in Israel over the past two years.

Rice said during her visit to the region last week that the U.S. will send Abbas $86.4 million to beef up his personal security guard, Force 17, which also polices PA areas in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The Bush administration is hoping to strengthen Fatah – which it perceives as a moderate group – in its bid to wrest control of the PA government from Hamas.

The last time the U.S. transferred arms to Fatah in order to strengthen its ability to police the PA, the weapons were ultimately pointed at Israel by a myriad of terrorist factions. When asked about that experience, Rice claimed that this time would be different.

“It was envisioned [then] that the Palestinian Authority would have security forces,” she said. “The problem is those security forces broke into essentially personal militias under [former PLO chairman Yasser] Arafat. They broke into too many that were often warring with each other.”

The current plan, she added, would be carried out in a way that would “move over time,” with the idea being that the U.S. would maintain control over what is being done with the weapons.

“This plan is not just to equip [Abbas’ security forces] and train them, [but] it is also to professionalize them, to unify them [and] to put them under a single command,” she said.

Now these newly-armed forces, trained and “professionalized” by the U.S. government would be given control over most of Judea and Samaria, placing them within rocket fire range of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Ben Gurion International Airport. They would also be within range of Arad in the Negev, and other cities and smaller communities located near the pre-1967 borders.

Diplomatic sources said talks are moving rapidly as the PA wrestles with Israel over the precise location of the new borders. Solana’s aide told WND that diplomats are expected to see a “historic political evolution and movement in negotiations in the next few weeks and few months, unseen since the Camp David peace talks in 2000.”

In 2000, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered to give Arafat an official PA state in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and eastern neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Arafat turned down the offer, insisting the entire Israeli capital be transferred to the PA.

Jewish Withdrawal from Judea and Samaria Back on the Table (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=120118)

Olmert to IDF: Israel Won War But Must Correct Failures
11:00 Jan 26, '07 / 7 Shevat 5767
by Hana Levi Julian

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told top IDF staff Thursday that Israel did not lose the war with Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon last summer – and in some important ways, Israel actually won.

Olmert made his remarks Thursday night as former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Shomron presented the findings of his investigation into the army’s management of last summer’s war in Lebanon, including the actions of the General Staff.

The five hour meeting of the IDF General Staff was also attended by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, as well as outgoing IDF Chief of General Staff Dan Halutz.

“If someone had told me the day before the war in Lebanon started that within half a year the border with Lebanon would be quiet and instead of armed Hizbullah fighters there would be 15,000 Lebanese army troops supported by an international force, I would have told him he’s crazy – but that’s the situation today,’ said Olmert.

Olmert tempered his positive spin on the IDF’s performance during the war with a warning that Israel must work to prevent a repeat of the failures that did occur.

“We must utilize the lessons of the war to invest in the human and economic resources of the army so that the failures experienced in Lebanon are not repeated,” he said.

One of those lessons was the clear loss of Israel's deterrence capabilities, according to a number of military experts, as well as politicians and grassroots organizations that called for a state commission of inquiry into the mismanagement of the war. A state commission of inquiry is appointed by the President of the High Court of Justice, not by the government. Testimony gathered at such hearings may be used in later court action and the commission has the right to dismiss high public officials, including the prime minister, if they are found culpable in the probe.

Meanwhile, the Olmert-appointed Winograd Commission continues its own investigation into the war and its failures. Former Chief of General Staff Moshe Ya’alon made a second appearance before the commission on Thursday, responding to questions raised by his first appearance. Ya'alon was asked about relations between the military and political echelons, as well as the development of the ground forces. Outgoing Chief of Staff Dan Halutz is scheduled to address the commission on Sunday.

The commission also heard testimony Thursday from the defense minister and is expected to question the prime minister as its final witness in February. An interim report on the commission’s findings is set to be released sometime in early March.

Even as Israel examines its performance during the war with Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon, information has come to light that Russia may have been involved in supporting Hizbullah during the war.

For the past ten years, Russia has been tracking IDF movements in the Golan Heights from listening posts it established in Syria.

According to a report from Israel’s Channel 2, Russia has passed information on to Hizbullah. Russia has also sold advanced weapons to Syria and Iran, who then forwarded the arms to Hizbullah.

Russia has also sold anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, as well as provided nuclear technology to the Islamic Republic and is building at least one nuclear reactor in the country.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly threatened to “wipe Israel off the map,” and vowed to continue his nation’s uranium enrichment program, while insisting that Iran’s nuclear development activities are geared to peaceful domestic use.

Olmert to IDF: Israel Won War But Must Correct Failures (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=120325)

IDF Destroys 2 Hizbullah Bunkers Within Israeli Territory
16:46 Jan 26, '07 / 7 Shevat 5767
by Hana Levi Julian

The Israel Defense Forces bombed two Hizbullah bunkers on Friday. The bunkers were located in the area of the northern border with Lebanon and blown up.

One of the bunkers was discovered during the war with Hizbullah terrorists last summer in southern Lebanon, according to the Haaretz news service. The other was discovered Wednesday while soldiers were searching the Katamon Valley in the western section of Israel in the area of the border with Lebanon. Both were blown up.

The bunkers were located by IDF Special Forces within Israeli territory, some 400 meters east of the IDF’s Biranit outpost which is located between the border fence and the international border.

Both housed supplies that would enable terrorists to stay underground for a long period of time, such as food and various tools. It appeared they had been in used by Hizbullah terrorists during the war.

Two weeks ago, IDF forces found five cases containing the following items very close to the kidnapping site: Three RPG shoulder-launched missiles, a ten-kilogram MAG machine gun, five bullet casings of Lau missiles, shoes, and fence-cutting equipment.

The cache was discovered during a routine patrol near Moshav Zar’it on the Lebanese border. Senior officers hurried to the scene to examine the items. It is believed that they were left behind by the terrorists who kidnapped IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in a cross-border attack last July. The abduction and a simultaneous attack touched off the 34-day Lebanon War.

IDF Destroys 2 Hizbullah Bunkers Within Israeli Territory (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=120346)

Iran condemns Bush's capture or kill order

By Kasra Naji in Tehran

Iran says United States President George W Bush's order to his military to capture or kill Iranian agents in Iraq is a terrorist act that shows he has lost control of his senses.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned the nation's enemies they will take their wishes to overthrow the Government to their graves.

A chorus of international threats and verbal attacks against Iran has reached a crescendo in recent days.

Iranian leaders are responding with climactic ferocity.

The latest clash is over President Bush's order to his military in Iraq to capture or kill Iranians deemed to be a threat.

A top member of the Iranian parliament says this is an act of terrorism, against all international norms and laws.

He says it shows that President Bush has taken leave of his senses.

President Ahmadinejad has also joined in.

He says Iran's enemies will take their fantasies to their graves.

He says by starting a psychological war and spreading poisonous rumours, they will gain nothing but defeat and shame.

Meanwhile, US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns has defended the President's order.

"We know that Iran has been providing sophisticated improvised explosive device technology to some of the Shia insurgent groups," he said.

"We know that that technology has been used to target American forces.

"We have every right to go after those Iranian paramilitary and intelligence agents who are engaged in that activity inside Iraq."

Iran condemns Bush's capture or kill order (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1834677.htm)

Iran Set to Try Space Launch

By Craig Covault/Aviation Week & Space Technology

Iran has converted one of its most powerful ballistic missiles into a satellite launch vehicle. The 30-ton rocket could also be a wolf in sheep's clothing for testing longer-range missile strike technologies, Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine reports in its Jan. 29 issue.

The Iranian space launcher has recently been assembled and "will liftoff soon" with an Iranian satellite, according to Alaoddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.

The move toward an independent space launch capacity is likely to ratchet up concern in the U.S. and Europe about Iran's strategic capabilities and intents. Orbiting its own satellite would send a powerful message throughout the Muslim world about the Shiite regime in Tehran.

U.S. agencies believe the launcher to be a derivation of either of two vehicles -- the liquid-propellant, 800-1,000-mi. range Shahab 3 missile, or the 1,800-mi. range, solid propellant Ghadar-110. A Shahab 3 or a Ghadar-110 fired from central Iran could strike anywhere in Israel, Saudi Arabia, the entire Persian Gulf region and as far west as southern Turkey.

There are concerns in the West that space launch upgrades, however, could eventually create an Iranian intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a range of nearly 2,500 mi., giving Tehran the ability to strike as far as central Europe, well into Russia and even China and India.

The U. S. Defense Intelligence Agency has told the Congress that Iran may be capable of developing a 3,000-mi. range ICBM by 2015.

"But ultimately, their space program aims to orbit reconnaissance satellites like Israel's "Ofek," using an Iranian satellite launcher from Iranian territory, says Uzi Rubin, the former head of the Israel Missile Defense Organization. Rubin made his assessment in a report for The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

"A reconnaissance satellite of reasonable performance should weigh about 300 kg. [660 lb.] Once Iran learns how to put 300 kg. into earth orbit, it could adapt the satellite launcher into an ICBM that could drop more than 300 kg anywhere in the world. Remember the impact on the U.S. of Russia's launch of Sputnik," Rubin says in his assessment.

Boroujerdi's made his remarks about the imminent Iranian launch in a speech before a group of religious students and clerics in the city of Qom near where Iran has conducted some of its ballistic missile tests. Iran is now in the midst of military exercises that include a series of shorter-range missile tests, Iranian officials say.

Although designed as a technology demonstrator, the planned satellite launch would be a potent political and emotional weapon in the Middle East.

The new space launcher and ongoing missile development is also significant in that it highlights close technological ties between the Iranian and North Korean missiles programs, intelligence agencies agree.

Analysts at GlobalSecurity.org believe that if the version used is the Shahab 3, the modification could be a stepping stone to a clone of the North Korean Taepo Dong 2C/3 ballistic missile that failed in a launch attempt from North Korea last July 4.

A November 2006 Congressional Research Service report reinforced concerns over Iranian and North Korean missile development ties. It notes that Israel's military intelligence chief has information indicating that North Korea has shipped to Iran eighteen 1,500 mi. range BM-25 ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

"Largely with foreign help, Iran is becoming self-sufficient in the production of ballistic missiles," says the report's author, Kenneth Katzman. And he reminds that a 2006 U.S. National Security Strategy Document notes, "The United States may face no greater challenge from a single country than Iran."

Iran Set to Try Space Launch (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/IRAN01257.xml)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iran getting ready to launch an EMP?

Of course I know this is pure speculation, but when I heard the news on Fox this morning, that was the first thing that came to my mind.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term, "EMP", it stands for Electromagnetic Pulse. The therory is that someone could or would launch a satellite that had a small amount of explosive nuclear material in it, and explode it over the center of the United States. That explosion would not harm people or animals, but would knock out all or most of our electronics. Leaving us basically back in the 18th. century for a period of time.

Just google "Electromagnetic Bomb", and tons of info. will come up.

ChristiansUnite Forums

Theology => Prophecy - Current Events => Topic started by: Shammu on January 26, 2007, 04:21:26 PM