Print Page - News, Prophecy and other

Since the orginal thread, is M.I.A. I have started this one. Once the old thread appears, They will be merged.
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Posted 1/9/2006 12:20 PM Updated 1/9/2006 2:24 PM

Pilgrims pray, cleric slams West for 'war against' Islam

MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia (AP) — More than 2 million Muslim pilgrims made the climactic ascent Monday to Mount Arafat, Islam's most sacred site, to pray for salvation, and Saudi Arabia's top cleric urged Islamic unity in the face of what he called the West's war on Islam.

After offering prayers on the mount, tens of thousands of the faithful rushed down the hill to the Muzdalifah, a few miles away, where they collected pebbles to use in one the last rituals of the ubgone86, the stoning of the devil.

Under a religious edict issued two years ago, the stoning now may begin before dawn prayers Tuesday. The decree was an attempt to ease the crowding at the site of the stoning, where hundreds have died in stampedes over the past quarter century.

"It's better to go now, before the crowd gets too big. They have had a lot of problems — stampedes and other horrors. We want to finish early," said Turkish pilgrim Jawat Ahmet.

Speaking at a mosque on the plain of Mount Arafat, Sheik Abdul-Aziz al-Sheik, the kingdom's grand mufti, said Muslims were facing critical challenges, among them accusations of terrorism and human rights abuses and calls for revisions in school textbooks.

"Oh, Muslim nation, there is a war against our creed, against our culture under the pretext of fighting terrorism. We should stand firm and united in protecting our religion," he said.

"Islam's enemies want to empty our religion of its contents and its meaning," said al-Sheik. "But the soldiers of God will be victorious."

The faithful called out: "Amen."

After sundown, people were still rushing toward the Muzdalifah in a frenzy, squeezing between cars and buses, to collect pebbles. Many pilgrims were pushed in wheelchairs, others used crutches, and hundreds rode atop buses and minivans waving national flags.

Pilgrims from 178 countries were registered at the ubgone86.

After collecting 49 pebbles, the pilgrims will throw seven of them at three symbolic pillars representing Satan. The ritual continues with 21 more stones cast on both Wednesday and Thursday.

Across the Muslim world, the Eid al-Adha feast marking the pilgrimage begins Tuesday after dawn prayers.

Under a scorching sun Monday, the mass of pilgrims, hands raised to heaven, converged on Mount Arafat, not far from Mecca and walking in the steps of Islam's 7th century prophet Muhammad to the site where he gave his last sermon three months before he died in 632.

A day earlier, the faithful trekked through the valley of Mina for the start of rituals at the mount. As they walked, the crowd chanted "We are coming answering your call, God."

Many pilgrims cried as they offered prayers Monday — overcome with emotion by what is for most a once-in-a-lifetime journey to Islam's most holy places, a pilgrimage they believe cleanses them of sin.

Islam requires that all Muslims who are financially and physically able make the ubgone86 at least once.

After al-Sheik's fiery sermon, many in the huge crowd continued their prayers outside the mosque. Others clambered up the hill, holding out helping hands to fellow pilgrims trying to reach the top of the rugged hill. Men and women, otherwise not allowed to mix in the conservative kingdom, jostled against one another.

At the summit, pilgrims pushed and shoved to get near enough to embrace a sacred pillar. Some paused to take photographs.

"Oh God, I am your obedient servant come to you to ask forgiveness," Moroccan pilgrim Abdul Wahid Boughriba said in a tearful prayer.

Helicopters hovered above the plain — dotted by pilgrims all the way from Mecca to the base of the mount — to keep watch against the overcrowding which has spawned stampede tragedies in the past. Just two years ago, 244 people were trampled to death when the crowd panicked during the ritual stoning.

Saudi authorities, meanwhile, replaced the cover of the Kaba with a new one on Monday in an annual ritual at Mecca's Great Mosque. The black cover, called Kiswa, is about 658 square yards of silk weighing 1,475 pounds and embroidered with 33 pounds of gold thread. The new Kiswa cost $4.7 million.

The old one is usually cut into pieces and given to Muslim dignitaries.

The Kaba, the huge cube-like edifice, is considered the focal point of the ubgone86. It also serves as the Qibla, or center of the Islamic world toward which all Muslims turn in prayer.

The Koran declares the Kaba was the first place of worship designated by God. Muslims believe that the Kaba was built by Abraham on the foundations of an earlier temple built by Adam, the progenitor of all mankind.

Pilgrims pray cleric slams West for 'war against' Islam (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-01-09-ubgone86_x.htm?csp=34)

Russia, Iran Share Views on Development — Top Negotiator

Created: 10.01.2006 12:14 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:14 MSK, 6 hours 12 minutes ago

MosNews

Russia and Iran hold similar views on many issues concerning the region’s development, the chief of Russia’s delegation to Iran has said.

“Many views on the development of events in the region coincide in Russia and Iran, we conduct a joint policy,” the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, Valentin Sobolev, as saying. The official added that “cooperation concerning conflict zones in the region, fighting drugs and terrorism will continue, we have common goals here.”

Russia would also “continue to participate in joint projects and research” as “Iran is our long-term partner, our ties are tried by time and fate,” Sobolev assured.

However, the envoy did not elaborate on talks the Russian delegation held with Iranian officials on Saturday on a proposed compromise to end a stand-off with the West over Tehran’s determination to press ahead with uranium enrichment. A source in the delegation has told the ITAR-TASS news agency that “the talks were detailed, candid and professional,” and while Moscow and Tehran “did not hold the same view on all issues” talks would continue.

Moscow is proposing that Tehran carry out uranium enrichment on Russian territory to allay Western fears that the technology could allow Iran to produce a nuclear bomb. Both the European Union and the United States have backed the proposal in principle.

In recent weeks, Iranian officials have blown hot and cold about the proposed compromise, first suggesting that they might consider it and then insisting that they would do so only if any deal explicitly recognized its right to carry out enrichment on Iranian soil. The European Union has been looking for a way to resume talks, broken off last August, on securing safeguards from Iran that its nuclear program is exclusively for energy needs in return for economic or other rewards.

Russia Iran share views on devolopment (http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/01/10/iranofficial.shtml)

Putin Calls for More Interfaith Dialogue on Muslim Holiday

Created: 10.01.2006 11:36 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 11:36 MSK, 6 hours 54 minutes ago

MosNews

Click Here!

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Russia’s Muslims on the Eid ul-Adha (Kurban Bayram), the holiday celebrated worldwide as a commemoration of Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son for God, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

“I congratulate Russia’s Muslims on the Kurban Bayram holiday,” the president said in his message. “This holy holiday concludes the ubgone86 — Muslims’ pilgrimage to Islam’s holy places. It reminds us that traditions of Islam, as those of other world religions, are based on the eternal values of justice, goodness, charity and care for one’s fellow creatures irrespective of their nationality or creed. This is particularly important today when the role of the state and society is to counter any expression of extremism, attempts to distort the essence of Islam, to use it for mercenary and aggressive ends.

”I am confident that the Muslims of Russia will continue to contribute to the development of interfaith dialogue, strengthening of mutual understanding and good-neighborly relations between people.

“I sincerely wish you peace, good health, happiness and all the best. Let peace and prosperity reign in your homes,” the message reads.

The three days of Eid ul-Adha are being marked in several Russian republics, including Chechnya, where the majority of the population are Muslims.

Muslims believe that God was revealed in a dream to Ibrahim and asked him to sacrifice his son Ismail. Ibrahim and Ismail set off to Mina for the sacrifice. As they went, the devil attempted to persuade Ibrahim to disobey God and not to sacrifice his beloved son. But Ibrahim stayed true to God, and drove the devil away. As Ibrahim prepared to sacrifice his son, God stopped him and gave him a sheep to sacrifice instead.

According to the traditions, Muslims who can afford to do so sacrifice domestic animals, usually sheep, as a symbol of Ibrahim’s sacrifice. The charitable instincts of the Muslim community are demonstrated during Eid ul-Adha by the concerted effort to see that no impoverished Muslim is left without sacrificial food during this day.

Putin calls for more interfaith dialogue on muslim holiday (http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/01/10/putinmuslims.shtml)

My note; Why is this no suprise to me.

Iran resumes nuclear research, angering West
Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:20 AM ET168

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran removed U.N. seals at its Natanz uranium enrichment plant and resumed nuclear fuel research on Tuesday, drawing sharp Western criticism but no immediate threats of punitive action.

Tehran denies wanting nuclear technology for anything but a civilian energy program aimed at satisfying the Islamic Republic's booming demand for electricity.

But the United States and the European Union doubt that Iran's atomic ambitions are entirely peaceful and are likely to ask the U.N. Security Council, which can impose economic sanctions, to take up the matter, Western diplomats said.

Western powers had called on Iran to refrain from any work that could help it develop atomic weapons.

"Iran's nuclear research centers have restarted their activities," Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told state television.

He said work at the research facilities would be under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog.

Saeedi told a news conference Iran had come to an agreement with the IAEA on what work Tehran would do. He gave no details.

The IAEA in Vienna confirmed Iran was removing U.N. seals at Natanz, an underground plant in central Iran that Tehran concealed from U.N. inspectors until an Iranian exile group revealed its existence in August 2002.

"The Iranians have begun removing seals at Natanz in the presence of IAEA inspectors," said IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.

STEP IN THE WRONG DIRECTION

Gregory Schulte, Washington's ambassador to the IAEA, said Iran's move showed its "disdain for international concerns".

"The regime continues to choose confrontation over cooperation," he said in a statement.

The European Union was quick to denounce the resumption of research, which a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana labeled "a step in the wrong direction".

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said German diplomats would meet Solana and British and French envoys in Berlin this week to decide "whether there is now any basis for further negotiations with Iran".

British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said: "There was no good reason why Iran should have taken this step if its intentions are truly peaceful".

Russia, which is helping Iran build a nuclear power station at the southern port of Bushehr, said Tehran should abide by international commitments and that its decision to resume research caused concern.

European diplomats have said they would seek an emergency meeting of the IAEA to consider referring Tehran to the Security Council for failing to allay fears it is seeking an atom bomb.

It is unclear if Iran will simply test equipment or actually produce small amounts of nuclear fuel in a laboratory. The IAEA did not specify any of the work the Iranians were undertaking.

One EU and one non-EU diplomat said Iran was planning to get 164 centrifuges running at Natanz to try to master the technique of producing nuclear fuel. Centrifuges enrich uranium by spinning it at supersonic speed.

However, such a small cascade would take many years to produce enough bomb-grade uranium for a single weapon.

If enriched to a low level, uranium can be used in power stations such as the one at Bushehr. If enriched further, it can be used in atomic warheads.

An intelligence source said Iran intended to feed uranium hexafluoride (UF6) into the cascade at Natanz soon, but had not informed the IAEA about this.

A Western diplomat close to the IAEA said agency inspectors were at Natanz and would report anything the Iranians did there to the IAEA board of governors. "The facility is fully safeguarded," the diplomat said.

However, Saeedi denied any suggestion that Iran was resuming the production of nuclear fuel at the Natanz facility.

"There is a difference between research and producing nuclear fuel ... The production of nuclear fuel is still under suspension," he told the news conference.
Iran resumes nuclear research (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=fundLaunches&storyID=2006-01-10T132014Z_01_KNE030810_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN.xml)

Yippers! :o Boy when it rains it pours. Iraq will be old news once this is all said and done.

Quote from: DreamWeaver on January 10, 2006, 10:15:17 AM

U.S., Other Nations Rebuke Iran Over Seals

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 10, 2006; 7:51 AM

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran removed seals on its nuclear facilities Tuesday, ending a two-year freeze on work there despite warnings from the United States and other countries concerned about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The United States rebuked Iran for the move, calling it a step toward creating the material for nuclear bombs. British Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said the international community was "running out of patience" with Tehran.

Both countries, along with France and Germany, have called on Tehran to cease nuclear activities until an agreement has been reached on the scope of its nuclear program.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Tehran was again in breach of resolutions passed by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog and said steps to restart uranium enrichment could not be justified.

"We are profoundly concerned that Iran has decided to restart research and development activities related to uranium enrichment," Straw said in a statement.

"There was no good reason why Iran should have taken this step if its intentions are truly peaceful and it wanted to resolve long standing international concerns," he added.

Iran announced plans last week to resume research on the production of nuclear fuel, heightening concerns that Tehran was moving toward building atomic weapons. Iran says the research is aimed at generating electricity.

Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said Tuesday that Iran was not resuming the production of nuclear fuel, a process that would involve uranium enrichment.

"What we resume is merely in the field of research, not more than that," he said at a news conference. "We make a difference between research on nuclear fuel technology and production of nuclear fuel.

"Production of nuclear fuel remains suspended."

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency affixed the seals more than two years ago after Iran agreed to the measure in an effort to dampen suspicions about its nuclear ambitions.

IAEA inspectors were present Tuesday as Iranian officials began removing the seals, spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said from Vienna, Austria, where the agency is based. She declined to say whether the Iranians planned to start enriching uranium or would be satisfied with testing the equipment used in the process.

In Vienna, the chief U.S. representative to the IAEA, Gregory L. Schulte, said that by cutting the seals, Iran had shown "its disdain for international concerns and its rejection of international diplomacy."

"The regime continues to choose confrontation over cooperation, a choice that deepens the isolation of Iran and harms the interests of the Iranian people," he said.

The United States has threatened to bring Iran before the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions if it doesn't cooperate with international mediators.

Whether or not Iran should be referred to the Security Council depends on the outcome of discussions within the IAEA, Blair's spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to have his name published.

"We are concerned by the reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency," the spokesman said. "Everyone needs to be clear that this does amount to yet another breach of IAEA resolutions."

In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tehran had "crossed lines which it knew would not remain without consequences," adding that he planned to consult with his French and British colleagues on whether there is any basis for more talks with Iran.

Russia, Iran's close ally, also expressed concern that Tehran had removed seals on its nuclear research facilities and called on Iran to maintain its moratorium on enrichment pending negotiations, Russian news agencies reported.

Earlier Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said that a Russian delegation had confirmed to Iranian officials that Moscow's offer to jointly enrich Iranian uranium on Russian territory still stands, the Interfax news agency reported.

The proposal, backed by the European Union and the United States, was designed to ease concerns that Iran would use the fuel to build a bomb. Lavrov said Moscow was coordinating its actions with Germany, Britain and France, Interfax reported.

Iran has insisted it would not agree to moving enrichment abroad.

In a foreign policy address Tuesday, French President Jacques Chirac warned Iran it would be committing a "grave error" if it ignored the international community's repeated warnings and pressed ahead with its nuclear program.

US, Other Nations Rebuke Iran Over Seals (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/10/AR2006011000140_pf.html)

The Oracle commentary this week is a real eyebrow raiser. My how fast things are moving :o

*Oracle Commentaries1/3/2006 ***
2005 Iran Became Most Dangerous Nation
First, Iran's continuing pursuit of nuclear weapons despite the warnings of the international community is one factor that has elevated it to the title of "most dangerous." Iran already has Shahab 5 Missiles that are capable of delivering nuclear warheads to Israel and many places in Europe. Not to mention US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to a Claremont Institute report, it has a range of 2,500 miles. The missile is believed to be based on the North Korean Taep'o-dong 2. It is an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) that can carry a large single nuclear or biological warhead.
Most alarming to the US military is that this missile is a stepping-stone to the development of ICBMs capable of hitting the US mainland.
A Middle East Newsline dated May 20, 2004 reported, "U.S. intelligence officials believe that Iran could begin testing components of an intercontinental ballistic missile in 2005, likely from the Shahab missile family."
This is probably why President George Bush recently announced that "it is completely unacceptable for Iran to develop nuclear weapons." It also explains the December 31st Jerusalem Post report that the US began coordinating with NATO its plans for a possible military strike against Iran. The report spoke of an air attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Second, Iran elected a new president who is fanatically driven by the most extreme teachings of the Shiite Muslim faith that was introduced by the Ayatollah Khomeini. His name is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is an avid Anti-Semite who publicly declared that "the Nazis Holocaust is a myth created by the Jews to get international sympathy for establishing the State of Israel."
Ahmadinejad announced, "Israel is a cancer that must be wiped off the map." With the prospect of soon acquiring nuclear-tipped missiles, this elevated him to be a major world threat. You may think that he wouldn't be insane enough to use nuclear weapons. Don't count on it.
Some of the Iranian Mullahs recently declared that Muslims would survive and win a nuclear exchange. One of the basic tenets of the Shiite faith is the glorification of martyrdom for Allah. In their thinking, it would be acceptable for several million Iranians to be 'martyred' in exchange for 'cleansing Muslim lands of Jews and infidels.' Two nuclear warheads hitting Israel would do in a blinding flash what took Hitler six years to accomplish – the elimination of six million Jews. To the Shiite extremist, the consequences that follow would be an acceptable sacrifice. They have actually discussed these things.
If you doubt their intention, just consider the banners draped on the Shahab missiles that are paraded periodically through the streets of Tehran. The crowds shout approval as the banners go by. They read, "We will wipe Israel off the map." This indicates that the general population agrees with the purpose of the missiles.
Third, President Ahmadinejad is a devout believer in the apocalyptic Muslim prophecies about the soon coming of the 'Mahdi' (Muslim Messiah) known as the Twelfth Imam. They believe his coming will be accompanied with a world apocalypse in which Muslim rule and justice will be established on earth.
One of the first acts Ahmadinejad did as President was to donate $17 million of state money for the beautification of the Jamkaran Mosque that is about 80 miles south of Tehran. Devout Shiites believe that the 'Twelfth Imam' will first appear at this mosque.
President Ahmadinejad declared last month that "the main mission of the Islamic Revolution is to pave the way for the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam."
Iranian journalist Hossein Bastani reported "Ahmadinejad saying in official meetings that the 'hidden Imam' will reappear in two years."
Columnist Charles Krauthammer best summarized the significance of all this in his report entitled, In Iran, Arming for Armageddon. He surmised, "So a Holocaust-denying, virulently anti-Semitic, aspiring genocidist, on the verge of acquiring weapons of the apocalypse, believes that the end is not only near but nearer than the next American presidential election … This kind of man would have, to put it gently, less inhibition about starting Armageddon than a normal person. Indeed, with millennial bliss pending, he would have positive incentive to, as they say in Jewish eschatology, hasten the end."
I am thankful to know from Bible prophecy that this restored State of Israel cannot be destroyed, though it will go through some terrible trials. So it is going to be fascinating to see what God does to stop this clear and immanent threat to Israel's existence.
The Israeli Air Force has acquired some very specially designed versions of the F-16 fighter known as the F-16i. It has conformal fuel tanks mounted on the sides of the fuselage that extends its range well within Iran's borders. It also has a large dorsal fin extending from the cockpit to the rudder that houses the most advanced defensive and targeting electronics on any aircraft. It has a more powerful engine and carries a crew of pilot and electronics operator. Israel did not help design and build this plane for normal operation. It is clearly the "Iranian special." It is believed that Israel has already developed and practiced an attack plan to take out Iran's scattered nuclear facilities.
And what will be the aftermath of an Israeli attack that kills thousands of Iranians, but also many Russian scientists who live at these nuclear facilities? Well let's just say we are really getting close to Christ's return for the Church.
************************************

I've been looking up so much I'm getting a crick in my neck :D

Syria 'tried to fuel holy war in Iraq against US and Britain'
By Francis Harris in Washington
(Filed: 11/01/2006)

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria secretly incited Iraq's top Shia leader to declare holy war against US and British forces, according to Washington's former administrator in the country.

In his new book, My Year in Iraq, Paul Bremer said he heard the explosive intelligence in October 2003 as sectarian tensions soared across the country following the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The report came from an extremely senior source, the supreme leader of Iraq's majority Shia community, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

According to Mr Bremer, the news was passed to him by Mowaffak al-Rubaie, a senior Shia politician involved in negotiations with the ayatollah. The Syrian leader had apparently recalled the Shia-led uprising against the British in 1920 and urged the Shia to repeat history.

The news "stunned" the US administration in Iraq. "This was an act of extraordinary irresponsibility from Syria's president," Mr Bremer writes. "We had good intelligence showing that many insurgents and terrorists were coming into Iraq through Syria."

But the allegation was far more serious, he says. "This message from Assad essentially incited Shia rebellion. If he were to succeed, the coalition would face an extremely bloody two-front uprising, costing thousands of lives."

The revelation that Syria's leader was trying to stoke unrest inside Iraq goes some way to explaining Washington's unrelenting hostility towards the Damascus regime ever since.

In Europe Mr Assad has been portrayed as a leader motivated by the desire to stand up to Israel and stay in power. But in Washington he has long been seen as a far more dangerous figure.

Although the Americans have continually complained about interference in Iraq by Syria and Iran, Mr Bremer's book suggests that its most serious problems were internal.

In particular, he claims to have stressed to Washington the need to confront the firebrand Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Some British officials voiced their doubts over the policy, fearing it would spark a wider Shia revolt and some expressed irritation over Mr Bremer's account, suggesting it offered a partial view.

That crisis erupted in April 2004 when Sadr's militiamen rose up as the US attempted to take the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

With pundits suggesting the country was in meltdown, Mr Bremer and his aides prompted sometimes unwilling coalition commanders to take firm action.

Mr Bremer directs withering criticism at Italian, Spanish, Polish and Bulgarian units, collectively described as "useless". Iraqi units were "ineffective, or worse".

But the gravest allegations are levelled at the Ukrainian soldiers sent by David Richmond, Britain's ambassador in Iraq, to rescue coalition staff besieged in Kut.

The unit entered the town but then withdrew in such haste that five British military contractors were left behind among armies of militiamen. Four escaped but one was killed.

Mr Bremer writes: "I found myself pacing my office, speechless with rage at the Ukrainians."

Syria 'tried to fuel holy war in Iraq against US and Britain' (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/11/wbrem11.xml&site=5)

U.S. Gets Permanent U.N. Security Council Members to Back Iran Warnings

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

WASHINGTON — All five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have each separately sent to Iran a diplomatic communiqué — known as a 'demarche' in international parlance — warning the Islamic Republic that it could face sanctions should it go forward with its nuclear program.

Bush administration officials told FOX News that the communiqués, sent Saturday, are an important step forward in blocking Iran's nuclear ambitions because China and Russia, which have huge economic interests in Iran, have hinted in the past that they would oppose and veto such a referral if brought to the Security Council.

"We are working very closely with Russia, China and France and Britain on sending a clear message to the Iranians," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China. Each has veto authority on the 15-member panel that enables them to thwart resolutions.

On Sunday, Iran announced it would resume its nuclear program, which it says is being used only to develop peaceful civilian energy. The United Nations, United States and European Union all suspect Iran of using the energy program to secretly build nuclear weapons.

Hossein Ghafourian, head of the nuclear research center of Iran's atomic energy organization, pledged to press on with plans to continue its peaceful program.

"Blocking research activities is similar to blocking the light," Ghafourian told state-run radio on Sunday.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan strongly criticized Iran on Monday.

"This is a matter of trust when it comes to Iran, and Iran has shown over the course of the last couple of decades that they cannot be trusted. They have concealed their activities from the international community. They have violated their agreements with the international community. It's time for Iran to come into compliance, to abide by the agreements they made, and to meet the demands of the international community. The international community has spelled out what those demands are," McCellan said.

Sources say the five permanent members sent separate communiqués because China and Russia repeatedly tried to soften the language of the warning and no consensus could be reached for a joint warning.

While pleased that China and Russia delivered separate warnings to Iran, Bush administration officials say they are very cautious about prematurely assuming that China and Russia are willing to get tough with Iran and support sanctions.

"Ultimately, given Iran's track record on seeking nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian program, defying the international community, bobbing and weaving, obfuscating, that we're ultimately all going to end up in the Security Council on this issue," said McCormack.

But one senior administration official suggested that both China and Russia sent their demarches reluctantly and might in the end oppose a referral and or sanctions. Nonetheless, McCormack said the efforts by China and Russia are noteworthy.

"I think that the Chinese are perfectly capable of delivering their own messages," McCormack said. "What we have been doing, have done and will continue to do, is to continue to work with them, work with the Russians and others so that Iran receives a clear, consistent, unmistakable message from the rest of the world."

One senior official told FOX News that the demarches from each of the five permanent Security Council members urged Iran to resume talks with the EU-3, comprised of Germany, France and the U.K.

The United States is backing a stalled European effort to negotiate with Iran, and supports a separate offer from Russia to perform some of the most sensitive nuclear enrichment tasks on Iran's behalf. Both initiatives would allow Iran to pursue legitimate civilian nuclear energy while reducing the risk that the same technology could be diverted to make weapons.

Negotiations aimed at getting Iran to give up its nuclear aspirations by the EU-3 have been stalled for months as Iran has insisted it has a right to nuclear energy and does not seek weapons. The EU-3 have all issued strong rebukes against Iran for its announcement that it would resume its nuclear research and development.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy called on Iran on Monday to immediately retract its decision to restart nuclear activities. He said the EU-3 would meet on the issue soon.

Douste-Blazy also called Iran's intention to restart nuclear activities linked to uranium enrichment "reason for very serious concern."

"We call on Iran to go back on its decision without delay and without conditions," Douste-Blazy said.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said earlier Monday that Iran was sending "very, very disastrous signals" on its nuclear program that "cannot remain without consequences for the EU-3's negotiation process."

Javier Solana, the European Union foreign and security affairs chief, told Iran on Saturday that if it resumes its uranium enrichment program, it may doom any further negotiations with the 25-nation bloc about economic aid and other issues.

During President Bush's trips to Europe last year he sought, and aides say received, assurances from the EU-3 that if talks failed, they would support a U.N. Security Council referral for sanctions.

The U.N.'s top nuclear watchdog at the International Atomic Energy Agency told Sky News last week that he is losing his patience with Iran. Mohammed El Baradei makes his next report in March and administration officials say by that time it will be clear if Russia and China will support sanctions.

U.S. Gets Permanent U.N. Security Council Members to Back Iran Warnings (http://www.worthynews.com/zone.cgi?http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,181145,00.html)

my note; I wonder how many of the member will enforce the U.N. Security Council decision.

Blair Says West Likely to Sanction Iran

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer 33 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran - British Prime Minister
Tony Blair said Wednesday that Western countries were likely to seek economic sanctions against
Iran after Tehran restarted its nuclear program, but a powerful cleric said it would not curtail its research.

Iran on Tuesday broke U.N. seals at a uranium enrichment plant and said it was resuming nuclear research after a two-year freeze. Enriched uranium can be used as a fuel for both nuclear energy and nuclear weapons.

"I think the first thing to do is to secure agreement for a reference to the Security Council, if that is indeed what the allies jointly decide, as I think seems likely," Blair told the House of Commons, adding that he was in close contact with Washington on the issue.

"We obviously don't rule out any measures at all," Blair said when asked about possible sanctions. "It's important Iran recognizes how seriously the international community treats it."

In Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had discussed the issue with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and both sides shared "a deep disappointment" over Iran's move. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday that if Iran continued on its present course, "there is no other choice but to refer the matter to the Security Council," which could impose sanctions.

In Iran's first response to the international outcry, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani said he was "astonished" by the West's attempt to "bully" Iran.

"If they cause any disturbance, they will ultimately regret it," he warned.

"Keeping the Third World and the Islamic world several steps behind has been the West's traditional colonial policy," he said in a speech for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha broadcast live on state television.

"Even if (the Westerners) destroy our scientists, their successors would continue the job," he said. "It would not be easy for them to solve the (nuclear) case by imposing sanctions or anything like that."

Rafsanjani, who was president of Iran in the 1990s, was the moderate candidate who lost to the hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the run-off elections last June.

Iran insists its research is for peaceful energy production only. But the United States suspects Tehran has ambitions to produce nuclear weapons.

Blair said Iran's decision to restart its nuclear program, coupled with Ahmadinejad's recent inflammatory comments about Israel, "cause real and serious alarm right across the world." Ahmadinejad recently called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and said the Holocaust was a "myth."

Blair recalled that the International Atomic Energy Agency had previously suggested Iran be referred to the Council over its nuclear program but the international nuclear watchdog agency later backed away because Iran agreed to halt its nuclear activities.

"This is why it is extremely important therefore we take a fresh look at this now," Blair said.

"The decision by Iran is very serious indeed," Blair told the House of Commons. "I do not think there is any point in people, or us, hiding our deep dismay at what Iran has decided to do."

Iran said Tuesday that it had broken IAEA seals at its Natanz uranium enrichment plant and resumed research. While Iranian officials stressed the work would not involve enrichment, the IAEA said Iran planned to carry out small-scale enrichment.

The West has long opposed uranium enrichment by Iran.

Foreign ministers from Britain, France and Germany, who have spent two years trying to persuade Iran to halt its uranium conversion and enrichment activities, are scheduled to meet in Berlin on Thursday to consider what to do.

Gernot Erler, a German deputy foreign minister, cautioned Wednesday against referring the dispute to the Security Council, saying it could further destabilize the Middle East. He said Iran must offer fresh guarantees on its nuclear program for talks with European negotiators to continue.

In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said Wednesday the world had entered a "new phase" in relations with Iran and would find the most effective ways to deal with it.

"Iran's determination to continue its nuclear program outside existing agreements is a cause for constant, deep concern," Fini said in a statement.

Blair Says West Likely to Sanction Iran (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060111/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear;_ylt=AsjvZRnKgTlTOcmsfBCNjtSs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--)

We knew but I wonder why, NASA never released this news. Could it be, they are afraid they are nothing, in the eyes of God. ;D

Researchers confirm role of massive flood in climate change

Climate modelers at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) have succeeded in reproducing the climate changes caused by a massive freshwater pulse into the North Atlantic that occurred at the beginning of the current warm period 8,000 years ago. Their work is the first to consistently model the event and the first time that the model results have been validated by comparison to the record of climate proxies that scientists regularly use to study the Earth's past.

"We only have one example of how the climate reacts to changes, the past," said Gavin A. Schmidt, a GISS researcher and co-author on the study. "If we're going to accurately simulate the Earth's future, we need to be able to replicate past events. This was a real test of the model's skill."

The study was led by Allegra LeGrande, a graduate student in the department of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University. The results appear in a paper being published in this week's edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The group used an atmosphere-ocean coupled climate model known as GISS Model E-R to simulate the climate impact of a massive freshwater flood into the North Atlantic that happened about 8,200 years ago after the end of the last Ice Age. As retreating glaciers opened a route for two ancient meltwater lakes known as Agassiz and Ojibway to suddenly and catastrophically drain from the middle of the North American continent.

At approximately the same time, climate records show that the Earth experienced its last abrupt climate shift. Scientists believe that the massive freshwater pulse interfered with the ocean's overturning circulation, which distributes heat around the globe. According to the record of what are known as climate proxies, average air temperatures apparently dropped fell as much as several degrees in some areas of the Northern Hemisphere.

Climate researchers use these proxies--chemical signals locked in minerals and ice bubbles as well as pollen and other biological indicators--as indirect measures of temperature and precipitation patterns in the distant past. Because GISS Model E-R incorporates the response of these proxies in its output, the authors of the PNAS study were able to compare their results directly to the historical record.

The researchers prodded their model with a freshwater pulse equal to between 25 and 50 times the flow of the Amazon River in 12 model runs that took more than a year to complete. Although the simulations largely agreed with proxy records from North Atlantic sediment cores and Greenland ice cores, the team's results showed that the flood had much milder effects around the globe than many people fear--including the dramatic shifts in climate depicted in the 2004 movie 'The Day After Tomorrow'.

According to the model, temperatures in the North Atlantic and Greenland showed the largest decrease, with slightly less cooling over parts of North America and Europe. The rest of the northern hemisphere, however, showed very little effect, and temperatures in the southern hemisphere remained largely unchanged. Moreover, ocean circulation, which initially dropped by half after simulated flood, appeared to rebound within 50 to 150 years.

"This was probably the closest thing to a 'Day After Tomorrow' scenario that we could model," said LeGrande. "The flood we looked at was even larger than anything that could happen today. Still, it's important for us to study because the real thing occurred during a period when conditions were not that much different from the present day."

The GISS climate model is also being used for the latest simulations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to simulate the Earth's present and future climate. "Hopefully, successful simulations of the past such as this will increase confidence in the validity of model projections," said Schmidt.

The study was funded by NASA, National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, and the National Science Foundation.

New bird flu outbreak reported in China
Wed Jan 11, 2006 7:40 AM ET164

By Ben Blanchard and Lindsay Beck

BEIJING (Reuters) - Two more people in China have died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, bringing the death toll to five, as the country announced another outbreak in poultry.

The World Health Organization said on its Web site the two victims, reported last month, were a 10-year-old girl in the southern region of Guangxi and a 35-year-old man in eastern Jiangxi province.

Both died in December, the Xinhua news agency said, citing the health ministry.

"Byzantine bureaucratic procedures delayed the announcement of their deaths," Xinhua said. It did not elaborate.

Scientists fear H5N1, which has killed more than 70 people since late 2003 and is endemic in poultry across parts of Asia, could mutate into a form that can spread easily between people, leading to a pandemic.

"To put it mildly, it's a serious problem everywhere, not just in China," said Roy Wadia, the WHO's spokesman in Beijing.

"We haven't confirmed (the two deaths) in the sense that this is information given to us by China. It's not that we went out there and found out ourselves."

China's health ministry had previously said two women died in eastern Anhui province and another in southeast Fujian province.

Xinhua added scientists had identified H5N1 in a dead migratory bird found near the house of the Guangxi victim.

The latest victim is a six-year-old boy from the central province of Hunan, who fell ill in December and is in hospital. The boy's condition was critical, state media said.

"Initial investigation of the newly confirmed case has identified recent poultry deaths in the family flock as the likely source of exposure, though no poultry outbreaks have been officially reported in the area," the WHO said.

Chinese and foreign health officials have said China's size and lack of resources mean not every bird or even human case of bird flu is properly identified, making fighting the disease that much harder.

NEW POULTRY CASE

China has confirmed a fresh outbreak of bird flu among quail on a farm in the poor, southwestern province of Guizhou, the Agriculture Ministry said, bringing the total number of poultry outbreaks to more than 30 since the start of 2005.

The outbreak early this month killed 16,000 quail near Guizhou's capital of Guiyang. They were later confirmed to have the H5N1 strain, and another 42,000 birds were culled.

"After the outbreak happened, the Agriculture Ministry immediately sent an expert group to lead the prevention and control work," the ministry report, posted late on Tuesday, said.

The outbreak had been brought under control, it added.

Two teenagers died last week from bird flu in eastern Turkey -- the first reported deaths from the virus outside China and Southeast Asia. Their dead sister is also a suspected victim and hundreds of Turks have rushed to hospitals for bird flu tests.

Turkey has reported that at least a dozen people are infected with the virus, mostly children. Cases have been confirmed as far west as the central region around the capital Ankara sparking fears the disease could spread to people in mainland Europe.

New bird flu outbreak reported in China (http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-01-11T124031Z_01_DIT954395_RTRUKOC_0_US-BIRDFLU-CHINA.xml)

January 11th, 2006

Washington, DC-- Ignoring vocal opposition from Alaska Natives, scientists, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and sportsmen, the Bush administration today opened for oil and gas leasing 100 percent of the internationally significant Teshekpuk Lake Special Area in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA). The decision eliminates long-established wildlife and environmental protections first put in place by Reagan administration Interior Secretary James Watt.

The Teshekpuk Lake area was targeted for drilling by the industry-dominated Energy Task Force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney in 2001. The 4.6 million-acre area of the NPRA is immediately west of the massive Prudhoe Bay oil field in far northern Alaska bordering the Beaufort Sea, and provides vital habitat for migratory waterfowl, caribou, and other wildlife, and is an important subsistence hunting and fishing area. Congress last month decisively rejected a proposal to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 110 miles farther to the east.

“The administration today opened 100 percent of the northeast NPRA to drilling. Apparently 87 percent wasn’t enough for the oil companies. Even more outrageous is the administration’s attempt to dress this up as an “environmentally responsible’ decision,” stated Eleanor Huffines, Alaska Regional Director of The Wilderness Society. “This decision ignores the voices of leading scientists, sportsmen from across the nation, and the Alaska Native people who depend on the wildlife and subsistence resources of the region.”

The Teshekpuk Lake Special Area encompasses one of the most important wetland complexes in the circumpolar Arctic. The 45,000-head Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Herd bears its calves and seeks relief from insects near Teshekpuk Lake, and it is a key summer molting or nesting location for many of North America’s migratory ducks, geese, swans, loons, and other birds. It is heavily used by Alaska Natives for subsistence fishing and hunting, especially caribou hunts. Brant and other waterfowl that migrate here are harvested for both subsistence and sport in Alaska and in many of the Lower 48 states.

“This plan is utterly unbalanced. Even the Reagan administration protected the waterfowl habitat around Teshekpuk Lake because of its world-class ecological and cultural value,” said Stan Senner, executive director, Audubon Alaska. “No one should be fooled by the window dressing in this document. This plan makes every last acre available for oil development. The administration has decided that there isn’t one acre of this magnificent region that should be protected.”

In March of 2005, seven conservation groups filed a complaint in the US District Court challenging the final environmental impact statement that recommended opening the area to leasing. The groups challenged the failure to include an in-depth analysis of the environmental harm that oil development would cause to the sensitive area. "The decision announced today was the worst possible outcome for the Teshekpuk Lake area. We'll be amending our legal challenge to include additional claims based on this outrageous decision," said Earthjustice staff attorney, Deirdre McDonnell.

The current administration’s efforts to open the Teshekpuk Lake area to drilling have consistently drawn fire from a variety of groups, including the California Waterfowl Association, Ducks Unlimited, the Pacific Flyway Council, Wildlife Management Institute, The Wildlife Society, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency, The Nature Conservancy and numerous conservation groups. In addition, 200 ornithologists and other wildlife professionals, and a bipartisan group of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus called for Teshekpuk Lake area protections to remain in place.

Congress and three Secretaries of the Interior have recognized the ecological importance of the area around Teshekpuk Lake. The new plan approved today fragments the area north and east of the lake into seven large tracts, completely open to leasing. The crude breakup of the area around Teshekpuk Lake would result in tens of thousands of sensitive molting geese and 45,000 caribou being surrounded by roads, pipelines, airstrips, gravel mines and industrial sprawl.

Hal Lindsey proclaims: Islam a violent religion
On national TV, Christian author declares most Muslims don't read Quran very much
Posted: January 11, 2006
5:39 a.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Hal Lindsey

Christian author Hal Lindsey proclaimed on national television last night that Islam is a violent religion, with many believers becoming more "radical" the more they read the Muslim holy book, the Quran.

"When someone becomes devout and they begin to get really into the Quran and they begin to study what it really teaches, they become what we call a fundamentalist or a radical because the Quran itself and the Hadith teaches violence," Lindsey said on "Hannity & Colmes" on the Fox News Channel. "There are 109 verses that we sometimes call war verses ... these are the verses that the radicals begin to take seriously and they begin to want to overthrow Western civilization."

Lindsey was a guest on Fox after WorldNetDaily broke a series of stories about the best-selling non-fiction writer who is in a dispute with the Trinity Broadcasting Network over the content of his own twice-weekly Christian commentary program, "The International Intelligence Briefing," because of what he considers to be efforts to muzzle his opinions about radical Islam.

"After 9-11, I really studied Islam, studied the Quran, studied what they're teaching and especially why there was a difference between the moderate Muslims and those who were radical," Lindsey said last night. "I saw that there was a tremendous danger facing this country that many Americans really didn't seem to be seeing. So I started warning that radical Islam was at war with the United States, and that the threat was as great as any enemy we'd ever faced."

Co-host Alan Colmes asked Lindsey straight out: "Islam is a radical religion in your view?"

"It is," Lindsey responded. "It's kind of like most Christians don't read the Bible very much. I believe most Muslims don't read the Quran very much. That's why most Muslims are not radical, but when someone begins to really study the Quran and they begin to read the 109 verses that call for violence and war, they become very, very different. They become radical, they feel that they need to convert people by force."

Lindsey, author of "The Late Great Planet Earth" and many other best-selling books and a weekly columnist for WND, has anchored his own program for the last 12 years on the world's largest Christian network, founded by evangelist Paul Crouch, whom Lindsey says remains his friend.

As WND exclusively reported Jan. 3, Lindsey announced he would not go back to his show following an an abrupt six-week suspension of the popular TBN-sponsored program by Jan Crouch, TBN's vice president for programming.

Though John Casoria, TBN's general counsel first told WorldNetDaily the show's suspension was simply a traditional hiatus in lieu of seasonal programming, that statement was later revised to confirm that the network believed Lindsey's program "placed Arabs in a negative light."

Lindsey responded to this allegation: "I don't have to cast radical Muslims in a bad light. If the intimidation and persecution of moderate Muslims makes radical Islam look bad, that is because it is bad – not that I 'cast' them in a bad light. But I have never cast the Arabs as a race in a bad light."

Casoria said he could not recall specific examples from Lindsey's programs that were anti-Arab or anti-Muslim, but he expressed the network's concern about how Muslims are portrayed.

"TBN is a worldwide ministry; we have an entire channel that airs 24 hours a day, seven days a week in Arabic," he said. "We are trying to reach the Islamic world and open a dialogue with them regarding Christ and Christianity."

Casoria explained, "We do not feel that the best witness of Christ is to bash them but rather to show them the nature of Christ – the way Christ said to present himself – and that is through love, understanding and the presentation of the gospel to them."

Lindsey argued, however, his program is not shown in the Middle East.

"My show is produced for the Western world and for Christians who are at the most risk from radical Islam," he said.

Lindsey has been associated with TBN since its inception in the early 1970s.

He told WND that he has "no ax to grind" with TBN, saying, "I've been happy with my opportunities for ministry at TBN. I'm thankful for the platform TBN gave me. I will speak at the gates of hell as long as they don't tell me what to say. But it appears that they are now telling me what not to say – so sadly, it's time to move on."

Lindsey also announced that he is taking his popular television program to other outlets beginning in early February. His new half-hour news and commentary series will be called "The Hal Lindsey Report." A new video version of it will also be streamed on Lindsey's website.

When the New York Times surveyed all book sales for the decade of the 1970s, it found that Lindsey's had far outsold all other authors. His "Late Great Planet Earth" alone sold more than 32 million copies.

Hal Lindsey proclaims: islam a violent religion (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48298)

Cardinal in ethnic row over 'Christian Scotland' remarks
FERGUS SHEPPARD MEDIA CORRESPONDENT

Key points
• Keith O'Brien issues a call to "re-Christianise" Scotland
• His comment has angered Hindu and Muslim leaders
• Cardinal O'Brien is a member of the inter-faith council

Key quote
"In a re-Christianised Scotland I would certainly respect the beliefs of people of other faiths, the great world faiths, and acknowledge when they are celebrating their feasts, just as they acknowledge when we celebrate the feast of Christmas and these sort of things." - Cardinal O'Brien

Story in full THE head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has caused controversy among non-Christian faiths by telling them that they needed to realise they live in a Christian country.

In comments described as "obnoxious", Cardinal Keith O'Brien said he "tolerated" people who lived differently, but added that he must "take a stand when Christianity itself is questioned in this country".

The Church said the cardinal was not meaning to diminish the stature of other faiths as he set forward his mission to "re-Christianise" Scotland.

However, a spokesman for the Hindu Temple in Glasgow condemned the remarks that people of other faiths should realise they live in a Christian country. "I think they are obnoxious. If you go to India there are more Christians there than there are in Britain. They have total autonomy and total freedom to worship and do anything they want, even welcome people into their faith. There is no grudge against that."

He called the suggestion that Scotland should be re-Christianised as "quite offensive".

Inyat Bunglawala, from the Muslim Council of Britain, said: "Mr O'Brien should be addressing his comments to Christians. I think Muslims are surprised that many Christians don't take their faith so seriously.

"Mr O'Brien perhaps needs to look at his own flock and question why people are not following Christianity as he would like to, rather than showing impatience with other faiths."

Glasgow Central MP Mohammad Sarwar said those of other faiths accepted Scotland had a massive Christian majority.

But he added: "I have one reservation - when he says that people should learn to live in a Christian way. I don't know what that means. It's very ambiguous. I'm a very tolerant person and we live in a democracy. People should be allowed to practise religion the way they want to."

Cardinal O'Brien chose a forthcoming BBC radio interview to repeat his call for Scotland to be "re-Christianised".

He said Christianity had been present in Scotland since St Ninian landed at Whithorn in AD397, but that the country no longer lived up to Christian standards: "I feel I must take a stand when Christianity itself is questioned in this country.

"In a re-Christianised Scotland I would certainly respect the beliefs of people of other faiths, the great world faiths, and acknowledge when they are celebrating their feasts, just as they acknowledge when we celebrate the feast of Christmas and these sort of things. But I would also like them to realise that they are living in Scotland as a Christian country."

While the cardinal says Scotland is a "multi-cultural country", he adds: "The basic core faith in Scotland I would maintain is Christianity. And I would like to think that in other countries, where other faiths are in the majority, the Christian faith would be given the same recognition as other faiths are given here."

Cardinal O'Brien is a member of the inter-faith council, which meets once every year.

In the interview, to be broadcast on Sunday, he says: "I am all for that - working together ever more effectively. But we cannot detract from the fact that Scotland is a Christian country."

Aides to the cardinal last night insisted he had made similar remarks dating back to his appointment in 2003.

A spokesman for the Catholic Media Office in Glasgow said: "The context in which he talks about re-Christianising is to try and reintroduce faith-based values in society - it is in no sense a diminution of the value of other faiths."

He said the assertion that the core faith of Scotland was Christianity was also "nothing new". "Scotland has a Christian identity, a Christian heritage. No-one that we are aware of is offended by that, certainly no-one from the other faith groups."

Osama Saeed, the Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Great Britain, said he didn't think the remarks were controversial. "Mr O'Brien is a Christian leader and he is going to spread Christianity - I don't find that particularly surprising. If people are expecting Muslims to react badly, I don't think that will be the case. When he talks about re-Christianising Scotland, he is merely going back to a time when it was Christian and acknowledging that that has been lost."

The head of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Most Reverend Bruce Cameron, said: "As Christians we are committed to the core Christian task of Christian mission and sharing faith. But part of that is ... dialogue with those of other faiths."
Cardinal in ethnic row over 'Christian Scotland' remarks (http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/01/12/restore.shtml)

EU constitution is dead, says Dutch minister
By David Rennie in Brussels
(Filed: 12/01/2006)

Federalist hopes of reviving the draft European Union constitution were snuffed out yesterday when the Dutch foreign minister, Bernard Bot, said the treaty was "dead".

He swept away months of euphemisms and half-truths, as European leaders struggled to avoid being the first to declare an end to the constitutional project, after its rejection in referendums by French and Dutch voters.

Earlier this week Wolfgang Schussel, the Austrian chancellor, insisted that the constitution was "not dead, but in the middle of a ratification process".

EU

Austria, which holds the EU's rotating presidency for the next six months, has pledged to work on reviving the constitution.

Vienna said it would take soundings from the other 24 EU nations on how to "choreograph" its revival, in preparation for a June summit ending a year-long "pause for reflection".

However, when Ursula Plassnik, the Austrian foreign minister, flew to The Hague to sound out the Dutch, Mr Bot poured cold water on the initiative.

Mr Bot, standing beside Mrs Plassnik, said: "We have discussed the constitution, which for the Netherlands is dead."

Diehard enthusiasts for the constitution will doubtless point out that Mr Bot's words only hold good until the next Dutch elections, in spring 2007, when his centre-Right coalition is expected to lose office. France will also hold presidential elections in 2007.

Though all 25 nations must ratify the treaty for it to come into force, Brussels has not hesitated in the past to invite No-voting nations to vote again.

However, one EU diplomat said: "It is hard to see any incoming French or Dutch government, in 2007, choosing to swallow the poison pill that is another referendum on the constitution, which they could easily lose."

European leaders are at odds over how to proceed. President Jacques Chirac this week joined those calling for elements of the constitution to be "cherry-picked" from the treaty.

He singled out three institutional rule changes covered by the constitution, where he would like to see early advances, including work on an EU diplomatic service and a bigger role for national parliaments in scrutinising EU legislation.

A British Government spokesman refused to rule out cherry-picking. He said: "The UK has always advocated positive reforms of the EU institutions and procedures where it makes sense. We are not going to prejudge the outcome of the period of reflection."

But Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said on Tuesday: "Since the best that can be said about the draft constitutional treaty is that is in limbo, which is somewhere between Heaven and Hell, it is difficult to argue that it is not dead."

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said yesterday that constitutional cherry-picking "does not work".

She has called for the entire constitution to be preserved, but made more palatable to voters with an added charter on the "social dimension of Europe", enshrining Continental labour rights and work practices.

EU constitution is dead, says Dutch minister (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/12/weu12.xml&site=5)

British Muslim group declares new jihad

A Ynetnews investigation has uncovered online recruitment of British Muslims for participation in terror attacks; 'We should give them another magnificent day in history' threatens one man
Yaakov Lappin

A declaration of war on Britain and the West is continuing to be issued by British Muslims in the United Kingdom, as the pro-jihad message of Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, recently banned from Britain, is echoed by his followers who have remained behind.

Bakri, who is now based in Beirut, once headed the al-Muhajiroun group, linked to the 2003 terror attack on the Mike’s Place Bar in Tel Aviv. The suicide bomber behind that attack was a British Muslim.

Using internet sermons, recordings, videos and documents, followers of Bakri, who say they are in touch with the Lebanon-based preacher, call on British Muslims to join al-Qaeda and to carry out acts of terrorism.

Ynetnews has monitored late night chat room sessions on the Paltalk chat network, used by Bakri six months ago to declare war on Britain.

“We’ve always had these two camps,” said the chat room’s administrator, “Mizaan,” in the early hours of Tuesday morning, in a room called “The Muslims in the UK.”

Mizaan, who told listeners “that is my real name,” said: “There is the camp of Islam and the camp of Kuffar (non-Muslim). Today we still have these two camps. And today there is the camp of Islam behind Sheikh Osama Bin Laden, the emir (leader) of jihad today, and we have the camp of kuffar led by George Bush with his cross. So yes we are two distinct groups, and we should never stand with the kuffar.”

“Islam is better than everything and it will rule over the whole world, whether the kuffar likes it or not,” declared Mizaan.

'It's not illegal'

“We should, all of us, glorify the terrorism. And we should incite religious hatred. Don’t worry… it’s not illegal for us to say that mujahadin (jihad fighters) on 9/11, were the magnificent 19, and it’s not illegal for us to say that Mohammad Sidique Khan (the suicide bomber who blew himself up in London) and the four on 7/7 (London attacks), that they were the fantastic four – now we can say so without any worry.”

“We will always glorify killing the kuffar in the name of Allah. To raid the kuffar in the name of Allah. Even if some women and children are caught in the raid by accident. They are part of them, it is not your fault,” said Mizaan.

“The kuffar wants to force their own homosexuality on the Muslims. The mujahadin have every right to hit back. So don’t be surprised if the mujahadin do another 7/7, and another 9/11,” he said.

'Give them another magnificent day'

“In fact, we should give them another magnificent day in history. Another fantastic four (the four London suicide bombers). We should hit them time after time, day after day, every single week, every single month, every single year, we should hit them from every side, from the left and the right. From the planes above them, and the trains below them, we should hit them every way we can.”

“Even if it’s just a man kuffar, if your target kills him, even if 20 women among them are killed by accident on the way, it is no problem. And that is what happened with the shahada (martyrs) when they went to raid,” said Mizaan.

“So don’t think what happened on 7/7 or 9/11 was something new, no, that’s the Sunnah (sayings and actions of Muhammad). There’s never been jihad without casualties.”

A user in the room, “veiled flower,” eerily asked what a fiancé of a “mujahadin” should do if he was preparing to martyr himself. She was told by the speaker to encourage him as much as possible in order to assure herself “a place in jenna (heaven).”

Meanwhile, a recently reactivated website, al-Ghurabbaa, which has a UK domain web address, carries sermons given by Omar Bakri.

'The best way to die'

“The martyrdom operations in Palestine are so beautiful,” said Bakri in one recording available on the site.

“Let your death occur in the battlefield, this is the best way to die,” he said. “If you make yourself really available in jihad… Allah will accept you as shaheed (martyr) inshalla (with God’s help).”

“It is very important for us to remember, especially for those of us that are youth… whoever himself went to jihad, jenna (heaven) for him is inevitable.”

A document on the website entitled “the permissibility of self sacrifice operations” provides religious justification for suicide bomb attacks, stating that “for definite the one who wants to seek to be killed, must do an operation, to leave the mark - of the dead bodies, the defeated enemies. Whether your body is one piece or many, or the enemy's bodies are one piece or many. In a martyrdom operation, it is not possible that he should return unscathed, it is necessary that he will be harmed and will target to be killed in the operation,” reads the statement.

Another document tells readers that “terrorism is a part of Islam.”

It declares that “There is no such thing as an ‘innocent’ kafir, innocence is only applicable for the Muslims; do not say ‘innocent’ for the kafir.”

A professionally prepared video from the website defines the term ‘ghurabbaa’ as “strangers” who left their societies to wage jihad, and says modern ghurabaa are al-Qaeda terrorists.

“Go with them and join them as Allah has commanded,” says a message on the video, before showing images of the 9/11 terror attacks, and Osama Bin Laden, accompanied by sounds of machine gun fire and religious chanting.

Images of kidnapped hostages in Iraq who are later beheaded are also shown. “Oh Muslims, be with the terrorists!” exclaims the video, which ends with the question: “Will you be the ghurabbaa of the future?”

“I still study with Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad. He used to be in the UK with us, we used to study with him as much as we could. And inshalla (with God’s help) he’s my only sheikh,” said Mizaan. “He is doing very well in Lebanon,” he added.

Meanwhile, a new threat to European countries from the international jihad movement has also appeared on a website which frequently displays Islamist videos and declarations, infovlad.net.

One video, made by the "Global Islamic Media Front," which is al-Qaeda's propaganda wing, has recently appeared on the site displaying the British Isles engulfed in flames. "British citizens have to take the decision now," reads a message against the background of images of British forces in Iraq.

'Numerous targets'

Infovlad.net, which previously posted threats by a jihad group to attack Sweden, has now put up posters by an unknown group, "The Glory Brigades in Northern Europe," which shows a bloodied map of Denmark and a caption that reads: "Death will visit Denmark." Images of men with machine guns and explosive devices are seen next to a map of Denmark. Another poster warns that "the Mujahadin have numerous targets in Denmark," and displays images of trains and buildings in the Scandinavian country, alongside a photograph of explosives devices.

"Very soon you will regret this," reads a caption, possibly referring to a Danish newspaper's request to readers to send in drawings of Islam's prophet, Muhammad, a move that has infuriated Danish Muslims and prompted large demonstrations.

The 'Glory Brigades' also threatened the British capital in a jihad poster that reads: "New York, Madrid, London now it’s your turn. Target: London."

________________________________________

My Note: All of this coming from the "Religion Of Peace".

Al Qaeda Video is 'Green Light' for Attack, Analyst Warns
By Sherrie Gossett
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
January 11, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - The recently released video message from al Qaeda's number two leader is part of a pattern that signals a countdown to a major terrorist attack within the next 30 days, warns a Washington D.C.-based analyst.

The new video was aired by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite network on Jan. 6. In it Ayman al-Zawahiri portrays U.S. government discussion of troop withdrawal from Iraq as a victory for Islam.

"If your forces with all its aircraft, missiles, tanks and fleets are moaning, bleeding and looking for an escape from Iraq, then will the hypocrites, conspirators, infidels (the Iraqi government) resist what the 'greatest power in the world' has failed to resist?" al-Zawahiri asked.

But it is not the content of the video that is a sign of a possible imminent strike, said terrorism expert Christopher L. Brown. Instead, it is the timing of the video that is consistent with previous patterns. Brown, a researcher with a Washington think tank, has briefed members of Congress and senior administration officials on key threats, and he has prepared testimony and briefing materials for officials at the Department of Defense, State Department, CIA, National Security Council and the White House.

The pattern Brown observed is that each Zawahiri video appears to be part of a pair, with the second video followed by a significant attack within 30 days, outside of the major combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The videos released on Sept. 9 and Nov. 9, 2004, were the first "set" and were followed by the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, bombings on Dec. 6, 2004. The second "set" of videos was released Feb. 20 and June 26, 2005, followed by the July 7 London bombings. A third set of videos was released Aug. 4 and Sept 1, 2005, followed by the bombings in Bali, Indonesia, on Oct. 1, 2005.

A Cybercast News Service exclusive report on Sept. 8 of last year detailed Brown's warning regarding an impending October attack.

The fourth set of videos, according to Brown's theory was released on Oct. 23, 2005 and last week -- Jan. 6.

"This pattern has held for at least three of al Qaeda's last large-scale attacks," said Brown, "This most recent video is likely a signal that a large-scale operation is about to be launched within the next 30 days. The question is where."

A clue may be found in the Internet postings of the enigmatic Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades, said Brown. The brigades appear to be 'green-lighting' coming attacks prior to the release of the second video of each pair, Brown said.

The video that preceded the London bombings was itself preceded by a post by the "European division" of the brigades under the title, "Letter to mujahedeen in Europe." The posting stated in part, "We now call on the mujahedeen around the world to launch the expected attack." The message appeared on an al Qaeda-linked Internet forum.

Brown believes the larger pattern of two videos sandwiching an Internet posting by the Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades was repeated when a November web message declared that the upcoming attack would occur in the "land of the Romans," widely seen as a reference to Italy.

The Internet posting, under the name of al Qaeda's reputed military commander Saif al-Adel, mentioned future attacks involving unidentified poisonous substances and surface-to-air missiles procured from Chechnya. Brown notes that the Abu-Hafs Al-Masri Brigades are overseen by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the top al Qaeda terrorist in Iraq who is also known to have ties to Chechnya.

"It is even more interesting to note that Western intelligence officials believe that al Qaeda has had some of the most advanced Russian man-portable surface-to-air missile systems (the SA-18) within Europe for at least one year."

On Oct. 29, 2005, the London Telegraph reported that Abu Atiya, an al Qaeda operative close to al-Zawahiri, revealed to French authorities that a group called the "Chechen network" entered France with the missiles and chemical and biological agents such as botulin, ricin and cyanide. The missiles were reportedly purchased in 2002 and eventually smuggled through Georgia and Turkey to be used in a planned attack against French airliners in 2004.

Following the London bombings the brigades posted a communique on the Internet, stating: "We are in Italy, and not one of you is safe as long as you refuse [Osama bin Laden's] offer. Get rid of the incompetent (Prime Minister Silvio) Berlusconi or we will truly burn Italy."

A July 19, 2005, story in Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper indicated that Italian intelligence feared the statement was a coded message activating known cells in Italy, which had previously been providing only logistical support.

Three more messages from the Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades were posted in July, promising to "burn Italy down.

"We will raze the cities of Europe to the ground and you will be the first, Berlusconi!" one of the messages declared. On July 31, the brigades claimed to be "calling up all our cells in Rome and other Italian cities for this war ..." Another Internet message followed in August.

However, the November reference to the "land of the Romans" could be misdirection Brown said, since al Qaeda is known to use coded language in many of its communications. The Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) has indicated that al Qaeda intentionally labeled Italy as its target, prior to the London bombings.

If the "land of the Romans" doesn't refer to Rome, what might it refer to? Dan Darling of the Manhattan Institute believes it could be a reference to the United States. "It could just as easily apply to the U.S. -- America as the new Rome," said Darling.

Brown also believes the al Qaeda threat could apply to the U.S. and that America is the likelier target.

The "land of the Romans" could be a symbolic reference to the "countless examples of Romanesque architecture in Washington, D.C.," said Brown.

The missiles reportedly obtained from Chechnya have not been located and Brown believes it is possible that some of the weapons have been smuggled into North America since individuals involved in the "Chechen network" who procured the missiles were allegedly involved in the 1999 conspiracy to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.

About Brown's theory of a timing pattern and imminent strike, Dan Darling said "I definitely think there's something behind this theory. One of my earliest observations about al Qaeda is that when people look for patterns they tend to forget to include events in places like Kashmir, Chechnya, Iraq. "

Darling also noted that analysts often fail to take into account thwarted attacks. "Italy has arrested several members of GSPC cells intent on attacking Italy or U.S.-related installations," said Darling. The GSPC is also known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, an Algerian group linked to al Qaeda. Italian officials announced on Dec. 23 that the suspected terrorists had plans to carry out attacks against the U.S. that would have surpassed 9/11.

Terrorism expert B. Raman told Cybercast News Service that Brown's theory is "fascinating" but that he was not in a position to agree or disagree with it.

"I personally feel that while the London explosions were externally inspired from Pakistan, the timing and the modus operandi used were decided locally. I would have difficulty in connecting it to Zawahiri's second message," said Raman. He also believes that Zawahiri's importance as an operational head tends to be over-estimated by many Western analysts.

"I also feel on the basis of my reading of the situation that there is a very high probability of a terrorist strike against Italian lives and interests this year," said Raman.

"In Europe, Al Qaeda's next targets in the order of probability are Italy (its Prime Minister is closely identified with Bush), France (ban on head scarves, its interior minister is hated in the Islamic world) and Germany (its role in Afghanistan)."

Raman is the former head of the counter-terrorism division of the Research & Analysis Wing in India's external intelligence agency and director or the Institute of Topical Studies, Chennai, India.

Italy has been bracing for possible attacks targeting the February Winter Olympics in Turin or the April 9 general elections. Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu told media last month, "The global resonance of the Games, and the coincidence with the election campaign could be of great interest to terrorist organizations, which carry out major attacks in order to rock public opinion and influence political stances."

The CIA has declined to comment on Brown's theory. "We don't comment on our own analysis. And we can't comment on Mr. Brown's theory either," said the spokesman.

Regarding the video release pattern, "once can be an interesting anomaly, twice could be a coincidence, but three times is a pattern," Brown said, indicating "that in all likelihood al Qaeda will launch a major attack sometime in the next month."

U.S. backs Europe over nuclear Iran

Thursday, January 12, 2006; Posted: 7:15 p.m. EST (00:15 GMT)

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Britain, France and Germany have called for the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog to refer Iran to the Security Council over the country's atomic ambitions.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States strongly supports the move and joins the European Union "and many other members of the international community in condemning the Iranian government's deliberate escalation of this issue."

Iran broke U.N. seals on its nuclear enrichment facility this week, insisting it only wants to develop a civilian nuclear power program in accordance with international law. But several Western countries fear Tehran is intent on developing a nuclear bomb.

Foreign ministers from the European Union's three biggest nations -- the so-called EU3 -- met Thursday following Iran's moves to restart its nuclear program.

"Our talks with Iran have reached a dead end," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters after meeting with his British and French counterparts, Jack Straw and Philippe Douste-Blazy, and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. (Watch what option remains after diplomacy and force -- 2:56)

Straw said the group decided to call for an emergency session of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to vote on referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council.

The ministers did not say exactly what action should be taken by the Security Council, which could impose sanctions.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday Iran's representative on the nuclear issue told him Iran's leaders "are interested in serious and constructive negotiations."

Annan told reporters that he spoke by telephone for 40 minutes with the representative.

"Basically, I called him to urge him to avoid any escalation, to exercise restraint, to go back to give the negotiations a chance, and that the only viable solution lies in a negotiated one," he said.

"He, in turn, affirmed to me that they are interested in serious and constructive negotiations, but within a time frame, indicating that last time they did it for two-and-a-half years with no result."

The decision by the EU3 marks the end of more than two years of diplomatic efforts to convince Iran to abandon its nuclear program.

Rice said Iran's action "demonstrates that it has chosen confrontation with the international community over cooperation and negotiation."

"As a result, the IAEA board of governors must go forward with a report to the U.N. Security Council so that the council can add its weight in support of the ongoing IAEA investigation," she added.

Meanwhile, officials in London and Moscow said envoys from the EU3 would meet counterparts from China, Russia and the U.S. next week in London to discuss the issue further.

Russia, which is building a nuclear reactor in Iran, also has expressed "deep disappointment" over Iran's decision, The Associated Press reported.

A Foreign Ministry statement outlining a phone call between Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Rice said both sides shared "a deep disappointment over Tehran's decision to leave behind the moratorium on all activities tied with uranium enrichment, resuming research work in this sphere."

The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal reported that during the call, Lavrov told Rice that Russia would abstain, rather than vote against, efforts to move the issue from the IAEA -- the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog -- to the Security Council.

China, which imports significant amounts of Iranian oil, said it hoped Iran would return to talks on the nuclear dispute and urged all parties to exercise restraint.

"We hope Iran can do more to promote mutual confidence between itself and the EU3, and return to negotiations," Reuters quoted a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, Kong Quan, as saying.
'Small-scale' enrichment work

Iran's move was announced Tuesday by Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, who said: "Nuclear research officially resumed at sites agreed upon with (U.N.) inspectors."

He said Iran was not resuming the production of nuclear fuel, a process that would involve uranium enrichment.

"We differentiate nuclear fuel production with research and access to technology," he said. "Suspension of nuclear fuel production will be continued in the country."

But Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, told his agency's governing board that Iran intended to begin "small-scale" uranium enrichment work, Reuters said.

"Iran plans to install a small-scale gas ultracentrifuge cascade in its pilot fuel enrichment plant at Natanz," a Western diplomat told Reuters, reading from ElBaradei's report to the 35-nation board of the IAEA.

Citing the report, the diplomat said that Iran planned to feed a small amount of uranium hexafluoride into centrifuges -- machines that purify uranium for use in nuclear power plants or weapons -- as part its research work on the devices.

The diplomat's comments came as one of Iran's former opposition leaders claimed that the country had secretly produced 5,000 centrifuges at its underground facility in Natanz.

Alireza Jafarzadeh offered no proof. But he added that Iran was also constructing centrifuge cascade platforms at the facility. If Iran possesses the necessary knowledge, the centrifuges could be mounted on the platforms and used to produce highly enriched uranium.

Once the machines are fully operational, Jafarzadeh said, Iran would be "only months away from having enough fissile material for at least one nuclear bomb."

Jafarzadeh -- who would not divulge his source, saying only that it was within the Iranian regime -- called for an emergency meeting of the IAEA board of governors to send the issue of Iran's non-compliance to the U.N. Security Council.
Diplomat: Centrifuges corroded

On Thursday, a Western diplomat who is close to the IAEA told Reuters that Iran had completed the removal of U.N. seals on its nuclear fuel research sites but would need time to refurbish machinery before it could start enriching uranium.

The diplomat said the Iranians would probably have to rebuild their entire cascade of enrichment centrifuges.

"There's a lot of humidity, corrosion. It's going to take a long time," Reuters quoted him as saying.

This is the second time that IAEA seals have been removed in Iran. In August, researchers unsealed equipment at its Isfahan plant and resumed uranium conversion activities.

Uranium conversion is a first step towards uranium enrichment, which could lead to the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

Iran's hard-line conservative government insists its nuclear programs have peaceful aims, and it has the right to restart nuclear facilities and enrich uranium for the production of nuclear energy.

Other nations, however, including the U.S., fear Tehran's true goal is to produce nuclear weapons.

Those fears have been reinforced by recent comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has said Israel should be wiped out.

Iran vowed Thursday to press ahead with the nuclear program despite the threat of U.N. referral.

"Unfortunately, a group of bullies allows itself to deprive nations of their legal and natural rights," AP quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

"I tell those superpowers that, with strength and prudence, Iran will pave the way to achieving peaceful nuclear energy," he said. "The Iranian nation is not frightened by the powers and their noise."

Ali Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an interview that Iran does not want to get into enrichment on any large scale, and insists its activities are for research purposes only.

Larijani said he hoped sanctions were not pursued, as Tehran believed room for negotiation with the West remained.

US backs Europe over nuclear Iran (http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/12/iran.nuclear/index.html)

Man who shot John Paul II freed from prison
Turkish man served 25 years; minister says he may review release
Image: Mehmet Ali Agca
Osman Orsal / AP
Mehmet Ali Agca, the gunman who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, holds up an issue of Time magazine outside a military recruitment center after being released from prison in Istanbul on Thursday. Agca served more than 25 years behind bars in Italy and Turkey.

Updated: 10:36 a.m. ET Jan. 12, 2006

ISTANBUL, Turkey - The man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 was released from prison Thursday after serving more than 25 years in Italy and Turkey for the plot against the pontiff and the slaying of a Turkish journalist.

To the cheers of nationalist supporters, a white sedan whisked Mehmet Ali Agca — whose attempt to assassinate the pope gained notoriety for himself and shame for his homeland — through the gates of the high-security Kartal Prison as dozens of police officers stood guard. His supporters showered the car with red and yellow flowers.

But Turkey’s justice minister later said authorities will review Agca’s release to make sure there were no errors in the handling of the complicated case. He said Agca’s release was not “a guaranteed right.”

'We are happy,' brother says
Agca, 48, wearing a blue sweater and jeans, was freed five years after he was pardoned by Italy and extradited to Turkey. He had served 20 years in prison in Italy, where John Paul forgave him in a visit to his cell in 1983.

“We are happy. We endlessly thank the Turkish state,” said his brother, gotcha98.

He said one of the first things Agca wanted to do was order a typical Turkish meal of beans and rice at a restaurant overlooking the Bosporus Strait, the narrow waterway that bisects Istanbul and joins the European and Asian continents.

Immediately after his release, Agca reported to a military recruitment center and a hospital, both routine procedures, said his lawyer Mustafa Demirbag.

John Paul forgave shooter
Agca shot the pope as he rode in an open car in St. Peter’s Square in Rome on May 13, 1981, and was captured immediately afterward. John Paul was hit in the abdomen, left hand and right arm but recovered because the bullets missed vital organs. Two years after the shooting, the pope met with Agca in prison and forgave him.

Man who shot John Paul II freeded from prison (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10814217/from/RSS/)

Violence Likely As Iraq Readies Government

By PATRICK QUINN, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 54 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military predicted Thursday that more violence will engulf Iraq in the weeks ahead as the country's splintered politicians and religious groups struggle to form a government.

The warning followed a week marked by what U.S. Brig. Gen. Donald Alston described as "horrific attacks," amid deteriorating relations between the Iraq's largest Shiite religious group and Sunni Arabs who make up the core of the opposition.

Alston, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition force, said attacks that have killed at least 500 people since the Dec. 15 elections were a sign insurgents were using the difficult transition to a new government to destabilize the democratic process. In the month since the elections, 54 U.S. forces also have been killed.

Violence dropped after Iraqis began celebrating the four-day Islamic feast of sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, on Tuesday. But Alston said it was likely to rise.

"As democracy advances in the form of election results and government formation, and as the military pressure continues, and the pressure generated by political progress increases, we expect more violence across Iraq," Alston said at a news briefing.

Final election results have been delayed by Sunni Arab complaints of fraud, but are expected next week. Although leading politicians have expressed hopes a government could be formed in February, most experts and officials agree it could take two to three months, as it did after the Jan. 30 elections for an interim government.

The governing United Iraqi Alliance, a Shiite religious bloc, has a strong lead, according to preliminary results. But it won't win enough seats in the 275-member parliament to avoid forming a coalition with Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties.

Alston said that as a new government starts forming, "those committed to seeing democracy fail will see this time of transition as an opportunity to attack the innocent people of Iraq."

He said the recent attacks, blamed mostly on extremists like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq, were part of an "attempt to discredit and derail the progress of the Iraqi people."

At least 121 people were killed last week in twin suicide attacks against a Shiite shrine in the holy city of Karbala and a police recruiting center in Ramadi. A day earlier, 32 people were killed by a suicide bomber at a Shiite funeral in Muqdadiyah. Twenty-nine more died in an attack Monday on the Interior Ministry compound in Baghdad.

"The increase in attacks across Iraq this past week clearly indicates that al-Qaida and others terrorists still have the capability to surge," Alston said.

He denied allegations by leading Shiite politicians that the United States had restricted the ability of Iraqi security forces to deal with insurgents after Sunni Arabs complained that brutal methods used by Interior Ministry forces have pushed Iraq to the brink of sectarian war. Hundreds of abused prisoners have recently been discovered, mostly in prisons run by the Shiite-led Interior Ministry — prompting complaints from U.S. officials.

"I would tell you that I do not see any additional procedures that have been employed, or I should say additional restrictions or additional requirements that have been levied on the Iraqi security forces that would tie their hands," Alston said.

But he added that U.S. forces "have always had coordinating instructions with the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense."

Sunni Arab politicians, meanwhile, expressed anger over remarks by Iraq's most powerful Shiite politician suggesting that the new constitution, approved in October, would not be amended.

The leader of the main Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front, gotcha98 al-Dulaimi, said his group already had agreed with the country's two main Kurdish leaders to form "a national unity government because it's the only solution to Iraq's political crisis and to maintain its unity."

Shiite politician Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, warned on Wednesday that the governing religious bloc would not allow substantive changes to the constitution, including the provision that leaves provincial governments strong and the central government weak.

A key Sunni demand is weaker federalism and a stronger central government. The constitution now gives most power — including control over oil profits — to provincial governments. The Shiites in the south and the Kurds in the north control nearly all of Iraq's oil.

To win their support, Sunni Arabs were promised they could propose amendments to the constitution in the first four months of the new parliament.

"We, the Iraqi Accordance Front and other lists will not bow to any kind of blackmail from any party and we will stand shoulder-to-shoulder to defend Iraq," al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press.

Another prominent Sunni Arab politician, Saleh al-Mutlaq of the National Dialogue Front, agreed.

"If they do not accept key amendments to the country's new constitution, including the regions issue, then let them work alone and divide the country, as for us we do not accept this," al-Mutlaq told the AP by phone from Amman, Jordan.

Violence Likely As Iraq Readies Government (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060113/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=AtiqXuvknAdgR2lzjhI6MPln.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Ruthless, get rich quick scammers won't give up.

FBI warns public of bogus e-mails
Tragedy brings out scammers

Thursday, January 12, 2006
By Moustafa Ayad, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Seizing on a national outpouring of sympathy for the sole survivor of the Sago mine disaster in West Virginia, a flood of bogus e-mails -- purportedly from a doctor treating him --were sent out yesterday asking for empathy and money.

Forwarded to a number of staff at the West Virginia University hospital where the miner is being treated and an untold number of other people over the Internet, the messages are part of an online scam the FBI has tagged as fraudulent, bureau officials said yesterday.

"The notion of defrauding members of the public who earnestly believe that their hard-earned dollars will be donated to the victim of a tragedy is simply reprehensible," said Jeff Killeen, the supervisory special agent for the FBI's Pittsburgh division.

The messages claim to be from Dr. Lawrence Roberts, a physician in the intensive care unit of WVU's Ruby Memorial Hospital, and go into detail about the condition of Randal McCloy.

The message reads: "We needed your generous financial assistance to our beloved citizen, brother and friend Mr. Randal McCloy to enable him [to] undergo all the Surgical Operations and Medical treatments which will cost Several Millions of Dollars in serving [sic] his life and bringing him to his normal state of life."

It says Mr. McCloy, whose condition remained unchanged yesterday as critical but stable, needs "at this point your financial donations and prayers," and "no amount is too small or big for us to undergo the surgical operation."

The FBI is warning people not to reply to the messages and to alert the agency's Internet Fraud Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov if they receive the e-mails.

Authorities informed the public yesterday after phone calls began trickling into the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center in Morgantown. Staff members alerted the FBI, which immediately began investigating the veracity of the messages.

Mr. Killian said the investigation was in its earliest stages, and that the FBI issued the warning to the public as soon as agents were able to identify the e-mails as fakes.

After talking with hospital officials and Dr. Roberts, who is indeed a physician at Ruby Memorial, agents deduced that the messages were a scam.

Agents were unable to determine where the messages had originated, but the hospital was suggesting the e-mails could have come from as far away as India.

This is not the first case of Internet fraud in the wake of national and international tragedies reported to the FBI. Several scams surfaced after the tsunami decimated Southeast Asia and Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

"It's troubling," said Bill Case, the director of public information for the WVU health center. "But sadly, it's not surprising,"

Bush, Merkel Take United Stance on Iran

President Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel stood together Friday in urging U.N. intervention if Iran does not retreat from a resumption of its nuclear program. The world needs to "send a common message to Iran that their behavior ... is unacceptable," Bush said.

Merkel used similar words, and she also condemned statements by Iran's leader challenging Israel's right to exist. "We will not be intimidated by a country such as Iran," she said.

At a joint White House news conference, Bush rejected a plea by Merkel that the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be shut down. He called the four-year-old camp "a necessary part of protecting the American people."

It was one of the few disagreements the two leaders voiced after their White House meeting. It was the German leader's first visit to the United States since taking office last November.

Iran threatened earlier Friday to block inspections of its nuclear sites if confronted by the U.N. Security Council over its atomic activities. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reaffirmed his country's intention to produce nuclear energy.

Bush assailed what he called Iran's efforts "to clandestinely develop a nuclear weapon, or using the guise of a civilian nuclear weapon program to get the know-how to develop a nuclear weapon."

Taking the matter to the Security Council, as Germany, France and Britain recommended on Thursday, is the logical next step, Bush said.

"We want an end result to be acceptable, which will yield peace, which is that the Iranians not have a nuclear weapon in which to blackmail and-or threaten the world," Bush said.

On Guantanamo, Merkel said she raised the issue with Bush, and she described it as one of the differences between the United States and Germany. Germany opposed the war in Iraq.

"There sometimes have been differences of opinion. I mentioned Guantanamo in this respect," Merkel said.

Bush said, "I can understand why she brought it up because there's some misperceptions about Guantanamo."

He disputed reports that detainees there have been mistreated.

Bush said the prison camp would remain open "so long as the war on terror goes on, and so long as there's a threat."

Ultimately, the U.S. courts will have to decide whether terror suspects can be detained in Guantanamo or must be processed through the U.S. judicial system, he said.

On another subject, Bush said he had "no idea" about the possible truth of reports that German intelligence agents actively helped U.S. forces in Iraq at the start of the war.

It was a reference to German television and newspaper reports that the government of then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, an outspoken opponent of the war, helped identify a bombing target in Iraq.

Germany's Federal Intelligence Agency said the reports were "wrong and distorted," although it did confirm that it had two agents in Iraq before and during the war.

"You did say 'secret intelligence,' right?" Bush said to the German reporter who asked the question. "The chancellor brought this up this morning, I had no idea what she was talking about. First I heard of it was this morning, truthfully."

On Thursday, Germany, Britain and France, backed by the United States, said talks with Iran had reached a dead end and urged that the issue be referred to the Security Council.

Trying to line up support, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke by telephone Friday to Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing. But at the United Nations, China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, said referring Iran to the Security Council might toughen Tehran's position on its nuclear program.

What kind of sanctions the council might consider remained in dispute.

Both Bush and Merkel said they discussed Iran at length.

In two years of difficult negotiations between European nations and Iran, "Iran refused every offer we made," Merkel said.

"It's very important for non-transparent societies to not have the capacity to blackmail free societies," Bush asserted.

Merkel took power last November after an extremely close and protracted race with Schroeder.

Bush jokingly likened that race, which took almost two months to resolve, to his own victory in 2000 over Democrat Al Gore, which was decided only after weeks of suspense by a Supreme Court decision.

"We didn't exactly landslide our way into office," Bush said.

Eschewing the motorcade that usually transports world leaders to the White House, Merkel made the short trip to the White House from the Blair House guest quarters across the street on foot.

She and her sizable entourage walked through the White House gates trailed by empty black limousines and a fleet of silver German-made BMWs.

Schroeder's opposition to the U.S.-led war that deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein so damaged the German's relationship with Bush that the president refused at times to speak to Schroeder on the telephone.

Merkel, by contrast, is more in tune with Bush's conservative politics.

Merkel also was to meet with members of Congress and planned to attend a ceremony at the newly renovated headquarters of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Despite her calls for a partnership with Washington, she has demonstrated a strong streak of independence, including her criticism of the Guantanamo Bay camp.

Germany rebuffed an appeal by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales not to release a terrorist accused of killing a Navy diver in a 1985 airplane hijacking.

Ukraine Seizes Russia’s Black Sea Fleet Control Center

Created: 13.01.2006 13:59 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:21 MSK, 13 hours 55 minutes ago

MosNews

Ukrainian authorities have unlawfully seized control over the Yalta lighthouse, which is the control centre for the Black Sea Fleet’s hydrographic service, an official told the Interfax news agency on Friday. Earlier reports said that Ukraine had already tried to take control of the facility.

“At around 10-00 local time, Viktor Polishchuk, commander at the Yalta lighthouse, was denied access to the premises of the lighthouse thus being prevented from fulfilling his official duties by the Yalta port authority,” the source reported.

He reported that a group of representatives of the Ukrainian state-run company Gosgidrografiya, led by the head of the local branch of that company, Vladimir Kolpakov, had arrived at the lighthouse in three cars, with a view to seize control of the lighthouse.

“They have broken open doors to auxiliary facilities, seized the pass from the head of the lighthouse and refused to let Black Sea Fleet officials enter the territory,” the source said.

The command of the Black Sea Fleet has notified Ukraine’s authorities of the incident, the source said, adding that “the unlawful actions on the part of Ukraine were aimed at ignoring the bilateral agreements on the Black Sea Fleet and destabilizing the situation in the region”.

Earlier this month, the Black Sea Fleet said in a statement that the fleet command “does not intend to allow sites belonging to the fleet to be damaged”. The statement was made in connection with an attempt by unknown people to infiltrate the Yalta lighthouse on Jan. 6, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The statement said that “on January 6, at 1230 hours Moscow time, three men who said they were from the Sevastopol branch of the Ukrainian state company Gosgidrografiya tried to enter the territory of the lighthouse”.

Ukraine Seizes Russia’s Black Sea Fleet Control Center (http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/01/13/lighthouse.shtml)

January 12, 2006

A Fault Line for 'Intelligent Design'
By Louis Sahagun and Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writers

LEBEC, Calif. — Tucked in the raw folds of the Tehachapi Mountains, 63 miles north of Los Angeles and a time warp away in ambience, this town is not used to being the center of attention.

But this far-flung place, one of half a dozen close-knit communities in these mountains, has become the latest focal point in the national debate over teaching "intelligent design" in public schools.

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Usually, big news in the region is heavy snow shutting down Interstate 5. There are 15 houses of worship, all Christian, and many folks wear their religion on their bumper stickers. But plenty of big-city newcomers, who commute to jobs in Bakersfield and Los Angeles, prefer a solid gap between religion and the classroom.

The San Andreas fault literally cuts through town, and right here "red state is slamming up against blue state like tectonic plates," said Patric Hedlund, managing editor of the Mountain Enterprise, a local weekly.

"The people here are grappling with fundamental issues of free speech and separation of church and state," she said. "It's one of those divine moments where everybody is right, and we have to find out what the rules are."

Outsiders know this region as the Grapevine. Lebec, the place with the post office, was named after a 19th century pioneer killed by a grizzly bear. The local chamber of commerce refers to Lebec, Gorman, Frazier Park and other north Tehachapi hamlets as the "Mountain Communities." Locals call it "the hill."

As they ruminate and wrangle among themselves, residents feel swamped.

The TV news crews and their satellite trucks began prowling the rugged hills not long after word spread of a lawsuit filed Tuesday by 11 parents against El Tejon Unified School District, the first legal challenge to the teaching of intelligent design in California.

At the district office, secretaries say at least three dozen interview requests have poured in for Supt. John Wight, who was at a conference and unavailable for comment.

The hullabaloo erupted after disgruntled parents joined with Americans United for Separation of Church and State to challenge a course at Frazier Mountain High School that they consider a minimally disguised endorsement of intelligent design.

School trustees approved the new course, "Philosophy of Design," at a special meeting on New Year's Day. Attorneys for the district suggested the course could survive a legal challenge if it was called "philosophy," the lawsuit said, and the board approved it on a 3-2 vote.

Hedlund's newspaper opened up five full pages to letters on both sides of the issue.

In one letter, Nicole Francus of Frazier Park called the course "an academic and legal disaster" that threatens to "take us all down a slippery slope."

"I'm not a biologist," countered Bob Anderson, another letter writer, "but the last time I looked, evolution was and is still an unproven scientific theory."

Intelligent design holds that some biological systems are so complex they could not have evolved through random mutations, as Darwin theorized, but must have sprung from the work of a larger master plan.

The course, which began Jan. 3, is scheduled to run for one month. The teacher is Sharon Lemburg, a special education instructor and the wife of a minister for the local Assembly of God Church, which supports fundamentalist Christian tenets about creationism.

An initial course description, which was distributed to students and their families last month, said "the class will take a close look at evolution as a theory and will discuss the scientific, biological and biblical aspects that suggest why Darwin's philosophy is not rock solid."

"Did God guide me to do this?" Lemburg asked, during an interview on the porch of her log house. "I would hope so."

Most of the reaction she's received has come from supporters or the media, with their e-mails and phone calls falling into three categories: "We support you, we're praying for you and … can we have you on our show?"

"It's scary," Lemburg said. "I just want to teach. I'm not out for big publicity."

A Fault Line for 'Intelligent Design' (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lebec12jan12,0,4360972.story?coll=la-home-local)

AP Exclusive: National ID, State Nightmare
AP Exclusive: National Uniform Driver's License Law 'Nightmare' for States
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN
The Associated Press

- An anti-terrorism law creating a national standard for all driver's licenses by 2008 isn't upsetting just civil libertarians and immigration rights activists.

State motor vehicle officials nationwide who will have to carry out the Real ID Act say its authors grossly underestimated its logistical, technological and financial demands.

In a comprehensive survey obtained by The Associated Press and in follow-up interviews, officials cast doubt on the states' ability to comply with the law on time and fretted that it will be a budget buster.

"It is just flat out impossible and unrealistic to meet the prescriptive provisions of this law by 2008," Betty Serian, a deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, said in an interview.

Nebraska's motor vehicles director, responding to the survey by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, said that to comply with Real ID her state "may have to consider extreme measures and possibly a complete reorganization."

And a new record-sharing provision of Real ID was described by an Illinois official as "a nightmare for all states."

"Can we go home now??" the official wrote.

States use a hodgepodge of systems and standards in granting driver's licenses and identification cards. In some places, a high school yearbook may be enough to prove identity.

A major goal of Real ID which was motivated by the Sept. 11 attacks, whose perpetrators had legitimate driver's licenses is to unify the disparate licensing rules and make it harder to fraudulently obtain a card.

The law also demands that states link their record-keeping systems to national databases so duplicate applications can be detected, illegal immigrants caught and driving histories shared.

State licenses that fail to meet Real ID's standards will not be able to be used to board an airplane or enter a federal building.

The law, which was attached to a funding measure for the Iraq war last May, has been criticized by civil libertarians who contend it will create a de facto national ID card and new centralized databases, inhibiting privacy.

State organizations such as the National Governors Association have blasted the law as well. Many states will have to amend laws in order to comply.

Jeff Lungren, a spokesman for Real ID's principal backer, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said there is no chance states might win a delay of the 2008 deadline.

"We gave three years for this process," he said. "Every day that we continue to have security loopholes, we're at greater risk."

The August survey by the motor vehicle administrators' group, which has not been made public, asked licensing officials nationwide for detailed reports on what it will take to meet Real ID's demands.

It was not meant to produce an overall estimate of the cost of complying with Real ID. But detailed estimates produced by a few states indicate the price will blow past a February 2005 analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, which estimated Congress would need to spend $100 million reimbursing states.

Pennsylvania alone estimated a hit of up to $85 million. Washington state projected at least $46 million annually in the first several years.

Separately, a December report to Virginia's governor pegged the potential price tag for that state as high as $169 million, with $63 million annually in successive years. Of the initial cost, $33 million would be just to redesign computing systems.

It remains unclear how much funding will come from the federal government and how much the states will shoulder by raising fees on driver's licenses.

"If you begin to look at the full ramifications of this, we are talking about billions and billions of dollars. Congress simply passed an unfunded mandate," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty project at the American Civil Liberties Union. "Every motorist in America is going to pay the price of this, of the Congress' failure to do a serious exploration of the cost, the complexity, of the difficulty."

The survey respondents and officials interviewed by the AP noted that many concerns might be resolved as the Department of Homeland Security clarifies its expectations for the law such as whether existing licenses can be grandfathered in before it takes effect May 11, 2008.

As of now, however, it appears little has changed since the survey described a multitude of hurdles.

Some examples:

The law demands that states mine multiple databases to check the accuracy of documents submitted by license applicants. Several states questioned how that will work, especially with confirming birth certificates. Iowa said it didn't think the states would be able to make the required vital-records upgrades within three years.

Some states' ancient computing systems will have to be overhauled in order to link to other networks. Minnesota runs a 1980s-era mainframe system; Rhode Island says its "circa 1979" COBOL-based network will require a $20 million upgrade.

Many states don't make drivers prove they are legally in the country, but the law will now demand such documentation. It also calls for states to run license applications through a federal database known as SAVE that was launched by a 1986 law aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from receiving federal benefits. One problem, though, is that the "SAVE database is notoriously unreliable ... months behind," said South Carolina's response to the survey.

After drivers submit documents to prove their identities, states will have to retain paper copies of those documents for at least seven years or digital images for 10 years. Some states fretted about the storage costs; others worried about how to capture images of all those files. Alabama's survey response called the project "massive," saying that while the state had the proper equipment at six licensing centers, "we do not have the resources to equip all of our 79 offices." Added Massachusetts: "This equipment is very expensive!"

Real ID requires that a license show someone's principal residence. But state officials object that a mailing address makes more sense for many people for "snowbirds" who spend time in two states, for example or for public officials who want to protect their privacy. "What should the procedure be for a person who lives in a RV?" asks South Dakota's report.

The law calls for a person's "full legal name," no nickname or abbreviations, on licenses. Cards have to be redesigned and databases must be reprogrammed to make room for extremely long names, likely up to 125 characters. That's not an easy process. By itself it accounts for $4 million of North Dakota's $5.9 million estimated impact.

Motor-vehicle employees will be subject to background checks, but several officials said it was unclear what would disqualify someone from being able to process licenses. Maryland's response said waiting for security clearances "could cause staffing shortage."

Real ID demands that all driver's licenses or ID cards have pictures that can be read by facial-recognition technology. That would end many states' practice of letting people with certain religious beliefs request not to have a picture. Tennessee, meanwhile, allows anyone older than 60 to get a "valid without photo" license.

"If you take any one of these things individually, you see a significant problem," Steinhardt said. "There are literally hundreds of these problems embedded in Real ID, and the statute doesn't give you a way out. It's black and white. No exceptions, no reality check.

"In many respects it's a statute that ignores reality."

AP Exclusive: National ID, State Nightmare (http://www.worthynews.com/zone/abcnews-go-com-US-print-id-1499836/)

Russia to Start Construction of Floating Nuclear Power Plant in 2006

Created: 13.01.2006 12:51 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:51 MSK, 19 hours 59 minutes ago

MosNews

The practical implementation of the floating nuclear power plant project will start in 2006, read an official statement of the Russian Federal Agency for Atomic Energy — Rosatom — that was published on Thursday, Jan. 12.

“In 2006, the Rosenergoatom (Russian state concern for the production of electric and heat energy at nuclear plants) will start the practical implementation of the project of a pioneer floating nuclear heating and power plant of small capacity (NHPP of SC) in Severodvinsk,” a Rosatom representative was quoted by the Itar-Tass agency.

“Before New Year’s Eve, a directorate of floating nuclear power plants under construction was set up in Rosenergoatom, which is the concern’s subsidiary and which will be overseeing the work to build the first NHPP,” Rosatom noted. The former deputy presidential representative in the Volga Federal District, Sergey Obozov, has been appointed director of this department and deputy director-general of the concern.

Rosatom stressed that the project of the pioneer NHPP of small capacity based on a floating generating set (FGS) with KLT-40S reactor blocks “has been completed and is ready for practical implementation”. The project will be implemented according to the federal targeted-development program called “Energy-efficient economy for 2002-2005 and in the long term up to 2010”. It is planned to station standard models of the plant at platforms at the Vilyuchinsk closed administrative-territorial entity in the Kamchatka region, as well as in the town of Pivek in the Chukotka Autonomous Area, Rosatom specified.

Rosatom explained that the plant’s life cycle, including its construction, use, major repairs of the floating generating set, its recycling and training of personnel, “will be fully ensured by the current infrastructure of the Russian nuclear industry”. The floating generating set will be built at a shipbuilding enterprise and will be commissioned fully ready for use. It will be serviced by way of shifts which will be changed every four months. Work needed to reload nuclear fuel and store spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste will be carried out on board the NHPP. The major repairs of the floating generating set will be carried out at a shipbuilding enterprise. Rosatom also specified that “the personnel will be trained at the navy training centre in Obninsk in the Kaluga region, where study rooms and a training machine have now been reserved”.

Rosatom noted that “the projects of reactor blocks for floating NPPs (FNPP) of 3 to 40 MW capacity for work in the conditions of the extreme north, Kamchatka and Far East have been developed” at the Afrikantova experimental design office of mechanical engineering in Nizhniy Novgorod. The cost of building a floating NPP with a capacity of 3 MW amounts to just $20 million. The service life of such a floating NPP is 50 years. Fuel is reloaded once every 10-12 years.

Rosatom noted that “the [degree of] enrichment of uranium in fuel for such floating NPPs is less than 20 percent, which meets the IAEA’s [International Atomic Energy Agency] requirements on non-proliferation and ensures the possibility of export use of such plants by Russia”.

Russia to Start Construction of Floating Nuclear Power Plant in 2006 (http://mosnews.com/money/2006/01/13/floatingnuclear.shtml)

National ID, State Nightmare

AP Exclusive: National Uniform Driver's License Law 'Nightmare' for States
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN
The Associated Press

- An anti-terrorism law creating a national standard for all driver's licenses by 2008 isn't upsetting just civil libertarians and immigration rights activists.

State motor vehicle officials nationwide who will have to carry out the Real ID Act say its authors grossly underestimated its logistical, technological and financial demands.

In a comprehensive survey obtained by The Associated Press and in follow-up interviews, officials cast doubt on the states' ability to comply with the law on time and fretted that it will be a budget buster.

"It is just flat out impossible and unrealistic to meet the prescriptive provisions of this law by 2008," Betty Serian, a deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, said in an interview.

Nebraska's motor vehicles director, responding to the survey by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, said that to comply with Real ID her state "may have to consider extreme measures and possibly a complete reorganization."

And a new record-sharing provision of Real ID was described by an Illinois official as "a nightmare for all states."

"Can we go home now??" the official wrote.

States use a hodgepodge of systems and standards in granting driver's licenses and identification cards. In some places, a high school yearbook may be enough to prove identity.

A major goal of Real ID which was motivated by the Sept. 11 attacks, whose perpetrators had legitimate driver's licenses is to unify the disparate licensing rules and make it harder to fraudulently obtain a card.

The law also demands that states link their record-keeping systems to national databases so duplicate applications can be detected, illegal immigrants caught and driving histories shared.

State licenses that fail to meet Real ID's standards will not be able to be used to board an airplane or enter a federal building.

The law, which was attached to a funding measure for the Iraq war last May, has been criticized by civil libertarians who contend it will create a de facto national ID card and new centralized databases, inhibiting privacy.

State organizations such as the National Governors Association have blasted the law as well. Many states will have to amend laws in order to comply.

Jeff Lungren, a spokesman for Real ID's principal backer, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said there is no chance states might win a delay of the 2008 deadline.

"We gave three years for this process," he said. "Every day that we continue to have security loopholes, we're at greater risk."

The August survey by the motor vehicle administrators' group, which has not been made public, asked licensing officials nationwide for detailed reports on what it will take to meet Real ID's demands.

It was not meant to produce an overall estimate of the cost of complying with Real ID. But detailed estimates produced by a few states indicate the price will blow past a February 2005 analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, which estimated Congress would need to spend $100 million reimbursing states.

Pennsylvania alone estimated a hit of up to $85 million. Washington state projected at least $46 million annually in the first several years.

Separately, a December report to Virginia's governor pegged the potential price tag for that state as high as $169 million, with $63 million annually in successive years. Of the initial cost, $33 million would be just to redesign computing systems.

It remains unclear how much funding will come from the federal government and how much the states will shoulder by raising fees on driver's licenses.

"If you begin to look at the full ramifications of this, we are talking about billions and billions of dollars. Congress simply passed an unfunded mandate," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty project at the American Civil Liberties Union. "Every motorist in America is going to pay the price of this, of the Congress' failure to do a serious exploration of the cost, the complexity, of the difficulty."

The survey respondents and officials interviewed by the AP noted that many concerns might be resolved as the Department of Homeland Security clarifies its expectations for the law such as whether existing licenses can be grandfathered in before it takes effect May 11, 2008.

As of now, however, it appears little has changed since the survey described a multitude of hurdles.

Some examples:

The law demands that states mine multiple databases to check the accuracy of documents submitted by license applicants. Several states questioned how that will work, especially with confirming birth certificates. Iowa said it didn't think the states would be able to make the required vital-records upgrades within three years.

Some states' ancient computing systems will have to be overhauled in order to link to other networks. Minnesota runs a 1980s-era mainframe system; Rhode Island says its "circa 1979" COBOL-based network will require a $20 million upgrade.

Many states don't make drivers prove they are legally in the country, but the law will now demand such documentation. It also calls for states to run license applications through a federal database known as SAVE that was launched by a 1986 law aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from receiving federal benefits. One problem, though, is that the "SAVE database is notoriously unreliable ... months behind," said South Carolina's response to the survey.

After drivers submit documents to prove their identities, states will have to retain paper copies of those documents for at least seven years or digital images for 10 years. Some states fretted about the storage costs; others worried about how to capture images of all those files. Alabama's survey response called the project "massive," saying that while the state had the proper equipment at six licensing centers, "we do not have the resources to equip all of our 79 offices." Added Massachusetts: "This equipment is very expensive!"

Real ID requires that a license show someone's principal residence. But state officials object that a mailing address makes more sense for many people for "snowbirds" who spend time in two states, for example or for public officials who want to protect their privacy. "What should the procedure be for a person who lives in a RV?" asks South Dakota's report.

The law calls for a person's "full legal name," no nickname or abbreviations, on licenses. Cards have to be redesigned and databases must be reprogrammed to make room for extremely long names, likely up to 125 characters. That's not an easy process. By itself it accounts for $4 million of North Dakota's $5.9 million estimated impact.

Motor-vehicle employees will be subject to background checks, but several officials said it was unclear what would disqualify someone from being able to process licenses. Maryland's response said waiting for security clearances "could cause staffing shortage."

Real ID demands that all driver's licenses or ID cards have pictures that can be read by facial-recognition technology. That would end many states' practice of letting people with certain religious beliefs request not to have a picture. Tennessee, meanwhile, allows anyone older than 60 to get a "valid without photo" license.

"If you take any one of these things individually, you see a significant problem," Steinhardt said. "There are literally hundreds of these problems embedded in Real ID, and the statute doesn't give you a way out. It's black and white. No exceptions, no reality check.

"In many respects it's a statute that ignores reality."

National ID, State Nightmare (http://www.worthynews.com/news/abcnews-go-com-US-print-id-1499836/)

CDC: Flu virus resistant to two common drugs
Government urges doctors not to prescribe rimantadine, amantadine

Updated: 7:48 p.m. ET Jan. 14, 2006

ATLANTA - The government, for the first time, is urging doctors not to prescribe two antiviral drugs commonly used to fight influenza because of concerns about drug resistance, officials announced Saturday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the recommendation covers the drugs rimantadine and amantadine for the 2006 flu season.

Results of recent lab tests on influenza samples showed that the predominant strain this season — the H3N2 influenza strain — was resistant to the drugs, the agency said.

“Clinicians should not use rimantadine and amantadine ... because the drugs will not be effective,” said CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding. The two drugs have been used for years to combat type-A influenza.

Gerberding said the lab data, which CDC scientists had been analyzing since Friday, surprised health officials and the health agency rushed to get the word out Saturday.

“I don’t think we were expecting it to be so dramatic so quickly this year,” Gerberding said. “We just didn’t feel it was responsible to wait three more days during a holiday weekend to let clinicians know.”

The CDC tested 120 influenza A virus samples from the H3N2 strain and found that 91 percent, or 109, were resistant to the two drugs. Two years ago, less than 2 percent of the samples were resistant. Last year, 11 percent were, the CDC said.

Mutation, overuse may have caused resistance
Gerberding said the agency was not sure how the resistance occurred, saying it may have been the result of a mutation in the H3N2 flu strain or could have come from overuse of the drugs abroad, such as in countries that permit them drugs to be purchased without a prescription.

One flu expert, Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University, said the development was “disconcerting” as flu now has joined the ranks of other diseases, such as tuberculosis and HIV, that recently have acquired the ability to resist front-line medications.

But Schaffner said doctors have other options to fight influenza.

One is the antiviral Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir. The CDC said that all H3 and H1 influenza viruses the agency has tested so far are susceptible to the other commonly used antivirals, including Tamiflu and zanamivir, also called Relenza.

“Tamiflu is now readily available everywhere — in most places, it is the primary antiviral being used” against flu, Schaffner said. “But we’re always a bit frustrated when one of the therapeutic agents is foreclosed. It makes every infectious disease doctor worry a little bit.”

Doctors also recommend an annual flu shot to help prevent getting influenza in the first place.

The CDC said it planned to alert doctors throughout the country via its emergency Health Alert Network and through a special edition of its weekly journal, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Each year, the flu kills about 36,000 people, and some 200,000 are hospitalized because of it in the United States, the CDC said. As of Dec. 31, the latest CDC data available, flu activity was only considered widespread in seven U.S. states, mainly in the Southwest and West: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California.

CDC: Flu virus resistant to two common drugs (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10851668/from/RSS/)

U.S. Faults Saudi Efforts on Terrorism
# The kingdom has gotten tough within its borders, but militants are pouring into Iraq, and money is still flowing to Al Qaeda, officials say.

By Josh Meyer, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Although Saudi Arabia has cracked down on militants within its borders, the kingdom has not met its promises to help prevent the spread of terrorism or curb the flow of money from Saudis to terrorist cells around the world, U.S. intelligence, diplomatic and other officials say.

As a result, these critics say, countless young terrorism suspects are believed to have escaped the kingdom's tightening noose by fleeing across what critics call a porous border into Iraq.

ADVERTISEMENT
U.S. military officials confirm an aggressive role by Saudi fighters in the insurgency in Iraq, where over the last year they reportedly accounted for more than half of all Arab militants killed.

And millions of dollars continue to flow from wealthy Saudis through Saudi-based Islamic charitable and relief organizations to Al Qaeda and other suspected terrorist groups abroad, aided by what the U.S. officials call Riyadh's failure to set up a government commission to police such groups as promised, senior U.S. officials from several counter-terrorism agencies said in interviews.

Those officials said Saudi Arabia had taken some positive steps within its borders. But they criticized the Saudis for not taking a more active role in the global fight.

Daniel L. Glaser, the deputy assistant Treasury secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, recalled attending a counter-terrorism conference in Riyadh last February at which the Saudis declared they would be an international leader in fighting Al Qaeda and in eradicating terrorism worldwide.

Nearly a year later, Glaser and other U.S. officials said, those promises are unfulfilled.

"They promised to do it, and they need to live up to their promises," Glaser said. "They need to crack down operationally on donors in Saudi Arabia. And they need to exert their influence over their international charities abroad…. They have to care not just what Al Qaeda is doing just within their own borders but wherever it is operating."

In response, a senior Saudi official vehemently insisted that the kingdom had taken strong steps to fight the terrorist network — not only at home but worldwide.

In a series of interviews last week, the official said the government was working closely with regional partners and the United States on operational and intelligence-gathering fronts.

The Saudi official spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he did not want to disturb the ongoing and "extremely sensitive" discussions with Washington on various counter-terrorism issues.

The official objected to U.S. criticism that Saudi fighters played an important role in the Iraq insurgency, and said Riyadh had done a good job of sealing off the border between the two countries. Saudis seeking to enter Iraq have to do so through other countries, he said.

By contrast, the Saudi official said, U.S. forces in Iraq have done little to patrol that country's borders with Saudi Arabia, and foreign fighters are entering Iraq through Syria and Iran.

"We have captured thousands of people coming into Saudi Arabia from Iraq, including drug dealers and people trying to smuggle explosives," the official said. "And for somebody to have the audacity to say the Saudis are not doing enough is unreasonable…. Which side is not doing enough? The side that has beefed up its border or the side that has not?"

The official acknowledged that Saudi Arabia had yet to fulfill its 2004 pledge of establishing a charity oversight commission but said the government controlled all Saudi money going to charities and relief organizations overseas.

Saudi Arabia has been under intense pressure from its longtime allies in Washington since the Sept. 11 attacks, when it became clear that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. But critics say that the oil-rich Persian Gulf kingdom, long considered a nexus of Al Qaeda activities, did not begin seriously cracking down on terrorists until its own capital was rattled by a series of deadly suicide bombings in 2003.

Since then, the kingdom has killed or captured dozens of senior terrorism operatives.

The senior U.S. counter-terrorism and intelligence officials from several agencies praised Saudi Arabia for working closely with the FBI and CIA on operations within the kingdom.

But they said the Saudi effort had focused almost entirely on crackdowns on small operational cells of Al Qaeda militants at home. In interviews and recent congressional testimony, they said they had urged Saudi Arabia repeatedly, without success, to take a much more active role in the broader effort.

Some of the Saudis now in Iraq have been trained in explosives and guerrilla warfare by Al Qaeda cells in their homeland, while others are gaining the experience in Iraq and using it in attacks on U.S. troops and other Westerners, the officials said.

U.S. Faults Saudi Efforts on Terrorism (http://U.S. Faults Saudi Efforts on Terrorism
# The kingdom has gotten tough within its borders, but militants are pouring into Iraq, and money is still flowing to Al Qaeda, officials say.

By Josh Meyer, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Although Saudi Arabia has cracked down on militants within its borders, the kingdom has not met its promises to help prevent the spread of terrorism or curb the flow of money from Saudis to terrorist cells around the world, U.S. intelligence, diplomatic and other officials say.

As a result, these critics say, countless young terrorism suspects are believed to have escaped the kingdom's tightening noose by fleeing across what critics call a porous border into Iraq.

U.S. military officials confirm an aggressive role by Saudi fighters in the insurgency in Iraq, where over the last year they reportedly accounted for more than half of all Arab militants killed.

And millions of dollars continue to flow from wealthy Saudis through Saudi-based Islamic charitable and relief organizations to Al Qaeda and other suspected terrorist groups abroad, aided by what the U.S. officials call Riyadh's failure to set up a government commission to police such groups as promised, senior U.S. officials from several counter-terrorism agencies said in interviews.

Those officials said Saudi Arabia had taken some positive steps within its borders. But they criticized the Saudis for not taking a more active role in the global fight.

Daniel L. Glaser, the deputy assistant Treasury secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, recalled attending a counter-terrorism conference in Riyadh last February at which the Saudis declared they would be an international leader in fighting Al Qaeda and in eradicating terrorism worldwide.

Nearly a year later, Glaser and other U.S. officials said, those promises are unfulfilled.

"They promised to do it, and they need to live up to their promises," Glaser said. "They need to crack down operationally on donors in Saudi Arabia. And they need to exert their influence over their international charities abroad…. They have to care not just what Al Qaeda is doing just within their own borders but wherever it is operating."

In response, a senior Saudi official vehemently insisted that the kingdom had taken strong steps to fight the terrorist network — not only at home but worldwide.

In a series of interviews last week, the official said the government was working closely with regional partners and the United States on operational and intelligence-gathering fronts.

The Saudi official spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he did not want to disturb the ongoing and "extremely sensitive" discussions with Washington on various counter-terrorism issues.

The official objected to U.S. criticism that Saudi fighters played an important role in the Iraq insurgency, and said Riyadh had done a good job of sealing off the border between the two countries. Saudis seeking to enter Iraq have to do so through other countries, he said.

By contrast, the Saudi official said, U.S. forces in Iraq have done little to patrol that country's borders with Saudi Arabia, and foreign fighters are entering Iraq through Syria and Iran.

"We have captured thousands of people coming into Saudi Arabia from Iraq, including drug dealers and people trying to smuggle explosives," the official said. "And for somebody to have the audacity to say the Saudis are not doing enough is unreasonable…. Which side is not doing enough? The side that has beefed up its border or the side that has not?"

The official acknowledged that Saudi Arabia had yet to fulfill its 2004 pledge of establishing a charity oversight commission but said the government controlled all Saudi money going to charities and relief organizations overseas.

Saudi Arabia has been under intense pressure from its longtime allies in Washington since the Sept. 11 attacks, when it became clear that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. But critics say that the oil-rich Persian Gulf kingdom, long considered a nexus of Al Qaeda activities, did not begin seriously cracking down on terrorists until its own capital was rattled by a series of deadly suicide bombings in 2003.

<SNIP> to finish reading this item, click on the link
[url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-saudi15jan15,0,6282573.story?coll=la-home-headlines)

'Divine mission' driving Iran's new leader
By Anton La Guardia
(Filed: 14/01/2006)

As Iran rushes towards confrontation with the world over its nuclear programme, the question uppermost in the mind of western leaders is "What is moving its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to such recklessness?"

Political analysts point to the fact that Iran feels strong because of high oil prices, while America has been weakened by the insurgency in Iraq.

But listen carefully to the utterances of Mr Ahmadinejad - recently described by President George W Bush as an "odd man" - and there is another dimension, a religious messianism that, some suspect, is giving the Iranian leader a dangerous sense of divine mission.

In November, the country was startled by a video showing Mr Ahmadinejad telling a cleric that he had felt the hand of God entrancing world leaders as he delivered a speech to the UN General Assembly last September.

When an aircraft crashed in Teheran last month, killing 108 people, Mr Ahmadinejad promised an investigation. But he also thanked the dead, saying: "What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow."

The most remarkable aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's piety is his devotion to the Hidden Imam, the Messiah-like figure of Shia Islam, and the president's belief that his government must prepare the country for his return.

One of the first acts of Mr Ahmadinejad's government was to donate about £10 million to the Jamkaran mosque, a popular pilgrimage site where the pious come to drop messages to the Hidden Imam into a holy well.

All streams of Islam believe in a divine saviour, known as the Mahdi, who will appear at the End of Days. A common rumour - denied by the government but widely believed - is that Mr Ahmadinejad and his cabinet have signed a "contract" pledging themselves to work for the return of the Mahdi and sent it to Jamkaran.

Iran's dominant "Twelver" sect believes this will be Mohammed ibn Hasan, regarded as the 12th Imam, or righteous descendant of the Prophet Mohammad.

He is said to have gone into "occlusion" in the ninth century, at the age of five. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.

This is similar to the Christian vision of the Apocalypse. Indeed, the Hidden Imam is expected to return in the company of Jesus.

Mr Ahmadinejad appears to believe that these events are close at hand and that ordinary mortals can influence the divine timetable.

The prospect of such a man obtaining nuclear weapons is worrying. The unspoken question is this: is Mr Ahmadinejad now tempting a clash with the West because he feels safe in the belief of the imminent return of the Hidden Imam? Worse, might he be trying to provoke chaos in the hope of hastening his reappearance?

The 49-year-old Mr Ahmadinejad, a former top engineering student, member of the Revolutionary Guards and mayor of Teheran, overturned Iranian politics after unexpectedly winning last June's presidential elections.

The main rift is no longer between "reformists" and "hardliners", but between the clerical establishment and Mr Ahmadinejad's brand of revolutionary populism and superstition.

Its most remarkable manifestation came with Mr Ahmadinejad's international debut, his speech to the United Nations.

World leaders had expected a conciliatory proposal to defuse the nuclear crisis after Teheran had restarted another part of its nuclear programme in August.

Instead, they heard the president speak in apocalyptic terms of Iran struggling against an evil West that sought to promote "state terrorism", impose "the logic of the dark ages" and divide the world into "light and dark countries".

The speech ended with the messianic appeal to God to "hasten the emergence of your last repository, the Promised One, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace".

In a video distributed by an Iranian web site in November, Mr Ahmadinejad described how one of his Iranian colleagues had claimed to have seen a glow of light around the president as he began his speech to the UN.

"I felt it myself too," Mr Ahmadinejad recounts. "I felt that all of a sudden the atmosphere changed there. And for 27-28 minutes all the leaders did not blink…It's not an exaggeration, because I was looking.

"They were astonished, as if a hand held them there and made them sit. It had opened their eyes and ears for the message of the Islamic Republic."

Western officials said the real reason for any open-eyed stares from delegates was that "they couldn't believe what they were hearing from Ahmadinejad".

Their sneaking suspicion is that Iran's president actually relishes a clash with the West in the conviction that it would rekindle the spirit of the Islamic revolution and - who knows - speed up the arrival of the Hidden Imam.

'Divine mission' driving Iran's new leader (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/14/wiran14.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/14/ixworld.html)

West is in dark ages, says Iran's President

Leader threatens retaliation if the US and EU continue to try to block nuclear programme

Robert Tait in Tehran
Sunday January 15, 2006
The Observer

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hardline President of Iran, launched an angry tirade against the West yesterday, accusing it of a 'dark ages' mentality and threatening retaliation unless it recognised his country's nuclear ambitions.

In a blistering assault, Ahmadinejad repeated the Islamic regime's position that it would press ahead with a nuclear programme despite threats by the European Union and United States to refer Iran to the UN Security Council, where it could face possible sanctions. He added that Iran was a 'civilised nation' that did not need such weapons. Iran insists its nuclear programme is a wholly peaceful attempt to generate electricity.

Addressing a rare press conference in Tehran, he appeared to issue thinly veiled threats against Western countries, implying that they could face serious consequences unless they backed down. 'You need us more than we need you. All of you today need the Iranian nation,' Ahmadinejad said. 'Why are you putting on airs? You don't have that might.'

Reminding the West that it had supported the monarchical regime of the former Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi - overthrown in the 1979 Islamic revolution - he went on: 'Those same powers have done their utmost to oppress us, but this nation, because of its dignity, has forgiven them to a large extent. But if they persist with their present stance, maybe the day will come when the Iranian nation will reconsider.' He added: 'If they want to deny us our rights, we have ways to secure those rights.'

Ahmadinejad, an ultra-Islamist populist elected last June, did not elaborate on his apparent threat. But Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil producer and analysts have predicted that any disruption to its supplies could have a grave impact on global markets.

The Iranian President's outburst - the latest in a series asserting Iran's nuclear rights and questioning Israel's right to exist - came after the EU last week effectively abandoned two-and-a-half years of negotiations with the Iranians. The move came after Iran decided to remove UN seals at a nuclear plant in Natanz, enabling it to resume research into uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to produce a nuclear weapon.

The EU, backed by the United States, is calling for an emergency meeting of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to discuss Iran's possible referral to the security council. The next phase of the intensifying diplomatic pressure on Iran takes place in London tomorrow when officials from the EU, US, Russia and China gather to discuss future strategy.

Ahmadinejad accused the West of misusing bodies such as the UN and IAEA. 'Why are you damaging the good name of the security council and IAEA for you own political purposes?' he asked. 'Don't take away the credibility of legitimate forums. Your arsenals are full to the brim, yet when it's the turn of a nation such as mine to develop peaceful nuclear technology you object and resort to threats.'

In an apparent effort to cast the nuclear issue as one that could unite all Iranians and appeal to nationalist sentiment, Ahmadinejad spoke against the backdrop of a picture of the Damavand volcano, widely seen as a patriotic, non-religious symbol. But he did not withdraw his remarks, warning that Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who on Friday condemned his comments as 'unacceptable', would be tried as 'terrorists' and 'war criminals' due to their support of Israel.

German Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler yesterday called for travel restrictions on Iran's politicians. He told German radio that economic sanctions would be 'a very dangerous path' and could hurt both sides. Germany is the biggest exporter to Iran.

West is in dark ages, says Iran's President (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,16937,1686652,00.html)

Iran's Rogue Rage
Nukes: Iranians want nuclear know-how—and seem to be daring the West to stop them.

By Christopher Dickey, Maziar Bahari and Babak Dehghanpisheh
Newsweek

Jan. 23, 2006 issue - On the ski slopes of Dizin in north Tehran, boys and girls mingle freely, listening to Madonna, Shakira and Persian pop diva Googoosh. Headscarves are reduced to hair bands, and Mahsid Sajadi, a 25-year-old graphic designer, is sporting a Star-Spangled Banner bandanna her cousin sent her from Orange County, Calif. Sajadi, modern and cosmopolitan, has almost no opinions in common with Iran's rabble-rousing ultraconservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—except when it comes to nukes. "We have a right to have nuclear technology," says Sajadi. "We are a nation with an ancient civilization and rich culture. I think it's really hypocritical of Mr. Bush to criticize Iran for having nuclear technology while Pakistan, India and Israel have nuclear bombs."

Atomic research, atomic power, even the atomic weapons the Iranian government officially says it doesn't want are issues of ferocious nationalistic pride throughout the country, and Ahmadinejad knows it. Last week he provoked an international crisis by removing the seals from nuclear-processing equipment, ending a voluntary moratorium on research. After a firestorm of outrage from the United States and Europe, with vows to isolate Iran and haul the regime before the United Nations Security Council, Ahmadinejad gave a rare press conference. He was relaxed, folksy, cracking jokes. "If they want to destroy the Iranian nation's rights by that course," he said, "they will not succeed."

He could be right. The complex, contradictory game of secrecy and revelation, cooperation and provocation that the mullahs have played since some of their hidden nuclear facilities were discovered in 2002 has revealed just how little leverage Washington and its allies really have. But the Bush administration and European officials clearly hope they can appeal to Iran's supposedly restive masses to somehow oppose the regime. "The Iranian people, frankly, deserve better," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week. She took pains to say efforts to isolate the government would try not to isolate the people. But a senior European diplomat involved with Iranian negotiations, who asked not to be quoted by name because of their sensitivity, pointed out the basic problem with that strategy: "There are millions of people in Iran who want to move ahead with democracy, but unfortunately we have not been able to help them—and at the same time the nuclear issue unifies the country."

To finish reading the story, at new week click me (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10858242/site/newsweek/)

Senators say military strike on Iran must be option

By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent Sun Jan 15, 6:26 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic senators said on Sunday the United States may ultimately have to undertake a military strike to deter Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but that should be the last resort.

"That is the last option. Everything else has to be exhausted. But to say under no circumstances would we exercise a military option, that would be crazy," Republican Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) of Arizona said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh (news, bio, voting record) of Indiana, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said there are sensitive elements of Iran's nuclear program, which, if attacked, "would dramatically delay its development."

"But that should not be an option at this point. We ought to use everything else possible keep from getting to that juncture," he said on CNN's "Late Edition."

A growing nuclear fracas exploded last week when Iran, defying the United States and major European powers, resumed nuclear research after a two-year moratorium.

Iran says it aims only to make power for an energy-needy economy, not build atom bombs. But it hid nuclear work from the UN nuclear watchdog agency for almost 20 years before exiled dissidents exposed it in 2002.

On Sunday, Iran said that only diplomacy, not threats to refer it to the UN Security Council, could defuse a standoff over its nuclear work and warned that any Western push for sanctions could jack up world oil prices.

The Security Council's five permanent members and Germany planned talks in London on Monday on a common strategy to tackle the controversy.

McCain called the nuclear standoff "the most grave situation that we have faced since the end of the Cold War, absent the whole war on terror."

"We must go to the UN now for sanctions. If the Russians and the Chinese, for reasons that would be abominable, do not join us then we will have to go with the (states that are) willing," he said.

While acknowledging that President George W. Bush has "no good option," McCain said "there is only one thing worse than the United States exercising a military option, that is a nuclear-armed Iran."

"If the price of oil has to go up then that's a consequence we would have to suffer," he said.

Iran is the world's fourth biggest exporter of crude oil and the second biggest in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Experts and officials say it may be impossible to destroy Iran's nuclear program because much of it is underground and dispersed at numerous sites.

In addition, they have said an attack on Iran could further inflame anti-Americanism in the Middle East and prompt Tehran to interfere more in
Iraq and encourage Islamist fundamentalist groups to launch new attacks on the West.

Another Senate Intelligence Committee member, Republican Trent Lott of Mississippi, said that despite a massive military commitment in Iraq the United States has the capability to strike Iran but it would be difficult and other options must be tried first.

Bayh accused Bush of undermining the U.S. national interest and creating what he called a dilemma by ignoring the problem of Iran for four years.

Senators say military strike on Iran must be option (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060115/ts_nm/nuclear_iran_usa_dc_4;_ylt=AmG7zNmHylHe6S6_0BPhIXVSw60A;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl)

New York, 91,700 abortions in city

BY PAUL H.B. SHIN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

For every 100 babies born in New York City, women had 74 abortions in 2004, according to newly released figures that reaffirm the city as the abortion capital of the country.

And abortions for out-of-town women performed in the city increased from 57 to 70 out of every 1,000 between 1996 and 2004, a subtle yet noticeable trend that experts say may reflect growing hurdles against the procedure in more conservative parts of the country.

The new Vital Statistics report released by the city Department of Health this month shows there were 124,100 live births, 11,700 spontaneous abortions and 91,700 induced abortions in the city in 2004.

That means 40 out of 100 pregnancies in the city ended in a planned abortion - almost double the national average of 24 of 100 pregnancies in 2002, estimated by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a Manhattan-based nonprofit group that researches reproductive health issues.

The city's role as a haven for women seeking to end pregnancies may become more pronounced as other states continue to adopt more legal restrictions against abortions - such as laws requiring mandatory waiting periods (25 states), parental consent or notification for minors (35 states) and two visits before an abortion (six states).

"If clinics are hard to get to, or the services are just unavailable, people are going to travel to get what in my mind is a critical public health service," said Joan Malin, president of Planned Parenthood of New York City.

The organization's Margaret Sanger Center in Manhattan is the largest abortion provider in New York, with 11,000 abortions performed a year.

Out-of-towners make up less than 2% of those receiving abortions at the center, but the number has gone up more than 20% in the last year, Malin said.

But abortion opponents called the city's high rate of procedures a "tragic" result of "marketing the culture of death."

"New York City has fashioned itself as being the philosophical center of 'abortion on demand,' and it has a thriving industry to show for it," said Christina Fadden Fitch, legislative director of the New York State Right to Life Committee.

The influx into the city of women seeking abortions could become a deluge - as it was in the early 1970s - if the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortions nationwide is repealed.

"If Roe vs. Wade were overturned and some states outlawed abortions, it's certainly possible we might begin to see more of the interstate travel we saw before," said Lawrence Finer, director for domestic research at the Guttmacher Institute.

That is what abortion-rights advocates feel may happen if Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is appointed to the bench.

At his Senate confirmation hearings this week, Alito refused to describe Roe vs. Wade as a settled precedent. Under grilling from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), he also refused to distance himself from his 1985 opinion stating that women do not have a constitutional right to an abortion.

"The evidence is clear that Judge Alito opposes the constitutional right for a woman to choose an abortion, and were he to be confirmed, I would really be concerned about the future of Roe [vs. Wade] and the future of access, particularly for poor women," Malin said.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, an abortion-rights advocacy group, estimates that if Roe vs. Wade were overturned, abortions would likely be banned in 21 states, with the procedure at "medium risk" of being prohibited in another nine states.

Originally published on January 15, 2006

New York, 91,700 abortions in city (http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/382990p-325078c.html)

Diplomacy and force IAEA Bombshell

Sun. 15 Jan 2006
Newsweek

Interview: The United Nations' top inspector is prepared to issue a report on Iran's nuclear program that will 'reverberate around the world.'

Jan. 23, 2006 issue - The man in the middle of the escalating tensions between Iran, Europe and the United States is Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency. ElBaradei and the IAEA, recipients of last year's Nobel Peace Prize, are charged with verifying Iran's compliance—or lack thereof—with international safeguards against nuclear-weapons proliferation. In his first interview since Iran broke the seals on nuclear research equipment last week, ElBaradei spoke bluntly at his Vienna headquarters with NEWSWEEK's Christopher Dickey about his frustrations with Tehran, and his ideas on how to avoid further escalation.

DICKEY: You've said you're running out of patience with Iran. What does that mean?

ELBARADEI: For the last three years we have been doing intensive verification in Iran, and even after three years I am not yet in a position to make a judgment on the peaceful nature of the [nuclear] program. We still need to assure ourselves through access to documents, individuals [and] locations that we have seen all that we ought to see and that there is nothing fishy, if you like, about the program.

At one site called Lavizan, facilities were bulldozed by Iran before you could look at them, and you weren't allowed to run tests in the area.

We clearly need to take environmental samplings from some of the equipment that used to be in Lavizan. We need to interview some of the people who have been engaged in Lavizan. We have [also] gotten some information about some modification of their missiles that could have some relationship to the nuclear program. So, we need to clarify all these things. It is very specific. They know what we want to do, and they just have to go and do it. I'm making it very clear right now that I cannot extend the deadline, which is... March 6.

With all due respect, the Iranians don't seem to care what you think.

Well, they might not seem to care. But if I say that I am not able to confirm the peaceful nature of that program after three years of intensive work, well, that's a conclusion that's going to reverberate, I think, around the world.

Do you have any indication that there is some other completely separate Iranian nuclear-weapons program?

No, we don't. But I won't exclude that possibility.

<SNIP>

To read the rest, click on the link below.

Diplomacy and force IAEA Bombshell (http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=5319)

Insurers told to provide Medicare drugs: report
Mon Jan 16, 2006 12:22 AM ET10

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration has told health insurers under contract to the new Medicare drug plan that they must provide a 30-day supply of any drug a beneficiary was previously taking after tens of thousands of people were unable to get medicines promised by Medicare, the New York Times reported on Monday.

In a directive sent to all Medicare drug plans over the weekend, the Bush administration also said insurers "must take immediate steps" to ensure that low-income beneficiaries were not charged more than $2 for a generic drug and $5 for a brand-name drug, according to the Times.

The actions came after several states declared public health emergencies, and many states announced that they would step in to pay for prescriptions that should have been covered by Medicare's new prescription drug program, which started on January 1, the Times said.

People who had signed up for coverage found that they were not on the government's list of subscribers and insurers said they had no way to identify poor people entitled to extra help with their drug costs, the paper reported.

Dr. Mark McClellan, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told the Times that "several hundred thousand beneficiaries who switched plans" in December may have had difficulty filling prescriptions in the last two weeks.

Despite these problems, Medicare is now covering one million prescriptions a day, McClellan said. With the latest corrective actions, "all beneficiaries should be able to get their prescriptions filled," McClellan told the paper.

About 20 states, including California, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and all of New England, have announced that they will help low-income people by paying drug claims that should have been paid by the federal Medicare program, the Times said.

"The new federal program is too complicated for many people to understand, and the implementation of the new program by the federal government has been awful," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican. On Saturday, he signed an emergency executive order making the state a "payer of last resort" for the out-of-pocket drug costs, the Times reported.

Any of the 42 million Medicare beneficiaries can sign up for the new drug coverage. Federal officials say that a surge in enrollments occurred in late December. About 6.2 million low-income people who had drug coverage under Medicaid were automatically enrolled in Medicare drug plans, and some of them have switched to other Medicare plans, the Times said.

Insurers told to provide Medicare drugs: report (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-01-16T052202Z_01_N15206764_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDICARE.xml)

My note; I know I am paying $1 for a generic drug, and $3 for a brand-name drug.

Security Council powers meet on Iran
Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:45 AM ET9

By Mark Heinrich and Madeline Chambers

LONDON (Reuters) - The United States and European Union were seeking Russian and Chinese support for robust diplomatic steps to curb Iran's nuclear program in talks among U.N. Security Council powers that began on Monday.

Iran's resumption of research that could advance a quest for civilian atomic energy or bombs has sparked a flurry of Western diplomacy in pursuit of a vote by the U.N. nuclear watchdog to refer Tehran to the Council for possible sanctions.

Moscow, with a $1 billion stake building Iran's first atomic reactor, and Beijing, reliant on Iranian oil for its surging economy, have so far thwarted such a move by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors.

But Russia has warned Iran it could lose Moscow's support unless it suspended the fuel research it resumed last week.

China, however, said resorting to the Security Council might "complicate the issue", citing Iran's threat to hit back by halting snap U.N. inspections of its atomic plants.

Russia and China are veto-wielding permanent members of the Council, along with the United States, Britain and France.

Diplomats said the London meeting of permanent Council members and Germany was aimed at reaching a consensus before an emergency IAEA board meeting the West wants next month.

"There's some confidence that Russia is increasingly leaning toward the EU3-U.S. position and will not block referral," said a diplomat with the EU trio of Germany, France and Britain that last week called off a moribund dialogue with Iran.

But he said China looked more difficult to win over.

"The crucial thing for us now is to gauge where Russia and China are on this matter," said another EU3 diplomat.

"It is a very fluid situation. Sanctions may be addressed briefly or in depth; it's hard to say at this stage."

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw suggested Iran could rethink its course merely by being put in Security Council hands and that sanctions -- unpalatable to many industrialized states that import Iranian oil and gas -- might not prove necessary.

"The fact that Iran is so concerned not to see the matter referred ... I think underlines the strength of the authority of that body," Straw said at a London conference on terrorism.

WEST SEEKS EMERGENCY IAEA MEETING

If the Western powers find Russia and China ready to back referral, Monday's talks could yield a date for an IAEA board meeting well ahead of its next scheduled session on March 6.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Robert Joseph, who oversees arms-control issues, was in Vienna for talks with IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei and other diplomats, a U.S. spokesman said.

Iran says it seeks atomic energy only to power its economy -- the IAEA has unearthed no proof to the contrary -- within its rights as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

But Iran's concealment of nuclear activities for almost 20 years until it was exposed by dissident exiles in 2002, a spotty record of cooperation with the IAEA since, and calls for wiping out Israel have fired Western resolve to rein it in.

ElBaradei told Newsweek magazine that it was not impossible the Islamic republic had a secret nuclear arms program.

"If they have the nuclear material and they have a parallel weaponization program along the way, they are really not very far -- a few months -- from a weapon," he said.

"We still need to assure ourselves through access to documents, individuals (and) locations that we have seen all that we ought to see and that there is nothing fishy, if you like, about the program," ElBaradei added.

Western officials say Iran crossed the "red line" last week by stripping IAEA seals from equipment that purifies uranium, used for nuclear fuel, or if highly enriched, for bombs.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington wanted the IAEA board to meet soon rather than wait until March, to deny Iran time to "obfuscate" further on the nuclear issue.

"There is some work to do because you would like there to be a strong consensus for a vote," she said during an Africa trip.

But OPEC giant Iran noted that any crackdown could drive up world oil prices, which would batter industrialized economies.

Iran is the world's fourth largest exporter of crude oil.

Tehran also said only diplomacy, not threats of Security Council referral, could defuse its standoff with the West.

Many Iranians favor acquiring a full nuclear fuel industry to be taken seriously as a Middle East power and deter what they see as threats of U.S. and Israeli attack. Washington calls Iran a major orchestrator of terrorism, something Tehran denies.

Security Council powers meet on Iran (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=fundLaunches&storyID=2006-01-16T134424Z_01_FOR172289_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN.xml)

The Times January 16, 2006

Scientists journey towards centre of the Earth to seek out origins of life
From Leo Lewis in Kochi Shinko
THE world’s most technologically advanced exploration ship sails today on a mission that may reveal the origin of life on Earth.

The Japanese ship Chikyu intends to drill seven kilometres (4.3 miles) below the sea bed — more than three times deeper than has been done before. It will then raise to the surface a cylinder 1.5m (5ft) long and 15cm wide which could contain science’s first glimpse of a “living” sample of the Earth’s mantle.

“The 20th century was all about the origin of matter and the universe, so it seemed useful to go to space and the Moon,” the project’s director general, Asahiko Taira, told The Times. “There were extraordinary advances and we learnt about atoms and the Big Bang. The 21st century is about the fundamental question of where life comes from.”

The ship will also be conducting research into the origin of earthquakes. By sinking sensors beneath the Earth’s crust scientists aboard the Chikyu want to provide Japan and East Asia with the first effective earthquake prediction system.

The theory behind the life sciences side of the research is that life may have originated beneath the Earth’s crust at temperatures and pressures unknown on land or sea. The energy that provoked the first semblance of life may also have been geothermal rather than solar.

Samples of mantle that have been pushed to the Earth’s surface over thousands of years have been studied by scientists but nobody has ever seen a “living” slice or had the opportunity to see whatever micro-organisms may be living there.

“This planet is home and we know so little about what is going on just a relatively little distance below our feet. If the secret of life exists to be seen, it is in the deep somewhere,” Dr Taira said.

After completing the training missions that begin today, the ship, which cost about £350 million to build and will cost another £50 million for every year it is drilling, will head to the Nankai Trough, 200 kilometres off the coast of Nagoya, where the sea-bed is 2.5 kilometres below the surface.

The mission of discovery is not restricted to biology. Physical samples of the mantle are also expected to deliver a rich trove of seismological, volcanic, geological, environmental and climatological information. The reason the Japanese project offers the prospect of such important scientific discoveries is not depth alone.

The now-abandoned Russian Kola Well bored nearly 12 kilometres into the Earth, but contributed virtually nothing to science because its entire depth was all in the crust. The Japanese project will be the first to reach the entirely unsurveyed environment of the mantle — the next layer of depth within the Earth — and will do so by exploiting that the Japanese archipelago lies near to a site where main tectonic plates overlap, making it an area where the Earth’s crust is thinner.

By boring beneath the seabed the scientists will take advantage that the Mohorovicic Discontinuity (the point where the crust officially becomes the mantle) is nearer than it is on land.

Although the international project has the financial and scientific involvement of the US, South Korea, several European countries and China, it is led by the Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology and is heavily funded by the Japanese taxpayer. The cost can be justified because of what the Chikyu may find about the origins of earthquakes.

By drilling to record-breaking depths below areas where tectonic plates overlap, the ship may have its sensors in place as an earthquake begins and significantly advance the science of seismology.

Other areas of research include using deep rock samples to construct a better picture of Earth’s environmental history, particularly in the areas under ice caps, which may offer clues to the baffling question of why the polarity of the planet’s magnetic field has repeatedly switched.

The project’s chief engineer, Kiyotaka Yamamoto, said: “We will be drilling at possible temperatures of 200C (392F), pressures at which we make industrial diamonds and through rock that even the oil industry has never scratched. Of course there will be failures before we get down there, but this is Japan’s Apollo mission.”

A DRILL TOO FAR
# In 1957 the American scientist Walter Munk proposed drilling through to the Earth’s mantle to find out more about the Earth’s origins

# Drilling began in March 1961 off the coast of Guadalupe in Mexico, using a former oil drillship. Five holes were drilled in the sea bed 3,500m below sea level, the deepest reaching 183m into the crust

# The second phase of the project, which would have continued drilling towards the mantle, was abandoned by Congress as too expensive

Scientists journey towards centre of the Earth (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-1987747,00.html)

India upset by Iranian nuclear official's comments

19 minutes ago

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India expressed "regret" over comments made by Iran's top nuclear negotiator that New Delhi received preferential international treatment on nuclear proliferation issues.

"We have seen comments made by Ali Larijani regarding India in a recent interview. We regret this reference to India," said a statement released by the Indian foreign ministry on Monday.

"India is a responsible nuclear weapon state and has always been in compliance with its obligations under international treaties and agreements."

On January 12, CNN aired an interview with Larijani, in which the official asserted Iran's right to pursue peaceful nuclear activities and noted that the country submits to international inspections while several nations that already possess nuclear weapons do not.

"Countries that produce nuclear weapons are neither members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nor signatories to the (nuclear) Non-Proliferation Treaty," Larijani said, according to a report published on the web site of the English-language Tehran Times newspaper.

"Iran is an IAEA member and an NPT signatory and its nuclear activities are constantly monitored."

According to Indian foreign ministry notes, Larijani made a specific reference to India at the end of the interview.

"Americans say (to Iran) 'we doubt and we suspect your intentions, you may in future develop nuclear weapons,' while IAEA reports say that Iran is 10 years away from being capable of developing weapons," Larijani reportedly said.

"But compare that to India, it does have nuclear weapons but they have extensive relations in the nuclear field. This dual standard is detrimental to international security."

India entered into an unprecedented agreement last year with the United States that would give it access to advanced civilian nuclear technology.

Critics of the deal, noting that India tested atomic weapons in 1998 and has refused to sign the NPT, say the deal will send the wrong message on nonproliferation to other nations.

In the wake of the agreement, India has appeared to fall in line with western efforts to restrict Iran's nuclear program.

In September, India voted in favour of a resolution at the IAEA drafted by Britain, Germany and France, sometimes called the EU-3, to refer Iran's nuclear program to the United Nations Security Council.

India's vote in favour of the motion raised fears domestically that Iran would retaliate by cooling ties that have become closer in the last 10 years.

Iran and India signed a strategic partnership deal in 2003 and are cooperating, along with Pakistan, on a multi-billion dollar natural gas pipeline from Iran. The two countries also have an agreement under which Iran would ship five million tons of LNG a year to India starting in 2009.

The Indian response to Larijani's remarks came as the EU-3, the United States, Russia and China met in London to discuss future action on Iran's nuclear program.

Britain, France and Germany joined the United States in calling for the IAEA to refer Iran to the Security Council -- a move that could potentially lead to sanctions.

India upset by Iranian nuclear official's comments (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060117/wl_sthasia_afp/indiairannuclearweaponsiaea_060117053414;_ylt=ApdMvYKW_HWKLb48al39rwIUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--)

Ford hospitalized with pneumonia
Former president being treated with intravenous antibiotics

Tuesday, January 17, 2006; Posted: 5:33 a.m. EST (10:33 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Former President Ford is being treated for pneumonia, two days after being admitted to a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, his office said Monday.

"He is doing well and resting comfortably," said Penny Circle, Ford's chief of staff.

The 92-year-old former president was admitted to Eisenhower Medical Center on Saturday and has been receiving intravenous antibiotics, Circle said.

Ford was hospitalized briefly in December for unspecified tests, but his spokeswoman said at the time that the former president was in good health for his age.

He also was hospitalized in 2003 after suffering a dizzy spell while playing golf in 96-degree heat. He also suffered a mild stroke during the 2000 Republican National Convention.

Ford became the 38th president of the United States in August 1974, when the Watergate scandal forced Richard Nixon to resign.

Ford had become vice president in October 1973 when Nixon's original vice president, Spiro Agnew, resigned and pleaded no contest to bribery, conspiracy and extortion charges.

Ford sought the presidency in his own right in 1976, but lost to former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter.

Ford had assumed the Oval Office with the words: "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over," and then made pardoning Nixon one of his first acts. Many people say that doomed his 1976 campaign and handed the presidency to Carter, who served one term as president.

Ford said that he pardoned Nixon solely because the cloud of drawn-out impeachment proceedings would have prevented the country from tending to more important business, but the voters disagreed, and Carter defeated Ford in his only attempt to become an elected president.

Before taking the country's helm, Ford was a gifted athlete and played for two national championship football teams at the University of Michigan in 1932 and 1933.

He was offered spots on two professional teams -- the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers -- but instead took a position as a boxing and football coach at Yale University, where he was admitted to law school in 1938.

Ford joined the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1942, and had a brush with death during World War II, when he was almost swept overboard during a typhoon in the Philippine Sea in 1944.

After Ford's discharge as a lieutenant commander in 1946, his stepfather, a Republican leader, encouraged him to take on GOP Rep. Bartel Jonkman for the nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives. He won the nomination and later the general election and took congressional office in 1948.

He proved popular with his constituents, who re-elected him 12 times between 1949 and 1973, each time by a margin of more than 60 percent.

His inclusion among the Young Turks -- a group of young, progressive House Republicans who wanted to oust the older GOP leadership -- propelled him to top House positions and earned him a spot on the Warren Commission, charged with investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Ford is the last living member of the Warren Commission.

Ford hospitalized with pneumonia (http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/16/ford.hospitalized/index.html)

Iran plea for more nuclear talks gets cool response
Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:45 PM ET163

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran urged the European Union on Tuesday to resume talks on its nuclear dispute with the West, drawing a chilly response from Britain and Russia.

A senior British official dismissed as "vacuous" the Iranian offer, contained in a letter from Javad Vaeedi, deputy head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tehran should first restore the basis for negotiations by halting the nuclear fuel research it resumed last week in defiance of world powers.

"Talks presuppose an obligation. The Iranian obligation was to stick to the moratorium," Lavrov said. "Now Iran (has departed from) the moratorium on scientific research."

Britain, France and Germany called off the talks last week after Tehran removed U.N. seals on uranium enrichment equipment, deepening Western suspicions that it is seeking nuclear arms.

Washington and its EU allies say it is time the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency sent Iran's case to the U.N. Security Council, which could eventually decide to impose sanctions on Iran.

China has demurred, saying it would like talks between Iran and the EU trio to resume, but has not said it will try to block any move to report Iran to the Council.

Russia, while sharing China's opposition to U.N. sanctions on Iran, has moved closer to the West's view on referral.

An Iranian source in Vienna said Iran had written to the EU trio proposing that talks restart immediately and saying Tehran was ready to "remove existing ambiguities regarding its peaceful nuclear program through talks and negotiations".

The senior British official dismissed the offer, saying: "That is vacuous because the Iranians have created the conditions to make (further talks) impossible."

Despite Tehran's call for talks, an Iranian official said the decision to resume nuclear fuel research was "irreversible".

Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iranian representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also told the students news agency ISNA that he would meet the agency's chief Mohamed ElBaradei later on Tuesday to discuss Iran's plans.

An IAEA spokesman could not confirm a meeting was planned.

Soltaniyeh reiterated Iran's threat to halt snap IAEA checks on its nuclear sites if its case goes to the Security Council.

The senior British official said referral to the Council would not automatically lead to punitive measures.

"We don't see this leading straight into sanctions," the official told reporters under condition he not be named. "We want to build gradual, sustained pressure over time."

Lavrov also said talk of sanctions was premature.

"The question of sanctions against Iran puts the cart before the horse. Sanctions are in no way the best, or the only, way to solve the problem," he told a news briefing.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Beijing favored diplomacy, urging all parties to "keep patient and make utmost efforts to resume the negotiations between the EU3 and Iran".

Germany earlier said Council members remained at odds on the Iranian nuclear issue after Monday's talks in London among the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

However, participants did agree to call an emergency meeting of the IAEA board on February 2 to discuss referral.

Iran's letter also said it wanted to pursue scheduled talks with Russia over Moscow's proposal to enrich uranium for Iran in a joint venture to prevent any diversion for military use.

"Iran believes that negotiations with Russia will continue seriously and constructively, and as planned, they will be on February 16 in Moscow," the source quoted the letter as saying.

Lavrov said Russia's offer remained on the table. Tehran has sent mixed signals on the idea, which has EU and U.S. support.

The senior British official said he did not believe Iran was seriously considering the plan. "Iran is playing with the Russia proposal for tactical reasons," he said.

German Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler said Iran must keep its promises if it wanted more talks with the EU3.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, who plans to go to Moscow to discuss Iran on Wednesday, said his country would try to maintain international unity on the issue.

"At stake is the credibility of the agency (IAEA), the credibility of the multilateral system of non-proliferation and especially the stability of the region," he told parliament.

Any Security Council action would need the consent of its five permanent members, including Russia and China, both wary of jeopardizing their major economic interests in Iran.

Iran is a key oil supplier for China. Russia has a $1 billion stake in building Iran's first atomic reactor.
Iran plea for more nuclear talks gets cool response (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-01-17T174522Z_01_L17731101_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN.xml&archived=False)

Court rules govt. can't stop Oregon suicide law
Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:24 PM ET162

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration overstepped its authority when it barred doctors from helping terminally ill patients die in the only state that allows physician-assisted suicide, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

In a stinging defeat for the administration, the high court ruled by a 6-3 vote that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft wrongly interpreted a federal law in 2001 to bar distribution of controlled drugs to assist suicides, disregarding the Oregon law authorizing it.

"It is difficult to defend the attorney general's declaration that the statute impliedly criminalizes physician-assisted suicide," Justice Anthony Kennedy said for the court majority.

The court's most conservative members -- Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and new Chief Justice John Roberts, who was appointed by President George W. Bush -- dissented. Roberts, in his first dissent, did not write an opinion.

The Oregon law, called the Death with Dignity Act, was twice approved by the state's voters. The only state law in the nation allowing doctor-assisted suicide, it has been used by more than 200 people since it took effect in 1997.

Under Oregon law, terminally ill patients who want to end their lives with a physician's help must get a certification from two doctors stating they are of sound mind and have fewer than six months to live. A prescription for lethal drugs is then written by the doctor, and the patients administer the drugs themselves.

Ashcroft's directive declared that assisting suicide was not "a legitimate medical purpose" under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 and that prescribing federally controlled drugs for that purpose was against the federal law.

Oregon challenged Ashcroft's directive, and the Supreme Court's ruling marked the third time the administration has lost, following similar defeats before a federal judge and a U.S. appeals court.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the U.S. Justice Department was reviewing the ruling.

WHITE HOUSE DISAPPOINTED

"We are disappointed at the decision. The president remains fully committed to building a culture of life ... that is built on valuing life at all stages," McClellan said.

Both sides predicted the decision likely will lead to more states adopting assisted suicide laws. Lawmakers sponsoring a similar law in California said the ruling gave them a major boost.

Supporters of the state law, including Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, praised the ruling. He vowed to fight any congressional attempts to overturn the decision.

"The court's decision has stopped, for now, the administration's attempts to wrest control of decisions rightfully left to the states and individuals," Wyden said.

Peg Sandeen, executive director of the Death with Dignity National Center, called the ruling "a historic milestone that will protect the people's rights as patients."

Ashcroft reversed the policy adopted by his predecessor Janet Reno, who was attorney general during the Clinton administration. Conservative lawmakers and groups had opposed Reno's decision.

Kennedy, joined by another moderate conservative, retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and the court's four most liberal members, said the authority claimed by Ashcroft was "both beyond his expertise and incongruous with the statutory purposes and design."

He said in the 28-page opinion that federal law regulated medical practice only to bar doctors from using their prescription-writing powers as a way to engage in illicit drug dealing and trafficking.

Scalia said in his dissent that he would uphold the administration's position. "If the term 'legitimate medical purpose' has any meaning, it surely excludes the prescription of drugs to produce death," he said.

Court rules govt. can't stop Oregon suicide law (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-01-17T211523Z_01_WBT004563_RTRUKOC_0_US-COURT-SUICIDE.xml&archived=False)

Biblical Response To Katrina Disaster

GULFPORT, Miss., Jan. 17, 2006
The North Carolina Baptist Men have been trucking in supplies to rebuild at least 600 homes. (CBS/The Early Show)

Quote

"Well, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. My Lord and Savior tells me that part of my duty as a Christian is to help the folks who need help and these folks obviously need a lot of help."
Volunteer Michael Holdcraft

(CBS) Gulfport, Miss., was one of the communities hit hard when Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast in August. Describing the storm, some people said the hurricane was of biblical proportions.

The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith caught up with a group of volunteers who found a biblical response to the disaster.

Few people would think of sheet rock and dry wall as modern day manna but this building material is precious stuff on the Gulf Coast. Those supplies are trucked in by The North Carolina Baptist Men.

"By putting hands to their faith and their compassion, it's a way to do something about what they've seen on TV and a way to help people," says Executive Director Richard Brunson.

The Baptist Men have their own lumber yard full of supplies and a bunk house in Gulfport's old National Guard Armory. There are several hundred volunteers working six days a week.

Brunson says the group's goal is to rebuild 600 homes.

"And it'll take at least two years — and there are more than 600 people on our list now so we'll do more than 600," he says.

Ethel Kendrick's house was in such bad shape she just wanted to leave it behind, but the Baptist men, women and kids stepped in.

"I thank God for them. I thank God for them, I really do," she says.

The volunteers in Kendrick's house are all from Asheville, N.C., and come from all walks of life. One sells insurance, another is a medical technician, and another is a retired Air Force colonel. Each building site has a man or two with real construction experience to guide the work, which means that novices can help out.

Volunteer Michael Holdcraft says it is his duty to help out.

"Well, this is what I'm supposed to be doing," he says. "My Lord and Savior tells me that part of my duty as a Christian is to help the folks who need help and these folks obviously need a lot of help."

It takes about two weeks for the Baptists to strip out and rebuild the inside of a house. So far they put in more than 30,000 volunteer days in Gulfport.

"It looked like a swirling river inside my house. All over all my furniture was turned upside down and was going all over," remembers Bonny Perry, whose home was ruined by Katrina.

Perry, who figured she would have to live in a FEMA trailer for two years, admits she was scared when the storm struck. "I don't think I'm staying for the next hurricane."

"We didn't have enough insurance money to put the house back together and my daughter says 'Mom, this is the one time in your life when you're going to have to have faith,' " says Perry.

She put her name on a list and soon the Baptists were in her house banging away. The only thing that keeps her now from moving in is carpet and linoleum, and Perry says she is returning her trailer to FEMA.

Asked how rewarding the experience of helping has been, Holdcraft says, "This does nothing but make you feel great. Most of the folks have been here several times and once you get home you feel like you want to come back again."

Speaking to Smith on Tuesday morning, Mayor Brent Warr says there is a mood of "anxious anticipation" in Gulfport.

"You know, it feels kind of like spring here right now," he says. "People are ready to get back building, but they're not sure their home will be worth as much as it should be, especially if they don't get insurance money and have to put their own money into it."

Some people have said they feel the insurance companies have been dragging their feet.

"A lot of commercial businesses have been paid. Residents — of course, everybody that worked here, had a home and lived here — they're waiting with baited breath and frustration is definitely getting high," Warr says.

Biblical Response To Katrina Disaster (http://www.worthynews.com/news/cbsnews-com-stories-2006-01-17-earlyshow-main1215520-shtml-CMP-OTC-RSSFeed-source-RSS-attr-U-S-_1215520/)

Faith guides his chisel
Aurora artist erects a colossal monument of Ten Commandments in an inspired mission.

Ryan Slight
News-Leader

AURORA — Jim Luce isn't demanding you turn from your wicked ways.

The retired Aurora artist just hopes motorists driving on Lawrence County K are inspired by the massive Ten Commandments sculpture under construction on his property, one he hopes is the world's largest.

Luce was compelled to erect the monument — two stones more than 15 feet tall and weighing more than 11 tons — after surviving a May 2003 tornado that destroyed his property. Two stone tablets grace the 16-acre property where horses grazed before the storm.

Guinness World Records is researching to determine whether any known Ten Commandments sculptures are larger, Luce said. While public displays of the religious laws have prompted controversies across the Ozarks and the nation in recent years, Luce doesn't want to make a political statement.

"If anyone goes by and it makes them feel good, or maybe they think twice about doing something they shouldn't do, I just think it's a good thing that needs to be done," he said.

Luce paused, running a hand over his beard in the dining room of his rebuilt home.

"Well, I have to do it, whether I want to or not," he added with a chuckle, referring to a perceived heavenly request.

So far, the 47-year-old builder said passersby have offered only support for the markers, which dot the horizon about 60 feet from the roadway as drivers head south into Aurora.

Luce said his intense desire to construct the tablets began six months ago while cutting wood outside. He hopes to finish later this year.

The retiree had many reasons to ignore the compulsion. He's had three strokes. With two children in college and his schoolteacher wife pursuing a master's degree, there was little money to splurge on gigantic monuments.

"It may sound goofy, but it was like talking to the Lord in my head or something. It may sound corny, but it just wouldn't let me go till I finally said 'OK,'" Luce said.

The Aurora man responded by selling his golf clubs and several pieces of a gun collection. He also cut back on expenses such as trash collection and satellite service to help fund an estimated $9,000 in tools and materials.

Luce already had the hefty stones on his property. He created a concrete and steel base in November, and his sons helped him put up the limestone blocks the day after Christmas.

He works alone on the project daily, sometimes for several hours depending on the weather or his stamina. He ascends a ladder to chisel the surface, moving carefully to avoid cracks. Several commandments in two-inch letters are already visible in an outline for Luce to carve.

The translation was the oldest he could find, Luce said. It predates the King James version, but uses similar language.

"I've had a couple of friends ask me about Hebrew or Aramaic," he said.

Luce, who has years of experience with stone work, rejected more contemporary techniques such as lasers, sandblasting or water jet cutting.

"That goes against my grain, because I'm an old-stuff guy," he said.

Neighbor Roxanne Owens recalled seeing Luce covered with dust from hammering when she walked over to check on the sculpture's progress.

A supporter of the project, Owens said the result of Luce's talent and vision would make drivers take a second look. It was remarkable considering the difficulties Luce has endured, she said.

"When the tornado damaged his home and blew everything away, it was amazing to watch him rebuild," Owens said.

After Luce saw a funnel approach his home on May 4, 2003, he and his family dashed into the hallway and said their goodbyes. The twister flattened the house and destroyed a horse barn. Several horses and a baby buffalo died.

Nearly three years later, a few fallen trees still line his property. But Luce says he's convinced God spared his life in the storm.

COMMANDMENTS IN COURT

The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, is a list of religious rules that God gave the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai and engraved on two stone tablets, according to the Bible.

The laws, which forbid actions such as killing, lying, theft and adultery, are featured prominently in Judaism and Christianity.

Luce was inspired by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was suspended in 2003 for his refusal to obey a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse rotunda.

"I'd like to meet that guy someday, (who) actually took his faith and stepped out from his job. How many people would have the courage to do such a thing? That's the kind of guy I think I would like to be," said Luce, who was raised Pentecostal but later converted to Catholicism.

Moore's stance was one of several debates to occur over Ten Commandments displays.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last year in a Texas case that a granite monument on the Capitol grounds in Austin was an appropriate show of historical significance.

However, the Supreme Court also ruled 5-4 that a Kentucky Ten Commandments display on the walls of two courthouses weren't meant as a tribute to the nation's legal history.

Faith guides his chisel (http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060115/NEWS01/601150370)

Temple in upheaval over Sri Lankan First Lady's faith

January 17, 2006

Less than three weeks after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse prayed at the Sri Krishna Temple at Guruvayoor, Kerala, the temple authorities have posed a question to the state government: Is the president's wife, Shiranthi Rajapakse, a Christian?

Mahinda and Shiranthi Rajapakse's visit to the famed temple has kicked up a row in Guruvayoor and Colombo.

Last week Sri Lankan newspaper Sunday Leader published a report following rediff.com's special report on how the Guruvayoor temple allows Buddhists and Jains to worship but bans entry to people from other faiths.

Sri Lankan newspapers, which followed up the story, probed the Sri Lankan first lady's religious antecedents. The reports said Shiranthi, a Catholic by birth, converted to Buddhism. The reports also mentioned her religious contacts with Christian leaders in Sri Lanka, including Oswald Gomis, the archbishop of Colombo.

Rediff India Abroad Managing Editor Aziz Haniffa, a keen Sri Lanka watcher, says Shiranthi was born Christian. "She converted to Buddhism before she got married to Mahinda Rajapakse," he said.

The Sri Lankan newspaper reports have troubled the Guruvayoor temple authorities, who have now asked the Kerala government to confirm if Shiranthi is a Christian or a Buddhist.

"If she is a Christian, she committed a grave religious mistake by entering our temple and praying here," Chennas Raman Namboodiripad, the chief priest at the Guruvayoor temple told rediff.com

He said if the Sri Lankan president's wife is a Christian, "the temple is duty-bound to perform all the poojas from December 30 (the day of the visit) to the present date."

"We will also have to undertake cleansing because if non-Hindus enter the temple, we cleanse the holy precincts with a set of purifying religious rituals," the chief priest pointed out.

Temple administrator K Anil Kumar said the Sri Lankan president and his wife were allowed to worship after the temple authorities confirmed with the state government that the couple were Buddhists.

"We had informed the government that non-Hindus are prohibited entry inside the holy precincts. We do not know why the Sri Lankan government did not reveal the truth if Shiranthi Rajapakse is a Christian," Anil Kumar told rediff.com

He said the temple administration has asked the state government to officially confirm whether she is a Christian or a Buddhist. "If she is a Christian, as news reports now suggest, we will have to cleanse the temple," the administrator added.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Kerala government said President Rajapakse phoned Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to inform him that his wife is a Buddhist. "'Some anti-government lobby in Sri Lanka is behind the allegations'," the spokesperson quoted the Sri Lankan leader as telling the chief minister.

Rajapakse, a Buddhist, prayed for 'peace in my country' and offered a gold crown to the diety.

By worshipping at the temple, Rajapakse said he fulfilled a vow made during the presidential election, which he won on November 17.

The Guruvayoor temple bars people from other religions from entering the shrine.

Some years ago, legendary singer K J Yesudas, who has sung several songs in praise of Lord Krishna, was barred entry into the temple because he is a Christian.

Five years ago, Congress General Secretary Vayalar Ravi's son was married in the Guruvayoor temple. Days later, a purification rite was performed to cleanse the temple premises since Ravi's wife is not a Hindu, but a Christian. ;D

Temple in upheaval over Sri Lankan First Lady's faith (http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/jan/17spec1.htm?q=tp&file=.htm)

Torture spurs man to fight for religious freedom

By MIKE MASLANIK

Finger Lakes Times

NEWARK — Seven hellish days of torture in an Egyptian prison did nothing to diminish Muslim-turned-Christian Majed El Shafie’s faith in God, but it did ignite a passion for helping other persecuted Christians worldwide.

El Shafie, founder of Toronto-based One Free World Ministries, will share his harrowing story and testimony at 7 p.m. Sunday at Em-manuel United Methodist Church in Newark. Through his ministry, he has reached out to lawmakers in the United States, Canada and Israel to relieve the plight of persecuted Christians in Asia and the Middle East. El Shafie urges love and forgiveness in the face of terrible hardship.

“I decided to forgive those who tortured me, but with forgiveness comes action,” he said. “We have to help the people that are suffering for their beliefs.”

Born into a prominent Muslim family in Cairo, El Shafie seemed destined to go into law. His father and brother are successful attorneys and an uncle serves as a judge on a high court.

“When you’re born into a family like this, you have lots of books on law, justice and freedom,” he said.

While studying law in Alexandria, El Shafie was shocked to see the harsh treatment of Christians. Building churches is illegal in Egypt, he said, and Christians are treated worse than second-class citizens.

Struck by this intolerance, El Shafie began studying the Bible. In 1998, when he was about 20, he converted to Christianity and organized an underground congregation that attracted 24,000 worshippers within two years.

It was literally an underground church, worshipping in caves near the outskirts of the city.

El Shafie ran afoul of the Egyptian government when he appealed for equal rights for Christians. He also took issue with the harsh teachings of the Koran, which the government used to justify persecuting Christians.

“It’s not that they’re bad because they’re Muslims,” he said. “Our problem was with their teaching of Islam.”

He was arrested and confined in Abu Jaabel prison in Cairo, a place locals call “Hell on Earth,” he said. The government charged him with inciting a revolution, trying to change Egypt’s religion to Christianity and “worshipping and loving Jesus Christ.”

While they had him in custody, police tried to get him to name names. El Shafie refused.

“They told me, ‘If you want to play tough, we can play tough,’” he said.

Authorities took El Shafie to an underground portion of the prison and tortured him for seven days straight, he said, noting they shaved his head and held him under scalding hot then freezing cold water. He was hung upside down and beaten with belts, burned by cigarettes and had his toenails torn out.

In a final insult, he said prison guards tied him to a cross and left him there for two days.

“The only thing I could remember was the taste and smell of my own blood,” he said.

El Shafie remembers losing consciousness and waking up in a hospital bed. A guard tipped him off that he was about to be executed, so he escaped out of a back window, he said.

When the government learned of El Shafie’s escape, it issued a $100,000 fatwa on his head, he said.

“My picture was on TV and in the newspapers, so I knew I couldn’t stay in Egypt,” he said, describing an escape reminiscent of a James Bond movie.

He said he rode across the Red Sea on a jet ski, crossed the Sinai Desert and turned himself in to the Israeli government. He remained in Israeli custody for 16 months while the United Nations and Amnesty International investigated his story. He was finally granted political-refugee status and emigrated to Toronto.

El Shafie emerged from his experience a hardened advocate for persecuted Christians.

“This whole thing changed my life,” he said. “I’m not giving up because I know people are going through that.”

Becoming a Christian cost El Shafie his home and his family, who have since disowned him, but he gained a new purpose in life.

Since founding the 1,000-member strong One Free World Ministries, El Shafie has been lobbying for condemnation for regimes that persecute Christians. He has also raised money to send farming equipment to Christian communities in the Middle East and Asia.

Every year, 165,000 Christians are killed for their beliefs, he said, in places like North Korea, China and Saudi Arabia. It’s the duty of all people to recognize this harsh treatment and to do something to stop this suffering, he said.

To all governments that persecute Christians, El Shafie offers this message:

“The persecuted Christians are dying, but they’re still smiling. They’re in a deep mine, but they’re holding the light of the Lord. You can kill the dreamer, but you can’t kill the dream.”

Torture spurs man to fight for religious freedom (http://www.fltimes.com/Main.asp?SectionID=38&SubSectionID=121&ArticleID=10730)

Shame, not sanctions, initial UN goal for Iran

By Evelyn Leopold 2 hours, 14 minutes ago

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - If Europeans and the United States succeed in referring Iran's nuclear program to the
U.N. Security Council, sanctions or other enforcement actions would be a long way off, if imposed at all.

But at a minimum the West is counting on a political and diplomatic embarrassment for Tehran, which this month removed U.N. inspection seals on uranium enrichment equipment, deepening suspicions it is seeking nuclear arms.

Otherwise Tehran would not be fighting a referral, diplomats and other experts say.

"Iranians are very proud and don't want to become a pariah state like North Korea," said Edward Luck, a Columbia University professor specializing in U.N. affairs. "I think they would find it very unattractive."

Russia, and especially China, are against imposing penalties on Iran, although Moscow has moved closer to Western views on a referral to the Security Council. Both nations, along with the United States, France and Britain, have veto power in the 15-member council.

Even if no oil embargo or blanket sanctions are enacted, the council could impose an arms embargo, a travel freeze on individuals or call on countries to reduce diplomatic ties, Luck told Reuters.

Other possibilities include granting the IAEA enhanced powers to conduct intrusive inspections in Iran.

Council diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case was still pending, envision a step by step approach that would slowly ratchet up pressure.

The first move probably would be an appeal to Iran to abide by recommendations from the Vienna-based
International Atomic Energy Agency, which has sent inspectors to Iran. The council would also ask IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei to submit a report within a month.

RACHET UP PRESSURE

"Even a debate in the council, perhaps at the foreign minister's level, raises the ante and political tensions in capitals around the world that Iran is not meeting its obligations and appears to be developing an independent nuclear capability. It's not good news for Iran," Luck said.

Nevertheless there are risks involved, as in the case of North Korea, whose nuclear arms program was considered by the council in early 2003 but failed to lead to any U.N. action, although it spurred China into renewing six-party talks.

Iran has said its program is designed to produce energy only, its right under the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. But the scale of the program, built in secret over 18 years, has fed suspicions that it is a cover for weapons.

For U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, getting Iran on the Security Council agenda is itself a priority. "I think the issue of Iran's nuclear weapons program is a classic threat to international peace and security," Bolton said on Tuesday.

"This will be a test for the Council, and appropriately so, because the Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile delivery systems threatens their region and threatens the world as a whole," he told reporters.

The timing could not be better should the IAEA governing board at its next meeting make a decision on the Security Council. Bolton takes over the Security Council's rotating presidency in February and can influence the agenda.

Iran says its program is designed solely to generate electricity. But the United States is convinced Tehran is researching nuclear fuel for weapons-grade programs.

So far, the IAEA has not found proof of a weapons program, but Iran's cooperation with inspectors has been shaky, and many questions remain unanswered.

Shame, not sanctions, initial UN goal for Iran (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/nuclear_iran_council_dc;_ylt=AkHMxjlLX2yEiy7LeJvJTgis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--)

China, Russia would fight Iran oil sanctions: experts

By Chris Baltimore Wed Jan 18, 10:16 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
U.N. Security Council heavyweights China and Russia have too much riding on
Iran's energy sector to let the West slap sanctions on Tehran to punish its nuclear ambitions, experts say.

Fears of supply disruption from the world's fourth largest crude exporter, along with rising tensions in fellow
OPEC member Nigeria, sent U.S. crude oil futures to a three-month high near $67 per barrel this week.

The United States and three European Union nations are pressing the 15-member U.N. Security Council to take up the Iranian nuclear issue, which could open the door to potential oil sanctions.

But two key U.N. Security Council members that carry veto powers -- China and Russia -- have multibillion-dollar oil and natural gas projects hanging in the balance, and China depends on Iran's imports to quench its oil thirst.

"I have a hard time seeing how oil investments could be targeted given the interests of Russia and China," said Julia Nanay, a senior director at PFC Energy in Washington.

Iran wants to sign a major oilfield deal to give China's Sinopec a stake in the giant Yadavaran oilfield in southern Iran, which could require investment of at least $2 billion.

And Russia's LUKOIL holds a minority stake in the Anaran field in western Iran near the Iraqi border.

Iran raised the stakes in its row with the West this month by removing U.N. seals on equipment that purifies uranium, which can be used for power, or if highly enriched, in bombs.

The United States and the European Union's three biggest powers said talks with Iran on the issue were at a dead end, and moved to refer the matter to the Security Council.

Tehran denies accusations it is seeking nuclear weapons and says it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity.

China has blocked Security Council efforts to sanction countries like Sudan, where China has a huge oil deal. Sudan's Darfur region is beset by widespread violence between fractious rebel groups, government forces and a government-backed militia.

China's thirst for oil has made it cordial with nations that have raised U.S. diplomatic hackles -- including Iran, Sudan and OPEC member Venezuela.

"I think sanctions that impact oil flows from Iran are very unlikely," said Jamal Qureshi, also with PFC Energy. "The Chinese are major importers of Iranian crude and they would not be too happy to see that." China imported about 300,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude in 2005.

China's oil demand is expected to grow about 14 percent by 2007 to hit 7.9 million bpd, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, versus U.S. demand growth of about 3 percent.

Other major buyers of Iranian crude oil include Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Europe, according to the EIA, the statistical arm of the Department of Energy.

If Iran halted exports of around 2.4 million bpd, the rest of the world's spare capacity would not be able to make up the shortfall, making $100 per barrel crude oil prices highly likely in the short term, experts said.

Iran has warned that oil prices would rise "beyond levels the West expects" if its opponents pursued punitive sanctions, and says it could repatriate an unknown amount of oil earnings it holds in foreign accounts.

ACHILLES HEEL

Instead of oil sanctions, experts expect a step-by-step application of sanctions that could restrict travel visas, air flights, spare parts, arms sales or gasoline to Iran.

"Iran's vulnerability is its gasoline imports," said James Placke, senior associate with Cambridge Energy Research Associates and a former U.S. diplomat.

According to the EIA, Iran in 2005 imported about 170,000 bpd, or about a third of its gasoline supplies.

Some warn that Iran could retaliate against international pressure and unilaterally rein back its crude oil exports.

"Oil is now going to be their weapon of choice," said Fadel Gheit, an oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Co.

"If the Security Council ultimately passes a sanctions resolution that has some teeth in it, the Iranians will respond in some way," Placke said. "You can count on it."

Others disagree.

"Iran is not going to shut the spigots -- they need the money," PFC Energy's Nanay said. "But if there's a U.N. referral, I can see the markets getting jittery."

The U.S. Congress could beat the U.N. to the punch.

The Iran Freedom and Support Act of 2005, which is making its way through Congress, would expand sanctions for doing business with Tehran.

The Bush administration has pressed to stall the bill while it pursues a diplomatic solution.

China, Russia would fight Iran oil sanctions: experts (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060118/wl_nm/energy_iran_sanctions_dc;_ylt=Aq_GEzWa18raBEsUb0uB6WcV6w8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NTMzazIyBHNlYwMxNjk2)

Nigeria militants say every oil producer at risk
Wed Jan 18, 2006 8:29 AM ET

By Tom Ashby

ABUJA (Reuters) - Militants behind a string of attacks aimed at disrupting the Nigerian oil industry said they intended to target all producers in the country in a message where they singled out U.S.-based Chevron (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which has caused major disruption at Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and is holding four foreign oil workers hostage, said it has also attacked installations run by France's Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Italy's Agip, a unit of ENI (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research).

"We have decided not to limit our attacks to Shell oil as our ultimate aim is to prevent Nigeria from exporting oil," the militant group said in an email statement to Reuters.

So far, Shell is the only major operator to have said it suffered at the hands of the militants, who demand greater control over the delta's enormous oil wealth for the impoverished local people.

"The reports of attacks on Agip and Total flow stations are correct," the group said. "We will attack all oil companies including Chevron facilities."

Spokesmen for the French and Italian companies in Nigeria dismissed the statement.

Analysts say the violence is part of growing political rivalry between the regions in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, ahead of 2007 presidential elections.

Widening attacks would escalate the ethnic group's campaign against oil pipelines, platforms and workers in the world's eighth largest oil exporter.

Agip spokesman Akin Aruwajoye said: "We have not been attacked." Total's Fred Ohwahwa said: "Nothing has happened to any of our facilities."

FOUR MONTH HIGH

Oil prices climbed to their highest level in almost four months on Wednesday as the group's threats exacerbated the markets' concerns about the OPEC cartel's capacity to meet demand. Nigeria is a leading OPEC member.

U.S. crude oil <CLc1> climbed as far as $66.91 a barrel, the highest since September 30, and was up 54 cents at $66.85 at 1230 GMT. London Brent crude <LCOc1> was up 45 cents at $65.35.

Shell, the largest producer of oil in Nigeria's delta, said it was keeping 221,000 barrels a day of production shut, roughly 10 percent of the West African country's output.

Shell evacuated 330 workers from four oil platforms after a militant attack on Sunday which killed four soldiers. It said in a statement it was reviewing its staff deployment, after the militants repeated threats to target oil employees.

"Pipelines, loading points, export tankers, tank farms, refined petroleum depots, landing strips and residences of employees of these companies can expect to be attacked," the group said. "We know where they live, shop and where the children go to school."

Wednesday sees the expiry of a 48-hour deadline set on Monday by the hostage-takers for their demands to be met. The four hostages are an American, a Briton, a Bulgarian and a Honduran.

The group demands local control of the Niger Delta's oil wealth, payment of $1.5 billion by Shell to the Bayelsa state government to compensate for pollution, and the release of three men including two ethnic Ijaw leaders.

Meanwhile, U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) dismissed a report that loadings at two major Nigerian oil terminals, which export almost a quarter of the country's oil, were suspended because of fears of an attack.

"Producing operations are continuing at all facilities and loadings are taking place within normal operational variants," said a statement from the company issued late on Tuesday.

Under standard oil export contracts exporters are allowed a window of several days to load tankers and so brief suspensions in loadings do not prevent them from meeting obligations.

Nigeria militants say every oil producer at risk (http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2006-01-18T133014Z_01_L18696432_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-NIGERIA-ATTACKS-DC.XML)

Last update - 14:28 18/01/2006
Khamenei: Iran won't buckle if pressed on nuclear program
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, and news agencies

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday the world could not deflect Iran from its "scientific developments," a reference to mounting pressure over the country's nuclear program.

Britain, France and Germany, which suspect Iran's nuclear scientists could be working on weapons, have drafted a resolution seeking that Iran be referred to the U.N. Security Council, where it could face sanctions.

"The Islamic Republic, based on its principles, without being scared of the fuss created, will continue on its path of scientific developments and the world cannot influence the Iranian nation's will," state television quoted him as saying.

"We are not after nuclear weapons and the West knows this because obtaining nuclear weapons is against the country's political and economic interests and is against Islamic teachings," added Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters.

Iran says it needs nuclear technology to meet booming demand for electricity.

"The International Atomic Energy Agency has accepted that we are now part of the atomic club," the leader said.

Israel in talks with U.S., EU over sanctions
Israel is in advanced talks with the United States and European countries over a package of sanctions that would be applied against Iran should it continue its nuclear program.

The goal is to have the package ready to go the moment a political decision is made to apply sanctions.

Israel is urging the international community to transfer Iran's case to the UN Security Council, which can authorize sanctions. The board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is the body authorized to refer cases to the Security Council, will meet on February 2 to discuss the issue in light of Tehran's recent decision to resume research on uranium enrichment.

Under the guidance of an interministerial committee on Iran's nuclear program, headed by Mossad chief Meir Dagan, various Israeli agencies, both defense and civilian, have prepared proposals for diplomatic and economic sanctions against Iran that could be applied either by the Security Council or by the European Union and other countries independently. These ideas have been presented to American and European officials over the last two months. Some of them are as follows:

* Sanctions against Iranian oil exports. According to the defense establishment's analysis, an oil embargo would hurt Iran more than it would hurt the West, since Iran's economy is wholly dependent on oil. Moreover, Iran refines little oil itself, so the country also depends on imports of refined products. Sanctions would cause oil prices to rise, but no country depends wholly on Iranian oil.

* Banning Iran's soccer team from this summer's World Cup.

* Denying visas for foreign travel to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iranian officials involved in the country's nuclear program.

* Halting the IAEA's technical cooperation with Iran on nuclear issues.

* Restricting landings by Iranian civilian aircraft.

Israel believes it is necessary to increase the pressure on Iran by confronting it witha clear threat, as opposed to the vague warnings uttered to date. The Iranians have toughened their stance in the months since Ahmadinejad's election, first verbally withdrawing from their agreement with the EU to halt uranium enrichment, then resuming
uranium conversion (the first step toward enrichment), and now resuming enrichment research. But at each stage, the West has reacted rather than issuing clear warnings in advance. Israel argues that this order should be reversed.

Russia, which has a Security Council veto as well as close ties with Iran, is considered key to imposing and enforcing sanctions. Yesterday, a group of senior Israeli officials, headed by National Security Adviser Giora Eiland and Atomic Energy Commission Director Gideon Frank, flew to Moscow to discuss the Iranian issue. They will meet today with senior Russian officials.

Israeli officials believe Russia will abstain in the IAEA vote on referring Iran to the Security Council, but will urge that action be postponed in order to give negotiations time. Next month, senior Iranian officials will visit Moscow to discuss a proposal that Iran enrich uranium in Russia rather than on its own soil, thereby making it harder to divert enriched uranium to nuclear weapons.

Israel considers Iran's nuclear program its greatest national security threat. Acting Premier Ehud Olmert, commenting on this issue for the first time Tuesday, declared: "Israel cannot allow someone who has such evil intentions against us" a reference to Ahmadinejad's recent threats to "wipe Israel off the map" "to have control over a destructive weapon that could threaten our existence."

Israel's strategy has been to focus on diplomatic channels and to let the international community take the lead on this issue. However, it has also worked to develop military responses to the threat if needed, including through recent agreements to purchase two submarines from Germany and "bunker-busting" bombs from the U.S.

Khamenei: Iran won't buckle if pressed on nuclear program (http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/671598.html)

'PC' Holocaust Museum challenged
Authors on terrorism say facility should address Islamic violence
Posted: January 18, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

A group of activists and authors specializing in Islamic terrorism will gather today in Washington, D.C., to challenge the U.S. Holocaust Museum to portray the realities of the threats posed against Israel and Jews from radical Muslims.

According to a statement, the speakers will urge the Museum to "face the reality that recent threats against Israel by several Islamic leaders essentially constitute a declaration of war," said Chuck Morse, author of "The Nazi Connection to Islamic Terrorism."

Morse's book traces the actions of Haj Amin al-Husseini, "the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem," as a Nazi agent airing anti-Semitic broadcasts, conspiring to consign thousands of Jewish children to death and guiding assassinations against moderate Arab leaders, using funds confiscated from prominent Jews.

"The storm clouds gathering over the Middle East are being seeded by the feckless response of 'politically-correct' apologists to accelerated threats against Israel and Jews internationally," the statement said.

Morse said today's news conference at the National Press Club will present information "of grave national import to all Americans as we observe leaders in Iran and Egypt mimicking Nazi-style propaganda against the Jews in an attempt to intimidate and unnerve Israel and the Western democracies."

Muslim brotherhood chief Mohammed Mahdi Akef recently characterized the Holocaust as "a myth," echoing a statement issued earlier by Iran's hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

According to the statement, Morse will be joined at the event today by Kenneth Timmerman, author of "Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown With Iran," Carol Greenwald, chairman of Holocaust Museum Watch, and Shelomo Alfassa, director of the International Society for Sephardic Progress.

'PC' Holocaust Museum challenged (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48394)

U.S. Strike Killed al Qaeda Bomb Maker
Terror Big Also Trained 'Shoe Bomber,' Moussaoui
By HABIBULLAH KHAN and BRIAN ROSS

Jan. 18, 2006 — - ABC News has learned that Pakistani officials now believe that al Qaeda's master bomb maker and chemical weapons expert was one of the men killed in last week's U.S. missile attack in eastern Pakistan.

Midhat Mursi, 52, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, was identified by Pakistani authorities as one of four known major al Qaeda leaders present at an apparent terror summit in the village of Damadola early last Friday morning.

The United States had posted a $5 million reward for Mursi's capture. He is described by authorities as the man who ran al Qaeda's infamous Derunta training camp in Afghanistan, where he used dogs and other animals as subjects for experiments with poison and chemicals. His explosives training manual is still regarded as the bible for al Qaeda terrorists around the world.

"He wants to cause mayhem, major death, and he puts his expertise on the line. So the fact that we took him out is significant," said former FBI agent Jack Cloonan, an ABC News consultant, who was the senior agent on the FBI's al Qaeda squad. "He's the man who trained the shoe bomber Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui, as well as hundreds of others."

Pakistani officials also said that Khalid Habib, the al Qaeda operations chief for Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Abdul Rehman al Magrabi, a senior operations commander for al Qaeda, were killed in the Damadola attack. Authorities tell ABC News that the terror summit was called to funnel new money into attacks against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

"Pakistani intelligence says this was a very important planning session involving the very top levels of al Qaeda as they get ready for a new spring offensive," explained Alexis Debat, a former official in the French Defense Ministry and now an ABC News consultant

As for Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2 man, U.S. and Pakistani officials agree that it is still possible but increasingly unlikely that he was killed. If he is alive, he has lost many of those close to him, however.

"Zawahiri, if he slept three hours on a normal night, he's sleeping an hour and a half right now with his eyes wide open," Cloonan said. "He's looking around right now and wondering who handed him up. Not a nice feeling." :D

U.S. Strike Killed al Qaeda Bomb Maker (http://www.worthynews.com/news/abcnews-go-com-WNT-print-id-1517986/)

'This is how God punished us for invading Iraq'
By Harry Mount in New York
(Filed: 18/01/2006)

The mayor of New Orleans has provoked new outrage by calling Hurricane Katrina God's punishment for invading Iraq and insisting the city become "chocolate" again.

Mayor Ray Nagin, notorious for his outspoken, off-the-cuff rhetoric, also suggested that God was especially angry with black America for its treatment of its women and children.

"Surely God is mad at America," Mr Nagin, himself black, said at a ceremony to mark Martin Luther King Day. "He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane and it's destroyed and put stress on this country. Surely He's not approving of us being in Iraq under false pretences. But surely He's upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves, we're not taking care of our women, and we're not taking care of our children.

"What are we doing? Why is black-on-black crime such an issue? Why do our young men hate each other so much that they look their brother in the face and they will take a gun and kill him in cold blood?"

His diagnosis of the moral health of America's blacks, while bluntly expressed, is one shared by many political and church leaders. The comedian Bill Cosby has also voiced them in the past.

Katrina factfile

But it was the mayor's thoughts on the future racial make-up of the city - and his choice of language - that prompted the most disquiet. "It's time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans," Mr Nagin said. "This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way."

Before Hurricane Katrina struck four months ago, scattering three quarters of its population, the city was indeed 68 per cent black.

The mayor's speech on Monday appeared to be aimed at black concerns that white residents would prefer that poorer blacks did not return to the city's ruins. But it seemed to backfire.

"Everybody's jaws are dropping right now," said Oliver Thomas, a black New Orleans city councillor. "Instead of the city being chocolate, we ought to be Neapolitan, fudge ripple, all the flavours together.

"Who really cares what the racial make-up of the city is as long as it works for everybody?"

This is not the first time that Mr Nagin has run into controversy. He aggravated chaos in the city when the hurricane struck by wildly overestimating the number of dead at 10,000. Estimates now put the figure at 1,400.

Mr Nagin has announced schemes such as a plan for seven new casinos, later dropped due to strong opposition.

He should have been seeking re-election next month but elections have been postponed as the city still does not have enough electricity, voting precincts or personnel to stage them.

13 January 2006: Outrage over Katrina rebuilding delay
10 December 2005: Official inertia may yet finish off the survivors of New Orleans
6 October 2005: New Orleans staff laid off

'This is how God punished us for invading Iraq' (http://www.worthynews.com/news/news-telegraph-co-uk-core-Content-displayPrintable-jhtml-xml--news-2006-01-18-wnagin18-xml-site-5/)

Homosexual Easter at the White House?
'LGBT families' urged to crash Bushes' annual egg-roll event
Posted: January 17, 2006
5:00 p.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

An advocacy group for the so-called lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is urging its supporters to be the first in line this year at the White House Easter Egg Roll to show "family visibility" to the nation.

Mark Tooley, writing in the Weekly Standard, says a church-based homosexual-rights group, Soulforce, sent an e-mail to supporters giving instructions for the event.

"On April 17, 2006, when the White House lawn is opened to families for the Annual Easter Egg Roll, imagine if the first 1,000 families onto the lawn were LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] families," said the Jan. 4 e-mail. Once America sees the White House lawn awash in LGBT families, "there will be no going back," Soulforce promised.

Tooley claims it's the first time anyone has tried to "exploit the annual White House Easter Egg Roll for political purposes."

Soulforce regularly protests church events to demand denominations change their policies on homosexuality, using the principles of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. The organization was begun by Mel White, once a writer for Christian pastors who later embraced homosexuality and became a clergyman in the "gay" Metropolitan Community Church. Soulforce is planning to protest at Focus on the Family in Colorado this summer.

According to the e-mail, the group is asking "LGBT families" to arrive at the White House gate the night before the April event to be sure to be the first ones in. Volunteers will be available to save places for those who cannot spend the night.

Supporters reportedly will arrive with special "non-political" T-shirts to identify themselves as "LGBT."

The annual Easter Egg Roll dates back to President Rutherford B. Hayes.

"The media will be there (they are always there for the egg roll) and millions of Americans – many for the first time – will meet our families," the Soulforce e-mail explained. "This is an amazing opportunity to reach homes in blue states and red states with positive images of our families participating in this great American family tradition.

Homosexual Easter at the White House? (http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48386)

Panic selling shuts Tokyo exchange early
Probe of Internet company, weak tech earnings spur stampede

Wednesday, January 18, 2006 Posted: 1718 GMT (0118 HKT)

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- A massive sell-off sparked by a criminal investigation of a high-profile Internet company and weaker-than-expected U.S. tech earnings forced the Tokyo Stock Exchange to suspend trading in the world's second-largest market.

Panic selling also swept through other Asian markets Wednesday and later spilled over into Europe and North America.

The TSE, which has been hit by technical glitches in recent months, halted all trading 20 minutes before the official market close when the huge number of transactions threatened to overwhelm the exchange's computerized system.

However, the exchange said morning trading would begin as usual Thursday, although the afternoon session would be delayed by 30 minutes daily until further notice.

"We plan to restart the exchange as normal and will keep a close watch on how trading develops," TSE President Taizo Nishimuro told reporters. "Our goal is to handle things in a way that won't invite confusion."

The extraordinary decision to suspend trading was prompted by concerns that transactions would exceed the system's capacity of 4.5 million. The TSE later said the number of trades hit a record 4.38 million Wednesday.

The sell-off pushed the Nikkei stock average -- the key index of 225 leading shares -- down 464.77 points to 15,341.18. That was 2.94 percent lower than Tuesday's finish. At one point Wednesday, the index was down more than 4 percent.

The TOPIX, a broader index of stocks, finished down 3.49 percent to 1,574.67 after being down more than 5 percent at one stage.

Other markets in the region were also affected, with Taiwan losing more than 3 percent and South Korea dropping 2.6 percent.

European markets ended lower as the Nikkei's plunge unnerved investors who were already shaken by disappointing earnings from Intel (Results) and Yahoo (Results) late Tuesday in the United States. (Full story)

In New York, stocks also slumped as the full impact of weaker-than-expected profits by the technology giants was beginning to be felt. (Full story)

"The cause (of the sell-off) was threefold -- Livedoor, America and a mess-up by the Tokyo Stock Exchange," Seiichi Miura, an investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, told The Associated Press.

"People got worried about what's going to happen tomorrow if we can't sell today."

In Tokyo, the troubles for Livedoor -- a favorite of small investors -- began when investigators raided its headquarters late Monday, after media reports that it had given false information to investors.

The national daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Livedoor is suspected of concealing a $8.7 million deficit for the year ending in September 2004.

The reports prompted a sell-off in Livedoor shares, wiping about $300 million off its market value. The company's flamboyant chief executive, 33-year-old Takafumi Horie, has denied any wrongdoing. (New Livedoor allegations emerge)

The TSE's decision to suspend trading highlighted growing concerns about its computerized handling systems -- prompted by glitches such as a malfunction on November 1 that halted transactions for all but the final 90 minutes.

"It is an embarrassment for this to happen in the world's second-largest economy and that's the emotional aspect of the debate," Hideo Ueki, chief investment officer at UBS Global Asset Management Japan, told Reuters.

"I'm pretty sure the NYSE (the world's biggest exchange) has only had to shut down for snow or a black-out."

Wednesday's plunge was the second straight drop in the Nikkei. Some analysts said the Livedoor probe merely triggered a long-overdue correction in the market.

"While this was an abrupt drop, even if the Nikkei had broken under 15,000 it would have been a fall of around 10 percent. I think that is a completely natural correction," Hajime Yagi, general manager of Japanese equity investment at Meiji Dresdner Asset Management, told Reuters.

Added Hitoshi Yamamoto, president of Commerz International Capital Management: "I had expected a market correction of an almost 10 percent fall sometime between January and March.... The pace of the rally was too fast."

Panic selling shuts Tokyo exchange early (http://edition.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/01/18/asiastocks.wednesday/index.html)

Mine survivor awakening from coma
'Still a long way to go' for Randal McCloy

Wednesday, January 18, 2006; Posted: 2:16 p.m. EST (19:16 GMT)

Programming Note: Safety questions linger at the Sago Mine. We talk to miners who went back underground. Watch "Anderson Cooper 360°" live from West Virginia, 10 p.m. ET.

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia (CNN) -- More than two weeks after surviving a West Virginia coal mine explosion and 40 hours trapped underground, Randal McCloy is awakening from his coma, his neurosurgeon said on Wednesday.

"He is opening his eyes," said Dr. Julian Bailes, chairman of neurosurgery at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown. "He has purposeful movements. He responds to his family in slight ways. He moves all extremities."

Bailes said McCloy, 26, remains in a "light coma."

Asked how McCloy could have survived so long in the mine, his physician Larry Roberts said, "I think it may start with a miracle."

McCloy's family is welcoming his awakening, said family spokeswoman Aly Goodwin Gregg.

"They remain steadfast in focusing on his recovery and that he'll come out of it," she told reporters. "And they are encouraged by the news."

Because McCloy is among the longest-known survivors of carbon monoxide poisoning, Bailes said, "We are, in many ways, in uncharted territory in terms of predicting his recovery. But again we remain cautiously optimistic."

McCloy and 12 other miners were trapped January 2 after an explosion at Sago Mine in Tallmansville. Rescuers did not reach them for 41 hours.

McCloy suffered a collapsed lung, dehydration and carbon monoxide poisoning, which killed the 12 others.

"It has been only within the past several days that he has opened his eyes -- at first only when he was stimulated ... but now it's spontaneous," Bailes said.

"Now if you call his name, he will do it. He will track family members and they believe that he has some level of connectivity with them."

"If you put a piece of ice in his mouth he will take it and move it around with his tongue and swallow it and chew it and swallow it," he said.

"These are, we think, very important signs, perhaps, of an emergence. But we don't want to give false hope and we know that there is still a long way to go to making that recovery," Bailes said.

"Many people with severe carbon monoxide poisoning end up with severe cognitive, personality, memory, visual, motor response" problems, he said.

McCloy was moved out of the intensive care unit at the hospital about two days ago. Roberts said the miner is still undergoing dialysis for kidney damage he suffered. McCloy is breathing on his own and tolerating nutritional supplements being given to him through a feeding tube, he said.

"What we see for Randy in the next couple of weeks is slowly transitioning him to rehabilitation," Roberts said. "And it is very likely that within the next 10 days to two weeks we may be able to move him to a rehabilitation facility for the services that they can provide."

The miners who died were remembered Sunday at a Buckhannon memorial service where more than 1,800 people gathered.

McCloy's wife, Anna, attended the memorial service and was the first of the miners' families to light 13 candles of honor. West Virginia first lady Gayle Manchin handed each family a statue of a coal miner.

Mine survivor awakening from coma (http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/18/miner/index.html)

'Only a matter of time before terrorists use weapons of mass destruction'

By Con Coughlin

Biological weapons pose a far more serious long-term terrorist threat to the West than nuclear weapons, according to Washington's leading counter-terrorism expert.

And Henry "Hank" Crumpton, the newly-appointed head of counter-terrorism at the US State Department, believes that it is simply a matter of time before international terrorist groups such as al-Qa'eda acquire weapons of mass destruction and use them in attacks.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Crumpton, who previously spent 20 years working for the Central Intelligence Agency, warned yesterday that the "war on terror" was likely to last for decades.

"This threat has changed the way we will fight wars in the future," he said.

"We are talking about micro targets such as al-Qa'eda which, when combined with WMD, have a macro impact. I rate the probability of terror groups using WMD [to attack Western targets] as very high. It is simply a question of time.

"And it is not just the nuclear threat that bothers me. I think, if anything, the biological threat is going to grow.

"As catastrophic as a nuclear attack would be, it would be self-contained. But if you look at a worst-case scenario for a biological attack, it would be difficult to determine whether or not it was a terrorist attack, and it would be far more difficult to contain."

After the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, Mr Crumpton, who was then a senior CIA officer, played a leading role in the campaign to overthrow the Taliban and destroy al-Qa'eda's operational infrastructure in Afghanistan, which relied heavily on covert operations.

After the war, allied forces found that al-Qa'eda had been working on anthrax programmes that it intended to use on western targets.

"They had hired a very experienced biologist to work on this. They were very serious about it and there is no reason to believe they have given up on their interest."

The fear that terrorist groups might be able to acquire WMD from rogue states such as Iran or Syria explains Washington's determination to confront Iran over its nuclear programme.

"If we look at the threat posed by Iran, they have links with Hizbollah [the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim militia], which is a terrorist organisation with global reach, and they are actively pursuing WMD. And the leadership has made a conscious decision to defy international treaties. I am deeply troubled by this."

As for taking action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Mr Crumpton insisted that "every option is on the table" - including military action.

"I would not rule out anything because of the particularly grave threat that we are facing," he said.

In a distinguished career with the CIA, during which he won four of the agency's highest awards, Mr Crumpton was a key figure in its covert operations against al-Qa'eda pre-September 11.

Referred to simply as "Henry" in the 9/11 Commission Report, Mr Crumpton tried to persuade the CIA to do more in Afghanistan to hunt down Osama bin Laden before the attacks, but two key proposals to tackle al-Qa'eda were turned down.

After the September 11 attacks, in which he lost many close friends, he was initially overwhelmed by sorrow.

"But that sorrow was soon replaced by anger, anger that al-Qa'eda could do this to innocent people - and the anger lasted for more than a year."

Mr Crumpton stresses the coalition's achievements in disrupting bin Laden's network. In his view, al-Qa'eda's infrastructure has been so badly damaged that it is now struggling to control the groups that would like to support it.

"They can't communicate with their supporters unless the odd courier breaks through. They can't get access to money and things like that. We have made life very difficult for them."

But despite the initial success achieved during the Afghan war in 2001, he expressed disappointment with the support Washington had received from its European allies since hostilities ended. "The job was not finished and it is not finished now." Bin Laden, who escaped to Pakistan, was "in all probability" still alive, he said.

The regime of President Assad in Syria also seriously threatens western security, he says. "The regime continues to support terror organisations. And we know that the Baathist leadership fled to Damascus taking with them money and terrorist expertise, and we cannot rule out the fact that some of that expertise related to WMD."
__________________________________________________________________________ _______________

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2006.

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Iranian President Cements Syrian Alliance

By ALBERT AJI, Associated Press Writer Thu Jan 19, 10:26 AM ET

DAMASCUS, Syria - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began a visit to Syria Thursday to consolidate an old alliance made increasingly crucial as both countries face mounting U.S. pressure and the threat of international sanctions.

Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar Assad were expected to talk about Iran's standoff with the West over its nuclear program and the threat to refer it to the U.N. Security Council, as well as Syria's own troubles over a U.N. investigation that implicated it in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister.

Bilateral economic, industrial and cultural agreements also were expected to be discussed during the two-day visit.

Syria is Iran's closest Arab ally. The two countries have had close relations since 1980 when Syria sided with Iran against
Iraq at the start of the Iran-Iraq war.

On the eve of the visit, Ahmadinejad described bilateral relations as "strong and good."

Both countries share to a certain extent similar foreign policy objectives: opposition to what they describe as U.S. attempts to dominate the Middle East, hostility toward Israel and support for Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups fighting the Jewish state.

Ahmadinejad's visit comes at a very delicate time for both nations.

Iran's insistence to proceed with its peaceful nuclear activities have raised great concern in the European Union and the United States, which have been pushing for referring the issue to the Security Council, a first step toward possible sanctions.

Syria faces international accusations of failing to fully cooperate with the U.N. investigation into last year's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Investigators have implicated Syrian officials and now want to interview Assad and his foreign minister. Damascus has denied any role in the killing.

Syria sits on the 35-nation International Atomic Energy Agency board, which meets on Feb. 2 for a vote on whether to refer Tehran to the Security Council.

Ahmadinejad on Wednesday accused the West of acting like the "lord of the world" in denying his country peaceful use of nuclear energy. But the United States and other countries are suspicious that Iran is planning on develop nuclear arms.

Iranian President Cements Syrian Alliance (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060119/ap_on_re_mi_ea/syria_iran;_ylt=ArSvnVHVCU3ToG0qrdcM3CELewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--)

Bin Laden Threatens Attacks, Offers Truce

By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 15 minutes ago

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden warned in an audiotape aired Thursday that his fighters are preparing new attacks in the United States but offered the American people a "long-term truce" without specifying the conditions.

The tape, portions of which were aired on Al-Jazeera television, was the first from the al-Qaida leader in more than a year. It came only days after a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan that targeted bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, and reportedly killed four leading al-Qaida figures, possibly including al-Zawahri's son-in-law.

There was no mention of that attack in the tape, which Al-Jazeera said was recorded in January. The network initially reported it believed the tape was made in December, but later corrected itself on the air. Editors at the station said they could not comment on how they knew when it was made.

The CIA has authenticated the voice on the tape as that of bin Laden, an agency official said. The al-Qaida leader is believed to be hiding in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Beyond confirming that bin Laden remains alive, the tape could be aimed at projecting an image of strength to al-Qaida sympathizers and portray the group as still capable of launching attacks despite blows against it, analysts said.

The White House rejected the truce offer.

The United States will not let up in the war on terror despite bin Laden's latest threats, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "We do not negotiate with terrorists," McClellan said. "We put them out of business."

U.S. counterterror officials said Thursday they have seen no specific or credible intelligence to indicate an impending al-Qaida attack on the United States. The Homeland Security Department has no immediate plans to raise the national terror alert, spokesman Russ Knocke said.

In the tape, bin Laden spoke in a soft voice, as he has in previous recordings, but his tone was flatter than in the past and had an echo, as if recorded indoors. He presented his message with a combination of threats, vows his followers can fight forever and a tone of reconciliation, insisting he wants to offer a way to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He even recommended a book for Americans to read — "The Rogue State," apparently a book of the same title by American author William Blum. He said it offers the path to peace — that America must apologize to victims of the wars and promise never to "interfere" in other nations — though it was not clear if these were conditions for the truce.

Bin Laden said he decided to make a statement to the American people because he said President Bush was pushing ahead despite polls which showed "an overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq."

He said the Bush administration was lying about victories in the Iraq war. Bin Laden insisted the insurgents will eventually win the conflict, which he said is only strengthening the cause of the "mujahedeen," or holy warriors.

But he said that even if the U.S. does prevail in the war, "the nights and days will not pass without us taking vengeance like on Sept. 11, God permitting."

He warned that security measures in the West and the United States could not prevent attacks there, citing the July 7 bombings in London that killed 56 people.

"The delay in similar operations happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures," he said. "The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through (with preparations), with God's permission."

He offered a "long-term truce with fair conditions that we adhere to. ... Both sides can enjoy security and stability under this truce so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been destroyed in this war.

"There is no shame in this solution, which prevents the wasting of billions of dollars that have gone to those with influence and merchants of war in America," he said.

Bin Laden then made an oblique reference to how to prevent new attacks on the United States.

He told Americans that "if you are sincere in your desire for peace and security, we have answered you. And if Bush decides to carry on with his lies and oppression, then it would be useful for you to read the book 'The Rogue State.'"

He said the book reads in its introduction, "If I were president, I would stop the attacks on the United States: First I would give an apology to all the widows and orphans and those who were tortured. Then I would announce that American interference in the nations of the world has ended."

The Associated Press found a nearly identical passage in another book by Blum: "Freeing The World To Death: Essays on the American Empire," published in 2004. The passage could not, however, be found in the latest edition of "The Rogue State."

The tape ended the longest silence from bin Laden since the Sept. 11 attacks, a lull which had raised speculation over his fate.

The last audiotape purported to be from bin Laden was broadcast in December 2004 by Al-Jazeera. In that recording, he endorsed Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq and called for a boycott of Iraqi elections.

Previously, the longest period without a message from the al-Qaida leader was from December 2001 to November 2002. He issued numerous tapes in 2003 and 2004, calling for Muslims to attack U.S. interests and threatening attacks against the United States.

Bin Laden appeared in a video released October 2004, just ahead of U.S. presidential elections, saying the United States could avoid another Sept. 11 attack if it stops threatening the security of Muslims.

In an April 15, 2004, audiotape, he vowed revenge against the United States for Israel's assassination of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin — and at the same time offered a truce to European countries.

Since December 2004, al-Zawahri, the al-Qaida Number 2, has issued a number of video and audiotapes, including one claiming responsibility for the London attacks, which he said came after Europe rejected the terms of bin Laden's truce offer.

Al-Jazeera's editor in chief Ahmed al-Sheik would not comment on when or where the latest tape was received.

Jeremy Bennie, a terrorism analyst for Jane's Defense Weekly, said bin Laden appeared to be "playing the peacemaker, the more statesmanlike character" with his offer of a truce.

"They want to promote the image that they can launch attacks if and when it suits them," he said. "They want us to believe they are in control," he said.

The mention of rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan may be a recognition of divisions among the ranks of Islamic militants over the insurgency in Iraq by bin Laden's ally, al-Zarqawi, who has come under criticism by some radicals for attacks on Iraqi civilians.

Former White House anti-terrorism chief Richard A. Clarke said "the initial significance of this (tape) is that he's still alive."

Beyond that, he told the AP, "the only new element in his statement is that they are planning an attack soon on the United States.

"Would he say that and risk being proved wrong, if he can't pull it off in a month or so?" Clarke asked.

The truce offer may be aimed at making bin Laden "look more reasonable in Arab and Muslim eyes. He's a very sophisticated reader of world opinion and American opinion, and he obviously knows he can't affect American thinking. He's too reviled," he said.

Bin Laden Threatens Attacks, Offers Truce (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060120/ap_on_re_mi_ea/al_qaida_bin_laden;_ylt=AuQhwSQxemTCVxtfsDvr9kwUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

My note; And violate every princable he has, I don't think so.

Top court orders more hearings on abortion law
Reuters

WASHINGTON - In its first abortion ruling in more than five years, the U.S. Supreme Court said on Wednesday that a lower court should not have struck down a state law requiring parental notice before a minor's abortion because only part of it raised constitutional problems.

"We do not revisit our abortion precedents today," retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the unanimous high court in sending the case back for more hearings.

She said that invalidating the entire New Hampshire law, as a U.S. appeals court had done, was not always necessary or justified when only one part of the law failed to provide for access to an abortion in some medical emergencies.

O'Connor said lower courts in such cases, when considering whether enforcement of just the medical emergency aspect might be unconstitutional, may be able to solve that narrow legal problem without invalidating the entire law.

A federal judge and a U.S. appeals court declared the entire New Hampshire law unconstitutional because it lacked provisions for an exception involving a medical emergency. The law, adopted in 2003, has never been enforced.

Abortion has been one of the nine-member court's most contentious and divisive issues. O'Connor, a moderate conservative who has voted to uphold abortion rights, has said she will leave the court when her successor is confirmed by the Senate, which could happen later this month.

Senate Democrats fear that Judge Samuel Alito, nominated by President George W. Bush to replace O'Connor, and new Chief Justice John Roberts, another Bush appointee, will vote to allow new restrictions on abortion.

'BLUNT REMEDY'

The New Hampshire law requires that a parent be notified 48 hours before a daughter under age 18 has an abortion. It includes an alternative procedure to seek a judge's approval to end the pregnancy. It provides an exception when the minor's life is in danger, but not for non-life-threatening medical emergencies.

"Only a few applications of New Hampshire's parental notification statute would present a constitutional problem," O'Connor said in the 10-page opinion.

O'Connor said the lower courts in the New Hampshire case adopted the most blunt remedy possibly. She said an injunction could be entered barring enforcement of the law's unconstitutional applications.

O'Connor said New Hampshire's has conceded that under Supreme Court precedent it would be unconstitutional to apply the law in a manner that subjects minors to significant health risks.

Although the court disposed of the New Hampshire law on narrow grounds, the justices may soon address another abortion controversy.

The Bush administration has pending before the high court an appeal urging the justices to uphold a federal law that bans certain abortion procedures.

At issue is a U.S. appeals court ruling that declared the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 unconstitutional because it lacks an exception to protect the health of a pregnant woman.

Top court orders more hearings on abortion law (http://www.worthynews.com/news/abcnews-go-com-Politics-print-id-1518011/)

Pastor Calls for Boycott of Firms Over Gay-Rights Bill

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A pastor on Monday called for a national boycott of Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and other companies that support a gay civil rights bill, saying the corporations have underestimated the power of religious consumers.

The Rev. Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Bible Church in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, said he would formally issue the boycott Thursday on the conservative radio show Focus on the Family.

"We're tired of sitting around thinking that morals can be ignored in our country," he said. "This is not a threat, this is a promise. Check out the past presidential election. We made the moral issue the No. 1 issue."

Last week, several companies, including Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett Packard Co., Microsoft Corp., Boeing Co., and Nike Inc. signed a letter urging passage of the measure, which would add "sexual orientation" to a Washington state law that already bans discrimination in housing, employment and insurance based on race, gender, age, disability, religion, marital status and other factors.

Microsoft is restoring its support for the proposal a year after the company was denounced for quietly dropping its endorsement.

Hutcherson, who has organized anti-gay-marriage rallies in Seattle and Washington, D.C., says he pressured Microsoft into dropping its support for the bill last year by threatening a boycott.

The company, which was criticized by gay activists across the country, insisted it took a neutral stance to focus on other issues but later said it would support the measure in the future.

Asked about the boycott Monday, Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos said the company would not change its position. He declined to comment further.

Boeing spokesman Peter Conte said the company had no plans to withdraw its support for the legislation.

"The position that we have taken is one that we do feel strongly about," he said. "It is entirely consistent with our own internal practices and policies."

Other companies did not return phone calls on Monday.

The bill has been introduced — and rejected — annually for nearly 30 years in the Legislature.

The state House last year passed the bill 61-37. But it lost by one vote in the Senate. The measure is believed to have a better chance of passage this year because a Republican senator has announced he would switch his vote to yes.

Pastor Calls for Boycott of Firms Over Gay-Rights Bill (http://www.worthynews.com/news/foxnews-com-printer_friendly_story-0,3566,182031,00-html/)

Bin Laden breaks silence and warns US of new attacks
By Anton La Guardia and Alec Russell in Washington
(Filed: 20/01/2006)

Osama bin Laden broke his 13-month silence yesterday when a new audio tape gave warning of impending attacks on the US, but offered the Americans a "long-term truce" if they stopped fighting "Muslims on Muslim land".

Al-Jazeera, which broadcast the poor quality recording, said it appeared to have been made in December.

Last night the CIA said the tape was genuine, confirming that it was the first sign of life from the leader of the al-Qa'eda terrorist network since an audio recording in December 2004.

The voice sounded weak. There has been growing speculation about the fate of bin Laden, who has been rumoured to be ill or dead for months.

The release of the recording may be an attempt by al-Qa'eda to show that it has not been weakened by last week's air strike on a remote Pakistani village. Pakistani officials said four or five senior al-Qa'eda figures were killed alongside 13 villagers.

Claiming victory in Iraq and Afghanistan, bin Laden boasted of the suicide bombings in Madrid and London and said America would not be spared. "The delay in similar operations happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures.

"The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through [with preparations], with God willing."

Bin Laden said he was ready to offer the US a "truce" in response to opinion polls showing that Americans were weary of the war in Iraq.

"The war is still raging. The operations in Afghanistan are increasing all the time on our side. The Pentagon says the number if your dead and injured is rising, and there are your huge financial loses."

He tried to horrify Americans by describing "the psychological state of a soldier who must collect the body parts of colleagues who have stepped on landmines that have torn them apart".

In Washington, officials said that the security alert levels would not be changed as a result of the broadcast.

The White House insisted last night that the tape was a sign of al-Qa'eda's desperation, not its vitality.

"Clearly the al-Qa'eda leaders and other terrorists are on the run, they're under a lot of pressure. We do not negotiate with terrorists, we put them out of business," said Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman.

Previous video-tapes of bin Laden, with their reminder of the September 11 attacks, have tended to help President George W Bush. The al-Qa'eda's last apparent appeal to Americans on the eve of the 2004 election was widely deemed to have won votes for Mr Bush.

But 15 months later the national mood has changed amid concern over the casualties in Iraq and scepticism over Mr Bush's strategy there. The White House wasted no time yesterday in seeking to blunt its critics who suggest that the failure to find bin Laden undercuts any achievements in the last four years against terrorism.

Vice President Dick Cheney said the presence of bin Laden was evidence of an ever-present danger. "It seems more than obvious to say that our nation is at risk of attack." He condemned the "mindset" of the administration's opponents in Washington who, he suggested, had forgotten the lessons of September 11.

"Obviously no one can guarantee that we won't be hit again," he said. "Our nation has been protected by more than luck. It is no accident that we haven't been hit for more than four years."

Bin Laden breaks silence and warns US of new attacks (http://www.worthynews.com/news/news-telegraph-co-uk-core-Content-displayPrintable-jhtml-xml--news-2006-01-20-wladen20-xml-site-5/)

France's Chirac Issues Nuclear Warning

Thursday, January 19, 2006

BERLIN — President Jacques Chirac warned Thursday that France could respond with nuclear weapons against any state-sponsored terrorist attack, broadening the terms of French deterrence to adapt to new threats.

The warning came as France works with other Western nations to ensure that Iran does not become a nuclear power, but officials and experts said Chirac's comments were not aimed specifically at Iran.

"Nuclear deterrence ... is not aimed at dissuading fanatic terrorists," Chirac said in a speech delivered at a nuclear submarine base in western France.

"Leaders of states who would use terrorist means against us, just like anyone who would envisage using, in one way or another, arms of mass destruction, must understand that they would expose themselves to a firm and fitting response from us," he said. "This response could be conventional. It could also be of another nature."

France's nuclear arsenal is considered a purely dissuasive means to protect the nation's vital interests and is not intended for regular combat.

However, in his speech, Chirac addressed new threats in the post-Cold War world, namely from regional powers. He did not explain what he meant by regional powers. But officials close to the president and experts said he was not singling out Iran, which alarmed Western nations last week by restarting nuclear activity after a 2 1/2-year freeze.

"In numerous countries, radical ideas are spreading, advocating a confrontation of civilizations," he said, adding "odious attacks" could escalate to "other yet more serious forms involving states."

He said nuclear warheads have been reduced on some missiles on France's four nuclear-armed submarines with the aim of targeting specific power centers rather than risk wholesale destruction in an enemy country.

"Against a regional power, our choice is not between inaction and destruction," Chirac said. "The flexibility and reactiveness of our strategic forces allow us to respond directly on the centers of power."

Chirac was speaking at a western base with the 110-strong crew manning The Vigilant — one of the four nuclear-armed vessels. Submarines carry 85 percent of French nuclear warheads.

France's Chirac Issues Nuclear Warning (http://www.worthynews.com/news/foxnews-com-printer_friendly_story-0,3566,182213,00-html/)

Purported Tape of Al-Zawahri Posted on Web

By OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 8 minutes ago

CAIRO, Egypt - An audiotape from al-Qaida's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, was posted Friday on an Islamic Web site, but U.S. officials said the recording does not appear to have been made recently and may even date back years.

In the audiotape, al-Zawahri read a poem praising "martyrs of holy war" in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

The tape made no mention of a Jan. 13 U.S. airstrike in Pakistan that was targeting al-Zawahri and killed four al-Qaida leaders.

The CIA verified the voice as al-Zawahri following a technical analysis, an agency official said.

It was unclear when the recording was made, although the poem referred to Afghanistan martyrs in the period during Northern Alliance action against the Taliban that followed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the CIA official said.

The officials at two U.S. counterterror agencies who said the tape appeared old spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss the matter on the record.

Al-Zawahri was not believed to have been among those killed in the Jan. 13 strike. If the tape is new and authentic, it would be al-Zawahri's first statement since the attack.

The 17-minute tape was posted on an Islamic militant Web forum a day after al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden released his first audiotape in more than a year, threatening new attacks in the United States and offering Americans a conditional truce.

The purported al-Zawahri tape made no statement, and instead the voice on it was heard reading a long poem honoring "martyrs of jihad," or holy war.

He dedicated the poem to "all Muslim brothers everywhere, to the mujahedeen (holy warrior) brothers in Islam's fortified borderlines against the Zionist-Crusader campaign in Palestine and Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya."

He said the poem had reminded him of colleagues who died in the jihadist cause, mentioning several by name — but not including any of the figures believed killed in the Pakistan strike.

The Web forum where the tape was posted and other similar ones often carry statements from al-Qaida and other militant groups, but participants also often post old recordings.

The Jan. 13 airstrike hit a building in the Pakistani village of Damadola, where Pakistani authorities suspect al-Qaida operatives were gathered to plan attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thirteen villagers were killed. Officials believe at least four foreign militants also may have died, including a son-in-law of al-Zawahri.

Purported Tape of Al-Zawahri Posted on Web (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060121/ap_on_re_mi_ea/al_qaida_zawahri_8;_ylt=AsMj.7YiwJSx8BK6eDwlfzF2wPIE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--)

U.S. Rejects Any 'Truce' With Bin Laden

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 20, 10:35 AM ET

WASHINGTON - Rejecting a suggestion by Osama bin Laden of a negotiated truce in the war on terror, Vice President Dick Cheney said there was only one way to deal with terrorists. "I think you have to destroy them," Cheney said.
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The vague offer of a truce — coupled with a threat of another attack on the U.S. — was made in an audiotape released by the Arab television network Al-Jazeera. It brought new attention to the al-Qaida leader after a yearlong lull in his public statements.

U.S. security officials said Thursday there were currently no plans to raise the nation's security threat level because of the new tape.

Counterterror officials said they have seen no specific or credible intelligence to indicate an upcoming al-Qaida attack. Nor have they noticed an uptick in terrorist communications "chatter" — although that can dramatically increase or decrease immediately before an attack.

On the tape, bin Laden warned that his fighters are preparing new attacks in the United States but offered the American people a "long-term truce" without specifying the conditions.

But Cheney, in a television interview, rejected that suggestion, saying "We don't negotiate with terrorists."

"I think you have to destroy them," he told Fox News Channel. "It's the only way to deal with them."

The tape prompted increased security at Los Angeles International Airport and other precautions at the city's port and water and power facilities.

The FBI has asked the 103 joint terrorism task forces and intelligence units at its 56 field offices to re-examine its cases and investigative leads in light of the bin Laden tape.

The national terror threat level currently stands at yellow, the middle of five grades, signifying an elevated risk of attack. The government has raised the alert level to orange, signaling a high threat risk, seven times since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"At this time, we lack corroborating information suggesting that al-Qaida is prepared to attack the United States in the near term," said Homeland Security spokeswoman Michelle Petrovich. "But we recognize that al-Qaida remains committed to striking the homeland."

The tape, which Al-Jazeera said was recorded this month, represents bin Laden's first public communication since December 2004. Since then, al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, has served as the terror network's public face.

The recording was released only days after U.S. missile attacks in Pakistan that Pakistani officials said killed four senior al-Qaida operatives.

CIA analysts verified the recording as bin Laden's voice. They offered no details about how they reached that conclusion, but in the past the agency has verified authenticity in part by comparing new recordings to earlier messages.

In the tape, bin Laden spoke in a soft voice, as he has in previous recordings, but his tone was flatter than in the past and had an echo, as if recorded indoors. He presented his message with a combination of threats, vows his followers can fight forever and a tone of reconciliation, insisting he wants to offer a way to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He even recommended a book for Americans to read — "The Rogue State," apparently a book of the same title by American author William Blum. He said it offers the path to peace — that America must apologize to victims of the wars and promise never to "interfere" in other nations — though it was not clear if these were conditions for the truce.

Cheney said the tape showed that al-Qaida has been hobbled, because "they didn't have the ability to do anything on video" and because it had been so long since bin Laden had been heard from.

Still, "I think we have to assume that the threat is going to continue for a considerable period of time." the vice president said. "Even if bin Laden were no longer to be a factor, I still think we'd have problems with al-Qaida."

Homeland Security officials alerted states about bin Laden's comments in a routine call Thursday morning, Petrovich said.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said city police deployed additional resources at their airport and "posted signage indicating that bomb sniffing dogs and searches will occur frequently." He described the measures as precautionary.

Sharon Gang, a spokeswoman for District of Columbia Mayor Anthony A. Williams, said the capital was not raising its terror alert level.

U.S. Rejects Any 'Truce' With Bin Laden (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060120/ap_on_go_ot/us_al_qaida_tape;_ylt=AkUq6aZJ.U7XR8HrlG3iRkdvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--)

Man Who Shot Pope Headed Back to Prison

By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 20, 4:40 PM ET

ANKARA, Turkey - Police took the man who shot Pope John Paul II back into custody Friday after an appeals court ordered him to return to prison to serve more time for killing a journalist and for other crimes in Turkey.

Mehmet Ali Agca did not resist arrest after eight days of freedom, and he was taken to police headquarters in Istanbul, where TV cameras showed him handcuffed and yelling in English, Turkish and Italian.

"I declare myself Messiah! I am not the son of God, I am Messiah!" shouted Agca, who has made similar outbursts in the past.

When police knocked on the door of his apartment earlier Friday, Agca told them: "I was waiting for you," according to private NTV television.

Agca served 19 years in prison in Italy for shooting the pope on May 13, 1981, and 5 1/2 years of a 10-year sentence in Turkey for the murder of journalist Abdi Ipekci in 1979.

In a decision that outraged many Turks, a local court had ordered his release from an Istanbul prison on Jan. 12, counting his time served in Italy as part of his sentence. Friday's ruling overturned that decision, saying there "is no legal basis" for deducting Agca's time served in Italy from his Turkish sentence.

It was up to the local court to decide how many more years Agca, 48, would have to serve. Reports suggested he could be imprisoned until 2014.

"We're respectful of all decisions by Turkish courts," Agca's lawyer, Mustafa Demirbag, told private NTV television earlier Friday.

The anger over Agca's release came at a delicate time for Turkey, which aspires to membership in the European Union. Next week, the EU is to begin screening the country's justice system.

"There was certainly quite a lot of public outcry in Turkey itself, and a state of unhappiness in general about the legal system," said political analyst Ilter Turan. "There was a general expectation that he (Agca) would be called back to jail."

Responding to the criticism, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek earlier this week had asked the appeals court to annul Agca's release, arguing he should serve a full 10-year sentence from June 14, 2000, when he was extradited to Turkey for killing Ipekci.

Agca also had been convicted of robbing a factory and commandeering a vehicle in 1979 — and could also separately serve four years for those crimes.

He already had served five months for the killing Ipekci before escaping a military prison in 1979.

Although a military court had ordered Agca's execution for killing Ipekci, a 1991 amnesty commuted that sentence to 10 years. He later benefited from a second amnesty in 2000, which deducted 10 years from his time.

Its ruling Friday, the appeals court said Agca could benefit only from the 1991 amnesty.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Justice Ministry has "fulfilled its responsibility."

Agca shot John Paul as the pope rode in an open car in St. Peter's Square and was captured immediately. The pontiff was hit in the abdomen, left hand and right arm, but recovered because the bullets missed his vital organs.

John Paul later visited Agca in prison in 1983 and forgave him.

Agca's release from prison had prompted little Vatican comment.

"The case is fully in the hands of the Turkish justice system," the Rev. Robert Necek told The Associated Press on Friday after the latest legal development. Necek is spokesman for Krakow Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, who was John Paul's personal secretary for more than 40 years until the pontiff's death last year.

Before he shot the pope, Agca was affiliated with the Gray Wolves, a Turkish right-wing militant group.

Man Who Shot Pope Headed Back to Prison (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060120/ap_on_re_mi_ea/turkey_pope_gunman;_ylt=AtgBqd0Okh8JwCqNNoT3rvoUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NTMzazIyBHNlYwMxNjk2)

Bin Laden sends message to UN

By ROLAND FLAMINI
UPI Chief International Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- A copy of Osama bin Laden's latest audiotape was delivered to a U.N. office in Quetta, Pakistan, and is being studied by the world organization's officials, a well placed source told United Press International Friday. He said the U.N. High Commission for Refugees in Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan, received the tape on Monday and sent it on to the U.N. headquarters in New York.

U.N. officials familiar with the tape say the message appears to be identical to the one broadcast by Al-Jazeera television Thursday, according to the source who asked not to be identified firstly because he is not a media spokesperson, and also because the United Nations has not confirmed that it was on Osama bin-Laden's distribution list. In fact, Stephan Dujarric, the Secretary-General's spokesman, denied that the United Nations had received a tape, but the source said, "Actually, there are a couple more copies of the tape going around besides the ones sent to the U.N. and Al-Jazeera." However, he did not have details.

Another U.N. office in Quetta subsequently received a telephone threat supposed to have come from al-Qaida, and all U.N. staffers were immediately withdrawn from Baluchistan province for their protection.

As far as is known this is the first time that a tape from bin Laden or any other al-Qaida figure has been sent directly to the United Nations, and the speculation is that the terrorist leader is trying to draw the world organization into a discussion on his vague carrot-and-stick offer of a truce to the American people. According to the Al-Jazeera version of the tape, Bin Laden's message -- his first public utterance in just over a year -- proposes "a long-term truce based on fair conditions, which we will abide by," if U.S. troops are withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The conditions are not specified, and he also threatens more attacks on the United States, which he says are "under preparation." He adds: "You will see them in your homes the minute they are ready, God willing."

U.S. intelligence analysts have pronounced the tape authentic and that Al-Jazeera's estimate that it was made some time in December is probably right. The Bush administration promptly rejected the truce offer. White House spokesman Scott McClennan said Thursday, "We don't negotiate with terrorists. We put them out of business." Vice-President Dick Cheney, speaking on the Fox News Channel, called it "some kind of a ploy. This is not an organization that's ever going to sit down and sign a truce."

Bin Laden may be counting on his offer being viewed differently in the United Nations, where the U.S. presence in Iraq is widely unpopular. The architect of 9/11 himself may be beyond the pale, but the idea of a truce with his organization could garner some support. Moreover, if bin Laden is trying to appear statesmanlike it makes sense to establish contact with the United Nations. Bin Laden has tried the carrot and stick technique once before. In April 2004, in a videotape released after the March 11 bombing of commuter trains in Madrid, he said, "Al-Qaida will stop operations against any (European) state which vows to stop attacking Muslims or interfere in their affairs."

This time, however, the offer is more specific, relating to a situation that is widely debated both within the United States and outside it.

Bin Laden sends message to UN (http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20060120-050311-1909r)

Republicans Are Barbarians, Communist Is "True Patriot"
Mithridate Ombud on January 15, 2006 - 19:12.

Robyn Blumner, former ACLU Director turned St. Petersburg Times columnist argues for giving a communist the Presidential Medal of Freedom in an article titled "America loses a true patriot."

Frank Wilkinson is not a man to whom President Bush would ever have considered awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom, yet he was more deserving than most who receive it. Wilkinson died earlier this month, just when the nation needs him most. He was 91. He had lived long enough to see all the work he did in fighting against warrantless domestic surveillance start to unravel. Maybe he died of a broken heart.

I knew Wilkinson through his work with the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation, an organization he directed and helped found. In 1952, Wilkinson was summoned before California's version of [House Un-American Activities Committee]. When he refused to tell the committee the extent of his associations, he was branded a Communist (which he was) and drummed out of his job.

In 1942, when Nazi's were goose-stepping all over the world, this man decided to join with the communists and stuck with it for 33 years. Ms. Blumner thinks he is more deserving than "most" Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients? I'd like to see which 51% she is talking about.

All Wilkinson did was stand for the freedoms that this nation promises in its founding documents.

All of them except the right to own property, the right to vote (and impeach), and that little squib about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Ms. Blumner should have the honesty to differentiate between exploiting our cherished rights in an effort to subvert the country and actually desiring those rights for all. Now we know where the ACLU was schooled.

Had Wilkinson's "free speech" been successful, what would the United States be today? As a communist country, would we still enjoy free speech? Or would many of us have been culled like the 20 million communist Stalin killed? Where was the free speech when communist China killed millions more in the cultural revolution? Was Pol Pot for free speech?

Where is the great honor Ms. Blumner sees in a man trying to spearhead a push towards mass oppression?

He must have been equally distressed by the dismantling of those protections by President Bush and his attorneys general. With Wilkinson's passing, a true patriot has left us. Now what do we do about the barbarians at the gate?

I see. Republicans are barbarians and communists are the true patriots. Congratulations to this St. Petersburg, Florida newspaper for holding a love of the ideals of communism far longer than St. Petersburg, Russia ever did. Does the rhetoric and ideology of this ACLU activist represent the voice of the citizens who read her paper? I hope not.

Ms. Blumner should know by the time Wilkinson was called to testify in 1952, the "NSA spying" she mentions was a program already five years old.

No reputation remake planned for Judas: Vatican

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor Fri Jan 20, 12:38 PM ET

PARIS (Reuters) - Despite reports to the contrary, the Roman Catholic Church is not planning to rehabilitate Judas Iscariot, the Biblical figure who betrayed Jesus and gave his name to generations of traitors, a Vatican official has said.

The name Judas, his reward of 30 pieces of silver and the kiss he gave Jesus to identify him to Roman soldiers have been symbols of treachery in Western culture for two millennia. In Dante's Inferno, he languishes in the lowest circle of Hell.

But the disgraced apostle raises a difficult question for theologians -- if Jesus was supposed to die on the cross as part of a larger divine plan, did Judas not simply play his part in the drama by turning him over to the Roman occupiers?

And is Christianity not supposed to be about forgiveness?

The Times of London reported last week that Vatican historian Walter Brandmueller wanted to rehabilitate Judas and present his act as "fulfilling his part in God's plan."

The story sparked lively chatter on the Internet. The Toronto Star daily asked: "Ready to rethink the fink (villain)?"

"This news has no foundation," Brandmueller, head of the Pontifical Committee of Historical Sciences, said.

"I can't imagine where this idea came from," he told the Rome-based Catholic news agency Zenit this week.

Judas was one of Jesus's 12 apostles. In the Bible's New Testament, the Gospel of St. Matthew says he quickly regretted his treachery, returned the silver to the Jewish chief priests who gave it to him and hanged himself.

LONG-LOST MANUSCRIPT

One reason why interest in Judas has suddenly arisen is that a long-lost "Gospel of Judas," an apocryphal or inauthentic account of Jesus's life, is due to be published this spring.

The New Testament contains four Gospels -- by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- but many more were written in the century or two after Christ's death and attributed to apostles such as Thomas and Philip or to his female follower Mary Magdelene.

Many were written by Gnostics, early Christian heretics who believed that secret knowledge was the key to eternal salvation.

The original second century Greek manuscript of the Gospel of Judas was lost long ago but an ancient Coptic translation found in Egypt is now being translated by a Swiss foundation.

There has been speculation that any text purporting to be written by Judas would show him in a better light and prompt a rethink of his reputation, but New Testament experts are wary.

"Until we see the text, we won't know exactly what it says, but it seems to be a Gnostic writing and unlikely to change our view of what happened back then," said Richard Dillon, theology professor at Fordham University in New York.

Some experts argue that rehabilitating Judas could help Vatican relations with Judaism, since anti-Semites sometimes use his story to condemn all Jews, but Brandmueller did not agree.

"The dialogue between the Holy See and the Jews continues profitably on other bases," he told Zenit.

No reputation remake planned for Judas: Vatican (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060120/wl_nm/religion_vatican_judas_dc;_ylt=AtnlX_mJ3xF9zW6pxfOO3zBvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--)

Talk of Military Action in Iran Standoff

By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 17 minutes ago

JERUSALEM - Israel's defense minister hinted Saturday that the Jewish state is preparing for military action to stop Iran's nuclear program, but said international diplomacy must be the first course of action.

"Israel will not be able to accept an Iranian nuclear capability and it must have the capability to defend itself, with all that that implies, and this we are preparing," Shaul Mofaz said.

His comments at an academic conference stopped short of overtly threatening a military strike but were likely to add to growing tensions with Iran.

Germany's defense minister said in an interview published Saturday that he is hopeful of a diplomatic solution to the impasse over Iran's nuclear program, but argued that "all options" should remain open.

Asked by the Bild am Sonntag weekly whether the threat of a military solution should remain in place, Franz Josef Jung was quoted as responding: "Yes, we need all options."

French President Jacques Chirac said Thursday that France could respond with nuclear weapons against any state-sponsored terrorist attack.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Saturday that Chirac's threats reflect the true intentions of nuclear nations, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

"The French president uncovered the covert intentions of nuclear powers in using this lever (nuclear weapons) to determine political games," IRNA quoted Asefi as saying.

Israel long has identified Iran as its biggest threat and accuses Tehran of pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran says its atomic program is peaceful.

Iran broke U.N. seals at a uranium enrichment plant Jan. 10 and said it was resuming nuclear research after a 2 1/2-year freeze. Germany, France and Britain said two days later that talks aimed at halting Iran's nuclear progress were at a dead end and called for Iran's referral to the U.N. Security Council.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, will meet Feb. 2 to discuss possible referral.

Israel's Mofaz said sanctions and international oversight of Iran's nuclear program stood as the "correct policy at this time."

In Germany, Jung called himself "confident that there will be a diplomatic solution in the case of Iran."

Israeli leaders have also repeatedly said they hope the crisis can be resolved through diplomacy, and they said any military action would have to be part of an international effort. They have denied having plans for a unilateral preventive strike.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Tehran might still agree to Moscow's offer to move its uranium enrichment program to Russia, a step backed by the United States and Europeans as a way to resolve the deadlock.

Israel's concerns about Iran have grown since the election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said last year that Israel should be "wiped off the map."

On Friday, Iran's Students News Agency reported Friday that Central Bank governor Ebrahim Sheibani said Iran had begun moving its foreign currency reserves from European banks and transferring them to an undisclosed location as protection against possible U.N. sanctions.

Sheibani backed away Saturday from his statement that the transfers were already underway, and Iran's Central Bank said there had been no change in its currency policy.

Estimates put Iranian funds in Europe at as much as $50 billion.

Talk of Military Action in Iran Standoff (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear;_ylt=Aucd2MfYXsdnAfL2MHHyBYJn.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NTMzazIyBHNlYwMxNjk2)

Morales to Seek Blessing From Andean Gods

By FIONA SMITH, Associated Press Writer Sat Jan 21, 1:57 AM ET

TIAWANACU, Bolivia - In the ancient temple of a lost civilization far from the capital, Evo Morales will ask Andean gods for help and guidance Saturday on the eve of his inauguration as Bolivia's first Indian president.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to converge on the archaeological remains of the Tiawanacu civilization that flourished around 5,000 B.C. near the shores of Lake Titicaca, 40 miles outside of La Paz.

There, Morales, a U.S. critic who won by a landslide on a leftist platform, will be blessed by Indian priests who consider themselves inheritors of this pre-Incan culture, which had no written language and disappeared mysteriously.

Morales will walk onto the Akapana pyramid, put on a red tunic with gold and black detail, and accept a baton from the priests that symbolizes his Indian leadership. Morales will then walk alone and barefoot into the Kalasasaya temple before emerging to greet the crowd.

Then it will be party time in the city of Tiawanacu, which prepared a cake, made from the local grain quinoa, large enough to feed 40,000 people. The decoration features Morales' face and the sacred Andean peak Illimani.

Back in La Paz, where dozens of presidents and dignitaries are expected to witness Sunday's inauguration, the highway leading from the airport has swarmed with workers hanging Bolivian flags, filling potholes, covering graffiti and repainting lanes. Some 10,000 volunteers joined a downtown cleanup.

During the official inauguration, Morales will follow a more modern tradition. He will be saluted with full military honors outside the Congress, and draped with the bejeweled medals worn by all presidents.

But the former coca growers' union leader arranged his own touch: Along with 8,000 police guarding the streets will be crowds of miners volunteering additional protection to Morales in a gesture of solidarity.

In another proletarian touch, Morales — who will be surrounded by dignitaries and heads of state dressed in suits and ties — plans to wear something more casual, although details have not been revealed.

"Most Bolivians don't wear a tie and I'm part of this majority," said Morales, who wore the same striped sweater to meet presidents and royalty on his preinaugural world tour. "It would bother me, it's so tight around your neck I would feel like I was being hung."

Many Bolivians also wonder if their new leader — who once promised to be "Washington's nightmare" — will make the traditional sign of the cross while being sworn in, or take the oath more rebelliously, with a raised fist, as his ally Edmundo Novillo, the new president of the house of deputies, did just days ago. The raised fist here can symbolize atheist beliefs or the leftist struggle.

A critic of U.S. foreign policy and close ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, Morales has promised to fight corruption, and improve the lives of the poor Indian majority by securing more profits from Bolivia's natural resources, including its vast natural gas reserves.

But he has also softened his rhetoric since his election victory, and said he even had a positive meeting with the U.S. Ambassador David Greenlee. "He told us it's time to flip the page to have good relations," Morales told the Associated Press on Friday. "He said we have to keep fighting drug trafficking and we'll keep supporting that work."

The U.S.-led war on drugs inadvertently helped bring Morales to power. The battle against coca eradication that he led helped mobilize Indian organizations already angered by poverty and political domination by a rich elite, feeding a broader movement.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack expressed hope Friday that cooperation on fighting narcotics trafficking and other issues will continue.

Based on what direction Morales takes, "we'll make an assessment of what kind of relationship the United States and Bolivia will have," he said.

Morales to Seek Blessing From Andean Gods (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060121/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/bolivia_morales;_ylt=Au06oUQXX6kt.4bHjAvO.s23IxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--)

My note; His Andean Gods aren't going to do no good. There are just a spawn, of satan.

Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me,
Bob

Italian Lawyers Asked to Prove Jesus Existed

Saturday, January 21, 2006

ROME — Lawyers for a small-town parish priest have been ordered to appear in court next week after the Roman Catholic cleric was accused of unlawfully asserting what many people take for granted: that Jesus Christ existed.

The Rev. Enrico Righi was named in a 2002 complaint filed by Luigi Cascioli after Righi wrote in a parish bulletin that Jesus did indeed exist, and that he was born of a couple named Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth.

Cascioli, a lifelong atheist, claims that Righi violated two Italian laws by making the assertion: so-called "abuse of popular belief" in which someone fraudulently deceives people; and "impersonation" in which someone gains by attributing a false name to someone.

Cascioli says that for 2,000 years the Roman Catholic Church has been deceiving people by furthering the fable that Christ existed, and says the church has been gaining financially by impersonating as Christ someone by the name of John of Gamala, the son of Judas from Gamala.

He also asserts that the Gospels — the most frequently cited testimony of Jesus' existence — are inconsistent, full of errors and biased, and that other written evidence from the time is scant and doesn't hold up to scholarly analysis.

Prosecutors, who in Italy are obliged to investigate such complaints, initially tried to have the case dismissed, saying no crime could be verified.

But Cascioli challenged them, and Judge Gaetano Mautone set a hearing for next Friday in Viterbo, north of Rome, to discuss preliminary motions in Cascioli's bid to have the court appoint technical experts to review the historical data and determine if Jesus really did exist.

Cascioli, 72, said in a recent interview that he decided to pursue the case against Righi, a priest in the village of Bagnoregio, near Viterbo, because the cleric had written in the parish bulletin that Jesus existed.

Asked why he went after Righi — a schoolmate when he and Cascioli were boys — and not any number of bishops, cardinals or even the pope who have asserted the very same thing, Cascioli said it didn't really matter who he named in his complaint.

"When one demonstrates that Christ didn't exist, attacking a simple priest is the same thing as attacking a bishop or cardinal," Cascioli said.

Cascioli is quick to stress that he has no problem with Christians freely professing their faith. Rather, he says in his complaint, he wants to "denounce the abuse that the Catholic Church commits by availing itself of its prestige in order to inculcate — as if being real and historical — facts that are really just inventions."

Righi, who has been a priest for 50 years, declined to be interviewed on the advice of his lawyers before the pending court date. But he set out his rebuke of Cascioli in a recent issue of his parish bulletin "Risveglio," or "Awaken," and said by telephone that the article encapsulated his position.

Righi argues that the existence of Christ is "unmistakable" because of the substantial historical evidence — both pagan and religious — testifying that he indeed lived.

"Cascioli maintains that Christ never existed. If he doesn't see the sun at midday, he can't denounce me just because I do. He should denounce all believers!" Righi wrote.

He cited many known observers, including non-Christian ones, who have written about the existence of Jesus, including the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, considered by scholars to be the most important non-Christian source on Christ's existence.

A passage of Josephus' "Jewish Antiquities," completed in A.D. 93, cites the execution in A.D. 62 of "the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, James by name."

Righi also cited Pliny the Younger, who in the early second century described a policy of executing Christians who refused to curse Christ, and Tacitus, another writer of the same time who wrote that Jesus was executed by the sentence of Pontius Pilate.

"You would have to give lie to each, one by one, to cancel the Christ man that they speak of," Righi wrote.

R. Scott Appleby, a professor of church history at the University of Notre Dame, concurs. There's "no real doubt" that Jesus existed, he said.

"But what Jesus of Nazareth did and what he means is a different question," Appleby said. "But on the question of the existence, there is more evidence of the existence of Jesus of Nazareth than there would be for many other historical people who actually existed. Not only did Jesus actually exist, but he actually had some kind of prominence to be mentioned in two or three chronicles."

Cascioli says he fully recognizes that his case has a slim chance of succeeding in overwhelmingly Catholic Italy, but not because his argument is lacking.

"We aren't optimistic — unless the Madonna makes a miracle, but I don't think that will happen," he joked.

Cascioli says he is merely going through the necessary legal steps in Italy so he can ultimately take the matter to the European Court of Human Rights, where he intends to pursue the case against the church for "religious racism."

"I was born against Christ and God," he said. "I'm doing it (the complaint) now because I should do it before I die."

Italian Lawyers Asked to Prove Jesus Existed (http://www.worthynews.com/news/foxnews-com-printer_friendly_story-0,3566,182341,00-html/)

Full Text of bin Laden Tape

By The Associated Press Thu Jan 19, 9:23 PM ET

The following is the full text of a new audiotape from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Parts of the tape were aired on Al-Jazeera television, which published the entire version on its Web site. The text was translated from the Arabic by The Associated Press.

Bin Laden appears to be addressing the American people:

My message to you is about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how to end them. I did not intend to speak to you about this because this issue has already been decided. Only metal breaks metal, and our situation, thank God, is only getting better and better, while your situation is the opposite of that.

But I plan to speak about the repeated errors your President Bush has committed in comments on the results of your polls that show an overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. But he (Bush) has opposed this wish and said that withdrawing troops sends the wrong message to opponents, that it is better to fight them (bin Laden's followers) on their land than their fighting us (Americans) on our land.

I can reply to these errors by saying that war in Iraq is raging with no let-up, and operations in Afghanistan are escalating in our favor, thank God, and Pentagon figures show the number of your dead and wounded is increasing not to mention the massive material losses, the destruction of the soldiers' morale there and the rise in cases of suicide among them. So you can imagine the state of psychological breakdown that afflicts a soldier as he gathers the remains of his colleagues after they stepped on land mines that tore them apart. After this situation the soldier is caught between two hard options. He either refuses to leave his military camp on patrols and is therefore dogged by ruthless punishments enacted by the Vietnam Butcher (U.S. army) or he gets destroyed by the mines. This puts him under psychological pressure, fear and humiliation while his nation is ignorant of that (what is going on). The soldier has no solution except to commit suicide. That is a strong message to you, written by his soul, blood and pain, to save what can be saved from this hell. The solution is in your hands if you care about them (the soldiers).

The news of our brother mujahideen (holy warriors) is different from what the Pentagon publishes. They (the news of mujahideen) and what the media report is the truth of what is happening on the ground. And what deepens the doubt over the White House's information is the fact that it targets the media reporting the truth from the ground. And it has appeared lately, supported by documents, that the butcher of freedom in the world (Bush) had decided to bomb the headquarters of the Al-Jazeera in Qatar after bombing its offices in Kabul and Baghdad.

On another issue, jihad (holy war) is ongoing, thank God, despite all the oppressive measures adopted by the U.S Army and its agents (which is) to a point where there is no difference between this criminality and Saddam's criminality, as it has reached the degree of raping women and taking them as hostages instead of their husbands.

As for torturing men, they have used burning chemical acids and drills on their joints. And when they give up on (interrogating) them, they sometimes use the drills on their heads until they die. Read, if you will, the reports of the horrors in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons.

And I say that, despite all the barbaric methods, they have not broken the fierceness of the resistance. The mujahideen, thank God, are increasing in number and strength — so much so that reports point to the ultimate failure and defeat of the unlucky quartet of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. Declaring this defeat is just a matter of time, depending partly on how much the American people know of the size of this tragedy. The sensible people realize that Bush does not have a plan to make his alleged victory in Iraq come true.

And if you compare the small number of dead on the day that Bush announced the end of major operations in that fake, ridiculous show aboard the aircraft carrier with the tenfold number of dead and wounded who were killed in the smaller operations, you would know the truth of what I say. This is that Bush and his administration do not have the will or the ability to get out of Iraq for their own private, suspect reasons.

And so to return to the issue, I say that results of polls please those who are sensible, and Bush's opposition to them is a mistake. The reality shows that the war against America and its allies has not been limited to Iraq as he (Bush) claims. Iraq has become a point of attraction and restorer of (our) energies. At the same time, the mujahideen (holy warriors), with God's grace, have managed repeatedly to penetrate all security measures adopted by the unjust allied countries. The proof of that is the explosions you have seen in the capitals of the European nations who are in this aggressive coalition. The delay in similar operations happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures. The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through (with preparations), with God's permission.

Based on what has been said, this shows the errors of Bush's statement — the one that slipped from him — which is at the heart of polls calling for withdrawing the troops. It is better that we (Americans) don't fight Muslims on their lands and that they don't fight us on ours.

We don't mind offering you a long-term truce on fair conditions that we adhere to. We are a nation that God has forbidden to lie and cheat. So both sides can enjoy security and stability under this truce so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been destroyed in this war. There is no shame in this solution, which prevents the wasting of billions of dollars that have gone to those with influence and merchants of war in America who have supported Bush's election campaign with billions of dollars — which lets us understand the insistence by Bush and his gang to carry on with war.

If you (Americans) are sincere in your desire for peace and security, we have answered you. And if Bush decides to carry on with his lies and oppression, then it would be useful for you to read the book "Rogue State," which states in its introduction: "If I were president, I would stop the attacks on the United States: First I would give an apology to all the widows and orphans and those who were tortured. Then I would announce that American interference in the nations of the world has ended once and for all."

Finally, I say that war will go either in our favor or yours. If it is the former, it means your loss and your shame forever, and it is headed in this course. If it is the latter, read history! We are people who do not stand for injustice and we will seek revenge all our lives. The nights and days will not pass without us taking vengeance like on Sept. 11, God permitting. Your minds will be troubled and your lives embittered. As for us, we have nothing to lose. A swimmer in the ocean does not fear the rain. You have occupied our lands, offended our honor and dignity and let out our blood and stolen our money and destroyed our houses and played with our security and we will give you the same treatment.

You have tried to prevent us from leading a dignified life, but you will not be able to prevent us from a dignified death. Failing to carry out jihad, which is called for in our religion, is a sin. The best death to us is under the shadows of swords. Don't let your strength and modern arms fool you. They win a few battles but lose the war. Patience and steadfastness are much better. We were patient in fighting the Soviet Union with simple weapons for 10 years and we bled their economy and now they are nothing.

In that there is a lesson for you.

Full Text of bin Laden Tape (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060120/ap_on_re_mi_ea/bin_laden_text_3)

My opinion, Benny boy can stick it in his ear. he has lied, and will continued to lie. Such is the make up, in the islamic world.

Demonstrators Mark Roe V. Wade Anniversary

By MARTIGA LOHN, Associated Press Writer 15 minutes ago

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Thousands of abortion opponents massed outside Minnesota's Capitol on Sunday in one of several protests nationwide on the 33rd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling, amid heightened hopes and fears over what a new face on the Supreme Court will mean for the decision establishing abortion rights.

A crowd of sign-wavers clad in parkas, winter boots and collars turned up against a cutting wind to call for a ban on public funding of abortion.

"We must stop abortion in our state," said Scott Fischbach, head of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. "Things are changing in this country." (thanks to the ACLU >:( )

Many abortion opponents said they were heartened by President Bush's choice of Samuel Alito to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate who was often the court's swing vote.

Alito, who appears to have solid support from the Senate's Republican majority, refused during his confirmation hearings to agree with assertions by Democrats that Roe v. Wade was "settled law," upsetting supporters of abortion rights and heartening opponents.

"We have a dream today that someday soon this will not be an anniversary of sadness, but an anniversary of justice restored," said Minnesota's Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

In San Francisco, thousands of abortion opponents shouldering signs with slogans such as "Peace Begins in the Womb" marched Saturday, while abortion rights supporters along the march route waved clothes hangers and shouted "Bigots go home."

"Abortion rights have been slowly whittled away while we haven't even been looking," said Kitty Striker, 22, who decorated her hair with small coat hanger replicas for the counter-protest. "That's what's so shocking and so scary to me."

In Idaho, nearly 400 abortion protesters marched at the Statehouse Saturday, including Reid Richardson and his 5-year-old stepdaughter, Allie Zebley, who carried sign with her ultrasound photo and the words, "This is me at 16 weeks."

About half that number gathered Sunday outside the Idaho Capitol in support of abortion rights.

"When American women are barred from accessing health services at the whim of a politician's religious beliefs, we are not in a democracy at all," said Bree Herndon-Michael, a member of the Idaho Women's Network.

The largest abortion demonstration was expected Monday in Washington, D.C., where anti-abortion activists planned to converge on the mall to hear speakers supporting their cause and march on the Congress and Supreme Court.

Many who support abortion rights held a candlelight vigil in front of the Supreme Court Sunday night, waving signs that read: "Alito-No Justice For Women," and "Keep Abortion Legal."

The nation's high court made abortion legal on Jan. 22, 1973. But efforts to restrict or outlaw the procedure have been just as enduring; 34 states have passed laws requiring parents either to be notified or to give consent when their underage daughters seek abortions.

This year, abortion foes in Minnesota will try to encourage the Legislature to ban public funding of abortions for Medicaid recipients, which has been required since a 1995 state Supreme Court decision. They are also campaigning against the re-election of a justice who supported the decision.

In Michigan, a group of ministry leaders used the anniversary to launch a new anti-abortion organization, Michigan Chooses Life. One goal is to support efforts to get a measure on the 2006 ballot that would change the state constitution to legally define a person as existing at the moment of conception. The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has said that even if the measure does succeed, it will be challenged in court. >:(

Demonstrators Mark Roe V. Wade Anniversary (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060123/ap_on_re_us/abortion_anniversary;_ylt=Al7N2o3A.GRJHJ2xyTgr0gGs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-)

Figures the American Civil Liberties Union would try, and change state law if voted in.

U.S. Navy Seizes Pirate Ship Off Somalia

By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 19 minutes ago

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The U.S. Navy boarded an apparent pirate ship in the Indian Ocean and detained 26 men for questioning, the Navy said Sunday.

The 16 Indians and 10 Somali men were aboard a traditional dhow that was chased and seized Saturday by the U.S. guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill, said Lt. Leslie Hull-Ryde of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain.

The dhow stopped fleeing after the Churchill twice fired warning shots during the chase, which ended 54 miles off the coast of Somalia, the Navy said. U.S. sailors boarded the dhow and seized a cache of small arms.

The dhow's crew and passengers were being questioned Sunday aboard the Churchill to determine which were pirates and which were legitimate crew members, Hull-Ryde said.

Sailors aboard the dhow told Navy investigators that pirates hijacked the vessel six days ago near Mogadishu and thereafter used it to stage pirate attacks on merchant ships.

The Churchill is part of a multinational task force patrolling the western Indian Ocean and Horn of Africa region to thwart terrorist activity and other lawlessness during the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The Navy said it captured the dhow in response to a report from the International Maritime Bureau in Kuala Lumpur on Friday that said pirates had fired on the MV Delta Ranger, a Bahamian-flagged bulk carrier that was passing some 200 miles off the central eastern coast of Somalia.

Hull-Ryde said the Navy was still investigating the incident and would discuss with international authorities what to do with the detained men.

"The disposition of people and vessels involved in acts of piracy on the high seas are based on a variety of factors, including the offense, the flags of the vessels, the nationalities of the crew, and others," Hull-Ryde said in an e-mail.

Piracy is rampant off the coast of Somalia, which is torn by renewed clashes between militias fighting over control of the troubled African country. Many shipping companies resort to paying ransoms, saying they have few alternatives.

Last month, Somali militiamen finally relinquished a merchant ship hijacked in October.

In November, Somali pirates freed a Ukrainian ore carrier and its 22 member crew after holding it for 40 days. It was unclear whether a US$700,000 ransom demanded by the pirates had been paid.

One of the boldest recent attacks was on Nov. 5, when two boats full of pirates approached a cruise ship carrying Western tourists, about 100 miles off Somalia and fired rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles.

The crew used a weapon that directs earsplitting noise at attackers, then sped away.

Somalia has had no effective government since 1991, when warlords ousted a dictatorship and then turned on each other, carving the nation of 8.2 million into a patchwork of fiefdoms.

U.S. Navy Seizes Pirate Ship Off Somalia (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060123/ap_on_re_af/us_navy_pirates;_ylt=Am36y8j4z.JOGXc5J3YZ8DOs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

January 22, 2006
States Step Up Fight on Abortion

Anticipating a more conservative Supreme Court, lawmakers are proposing bans in hope of forcing the justices to revisit Roe vs. Wade.

By P.J. Huffstutter and Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writers

INDIANAPOLIS — Taking direct aim at Roe vs. Wade, lawmakers from several states are proposing broad restrictions on abortion, with the goal of forcing the U.S. Supreme Court — once it has a second new justice — to revisit the landmark ruling issued 33 years ago today.

The bill under consideration in Indiana would ban all abortions, except when continuing the pregnancy would threaten the woman's life or put her physical health in danger of "substantial permanent impairment." Similar legislation is pending in Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee.

The bills are in direct conflict with the Supreme Court's 1973 rulings establishing abortion as a constitutional right. Roe vs. Wade and its companion case, Doe vs. Bolton, asserted that doctors could consider "all factors … relevant to the well-being of the patient," including emotional and psychological health.

In the years since, states have adopted a variety of laws designed to restrict access to abortion or force women to think through alternatives. Those efforts are expected to continue this year, with states considering proposals to impose new licensing standards on abortion clinics, or to require women seeking abortions to first view ultrasound images of their fetuses and discuss with a counselor the pain a fetus might feel during the procedure.

About 50 such bills were passed in 2005 — twice as many as in 2004, according to the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America.

In California, a fetal pain bill was introduced last year but never made it out of committee. Voters narrowly rejected a November ballot initiative that would have amended the state's constitution by requiring parental notification before a minor could obtain an abortion.

Increasingly, lawmakers opposed to abortion are seeking bolder measures.

Republican Rep. Troy Woodruff, serving his first term in the Indiana Legislature, wrote House Bill 1096 knowing it would conflict with Roe vs. Wade.

That was precisely his point: He wants his ban appealed to the Supreme Court, in hopes that the justices will overturn Roe and give states the power to make abortion a crime. "On an issue that's this personal, it should be decided as local as possible," he said. "We either want these procedures, or we don't…. And I don't."

The debate unfolds as the Senate prepares to vote on Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr., a federal appellate judge. As a Reagan administration lawyer, Alito laid out a plan to overturn Roe vs. Wade. In his confirmation hearings this month, he declined to call the case "settled law," suggesting that he might be willing to reverse or modify it.

If confirmed, Alito would succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who supports abortion rights. He would join another conservative justice appointed by President Bush: John G. Roberts Jr., who was confirmed as chief justice in September.

Even if Alito and Roberts prove to be staunch antiabortion votes, a bare majority of justices would still support the core principle of a woman's right to end an unwanted pregnancy. But a retirement or illness among the more liberal justices could change that balance.

In anticipation of that day, antiabortion activists have been focusing their efforts on establishing policy at the state level.

Louisiana sets out that "the unborn child is a human being from the time of conception." The Nebraska Legislature has said that it "expressly deplore the destruction of unborn human lives." Pennsylvania seeks "to extend to the unborn the equal protection of the laws." Utah, Missouri and Illinois are among several other states with similar language in their constitutions or statutes.

Such statements are merely philosophical; they don't have the force of law. But at least a dozen states have criminal laws banning abortion. They can't be enforced as long as Roe vs. Wade remains binding. In theory, though, they could take effect immediately upon a reversal, subjecting abortion providers to penalties ranging from 12 months' hard labor in Alabama to 20 years' imprisonment in Rhode Island.

"What the public doesn't realize is that the building blocks are already in place to re-criminalize abortion if Roe is overturned," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York.

She and other abortion rights activists predict that abortion would remain legal on the East and West coasts and in a few states in between — among them Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada and New Mexico. They expect that at least 19 states across the Midwest and South would ban abortion.

Abortion opponents say such predictions are just scare tactics.

"They're way overestimating our potential," said Mary Spaulding Balch, state legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee. "They're trying to scare the American people into thinking we're going back to the back-alley, coat-hanger days, but that's not the case."

"Much as we'd like to see it all end … I think it's a chipping-away process," said Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life.

States Step Up Fight on Abortion (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-abortion22jan22,0,4909775.story?coll=la-headlines-nation)

Sympathy for al-Qaida Surges in Pakistan

By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer Sun Jan 22, 3:37 PM ET

DAMADOLA, Pakistan - Sympathy for al-Qaida has surged after a U.S. airstrike devastated this remote mountain hamlet in a region sometimes as hostile toward the Pakistani government as it is to the United States.

A week after the attack, villagers insist no members of the terror network were anywhere near the border village when it was hit. But thousands of protesters flooded a nearby town chanting, "Long live Osama bin Laden!"

Pakistan's army, in charge of hunting militants, was nowhere to be seen.

The rally was the latest in a series of demonstrations across Pakistan against the Jan. 13 attack, which apparently targeted but missed al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri.

The military still mans numerous checkpoints in the area, but it appears to be keeping a low profile so it will not inflame villagers still seething over the deaths of 13 civilians, including women and children, in the attack.

Pakistani intelligence officials believe that four top al-Qaida operatives may have also been killed in the strike including al-Qaida's master bomb maker, Midhat Mursi, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head.

The men had gathered for dinner on the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha to plan attacks for early this year in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said.

"This attack has increased our hatred for Americans because they are killing innocent women and children," said Zakir Ullah, one of 5,000 demonstrators in Inayat Qala, a market town about three miles from Damadola.

"We support jihad (holy war). Jihad is the duty of every Muslim," he said.

The assault has caused friction between Islamabad and Washington and widespread outrage in this Islamic nation of 150 million, but few are as angry as the people who live in the virtually lawless tribal region that borders Afghanistan. The area is a hotbed of Taliban and al-Qaida sympathizers — and a possible sanctuary for bin Laden himself.

Damadola residents deny any links to the militants.

"We don't have anything to do with al-Qaida, and it was a cruel act of the Americans to attack my house without reason," said Bacha Khan, a flour mill worker whose house was among the three destroyed.

A relative of Faqir Mohammed, a pro-Taliban cleric who intelligence officials believe hid the bodies of the four suspected al-Qaida militants killed in the attack to prevent their identification, was arrested Sunday in Damadola, a security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Pakistani authorities say they are looking for fighters who might have survived the attack, but they have not visibly stepped up maneuvers in the area.

While the military has about 70,000 soldiers along the border with Afghanistan, an Associated Press reporter who has visited Damadola three times since the attack has not seen a single uniformed soldier there.

Army spokesman Brigadier Shahjehan Ali Khan said there has been no change in the military's policy of fighting terrorism.

"Whenever we get a tip-off, we always conduct operations," he said.

Khan could not estimate how many militants are hiding among the border region's 3.2 million residents. Officials in the past have said hundreds of Arab, Central Asian and Afghan fighters are among them.

Outrage at the United States and at the government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf for backing Washington's war on terrorism has reached its highest pitch since the U.S. ousted Afghanistan's Taliban regime after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on America.

Back then, a local cleric in Bajur, the region surrounding Damadola, rallied 8,000 villagers to fight with the Taliban against U.S.-led forces.

Bajur and Afghanistan's neighboring Kunar region have since served as hideouts because of their rugged mountains — and the sympathies of residents. Many are Pashtuns, the same ethnic group as the Taliban.

The Jan. 13 attack was believed to have been launched by a Predator drone from Afghanistan, where some 20,000 U.S. troops are based. Pakistan does not allow U.S. forces to pursue militants across the border or launch strikes without permission. Government officials have said they were not informed ahead of time.

Many of Sunday's protesters called for Musharraf's resignation.

"As a president he has failed to protect the people and as chief of the army staff he has failed to protect the frontiers," said Maulana Mohammed Sadiq, a lawmaker in the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, which helped organize the rallies.

In a show of solidarity, the opposition Jamaat Islami, or Islamic Party, marshaled 50 volunteers Sunday to help the village rebuild.

Taliban-style radicals are gaining strength along Pakistan's border partly because they intimidate anyone who disagrees, said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general.

The military often relies on tribal justice to turn people over and avoids large-scale operations that could cause civilian casualties, he said.

Sympathy for al-Qaida Surges in Pakistan (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060122/ap_on_re_as/pakistan_al_qaida_attack;_ylt=ArLCQXNeHzZIuqeChtS7VowUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Bin Laden hailed as 'Pancho Villa of Islam'
Radical Hispanic group compares him to elusive U.S. enemy
Posted: January 21, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

A radical Hispanic group that claims the southwestern United States belongs to Mexico is hailing elusive al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden as the "Pancho Villa of Islam."

Writing for the website "The Voice of Aztlan," Ernesto Cienfuegos recalled the telegraphed message sent by Gen. John J. Pershing after failing to capture the Mexican revolutionary nearly a century ago, "Villa is everywhere but Villa is nowhere."

Villa, after raiding a small New Mexico border town in 1916, outlasted Pershing after an 11-month search. The Mexican leader, Cienfuegos said, "knew every rock, every stream, every cave, and every cactus of the immense sierra of Chihuahua."

Today, Cienfuegos said, "we are hearing similar accounts" concerning the search for bin Laden by U.S. special forces.

Osama bin Laden

Thursday, the Arab television news network Al-Jazeera broadcast a new audiotape purported to be from bin Laden that came after several reports suggesting the al-Qaida leader was dead. The tape warns that al-Qaida is preparing new attacks inside the United States and says the need for preparations, not heightened security measures, is the reason there have been no attacks since 9-11.

"Like Pancho Villa, it looks like Osama bin Laden has outsmarted the U.S. military generals," Cienfuegos wrote in a piece posted Sunday.

Cienfuegos noted media reports saying bin Laden had deceived U.S. operatives by planting videos and voice recordings used by Taliban fighters over mobile phone communications to make them think he was at a certain location.

"General Villa utilized similar tactics to fool Pershing, he said, who was "chasing phantom Villas all over Chihuahua and finally became exhausted and gave up."

Cienfuegos said thee are "other uncanny similarities" between bin Laden and Villa.

"Both are revered by the common people of each respective community," he said. "Both are seen as Robin Hoods by the poor and oppressed. Both were construction contractors at one time in their lives. Francisco Villa was a general contractor on the construction of the railroad through Chihuahua's majestic Copper Canyon. Both Osama bin Laden and General Francisco Villa were indirectly fighting those whom they perceived to be lackeys of the United States.

Villa, Cienfuegos said, "was fighting Venustanio Carranza, who had a cozy 'sellout' relationship with (President) Woodrow Wilson, and Osama bin Laden is fighting the Saudi royalty who have a very cozy relationship with U.S. oil interests to the detriment of the overall disenfranchised Arab population."

The U.S. military expedition to capture Villa was "doomed to failure," he said, because Pershing and his expedition were "unfamiliar with the territory, were up against a very clever military genius, and were operating within a very hostile local population who had come to see the revolutionary as a folk hero and national symbol of defying America."

Villa, said Cienfuegos, "was seen by Mexicans as a clear winner, emerging triumphant from a battle with the powerful United States and assumed legendary status that endures till this day."

"It certainly appears today, that Osama bin Laden is headed for the very same legendary and folk hero status in Islam."

Bin Laden hailed as 'Pancho Villa of Islam' (http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48445)

January 20, 2006 09:45 am

Witches fight for symbols on gravestones
By Ben Casselman
The Salem News (Salem, Mass.)
SALEM, Mass. —

There are witches in foxholes. But unlike their peers in more mainstream religions, when Wiccan veterans die, they cannot get the symbol of their religion, the pentacle, inscribed on their government-funded headstones.

Now, witches, including some on Massachusetts' North Shore, are trying to change that. Two separate groups have asked the federal government to approve their star-in-circle symbol for use on deceased veterans’ grave markers.

“We have a fair number of people who’ve served in the U.S. military, too, and given their lives for this country or served it,” said Jerrie Hildebrand, a Salem resident and Wiccan priest. “They have just as much right to have their symbology on their headstone as anyone else does.”

For decades, the Department of Veterans Affairs has provided deceased veterans with headstones or grave markers that include an “emblem of belief.” Veterans can receive the markers regardless of whether they are killed in action and wherever they are buried.

The Christian cross and the Jewish Star of David are by far the most commonly requested emblems, but the VA has also approved symbols for 36 other religious groups, including Islam, Buddhism and even atheism. Even little-known groups such as the United Church of Religious Science and Eckankar have managed to meet the VA’s standards.

But Wiccan leaders have had trouble getting the VA to approve the pentacle, a five-pointed star surrounded by a circle that many pagan groups have adopted as their symbol. They say they have been trying to get the pentacle approved for nearly a decade but have continually been told that the VA is revising its application process.

“Everybody’s application kept getting put on hold,” Hildebrand said.

That may finally be changing. In November, the VA provided a new list of requirements to Circle Sanctuary — a national pagan group of which Hildebrand is a leading member. Earlier this month, the group submitted an application, including the name of a recently deceased veteran whose family wanted his grave marked with a pentacle.

Selena Fox, Circle Sanctuary’s senior minister, would not disclose the name of the veteran for privacy reasons. But she said that if the pentacle is approved, other veterans will make the same request.

“There are other people right now connected with our organization that when this gets approved ... they will make that choice,” Fox said. “Our church not only has a need, it’s an immediate need.”

Hildebrand suspects political motives are behind the government’s delay, but a spokeswoman said the VA had not received a complete application in the past. She said she did not know whether the agency has received one now.

Angela Brin, a practicing witch who lives in Marblehead, said she hopes the VA does not delay any further. Especially during wartime, she said, the government should do all it can for those who serve.

“If a person serves their country, and if having a religious symbol is available and being offered to veterans, why should one group, no matter who they are, be excluded?” Brin asked. “If something’s being offered to one group, it should be offered to everyone.”

Hildebrand agrees.

“There are practicing covens in Iraq right now,” she said. “We have people who are dying, too.”

Witches fight for symbols on gravestones (http://www.henryherald.com/morelocal/cnhinsfaith_story_020094502.html?keyword=topstory)

Belafonte accuses Bush of Gestapo tactics
Singer who called president a ‘terrorist’ takes new swipe at White House

Updated: 9:34 p.m. ET Jan. 21, 2006

NEW YORK - Entertainer Harry Belafonte, one of the Bush administration’s harshest critics, compared the Homeland Security Department to the Nazi Gestapo on Saturday and attacked the president as a liar.

“We’ve come to this dark time in which the new Gestapo of Homeland Security lurks here, where citizens are having their rights suspended,” Belafonte said in a speech to the annual meeting of the Arts Presenters Members Conference.

“You can be arrested and not charged. You can be arrested and have no right to counsel,” said Belafonte.
Story continues below ↓ advertisement

Belafonte’s remarks on Saturday — part of a 45-minute speech on the role of the arts in a politically changing world — were greeted with a roaring standing ovation from an audience which included singer Peter Yarrow of the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, and members of the arts community from several dozen countries.

He had called President Bush “the greatest terrorist in the world” during a trip to Venezuela two weeks ago. Belafonte, 78, made that comment after a meeting with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

The Harlem-born Belafonte, who was raised in Jamaica, said his activism was inspired by an impoverished mother “who imbued in me that we should never capitulate to oppression.”

He acknowledged that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks demanded a reaction by the United States, but said the policies of the Bush administration were not the right response.

“Fascism is fascism. Terrorism is terrorism. Oppression is oppression,” said Belafonte, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Bush, he said, rose to power “somewhat dubiously and ... then lies to the people of this nation, misleads them, misinstructs, and then sends off hundreds of thousands of our own boys and girls to a foreign land that has not aggressed against us.”

Belafonte accuses Bush of Gestapo tactics (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10964067/)

My note; What does he call terrorism?

Syrians oppose US but love KFC ???

By Rasha Elass 2 hours, 33 minutes ago

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - The U.S. flag serves as a doormat to an office and nearby merchants announce "we boycott American goods," but some Syrians can't seem to keep away from American fast food at the new KFC fried chicken restaurant.

"I oppose American politics totally, but what does food have to do with it? Politics is one thing, and food is something totally different," Tareq Mashnouk, a 26-year-old fashion designer, told Reuters.

KFC opened its first outlet in Damascus this month, becoming Syria's first fully licensed American food franchise. It belongs to Kuwait Food Co. (Americana), which owns and operates KFC and other American food chains like Pizza Hut and TGI Fridays throughout the Middle East.

Syria has been reforming its socialist economy by allowing more private businesses to open, but some say the timing is wrong for the KFC opening. Similar fast-food outlets have been attacked in the Muslim world and elsewhere as symbols of the United States.

"To be honest we were surprised they opened this American restaurant in the midst of our political situation," said Tareq Farzat, 25, adding that he liked his Chicken Burger Combo and would definitely return to KFC with his friend Kalam.

A businessman welcomed the restaurant's arrival.

"Fast-food franchises are a new thing in Syria and (the opening of KFC) is a good thing," said Firas Safi, owner of Kuwaiti-based food chain Shrimpy.

Syria's political relations with the United States have deteriorated since it opposed the 2003 invasion of
Iraq. Washington has since accused Syria of allowing insurgents to cross its border with Iraq to attack U.S. troops there.

Syria is also in a political showdown with the international community over its alleged role in the February 14, 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and 22 others in a truck bomb in Beirut.

"SAFE" CHICKEN

The United States recalled its ambassador in protest days after the murder, and mounting international pressure forced Syria to pull its troops out of Lebanon in April after a 29-year military presence.

Interim reports by a United Nations inquiry have implicated Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in the crime, although Syria has repeatedly denied any involvement.

The U.N. Security Council has threatened to take unspecified action against Syria if it fails to cooperate with the ongoing investigation. The United States reiterated the same threat last week, re-igniting anti-American feelings.

"I wouldn't go (to KFC) because it has an American brand name and business has a lot to do with politics," said Zakariya Tayyan, 26, a student.

But many others seem pleased with the KFC experience and trust American brands.

"This tastes good, and we'll definitely come back to eat here when we're in the mood for chicken," said a 45-year-old Muslim woman wearing a headscarf.

Besides, as the country worries about bird flu, surely KFC "examines its chicken before cooking it ... I trust KFC chicken more than any rotisserie," said Farzat.

The World Health Organization has said Syria is among countries at risk of bird flu after an outbreak killed four children in neighboring Turkey.

An Americana representative overseeing the restaurant's opening said other chains will open soon, declining to comment further. But politics aside, KFC may not suit all pockets in a country where income is low.

The average college-educated government employee earns about $100 per month, which is the price of five "bargain combo" KFC buckets each filled with 15 chicken pieces, a large order of French fries and coleslaw, five buns and a liter of Pepsi.

"It's expensive," said Farzat, who lives in the wealthy neighborhood where KFC has opened. "I've been to KFC in Dubai and Beirut, but this one is much more expensive compared to local income."

Syrians oppose US but love KFC (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/food_syria_usa_dc;_ylt=Ate4ieaOaIAThMvWUpUqlPWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--)

Iran Threatens Enrichment if It's Referred

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer 41 minutes ago

VIENNA, Austria - Iran will immediately retaliate if referred to the U.N. Security Council next week by forging ahead with developing a full-scale uranium enrichment program, a senior envoy said Monday.

The comments by Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, a senior envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, reflected Iran's defiance in the face of growing international pressure over its nuclear program. Enrichment can be used in electricity production but it also is needed in making uranium-based nuclear weapons.

Separately, Iran's top nuclear negotiator planned to travel to Moscow on Tuesday for a high-level session as talks intensified surrounding a proposal to have Iran's uranium enriched in Russia, then returned to Iran for use in the country's reactors — a compromise that would provide more oversight and ease tensions.

Ending a 15-month commitment, Iran removed IAEA seals from equipment Jan. 10 and announced it would restart experiments, including what it described as small-scale enrichment — a move that led key European countries to call for an emergency session of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency's board of governors Feb. 2.

The Europeans also began drafting a basic text for a resolution calling for the Security Council to press Tehran to reimpose its total freeze on enrichment and "to extend full and prompt cooperation to the agency" in its investigation of suspect nuclear activities — though it stops short of asking the council to impose sanctions.

Soltaniyeh, in comments to The Associated Press, warned against referral, suggesting such a "hasty decision" would backfire.

Whether Iran's suspension of its full-scale enrichment program remains in effect "depends on the decision of Feb. 2," he said. Asked if that meant Iran would resume efforts to fully develop its nascent enrichment activities if the board votes for referral at that meeting, he said, "yes."

Iran insists its nuclear ambitions do not go beyond wanting to generate fuel, but concerns are growing its main focus is trying to make nuclear weapons — something more than three years of IAEA investigations have failed to prove or disprove.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, meanwhile, rejected a request by the United States and several other member nations for a full report on the agency's investigation into Iran's nuclear program, signaling his resistance to ratcheting up pressure on Tehran.

In a letter dated Friday, Gregory L. Schulte, the chief U.S. representative to the IAEA, asked ElBaradei to prepare a written report on the "status of IAEA efforts to investigate indications of an Iranian nuclear weapons program" and on other activities Washington says are a cover for such a program. Supporting letters from the other countries also asking for a special report were dated Monday.

In a written reply dated Monday, ElBaradei said "a detailed report" would only be available in March, the next scheduled meeting of the IAEA board. Instead, he offered an "update brief" for the Feb. 2 meeting, to be read by a deputy.

The exchange in the letters, which were made available to AP, reflected differences between ElBaradei and the United States and its key allies over the handling of the Iran nuclear issue.

Diplomats close to the agency — who demanded anonymity for divulging confidential information — said the IAEA chief was unhappy about the push for a special board meeting and would have preferred to wait until the scheduled March session, when he hopes to end a more than three-year probe of Iran's nuclear dossier.

Iran repeatedly has said it is willing to offer guarantees that its nuclear program won't be used to manufacture weapons. But it has so far refused to give up what it calls its clear rights under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel.

In Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov encouraged Tehran to adopt a position that would help ease tensions.

"We count on discussing with you the so-called nuclear problem, around which the situation is currently being heightened," Lavrov said at the start of a meeting with Deputy Iranian Foreign Minister Mehdi Safari. "We hope that our Iranian friends will choose a position that helps to ease tension and renew negotiations."

Iran's top negotiator, Ali Larijani, will meet in Moscow with top Russian officials, including Russia's Security Council head Igor Ivanov, the council's press service said. Ivanov visited Iran last year.

Russia, which has veto power in the U.N. Security Council, has close ties with Tehran and is building Iran's first nuclear power reactor, but has been moving closer to the Western position on Iran and is reluctant to let the issue cause a major rift in its relations with the United States and Europe.

Iran Threatens Enrichment if It's Referred (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060123/ap_on_re_mi_ea/nuclear_agency_iran;_ylt=As_ImWXXQCEwH5EyA1if2dKs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Canadians elect a new parliament
Canadians have begun casting votes in a general election with opinion polls pointing to a likely Conservative win for the first time in 12 years.

The second election in 18 months was triggered when Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin lost a confidence vote.

Conservative leader Stephen Harper has pledged to cut taxes and tackle violent crime and corruption.

Polling stations in Newfoundland were first to open as the election unfolded across Canada's six time zones.

Two last-minute opinion suggested the Conservatives would be 10 points ahead of the Liberals - at 37% to 27% - but they also indicated the party would not secure an outright majority in the 308-seat house.

Correspondents say that although the Canadian economy is buoyant, the Liberals have struggled to shake off accusations of corruption.

Click here to see how the Conservatives have fared in previous elections (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4638258.stm#map)

Voters in 60,000 polling stations will choose from candidates including the Greens, the left-wing New Democratic Party and French-speaking separatist Bloc Quebecois.

The last stations will close at 0300 GMT on Tuesday on the Pacific coast but an indication of the outcome should emerge before then as voting will have already ended in the key provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

'Fight harder'

The political leaders headed across the country over the weekend to try to persuade any undecided voters among the 22.7-million-strong registered electorate.

Mr Harper, 46, told supporters in Winnipeg on Sunday that it was "time for a change, time to move forward, time to get beyond the scandals and investigations and corruption".

Mr Martin, 67, urged his supporters in Vancouver to "dig deeper, go further, to fight harder".

The Liberals have been focusing on economic successes, pointing to eight consecutive budget surpluses.

But the BBC's Lee Carter in Toronto says the corruption scandals that have beset the Liberals in recent years seem to be sticking this time.

The confidence vote was triggered by a public inquiry that found Liberal politicians in Quebec had taken kickbacks in return for government contracts.

Mr Harper's critics say he will destroy social programmes and has extremist views.

However, in contrast to the last election, he has promised Canadians that he will not move the country too far to the right if he is given a mandate.

The momentum appears to be against Mr Martin, our correspondent says, after four consecutive Liberal governments.

Opinion polls even suggest the Conservatives will make inroads in Quebec, a part of the country they have been frozen out of for more than a decade and where separatists had been expected again to make a clean sweep.

(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41245000/gif/_41245840_con_parliament4_gra416.gif)

Canadians elect a new parliament (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4638258.stm)

Let us pray, for our brothers, and sisters in Canada.

Jesus Christ's existence going on trial this week

Priest faces lawsuit by atheist to prove Nazarene indeed real
Posted: January 22, 2006
4:22 p.m. Eastern

By Joe Kovacs
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

A small Italian town is expected to be the epicenter of worldwide focus this week as legal proceedings begin in a lawsuit over the existence of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Viterbo, Italy, north of Rome, is the venue where Rev. Enrico Righi is being sued by his childhood friend, atheist Luigi Cascioli, for deceiving people into thinking Jesus was an actual historical figure.

"This complaint does not wish to contest the freedom of Christians to profess their faith, sanctioned by [article] 19 of the Italian Constitution," says Cascioli, "but wishes to denounce the abuse that the Catholic Church commits by availing itself of its prestige in order to inculcate – as if being real and historical – facts that are really just inventions."

The author of "The Fable of Christ" claims the priest violated local laws against deception when he stated in a 2002 parish gazette "that the historic figure of Jesus was the son of Joseph and Mary (two totally imaginary characters and therefore historically non existing [claims Cascioli]); of having the same Jesus been born in the village of Bethlehem and of having grown up in Nazareth."

Lawyers for Righi are slated to appear in court Friday to discuss preliminary motions on evidence proving the historicity of the man who is now worshipped as God by millions of Christians across the globe.

On his website, Cascioli alleges the person as Jesus is "for the most part based on the figure of John of Gamala, son of Judas, downright descendant of the Asmoneian stock."

Rev. Righi says the existence of Jesus is "unmistakable" due to a wealth of both pagan and Christian evidence pointing to his reality.

"Cascioli maintains that Christ never existed. If he doesn't see the sun at midday, he can't denounce me just because I do. He should denounce all believers!" Righi told the London Times recently.

Among his examples are the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, thought by scholars to be the most important non-Christian source on the issue. One of his passages of "Jewish Antiquities," a work completed in A.D. 93, mentions the execution in A.D. 62 of "the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, James by name."

Cascioli declares he is not intent on having the matter be decided by a court of law, saying, "I wrote to [Righi] an open letter, stating that I would withdraw the lawsuit if he were capable of supplying proof, just one proof, of the historical existence of Jesus."

Cascioli has since turned to Archbishop Giacomo Biffi of Bologna, Italy, to avoid the appearance of picking on a poor, local cleric.

In an open letter to the archbishop, Cascioli writes: "In the certainty that you are fully aware of how much more damaging any further silence, the silence of a bishop would be for the Church, than that of a lowly country parish priest, I have nothing else to do, but wait for your proof of the existence of Jesus, called The Christ. Proof that, besides satisfying your two diocesan followers and relieving don Enrico Righi of his legal obligations, would spare the Church a probable catastrophe."

Jesus Christ's existence going on trial this week (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48450)

My note; I can see the ACLU using this, no matter the out come. So they may futher, their own doctrine.

Jan. 23, 2006

Venezuela vice president to US Senator McCain: 'Go to hell'

CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER
The Associated Press
ADVERTISEMENT

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's vice president said today that U.S. Sen. John McCain "can go to hell" for suggesting that "wackos" run the South American country.

Jose Vicente Rangel was reacting to McCain's statement on Sunday that America must explore alternative energy sources to avoid depending on Iran or by "wackos" in Venezuela - apparently a reference to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

"It looks like they have nothing else to do in the United States," Rangel said, adding that the Americans have "so many problems, 40 million poor people, 30 million drug users, and an American senator is paying attention to us. He can go to hell."

McCain, a potential Republican presidential contender in 2008, said recent actions by Chavez and by Iran's leaders make it clear that the United States will be vulnerable as long as it remains dependent on foreign energy.

"We've got to get quickly on a track to energy independence from foreign oil, and that means, among other things, going back to nuclear power," the Arizona senator said on Fox News Sunday. "We better understand the vulnerabilities that our economy, and our very lives, have when we're dependent on Iranian mullahs and wackos in Venezuela."

Despite political differences between Caracas and Washington, the United States remains the top buyer of oil from Venezuela, the world's No.5 exporter.

Chavez has repeatedly accused the United States of conspiring to topple his government, an allegation U.S. officials deny.

The Venezuelan leader says his government would halt oil exports to the United States if Washington ever attempted to invade this South American nation.

Venezuela vice president to US Senator McCain: 'Go to hell' (http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/breakingnews/012306caracas)

Another nuke exercise in Charleston
Defense Dept. to hold second anti-terror drill
Posted: January 23, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

The Defense Department has scheduled a second major, three-day exercise to combat nuclear terrorism in the Charleston, S.C. area.

The goal is not prevention, but coping with the catastrophic results of a terrorist nuclear attack on a major U.S. port city.

The military's Joint Task Force-Civil Support, headquartered at Ft. Monroe, Va., will host the three-day drill for commanders and representatives of other federal agencies that would be involved in managing the consequences of a 10-megaton nuclear blast, enough to inflict mass causalities and devastation on an American city.

Like last summer's exercise, the Jan. 31 to Feb. 2 drill is centered around a hypothetical blast that affects nearly half a million people across a 900-square mile section of tidewater South Carolina. The scenario assumes 10,000 fatalities and more than 30,000 injuries.

Officials from the Department of Homeland Security, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and senior Coast Guard brass will be on hand.

Though the target of the attack is Charleston, no part of the exercise will actually take place there. Maj. Gen. Bruce Davis, the task force's commander, will oversee the exercise from Fort Monroe.

Joint Task Force-Civil Support – part of U.S. Northern Command, which oversees the Defense Department's domestic military activity – is a standing joint task force composed of active, reserve and National Guard members from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard, as well as civilian personnel.

Last summer, a similar exercise, "Sudden Respond '05," was led by Virginia's Fort Monroe-based Joint Task Force-Civil Support. It, too, was designed to simulate a nuclear terrorist attack that the highest U.S. officials, including President Bush, have said is the No. 1 threat facing the nation.

Organizers say the nuclear drills should not frighten civilians but instead encourage them to learn how to protect themselves if such an attack – which some officials have referred to as inevitable – should occur.

The drill is strikingly similar to a scenario detailed by Graham Allison, former Pentagon assistant secretary for plans and policy and current Harvard professor, in his book, "Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe."

A month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Allison wrote, the Central Intelligence Agency presented Bush with a report that al-Qaida had smuggled a 10-kiloton nuclear bomb into New York City. The president, according to the book, dispatched Nuclear Emergency Support Teams of scientists and engineers to New York to search for the weapon, which was never found.

Allison described the devastation that a 10-kiloton nuclear bomb would visit on Manhattan, were it detonated in the middle of historic Times Square: some 1 million people would die almost immediately.

"The resulting fireball and blast wave would destroy instantaneously the theater district, the New York Times building, Grand Central Terminal, and every other structure within a third of a mile to the point of detonation," he wrote. "The ensuring firestorm would engulf Rockefeller Center, Carnegie Hall, the Empire State Building, and Madison Square Garden, leaving a landscape resembling the World Trade Center site. From the United Nations headquarters on the East River and the Lincoln Tunnel under the Hudson River, to the Metropolitan Museum in the eighties and the Flatiron Building in the twenties, structures would remind one of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Office Building following the Oklahoma City Bombing."

As WND has reported, for more than 10 years, Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida has planned to use nuclear weapons in a terrorist attack on the U.S. The plan is dubbed "American Hiroshima." In fact, as first reported in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, captured al-Qaida operatives and documents suggest the weapons have already been smuggled into the country.

Another nuke exercise in Charleston (http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48454)

And here we go..................... :D

Agca 'writing a new Bible'
Published: 22 January 2006

ISTANBUL: Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who tried to kill pope John Paul II, was "writing a new bible" when he was rearrested on Friday under government "threats and pressure", his brother said yesterday as he led a protest outside the prison holding him.

"Is justice a toy of the media?" asked one of the placards gotcha98 Agca and a group of supporters waved outside the Kartal prison, where the former right-wing hitman was taken Friday night after just eight days of freedom.

Agca's release was widely criticised by the media, which yesterday was near unanimous in hailing the decision to send him back to jail.

Agca was freed on January 12 after 19 years in Italian prisons for his attempt on John Paul II's life and five and a half in Turkish prisons for an earlier murder and two robberies.

His early release based on sentence reductions and amendments to the penal code was overturned by the High Court of Appeals, acting under instructions from the justice ministry, which said his jail time had been miscalculated.

"Judges and prosecutors are under heavy threats and pressure," gotcha98 Agca told reporters outside the prison. "They are under pressure from their own ministry.

"The Turkish people will never allow Mehmet Ali Agca to die in jail," he said.

"The Vatican has proclaimed my brother the messiah. My brother is the messiah, he is the mahdi (the Muslim messiah).

"Believe it or not, he has dedicated his life and his ideal to his country and to his nation," gotcha98 Agca said, adding that his brother's attorney would take legal action against the Appeals Court decision.

Lawyer Mustafa Demirbag told the NTV news channel that he would also file a formal complaint against Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, who ordered the review.

The Supreme Court's decision to return Agca to prison shows the country's legal system works and is able to correct its errors, Cicek said yesterday.

"My brother was very happy to have been set free," gotcha98 Agca said. "He was not expecting this decision. He was writing a new Bible."

Some angry, some jubilant, Turkish newspapers agreed that Agca's return to jail was a good thing.

"Back where he belongs," headlined the liberal Milliyet, whose emblematic editor Abdi Ipekci was murdered by Agca in 1979, two years before he shot and wounded John Paul II in Rome's St Peter's Square.

"Scandal in spades", bannered the popular Aksam.

The miscalculation of sentence reductions made Turkey "the laughing stock of the world", Aksam wrote, "and to boot, we gave the killer centrestage." "Eight days of vacation, eight more years in jail," headlined the popular Vatan; "Forward, march - back to the hole," was the banner in the mass selling Hurriyet, while the liberal Radikal wrote: "Killer fails to flee."

Agca, who fled a Turkish prison while awaiting trial for the Ipekci murder and resurfaced, gun in hand, outside the Vatican on May 13, 1981, was pardoned by Italy in 2000 and extradited to Turkey.

Agca 'writing a new Bible' (http://www.worthynews.com/news/gulf-daily-news-com-printnews-asp-Article-133293/)

Increase in nuclear partners under investigation
Tehran, Jan 24, IRNA

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said here on Monday that the proposed plan for increasing Iran's nuclear partners was investigated during a recent visit of Russian delegation to Iran.

Speaking at a joint press conference with visiting Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr al-Thani, Mottaki said that during a recent visit of a Russian delegation to Tehran, a plan for likely participation of China in nuclear ventures was discussed to certain extent.

Mottaki said the two sides partly discussed the possibility of increasing the partners in the project and there are yet certain other components which should be taken into consideration.

He said that China and other countries can contribute to ventures linked to Iran's nuclear activities.

On Iran's nuclear stances at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mottaki said, "We have tried to explain in different ways to IAEA Board of Governors members, the EU3, China, Russia and the NAM members that debates on research are different from discussions on the production of nuclear fuel.

"Since our research is merely scientific and academic, our friends (IAEA Board members) should not deal with the case in the Board's extraordinary session in a way that cannot be managed by either side." Referring to Iran's letter to the EU3 for return to the atmosphere of talks, Mottaki said, "We believe a friendly bridge can be built and a sort of full-fledged cooperation can be established for two main pivots of the nuclear debates, i.e. certain countries' concern over Iran's nuclear activities and restoration of Iran's legal and natural rights."
In an interview with reporters after the first round of talks with his Qatari counterpart, Mottaki termed Iran-Qatar economic relations as 'progressive' and said the two sides have reached agreement on holding the fifth session of Tehran-Doha Joint Economic Commission in near future after a lapse of one year from the fourth meeting.

Stressing the importance of energy sector for both countries, Mottaki said they should have more discussions on a mutual agreement in that connection.

He said a joint political committee is to operate at the level of the directors general to follow up the new chapters in expansion of bilateral relations.

Al-Thani for his part said, "Both parties believe that bilateral economic relations are not in line with wishes of the two countries' statesmen but based on an agreement reached between the two sides, positive practical steps should be taken for expansion of the ties." As for operation on South Pars joint gas field, Al-Thani said in that connection an agreement is at hand which takes into account the friendship between Iran and Qatar. "We can settle other issues as well," he concluded.

Increase in nuclear partners under investigation (http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0601242391085730.htm)

Musharraf Says U.S. Likely Hit al-Qaida

By MATTI HUUHTANEN, Associated Press Writer Tue Jan 24, 9:33 AM ET

OSLO, Norway - Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Tuesday there were indications that al-Qaida members were killed in a U.S. airstrike near the Afghan border on Jan. 13.

"Investigations have found that there are foreigners there, that is for sure, in the general area," Musharraf said about the airstrike in the northern Pakistan village of Damadola in which at least 13 residents were killed.

"There is an indication that there were some people also, al-Qaida people, who have got killed and we need to ascertain that. I'm not 100 percent sure of that," Musharraf said, answering audience questions after a speech at the Nobel Institute in Oslo.

Pakistani government officials have said there were foreign militants in the area and that some were killed in the airstrike but they have not yet found the bodies. Intelligence officials said they believe the attack managed to kill at least four al-Qaida members who were meeting in Damadola, including a top bomb-maker.

The missile strike, which the U.S. said targeted but missed Osama bin Laden's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, has infuriated many Pakistanis. But Pakistani officials are still taking care to affirm their loyalty to the United States in the war on terrorism.

Musharraf told the crowd that U.S. officials had said "that they will not act against Pakistan's interests."

"But my regret is, however, these foreigners are there and we need to eliminate these foreigners," he added.

Musharraf, who was on an official three-day visit to Norway, said that Pakistan is using 80,000 troops to fight terrorism in the country, and that 700 al-Qaida members have been arrested.

Musharraf Says U.S. Likely Hit al-Qaida (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060124/ap_on_re_mi_ea/pakistan_musharraf;_ylt=AgnxWu7mF4n.L4Di4njoP7MLewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--)

Afghanistan's president rules out peace talks with bin Laden

Tue Jan 24, 1:38 PM ET

KABUL (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai ruled out ever holding talks with Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be playing a key role in an insurgency led by the ousted Taliban.

The Saudi billionaire proposed a truce to the United States in an audiotape broadcast by the Al-Jazeera satellite television network this month in which he also warned of more attacks in the "heartland" of the United States.

Washington rejected the offer, which Karzai said he would also never accept.

"It is for America if they want to make peace with him or not. But I, as a son of Afghanistan, want him before an Islamic court," Karzai said.

"I will not negotiate with him, there is no room for peace," he said at a ceremony to lay the foundations of a new madrassa, or Islamic religious school, in the capital Kabul.

Karzai said bin Laden should be made to account for atrocities blamed on the Taliban government, which was funded by and sheltered Al-Qaeda until it was removed in a US-led campaign in late 2001 for refusing to hand over bin Laden for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Bin Laden should be brought to justice for the "destruction of houses, orchards, vineyards -- the burning of the Koran (the Islamic holy book) in mosques and the murder of breast-feeding babies," the president said.

Karzai, whose government is battling an increasingly deadly insurgency led by the Taliban and other militants, said his country needed justice after decades of war, including the resistance to the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation in which 1.5 million Afghans were killed.

"We have given 1.5 million martyrs for Islam -- my country was invaded, we have freed it from the grip of infidels. But he (Bin Laden), under the name of my jihad (holy war), invaded my country. This land needs justice," he said.

In his message, authenticated by the CIA, bin Laden offered a "long-term truce" if Washington withdrew its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Karzai, Afghanistan's first ever elected president, has repeatedly insisted it needs the long-term support of international troops to cope with the insurgency.

About 20,000 troops in a coalition led by the United States have been in the country for four years to hunt down Taliban and other militants. Nearly 10,000 NATO-led peacekeepers are also there.

The insurgency claimed about 1,600 lives last year, many of them militants.

Afghanistan was the safe haven, operational base and training centre for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda until US forces invaded.

Karzai has offered amnesty to members of the Taliban movement and other Islamic militias if their "hands are not stained with innocent people's blood".

Hundreds of former Taliban and Islamic fighters have taken up the offer, including former Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil and the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef.

Afghanistan's president rules out peace talks with bin Laden (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060124/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanattacksus_060124183807;_ylt=AtS7CTp1ExnuboNhZOyIuYMUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--)

Iran defends plan for Holocaust conference

Tue Jan 24, 8:28 AM ET

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran defended its plan to stage a conference questioning the Holocaust and accused British Prime Minister Tony Blair of "intolerance" for criticising the event.

"The comments by Prime Minister Tony Blair are an insult to the intelligence of people around the world," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in statement carried by the ISNA news agency Tuesday.

"For half a century, the defenders of the Holocaust have used every tribune to defend their position, and now have to listen to others."

The foreign ministry unveiled plans for the conference last week, a month after hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinjead described the systematic slaughter of an estimated six million Jews during World War II as a "myth".

On Monday, Blair branded the plan "shocking, ridiculous, stupid" and said Ahmadinejad "should come and see the evidence of the Holocaust himself in the countries of Europe".

But Asefi said Iran had a right to "hear all opinions" on the Holocaust "and chose the best one".

"Why are the defenders of globalisation insisting, like in the Middle Ages, on their unilateral position and for the global village to speak as one voice?" he asked.

"Sadly, blind intolerance and political interests and objectives have closed the eyes of the Holocaust defenders to the realities of the world, and they even reject the very principle of a scientific conference."

Ahmadinejad, an ultra-conservative who came to power in a surprise victory last June, has provoked international condemnation with a number of anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish remarks.

They include labelling Israel a "tumour" that should be "wiped off the map" or moved as far away as Alaska and claiming the Holocaust was a Western invention.

The foreign ministry has yet to fix a date for the event

Iran defends plan for Holocaust conference (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060124/wl_mideast_afp/iranpoliticsisrael;_ylt=AmGaL7XDs9A8nUqoZee482J0bBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--)

Iran Threatens Full-Scale Enrichment

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer Mon Jan 23, 8:17 PM ET

VIENNA, Austria - Iran upped the ante Monday in its nuclear standoff, warning that it will immediately begin developing a full-scale uranium enrichment program if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council.

The message, delivered by Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's senior envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, reflected Tehran's defiance in the face of growing international pressure over its nuclear program. Enrichment can be used in electricity production but it is also a pathway to making nuclear weapons.

Negotiations intensified ahead of a Feb. 2 meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board to decide on referral.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, planned to travel to Moscow on Tuesday to discuss a proposal to have Iran's uranium enriched in Russia, then returned to Iran for use in the country's reactors — a compromise that would provide more oversight and ease tensions.

A European official said the two sides would discuss the possibility of allowing Iran to conduct small-scale experimental enrichment itself if it agreed to move all industrial production to Russia.

The official, who demanded anonymity in exchange for discussing confidential details of the negotiations, refused to say whether Britain, France and Germany — the key European nations behind the U.S.-supported push for referral — would tolerate such a deal.

Those European nations and EU representatives also intensified diplomatic efforts, with diplomats telling the AP they were sending senior representatives to Brazil, Russia, China and Indonesia to persuade the key IAEA board members to drop their opposition to referral.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday called for a step-by-step diplomatic approach in the standoff, saying she wants "the largest majority possible" for whatever course of action is decided upon by the IAEA.

While the Europeans believe they have enough votes to get Iran hauled before the council Feb. 2, they want broad support, including from key developing countries as well as skeptics Russia and China.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said "referral absolutely has to be made" on Feb. 2, while remaining vague on what action the Security Council would take — and when.

Iran removed IAEA seals from equipment Jan. 10 and announced it would restart experiments, including what it described as small-scale enrichment — a move that led the European negotiators to call for the Feb. 2 emergency board session.

The Europeans also began drafting a resolution calling for the Security Council to press Tehran to re-impose its freeze on enrichment and fully cooperate with the U.N. agency in its investigation of suspect nuclear activities — though it stops short of asking for sanctions.

Soltaniyeh, in comments to The Associated Press, warned against referral, suggesting such a "hasty decision" would backfire.

Whether Iran's suspension of its full-scale enrichment program remains in effect "depends on the decision of Feb. 2," he said. If the board votes for referral, he said, Iran would resume efforts to fully develop its nascent enrichment activities.

Iran insists its nuclear ambitions do not go beyond wanting to generate fuel, but concerns are growing that its focus is on making nuclear weapons.

An exchange of letters, made available to the AP Monday, reflected differences over Iran between IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei and the United States, Britain, France and Australia — other key supporters of referral.

In a letter dated Friday, Gregory L. Schulte, the chief U.S. representative to the IAEA, asked ElBaradei to prepare a report on the "status of IAEA efforts to investigate indications of an Iranian nuclear weapons program." Similar letters from the other countries were dated Thursday and Monday.

In a reply Monday, ElBaradei wrote that a detailed report would only be available in March, the next scheduled meeting of the IAEA board. Instead, ElBaradei — who had argued against the special Feb.2 meeting saying he needed until March to probe Iran's nuclear program — offered an "update brief" for the Feb. 2 meeting.

Separately, Merkel, speaking at a news conference with President Jacques Chirac, defended the French leader's threat last week that France might use its nuclear weapons against state-sponsored terrorism or to thwart an attack involving weapons of mass destruction — comments that drew criticism from elsewhere in Europe and from Iran.

"We know that France is a country with nuclear capabilities, capabilities that exist exclusively for deterrence and, for me, there are no grounds there for criticism," she said.

Chirac said he had simply delivered a reminder of France's nuclear doctrine.

"The nature of the threat, the defintion of a country's vital interests, and thus the very nature of the response that might be employed, evolves with time," he said.

Iran Threatens Full-Scale Enrichment (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060124/ap_on_re_mi_ea/nuclear_agency_iran;_ylt=AmLKXGx2ZQKu7S8A96ZMPR0LewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--)

Iran defiant as world weighs action in atomic row
Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:06 AM ET10

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran again threatened on Wednesday to start full-scale uranium enrichment if reported to the U.N. Security Council, while signaling interest in a Russian proposal aimed at calming its nuclear row with the West.

The council's five veto-wielding permanent members plus Germany plan to meet in London on Monday to try to resolve differences over whether to send Iran to the council at a crisis meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog on February 2, diplomats said.

They said foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany would seek a consensus before the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gathers in Vienna to weigh what to do about Iran.

The United States and its European Union allies say it is time for the IAEA to turn Iran's nuclear dossier over to the Security Council. China and Russia have urged caution.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said his country would immediately halt voluntary dealings with the IAEA, which include snap checks on its atomic sites, if sent to the council.

He said he doubted the IAEA or European Union negotiators wanted to move toward "an uncontrollable situation".

Iran, going beyond its Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations, allows snap inspections by the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Mottaki urged Britain, France and Germany to renew talks they halted when Iran said on January 9 it was resuming atomic fuel research and removed U.N. seals on uranium enrichment equipment.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said after talks in Moscow he was positive about the idea of setting up a joint venture with Russia to purify uranium on Russian soil.

He said the plan could be "perfected" during talks in Moscow scheduled for February 16 -- two weeks after the IAEA board meeting.

The proposal is designed to prevent Iran gaining technology that could be used for military purposes. The Iranians have said they are ready to discuss co-production of atomic fuel, but that they retain the right to enrich uranium at home.

CAUTIOUS WELCOME

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw reiterated that the Russian proposal was welcome if it enabled Iran to receive nuclear fuel that was processed safely outside its borders.

"That may provide a solution," he told a news conference in Cyprus. "But what the world is also looking for is for Iran to stop the beginnings of running its centrifuges. That's essential if it is to avoid reference to the Security Council."

Larijani, who begins a visit to China on Thursday, warned that referral would prompt Iran to begin large-scale enrichment.

"In those conditions, our activities will not be limited to scientific research. Then we will start industrial production."

Iran has a pilot enrichment plant at Natanz, but is not known to have enough centrifuges for large-scale production.

Mottaki said there was no way Iran would suspend its atomic fuel research program -- a step the EU trio has made a condition for any renewal of talks that began in 2003.

Russia and China are reluctant to see Iran hauled before the Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions, and do not back a draft EU resolution asking the IAEA for referral.

An EU diplomat said Moscow wanted the IAEA only to "inform" the council about Iran, which would allow the top world body to debate the issue, but nothing more. He said China had told the EU it had its own proposal, but had not submitted it in writing.

The West suspects a secret nuclear arms program is under way in Iran, which hid atomic research work from the IAEA for almost 20 years until it was exposed by Iranian exiles in 2002.

Iran says it only wants nuclear power for civilian use.

IAEA safeguards investigators led by deputy agency director general Olli Heinonen flew to Tehran on Tuesday to try to get Iran to reveal more about its past nuclear activities.

Diplomats close to the IAEA said Heinonen's team would press for access to the Lavisan military site that was razed before inspectors could reach it to test for radiation.

The inspectors also want details of Iran's nuclear black market activity and of a document Iran gave the IAEA that diplomats said described how to make the core of an atomic bomb.

Iran defiant as world weighs action in atomic row (http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-01-25T140519Z_01_L25291163_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN.xml)

Russian Atomic Energy Agency chief to visit Tehran in February
Moscow, Jan 25, IRNA

Iran-Russia-Nuclear
Head of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency Sergei Kiriyenko said here Wednesday that Moscow's proposal over Iran-Russia joint uranium enrichment plan will be on his itinerary when he travels to Tehran.

Kiriyenko told reporters in Moscow that he will visit Tehran in late February.

He also referred to his meeting with Iranian head of Iran-Russia Joint Economic Commission saying that the trip will also make preparations for holding the commission session.

He said that in his talks with Iranian official he will broach the subject of the joint uranium enrichment.

"I also intend to visit Bushehr nuclear powerplant in this trip." The Russian official is to confirm the date of commissioning of the Bushehr plant in his talks with Iranian officials.

Kiriyenko discussed Tuesday peaceful nuclear cooperation with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Pacific Affairs Mehdi Safari in Moscow.

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani and his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, stressed here Tuesday the importance of finding a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear case under the auspices of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog.

Larijani and Ivanov, meeting for more than three hours, declared at the end of their talks that the Iranian and Russian delegations would continue their discussions on Iran's nuclear case.

Iran's top security official arrived in Moscow Tuesday morning to hold talks with Ivanov on a visit in line with the usual exchange of visits by officials of the two countries.

Larijani traveled to Moscow on the invitation of his Russian counterpart who visited Iran in November.

The two sides also discussed issues of mutual interest including current cooperation between Tehran and Moscow as well as major regional and international issues.

Russian Atomic Energy Agency chief to visit Tehran in February (http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0601250173231317.htm)

China, Iran warm to Russia nuclear proposal
Thu Jan 26, 2006 8:52 AM ET171

By Lindsay Beck and Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Iran expressed support on Thursday for a Russian proposal to resolve Tehran's nuclear standoff, and both said they opposed the threat of sanctions from the U.N. Security Council.

Top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, on a one-day trip to Beijing seeking China's support, said the Russian proposal -- that uranium be enriched on Russian soil -- needed further discussion.

"The Russian suggestion is a useful one, but needs to be discussed further," Ali Larijani told a news conference in Beijing.

He told Reuters later that Iran was willing to show flexibility on the issue, but rejected the "language of force", an apparent reference to the threat of sanctions.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told a news conference earlier that China wanted other countries to consider the Russian proposal which is aimed at preventing Iran gaining technology that could be used for military purposes.

"We think the Russian proposal is a good attempt to break this stalemate," Kong said.

Earlier this month, Iran removed U.N. seals on uranium enrichment equipment and resumed nuclear fuel research. It says it does not want nuclear weapons, and has the right to enrich uranium at home.

The United States and its European Union allies, who fear Iran might move to developing nuclear weapons, say the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should turn Iran over to the United Nations' Security Council.

But China said U.N. sanctions would only complicate matters.

"We oppose impulsively using sanctions or threats of sanctions to solve problems," Kong said.

The comments seemed to contradict the message China gave U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, who left China on Wednesday after a three-day visit.

Zoellick gave a positive assessment of China's role in the nuclear stand-off, saying Washington and Beijing had no major differences on the issue. Kong, the Chinese spokesman, declined to directly endorse that assessment, simply repeating Beijing's general stance.

URANIUM ENRICHMENT

In Moscow on Wednesday, Larijani said referring Iran's nuclear activities to the U.N. Security Council would prompt Tehran to start uranium enrichment. But he also signaled interest in the Russian plan.

Larijani held morning-long talks with Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and met State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan in the afternoon.

"We have the same idea that these issues should be considered by the IAEA and in a peaceful manner," Larijani said, referring to Iran and China.

"They (China) oppose these rushed actions that have come from some European countries. They are against that. They do not agree with that."

Russia and China wield veto power in the U.N. Security Council along with the three other permanent members the United States, Britain and France.

China is also hosting stop-start six-party talks, including Russia and the United States, aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Analysts say despite its objections, China would be more likely to abstain from a vote than use its veto. But Kong said Iran should have the right to peaceful nuclear power.

"All Non-Proliferation Treaty countries' rights to peacefully use nuclear power should be respected, but we must emphasize that these countries should also strictly abide by the relevant regulations," he said.

Kong said all the countries involved should "intensify diplomatic efforts" to broker a solution before the IAEA meets on February 2 to debate sending Iran to the Security Council.

The Council's veto-wielding permanent members plus Germany plan to meet in London on Monday to try to resolve differences over what to do about Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said that if sent to the Security Council, his country would immediately halt voluntary dealings with the IAEA, which include snap checks on its atomic sites.

Mottaki urged Britain, France and Germany to renew talks they halted this month after Iran resumed its nuclear fuel research.

Kong said China has received no "formal invitation" from Iran to take part in the kind of compromise Russia proposed.

"We hope all sides will use their wisdom to provide new proposals that will create conditions for reviving negotiations," he said.
China, Iran warm to Russia nuclear proposal (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-01-26T135217Z_01_L25291163_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN.xml&archived=False)

Top U.S. General Says Army 'Stretched'

By NICK WADHAMS, Associated Press Writer
42 minutes ago

DIWANIYAH, Iraq - The top U.S. general in Iraq acknowledged Thursday that American forces are "stretched" but said troop withdrawals will be dictated by war strategy and not the strain faced by the soldiers.

Gen. George Casey's remarks contrasted sharply with statements made on Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who disputed findings of an unreleased study conducted for the Pentagon that said the Army is overextended because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Bush shrugged off the report Thursday.

"The forces are stretched ... and I don't think there's any question of that," Casey said of U.S. armed forces deployed in large numbers in Afghanistan and Iraq. "But the Army has been for the last several years going through a modernization strategy that will produce more units and more ready units."

Casey spoke after attending a ceremony in which Polish troops transferred leadership of the south-central region of Iraq they control to Iraqi forces, the first such large-scale handover since the Iraq war began in 2003.

The transfer of authority for the Multinational Division-Center South, which includes about 25 percent of the country, was part of a larger U.S.-led coalition strategy to build up the Iraqi army and give it greater control ahead of a future withdrawal.

Casey told reporters he had discussed whether troops were stretched too thin with Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker on Wednesday and that the Army chief of staff believes he can still sustain missions around the world. Casey, too, was adamant that the troops, including more than 130,000 in Iraq, were getting the job done.

"So, yep, folks are stretched here but they certainly accomplish their mission, and the forces that you've seen on the ground are absolutely magnificent," Casey said.

Casey said early recommendations for reductions were based on the overall U.S. strategy of building up the Iraqi army and police, and cuts were always made based on the situation on the ground. He rejected the idea that early plans for troop withdrawals had been made because of strain on the military.

"That's not true, and the recommendation to begin the reduction of forces came from me based on our strategy here in Iraq," Casey said. "I made my decision based on operational reasons and I'll continue to do that. As I've said all along, I will ask for what I need to accomplish this mission."

On Tuesday, The Associated Press reported that an unreleased study conducted for the Pentagon said the Army is being overextended because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and may not be able to retain and recruit enough troops to defeat the insurgency in Iraq.

A day later, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld disputed that, asserting that "the force is not broken."

In Washington on Thursday, Bush also shrugged off the report. He predicted victory in Iraq and said, "Our commanders will have the troops necessary to do that."

The region that was turned over to Iraqi control on Wednesday makes up about 25 percent of the country and has been relatively quiet compared to hotspots of Baghdad in the center, Fallujah and Ramadi to the west and Mosul to the north. Casey and the Polish and Iraqi generals who were there made clear that the Iraqis were not ready to run the area by themselves, but could take the lead.

"Being in the field, our Iraqi partners distinguished themselves with courage and commitment which in many cases inspired even the coalition soldiers, Polish Gen. Piotr Czerwinski, coalition commander for the region, said in a ceremony marking the handover. "You can be proud of your soldiers and officers."

Top U.S. General Says Army 'Stretched' (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060126/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_troops;_ylt=Ao3ay.c4x6x8I1IGUYWVLnCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Fake Passport Ring With Terror Ties Busted

By JOSHUA GOODMAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 27, 1:44 AM ET

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombian has dismantled a false passport ring with links to al-Qaida and Hamas militants, the acting attorney general said Thursday after authorities led dozens of simultaneous raids across five cities in collaboration with U.S. officials.

In Washington, however, Justice and Homeland Security officials were surprised by the announcement of the investigation, which they said involved people posing as members of Colombia's largest rebel army, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC — not al-Qaida or Hamas.

Colombian officials said the gang allegedly supplied an unknown number of citizens from Pakistan, Jordan,
Iraq, Egypt and other countries with false passports and Colombian nationality without them ever setting foot in the country.

An undisclosed number of those arrested are wanted for working with the al-Qaida terror network and the militant Palestinian group Hamas, said acting Attorney General Jorge Armando Otalora.

The counterfeit Colombian, Spanish, Portugese and German passports were used to enter the United States and Europe, he said.

But Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said an indictment unsealed Wednesday in Miami charges 10 foreign nationals with smuggling "people that they thought were members of FARC into the United States."

"We are not alleging any connections to any terror organization other than the FARC," said Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra.

He said the U.S. will seek to extradite the 10 alleged smugglers, of whom eight have been arrested.

"The operation was, in fact, a sting operation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement," he said, adding that Colombian law enforcement were "an active and critical part" of the investigation

The Colombian attorney general's office said 19 people were arrested in Thursday's raids, adding they were carried out in collaboration with U.S. authorities.

Four Jordanian citizens were among those arrested, Manuel Saenz, head of foreign immigration for the DAS secret police, said on Caracol television. Eight people are being sought inside the United States for extradition to Colombia, Otalora said.

Colombian authorities began to covertly trail and film suspects to unveil a criminal network with the help of their U.S. counterparts.

The eight wanted by federal authorities in Florida on charges of abetting illegal immigration rings and collaborating with terrorist groups include a Jordanian national and a DAS detective, Colombian authorities said.

Colombian officials didn't say if they believed any Colombian terrorist groups were involved in the scheme.

U.S. officials have long feared al-Qaida could take advantage of corrupt government officials and weak institutions to launch an attack from south of the border.

Fake Passport Ring With Terror Ties Busted (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060127/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/colombia_passport_ring;_ylt=Av8EkdTNlqQvYYHBI95yhRys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Campus holy war over 'gay' posters
Teachers opposed to homosexuality refuse order to display rainbow flag
Posted: January 26, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

(http://worldnetdaily.com/images2/gayposter.jpg)

A holy war over homosexuality has erupted on the campus of a San Francisco Bay area high school, as five teachers are refusing orders to display a pro-"gay" banner because of their religious beliefs.

The rainbow-flag poster with pink triangles and other symbols of homosexual pride carries the message, "This is a safe place to be who you are. This sign affirms that support and resources are available for you in this school."

The banner, designed by the Gay-Straight Alliance at San Leandro High School south of Oakland, Calif., was ordered by the school board in December to be posted in all classrooms.

"This is not about religion, sex or a belief system,'' district Superintendent Christine Lim, who initiated the policy, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "This is about educators making sure our schools are safe for our children, regardless of their sexual orientation."

Amy Furtado, principal of San Leandro High School

Principal Amy Furtado believes every teacher will eventually comply with the order from the district, saying she intends to personally work with those who have thus far refused.

"We work in a public school," she said. "I have no wish to change anyone's personal belief, but we want all kids to feel safe. That's where we have common ground."

Art teacher Tom Laughlin, a homosexual who supervised the design of the poster said he was surprised by the intolerance for homosexuals when he began teaching at the campus five years ago, even being called a "fag" by one student.

"There was a real need to do this," he told the Chronicle. "A lot of students didn't know about gay people in general."

Computer-science teacher Rick Styner is proudly displaying two of the banners in his class, one by the entryway so it's the first thing students see upon entering.

"I'm glad that it gets out there instead of being hidden away like a secret,'' Styner said of any intolerance of homosexuality. "As teachers, we have to address these things. Students start to feel unsafe in the classroom."

The five teachers who are refusing to follow the district's orders have not made any public statement about the matter, but a colleague at the school, business teacher Robert Volpa, says he won't hang the poster, even though he agrees with its message.

"I think it's outstanding. Any hate language is not permissible," he said. But he added, "I have a problem with the district mandating anything that could be political."

Cars burn as anger at Fatah poll defeat turns to violence

Cars were set alight and buildings vandalised in Gaza yesterday as thousands of mainly young members of Fatah angrily denounced the party's leadership for this week's spectacular electoral defeat by Hamas.

In the worst outbreak of violence since Wednesday's election a mob converged on the local Gaza outpost of the Palestinian parliament, led by gunmen firing in the air, calling for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, to resign and rejecting any coalition with Hamas.

"We don't want to join the Hamas government. We don't want corrupt leadership. We want reform and we want to fire all the corrupt," one group chanted.

Yesterday's protest was aimed at the discredited old guard of Fatah, whom the youth blame for their party's electoral defeat.

Later in the day clashes were reported leaving several wounded in three different areas between groups of Hamas and Fatah supporters, feuling fears that the two groups, both of which have well-armed military factions, may round on each other.

As election officials struggled to come up with definitive results, Mr Abbas confirmed Hamas's victory and invited the leadership of the militant Islamist movement to form a government.

Senior Hamas leaders met in secret to try to choose a cabinet and prime minister in the face of a growing international chorus demanding that the movement denounce violence and commit itself exclusively to peaceful negotiation. America announced it was reviewing all financial assistance to the Palestinians following the victory by Hamas. The US and European Union both say Hamas is a terror group.

"We do not provide money to terrorist organisations," said Sean McCormack, US State Department spokesman.

Hopes that the election victory might have tempered the group's rhetoric were dashed when a senior Hamas leader, exiled in Syria, reiterated that the group had not given up its armed struggle against Israel.

"As long as there is occupation and so long as our people's rights are usurped, our stand will remain as it is," said Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of the Hamas movement. "We would resist the [Israeli] occupation to restore our rights." Hamas refuses to recognise the right of Israel to exist.

The scale and immediacy of the problems faced by the new Palestinian government were reflected by economic data that showed the government would run out of money to pay government salaries within a few weeks.

Israel has threatened to withhold taxes that it collects and pays back to the Palestinian Authority in line with long-standing agreements.

The enmity poses another problem for the Hamas leadership as any government it forms is unlikely to be allowed to travel freely between Gaza and the West Bank through Israeli territory.

Israeli security forces would arrest any Hamas member inside Israeli jurisdiction.

Tehran fast-tracking bomb
with North Korea purchase?
Pyongyang's growing plutonium cache
attracting Iranian interest, U.S. concern
Posted: January 29, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

While the U.S. and E.U. nations are scrambling to convince Iran to abandon its program of uranium enrichment and debating bringing the Islamic Republic before the U.N. Security Council, Tehran may be in the process of directly purchasing the plutonium it needs to make a bomb from North Korea, intelligence sources say.

As WorldNetDaily reported, North Korea made 30 pounds of plutonium last summer – during the six-party talks hosted by China to end their weapons program – by reprocessing 8,000 nuclear fuel rods. Beijing is currently working to restart a reactor capable of producing enough plutonium to manufacture 10 atomic bombs a year.

For the first time since the nuclear crisis began in 1994, reports the London Times, North Korea has sufficient fissile material to sell some to its ally while retaining enough for its own purposes. Recent reports of Iran offering North Korea oil for nuclear technology has U.S. intelligence experts concerned that a deal is being put together by the two nations for the "surplus" plutonium.

In 2004, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) discovered North Korea had sold 1.7 tons of uranium to Libya, demonstrating how difficult trade in nuclear weapons-related materials is to detect and stop.

While constructing a weapon from plutonium is more complicated, only 15 to 20 pounds of the material is needed to make each nuclear bomb – a relatively small amount of material to transport between the two countries. Already, Iran is believed to be sharing results from its missile tests with North Korea in exchange for nuclear technology and, according to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, Iran is building a research reactor "optimal for the production of weapons-grade plutonium."

Tehran sources say Iran's Revolutionary Guards has established its own links with North Korea, bypassing standard diplomatic channels. "Whatever they're up to, it's probably done through the Revolutionary Guards," said a western diplomat.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Iran's new hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad placed Iran's nuclear program under the control of militant commanders of the Revolutionary Guard shortly after taking office. Jalaleddin Namini Mianji, Iran's ambassador to North Korea who was appointed by the previous "reformist" government, is reportedly being recalled and his successor can be expected to be someone who will facilitate whatever nuclear deals the two countries are making.

The U.S. is sufficiently concerned the evidence points to a pending plutonium sale it has mounted a diplomatic offensive through China and South Korea to convey the message that transferring plutonium between the two nations would cross a "political red line."

Iran crisis 'could drive oil over $90'

Prices climb ahead of critical week as nuclear row escalates. Opec says it won't increase quotas to cover for production shutdown

Heather Stewart, economics correspondent
Sunday January 29, 2006
The Observer

Oil markets are braced for a nail-biting week, as world leaders demand action against Iran over its nuclear ambitions, and analysts warn that crude prices could reach $90 a barrel if the oil-rich state retaliates by blocking supplies.

The International Atomic Energy Agency meets on Thursday to decide whether to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, has threatened to respond to any punitive action by cutting off the 2.6 million barrels of oil a day it pumps into the markets - 5 per cent of the world's supply.

Jittery investors sent the price of Brent crude to $67.76 a barrel in New York on Friday night, as fears about the Iranian crisis and rebel attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria rocked confidence in an already tight market.

Kona Haque, commodities editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said the worst case scenario of a shutdown of supplies from Iran would be 'absolutely devastating ... I wouldn't be surprised to see the price go over $90 a barrel'. She said fears about Iran are already adding a $10 risk premium to oil prices, which could remain in place for months as the crisis escalates. Davoud Danesh-Jafari, Iran's oil minister, has warned that the result of punitive action against his country would be 'the unleashing of a crisis in the oil sector'.

'The resumption of nuclear research by Iran is currently the market's largest preoccupation,' said BNP Paribas oil analyst Eoin O'Callaghan. He has pushed up his forecast for average oil prices this year to $65 a barrel because of geopolitical risk. He points out that the oil price rose more than 60 per cent in the run-up to the Iraq war; a similar increase now would take prices to $94.

Haque said that with little spare capacity in the market, prices are much more vulnerable to political shocks: 'We need a lot more supply capacity to have a cushion; it's going to take another couple of years until that happens.'

The oil producers' organisation Opec meets in Vienna on Tuesday amid calls from some members, including Iran, to cut back production and push up prices further. But most analysts believe production quotas will be left unchanged. 'There's no pressure on Opec to do anything,' said Rob Laughlin, oil analyst at Man Financial.

He said the Nigerian situation could potentially be worse for oil prices than fears about a supply squeeze from Iran. Production levels in Nigeria have already been lowered by 200,000 barrels a day in an effort to protect facilities from the rebels, who have deliberately targeted foreign oil companies. 'Nigeria is probably as big a problem as Iran for us. We're pretty politically squeezed, between the Nigerian rebels and the Iranian president,' said Laughlin.

The president of Opec, Nigeria's Edmund Daukoru, fuelled market fears on Friday when he told Reuters that his organisation was unlikely to step in with extra supplies if the Iranian crisis worsened. 'If Iran decides to stop production, or is forced to stop production because of a sanction, I don't think Opec necessarily has a role to play there,' he said.

Crude peaked at just over $70 a barrel last autumn after hurricane Katrina, but demand from fast-growing economies such as China and India, together with supply shortages in a number of producing countries, has prevented prices from dropping much below $60.

Investment in Russian oil production has been weak since President Putin's tax raid on the oil giant Yukos, and Iraqi output is well below the levels Washington hoped for before coalition tanks rolled into Baghdad. A cold snap in the US, which has so far had an unusually warm winter, could push prices up further in the weeks ahead. 'Should cold weather return to the US, then we'll really be in trouble,' said Laughlin.

Rice Rules Out Aid to Hamas Government

BY ANNE GEARAN

AP Diplomatic Writer LONDON U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday ruled out any American financial aid to a Hamas government in the Palestinian territories and said Washington wants Arab nations and others to cut off money as well.

Humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, many of whom are poor and unemployed, is likely on a "case-by-case basis," Rice said. She indicated that the Bush administration would follow through on aid promised to the current, U.S.-backed Palestinian government led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

"The United States is not prepared to fund an organization that advocates the destruction of Israel, that advocates violence and that refuses its obligations," under an international framework for eventual Mideast peace, Rice said.

Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, won a decisive majority in last week's Palestinian legislative elections. The group, which has political and militant wings, will now take a large role in governing the Palestinians. The makeup of the new government is not clear.

The Islamic militants, who carried out dozens of suicide bombings and seek Israel's destruction, have said they oppose peace talks and will not disarm. Israel refuses to deal with Hamas.

Hamas' unexpected electoral victory raised questions about the future of the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel, and how the United States can influence such efforts or help impoverished Palestinians.

"We're going to review all of our assistance programs, but the bedrock principle here is we can't have funding for an organization that holds those views just because it is in government," Rice said.

The top U.S. diplomat spoke to reporters as she flew to London for a Mideast strategy session with European and Russian leaders and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Rice also will meet separately with other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to discuss Iran and an upcoming vote on whether to refer the Tehran government to the council over its nuclear program.

Rice was more definitive than President Bush and other administration officials have been about the future of U.S. aid now that Palestinians have voted in Hamas.

The U.S., Europe and Israel list Hamas as a terrorist organization; various Arab governments have contact with the group.

"It is important that Hamas now will have to confront the implications of its covenant if it wishes to govern," Rice said. "That becomes a primary consideration in anything that we do."

It is not clear that all European nations or the United Nations would cut off aid, let alone Arab governments that do not recognize Israel.

"I just think that anyone who is devoted to trying to bring Middle East peace between two states has an obligation now to make sure that anybody that is going to be supported is going to have that same" goal, Rice said.

Some in Israel and in the administration would like to isolate and impoverish the new Hamas leadership in hopes of either forcing the group to moderate its policies or hastening disillusionment with the incoming government among Palestinians.

U.S. aid is a small part of the $1.6 billion annual budget of the Palestinian Authority.

About $1 billion comes from overseas donors _ more than half of that from European nations. The rest is a mix of funds from international donor agencies, Arab and Asian governments, and the U.S., which gave $70 million in direct aid to the Palestinian Authority last year.

Separately, the U.S. spent $225 million for humanitarian projects through the U.S. Agency for International Development last year, and gave $88 million for refugee assistance.

In the past, USAID money has gone for such projects as sprucing up the Ramallah auditorium where Palestinian leaders hold press conferences.

Rice suggested that only the most pressing needs would be considered now.

Earlier Sunday, with Hamas' victory discussed on the U.S. talk shows, a Republican senator said cutting U.S. aid to the Hamas-run government could push the Palestinians closer to Iran and create further chaos in the Middle East.

Yet governing changes in the region could allow diplomatic efforts by the Bush administration to move "in some quiet ways," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, a top member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"I think we're moving in the right direction, working with our allies, working with the United Nations, finding ways, with Hamas, to see where they're going to go here in the next few weeks, to see if there's something that we could do to influence that direction," said Hagel, R-Neb.

Bombs Strike Christian Targets in Iraq

By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer Sun Jan 29, 7:52 PM ET

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Car bombs exploded in quick succession Sunday near four Christian churches and the office of the Vatican envoy, killing three people and raising new concerns about sectarian tensions. At least 17 other people were killed in other violence around the country.

No group claimed responsibility for the bombings, which occurred within a half hour near two churches in Baghdad and two in Kirkuk, 180 miles to the north. The fifth bomb exploded about 50 yards from the Vatican mission in the capital.

Suspicion fell on Islamic extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq — led by Jordanian-born terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — that have been responsible for massive car bombings and suicide attacks against Iraqi Shiite civilians.

Meanwhile, ABC News co-anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were seriously injured Sunday when the Iraqi army vehicle they were traveling in was hit by a roadside bomb and small arms fire near Taji, about 12 miles north of Baghdad.

Both suffered serious head injuries and underwent surgery at a U.S. military hospital in Balad, ABC News said.

The U.S. military announced the death of an American soldier in a roadside bomb blast in Baghdad on Saturday. At least 2,241 U.S. military personnel have died since the war began, according to an Associated Press count.

The attacks on Christian sites came at a time of rising sectarian tensions, including reprisal killings and raids, that threaten to complicate efforts to form a broad-based government following the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.

"This was a reaction from the al-Zarqawi people against Christians who they believe support the U.S. military in Iraq," senior Shiite lawmaker Ali al-Adeeb said. "Such acts are rejected by Shiites and Sunnis alike who have been living together with our Christian brothers in Iraq throughout history."

A prominent Sunni Arab politician, Naseer al-Ani, called the bombings "terrorist acts."

Three people died in the bombing at the Church of the Virgin in Kirkuk, police said. At least nine people were injured in the bombings, which caused little damage to the Christian buildings.

Despite the relatively low casualty toll, the bombings are expected to raise fears among the country's small Christian minority — about 3 percent of Iraq's 27 million people. At least 12 people were killed in a series of church bombings in 2004.

Vatican officials had no immediate comment.

U.S. officials are pressing the Iraqis to agree on a government that can win the trust of the Sunni Arabs, the minority community that forms the backbone of the insurgency. Such a government is considered essential if the United States and its international partners are to begin bringing their troops home this year.

However, neither the majority Shiites nor the minority Sunnis appear ready for major concessions in coalition talks. On Sunday, a key Sunni Arab politician accused Shiite-led security forces of pursuing a strategy of sectarian "cleansing" in Baghdad.

"Mosques and houses are empty because clerics and ordinary men are being chased as if there was a sectarian cleansing in Baghdad," gotcha98 al-Dulaimi told reporters. "Violence only breeds more violence. I demand that this sectarian sedition be stopped."

Al-Dulaimi, leader of the main Sunni bloc in the next parliament, also said he would oppose awarding the vital interior and defense ministries, which control state security forces, to Shiite religious parties.

Al-Dulaimi's comments followed a series of raids last week by Interior Ministry commandos into majority Sunni Arab neighborhoods in the capital. The government insists the raids are directed against insurgents who have targeted Shiite civilians as well as U.S. and Iraqi soldiers and police.

On Saturday, the head of the Badr Brigade Shiite militia said Shiite religious parties will "never surrender" the interior and defense ministries. An alliance of Shiite parties won 128 of the 275 parliament seats last month — the largest single bloc.

On Sunday, bombings and ambushes killed eight policemen and a medic in attacks across Baghdad and in the northern cities of Baqouba and Beiji.

A massive car bomb killed four Iraqi soldiers and wounded six more in Saddam Hussein's birthplace of Uja, about 75 miles north of Baghdad. It was unclear whether the attacks was linked to Saddam's trial, which resumed Sunday.

A former high-ranking general in Saddam's disbanded army, Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Idham, was assassinated near Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, police said. The motive for the attack was unclear.

U.S. soldiers shot dead three men wearing Iraqi police uniforms and captured a fourth during a gunfight in Kirkuk. No police identity cards were found, and Iraqi police Brig. Serhad Qadir said they were suspected insurgents disguised as policemen.

Bombs Strike Christian Targets in Iraq (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=Avoz9YdafP_A1ogiTIxkGPQUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

70 Trapped After Fire in Canada Mine

56 minutes ago

ESTERHAZY, Saskatchewan - Fire broke out Sunday in a mine in central Canada, forcing some 70 miners trapped underground to retreat to emergency refuge rooms stocked with oxygen and supplies, a mine official said.

Late Sunday, a rescue team reached one of the rooms, made sure everyone was safe, then closed them back inside until the air inside the mine could be cleared of toxic gases, said Marshall Hamilton, a spokesman for Mosaic Company, the Minneapolis-based firm that operates the potash mine.

"In those refuge stations, they can seal themselves off and there's oxygen, food and water," Hamilton told CBC Radio. "And they can stay in there for at least 36 hours."

Hamilton said the fire broke out around 3 a.m. nearly a mile underground in the province of Saskatchewan. The miners reported smoke and quickly headed for the safe refuge rooms.

Hamilton said company officials could not establish a radio link with 30 of the miners but a team was able to enter one of the refuge rooms late Sunday and talk to the workers.

"I won't kid you, there was a lot of relief in that," Hamilton said.

He said the rescue team took a roll call of all the miners, checked their health and then helped them seal up the room again before leaving.

Hamilton said they believed they had found the source of the smoke and were working on extinguishing the fire. He said the mine would be cleared of smoke and toxic gas before miners were evacuated, adding "we'd rather do this safely than quickly."

"We'll go get them when we're absolutely confident that the fire is out and the smoke and the toxic gases that are associated with fires have left our operations and the air is safe for them to breathe," he said. "They're safe where they are, they're safe in there for many, many hours, potentially even days."

He said that some of the miners' families had gathered at the mine.

"They're a little bit tired. They're a little bit anxious. They have confidence that we've going to safely bring them up," he said. "Nevertheless, they'd like to see them sooner rather than later."

Potash is a pinkish-grey mineral used in the production of agricultural fertilizer.

The mine, which was Saskatchewan's first potash operation when it opened in 1962, is located near Esterhazy, about 130 miles northeast of Regina.

70 Trapped After Fire in Canada Mine (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060130/ap_on_re_ca/canada_mine_fire;_ylt=AjaPpgmzErW6sU33E2yPZN4UewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Asefi: Iran never killing time in negotiations
Tehran, Jan 29, IRNA

Iran-Nuclear-Asefi
Iran will never kill time in the process of talks, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi here on Sunday.

"Iran is determined to remove ambiguities, continue talks and win its rights," said Asefi in his weekly press conference.

Asefi said return of Europeans to the negotiation table is a sign of Iran's right stances.

"Iran has in talks over the past two years proved its goodwill but Europeans failed to be logical enough; and now we are witnessing their declaration of interest in continuing talks," said Asefi.

Asked about the reason(s) Iran was absent from the Davos meeting in Switzerland, Asefi said the priorities of Tehran's foreign and economic policies were different with that of the session; therefore it did not take part in it.

"Wherever there are discussions on Iran, it is not needed to be present there, rather stances can be announced through these press conferences," said Asefi.

On a question about the London meeting on reconstruction of Afghanistan, Asefi said Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will represent Iran at the meeting and conduct negotiations with certain other countries.

Commenting on German proposal on economic sanctions against Iran, he said that economic sanctions will put Europe under pressure before they can force Iran.

Calling the emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of Governors on February 2 as 'politically motivated and not technical', Asefi said, "The IAEA Director General has himself said he cannot present a complete report to the meeting." The Islamic Republic of Iran uses its utmost capacity in that concern and talks with different countries and one should wait and see what would be the result, added Assefi.

Asked about recent terrorist bombing in Iran's southwestern city of Ahvaz (Khuzestan province), Asefi said security forces have announced they have evidence at hand which points to a special country.

"The evidence will be known in the coming days; we will not allow any country to launch sabotage operations in Iran," he added.

He said Tehran is both patient and prudent in that concern.

Asked whether he meant Britain, Asefi said since the question referred to no name he did not present any name.

To a question about the possibility of China's contribution to Russian project, Asefi said the project is still limited to Russia and Iran and Russians have in their talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator said two formulas can be defined: one for Iran and Russia and the other for contribution of other countries.

Also asked whether the reason for a halt in export of gas to Turkey was political or technical, Asefi said, "As Iranian officials have announced, the barriers are technical and whenever the obstacles are removed gas exports will begin to rise."
About recent events in Palestine and victory of Hamas in the elections, Asefi said, "Palestine is in a sensitive juncture and we think recent elections showed Palestinian people have chosen the path of resistance and Intifada."
Referring to the phone conversation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with the head of Hamas political office Khalid Mashal on Saturday, Asefi said Palestinians should be watchful because some people want to play down the victory of Hamas.

Assassination of Hamas leaders and the Palestinian people by the Zionist regime bore fruits because the regime thought it can check Intifada by martyring one of them but the result was something else and not in favor of the Zionist regime, he added.

Also referring to recent statements by the EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana that public votes are not enough for legitimacy, Asefi said, "These are the new things that we hear from Europeans and I think (the definition of) democracy should be defined and drafted once again."
He said that the consequences of Hamas victory are more important than the victory itself.

Asked to comment on the consecutive visits of Arab heads of state to Iran, Asefi said expansion of cooperation with the regional, neighboring and Muslim states is given priority by the government and the visits are based on this very reason.

Asefi stressed that stronger ties with neighboring states will help security and peace in the region.

Calling the outcome of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki's visit to South Africa as 'important', Asefi said that based on the talks held with the Non-Aligned Movement troika, the statement of the meeting stresses the right of all the member countries, including Iran, to attain peaceful nuclear technology.

On the US President George W. Bush's claim to offer all-out assistance to anti-Iran groups, Asefi said, "If that's correct, I think Bush had made a big mistake."
If Bush reviews his words once again, he will get to know that his words are in total contradiction with all international principles, he added.

If Bush has made such a claim, he has hence stirred chaos in the international relations, said Asefi.

Pointing to Iranian people's all-out support for the Islamic Republic of Iran's system, Asefi said, the US will fail again as it did 27 years ago.

On certain European media's desecration of Muslims' sanctities, Asefi said, "We hope Europeans will get to know their grave blunder and extend apology for it."
Europeans will suffer more from such moves because hatred of millions of Muslims in Europe will later on create problems for them, making them feel sorry for their action in course of time, he concluded.

Asefi: Iran never killing time in negotiations (http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0601291147194352.htm)

Hamas hints long-term truce,
demanding Israel change flag
Terror group claiming blue stripes
on banner symbols of 'occupation'
Posted: January 30, 2006

JERUSALEM – Hamas, which catapulted to power in last week's Palestinian elections, might soon offer Israel a long-term cease fire but will not recognize Israel's right to exist, the terror group's chief Mahmoud al-Zahar told WorldNetDaily yesterday after earlier demanding the Jewish state change it's official flag.

Al-Zahar's comments follow a WND exclusive interview in which a top Hamas leader said his group will soon make public a "peace initiative" in which it will offer to trade strategic land with Israel, cease attempts to capture parts of Jerusalem, and sign a 10-year renewable truce with the Jewish state with the aim of later destroying Israel.

"I am not ruling out a long truce period with Israel during which we will hold back armed confrontation as long as the Israeli soldiers respect the truce and do not commit violence against the Palestinian people," said al-Zahar, speaking to WND by cell phone from the Gaza Strip.

Israel routinely conducts operations against terror groups in Gaza and the West Bank aimed at halting suicide bombings, shooting attacks and rocket firing. Hamas openly targets Israeli civilians.

Al-Zahar deflected a question about whether he will modify Hamas' official charter, which calls for jihad against Israel "by assaulting and killing."

Earlier he demanded Israel "remove the two blue stripes from its national flag. The stripes on the flag are symbols of occupation. They signify Israel's borders stretching from the River Euphrates to the River Nile."

Israel's national flag, adopted from a previously used Zionist movement flag, features a star of David within two blue stripes. The stripes signify the Talit, or Jewish prayer shawl, which is traditionally striped.

Al-Zahar's statements regarding a possible long-term ceasefire coincide with a top Hamas leader's outline to WND of a "peace initiative," which the leader justified using Islamic tradition and said is a temporary machination to ease international and U.S. hostility toward his group in hopes of receiving financial assistance.

"We will be ready for a long interim agreement based on a period of cease-fire that can go to 10 or even 15 years like it was done by the prophet Muhammad with the enemies of the Muslims," said the senior Hamas official, who spoke on condition his name be withheld, since he said he was "revealing confidential operative information."

Hamas leaders, including overall Hamas chief Khaled Meshal, who resides in Syria, formulated a "peace proposal" they agreed would be acceptable to their group in which the Palestinians would offer to trade certain lands with Israel, the top Hamas official revealed.

"With the territories we will be ready to discuss the possibility that the three big settlement compounds will remain under the power of the occupation (Israel), and in exchange we will receive territories for the Palestinian independent state," said the Hamas leader.

The leader told WND the "three settlements" he was referring to are Ariel and Gush Etzion, two large regions in the West Bank that contain many of the area's major Jewish communities, and western and peripheral sections of Jerusalem, which he said Hamas considers "Israeli settlements." Jews have resided in Jerusalem, which is mentioned more than 800 times in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, for over 3,000 years.

Hamas, in exchange for the three areas, would want the eastern sections of Jerusalem, the parts of the southern Israeli Negev desert that border the Gaza Strip and the Jordan Valley, which extends from outside Jerusalem toward Jordan and encompasses most of Israel's major water supplies.

The Hamas official indicated his group may be willing to compromise on its territorial demands.

"We are most interested in Jerusalem and the Negev," the leader said.

The leader then justified the Hamas "peace plan" using Islamic history.

"The Muslim hero Saladin gave up land when he gave Acco to the Crusaders in order to keep Jerusalem. Therefore, I say that the possibility of the exchange of territories existed already in the history of Islam and it cohabitates with our principle that all of Palestine is a dedicated land from Allah, may he be blessed to the Muslims, and no one has the right to give up any part of it," said the leader.

There have been concerns that when it assumes control, Hamas may impose hard-line Islamic law on the Palestinians. Yesterday, Hamas gunmen placed the group's flag on the Palestinian parliament building in Ramallah and reportedly announced Hamas will soon rule the area by shariah law. Hamas reportedly has banned Western music events and established hard-line Islamic courts. Israel says the group has an "Anti-Corruption Unit" that enforces Islamic rules.

But the Hamas official told WND his terror organization will not impose Islamic law, "in order to reduce the hostility of the international community and the government of Israel [toward Hamas]. We will not take any initiative to change the way of life of the Palestinian people. ... I tell you we will surprise everyone with our new attitude."

The leader explained his group will create a governing coalition it feels will help garner financial assistance from European countries, including allowing another party to hold the foreign affairs and internal security portfolios and likely keeping the PA's current minister of finance, Salaem Fayyad, who largely is acceptable to the international community.

The Hamas leader said his group will not abandon its goal of destroying Israel.

"When I speak about a long cease-fire and a temporary agreement, it means that we do not recognize the right of the state of the occupation on our lands, but we will accept its existence temporarily," said the leader.

The leader insisted the policies are based on the formulation Hamas will not be able to defeat Israel in the near future, but he said his group is confident it ultimately will be "victorious."

"I do not see the Palestinian people and Islamic nation succeeding to liberate this blessed land of Palestine in the very near future," he said. "This is an Islamic land and the Jews are invited to live in Palestine and the Muslims will guaranty their safety and honor. ... But we will never give up our right for the whole of Palestine. We should be realistic to admit that the mission for the liberation of Palestine will pass on to the coming generations."

Rice Says Allies Oppose Aid to Hamas Gov't
By ANNE GEARAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON (AP) -

The United States and its European allies have similar views about aid for a Hamas-led Palestinian government, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday as she tried to persuade other nations to cut off assistance to a government led by the hard-line group.

"Everybody is saying exactly the same thing," Rice said amid meetings with other diplomats on Hamas' startling election victory last week and its impact on Middle East peacemaking efforts. "There has got to be a peaceful road ahead. ... You cannot be on one hand dedicated to peace and on the other dedicated to violence. Those two things are irreconcilable."

Rice was meeting other members of the so-called Quartet of would-be Mideast peacemakers Monday. The group, which includes the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, is already on record as saying "there is a fundamental contradiction between armed group and militia activities and the building of a democratic state."

"To say a Palestinian government must be committed to peace with Israel is at the core," Rice said. "You have to recognize Israel's right to exist."

Rice has ruled out any U.S. financial assistance to a government led by Hamas, which has carried out terrorist attacks against Israel and does not recognize its right to exist.

European Union foreign ministers on Monday called on Hamas to recognize the state of Israel, renounce violence and disarm. While EU officials are barred from contact with the Islamic militant group, which it considers a terrorist organization, the EU statement made clear that the EU would keep diplomatic channels open with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is not a member of Hamas.

On Sunday, Rice said humanitarian help to the Palestinians, many of whom are poor and unemployed, is likely on a "case-by-case basis." She indicated that the administration would follow through on aid promised to the current, U.S.-backed Palestinian government led by Abbas.

In Gaza meanwhile, a Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, called on the international community to continue funding the Palestinian Authority.

"We assure you that all the revenues will be spent on salaries, daily life and infrastructure," he said at a news conference, addressing international concerns that aid would be used to fund violence.

Rice also will meet separately with other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to discuss Iran and an upcoming vote on whether to refer the Tehran government to the council over its nuclear program.

Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, won a decisive majority in last week's Palestinian legislative elections. The group, which has political and militant wings, will now take a large role in governing the Palestinians. The makeup of the new government is not clear.

The Islamic militants, who carried out dozens of suicide bombings and seek Israel's destruction, have said they oppose peace talks and will not disarm. Israel refuses to deal with Hamas.

Hamas' unexpected electoral victory raised questions about the future of the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel, and how the United States can influence such efforts or help impoverished Palestinians.

"We're going to review all of our assistance programs, but the bedrock principle here is we can't have funding for an organization that holds those views just because it is in government," Rice said.

The U.S., Europe and Israel list Hamas as a terrorist organization; various Arab governments have contact with the group.

"It is important that Hamas now will have to confront the implications of its covenant if it wishes to govern," Rice said. "That becomes a primary consideration in anything that we do."

It is not clear that all European nations or the United Nations would cut off aid, let alone Arab governments that do not recognize Israel.

"I just think that anyone who is devoted to trying to bring Middle East peace between two states has an obligation now to make sure that anybody that is going to be supported is going to have that same" goal, Rice said.

U.S. aid is a small part of the $1.6 billion annual budget of the Palestinian Authority.

About $1 billion comes from overseas donors - more than half of that from European nations. The rest is a mix of funds from international donor agencies, Arab and Asian governments, and the U.S., which gave $70 million in direct aid to the Palestinian Authority last year.

Separately, the U.S. spent $225 million for humanitarian projects through the U.S. Agency for International Development last year, and gave $88 million for refugee assistance.

Congress Racing to Isolate a Hamas Regime

By MEGHAN CLYNE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
January 30, 2006

WASHINGTON - Congress is moving quickly in the face of Hamas's victory in the Palestinian elections to slash American funding for the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations and ensure that America moves to isolate the new regime.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican of Florida, will introduce House legislation this week to slash American funding to the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations; designate the Palestinian Authority as a "terrorist sanctuary," and close down some Palestinian Authority offices in America as part of a reduction of Palestinian-American diplomatic ties.

The bill would be the first official move in Washington toward cutting funding to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority, as concern about the terrorist organization's electoral victory has prompted increasingly vocal calls on Capitol Hill to stop aid to the Palestinian Arabs.

The bill is expected to be introduced tomorrow when the House reconvenes for President Bush's State of the Union address, and will start in the House International Relations Committee. Ms. Ros-Lehtinen is chairwoman of the committee's Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, which has congressional jurisdiction over the Palestinian Authority.

"Abu Mazen and the PA leadership were given numerous opportunities to prove what they're made of - to prove that they're committed to peace and security," Ms. Ros-Lehtinen said yesterday of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah Party, also known as Abu Mazen. "They showed their stripes. Even after Israel withdrew from Gaza, they refused to disarm Hamas and other terrorists, and they allowed them to gain strength.

"We must ensure that taxpayer funds are not used to assist, directly or indirectly, those who carry out terrorist attacks and those who allow these attacks to continue by doing nothing to combat terror," the congresswoman said.

According to senior congressional staff familiar with the legislation, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen's bill is a comprehensive crackdown on American aid to and interactions with a terrorist-controlled Palestinian Authority or Palestinian Legislative Council. The bill would "prohibit direct assistance to the PA, the PLC, municipalities, and other constituent elements that are 'governed' by individuals associated with Hamas or other terrorist entities," according to a "Dear Colleague" letter obtained by The New York Sun that will begin circulating in Congress today as an invitation to potential co-sponsors. America is contributing about $150 million in aid to the Palestinian government this year.

The legislation would also "audit all committees, offices, and commissions focused on the Palestinian agenda at the United Nations and recommend for their elimination," according to the letter. Ms. Ros-Lehtinen's bill would slash American U.N. contributions proportional to the amount spent by the United Nations on aid to Palestinian Arabs, and on Palestinian Authority-related programs. The Sun reported last week that the U.N. spends about $3.5 million a year on such activities; America shoulders about 22% of the U.N.'s operating costs.

Requests for comment yesterday from the United Nations about the proposed funding cut were not responded to immediately.

According to staff, the House legislation also would reduce America's ties to and interactions with a Hamasled Palestinian Authority, in order both to signal America's unwillingness to deal with terrorists and to protect America from possible terrorist activity conducted under the guise of official Palestinian Authority business here.

The bill would, for example, prohibit the State Department from issuing visas to all members or agents of foreign terrorist organizations, eliminating loopholes that might allow Hamas leaders to enter America to conduct diplomatic business as elected officials. The bill also would call for a reduction in America's diplomatic ties with the Palestinian Authority, and call for its diplomatic offices in Washington to be shut down, urging that American diplomatic business be conducted either in the Palestinian territories or through the Palestinian U.N. mission in New York.

In addition to slashing aid and severing some diplomatic connections, the bill would designate the Palestinian Authority a "terrorist sanctuary," under the terms of the 2004 "9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act." The act, pursuant to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, adds to the State Department's state sponsors of terrorism list a separate designation for countries that knowingly harbor terrorists. "Terrorist sanctuaries" are subjected to sanctions applied against state sponsors of terrorism, in cluding prohibitions against foreign aid and restrictions on trade and financial transactions.

"You are either with us or against us on the war on terror," Ms. Ros-Lehtinen said yesterday. "I think the response of Abu Mazen and the PA leadership relating to Hamas clearly shows where they are."

A New York Democrat who has long advocated de-funding the Palestinian Authority, Rep. Anthony Weiner, told the Sun yesterday that he thought some of the measures articulated by Ms. Ros-Lehtinen would enjoy broad, bipartisan support in Congress as more lawmakers come to recognize that America's "propping up" the PA has been "wrongheaded."

"The only thing surprising about this is how unsurprising this is - that we're in the problem with this aid," Mr. Weiner said. "It has been based on the wrong foundation ever since it started back in the days of Oslo. It hasn't brought us a more pro-U.S. state of mind there. It hasn't brought us a more peaceful region. It hasn't brought us, arguably, improved services to the Palestinian people."

Yet Mr. Weiner cautioned that while support for cutting funding to the Palestinian Authority is high on Capitol Hill, it is uncertain whether the authority to slash diplomatic aid and ties rest with Congress as part of its power of the purse, or with the White House as part of the executive's power to set foreign policy.

"At the end of the day, the State Department has to come around on this stuff," Mr. Weiner said. The congressman added that he has begun circulating a letter to Mr. Bush requesting that his budget proposal next month exclude any funding for the Palestinian Authority.

Ms. Ros-Lehtinen and Mr. Weiner have been joined in their calls by Rep. Vito Fossella, a Republican of New York, who last week urged America to stop funding the Palestinian Arabs until Hamas pledges to disarm its militant wing. And yesterday, in a series of statements on political talk shows and in other press outlets, Republican Senators Hagel and Frist, of Nebraska and Tennessee, and Senator Obama, a Democrat of Illinois, all said American aid to the Palestinian Arabs should be cut until and unless Hamas disarms and ceases its support for the destruction of Israel.

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean, too, said Mr. Bush should be supported in reducing aid. The president has indicated that American assistance to the Palestinian Authority should be withheld after last week's elections, in which Hamas won 76 of the 132 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council, until the terrorist organization disarms.

A scholar of Israel and the Middle East, and a former board member of the United States Institute of Peace, Daniel Pipes, said yesterday that while it is important for America to cut funding both to protect taxpayer money and signal its unwillingness to recognize terrorist authority, he doubts that any withholding measures by the federal government will affect the Palestinian Arabs' anti-Israel mind-set.

"I'm skeptical that given the type of momentum that exists, that it will make much difference," Mr. Pipes, who also writes a column for the Sun, said. "I see the Palestinian body politic as deeply radicalized, deeply hostile, and deeply problematic. I note, for example, that virtually every delegate elected to the legislative council rejects the existence of Israel."

"There are more fundamental shifts that need to take place. And I see a hiccup here," Mr. Pipes said of the calls to slash aid. "I don't see a fundamental shift."

UN unveils plan to release untapped wealth of...$7 trillion (and solve the world's problems at a stroke)
By Philip Thornton, Economics Correspondent
Published: 30 January 2006

The most potent threats to life on earth - global warming, health pandemics, poverty and armed conflict - could be ended by moves that would unlock $7 trillion - $7,000,000,000,000 (£3.9trn) - of previously untapped wealth, the United Nations claims today.

The price? An admission that the nation-state is an old-fashioned concept that has no role to play in a modern globalised world where financial markets have to be harnessed rather than simply condemned.

In a groundbreaking move, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has drawn up a visionary proposal that has been endorsed by a range of figures including Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Laureate.

It says an unprecedented outbreak of co-operation between countries, applied through six specific financial tools, would slice through the Gordian knot of problems that have bedevilled the world for most of the last century.

If its recommendations are accepted - and the authors acknowledge this could take years or even decades - it could finally force countries to face up to the fact that their public finance and growth figures conceal the vast damage their economies do to the environment.

At the heart of the proposal, unveiled at a gathering of world business leaders at the Swiss ski resort of Davos, is a push to get countries to account for the cost of failed policies, and use the money saved "up front" to avert crises before they hit. Top of the list is a challenge to the United States to join an international pollution permit trading system which, the UN claims, could deliver $3.64trn of global wealth.

Inge Kaul, a special adviser at the UNDP, said: "The way we run our economies today is vastly expensive and inefficient because we don't manage risk well and we don't prevent crises." She downplayed concerns over up-front costs and interest payments for the new-fangled financial devices. "The gains in terms of development would outweigh those costs. Money is wasted because we dribble aid, and the costs of not solving the problems are much, much higher than what we would have to pay for getting the financial markets to lend the money."

The UNDP is determined to ensure globalisation, which has generated vast wealth for multinational companies, benefits the poorest in society.

It urges politicians to embrace some groundbreaking schemes put in place in the past 12 months to tackle global warning, poverty and disease, based on working with the global markets to share out the risk.

These include a pilot international finance facility (IFF) to "front load" $4bn of cash for vaccines by borrowing money against pledges of future government aid.

The scheme, which is backed by the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was born out of a proposal by Gordon Brown for a larger scheme to double the total aid budget to $100bn a year.

In an endorsement of the report, Mr Brown said: "This shows how we can equip people and countries for a new global economy that combined greater prosperity and fairness both within and across nations."

The UNDP says rich countries should build on this and go further. It proposes six schemes to harness the power of the markets:

* Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through pollution permit trading; net gain $3.64trn.

* Cutting poor countries' borrowing costs by securing the debts against the income from stable parts of their economies; net gain $2.90trn.

* Reducing government debt costs by linking payments to the country's economic output; net gain $600bn.

* An enlarged version of the vaccine scheme; net gain (including benefits of lower mortality) $47bn.

* Using the vast flow of money from migrants back to their home country to guarantee; net gain $31bn.

* Aid agencies underwriting loans to market investors to lower interest rates; net gain $22bn.

Professor Stiglitz, the former chief economist of the World Bank and a staunch critic of the way globalisation harms the poor, said: "Globalisation has meant the closer integration of countries, and that in turn has meant a greater need for collective action.

"One of the most important areas of failure is the environment. Without government intervention, firms and households have no incentive to limit their pollution." He said a global public finance system would force countries to acknowledge the external damage their policies had, "the most important being global climate change".

Solving the environmental crisis tops the UN's $7trn wish-list. It calls for an international market to trade pollution permits that would encourage rich countries to cut pollution and hit their targets under the Kyoto protocol.

But - and the UN admits it is a big "but" - the US would have to sign up to Kyoto and carbon trading to achieve the $3.64trn that it believes the system would deliver over time.

"We are dealing with a global problem as pollution can only be dealt with internationally," Ms Kaul said. Richard Sandor, the head of the Chicago Climate Exchange, added: "Many encouraging signs are emerging. When the business case is clear, private entrepreneurs step forward."

But, the proposal is unlikely to get support from some green groups who believe that action to curb consumption, rather than market incentives, are the way to reduce carbon emissions.

Andrew Simms, director of the New Economics Foundation, said it left unanswered questions over how these markets would be managed and how the benefits and costs would be distributed. "We have nothing against markets so it would be missing the point to get into a pro- or anti-market stance. The point is how you distribute the benefits."

He said the Nineties, the zenith decade for globalisation, had seen just 60 cents out of every $100 worth of growth reach the poorest in society, compared with the $2.20 in the Eighties.

He said a pollution trading regime had the potential to deliver "enormous" benefits to poor countries, but said the UN report failed to show a detailed plan.

"Our view is that you have to cap pollution, allocate permits and then you can trade. But it depends on how it is set up. Because you are dealing with a global commons of the atmosphere, the danger is that you could be effectively dealing in stolen goods."

He said a system set up now to trade in pollution permits could end up permanently depriving poor countries that joined the system further down the road.

International problems - and solutions

PANDEMIC DISEASES

Millions of people across the developing world have died from malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/Aids, as well as from other pandemics. Vaccines needed to avert them require much-needed investment.

SOLUTION: An advance commitment by rich countries to buy $3bn (£1.7bn) worth of vaccines would be enough to encourage pharmaceutical giants to invest in finding medicines that would eliminate these pandemics.

SAVING: $600bn

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: Vaccines are needed but more should be done in the meantime. Extra aid is needed for simple tools such as mosquito nets that would curb spread of malaria.

PARIAH STATES

Big business and global money ignore countries where they see the risk of conflict outweighing their potential profit margins.

SOLUTION: Guarantees by international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund to lower the cost of borrowing for poor nations by underwriting investors' loans to conflict-torn states.

SAVING: $22bn

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: Sometimes large volumes of cash are needed and this is one. Live8 showed there was huge support among taxpayers for higher aid to countries in distress.

Hitting a commitment made in the 1960s of 0.7 per cent of GDP would unlock $140bn a year.

NATIONAL BANKRUPTCY

Once great nations such as Brazil and Argentina were reduced to the status of beggars after poor economic policy combined with debts with national and international lenders.

SOLUTION: A system to enable countries to take loans linked to their average economic growth rate to ensure that they do not have to cut public spending to raise the money to borrow needed funds during the hard times.

SAVING: $600bn

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: A system to allow countries to seek protection from their creditors in the same way that US companies can take so-called Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Cont'd next post.

SPECULATIVE INVESTORS

Poor countries suffer most from swings in investment tastes by the big global investors that means money can leave as soon as it arrives.

SOLUTION: Enable countries to buy "insurance policies" against big swings in growth that would ensure that they did not have to cut public spending every time. In 1997 it wreaked havoc across South-east Asia.

SAVING: $2,900bn

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: Curb speculative investment by imposing a tax on foreign exchange transactions aimed at destabilising a currency. It could directly raise funds for development while preventing the worst excesses of the markets.

GLOBAL WARMING

Scientists believe human activity has led to climate change and disappearing Arctic ice. The world's poor also have to live with lethal storms and floods.

UN SOLUTION: A system of international trading in permits to allow pollution that would encourage countries to cut their emission of greenhouse gases so they can sell their "right to pollute" to other states. UNDP says it is more effective than just setting targets.

SAVING: $3,620bn

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: An international approach is needed but one that prevents people from causing harm by setting pollution targets rather than trying to bribe them not to. Also agree global airline tax.

BRAIN DRAIN

Millions of skilled workers leave their home countries every year in search of a better life in the West. In some states nine out 10 professionals have left.

SOLUTION: Enable countries to borrow on the open markets against the money workers send home. The capital would be used to invest in the country to build infrastructure that would discourage people from leaving.

SAVING: $31bn

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: An international code of ethical guidelines overseen by bodies such as the World Health Organisation (for doctors and nurses) to monitor the harm that migration of professionals causes.

The most potent threats to life on earth - global warming, health pandemics, poverty and armed conflict - could be ended by moves that would unlock $7 trillion - $7,000,000,000,000 (£3.9trn) - of previously untapped wealth, the United Nations claims today.

The price? An admission that the nation-state is an old-fashioned concept that has no role to play in a modern globalised world where financial markets have to be harnessed rather than simply condemned.

In a groundbreaking move, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has drawn up a visionary proposal that has been endorsed by a range of figures including Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Laureate.

It says an unprecedented outbreak of co-operation between countries, applied through six specific financial tools, would slice through the Gordian knot of problems that have bedevilled the world for most of the last century.

If its recommendations are accepted - and the authors acknowledge this could take years or even decades - it could finally force countries to face up to the fact that their public finance and growth figures conceal the vast damage their economies do to the environment.

At the heart of the proposal, unveiled at a gathering of world business leaders at the Swiss ski resort of Davos, is a push to get countries to account for the cost of failed policies, and use the money saved "up front" to avert crises before they hit. Top of the list is a challenge to the United States to join an international pollution permit trading system which, the UN claims, could deliver $3.64trn of global wealth.

Inge Kaul, a special adviser at the UNDP, said: "The way we run our economies today is vastly expensive and inefficient because we don't manage risk well and we don't prevent crises." She downplayed concerns over up-front costs and interest payments for the new-fangled financial devices. "The gains in terms of development would outweigh those costs. Money is wasted because we dribble aid, and the costs of not solving the problems are much, much higher than what we would have to pay for getting the financial markets to lend the money."

The UNDP is determined to ensure globalisation, which has generated vast wealth for multinational companies, benefits the poorest in society.

It urges politicians to embrace some groundbreaking schemes put in place in the past 12 months to tackle global warning, poverty and disease, based on working with the global markets to share out the risk.

These include a pilot international finance facility (IFF) to "front load" $4bn of cash for vaccines by borrowing money against pledges of future government aid.

The scheme, which is backed by the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was born out of a proposal by Gordon Brown for a larger scheme to double the total aid budget to $100bn a year.

In an endorsement of the report, Mr Brown said: "This shows how we can equip people and countries for a new global economy that combined greater prosperity and fairness both within and across nations."

The UNDP says rich countries should build on this and go further. It proposes six schemes to harness the power of the markets:

* Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through pollution permit trading; net gain $3.64trn.

* Cutting poor countries' borrowing costs by securing the debts against the income from stable parts of their economies; net gain $2.90trn.

* Reducing government debt costs by linking payments to the country's economic output; net gain $600bn.

* An enlarged version of the vaccine scheme; net gain (including benefits of lower mortality) $47bn.

* Using the vast flow of money from migrants back to their home country to guarantee; net gain $31bn.

* Aid agencies underwriting loans to market investors to lower interest rates; net gain $22bn.

Professor Stiglitz, the former chief economist of the World Bank and a staunch critic of the way globalisation harms the poor, said: "Globalisation has meant the closer integration of countries, and that in turn has meant a greater need for collective action.

"One of the most important areas of failure is the environment. Without government intervention, firms and households have no incentive to limit their pollution." He said a global public finance system would force countries to acknowledge the external damage their policies had, "the most important being global climate change".

Solving the environmental crisis tops the UN's $7trn wish-list. It calls for an international market to trade pollution permits that would encourage rich countries to cut pollution and hit their targets under the Kyoto protocol.

But - and the UN admits it is a big "but" - the US would have to sign up to Kyoto and carbon trading to achieve the $3.64trn that it believes the system would deliver over time.

"We are dealing with a global problem as pollution can only be dealt with internationally," Ms Kaul said. Richard Sandor, the head of the Chicago Climate Exchange, added: "Many encouraging signs are emerging. When the business case is clear, private entrepreneurs step forward."

But, the proposal is unlikely to get support from some green groups who believe that action to curb consumption, rather than market incentives, are the way to reduce carbon emissions.

Andrew Simms, director of the New Economics Foundation, said it left unanswered questions over how these markets would be managed and how the benefits and costs would be distributed. "We have nothing against markets so it would be missing the point to get into a pro- or anti-market stance. The point is how you distribute the benefits."

cONT'D NEXT POST.

He said the Nineties, the zenith decade for globalisation, had seen just 60 cents out of every $100 worth of growth reach the poorest in society, compared with the $2.20 in the Eighties.

He said a pollution trading regime had the potential to deliver "enormous" benefits to poor countries, but said the UN report failed to show a detailed plan.

"Our view is that you have to cap pollution, allocate permits and then you can trade. But it depends on how it is set up. Because you are dealing with a global commons of the atmosphere, the danger is that you could be effectively dealing in stolen goods."

He said a system set up now to trade in pollution permits could end up permanently depriving poor countries that joined the system further down the road.

International problems - and solutions

PANDEMIC DISEASES

Millions of people across the developing world have died from malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/Aids, as well as from other pandemics. Vaccines needed to avert them require much-needed investment.

SOLUTION: An advance commitment by rich countries to buy $3bn (£1.7bn) worth of vaccines would be enough to encourage pharmaceutical giants to invest in finding medicines that would eliminate these pandemics.

SAVING: $600bn

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: Vaccines are needed but more should be done in the meantime. Extra aid is needed for simple tools such as mosquito nets that would curb spread of malaria.

PARIAH STATES

Big business and global money ignore countries where they see the risk of conflict outweighing their potential profit margins.

SOLUTION: Guarantees by international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund to lower the cost of borrowing for poor nations by underwriting investors' loans to conflict-torn states.

SAVING: $22bn

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: Sometimes large volumes of cash are needed and this is one. Live8 showed there was huge support among taxpayers for higher aid to countries in distress.

Hitting a commitment made in the 1960s of 0.7 per cent of GDP would unlock $140bn a year.

NATIONAL BANKRUPTCY

Once great nations such as Brazil and Argentina were reduced to the status of beggars after poor economic policy combined with debts with national and international lenders.

SOLUTION: A system to enable countries to take loans linked to their average economic growth rate to ensure that they do not have to cut public spending to raise the money to borrow needed funds during the hard times.

SAVING: $600bn

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: A system to allow countries to seek protection from their creditors in the same way that US companies can take so-called Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

SPECULATIVE INVESTORS

Poor countries suffer most from swings in investment tastes by the big global investors that means money can leave as soon as it arrives.

SOLUTION: Enable countries to buy "insurance policies" against big swings in growth that would ensure that they did not have to cut public spending every time. In 1997 it wreaked havoc across South-east Asia.

SAVING: $2,900bn

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: Curb speculative investment by imposing a tax on foreign exchange transactions aimed at destabilising a currency. It could directly raise funds for development while preventing the worst excesses of the markets.

GLOBAL WARMING

Scientists believe human activity has led to climate change and disappearing Arctic ice. The world's poor also have to live with lethal storms and floods.

UN SOLUTION: A system of international trading in permits to allow pollution that would encourage countries to cut their emission of greenhouse gases so they can sell their "right to pollute" to other states. UNDP says it is more effective than just setting targets.

SAVING: $3,620bn

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: An international approach is needed but one that prevents people from causing harm by setting pollution targets rather than trying to bribe them not to. Also agree global airline tax.

BRAIN DRAIN

Millions of skilled workers leave their home countries every year in search of a better life in the West. In some states nine out 10 professionals have left.

SOLUTION: Enable countries to borrow on the open markets against the money workers send home. The capital would be used to invest in the country to build infrastructure that would discourage people from leaving.

SAVING: $31bn

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: An international code of ethical guidelines overseen by bodies such as the World Health Organisation (for doctors and nurses) to monitor the harm that migration of professionals causes.

UN unveils plan to release untapped wealth of...$7 trillion (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article341967.ece)

Permanent five say IAEA must report Iran to U.N.
Mon Jan 30, 2006 10:12 PM ET163

LONDON (Reuters) - The permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council agreed on Tuesday that this week's meeting of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog should report Iran to the Council over its nuclear programs, said a statement from the five.

"(Ministers) agreed that this week's extraordinary IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Board meeting should report to the Security Council its decision on the steps required of Iran," said a joint statement after the meeting between the foreign ministers of China, Russia, the United States, France and Britain as well as Germany and the European Union's foreign policy chief.

A senior U.S. official said the statement meant Russia and China were on board with the United States and the European powers that there must be strong action taken by the IAEA on Thursday or Friday against Iran to prevent Tehran from building a nuclear bomb.

"This is the most powerful message we could have hoped for," said a senior U.S. official, who read out the statement after the four-hour dinner at which the ministers agreed to report Iran to the Council.

The statement said the ministers agreed that the U.N. Security Council should await the IAEA director general's report to a March IAEA meeting before deciding what further action to take.

The Council could ultimately impose sanctions against Iran but there are many steps before this could happen.

"(The ministers) call on Iran to restore in full the suspension of (uranium) enrichment-related activity, including research and development under the supervision of the IAEA," said the statement.

The statement added that they should all continue their resolve to work for a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear weapons program.

Earlier on Monday, Iran put forward its ideas to European officials in Brussels who said the talks had yielded nothing new but that negotiations with the Europeans could be reopened if Tehran complied with IAEA requests.

Permanent five say IAEA must report Iran to U.N. (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-01-31T031224Z_01_L30682489_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN.xml&archived=False)

Killer bees join list of hazards of Florida living

By Robert P. King
The Associated Press
Posted January 28 2006, 11:29 AM EST

WEST PALM BEACH -- As if hurricanes, roaches, sea lice and insurance bills weren't bad enough, Floridians can add a new menace to their list of worries. Killer bees are here.

And they're going to change your life. After decades of hype and cheesy disaster movies, Africanized honeybees have established a foothold in Florida, bringing a hair-trigger temper that makes them a threat to farmworkers, landscapers, meter readers, firefighters and basically everyone who ventures outdoors.

In St. Lucie County, thousands of bees nesting below ground near water meters swarmed onto unlucky utility workers late last year, though not fatally. Separate attacks killed two dogs near Miami and Sarasota, along with a horse near LaBelle west of Lake Okeechobee.

Africanized bee colonies have turned up in ports throughout the state, including Fort Pierce and the Port of Palm Beach, and have been suspected at tourist attractions such as Busch Gardens and Downtown Disney. Nobody knows how to stop them.

So Floridians will just have to adapt just as they've learned to nail plywood before hurricanes and scan lawns for fire ant mounds. That means residents should "bee-proof" their homes, sealing any openings that could allow the insects to turn attics and walls into killer-bee condos, experts say.

People also should look out before starting lawn mowers, whose noise can provoke the bees, or opening potential nesting sites such as sheds and barbecue grills.

Those are already realities from Texas to California, where the bees showed up in the 1990s after a decades-long march from Brazil to Mexico. California firefighters receive training in rescuing bee victims, while Arizona educators have drawn up bee lesson plans for children as young as kindergarten age. (One tip for handling a bee attack: "RUN! RUN! RUN!)

But experts say the bees are just one more potential hazard in a state teeming with them. They say people are more likely to be struck by lightning than killed by bees.

"We live in a state that has fire ants that actually kill people," said Jerry Hayes, assistant chief of apiary inspection for the Florida Agriculture Department, which is including bee brochures in its display at the South Florida Fair. "We have scorpions and spiders and boa constrictors and all those scary things."

David Barnes, a bee technician for the department, said he already has had to placate panicked callers, including a landscaper's wife.

"I told her he has more to worry about about yellow jackets."

So far, the Africanized bees haven't killed anyone in Florida, the department says. They have killed roughly 1,000 people in the Americas, including at least 14 in the United States, since the bees' ancestors escaped from a Brazilian lab in 1957.

Unlike Hollywood's fictional killer bees, the real-life ones don't roam the countryside looking for people to kill. They're slightly smaller and no more venomous than the docile European strains prized by beekeepers.

But what the Africanized bees lack in size, they make up with a severe lack of anger management. All honeybees defend their hives, but the Africanized bees erupt against disturbances that European bees might shrug off -- a noisy leaf-blower or nosy dog, for example. And they attack in much greater numbers.

"People end up with 300, 400, a thousand stings," said Bob van der Herchen, who runs a bee removal service in Englewood, south of Sarasota. Five hundred stings might be enough to kill a child, federal experts say.

Hayes said the deaths that have occurred "have been horrific," noting that the bees' favorite stinging targets include the nostrils and the mouth.

"It's a very gruesome way to die."

Once angered, the Africanized bees stay agitated for as long as 24 hours, posing a continuing hazard, Barnes said.

In September, a swarm of Africanized bees trapped three residents in their Miami Gardens home and attacked several firefighters, three dogs and two television journalists after someone tried to move the log where the bees were living, The Miami Herald reported at the time. One dog died.

Near LaBelle in Hendry County, Imogene Risner said her niece was washing a horse near their home last year when a cloud of bees attacked, besieging the animal's head and face. The horse died that night after suffering about 2,000 stings, she said.

Hayes' department then performed DNA tests on hives that Risner's husband, an amateur beekeeper, was tending nearby. She said the state workers killed all 40 hives with soapy water after several of those tests came back positive for Africanized genes a result she disputes.

"Bees are temperamental," Risner said, adding that after the execution, "We had a mess all summer. The honey was run out and the flies was coming from all directions."

Other incidents are less clear-cut. Last month, Palm Beach County sheriff's officials said bees attacked nine deputies, three burglary suspects and a dog during a chase through woods west of Lantana, putting three deputies in the hospital.

But nobody saved any samples, so the state couldn't determine whether they were Africanized bees, European bees or even yellow jackets.

Bee removal expert Ronnie Sharpton, owner of Palm City-based Alpine Farms, said not all mass bee attacks involve Africanized bees.

"The only time we run into aggressive bees is when someone else has been aggravating bees by throwing rocks or spraying them," he said. He urged people to leave all bees alone and let professionals handle them.

Hayes' agency continues to try to slow the Africanized bees' spread by maintaining hundreds of baited traps at ports and other key locations. But now that the bees are here, education will be a major strategy.

"We can be safe," Barnes said. "Maybe this is one more thing to pay attention to."

Killer bees join list of hazards of Florida living (http://www.worthynews.com/news/sun-sentinel-com-news-local-southflorida-sfl-killerbees-jan28,0,1005416,print-story-coll-sns-ap-football-headlines/)

Is It Time To Say Goodbye to Paper Money?

Walaika K. Haskins, newsfactor.com Mon Jan 30, 5:55 PM ET

Since the late 1990s, when the expansion and adoption of the Internet created a bona fide Mecca for retailers and shoppers, people have looked forward to the day when physical cash would no longer be the mainstay of payment transactions.

When the Internet boom came to a screeching halt in 2000, some experts believed that it also marked the end of efforts to establish digital currencies.

But the continuing success of the online payment service PayPal, as well as the recent adoption of so-called e-cash by 15 million people in Japan, has bought the electronic-money movement new momentum.

Money from Nothing

The push for electronic money became an integral part of the digital revolution during the mid to late '90s. It was based on the premise that consumers would balk when asked to submit their credit-card numbers when making a purchase.

Giving online customers a way to convert physical cash into digital coin seemed like the solution. This "e-money" would be stored offline on cards embedded with a chip -- smart cards -- or within a computer's hard drive, and it could be used to make any kind of purchase.

A bevy of private digital currency start-ups hit the Web. But these currencies amounted to little more than digital Green Stamps. Designed for use online only, the currencies that were created by companies such as Beenz.com, Flooz.com, Goldmoney.com, and others were not connected to any government or central bank.

While some promoters and consumers found the lack of government involvement a plus, most shoppers and merchants were hesitant to jump in to these online money schemes. Many companies folded as the dot-com boom began its downturn in 2000.

Konichiwa, E-Money

Today, however, for 15 million Japanese, paper money is a thing of the past, according to the Japan Research Institute. No longer solely used for online purchases, e-money, accessed via a smart card or mobile phone, has become a way of life for many consumers in Japan.

The e-money trend began there roughly four years ago as a service for busy, on-the-go train commuters. Today, specially equipped mobile phones and smart cards are used to purchase items from convenience stores, department stores, restaurants, newsstands, supermarkets, and other retailers. The Japan Research Institute estimated that by 2008 some 40 million Japanese, roughly one-third of the country, will be using electronic money.

Technologies such as FeliCa, from Sony, use integrated chips that enable devices to receive and emit electronic signals. These "contactless" or near-field communication (NFC) devices include mobile phones, transit cards, and prepaid e-money cards.

Japanese Economic Monthly reported last year that NTT DoCoMo, the country's leading mobile-communications company, had sold some 3.34 million handsets equipped with the FeliCa technology through April 2005. In 2005, the number of digital-money transactions more than doubled, averaging around 15.8 million each month, according to statistics from the two largest electronic-money providers in Japan. Some Japanese supermarkets have reported that up to 40 percent of all purchases now are made with e-cash.

Other countries, notably Hong Kong and Canada, also have implemented electronic-cash systems that have seen some adoption. But if you are waiting for similar technology to become the norm in the United States, you might want to hang on to those greenbacks.

Coming to America

Joe Levine, a senior analyst at Yankee Group, is skeptical that U.S. paper money or coins will fall by the wayside anytime soon. Creating a cashless society in the U.S. with either mobile phones or smart cards would require enormous effort by players in several industries, he said, including credit-card companies, mobile-phone service providers, manufacturers, and retailers.

Japan is so far along because companies like DoCoMo are the heavy hitters in their industries, Levine said, and have made significant investments to develop e-cash technologies. DoCoMo, for instance, invested some $900 million to acquire a 34 percent stake in Sumitomo Mitsui Cards, Japan's second-largest credit-card company.

After that deal, announced last April, the credit provider started developing point-of-sale terminals and ATMs for use with DoCoMo's mobile-wallet handsets. Levine said he has not seen anything like that type of commitment in the U.S., as American service providers do not seem as focused on e-money as an opportunity.

"We're more fragmented here [than in Japan], with a larger number of tier one [mobile companies] and a portion of the country that is served by tier-twos," Levine said. "There isn't the same sort of dominant player [like DoCoMo]. There isn't a single wireless company that if they got behind a standard, it would become the standard. And that's a significant difference, that we have a larger, less-consolidated market."

Charles Goldfinger, a consultant who has advised the
European Commission on e-finance and smart-card-based financial applications, agreed that DoCoMo's relative dominance in its industry and its base of some 50 million subscribers helped digital money become successful in Japan.

"In the U.S., the telcom situation is very different," Goldfinger said. "The fact that the U.S. has several major mobile services providers as well as several leading financial institutions will hinder the effort to achieve a digital-money standard."

Adapting Dinosaurs

Some technology prognosticators, including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in 1994, have gone so far as to say that banks are "dinosaurs." When cash disappears, the argument goes, banks become extinct.

But banks as well as credit-card companies are already involved in developing contactless cards and other electronic-cash technologies. In Japan, for instance, said Goldfinger, the Central Bank in Japan was pushing for e-money, in particular through DoCoMo.

"Banks," said Goldfinger, "are adaptive dinosaurs and anyone who writes them off is crazy. I say that because they will still continue to run the payment business and ultimately [digital money] is a payment business."

According to Levine, the digital-money movement will be driven by credit-card companies, not mobile-service providers, which will have to find a way to work with the credit-card companies that already have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of merchant relationships in the U.S.

"Credit-card companies are already involved in digital money," said Levine. "Credit-card companies have been pushing hard to increase their share of small-value transactions. It's one of the last areas where credit cards are not used that widely."

Technological Baby Steps

Although Levine and Goldfinger both said that the U.S. is likely to be one of the last countries to make the shift to digital funds, they also said that some change has begun already.

Cingular, for example, is currently conducting a trial e-money system at Phillips Arena in Atlanta, home of that city's Hawks and Thrashers sports teams. The service, which uses Nokia mobile phones equipped with Phillips NFC chips, currently is available only to 250 season-ticket holders who have a Visa account with Chase bank. The fans use the phones to purchase concessions inside the arena.

Credit-card companies also are rolling out contactless credit cards. Blink by Chase, PayPass by Mastercard, Contactless by Visa, and Express Pay by American Express are the newest frontier for credit issuers. The NFC-based cards do away with swiping and signatures. Instead, consumers simply hold their card up to the reader and the transaction is complete.

The push in the last six months to launch the contactless cards is the second such effort by credit-card companies, and should be much more successful, Levine said.

"One of the keys this time around is that [the credit providers] have actually succeeded in getting a few major merchants to sign on," Levine said. "[Contactless cards] are supported more and more by major merchants and that's one of the big keys -- merchant acceptance."

Upgrading the point-of-sale payment system will cost merchants a significant sum, Levine said. It is a chicken-and-egg problem. Merchants are reluctant to make a significant investment in a technology that is not in the hands of consumers, and those same consumers are reticent to use a new technology that is only narrowly accepted.

One selling point of the new contactless cards, however, is that they still have the familiar magnetic stripe, so people can use them at any store.

"You're not going to have a person using something that is not accepted by a number of stores," Levine said. "That advantage here is that [for] the merchants that are enabled to do the contactless payment, you can wave [the card] and for those who are not, you can swipe it."

<SNIP>
To finish reading click on the link
Is It Time To Say Goodbye to Paper Money? (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060130/tc_nf/41242;_ylt=AiinPvHZVL4tfmhFwE0iZ2Cs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-)

Iran Vows to Complete Its Nuclear Program

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer Wed Feb 1, 2:44 AM ET

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Wednesday that his country will resist Western pressures to constrain its nuclear program, a day before a key vote by the U.N. nuclear watchdog likely to put
Iran before the Security Council.

"In nuclear energy, our nation will continue its path until full realization of its rights," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in Bushehr, southern Iran, the site of Iran's only nuclear power plant.

"Nuclear energy is our right, and we will resist until this right is fully realized," he said.

Ahmadinejad's speech, broadcast live on state-run television, came hours after President Bush increased the pressure on Iran, saying in his State of the Union address Tuesday night that Iran "is defying the world with its nuclear ambitions, and the nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons."

The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors will meet in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday, where Iran's nuclear program may be reported to the Security Council. The five permanent members of the Security Council reached surprising agreement Tuesday that Iran should be hauled before the powerful body over its disputed nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said late Tuesday that Iran would end surprise inspections of its facilities by U.N. monitors and resume frozen nuclear activities if Tehran is reported to the Security Council.

"If it happens, the government will be required under the law to end the suspension of all nuclear activities it has voluntarily halted," Mottaki said.

Ahmadinejad also said Wednesday that Iran won't give in to "bully countries."

"Our nation can't give in to the coercion of some bully countries who imagine they are the whole world and see themselves equal to the entire globe," he said.

His speech drew chants of "Nuclear energy is our right" from the crowd.

Iran insists its nuclear program is civilian only and has no other purpose than to generate power. Enrichment can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material needed to build a warhead.

Iran Vows to Complete Its Nuclear Program (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060201/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear_ahmadinejad;_ylt=Aj168u9I_zvYZgNWClsQIsALewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--)

Iran, UAE explore expansion of trade relations
Tehran, Feb 2, IRNA

Iran-UAE-Trade
Iran and UAE explored here Wednesday ways of expanding bilateral trade relations.

Iranian Commercial attache in UAE Qassem Mirzaie told IRNA that the meeting focused on expansion of trade ties between Iran's Mazandaran province and Dubai.

The meeting was attended by over 50 private and public officials of the Mazandaran province who discussed removing hurdles in expansion of investments and trade relations.

Mirzaie who is also the head of Iran Trade Center in Dubai said that the UAE official stressed that the Iran-UAE trade exchange which stood at dlrs 3.3 billion in 2005, should be increased through holding trade exhibitions.

Many companies from Mazandaran active in various areas including automobile parts manufacturing, carpets, tourism, plant and flower participated in an exclusive exhibition which opened Monday and completed work Wednesday.

Textiles, transportation-related equipment, electronic gadgets, fake jewelry, and precious stones are some of reexports by Dubai, he added.

He said the Iranian businessmen in the UAE should strive to correct the trade imbalance between the two Persian Gulf nations.

Mirzaie said that the figures indicate that the bilateral trade stood at close to dlrs eight billion in 2004.

The volume of UAE's imports from Iran does not correspond to our industrial and trade capabilities and potentials. "The Iranian industrialists and traders should put more efforts to turn the trade figures around," he underlined.

He also urged the Iranian entrepreneurs to channel their investments into Iran. He further called for cooperation of Iranian businessmen to confront goods smuggling to Iran.

Dubai reexports to Iran, which have ranked first in reexports from the emirate in the past 10 years, dropped in the 2004, the Dubai Customs Internet Site reported here last month.

"Iran's reexports from Dubai totaled 10.348 billion Dirhams and ranked second after India last year," it said.

In 2004, Dubai had over 80 percent of total non-oil foreign trade of United Arab Emirates.

According to unofficial reports, the values of Iran's imports from Dubai were more than dlrs 4 billion in 2002.

Iran opened its trade center in UAE in June with the presence of Iranian and UAE trade ministers. Several UAE and Iranian officials were also present at the centers' opening ceremonies.

Iran, UAE explore expansion of trade relations (http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0602025066004651.htm)

My note; Yes everything is coming together nicely. :D

Putin Boasts of New Missile's Capability
Putin Boasts That Russia Has New Missiles That Can Penetrate Any Defense System; Briefs Chirac
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
The Associated Press

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin boasted Tuesday that Russia has new missiles capable of penetrating any missile defense system and said he had briefed the French president on their capabilities.

"Russia has tested missile systems that no one in the world has," Putin said. "These missile systems don't represent a response to a missile defense system, but it doesn't matter to them whether that exists or not. They are hypersonic and capable of changing their flight path."

Putin said the new missiles were capable of carrying nuclear warheads. He wouldn't say whether the Russian military already had commissioned any such missiles.

Putin said he had shown the working principles of the missile system to French President Jacques Chirac during a visit to a Russian military facility. "He knows what I'm talking about," Putin said.

In April 2004, Chirac became the first Western leader to visit Russia's top-secret Titov space control center, which controls all of its satellites and is involved in launching its intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Putin said the new missiles were capable of changing both altitude and direction, making it impossible for an enemy to intercept them since "a missile defense system is designed to counter missiles moving along a ballistic trajectory."

Putin and other Russian officials have boasted of the new missiles in similar comments in recent years, but they haven't identified them or given any further details other than about their ability to change their flight path on approach to a target.

Military analysts said Russian forces experimented with a maneuvering warhead during a missile launch several years ago, but voiced doubt about their ability to deploy such weapons anytime soon.

Analysts said the new warheads, designed to zigzag on their approach to targets, could be fitted to new land-based Topol-M missiles and the prospective Bulava missiles for the Russian navy, now under development.

Russia opposed Washington's withdrawal in 2002 from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to deploy a national missile defense shield, saying the 30-year-old U.S.-Soviet pact was a key element of international security. Putin called the decision a mistake that would hurt global security but not threaten Russia.

The ABM treaty banned missile defense systems on the assumption that the fear of retaliation would prevent each nation from launching a first strike a strategy known as mutually assured destruction.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Russia would commission new early warning radars to replace those located in the former Soviet republics. The new radars will "provide an earlier warning on launches of all missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles as well as tactical and cruise missiles," Ivanov said, according to Russian news reports.

The Russian military has used Soviet-built early warning radars located in Azerbaijan and Ukraine, and it has been involved in rent and other arguments over the issue. Ivanov said the commissioning of new radars will allow Russia to stop using them.

Putin Boasts of New Missile's Capability (http://www.worthynews.com/news/abcnews-go-com-International-print-id-1561292/)

Two Courts Strike Abortion Ban

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 31, 2006

(AP) Two federal appeals courts on opposite sides of the country declared the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional Tuesday, saying the measure is vague and lacks an exception for cases in which a woman's health is at stake.

The first ruling came from a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Hours later, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued a similar decision, affirming a 2004 ruling by a judge who upheld the right to perform a type of late-term abortion even as he described the procedure as "gruesome, brutal, barbaric and uncivilized."

The law, signed in 2003, banned a procedure known to doctors as intact dilation and extraction and called partial-birth abortion by abortion foes. The fetus is partially removed from the womb, and the skull is punctured or crushed.

President Bush signed the abortion ban in 2003, but it was not enforced because of legal challenges in several states.

The ban covers a procedure generally performed in the second trimester, in which a fetus is partially removed from the womb and the skull punctured.

A federal judge in Nebraska also has ruled the ban unconstitutional. The Nebraska ruling was upheld in July by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Tuesday's decisions were also expected to be appealed to the high court.

The ban, which President Clinton twice vetoed, was seen by abortion rights activists as a fundamental departure from the Supreme Court's 1973 precedent in Roe v. Wade. But the Bush administration has argued that the procedure is cruel and unnecessary and causes pain to the fetus.

Two Courts Strike Abortion Ban (http://www.worthynews.com/news/cbsnews-com-stories-2006-01-31-national-main1263774-shtml-CMP-OTC-RSSFeed-source-RSS-attr-U-S-_1263774/)

My note; President Bush signed the abortion ban in 2003, but it was not enforced because of legal challenges in several states.

Attack on Iran will be construed as attack on us: Pakistan minister
Islamabad, Feb. 02, IRNA

Pakistan-Persian
A senior minister of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province on Thursday said that any possible attack on Iran would be construed as an attack on Pakistan.

Finance Minister Sirajul Haq expressed these views during his visit to the Iranian Cultural Centre in Peshawar on Thursday, wherein he met the Incharge of the centre Masood Islami.

He attributed deep-rooted Iran-Pakistan relations to Persian language.

The minister rejected the US and West pressure and conspiracies against the Islamic Republic.

Welcoming election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iranian president, the minister said with his courageous leadership and views, he had become the spokesman of the entire one billion Islamic Ummah.

He expressed regrets over the bid to weaken Persian language in the Middle East while welcoming the victory of Hamas in the recent election.

"In collective life of both countries' peoples and mutual unity between Iran and Pakistan, Persian language has played an important role," he maintained.

Peeping in to history, he said that British rulers also tried to do away with Persian during their occupation of the region.

Persian language, he continued, not only brought Iran and Pakistan closer, but also played a role in spreading the message of Islamic Revolution in effective manner.

Youth had keen interest in learning Persian language, mainly because the real actual message of Islam was in Arabic and Persian, he said.

"We are proud of being neighbour of a country of Iran's stature," he added.

Masood Islami expressed the hope that Iran's progress in science and technology would help the Muslim Ummah in coping with the Western challenges.

Before the minister's comments, Pakistan's Ambassador to Iran, Shafqat Saeed has also during an interview with "IRNA" had opposed taking Iran's issue to the Security Council and called for its settlement through dialogue.

Former minister and senior leader of Pakistan Peoples' Party Naseerullah Babar had also cautioned that the US and West's pressure, if resulted in sanctions on Iran would have negative impact globally.

He said that the legitimate right of a country could not be snatched away by coercion or pressure or sanctions.

Leader of Opposition in the lower house of Parliament Maulana Fazlur Rehman had also supported Iran's bid to use nuclear technology for prosperity and well-being of its people. He had pointed out that Iran would abide by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, being signatory to it.

Attack on Iran will be construed as attack on us: Pakistan minister (http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0602021837190945.htm)

Reporting Iran to UN 'grave mistake,' warns Greenpeace
London, Feb 2, IRNA

Iran Nuclear-Greenpeace
Greenpeace International Thursday warned IAEA board member meeting in Vienna not to report Iran to the UN Security Council, saying it was "not the right body" to resolve whether a country has the right to a nuclear programme.

"This is a grave mistake. It's the triumph of hawkish sabre- rattling over diplomacy. It's the beginning of a slide toward war," the environmentalist organization said.

It said it was opposed to any nation acquiring nuclear technology and nuclear weapons, but believed "the best way to ensure that doesn't happen is for the IAEA to have continued access to Iranian facilities."
Greenpeace pointed out that Iran has already made clear that if the matter goes to the Security Council it will restrict inspections and no longer comply with requests to reveal information above and beyond what is legally required under existing treaty obligations.

"As past situations have shown, in particular in Iraq, any action that restricts inspections and that closes opportunities to rebuild confidence can only lead to a confidence vacuum," it warned in a statement obtained by IRNA.

"The UN Security Council is simply not the right body to resolve a conflict over whether a country has a right to a nuclear programme or not," the environmentalist group said.

It said the Security Council has "failed to live up to its Charter obligations to minimize human and economic resources spent on armaments, or to advance the goal of a Middle East nuclear free zone." Instead, Greenpeace said, the permanent members, who have nuclear weapons, have participated in arms races and weapons profiteering, stubbornly refusing to comply with treaty commitments to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.

"Given this record, how can the Security Council resolve the Iran crisis? Given the failure to treat the nuclear weapons programmes of other countries with the same vigilance as Iran's, how can the accusation of hypocrisy not have a ring of truth?" it asked.

The environmentalist organisation said that the "only solution to this crisis is a Nuclear Free Zone in the Middle East."
"It's a vital first step towards removing all nuclear
proliferation risks in the region, as well as providing the essential security guarantees from nuclear weapons states outside the region," it said.

Greenpeace suggested that Iran has an opportunity to stop this slide toward war by calling for a regional nuclear-free zone in the Middle East.

"The international community has an opportunity to stop this slide toward war by pursuing exactly the same thing," it said.

Reporting Iran to UN 'grave mistake,' warns Greenpeace (http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0602023111190230.htm)

Updated Feb. 4, 2006 1:48
Egyptian ferry carrying 1400 sinks
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO, Egypt

Over 300 survivors have been rescued from the wreck of the Egyptian ferry Salaam 98, and 185 more passengers' bodies have been retrieved, Egypt's Minister of Transport Mohammed Lutfy Mansour said Friday night.

Egypt has thus far declined offers of search and rescue assistance from the United States, Britain, and Israel.

The Salaam 98 sank 40 miles off the Egyptian port of Hurghada, head of the Egyptian Maritime Authority, Mahfouz Taha Marzouk, said Friday.

Four Egyptian frigates have sailed to rescue survivors, Mansour told CNN shortly before the sinking of the ship was announced.

"The Coast Guard is doing every in its power to try to rescue these people," Mansour said.
Asked about the safety of the ship, Mansour said: "It met safety requirements. The number of passengers on board is less than the maximum number of people."

However, Sky News reported that the number of passengers, 1415, exceeded by some 20 percent the maximum number allowed on board.

The ship disappeared from radar screens shortly after sailing from the western Saudi port of Dubah at seven p.m. local time on Thursday night, the maritime officials in Suez said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the press. The ship was due to have arrived at Egypt's port of Safaga at 3 a.m. local time.

Dubah and Safaga lie virtually opposite each other, about 120 miles apart, at the northern end of the Red Sea.

The ship is owned by the Egyptian firm El-Salaam Maritime Transport Co. and was carrying 1,300 passengers, the official added. Some of the passengers are believed to be pilgrims returning from the annual ubgone86 to Mecca, which ended last month.

The company's owner, Mamdouh Ismail, said the ship is more than 25 years old and registered in Panama. He spoke before the sinking was announced and refused to comment further.

A ship owned by the same company, also carrying pilgrims, collided with a cargo ship at the southern entrance to the Suez Canal in October, causing a stampede among passengers trying to escape the sinking ship. Two people were killed and 40 injured.

Egyptian ferry carrying 1400 sinks (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1138622540255&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull)

Iran 'confident and ready to hit back at US'
By Alec Russell in Washington and Anton La Guardia
(Filed: 03/02/2006)

Iran's clerical regime is supremely confident, has a firm grip on power and is ready to retaliate against attacks by America or Israel with missiles or by activating terrorist allies, according to the latest US intelligence assessment.

In his first public address on the threats facing the US, John Negroponte, its national intelligence director, delivered an implied rebuke to those in Washington hoping the West can engineer regime change in Teheran.

But as the International Atomic Energy Agency's governing body prepared to vote on a resolution to report Iran to the UN Security Council, Mr Negroponte suggested there was no imminent threat of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Teheran "probably" did not have an atomic bomb or the fissile material to make one, he said. But the risk Iran could make or buy a nuclear device and mount it on its missiles was "reason for immediate concern", he added.

Mr Negroponte told the Senate's intelligence committee: "Iran already has the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the Middle East. And Teheran views its ballistic missiles as an integral part of its strategy to deter and, if necessary, retaliate against forces in the region, including United States forces."

Washington's neo-conservatives drew heart from President George W Bush's veiled call in Tuesday's State of the Union address for the Iranian people to rise up against the mullahs.

But Mr Negroponte's analysis highlighted the difficulties of confronting Iran, politically or militarily.

"The regime today is more confident and assertive than it has been since the early days of the Islamic Republic. Several factors work in favour of the clerical regime's continued hold on power," he added, citing Teheran's "generous public spending" funded by record oil revenues as one of them.

Iran factfile

He also noted that the Iranian-backed Hizbollah group in Lebanon "has a worldwide support network and is capable of attacks against US interests if it feels its Iranian patron is threatened".

Mr Negroponte said Iran's involvement in Iraq was a "particular concern" but added: "Teheran's intentions to inflict pain on the United States in Iraq have been constrained by its caution to avoid giving Washington an excuse to attack it, also the clerical leadership's general satisfaction with trends in Iraq, and Iran's desire to avoid chaos on its border."

While Washington's hawks believe America needs to be more confrontational towards Teheran, Bush administration officials are speaking with great caution. In particular, they are hailing the diplomacy that has won the support of Russia and China in hauling Iran before the UN Security Council.

Stephen Rademaker, the acting assistant secretary of state for security and non-proliferation, said that America's patience had "paid off".

He added that America was still hoping Iran would prove to be a textbook example of how to deal with a crisis through "effective multilateralism".

Iran 'confident and ready to hit back at US' (http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/03/wiran03.xml)

Text of the European draft resolution on Iran
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

The text of the resolution on Iran submitted by European nations to the 35-nation board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency referring it Saturday to the UN Security Council:

The Board of Governors

(a) Recalling all the resolutions adopted by the Board on Iran's nuclear program,

(b) Recalling also the Director General's reports,

(c) Recalling that Article IV of the Treaty on the Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons stipulates that nothing in the Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable rights of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with Articles I and II of the Treaty,

(d) Commending the Director General and the Secretariat for their professional and impartial efforts to implement the Safeguards Agreement in Iran to resolve outstanding safeguards issues in Iran and to verify the implementation by Iran of the suspension,

(e) Recalling the Director General's description of this as a special verification case,

(f) Recalling that in reports referred to above, the Director General noted that after nearly three years of intensive verification activity, the Agency is not yet in a position to clarify some important issues relating to Iran's nuclear program or to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran,

(g) Recalling Iran's many failures and breaches of its obligations to comply with its NPT Safeguards Agreement and the absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes resulting from the history of concealment of Iran's nuclear activities, the nature of those activities and other issues arising from the Agency's verification of declarations made by Iran since September 2002,

(h) Recalling that the Director General has stated that Iran's full transparency is indispensable and overdue for the Agency to be able to clarify outstanding issues (GOV/2005/67),

(i) Recalling the requests of the Agency for Iran's cooperation in following up on reports relating to equipment, materials and activities which have applications in the conventional military area and in the civilian sphere as well as in the nuclear military area (as indicated by the Director General in GOV/2005/67),

(j) Recalling that in November 2005 the Director General reported (GOV/2005/87) that Iran possesses a document related to the procedural requirements for the reduction of UF6 to metal in small quantities, and on casting and machining of enriched, natural and depleted uranium metal into hemispherical forms,

(k) Expressing serious concerns about Iran's nuclear program, and agreeing that an extensive period of confidence-building is required from Iran,

(l) Reaffirming the Board's resolve to continue to work for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, and

(m) Recognizing that a solution to the Iranian issue would contribute to global nonproliferation efforts and to realizing the objective of the Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, including their means of delivery,

1. Underlines that outstanding questions can best be resolved and confidence built in the exclusive peaceful nature of Iran's program by Iran responding positively to the calls for confidence building measures which the Board has made on Iran, and in this context deems it necessary for Iran to:

# reestablish full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related and processing activities, including research and development, to be verified by the Agency;

)

# reconsider the construction of a research reactor moderated by heavy water;

# ratify promptly and implement in full Additional Protocol;

# pending ratification, continue to act in accordance with the provisions of the Additional Protocol which Iran signed on 18 December 2003;

# implement transparency measures, as requested by the director General, including in GOV/2005/67, which extend beyond the former requirements of the Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol, and include such access to individuals, documentation relating to procurement, dual use equipment, certain military-owned workshops and research and development as the Agency may request in support of its ongoing investigations;

2.Requests the Director General to report to the Security Council of the United Nations that these steps are required of Iran by the Board and to report to the Security Council all IAEA reports and resolutions, as adopted, relating to this issue;

3. Expresses serious concern that the Agency is not yet in a position to clarify some important issues relating to Iran's nuclear program, including the fact that Iran has in its possession a document on the production of uranium metal hemispheres, since, as reported by the Secretariat, this process is related to the fabrication of nuclear weapon components; and, noting that the decision to put this document under Agency seal is a positive step, requests Iran to maintain this document under Agency seal and to provide a full copy to the Agency;

4. Deeply regrets that, despite repeated calls from the Board for the maintaining of the suspension of all enrichment related and reprocessing activities which the Board has declared essential to addressing outstanding issues, Iran resumed uranium conversion activities at its Isfahan facility on 8 August 2205 and took steps to resume enrichment activities on 10 January 2006;

5. Calls on Iran to understand that there is a lack of confidence in Iran's intentions in seeking to develop a fissile material production capability against the background of Iran's record on safeguards as recorded in previous Resolutions, and outstanding issues; and to consider its position in relation to confidence-building measures, which are voluntary and non legally binding, and to adopt a constructive approach in relation to negotiations that can result in increased confidence;

6. Requests Iran to extend full and prompt cooperation to the Agency, which the Director General deems indispensable and overdue, and in particular to help the agency clarify possible activities which could have a military nuclear dimension;

7. Underlines that the Agency's work on verifying Iran's declarations is ongoing and requests the Director General to continue with his efforts to implement the Agency's Safeguards Agreement with Iran, to implement the Additional Protocol to that Agreement pending its entry into force, with a view to providing credible assurance regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and to pursue additional transparency measures required for the Agency to be able to resolve outstanding issues and reconstruct the history and nature of all aspects of all aspects of Iran's past nuclear activities;

8. Requests the Director General to report on the implementation of this and previous resolutions to the next regular session of the Board, for its consideration, and immediately thereafter to convey, together with any Resolution from the March Board, that report to the Security Council; and

9. Decides to remain seized of the matter.

Text of the European draft resolution on Iran (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1138622546894&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull)

Muslim Militants Threaten Christians and Europeans
Julie Stahl
Jerusalem Bureau Chief

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Palestinian militants angry over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in European newspapers issued threats against Europeans on Thursday, while a Christian group said there may be a link between the Danish cartoons and a recent wave of attacks against Iraqi Christians.

A dozen caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, originally published in a Danish newspaper in September and recently reprinted in six other European countries, have sparked protests and an expanding Muslim boycott of Danish goods.

Aside from the fact that one of the cartoons depicted Mohammad as a terrorist, Muslims consider any depiction of the seventh century figure to be blasphemous.

Attacks on Iraqi Christians

A British-based advocacy group that monitors Christians living in the Muslim world released a statement on Thursday saying that the beating of Christian students and the bombing of at least four churches in Iraq on Sunday could be linked to protests over the cartoons.

Muslim students beat Christian students at Mosul University on Sunday. Several days earlier, sheiks in the city had issued a number of fatwas (Islamic religious decrees) calling for Muslims to "expel the crusaders and infidels form the streets, schools and institutions because they insulted the person of the prophet in Denmark," the Barnabus Fund said in a press release.

In separate incidents on the same day, at least three people were killed and more than a dozen injured in near-simultaneous bombings outside at least four churches in Iraq. The attacks apparently were timed to happen during worship services.

"Many Christians in Iraq are connecting this week's church bombings with the growing furor across the Muslim world caused by the publication of some cartoons caricaturing Mohammad in a Danish newspaper on 30th September 2005," the Barnabus Fund said.

Churches in Iraq have been attacked previously, but some Christians believe that this new wave of attacks was ignited by the by the issue of the cartoons, one source said.

A Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Wednesday that Islamic cleric Sheikh Nazem Mesbah issued a fatwa calling for people who insulted Mohammed to be killed, but the fatwa reportedly was rejected by other Islamic clerics.

In another development, an al-Qaeda-affilitated group Abu Hafez al-Masri Brigades reacted to the cartoons by threatening "blood war" on Denmark.

In a message sent to the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi on Wednesday, the group threatened to carry out September 11-type attacks on Denmark, the Israeli website YNet reported on Thursday.

A number of Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Syria, have recalled their ambassadors from Copenhagen in protest.

Palestinians jump on cartoon bandwagon

In the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinian gunmen surrounded the office of the European Union, firing guns into the air and demanding an apology for the cartoons within 48 hours.

A spokesman for the two groups -- Islamic Jihad and the Yasser Arafat brigade of the Fatah faction -- said they would keep the E.U. offices closed "until the government makes an apology."

One European Union source said the office was closed on Monday anyway, following the first protest outside the building earlier this week.

Two other Palestinian militant groups, the Popular Resistance Committee and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, threatened to harm all nationals and diplomats of countries involved in the controversy.

In a joint statement the groups said the diplomats and nationals "can be considered targets."

A spokesman for the two groups said the threat was serious. The statement demanded that the offices and consulates of the countries involved be closed -- "Otherwise, we will not hesitate to destroy them."

European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin said security measures had been taken following the threats but she did not offer details.

"We support the freedom of expression but respect [the differences] between cultures," Udwin said.

Speaking by phone from Brussels, Udwin said she had not been authorized to make any apology but stressed that those who profit from newspapers where the cartoons were printed do so in their own name and are not government organs.

"Europeans in the region are generally there to improve the living conditions of Palestinians," said Udwin. "Those who make threats should bear that in mind," she added.

Muslim Militants Threaten Christians and Europeans (http://www.crosswalk.com/news/1376386.html?view=print)

Iran: Referral to U.N. Will Kill Russia's Uranium Proposal

Friday, February 03, 2006

VIENNA, Austria — Iran warned Friday it no longer would consider a Kremlin proposal to move its uranium enrichment program to Russia if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council over suspicions it might be seeking nuclear weapons.

If Iran's nuclear file goes to the Security Council, "there will be no way we can continue with the Russian proposal," said Javad Vaeidi, deputy head of the powerful National Security Council and a top nuclear negotiator.

He was referring to attempts to persuade Iran to shift its uranium enrichment program to Russia to prevent its misuse for nuclear arms. The 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the world body's nuclear watchdog, is considering whether to refer Iran to the Security Council over the disputed program.

But Russia's chief IAEA delegate, Grigory Berdennikov, denied any threat to the proposal.

"Our offer is still on the table and the negotiations will continue," he said Friday.

Officials in Tehran have previously suggested referral could endanger the proposal. But Vaeidi's comments were the first to state outright that Iran would stop considering the plan, which has broad international backing from nations concerned about Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed only at generating electricity.

Diplomats finished fine-tuning a resolution calling for Iran's referral to the Security Council by Friday evening and awaited final approval from their governments before submitting it to the 35-nation board.

The board was expected to approve the resolution Saturday, with no more than about 10 members expected to abstain or vote against it, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity in exchange for discussing the state of efforts to report Iran to the council.

Vaeidi acknowledged that referral seemed unavoidable, telling reporters: "This is an adopted draft.

"It means that the U.S. and the EU-3 are intending to kill two issues, first to stop diplomacy and second to kill the Russian proposal," he said, alluding to France, Britain and Germany, the countries proposing referral in a resolution before the board.

Iranian officials are expected in Moscow on Feb. 16 for talks on the proposal to enrich uranium for Iran's nuclear program on Russian soil. The offer, backed by the United States and the European Union, is intended to make it more difficult for Tehran to develop weapons.

Iranian officials have welcomed the proposal but say it needs work, leading to suspicions they are stalling.

Vaeidi reiterated earlier threats that Iran will resume full-scale work on uranium enrichment and stop honoring an agreement giving IAEA inspectors broad powers to conduct short-notice inspections of his country's nuclear program.

"I advise them not to make a historical mistake," he said, alluding to nations actively backing referral.

Support for Iran at the Vienna meeting appeared to be limited Friday. Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and a few other countries remained opposed, while India was said to be leaning toward supporting referral.

Egypt, one senior diplomat said, was insisting on a mention of a nuclear-free Middle East zone — an allusion to demands that Israel disarm.

Still, a draft made available to The Associated Press showed only minimal changes to the one submitted Wednesday and the key demand — referral of Iran to the council — remained.

Diplomats said backing for Iran had shrunk since Russia and China swung their support behind referral at an overnight meeting with the United States, France and Britain — the other three permanent council members.

In New York, China's U.N. ambassador said Beijing would never support sanctions against Iran "as a matter of principle," instead preferring a low-key approach in confronting Tehran. Wang Guangya said he did not want the Security Council to pressure Iran but instead support IAEA efforts to defuse the standoff.

Chief U.S. IAEA delegate Gregory L. Schulte said there was a "solid majority in support of a resolution that reports Iran to the Security Council — and that majority is growing."

In Tehran, former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, now leader of the powerful Expediency Council, said taking Iran before the Security Council would be a "black page" in history.

"There can't be cruelty clearer than this," he told tens of thousands of worshippers gathered for Friday prayers at Tehran University.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has stressed that even if the issue is referred, the Security Council would not take up the issue before next month — a condition attached by Russia and China in exchange for their support.

Washington has waited years for international suspicions over Iran's nuclear ambitions to translate into support among IAEA board members.

Only a simple majority is needed to approve the text, but the United States and its backers have held off pushing for earlier referral in hopes of building consensus. Support has grown since Jan. 10, when Iran stripped IAEA seals from enrichment equipment and announced it would restart the program.

Iran: Referral to U.N. Will Kill Russia's Uranium Proposal (http://www.worthynews.com/news/foxnews-com-printer_friendly_story-0,3566,183666,00-html/)

My note; Unless Russia decides to go ahead anyway. Which I can see Russia doing..........

Day of anger threatened over cartoons of Prophet
By David Rennie, Europe Correspondent and Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
(Filed: 03/02/2006)

A leading Islamic cleric called for an "international day of anger" today over publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, and a Danish activist predicted that deadly violence could break out in Europe "at any minute".

As more European newspapers reprinted the cartoons, what started off as a row between Denmark's press and its Muslim population grew into a full-blown "clash of civilisations".

Anger boiled over in the Gaza Strip, where gunmen from Islamic Jihad occupied the office of the European Union. Europeans began to leave the Palestinian territories after threats from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

Jihad al-Momani, the editor of the Jordanian newspaper al-Shihan, was sacked for trying to publish three of the 12 caricatures. He said that he was aiming "to show his readers "the extent of the Danish offence".

A leading hard-line Muslim cleric, Sheikh Yussef al-Qaradawi, called for the day of anger to protest against the printing of the cartoons - first published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September - in other European papers.

"Let Friday be an international day of anger for God and his prophet," said the sheikh, who is the head of the International Association of Muslim Scholars. He is one of the Arab world's most popular television preachers and made a controversial visit to London in July 2004 as a guest of the mayor, Ken Livingstone.

Ahmed Akkari, a Muslim theologian from Copenhagen, said he had attended a meeting this week with the Danish intelligence service, which called the situation "very, very tense".

He said that a text message had been sent to the mobile phones of young Muslims "telling people not to react to provocations from Right-wing extremists, like burning the Koran, but I know some Muslims will not listen to our message".

He said the level of anger was "very high" in the Muslim community across Europe and the wider world.

"It is more likely [than not] that any minute we will hear of violence unless the police can control the situation."

Mr Akkari is the spokesman for a group of Danish imams and activists who brought the cartoons - plus three more offensive ones from an unknown source - to the wider attention of Muslims in trips to Egypt and Lebanon. One of the three new cartoons shows Mohammed with a pig's snout.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Akkari referred to the murder of Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands in 2004. Mr van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death by a Muslim extremist as "punishment" for making a film about the repression of Muslim women that included images of naked women with Koranic verses on their skin.

"For four months we have been trying to take this conflict in hand politically and by the legal system so that we should not see any scenario like Holland," Mr Akkari said.

He issued a warning that "a clash of civilisations" might result from the decision of newspapers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland to reproduce the 12 cartoons.

"The latest developments are very dangerous. If some militant group goes to a church and tries to do something wrong, it can really escalate and make a danger for European communities."

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the prime minister of Denmark, told the Danish newspaper Politiken that the issue had gone beyond a row between Copenhagen and the Muslim world and now centred on western free speech versus taboos in Islam. He said: "We are talking about an issue with fundamental significance to how democracies work."

Ahmad Sheikh, the president of the Muslim Association of Britain, called on the British media not to publish the cartoons.

He said: "Society has to debate the issue but printing an image of the Prophet is offensive to the Muslim community. It is idolatrous. What benefit is there? It will damage community relations. Free speech ends when it starts hurting other people."

Channel 4 news showed the cartoons clearly in its 7pm broadcast last night and the BBC showed them fleetingly. They also appear on the website of the extremist British National Party. Tony Blair's official spokesman said: "It is entirely a matter for media organisations to decide what they want to do. It is a matter for them within the law."

British Muslim leaders met the Danish ambassador in London on Wednesday to express their anger over the drawings.

Day of anger threatened over cartoons of Prophet (http://www.worthynews.com/news/news-telegraph-co-uk-core-Content-displayPrintable-jhtml-xml--news-2006-02-03-wcart03-xml-site-5/)

Series of Tragic Errors Doomed Egypt Ferry

By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago

SAFAGA, Egypt - The series of tragic errors that apparently claimed more than 1,000 lives on an Egyptian ferry escalated when the crew decided to push across the Red Sea despite the fire burning in the aging vessel's parking bay, survivors said Saturday.

The Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98 had sailed only about 20 miles from the Saudi shore, but its crew instead tried to reach Egypt's shores 110 miles away. Only 376 survivors had been rescued by late Saturday.

"We told the crew, 'Let's turn back, let's call for help,' but they refused and said everything was under control," said passenger Ahmed Abdel Wahab, 30, an Egyptian who works in Saudi Arabia.

Passengers began panicking, and crew members locked up some women in their cabins, Wahab and another survivor said, though many others being treated in Safaga hospitals Saturday said that was not true.

As the blaze grew out of control, passengers not locked in their rooms moved to one side of the 35-year-old vessel. An explosion was heard, and high winds helped push the unbalanced ship over. The ship quickly sank with more than 1,400 passengers and crew and 220 cars aboard.

News reports on Saturday said the ship's captain and some of the crew fled their drowning vessel in one of the first lifeboats to launch.

Despite the fire, the ship had managed to get within about 55 miles of the Egyptian port of Hurghada, according to official accounts.

At the port of Safaga — the ship's original destination — relatives and friends of passengers begged authorities for information. When there was none, some banged on the iron gates trying to storm the docks.

Riot police with truncheons pushed the frantic crowd away from the port compound. Angry relatives threw stones, and some police could be seen hurling them back.

Shaaban el-Qott, 55, from Qena, Egypt, was looking for his cousin. He had been waiting at the port since Friday morning and spent the night on the street.

"No one is telling us anything. All I want to know if he's dead or alive. We rely on God. May God destroy Hosni Mubarak!" el-Qott shouted to a reporter Saturday, referring to the Egyptian president. "This government was supposed to throw this ship away and get a new one."

The rescue effort got off to a slow start. Initial offers of help were rejected, and two days after the ship set sail from Dubah, Saudi Arabia, just 376 survivors had been found. The ship's captain was reported missing.

Egyptian officials initially rejected a British offer to divert a warship to the scene and a U.S. offer to send a P3-Orion maritime naval patrol aircraft. Egypt reversed itself, but in the end only the Orion — which can search underwater from the air — was sent.

Four Egyptian rescue ships reached the scene Friday afternoon, about 10 hours after the ferry was believed to have capsized.

Many survivors complained that crew members discouraged them from putting on life jackets and said they did nothing to put lifeboats in service when it became obvious the ship would sink.

"It was like watching the movie Titanic," said Sayed Abdul Hakim, a 32-year-old painter who worked in Kuwait. "None of the crew brought down life boats or even told us how to use them. I swam for three hours. Then I spotted a rubber boat and I climbed in. I stayed there for 18 hours. I felt I was a dead man."

Another survivor, Nabil Taghyan, 27, said he saw the captain and crew flee in lifeboats.

"The captain took the first speed boat, even though he should go last," Taghyan told The New York Times, according to its online edition Saturday.

The tragedy struck a deep core of discontent among Egyptians, who are suffering from a considerable economic downturn and increased unemployment.

"Had the government made any job opportunities available at home, these people wouldn't have been forced to go abroad in the first place," said Moustafa Zayed, 24, whose father worked as a contractor in Saudi Arabia and was on the ship. "Had he stayed (in Egypt) we wouldn't have had money to buy food."

Tens of thousands of Egyptians work in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries — many of them from impoverished families in southern Egypt who spend years abroad to earn money. They often travel by ship to and from Saudi Arabia.

Some on board the ferry were believed to be Muslim pilgrims who had overstayed their visas after last month's ubgone86 pilgrimage to work in the kingdom.

Mubarak flew to Hurghada, about 40 miles farther north, on Saturday and visited survivors in two hospitals. Television pictures of the visit, which normally would have carried sound of Mubarak's conversations, were silent.

During the visit, Mubarak ordered that the families of each victim be paid $5,200 in compensation and the survivors $2,600 each.

In a televised address, the president said, "We pray that God almighty may count (the victims) among his martyrs."

A group of nearly 140 survivors came ashore at Hurghada shortly before dawn Saturday. Wrapped in blankets, they walked down a rescue ship's ramp, some of them barefoot and shivering, and boarded buses for a hospital.

Wahab, a martial arts instructor, said he spent 20 hours in the sea, sometimes holding on to a barrel from the ship and later taking a lifejacket from a dead body.

Ahmed Elew, an Egyptian in his 20s, said he went to the ship's crew to report the fire and they ordered him to help put it out. At one point there was an explosion, he said.

When the ship began sinking, Elew said he jumped into the water and swam for several hours. He said he saw one overloaded lifeboat capsize but managed to stay afloat long enough to find another.

"Around me people were dying and sinking," he said. "Who is responsible for this? Somebody did not do their job right. These people must be held accountable."

Mubarak spokesman Suleiman Awad said the ferry did not have enough lifeboats and an investigation was under way into the ship's seaworthiness. But later, Maj. Gen. Sherin Hasan, chairman of the maritime section of the Transportation Ministry, said there were more than enough lifeboats for the number of passengers on the ferry.

Hasan said the captain of the vessel, whom he did not name, was missing.

Mahfouz Taha, head of Egyptian Red Sea Ports authority in Safaga, reported that 376 people were saved. He confirmed the fire started in the parking bay of the vessel.

The ship left Dubah at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on the 120-mile trip to Safaga, where it was scheduled to arrive at 3 a.m. It disappeared from radar screens between midnight and 2 a.m., and no distress signal was received.

Series of Tragic Errors Doomed Egypt Ferry (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060205/ap_on_re_mi_ea/egypt_ship_sinks;_ylt=AnOb7tUkqThZbYsD3ArKxgis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Syrians Torch Embassies Over Caricatures

By ALBERT AJI, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 42 minutes ago

DAMASCUS, Syria - Thousands of Syrians enraged by caricatures of Islam's revered prophet torched the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on Saturday — the most violent in days of furious protests by Muslims in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

In Gaza, Palestinians marched through the streets, storming European buildings and burning German and Danish flags. Protesters smashed the windows of the German cultural center and threw stones at the
European Commission building, police said.

Iraqis rallying by the hundreds demanded an apology from the European Union, and the leader of the Palestinian group Hamas called the cartoons "an unforgivable insult" that merited punishment by death.

Pakistan summoned the envoys of nine Western countries in protest, and even Europeans took to the streets in Denmark and Britain to voice their anger.

At the heart of the protest: 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad first published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten in September and reprinted in European media in the past week. One depicted the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse. The paper said it had asked cartoonists to draw the pictures because the media was practicing self-censorship when it came to Muslim issues.

The drawings have touched a raw nerve in part because Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.

Aggravating the affront, Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said repeatedly he cannot apologize for his country's free press. But other European leaders tried Saturday to calm the storm.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said she understood Muslims were hurt — though that did not justify violence.

"Freedom of the press is one of the great assets as a component of democracy, but we also have the value and asset of freedom of religion," Merkel told an international security conference in Munich, Germany.

The Vatican deplored the violence but said certain provocative forms of criticism were unacceptable.

"The right to freedom of thought and expression ... cannot entail the right to offend the religious sentiment of believers," the Vatican said in its first statement on the controversy.

The United States called the burnings "inexcusable" and blamed the Syrian government for security failures.

"
Syria must act decisively to protect all foreign embassies and citizens in Damascus from attack," White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said in a statement. "We will hold Syria responsible for such violent demonstrations since they do not take place in that country without government knowledge and support."

But Denmark and Norway did not wait for more violence.

With their Damascus embassies up in flames, the foreign ministries advised their citizens to leave Syria without delay.

"It's horrible and totally unacceptable," Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said on Danish public television Saturday.

No diplomats were injured in the Syrian violence, officials said. But Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds — whose country, along with Chile, has an embassy in the same building — said she would lodge a formal protest over the lack of security.

In Santiago, the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Chilean Embassy in Damascus was also torched but nobody was injured.

The demonstrations in Damascus began peacefully with protesters gathering outside the building housing the Danish Embassy. But they began throwing stones and eventually broke through police barricades. Some scrambled up concrete barriers protecting the embassy, climbed into the building and set a fire.

"With our blood and souls we defend you, O Prophet of God!" the demonstrators chanted. Some removed the Danish flag and replaced it with a green flag printed with the words: "There is no god but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God."

Demonstrators moved onto the Norwegian Embassy about 4 miles away, also setting fire to it before being dispersed by police using tear gas and water cannons. Hundreds of police and troops barricaded the road leading to the French Embassy, but protesters were able to break through briefly before fleeing from the force of water cannons.

Amid the furor, Syria's Grand Mufti urged calm, noting the demonstration had started in a "nice and disciplined way," but then turned violent because of "some members who do not understand the language of dialogue."

"We never expressed our anger in such a way, and we believe that dialogue should be done through guidance and teaching, not through killing, harming and burning," Sheik Ahmed Badr-Eddine Hassoun said in remarks carried by state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, or SANA.

In Gaza, masked gunmen affiliated with the Fatah Party called on the Palestinian Authority and Muslim nations to recall their diplomatic missions from Denmark until the government apologizes.

In the
West Bank town of Hebron, about 50 Palestinians marched to the headquarters of the international observer mission there, burned a Danish flag and demanded a boycott of Danish goods.

"We will redeem our prophet Muhammad with our blood!" they chanted.

Mahmoud Zahar, leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, told the Italian daily Il Giornale the cartoonists should be punished by death.

We should have killed all those who offend the Prophet and instead here we are, protesting peacefully." he said.

Hundreds of Iraqis rallied south of Baghdad, some carrying banners urging "honest people all over the world to condemn this act" and demanding an EU apology.

Anger swelled in Europe, too. Young Muslims clashed briefly with police in Copenhagen, the Danish capital, and some 700 people rallied outside the Danish Embassy in London.

A South African court banned the country's Sunday newspapers from reprinting the cartoons.

Iran's president ordered his commerce minister to study canceling all trade contracts with European countries whose newspapers have published the caricatures, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the caricatures showed the "impudence and rudeness" of Western newspapers against the prophet as well as the "maximum resentment of the Zionists (Jews) ruling these countries against Islam and Muslims."

The leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan denounced the publication of the caricatures. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry summoned nine envoys to lodge protests against the publication of the "blasphemous" sketches.

Syrians Torch Embassies Over Caricatures (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060205/ap_on_re_mi_ea/prophet_drawings;_ylt=Ap0dBbBQQHr8p04cGHZz7Uus0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Iran Vows Enrichment After U.N. Referral

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 9 minutes ago

VIENNA, Austria - The International Atomic Energy Agency reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council on Saturday over fears it wants to produce nuclear arms, raising the stakes in the diplomatic confrontation and prompting Tehran to threaten immediate retaliation.

Of the board's 35 member nations, 27 voted for referral, reflecting more than two years of intense lobbying by the United States and its allies to enlist broad backing for such a move.

Washington critics Cuba, Venezuela and Syria voted against referral, and the other five nations abstained.

Still, the near consensus came at a price for Washington. Long an advocate of firm Security Council action against Iran, including possible political and economic sanctions, the Americans had to settle for what is essentially symbolic referral, for now.

After years of opposition, Russia and China backed the referral last week, bringing support from other nations — including India — that had been waiting for their lead. But in return, Moscow and Beijing demanded that the Americans — and France and Britain, the two other veto-wielding Security Council members — agree to let the Iran issue rest until at least March.

That is when the IAEA board meets again to review the agency's investigation of Iran's nuclear program and its compliance with board demands that it renounce uranium enrichment. That process can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material needed to build a warhead.

"The path chosen by Iran's new leaders — threats, concealment, and breaking international agreements and IAEA seals — will not succeed and will not be tolerated by the international community,"
President Bush said in a statement.

Iran remained defiant, threatening to do precisely what referral was meant to prevent. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the resumption of uranium enrichment and an end to snap IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities, according to state television.

"As of Sunday, the voluntary implementation of the additional protocol and other cooperation beyond the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has to be suspended under the law," Ahmadinejad said in a letter to Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who also is the head of the nation's nuclear agency.

Javed Vaeidi, deputy head of Iran's powerful National Security Council, also said his country "now has to implement fuller scale of enrichment."

Iran says it wants to enrich only to make nuclear fuel for generating electricity, but concerns that it might misuse the technology accelerated the chain of events that led to Saturday's referral to the Security Council. Tehran took IAEA seals off enrichment equipment Jan. 10 and said it would resume small-scale activities.

Vaeidi also said a proposal to enrich Iranian uranium in Russia was dead.

Moscow has suggested that Iran shift its plan for large-scale enrichment of uranium to Russian territory to alleviate international concern Iran might use the process to develop an atomic bomb.

Other Iranian comment reflected Tehran's fury at Washington. The Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar describing U.S. leaders as "terrorists and the main axis of evil in the world."

Najjar was responding to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who at a high-level security conference in Munich, Germany, repeated Washington's view of Iran as the "world's leading state sponsor of terrorism."

Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), speaking at the same conference, said military action could not be ruled out if diplomatic efforts fail to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

European leaders expressed support for the referral, through a resolution drafted by France, Britain and Germany on behalf of the European Union.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the vote showed "the international community's determination to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle East."

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said through a spokesman that he hoped the vote would send "a clear signal to Iran that it must comply with the demands of the international community."

Russia's government urged Iran to "respond constructively" to the IAEA's decision, "including the restoration of a voluntary moratorium on all uranium enrichment works."

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the "convincing" vote sent a "clear signal to Tehran" to take account of international concerns.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said he was "very concerned and upset" by Iran's decision to retaliate.

The IAEA resolution links Tehran's referral to the country's breaches of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the lack of confidence it is not trying to make weapons.

The text expresses "serious concerns about Iran's nuclear program" and recalls "Iran's many failures and breaches of its obligations" to the arms control treaty. It also expresses "the absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes."

The resolution says IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei should "report to the Security Council" the steps Iran needs to take to dispel suspicions about its nuclear ambitions.

These include that it return to freezing uranium enrichment; consider stopping construction of a heavy-water reactor that could be the source of plutonium; formally ratify the agreement allowing the IAEA greater inspecting authority; and give the nuclear watchdog more power in its investigation of Iran's nuclear program.

The draft also asks that ElBaradei share with the Security Council his report to the March 6 IAEA board session and any subsequent resolution.

Chief British IAEA delegate Peter Jenkins urged Iran to heed the resolution before March, warning: "Should Iran fail to comply ... it will fall to the Security Council to bring additional pressure to bear."

His American counterpart, Gregory L. Schulte, indirectly acknowledged that the Security Council's hands were tied until March, saying: "We're not talking about sanctions at this stage."

But Straw said that if Iran failed to use the March window of opportunity, Security Council action would be "almost inevitable."

A senior European diplomat familiar with the issue said there was general agreement among the five permanent Security Council members that — if Iran remains defiant beyond March 6 — the council would slowly increase pressure.

A first step could be a council declaration urging Iran to comply with the resolution, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity because the strategy was confidential.

Agreement on the final wording of the text was achieved overnight, only after Washington compromised on a dispute with Egypt over linking fears about Tehran's atomic program to a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction — an indirect reference to Israel.

The final resolution recognized "that a solution to the Iranian issue would contribute to global nonproliferation efforts and ... the objective of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, including their means of delivery."

Israel, which is not an IAEA board member, welcomed Iran's referral and the call for a nuclear-free Middle East. Experts say Israel has the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, but the Jewish state neither acknowledges nor denies having such a program.
Iran Vows Enrichment After U.N. Referral (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060205/ap_on_re_mi_ea/nuclear_agency_iran;_ylt=AlphUWOXxfJjAEhmX9_hvhSs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

A Look at What's Next for U.N., Iran

By The Associated Press Sat Feb 4, 3:46 PM ET

The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors called Saturday for Iran to be reported to the U.N. Security Council over concerns it is seeking nuclear weapons. Here are upcoming events at the U.N. and in Russia on the issue:

AT THE UNITED NATIONS:

• The IAEA board formally relayed the final resolution to the president of the Security Council, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, who now must share the resolution with the other members.

• The council has intentionally set no date for when it will discuss the IAEA resolution because ambassadors say they want to study the document. Because of the delicacy of the issue, consultations likely will take place in private.

• The first action by the Security Council likely will occur in March, when the IAEA board of governors meets to review the status of its probe into Iran's nuclear program and recommend further action. If the board finds Iran has not complied with IAEA protocols, Security Council diplomats will meet to discuss how to address the issue and whether to hold a formal Security Council meeting on Iran.

IN MOSCOW:

Iranian officials were expected in Moscow on Feb. 16 for talks on Moscow's proposal to enrich uranium for Iran's nuclear program on Russia soil. The offer, backed by the United States and the European Union, is intended to make it more difficult for Tehran to develop weapons.

However, following the IAEA vote in Vienna, Austria, Tehran announced it was no longer considering the Russian proposal.

Later, Russia's Foreign Ministry strongly urged Iran to cooperate with the IAEA but did not mention Iran's statement about the proposal. It was unclear whether the talks would proceed.

A Look at What's Next for U.N., Iran (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060204/ap_on_re_mi_ea/nuclear_agency_iran_what_s_next_1)

Iran's Nuclear History, New Developments

By The Associated Press Sat Feb 4, 1:55 PM ET

Key dates in the West's standoff with Iran over its suspect nuclear program:

• February-May 2003:
International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors examine nuclear facilities in Iran, which the United States accuses of running a covert weapons program.

• June 2003: IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei says Iran kept certain nuclear materials and activities secret.

• November 2003: The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says Iran acknowledged it produced weapons-grade uranium but there is no evidence a weapon was built.

• December 2003: Iran formally signs the Additional Protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to allow more intrusive inspections.

• February 2004: Media reports say Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan delivered atomic weapons technology to Iran.

• March 2004: The IAEA praises Iran's cooperation but criticizes past efforts to mislead the U.N. and urges Tehran to disclose all information concerning its nuclear program by June.

• September 2004: Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell says Iran's nuclear program is a growing threat and calls for international sanctions.

• November 2004: Iran announces the suspension of uranium enrichment and related activities amid fragile negotiations with European nations.

• August 2005: Iran rejects a European Union offer of incentives in exchange for guarantees it will not pursue nuclear weaponry. Tehran announces it has resumed uranium conversion at Isfahan, and the IAEA calls an emergency meeting to deal with the crisis.

• Sept. 17, 2005: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tells U.N. Security Council it is Iran's "inalienable right" to produce nuclear fuel and rejects European offer of economic incentives to halt enrichment program.

• Sept. 24, 2005: IAEA passes resolution calling Iran's nuclear program "illegal and illogical" and puts Tehran one step away from Security Council action on sanctions.

• Nov. 11, 2005: Plans emerge for Russian offer to enrich uranium for Iran on Russian soil.

• Nov. 24, 2005: The European Union accuses Iran of possessing documents used solely for the production of nuclear arms, warns of possible referral to Security Council.

• Jan. 10, 2006: Iran removes U.N. seals from nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz, effectively ending a freeze on the process that can produce fuel for nuclear weapons.

• Jan. 18, 2006: Europe, backed by the United States, rejects Iran's request for talks on its nuclear program, while Ahmadinejad accuses the West of acting like the "lord of the world" in denying his country the peaceful use of the atom.

• Jan. 31, 2006: The United States and other permanent Security Council members agree that Iran should be brought before the Security Council, which has the ability to impose sanctions or take other harsh action.

• Feb. 2, 2006: IAEA's 35-nation board begins deliberating Iran's referral.

• Feb. 4, 2006: IAEA board votes to report Iran to the Security Council. Tehran vows to immediately start work on full-scale uranium enrichment and curtail agency's inspection powers in Iran.

Iran's Nuclear History, New Developments (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2630&ncid=2630&e=14&u=/ap/20060204/ap_on_re_mi_ea/nuclear_agency_iran_timeline_1)

Iran Ends Voluntary Cooperation on Nukes

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer Sun Feb 5, 5:26 PM ET

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran ended all voluntary cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency Sunday, saying it would start uranium enrichment and bar surprise inspections of its facilities after being reported to the Security Council over fears it is seeking an atomic bomb.

However, the Islamic republic left the door open for further negotiations over its nuclear program and, in an apparent softening of its position, said it was willing to discuss Moscow's proposal to shift large-scale enrichment operations to Russian territory in an effort to allay suspicions.

A day earlier, an Iranian official at the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna, Austria, said that proposal was "dead." The comment was made after the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors voted to report Iran to the council, which has the power to impose economic and political sanctions.

"The door for negotiations is still open," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Sunday.

But President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the West "can't do a thing" to stop Iran's progress.

"The era of coercion and domination has ended," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. "Issue as many resolutions like this as you want and make yourself happy. You can't prevent the progress of the Iranian nation.

"In the name of the IAEA they want to visit all our nuclear facilities and learn our defense capabilities, but we won't allow them to do this."

Uranium enriched to a low degree can be used for nuclear reactors, while highly enriched uranium is suitable for warheads. Iran insists it only wants to generate electricity, but the United States and some of its allies contend Tehran is trying to build a weapon.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Sunday that Iran had ended all voluntary cooperation with the IAEA. The action, ordered by Ahmadinejad, was required by a law passed last year.

The announcement means Iran has resumed uranium enrichment and no longer will allow snap IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities, a voluntary measure it allowed in recent years in a goodwill gesture to build trust under a protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

"We do not have any obligation toward the additional protocol (anymore)," Mottaki said.

Iran repeatedly has stressed it would continue to honor its commitments under the treaty but that it has the right to pursue a peaceful nuclear program.

"Adoption of the policy of resistance doesn't mean we are on non-speaking terms or noncooperative," Mottaki said. "Yesterday we had two options. One was the option of resistance and the other was surrender. We chose resistance."

"Our activities will continue within the NPT (and not beyond that)," he told a press conference. "We have withdrawn only the possibility of voluntary cooperation from them (IAEA and the West)."

Mottaki said the IAEA resolution was "the result of a political will based on U.S. hostility" toward Iran.

He said Iran would defend its right to possess nuclear technology and enrich uranium to produce nuclear fuel.

"We will continue this path," he told reporters.

The IAEA resolution requests the agency's Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to "report to the Security Council" with the steps Iran needs to take to dispel suspicions about its nuclear ambitions.

These include that it return to freezing uranium enrichment; consider stopping construction of a heavy-water reactor that could be the source of plutonium; formally ratify the agreement allowing the IAEA greater inspecting authority; and give the agency more power in its investigation of Iran's nuclear program.

Tensions were likely to rise as Iran rejects pressure from the outside. It started escalating last month after Iran removed U.N. seals and began nuclear research, including small-scale uranium enrichment.

That came after months of futile talks between Iran and Britain, Germany and France, which negotiated on behalf of the 25-nation European Union.

Asefi said Iranian diplomats still will attend Feb. 16 talks in Moscow concerning Russia's enrichment proposal.

"The proposal has to conform itself with the new circumstances," Asefi said Sunday. "If the Russian proposal makes itself compatible with the new conditions, it can be negotiated."

Iran Ends Voluntary Cooperation on Nukes (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060205/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear;_ylt=AsJH3jeKOderquUS9MfqgO1vaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--)

My note; And hereeeeeeeee we goooooooo.............. ;D

Iran resumes uranium enrichment, ends UN checks

By Parisa Hafezi Sun Feb 5, 2:22 PM ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A defiant Iran on Sunday ended snap U.N. checks of its nuclear sites and said it was resuming uranium enrichment, a day after being reported to the Security Council over suspicions it is building nuclear weapons.

Diplomats warned the response could heighten the dispute over the nuclear ambitions of the world's fourth biggest oil exporter. Tehran insists it needs nuclear technology only to generate electricity.

"Iran has stopped all voluntary measures that it undertook in the past two-and-a-half to three years," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference. "We have no commitment to the Additional Protocol any more."

"We had two clear options. One was to decide to abandon our nuclear rights, the other to preserve our rights. We chose resistance," Mottaki added.

Iran's main measure was the suspension of uranium enrichment. If enriched to a low level, uranium can be used in power stations. If enriched further to weapons-grade, it can be used in nuclear warheads.

Iran signed the Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003, thereby allowing short-notice inspections of its atomic sites.

DIVIDED SECURITY COUNCIL

The International Atomic Energy Agency voted on Saturday to report Iran to the Security Council but the top U.N. body will take no action until an IAEA report is delivered in March.

The Security Council has the power to impose political and economic sanctions on Iran but there are divisions among its five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- about how to deal with Tehran.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Sunday he doubted sanctions would have much effect. Russia is helping build Iran's only nuclear power station and Russia's LUKOIL is investing in an Iranian oilfield. China gets 12 percent of its oil imports from the Islamic Republic.

But he urged Iran to answer a series of IAEA questions within weeks to help allay Western suspicions.

European diplomats said the questions related to Iran's attempts to acquire technology that could be used either in a civilian nuclear energy program or to develop atomic weapons.

"We do expect Iran to provide answers to these questions -- every single one of them," Ivanov told reporters at an annual security conference in Munich.

Ahmadinejad said nothing could deflect Tehran's pursuit of atomic know-how.

"Our enemies cannot do a damn thing. We do not need you at all. But you are in need of the Iranian nation," he told a crowd in Tehran earlier on Sunday.

"Content yourself with as many resolutions as you like, you cannot prevent the will of the Iranian people," he added.

Iran has warned that any sanctions against it would send oil prices beyond a level industrialized economies could bear.

Abdolrahim Moussavi, head of Iran's joint chiefs of staff, warned that any military strike against Iran's atomic facilities would be useless.

"We are not seeking a military confrontation, but if that happens we will give the enemy a lesson that will be remembered throughout history," he was quoted as saying by the ISNA students news agency.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said the report to Security Council was not about the international community seeking regime change.

"This is not about going into a policy of regime change in Iran. This is about solving a problem of proliferation, so the message is very clear," Villepin said on Europe 1 radio.

"The second message is that we cannot accept that international rules are not accepted."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a news conference Iran was keeping diplomatic options with Russia open.

Asefi said Tehran would have talks with Moscow on February 16, but added that a Russian proposal that Moscow enrich Iran's uranium would have to be "adjusted in the current situation."

He added the timing of Iran's resumption of a full atomic fuel cycle remained uncertain.

Iran's stock market slumped beneath its key psychological threshold of 10,000 points on Sunday, with brokers blaming nerves over the atomic program.

Iran resumes uranium enrichment, ends UN checks (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060205/wl_nm/nuclear_iran_dc;_ylt=ApUnGEDHRhxXxlHNRMFY5qIUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NTMzazIyBHNlYwMxNjk2)

Indian PM mulls crisis talks with leftwing allies

26 minutes ago

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was mulling whether to hold crisis talks with leftwing allies angry at his government's vote against Iran over its nuclear programme and its airport privatisation plans.

"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh... is considering calling a meeting of the coordination committee before the parliament session to discuss issues like Iran and privatisation," a spokesman for Singh's Congress party, Rajiv Shukla, was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency on Sunday.

The coordination committee is an interface between the ruling Congress party and its political allies aimed at helping defuse differences over policy.

Leftwing parties Sunday called an emergency meeting after which they demanded a parliamentary debate on India's vote against Iran at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

India, along with the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China were among 26 countries that voted Saturday to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for its alleged nuclear weapons programme.

India's vote came despite a meeting between the communists and Singh last week in which the leftists, who are bitterly opposed to India siding with the US against Iran, had urged the government to abstain from voting.

The communists, with 61 MPs, extend crucial outside support to the Singh government.

After their meeting Sunday, Prakash Karat, chief of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), described India's vote as "regrettable."

"The stand taken by India at the IAEA meeting is not in conformity with the pursuit of an independent foreign policy and maintenance of good relations with Iran which is in our national interests," Karat told reporters.

"We are demanding a full debate in the forthcoming session of parliament ahead of the next meeting of the IAEA in March on what stand India should take in the meeting.

"The (Indian) government should remember that there is no consensus on the issue in the country," Karat said.

An Indian foreign ministry statement Saturday said New Delhi had cast its vote in favour of reporting Iran because the IAEA resolution was "well-balanced."

The resolution put off any UN action against Iran for at least a month, to give time for diplomacy to work before the next IAEA meeting in March.

The Times of India Sunday said Washington was likely to support New Delhi's bid to get civilian nuclear technology after India's vote, which came on a day when a strike by airport employees against the privatisation of airports in Delhi and Mumbai collapsed.

The strike, backed by the communists who are strongly opposed to privatisation, was called off Saturday after the federal civil aviation minister Praful Patel gave a written assurance that workers would not lose jobs.

The strike left the airports in New Delhi and Mumbai strewn with garbage and battling to operate, although no flights were affected.

Singh met the workers on Friday and asked them to end the action which they had begun two days earlier in the wake of the announcement of successful bids made by private Indian and foreign consortia to upgrade the two airports.

Singh said no jobs would be lost but also made it clear that there would be no going back on the decision to privatise the airports.

Indian PM mulls crisis talks with leftwing allies (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060206/wl_sthasia_afp/indiapoliticsleft_060206051811;_ylt=AvuQkFdN9yFPvdpqelIkwFln.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--)

Mixed views in Iran on nuclear strategy
Sun Feb 5, 2006 6:28 AM ET163

By Paul Hughes

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian media on Sunday reflected mixed views on the way officials were handling the country's nuclear standoff with the West, with some reformist politicians and newspapers urging the government to tone down its stance.

Hardline newspapers, on the other hand, lauded Iran's defiant response to the decision by the board of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog on Saturday to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council.

"It has become quite obvious that continued commitment to rules that trample upon the rights of nations would only result in capitulation to the bullying demands of foreign powers," said the conservative Tehran Times.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Sunday Iran had already responded to being reported to the Security Council by curbing U.N. inspectors' access to its nuclear sites and restarting uranium enrichment.

Tehran says it wants nuclear technology to generate electricity, not make bombs as some Western countries allege.

The nuclear program enjoys broad support across Iran's political spectrum. But some politicians expressed concern about how the issue was being handled by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government.

"Reporting Iran's nuclear case to the U.N. Security Council is not good news and could have negative consequences for the country," said reformist cleric Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who was a vice-president under former President Mohammad Khatami.

"If the current negotiators cannot carry out their job ... some changes should be made so that the negotiators implement more serious diplomacy for constructive negotiations," he told the semi-official ISNA students news agency.

"DANGEROUS PHASE"

Lawmaker Mohammad Khoshchehreh said officials should take into account the implications of their nuclear strategy.

"We need strategic management at this stage. We should not make decisions based on emotions and slogans," he was quoted as saying by the Iran News daily.

Political analyst and university lecturer Ali Khorram, quoted by the same newspaper, said official handling of the issue had led the country into a "very dangerous phase".

"I recommend the government rethink this optimistic, confident and almost carefree attitude toward being referred to the Security Council," he said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday international pressure could do nothing to deflect the world's fourth biggest oil producer from nuclear power.

"Our enemies cannot do a damn thing. We do not need you at all. But you are in need of the Iranian nation," he said.

Ultra-conservative daily Kayhan said that, since Tehran's right to develop peaceful nuclear technology was being ignored, it was time for it to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

But Iran News urged the government to proceed with more caution.

"The government should in no way welcome a confrontation with the West," it said in an editorial. "The nuclear file is no longer a technical or legal matter but a political problem. The many capabilities of those countries that are standing against Iran should be taken into consideration.

Mixed views in Iran on nuclear strategy (http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-05T112754Z_01_L05579726_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN-REACTIONS.xml)

Iran never yields, always follows up its legitimate rights
Kerman, Feb 5, IRNA

Iran-Nuclear-MP
Member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Gholam-Reza Karami said on Sunday that Iran is too trong to be intimidated by existing hue and cry.

Speaking to Basij (volunteer) students members of the IRGC in Kerman, he said recent resolution issued by the IAEA Board of Governors has ignored Iran's legitimate rights for peaceful use of nuclear technology; therefore, the Iranians should never give up their legitimate rights.

"The only way to safeguard the nation's legitimate rights is to confront the bullying powers," he said.

On recent harsh stands taken by the IAEA Board of Governor against Iran and its subsequent reporting Iran's nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council, he said the US and European countries are fully aware of the fact that Iran does not have any nuclear weapon and is never in search of it.

During the past two years some 1400 IAEA inspectors inspected Iran's nuclear facilities and complexes and installed cameras to monitor the country's activities, he said.

Since two years ago, the country has abided by NPT additional protocol without Majlis approval in a bid to build confidence, clearly declared all its activities and fully cooperated with the IAEA inspectors, he said.

In the meantime, the Western countries who chair IAEA's Board of Governors have not accomplished their commitments in dealing with the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and have equipped Israel with over 200 nuclear warheads, he said.

They even refused to assist those countries lacking in nuclear technology, he said.

The Iranian scientists braving all economic sanctions, managed to get access to nuclear fuel cycle, he underlined.

The reason why the Western countries oppose Iran's peaceful nuclear technology is that the Iranian people have declared that hey will never allow anybody to treat them as slaves, he said.

"Why should certain countries have access to modern technology but want others to be deprived of it?" he questioned.

Foreign media try to promote disappointment among people while they have forgotten that the Iranian nation since early days of the Islamic Revolution has been facing economic sanction and by grace of God has overcome it, he said.

The Iranian nation has reached the conclusion that it should adopt a firm stands in dealing with such issues, he said.

He called the recent measure taken by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as timely and courageous and said the president in fact has implemented the ratification of the Majlis.

Iran never yields, always follows up its legitimate rights (http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0602054957175244.htm)

Hundreds in Iran Protest Muhammad Drawings

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 12 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran - Hundreds of angry protesters hurled stones and fire bombs at the Danish Embassy in the Iranian capital Monday to protest publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Police used tear gas and surrounded the walled villa to hold back the crowd.

It was the second attack on a Western mission in Tehran on Monday. Earlier in the day, 200 student demonstrators threw stones at the Austrian Embassy, breaking windows and starting small fires. The mission was targeted because Austria holds the presidency of the European Union.

Thousands more people joined violent demonstrations across the world to protest publication of the caricatures of Muhammad, and the Bush administration appealed to Saudi Arabia to use its influence among Arabs to help ease tensions in the Middle East and Europe.

Afghan troops shot and killed four protesters, some as they tried to storm a U.S. military base outside Bagram — the first time a protest over the issue has targeted the United States. A teenage boy was killed when protesters stampeded in Somalia.

The EU issued stern reminders to 18 Arab and other Muslim countries that they are under treaty obligations to protect foreign embassies.

Lebanon apologized to Denmark — where the cartoons were first published — a day after protesters set fire to a building housing the Danish mission in Beirut. The attack "harmed Lebanon's reputation and its civilized image," Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said.

In the Iranian capital, police encircled the Danish Embassy but were unable to hold back 400 demonstrators as they tossed stones and Molotov cocktails at the walled brick villa. At least nine protesters were hurt, police said.

About an hour into the protest, police fired tear gas, driving the demonstrators into a nearby park. Later, about 20 people returned and tried to break through police lines to enter the embassy compound but were blocked by security forces.

As the tear gas dissipated, most of the crowd filtered back to the embassy, where they burned Danish flags and chanted anti-Danish slogans and "God is great."

Two trees inside the embassy compound were set on fire by the gasoline bombs. The embassy gate was burned, as was a police booth along the wall protecting the building.

The Danish Foreign Ministry said it was not aware of any staff inside the building, which closed for the day before the demonstration.

Ambassador Claus Juul Nielsen told DR public television in Denmark that the protesters vandalized the ground floor of the embassy, which included the trade and the visa departments.

The crowd, which included about 100 women, ignored police orders to disperse and kept hurling fire bombs until being hit by tear gas. The crowd dispersed by midnight.

Also Monday, 200 members of Iran's parliament issued a statement warning that those who published the cartoons should remember the case of Salman Rushdie — the British author against whom the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a death warrant for his novel "The Satanic Verses."

The angry demonstrations in Iran recall the Nov. 4, 1979, seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran after the Islamic revolution that overthrew U.S. ally Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The students who held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days faced little or no police resistance in the post-revolutionary turmoil that had brought Shiite theologian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and an Islamic government to power.

There has been a wave of protests across the Islamic world over caricatures first published in September by a Danish paper. They have since been reprinted by other media, mostly in Europe.

The drawings — including one depicting the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb — have touched a raw nerve in part because Islamic law forbids any illustrations of the Prophet Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.

In a meeting with local authors, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned the cartoons and addressed the West: "Insulting the Prophet Muhammad would not promote your position," the official Iranian news agency quoted him as saying.

The Bush administration urged Saudi Arabia to help stem protests. "Certainly the leaders of the Saudi government might be individuals who might fulfill that role," spokesman Sean McCormack said. "There are others in the region who also might fulfill that role as well."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan issued a broad appeal to "all governments to take steps to lower tensions and prevent violence."

The worst of the violence in Afghanistan was outside Bagram, the main U.S. base, with Afghan police firing on some 2,000 protesters as they tried to break into the heavily guarded facility, said Kabir Ahmed, the local government chief.

Two demonstrators were killed and 13 people, including eight police, were wounded, he said. No U.S. troops were involved, the military said.

Afghan police also fired on protesters in the central city of Mihtarlam after a man in the crowd shot at them and others threw stones and knives, Interior Ministry spokesman Dad Mohammed Rasa said. Two protesters were killed and three people were wounded, including two police, officials said.

Hundreds in Iran Protest Muhammad Drawings (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060206/ap_on_re_mi_ea/prophet_drawings;_ylt=ApwmPwqcXGIjH..v0LBWGtgUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Iran Tells Nuke Agency to Remove Cameras

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 14 minutes ago

VIENNA, Austria - Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency to remove surveillance cameras and agency seals from sites and nuclear equipment by the end of next week in response to referral to the U.N. Security Council, the agency said Monday.

Iran's demands came two days after the IAEA reported Tehran to the council over its disputed atomic program.

In a confidential report to the IAEA's 35-member board on Monday, agency head Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran also announced a sharp reduction in the number and kind of IAEA inspections, effective immediately. The report was made available to The Associated Press.

Iranian officials had repeatedly warned they would stop honoring the so-called "Additional Protocol" to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty — an agreement giving IAEA inspectors greater authority — if the IAEA board referred their country to the council.

A diplomat close to the Vienna-based IAEA told the AP that Iran had also moved forward on another threat — formally setting a date for resuming full-scale work on its uranium enrichment program. Iran says it wants to make fuel through enrichment, but the activity can also generate the nuclear core of warheads.

The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter was confidential, refused to divulge the date.

Robert G. Joseph, the U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control, said Monday that Iran used negotiations with the
European Union to play for time and develop its capabilities.

"I would say that Iran does have the capability to develop nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them," he said in a response to a question.

In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was still hopeful that Iran will take confidence-building measures with the IAEA.

"It's not the end of the road," Annan said of the Security Council referral. "I hope that in between, Iran will take steps that will help create an environment and confidence-building measures that will bring the partners back to the negotiating table."

In his brief report, ElBaradei cited E. Khalilipour, vice president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, as saying: "From the date of this letter, all voluntarily suspended non-legally binding measures including the provisions of the Additional Protocol and even beyond that will be suspended."

Calling on the agency to sharply reduce the number of inspectors in Iran, Khalilipour added: "All the Agency's containment and surveillance measures which were in place beyond the normal Agency safeguards measures should be removed by mid-February 2006."

Earlier, Russia's foreign minister warned against threatening Iran after Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld reportedly agreed with an interviewer at the German daily newspaper Handelsblatt that all options, including military response, remained on the table.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for talks to continue with Tehran, adding: "I think that at the current stage, it is important not to make guesses about what will happen and even more important not to make threats."

U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged the Security Council to impose strict sanctions on Iran if it fails to comply with U.N. resolutions and arms agreements and warned that inaction would greatly increase the chances of military conflict. He nonetheless stressed that the United States favors a diplomatic solution.

"Diplomatic and economic confrontations are preferable to military ones," Lugar said. But he cautioned that "in the field of nonproliferation, decisions delayed over the course of months and years may be as harmful as no decisions at all."

The Additional Protocol was signed by Iranian officials in 2003 as pressure intensified on Tehran to cooperate with IAEA inspectors probing more than 18 years of clandestine nuclear activities.

The protocol gives the agency inspecting powers beyond normal, allowing for inspections on short notice of areas and programs suspected of being misused for weapons activity.

North Korea — the world's other major proliferation concern — quit the Nonproliferation Treaty in January 2003, just a few months before U.S. officials announced that Pyongyang had told them it had nuclear weapons and may test, export or use them depending on U.S. actions.

Iranian officials have repeatedly said they will continue honoring the Nonproliferation Treaty. Still, the agreements linked to that treaty are insufficient for agency inspectors trying to establish whether Iran has had a secret nuclear arms program.

Unless Iran relents, the move to curtail voluntary cooperation means that ElBaradei will be stymied in trying to close the Iran nuclear file by March. And that could backfire on Tehran.

Russia and China agreed to Security Council referral on condition that the council take no action until March, when the IAEA board next meets. But if ElBaradei reports to that March 6 meeting that he was unable to make progress in establishing whether Iran constitutes a nuclear threat, the council will likely start to pressure Iran, launching a process that could end in sanctions.

Iran Tells Nuke Agency to Remove Cameras (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060206/ap_on_re_eu/nuclear_agency_iran;_ylt=AsJ0J5djECxW5RAw2W5bA.EUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Iran Ends Cooperation With U.N., Continues Talks With Moscow

Sunday, February 05, 2006

UNITED NATIONS — Now that the U.N. atomic watchdog agency has agreed to report Iran to the Security Council, diplomats have vastly different notions about how the body should be involved in negotiations to make sure Iran is not trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

The five permanent council members are split, with the United States, Britain and France hoping to pressure Iran into backing down with the ultimate threat of sanctions.

However, China and Russia do not want to incite Tehran and would prefer that the council play a limited role. The Iranian allies want the International Atomic Energy Agency to keep the lead in handling Iran.

The Iranian government on Sunday ended all voluntary cooperation with the IAEA, saying it would start uranium enrichment and reject surprise inspections of its facilities. Uranium enriched to a low degree can be used for nuclear reactors, while highly enriched uranium is suitable for warheads.

However, in an apparent reversal, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the government was open to negotiations on Moscow's proposal that Iran shift its plan for large-scale enrichment to Russian territory in an effort to allay suspicions. A day earlier, an Iran representative at the IAEA meeting said that proposal was "dead."

For the U.S.-led faction, the IAEA's decision Saturday to report Iran represented a great success. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton had pushed for Iran to be brought before the council since his days as U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security in 2001-2005.

"It inevitably changes the political dynamic when their nuclear weapons program has been considered in the Security Council, which is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security by the U.N. charter, rather than in a specific agency of the U.N. system," Bolton said Friday.

"The Iranians know full well what they're doing, which is trying to acquire a nuclear weapons capability, and I understand why they don't want people talking about it in the full light of day."

In recent days, the diplomatic debate at the United Nations on the issue has focused on two words -- "reporting" Iran to the council or "referring" it.

The distinction reflects a fundamental difference in view. The Russians and Chinese do not mind if the council is informed of the IAEA's dealings with Iran, but they do not want the IAEA to "refer" Iran to the council. That, they believe, would give the impression that the IAEA was washing its hands of Iran and asking the council to take the lead.

"We and China can accept informing of the Security Council, which is quite normal," Russia's U.N. Ambassador Andrey Denisov said. "That is the right of the Security Council to get any information it needs. But not referral, not official submitting, not handing it to the Security Council."

The debate is so important in part because the Security Council is unique among U.N. institutions as the lone body with the power to impose sanctions or other punitive measures, deploy peacekeeping missions, and grant or deny legitimacy to military action.

And though its resolutions sometimes go ignored or unheeded, there is also a symbolic shaming that goes along with bringing a country before a body whose mandate is to maintain international peace and security.

In Iran's case, the council's options include issuing a public statement without imposing any action or adopting a resolution demanding Iran stop its activities and threatening punishment if it does not. The punishment could include an oil embargo, asset freeze and travel ban.

Standing in the way of any such action is China, which has been blunt about its distaste for punitive measures.

"I think, as a matter of principle, China never supports sanctions as a way of exercising pressure because it is always the people that would be hurt," China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said.

For at least a month, in the meantime, the council will not do anything publicly. According to the IAEA decision passed Saturday, the council must wait until the IAEA's Board of Governors meets again next month before considering what to do about Iran.

One precedent is North Korea, which wrangled with many of the same players in 1993 and 1994 over its nuclear program. Through early 1994, the United States pushed hard for the council to impose sanctions but ultimately agreed to drop the threat after North Korea agreed in separate negotiations to freeze its nuclear program.

While there had been months of behind-the-scenes debate in the council, its lone resolution came in May 1993, when it urged North Korea to reconsider its decision to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Colin Keating, an analyst who sat on the council at the time as New Zealand's ambassador, said diplomats hoped for a similar result with Iran, with most discussions about its program taking place outside the Security Council chamber.

"This is a process which everybody is focused on trying to get a particular outcome, and ultimately the passage of a resolution with sanctions is probably a failure of the exercise rather than a success," Keating said.

"This is going to be an ongoing process of many months and it's one in which there will be lots of swirling around and probably very few public meetings of the council and a lot of the action will take place off stage."

Iran Ends Cooperation With U.N., Continues Talks With Moscow (http://www.worthynews.com/news/foxnews-com-printer_friendly_story-0,3566,183835,00-html/)

Later than we think

By Arnaud de Borchgrave
February 6, 2006

The man in charge of hoodwinking the Western powers about Iran's now 18-year-old secret nuclear program believes the apocalypse will happen in his own lifetime. He'll be 50 in October.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Shi'ite creed has convinced him lesser mortals can not only influence but hasten the awaited return of the 12th Imam, known as the Mahdi. Iran's dominant "Twelver" sect holds this will be Muhammad ibn Hasan, the righteous descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. He is said to have gone into "occlusion" in the 9th century, at age 5. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war, bloodshed and pestilence. After this cataclysmic confrontation between the forces of good and evil, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.

"The ultimate promise of all Divine religions," says Ahmadinejad, "will be fulfilled with the emergence of a perfect human being [the 12th Imam], who is heir to all prophets. He will lead the world to justice and absolute peace. Oh mighty Lord, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one." He reckons the return of the Imam, AWOL for 11 centuries, is only two years away.

Mr. Ahmadinejad is close to the messianic Hojjatieh Society, which is governed by the conviction the 12th Imam's return will be hastened by "the creation of chaos on Earth." He has fired Iran's most experienced diplomats and scores of other officials, presumably those who don't share his belief in apocalyptic conflagration.

The Iranian leader's finger on a nuclear trigger would be disquieting under any circumstances. Positively alarming would be a nuclear weapon in the hands of a man who badgers Israel, the U.S. and the European Union in belief a pre-emptive aerial attack on Iran's nuclear facilities will hasten the return of the missing Mahdi. Such an attack presumably would trigger anti-Western mayhem throughout the Middle East.

When he became Iran's sixth president since the 1979 revolution last summer, Mr. Ahmadinejad decided to donate $20 million to the Jamkaran mosque, a popular pilgrimage site where the faithful can drop their missives to the "Hidden Imam" in a holy well. Tehran's working-class faithful are convinced the new president and his Cabinet signed a "compact" pledging themselves to precipitate the return of the Mahdi -- and dropped it down Jamkaran's well with the Mahdi's zip code.

In Mr. Ahmadinejad's eyes, Iran is strong, with oil inching up to $70 a barrel and America, dependent on foreign oil, is weak. He has said publicly America and Europe have far more to lose than Iran if the U.N. Security Council votes for tough economic sanctions. He also figures if Israeli and/or U.S. warplanes strike Iran, all he has to do is give the U.S. a hard time in Iraq as American forces prepare to withdraw.

Moving two or three Iranian divisions into Iraq and activating Shi'ite suicide bombers and hit squads throughout the region would not be too hard for a country that fought an 8-year war against Iraq (1980-88) and had no compunction about giving thousands of youngsters a key to paradise and 72 virgins before sending them across Iraqi minefields.

A top Ahmadinejad officer, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Kossari, who heads the political watchdog, or Security Bureau, of Iran's armed forces, recently taunted the U.S. when he bragged "we have identified all the weak points of our enemies" and have sufficient cannon fodder -- i.e., suicide operation volunteers -- "ready to strike at these sensitive locations." Iranian television recently broadcast an animated film for Iranian children glorifying suicide bombers.

So far, Supreme Leader and Chief of State Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who sits in the holy city of Qom, has not expostulated. Mr. Ahmadinejad appears to have his religious rear well covered. His ideological mentor and spiritual guide is Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi who heads the ultraconservative acolytes who believe the 12th Imam's return is "imminent."

The son of a blacksmith, Mr. Ahmadinejad earned an engineering Ph.D. and is a former member of Iran's notorious Revolutionary Guards at a time when dissidents and "counterrevolutionaries" were executed by the thousands.

A.Q. Khan, father of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, first showed Iran how to build a nuclear weapon 18 years ago. He opened his nuclear black market to Iranian engineers and scientists.

The Bush administration is anxious to clear the decks in a democratic Iraq before facing the Islamist counterpart of the "Rapture" in the "Left Behind" series of books on the end of times by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.

President Bush says all options are on the table. But the military option is probably the one the "twelvers" would look forward to. Some Washington think tank strategists argue if Iran's Dr. Strangelove attacked Israel with a nuclear weapon, five Iranian cities would be vaporized next day.

It might behoove the United States to sit down with "axis of evil" Iran to find out if the MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) doctrine that kept the Soviet Union and the U.S. at peace for a half-century could still be made to work.

In any event, one would have to be irredeemably myopic not to see that Iran has an active nuclear weapons program. The only question is how far this secret program is from delivering a usable weapon and fitting it in the nose cone of a Shahab-3 missile with the range to reach Israel. The Israeli Air Force will be "overhead" Iran long before.

Unfortunately I can't post the Link, as it would break forum rules, of advertisement.

"The Nation of Islam Will Sit at the Throne of the World"

Hamas Leader Khaled Mash'al at a Damascus Mosque: The Nation of Islam Will Sit at the Throne of the World and the West Will Be Full of Remorse – When it's Too Late

February 7, 2006

The following are excerpts from an address by Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al at the Al-Murabit Mosque in Damascus. The address was delivered following the Friday sermon at the mosque, and was aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 3, 2006.

"We Say to This West... By Allah, You Will Be defeated"

Khaled Mash'al: "We apologize to our Prophet Muhammad, but we say to him: Oh Prophet of Allah, do not be saddened, your nation will be victorious.

"We say to this West, which does not act reasonably, and does not learn its lessons: By Allah, you will be defeated. You will be defeated in Palestine, and your defeat there has already begun. True, it is Israel that is being defeated there, but when Israel is defeated, its path is defeated, those who call to support it are defeated, and the cowards who hide behind it and support it are defeated. Israel will be defeated, and so will whoever supported or supports it.

"America will be defeated in Iraq. Wherever the [Islamic] nation is targeted, its enemies will be defeated, Allah willing. The nation of Muhammad is gaining victory in Palestine. The nation of Muhammad is gaining victory in Iraq, and it will be victorious in all Arab and Muslim lands.

'Their multitudes will be defeated and turn their backs [and flee].' These fools will be defeated, the wheel of time will turn, and times of victory and glory will be upon our nation, and the West will be full of remorse, when it is too late.

"Don't you see that every act of deceit they contrive is being turned against them by Allah? Don't you see that they make every effort to defeat us militarily, but fail to do so? Israel and the occupation forces in Iraq are supplied with the entire Western military arsenal, yet they fail and are defeated.

"Don't you see that they believe they are capable of using democracy to deceive the people, but then democracy is turned against them? Don't you see that they are spending their money in efforts to block the way of Allah, to thwart Hamas, to defeat it, and to help those whom they want, but that [this plot] is turned against them? They are not acting reasonably.

"They do not understand the Arab or Muslim mentality, which rejects the foreigner. Our Arab forefathers, before the advent of Islam, rejected the aggressors and the foreigners.
[...]

"I bring good tidings to our beloved Prophet Muhammad: Allah's promise and the Prophet's prophecy of our victory in Palestine over the Jews and over the oppressive Zionists has begun to come true."

"I Say to Europe: Hurry Up and Apologize"

To view this clip, visit:Middle east research media (http://www.memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=1024.)

My note; If they do, it will only be for 7 years. ;D

Moslems Threaten Denmark, PM Defends Freedom of Press
22:34 Jan 30, '06 / 1 Shevat 5766
By Hillel Fendel and Ezra HaLevi

Denmark and Norway are under attack from the Moslem world because of a series of anti-Mohammed cartoons. Palestinian terrorists threatened physical attack unless they apologize.

Muslim interests around the world have been in an uproar against a series of anti-Mohammed cartoons that appeared in Danish and Norwegian newspapers. In Iraq, Muslim forces finally made good on their threats today, detonating a bomb against a joint Danish-Iraqi military patrol. No one was reported hurt.

In Gaza City as well, five terrorists stormed the European Union headquarters this morning, closing the office down in protest of the cartoon series. At the same time, ten terrorists armed with assault rifles and grenade launchers stood outside, firing into the air and warning Danes and Norwegians not to visit Gaza until their governments apologize.

"We warn the citizens of the above-mentioned governments against not taking this warning seriously," one of the gunmen read from a statement, "because our groups are ready to implement it across the Gaza Strip."

The 12 controversial drawings were originally published last September in the independent Jyllands-Posten newspaper, and afterwards in a Norwegian paper. They included one of Mohammed waving off suicide bombers on their way to heaven, saying, "Stop! We have run out of virgins!" Another one portrays Mohammed wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse.

The Danish Prime Minister, Anders Rasmussen, has refused to apologize, defending his country's freedom of press and even refusing to meet with a delegation of eleven ambassadors from Moslem countries who demanded a meeting to discuss the perceived offense.

Saudi Arabia has enacted a boycott of Danish goods, and calls for the same have been heard in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria and Yemen.

Libya announced Sunday the closure of its embassy in Denmark to protest the caricatures of Islam's prophet. A Libyan Foreign Ministry statement said other measures would be taken, but did not elaborate.

Several Kuwaiti MPs have called on Danish and European institutions to take legal action against the cartoonist and the Danish newspaper that originally published his caricatures.

PA Arabs in Samaria burnt and trampled the Danish flag yesterday [pictured above], in solidarity with the protest.

One Arab leader expressed a different point of view. Following the Danish prime minister's refusal to apologize, Afghani president Hamid Karzai, who was visiting Denmark, said he was satisfied with the newspaper's explanation and the Danish government's view. "Prime Minister Rasmussen explained Denmark's position on [the drawings], which was very satisfactory to me as a Moslem," Karzai said.

A recent poll conducted in Copenhagen found that the Danes refuse to give in to the Moslem pressure. The Epinion Research Institute in Denmark reported that 79% of respondents feel that Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen should not apologize on Denmark’s behalf, while only 18% said he should.

Moslems Threaten Denmark, PM Defends Freedom of Press (http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=97579)

EU demands Muslim countries protect its citizens
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EU buildings - Photo Presidency of the European Union
EU buildings - Photo Presidency of the European Union
06/02/2006

The Austrian presidency of the EU Monday called on Muslim countries to protect EU nationals from attack by protesters angry at European cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

Austrian diplomats in Damascus, Ramallah and Beirut "protested to the governments concerned," following the violence that erupted in the past few days across the Muslim world, a foreign ministry news release said.

"In the name of the EU, they have demanded that protection for European citizens be ensured and further acts of violence prevented under all circumstances," it added.

Austria also reminded a list of other countries of their "obligations" to protect the diplomatic missions of EU states, naming Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the Palestinian Territories.

The statement came as demonstrators in Tehran pelted and smashed several windows of the Austrian embassy and after protestors torched Danish and Norwegian diplomatic missions in Damascus and a Danish consulate in Beirut over the weekend.

The cartoons were originally published in a Danish newspaper and subsequently reproduced in media across Europe.

Earlier Monday in Brussels, the European Commission condemned the latest wave of violence by Muslim protestors against the cartoons and urged all sides to return to calm debate.

The commission was "aware that the cartoons ... have aggrieved Muslims across the world," said Johannes Laitenberg, a spokesman for the European Union's executive arm.

"But no grievance, perceived or real, justifies acts of violence such as perpetrated on the weekend," he added, saying the EU condemned the weekend violence "in the strongest possible terms."

"It is only through a vigorous but peaceful debate of opinions ... that mutual understanding can be built," the EU spokesman said.

"That is what is at this point in time needed."

Ambassadors from the EU's 25 member states meanwhile met to discuss the latest protests in Brussels, including being briefed by the main countries involved, primarily Denmark.

Afterwards a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy Javier Solana, who attended the talks, said they had "expressed a message of solidarity with the Danes and other delegations whose countries have been targeted by violence."

"We also voiced a message of continuing diplomacy at all levels ... We have to calm the mood; political and religious leaders have to take this message into account," said the spokeswoman, Cristina Gallach.

"We want the situation to return to calm, to dialogue and understanding, to escape from a spiral of disagreement and violence," she added.

EU demands Muslim countries protect its citizens (http://www.eubusiness.com/Institutions/060206183344.mw43zuxe)

Iran paper plans Holocaust cartoons

Monday 06 February 2006, 20:00 Makka Time, 17:00 GMT

Iran's largest selling newspaper has announced it is holding a contest on cartoons of the Holocaust in response to the publishing in European papers of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

"It will be an international cartoon contest about the Holocaust," Farid Mortazavi, the graphics editor for Hamshahri newspaper, which is published by Tehran's conservative-run municipality, said on Monday.

He said the plan was to turn the tables on the assertion that newspapers can print offensive material in the name of freedom of expression.

"The Western papers printed these sacrilegious cartoons on the pretext of freedom of expression, so let's see if they mean what they say and also print these Holocaust cartoons," he asserted.

Iran's fiercely anti-Israeli regime is supportive of so-called Holocaust revisionist historians, who maintain the systematic slaughter by the Nazis of mainland Europe's Jews as well as other groups during World War II has been either invented or exaggerated.

Systematic slaughter

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's hardline president, prompted international anger when he dismissed the systematic slaughter by the Nazis of mainland Europe's Jews as a "myth" used to justify the creation of Israel.

Mortazavi said Tuesday's edition of the paper will invite cartoonists to enter the competition, with "private individuals" offering gold coins to the best 12 artists - the same number of cartoons that appeared in the conservative Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

Last week the Iranian Foreign Ministry also invited Tony Blair, the British prime minister, to Tehran to take part in a planned conference on the Holocaust, even though the idea has been branded by Blair as "shocking, ridiculous, stupid".

Blair also said Ahmadinejad "should come and see the evidence of the Holocaust himself in the countries of Europe", to which Iran responded by saying it was willing to send a team of "independent investigators".

Iran paper plans Holocaust cartoons (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FCE073DD-7F1B-4714-95F0-DD1F354F1D9A.htm)

My note........ ;D That's it.....I'm gonna riot and then burn my subscription to the Iranian-Fascist Times.

No, wait...you think that will hurt their feelings? (http://bestsmileys.com/lol/5.gif)

In praise of Darwin this Sunday … in hundreds of churches!

by Ken Ham and Mark Looy, AiG–USA

February 6, 2006

This Sunday, over 400 congregations in 49 states in the USA will participate in what could be called a “Darwin praise service.” They will be celebrating (yes, that’s the word that could be used for many of the churches1) the 197th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. It’s called “Evolution Sunday.”

How did “Evolution Sunday” come about?

Two years ago, Prof. Michael Zimmerman at the University of Wisconsin (its Oshkosh campus)—and also its dean of the College of Letters and Sciences—began what became known as “The Clergy Letter Project.”

Using the university’s website, Zimmerman encouraged clergy across America to sign a letter that supports evolution and rejects the Genesis account of creation as literal history. As we posted this, over 10,200 clergy had signed this awful letter.

The next step for Zimmerman (again, using the university’s website) was to solicit donations so that funds could be obtained to publicize this clergy letter and to gain exposure across the nation. He set up an arrangement with an organization called The Christian Alliance for Progress (CAP) to accept tax-deductible donations for his national project. What does CAP believe?

Regarding homosexuality, CAP states (under the heading “Rejecting bigotry, embracing dignity—equality for homosexual people”) that “Jesus taught equality, justice and obligation. We accept Jesus’ call to love one another and to welcome all God’s children at the table.”

In regard to child bearing/abortion, CAP declares: “We support responsible compassionate programs that are genuinely effective in helping prevent unintended pregnancy. An outcome no woman wants. We affirm that each woman’s body belongs to herself. No woman should be forced either to bear a child or to terminate a pregnancy.”

The next stage in Zimmerman’s plan (again, using his school’s website to push his evolutionary, religious agenda) was to promote a special “Evolution Sunday.”

Under the heading of “The Clergy Letter Project Presents Evolution Sunday” on his webpage, Zimmerman explained that:

On 12 February 2006 hundreds of Christian churches from all portions of the country and a host of denominations will come together to discuss the compatibility of religion and science. For far too long, strident voices, in the name of Christianity, have been claiming that people must choose between religion and modern science. More than 10,000 Christian clergy have already signed The Clergy Letter demonstrating that this is a false dichotomy. Now, on the 197th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, many of these leaders will bring this message to their congregations through sermons and/or discussion groups. Together, participating religious leaders will be making the statement that religion and science are not adversaries. And, together, they will be elevating the quality of the national debate on this topic.

Thousands of pastors have now made a public statement to say that what they call “faith” and what they deem “science” (by which they mean “evolution”) are compatible!

The irony is that as this “Evolution Sunday” program was being ramped up, the world’s leading evolutionist, atheist Dr. Richard Dawkins from Oxford University, hosted a television program broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK (and to eventually air around the world) that stated the very opposite message!

Dawkins (visibly angry at the Christian faith throughout his two-hour TV diatribe) stated: “People like to say that faith and science can live together side by side, but I don’t think they can. They’re deeply opposed. Science is a discipline of investigation and constructive doubt, questing with logic, evidence and reason to draw conclusions. Faith, by stark contrast, demands a positive suspension of critical faculties.”

Dawkins added, “Charles Darwin hit upon a truly brilliant idea that elegantly explains all of life on earth without any need to invoke the supernatural or the divine.”

Do you see the irony? The clergy supporting evolution, but the evolutionary, secular humanist insisting such a position is untenable. Dawkins has stated that evolution led him to his atheism.

But ... Dawkins is right this time—evolution and Christianity are incompatible.

In the TV program, Dawkins often attacked Bible-believing Christians with strident comments, such as: “Fundamentalist American Christianity is attacking science. But what is it offering instead? A mirror image of Islamic extremism. An American Taliban.” The next scene showed the burning towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on 9/11.

Dawkins likened Christians to terrorists!

He also stated:

To understand the likes of Osama Bin Ladin, you have to realize that the religious terrorism they inspire is the logical outcome of deeply held faith.

Even so-called “moderate” believers are part of the same religious fabric. They encourage unreason as a positive virtue. [Later he disdainfully calls them “fence-sitters.”]

What’s really scary is that religious warriors think of what they are doing as the ultimate good. Those of us brought up in Christianity can soon get the message: “Onward Christian Soldiers,” “Fight the Good Fight,” “Stand up, Stand up for Jesus ye soldiers of the Cross.”

But as far as I’m concerned, the war between good and evil is really just the war between two evils.

So, Christians are equated with Bin Laden and his terrorists!

At the same time, atheists like Dawkins (who continually have Channel 4 and the BBC at their disposal to influence millions of viewers) take glee when they see the clergy supporting evolution. Even though Dawkins unflatteringly calls them “fence-sitters,” he sees their compromise as a step towards atheism, for he expects that the next generation in the church will probably see the inconsistency of the clergy’s beliefs—and they will soon give up the Bible altogether.

Thankfully, even though thousands of clergy have compromised, there are thousands who have “not bowed the knee to Baal.” We are finding more and more pastors who are standing up for the authority of the Word, including those whom the Lord has prompted to use creation resources to equip the church to defend the Christian faith against the onslaughts of evolutionary humanism.

AiG is working on special materials and outreaches so that in the near future, we can begin promoting a “Creation Sunday” … or perhaps even a “Creation Week.” This would be a time when Christian leaders and others will have the opportunity to take a public statement that they are standing on God’s infallible Word!

“Evolution Sunday” will attack God’s Word this weekend. Sadly, it may lead many more people to hopelessness and despair. But a “Creation Sunday” (or whatever we decide to call it) will one day make a statement of hope to a dying world—the same message that AiG proclaims through its resources, conferences, this website and the future Creation Museum!

The war between Christianity and secular humanism is really heating up now. Dawkins and other prominent evolutionists are using the airwaves time and time again to aggressively attack Bible-believing Christians. Christians need to communicate a positive message to the world that the Bible is true from the very first verse.
In praise of Darwin this Sunday … in hundreds of churches! (http://www.worthynews.com/news/answersingenesis-org-docs2006-0206evol_sunday-asp/)

Russian Ultranationalist Leader Expects U.S. to Attack Iran in Late March

Created: 07.02.2006 10:54 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:34 MSK, 8 hours 24 minutes ago

MosNews

A senior Russian parliamentary official and leader of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Vladimir Zhirinovsky believes that a U.S. attack on Iran is inevitable, he has told Ekho Moskvy radio station.

“The war is inevitable because the Americans want this war,” he said. “Any country claiming a leading position in the world will need to wage wars. Otherwise it will simply not be able to retain its leading position. The date for the strike is already known — it is the election day in Israel (March 28). It is also known how much that war will cost,” Zhirinovsky said.

He went on to add that the publication of Prophet Muhammad cartoons in the European press was a planned action by the U.S. whose aim is “to provoke a row between Europe and the Islamic world”. “It will all end with European countries thanking the United States and paying, and giving soldiers,” he said. Russia should “choose a position of non-interference and express minimal solidarity with the Islamic world”, Zhirinovsky added.

For his part, the head of the Centre for Strategic Studies of Religions and Modern World Politics, Maxim Shevchenko, also believes that a U.S. attack on Iran is very likely although he sees no preconditions for this war. “Iran does not threaten anyone, is not pointing its missiles at anyone. No Iranian leader has ever threatened to carry out a strike against the U.S. Therefore preparations for a war against Iran appear to be a global act of provocation,” he said.

In Shevchenko’s opinion, the reason behind “this barefaced promotion of a world war lies not in a conflict between the West and the Islamic World but in a fight for power in the world between US and European elites”. “The fate of humanity will be decided between a saber-rattling America and an allegedly democratic Europe,” Shevchenko concluded.

Whereas a senior research associate of the World Economy and International Relations Institute, Georgy Mirsky, is confident that “there will be no war”.

“The Americans got so very much stuck in Afghanistan and Iraq that they will not start a new war without definite proof of the fact that Iran poses a threat to the world. Besides, the U.S. has mid-term elections this year and the Republicans, who have suffered a severe blow to their trust, will not be able to win these elections if they drag the country into a new hazardous escapade.

”As for Israel, it can carry out a strike against Iran but only when it knows for certain that only one step remains before an Iranian atomic bomb is created. But that time has not come yet,“ Mirsky said.

Russian Ultranationalist Leader Expects U.S. to Attack Iran in Late March (http://www.worthynews.com/news/mosnews-com-news-2006-02-07-vzhiriran-shtml/)

Cartoon Protesters Direct Anger at U.S.

By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press Writer
42 minutes ago

QALAT, Afghanistan - Police killed four people Wednesday as Afghans enraged over drawings of the Prophet Muhammad marched on a U.S. military base in a volatile southern province, directing their anger not against Europe but America.

The U.S. base was targeted because the United States "is the leader of Europe and the leading infidel in the world," said Sher Mohammed, a 40-year-old farmer who suffered a gunshot wound while taking part in the demonstration in the city of Qalat.

"They are all the enemy of Islam. They are occupiers in our country and must be driven out," Mohammed said.

Wednesday's violence began when hundreds of protesters tried to storm the U.S. base, said Ghulam Nabi Malakhail, a provincial police chief. When warning shots failed to deter them, police shot into the crowd, killing four and wounding 11, he said.

Flying rocks injured eight police and one Afghan soldier, he said.

Two Pakistanis arrested for allegedly firing at police were being questioned to see whether they were linked to al-Qaida, Malakhail said. Some officials accuse al-Qaida of inciting three days of bloody riots across
Afghanistan that have left 11 dead.

Protesters also burned three fuel tankers waiting to deliver gasoline to the base, said Malakhail. He said U.S. troops fired warning shots into the air.

U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said the American forces fired flares above the crowd, but he said it was not clear whether they fired their weapons.

Muslims around the world have demonstrated over the images — including one depicting the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb — printed in Western media. Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of the prophet.

In Baghdad, Iraq's top Shiite political leader criticized attacks on foreign embassies by Muslims.

"We value and appreciate peaceful Islamic protests," said Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. "But we are against the idea of attacking embassies and other official sites."

In the West Bank, about 300 Palestinians overpowered a Palestinian police detail and attacked an international observer mission in the city of Hebron.

Sixty members of the mission were inside, said Gunhild Forselv, spokeswoman for the Temporary International Presence in Hebron. A few protesters forced their way in, where unarmed observers waved clubs in an attempt to drive them off. Police reinforcements eventually restored order.

Muslims also demonstrated in Indian-controlled Kashmir, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and in Turkey.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Iran and Syria of instigating protests in their countries, and President Bush called upon governments to stop the violence and protect the lives of diplomats overseas.

The United States and other countries were looking into whether extremist groups may be inciting protesters to riot, said Yonts, the U.S. spokesman in Afghanistan.

Iranian vice president Isfandiar Rahim Mashaee rejected Rice's assertion that Iran was inflaming Muslim anger over the cartoons. "That is 100 percent a lie," Mashaee said in Jakarta, Indonesia. "It is without attribution."

Zahor Afghan, editor for Erada, Afghanistan's most respected newspaper, said the riots in his country have surprised him.

"No media in Afghanistan has published or broadcast pictures of these cartoons. The radio has been reporting on it, but there are definitely people using this to incite violence against the presence of foreigners in Afghanistan," he said.

Afghans who rioted Wednesday said they heard about the cartoons on the radio but none questioned had seen printed versions.

"The radio is talking about them all the time. Everybody heard about them this way," said 28-year-old shopkeeper Ramatullah, who uses only name.

Wednesday's riot erupted despite an appeal from Afghanistan's top Islamic organization, the Ulama Council, for an end to the violence.

"Islam says it's all right to demonstrate but not to resort to violence. This must stop," senior cleric Mohammed Usman told The Associated Press. "We condemn the cartoons but this does not justify violence. These rioters are defaming the name of Islam."

In France, President Jacques Chirac asked media to avoid offending religious beliefs as another French newspaper reprinted the caricatures. The satirical French weekly Charlie-Hebdo also printed a new drawing under the headline "Muhammad Overwhelmed by the Fundamentalists" that showed the prophet with his head in his hands, remarking, "It's hard to be loved by idiots."

Cartoon Protesters Direct Anger at U.S. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/prophet_drawings;_ylt=AkyMS9dUuOKAIpc8xz7Hx8es0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--)

Iran will persist in nuclear pursuits, official says
Thu Feb 9, 2006 5:35 AM ET170

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Iran's nuclear programs have peaceful aims and will not be abandoned even under threats of military action, which are no more real than a vampire's teeth, one of the country's vice presidents said on Thursday.

Esfandiar Rahim Mashaee said on a visit to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, that Iran opposes nuclear weapons and their use.

"On the Iranian nuclear issue, we have always been clear in our action, and in Iran all of its nuclear (programs) have a peaceful mission," he told a news conference after meeting Indonesia's vice president.

Iran has a senior vice president, and a number of other vice presidents who are in charge of individual areas of government. Mashaee oversees cultural heritage and tourism.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, acting at the behest of the European Union and the United States, last week voted to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council. The Western powers fear Iran is developing nuclear weapons.

Indonesia's Vice President Jusuf Kalla called on Thursday for a dialogue to resolve the issue, and noted how other countries in the world such as North Korea have the capability to develop nuclear weapons.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused Iran of being the world's leading sponsor of terrorism and Washington has not ruled out military action to dismantle Iran's suspected nuclear arms project.

Mashaee dismissed such talk.

"It's not surprising if Rumsfeld would resort to the threat of military action against Iran, but such a threat is as real as a dracula's sharp teeth," he said.

Iran will persist in nuclear pursuits, official says (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-02-09T093455Z_01_JAK253924_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN-INDONESIA.xml&archived=False&src=cms)

Russian Military, German Businessmen Aid Iran Arms Program — Report

Created: 09.02.2006 11:18 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:19 MSK, 10 hours 1 minute ago

MosNews

Two German businessmen, a former Russian military officer and North Korea are among those helping Iran develop missiles that the West fears could one day carry nuclear warheads, diplomats and intelligence officials say, the Reuters news agency reports.

Last month German federal prosecutors formally charged two German citizens with espionage for helping a foreign intelligence agency acquire dual-use “delivery system” technology. The prosecutors announced the charge of espionage last week but did not name the country involved.

The two German men have been accused of “having sold a vibration testing facility in 2001 and 2002 on behalf of a foreign military intelligence procurement entity,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement posted on its website. A German official familiar with the case, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the investigation, said the country involved was Iran.

“These missile technology dealers ... appear to have been acting alone and were not part of any organized gang,” he said. The state prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe, Germany did not name the men or the German company they worked for.

The involvement of German citizens in what U.S. and European officials believe is Iran’s covert nuclear weapons program will be embarrassing for Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has vowed to prevent Tehran from getting nuclear weapons.

“You really can’t separate Iran’s nuclear activities from its missile program. The missiles are the delivery system,” an EU diplomat familiar with the case said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and publicly doubted that six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War Two.

Recent U.S. intelligence recovered from a stolen laptop computer suggests that Iranian missile experts are trying to develop a missile re-entry vehicle capable of carrying a relatively small nuclear warhead, EU and U.S. officials say.

Last week the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, voted to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions, due to fears that it is developing atomic weapons. Iran says it does not want weapons, only nuclear energy.

With the exception of Russia, China and North Korea, few countries sell Iran weapons or dual-use technology that could be used to make atomic, chemical or biological weapons. To the annoyance of the United States and European Union, Russia has made it clear that it is willing to sell small-scale defensive missiles to Iran. Late last year, Moscow agreed to sell Iran tactical surface-to-air missiles that could be used to shoot down low-flying aircrafts or guided missiles.

However, even Russia says it will not sell medium- and long-range missile technology to the Islamic republic. But a European and a non-European intelligence official told Reuters that Russian middlemen were helping Iran get missile technology from North Korea that could bring central Europe within the range of Iranian missiles.

An EU diplomat, citing his country’s intelligence, said Iran had purchased 18 disassembled BM-25 mobile missiles with a range of around 2,500 km from North Korea. He was confirming a German newspaper report from December that cited Germany’s BND foreign intelligence service.

One of the intelligence officials said a former Russian military officer with the first name Viktor had helped Iran get Soviet-made SSN6 missile technology from Russia and North Korea, which Iran could use to improve the accuracy of its newly-bought BM-25s and increase their range to as much as 3,500 km.

“The Russian authorities either don’t know about him or don’t care,” the official said, adding that there was no evidence that Moscow approved of Viktor’s activities.

Iranian and Russian officials declined to comment.

Iran’s Shahab-3 missiles have a range of some 2,000 km. With a range of 3,500 km, the missiles could reach central Europe.

In December, the United States imposed sanctions on six Chinese, two Indian and one Austrian firm for selling missile or chemical weapons-related supplies to Iran.

Russian Military, German Businessmen Aid Iran Arms Program (http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/02/09/iranarms.shtml)

Hezbollah Leader to Bush: 'Shut Up'

By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 37 minutes ago

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The leader of Hezbollah, heading a march by hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslims Thursday, said
President Bush and his secretary of state should "shut up" after they accused Syria and Iran of fueling protests over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Denmark, meanwhile, said it had temporarily closed its diplomatic mission in Beirut, which was burned by protesters Sunday, and all staff had left Lebanon.

Danes feared religious processions in Muslim countries Thursday to mark the Shiite festival of Ashoura would spill over into violence against its diplomats and soldiers after days of protests over the caricatures, which were first published in a Danish newspaper in September.

About 2,000 hard-line Muslims also rallied and burned a Danish flag Thursday in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka.

In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah urged Muslims worldwide to keep demonstrating until there is an apology over the drawings and Europe passes laws forbidding insults to the prophet.

The head of the guerrilla group, which is backed by Iran and Syria, spoke before a mass Ashoura procession. Whipping up the crowds on the most solemn day for Shiites worldwide, Nasrallah declared:

"Defending the prophet should continue all over the world. Let Condoleezza Rice and Bush and all the tyrants shut up. We are an Islamic nation that cannot tolerate, be silent or be lax when they insult our prophet and sanctities."

"We will uphold the messenger of God not only by our voices but also by our blood," he told the crowds, estimated by organizers at about 700,000. Police had no final estimates but said the figure was likely to be even higher.

Speaking about the controversy for the first time on Wednesday, Bush condemned the deadly rioting sparked by the cartoons and urged foreign leaders to halt the spreading violence. Rice said Iran and Syria "have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes. And the world ought to call them on it."

Iran has rejected the U.S. accusations. Syria has not commented publicly.

In protests throughout the Muslim world, demonstrators who saw the drawings as deeply insulting to Islam have attacked embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran and rioted in Afghanistan. Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of the prophet.

Jyllands-Posten, the Danish paper that first published the drawings, apologized last week for offending Muslims but stood by its decision to print the cartoons, citing freedom of speech.

Other European publications recently reprinted the drawings, which included an image of Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped with a burning fuse, in a show of solidarity.

Denmark's government has said it could not apologize over a newspaper's publication.

In Brussels, Belgium, Mohamed Ahmed Sherif, chairman of the Libyan-based World Islamic Call Society, said Muslims see the drawings as a direct attack on their values and called the decision to print them in European newspapers a "hate program."

Sherif, speaking during a visit Brussels where he met European Union officials, said the cartoons only serve to fuel extremism.

"Nobody should blame the Muslims if they are unhappy about the images of the Prophet Muhammad," Sherif said. "It's forbidden to create a hate program to show that the prophet is a terrorist while he's not. Don't ask us to try to make people understand that this is not a campaign of hate."

Nasrallah, a black-turbaned, bearded cleric, demanded an apology for the cartoons and laws to prevent a repetition.

"There can be no settlement before an apology and there can be no settlement before laws are legislated by the European Parliament and the parliaments of European countries," he said.

Islamic nations should demand "a law committing the press and the media in the West that proscribes insulting our prophet. If this matter cannot be achieved that means they (West) insist on continuing this," he added.

Nasrallah said that if the controversy touched on Jews or Israel the West would have reacted differently and quickly.

In Denmark, the Danish Broadcasting Corp., or DR, said its journalists in Beirut had been warned to stay away from the Shiite Ashoura ceremonies. "It has become more difficult to be a Danish reporter in the Middle East," Lisbet Knudsen, head of DR's news desk said.

The Bangladeshi protesters — most members of the hard-line group, Islamic Constitution Movement — marched through the streets outside the country's main mosque in downtown Dhaka shouting, "Down with Islam's Enemies!" police said.

"We can't tolerate such disrespect to our prophet. It's a shameful act. We condemn it," A.T.M. Hemayetuddin, a movement leader, told supporters.

In the capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, about 200 people turned an Islamic procession into a protest against the prophet drawings, shouting "Down with Denmark" and "Down with Israel." Senior Superintendent of Police Muneer Khan said 25 people were arrested as police beat back angry demonstrators.

Malaysia's government Thursday indefinitely shut down a local newspaper for reprinting one of the drawings.

Hezbollah Leader to Bush: 'Shut Up' (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060209/ap_on_re_mi_ea/prophet_drawings;_ylt=AsHH9QrsgJ6P_zedzOHABA2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Bush details Qaeda plot to hit LA

By Tabassum Zakaria 15 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Thursday disclosed new details of a thwarted al Qaeda plot to use shoe bombs to hijack a plane and fly it into a Los Angeles building, as he sought to justify his tactics in Washington's war on terrorism.

With critics questioning the legality of his authorization of a domestic spying program, Bush used newly declassified details of a previously disclosed plot to show that the threat of terrorism has not abated.

Bush said that in early 2002 the United States and its allies thwarted a plot to use bombs hidden in shoes to breach the cockpit door of an airplane and fly it into the tallest building in Los Angeles.

But he named the wrong building. "We believe the intended target was Liberty Tower in Los Angeles, California," Bush said. White House aides later said he meant Library Tower.

Library Tower is now known as US Bank Tower, but locally it is still mostly called by the former name because of its proximity to the city's central library. At 1,017 feet (310 metres) tall, it is the tallest building in the United States west of the Mississippi River.

Last October, the Bush administration had disclosed the plot to attack targets on the West Coast using hijacked planes, saying this was among 10 disrupted al Qaeda plots.

Bush said on Thursday that in October 2001, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the operational mastermind of the September 11 attacks that year, had set in motion a plot for another attack inside the United States using shoe bombs to hijack an airplane and fly it into the tallest building on the U.S. West Coast.

"Rather than use Arab hijackers as he had on September 11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed sought out young men from Southeast Asia whom he believed would not arouse as much suspicion," Bush said.

Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in March 2003 and has since been held at an undisclosed location. In his speech, Bush praised the efforts of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in fighting terrorism.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, believed by U.S. officials to be hiding in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, have so far eluded the U.S. manhunt.

Bush said Mohammed tapped a leader of an al Qaeda-affiliated group in Southeast Asia named Hambali, who recruited several operatives with training in Afghanistan. Hambali was later caught.

"Once the operatives were recruited, they met with Osama bin Laden, and then began preparations for the West Coast attack," Bush said.

"Their plot was derailed in early 2002 when a Southeast Asian nation arrested a key al Qaeda operative," he said.

In another plot, "shoebomber" Richard Reid failed in an attempt to blow up an American Airlines plane from Paris to Miami in December 2001 after passengers and crew tackled him as he tried to ignite explosives in his shoe. Reid was sentenced to life imprisonment by a U.S. court in January 2003.

Bush has been fighting criticism of his decision to authorize the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without court warrants inside the United States on international emails and phone calls placed to and from people with suspected ties to terrorism.

He has said that it was a necessary tool for fighting terrorism and preventing another attack on America.

"There's a law which says with respect to electronic surveillance within America, it has to be with warrants. It cannot be warrantless," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat, told reporters before entering a closed Senate intelligence committee hearing to discuss Bush's NSA program.

Asked if she was concerned about the selective release of classified information by the White House, Feinstein said:

"The president is entitled to release whatever he wants to release. He owns the intelligence. The president is the owner of intelligence and then he makes the decision of what to share."

Bush details Qaeda plot to hit LA (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/bush_plot_dc;_ylt=AnAnjuLjQ1Xqnnm3Dx83dHSs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--)

Putin tries to restore Russia's role in Middle East
Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:24 AM ET172

By Richard Balmforth - Analysis

MOSCOW (Reuters) - By inviting Hamas for talks, Vladimir Putin has taken a bold but risky plunge into the Middle East peace process that he hopes will restore Russia's role as a player on the world stage, experts say.

And, though his offer on Thursday caught the United States, Israel and other Western powers on the hop, Putin has left himself with room for maneuver to ensure his ties with his powerful Western partners are not hurt, they say.

Putin's remarks in Madrid set diplomatic channels humming between Moscow and other world capitals on Friday as Russia emerged from the shadow of the United States and European Union, the key peace brokers in the Middle East.

"These statements amount to a take-over of the Middle East peace initiative," Alexei Malashenko of the Moscow Carnegie Center said.

"In a situation in which all the other peace mediators have proved to be paralyzed, we have in Russia a chance of giving the negotiating process a second wind," said pro-Kremlin analyst Sergei Markov.

Other analysts said Putin's reference to links with Hamas itself came as a surprise since the two sides had not been known to have contacts.

Hamas, considered a "terrorist" organization by Washington, won a crushing victory over the long-dominant Fatah group in a Palestinian election on January 25. The group, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, has spearheaded suicide attacks against the Jewish state over the past five years.

Russia is a member of the Quartet, that also groups the United States, the European Union and the United Nations. But Moscow has always been a marginal player.

Russia agrees with the Quartet line that Hamas has to accept the right of Israel to exist. Putin reaffirmed that point, and Russian officials were quick to echo him on Friday.

"Everyone is telling Hamas that they must embark on a measured course because they won't get far with such radical policies. We shall urge a change in Hamas policies at the meeting with their representative," Interfax news agency quoted Russian Middle East envoy Alexander Kalugin as saying.

"STRETCHING THE QUARTET AGENDA"

But one Western diplomat said all the same "(Putin) is stretching the Quartet agenda considerably".

"He has gone out fairly well ahead by inviting the Hamas leadership for talks without agreement first about principles that have to be complied with," said the diplomat who monitors Russia's Middle East policy.

As Israel expressed surprise and Washington said it was seeking details of Moscow's intentions, a senior Hamas official said in Gaza that the group's leaders "would be delighted" to take up an invitation from Putin.

But the diplomat said Putin could still step back from his overtures to Hamas if it does not relent in its policy toward Israel once in power in the Palestine Authority.

Though Putin pulled a political rabbit out of the hat, commentators point out that U.S. and European Union aid to the Palestinian Authority dwarfs anything that Moscow can provide -- underscoring the little real leverage Russia has in the region.

The apparent boldness of what may in the end be a low-cost move for Putin appeared more to reflect his desire to boost his and Russia's image in a high-profile year that includes holding the presidency of the G8 group of rich nations.

"Reasserting Russia as a big player on the world stage is very much Putin's agenda. He may be trying to rebuild that at relatively low cost," the diplomat said.

However briefly, the surprise move evoked memories of Soviet times when Moscow used its role as the main sponsor of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in its Cold War confrontation with the United States.

After the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and especially after Arafat established his own ties with the West, Moscow's role in the Middle East peace process was reduced to only token presence.

Putin tries to restore Russia's role in Middle East (http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-10T132400Z_01_L10484498_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-RUSSIA.xml)

Employees get microchip implants
Company requires controversial device for certain workers
Posted: February 10, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

A Cincinnati company is requiring any employee who works in its secure data center to be implanted with a microchip.

The video surveillance company CityWatcher.com injected two of its employees in the triceps area of the arm with the VeriChip, a glass-encapsulated RFID, or radio-frequency identification, tag, according to Liz McIntyre, co-author of "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID."

CityWatcher.com's Network Administrator Khary Williams spoke with McIntyre by phone Wednesday after the company announced it had integrated the VeriChip VeriGuard product into its access control system.

The tag can be read through clothing from a few inches away.

The highly controversial device is being marketed as a way to access secure areas, link to medical records and make purchases like a credit card.

As WorldNetDaily reported, when former Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson joined the VeriChip Corp. board of directors, he pledged to get chipped and encouraged Americans to do the same so their electronic medical records would be available in emergencies.

But McIntyre and co-author Katherine Albrecht contacted VeriChip Corp. in December and were told the chipping never took place.

VeriChip spokesman John Procter said Thompson had been "too busy" to undergo the procedure, adding that he had no clear plans to do so.

CityWatcher's Williams said a local doctor already has implanted two of the company's employees with the VeriChip devices.

"I will eventually" receive an implant, too, he added.

Meanwhile, Williams accesses the data center with a VeriChip implant housed in a heart-shaped plastic casing that hangs from his key chain.

He told McIntyre he had no reservations about having the procedure and would do it as soon as time permits.

But McIntyre says she's worried that CityWatchers – a government contractor specializing in surveillance projects – would be the first publicly to incorporate the technology in the workplace.

CityWatcher provides video surveillance, monitoring and video storage for government and businesses, with cameras set up on public streets throughout Cincinnati.

The company hopes the VeriChip will bolster its proximity or "prox" card security system that controls access to the room where the video footage is stored, said Gary Retherford of Six Sigma Security, Inc., the company that provided the VeriChip technology.

"The prox card is a system that can be compromised," said Retherford, referring to the card's well-known vulnerability to hackers.

He explained that chipping employees "was a move to increase the layer of security."

"It was attractive because it could be integrated with the existing system," he said.

McIntyre points out, however, researchers have shown the VeriChip to be vulnerable to hackers.

Security researcher Jonathan Westhues showed last month how a hacker can clone a chip and theoretically duplicate someone's implant to access a secure area.

Westhues believes the VeriChip is not secure and "not good for anything."

"No one I spoke with at Six Sigma Security or at CityWatcher knew that the VeriChip had been hacked," said McIntyre, author of a chapter titled "Hacking the Prox Card" for Simson Garfinkel's recent "RFID: Applications, Security, and Privacy."

"They were also surprised to hear of VeriChip's downsides as a medical device," he added. "It was clear they weren't aware of some of the controversy surrounding the implant."

Albrecht says that while CityWatcher.com does not require employees to receive the chip to keep their jobs, the company is establishing an unsettling precedent.

"It's wrong to link a person's paycheck with getting an implant," she said. "Once people begin 'voluntarily' getting chipped to perform their job duties, it won't be long before pressure gets applied to those who refuse."

Albrecht believes the VeriChip will be hard to sell when people learn of the security flaws, combined with a general squeamishness about implants.

"Obviously, nobody wants their employer coming at them with a giant hypodermic needle," she said. "But when people realize it takes a scalpel and surgery to remove the device if it gets hacked, they'll really think twice. An implant is disgusting enough going in, but getting it out again is a bloody mess."

Employees get microchip implants (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48760)

Check out this cartoon
Posted: February 11, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Editor's note: Joseph Farah launches a new weekend column today. Yes, that's right – a sixth column every week. But this one is a little bit different from his daily weekday perspective in which he generally devotes his 750 words to a single topic. The new Saturday-Sunday commentary is a little more "free form," a little more in the stream-of-consciousness realm. As always, the founder, editor and chief executive officer of WND welcomes your feedback.

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

I was just thinking about this Islamic cartoon controversy and ran across the photo you see here accompanying this column.

It's a picture of a couple of Muslims, I presume, denouncing America and promoting Islamic radicalism at Ground Zero in Manhattan last week.

(http://www.worldnetdaily.com/images2/islamprotest1.jpg)

When I saw this photo, I studied it with grim fascination. And my first thought was: How is it possible that two out-of-the-closet Osama bin Laden fans could safely and securely initiate such a protest mere yards from the site where 3,000 Americans were incinerated Sept. 11, 2001?

That's not to say I think they should have been arrested (though I sure would like to check their immigration status). That's not to say I think they should have been accosted, beaten within in an inch of their lives and run out of town on a rail. That's not to say that if this motley pair actually holds American citizenship papers they are not entitled to their opinions. That's not to say I think they should be rounded up and tried for treason.

On the other hand, I'm not necessarily ruling any of those options out.

But here's what was going through my mind:

* What would become of a similar little protest in any Muslim country on earth? I want you to consider that, especially with an eye toward the recent cartoon skirmishes throughout the Muslim world.

* What would happen to two American guys in lower Manhattan who held up flags and signs suggesting Islam should be crushed and dominated? I have to believe that would be a more dangerous and risky demonstration than the one you see before you.

* And, lastly, why do we need these so-called "civil-rights organizations" and "anti-discrimination committees" for Muslims when, as anyone can see, even the most inciteful behavior goes unchallenged in America – even at Ground Zero?

Amazing! What a country.

And here are some contributions from the mailbag. I don't always get a chance to respond to the mail I get – most of it very pleasant and encouraging. The first three are from the other end of the spectrum – with my responses:

This from Sandra Campbell: "I am a Christian as well as a feminist and just finised reading part of the articles on your site. I have one comment. Is your brain cell dying of loneliness?? BARF!!!!!"

My response: "You just 'finised' (sic) reading 'part of the articles'? And you're asking about our brain cells?"

This from Jim: "I would like to write to you in detail, but why should I waste my time writing to the wall or some corpse buried in some distant cementary (sic), knowing well that neither would ever write back. Get my point?"

My response: "Good point, Jim. I wouldn't waste my time writing any more."

This from Harry Gifford: "Just wanted to tell you … I had to take issue with the obvious dichotomy in your slogan – 'a free press for a free people.' You sound pretty right-wing, one-sided, monolithic and repressed to me, and you sip your religion and politics out of the same cup?!?! The God of the Bible doesn't care abhout (sic) whether you're Dem or Republicrat, as if the way you voted was a ticket to heaven or hell. God is not in our politics at all. I think He looks down and laughs at the multi-purposed and agendaed circus with all its speciously attractive lights and sideshows within the tents, brightly colored and signed 'polarized religion and politics under one roof.'

"I know it is impossible to be a Christian and not believe the packaged deal that women are subordinate to men, gays must be hated and the religious right weirdos like Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Swaggart, Roberts, Dobson and The Women who Are Too Concerned About Things That Are None Of Their Business, have all the answers (i.e., they think they're the only ones that have the 'right' ones). Think for yourself and don't sell a package ... present the truth ... that's news!"

My response: "Freedom is unknowable apart from God."

Check out this cartoon (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48777)

France secretly upgrades capacity of nuclear arsenal

· Modification increases range of missiles
· Altitude bomb to knock out electronic systems

Kim Willsher in Paris
Friday February 10, 2006
The Guardian

France has secretly modified its nuclear arsenal to increase the strike range and accuracy of its weapons. The move comes weeks after President Jacques Chirac warned that states which threatened the country could face the "ultimate warning" of a nuclear retaliation.

A military source quoted yesterday by the Libération newspaper claimed France had tinkered with its nuclear weapons to improve their strike capability and make this threat more credible.

The source said there had been two major changes: the bombs can now be fired at high altitude to create an "electromagnetic impulsion" to destroy the enemy's computer and communications systems; and the number of nuclear warheads has been reduced to increase the missiles' range and precision.

Article continues
During his surprise speech, which was made in January, President Chirac said: "The number of nuclear warheads has been reduced in certain of the missiles in our submarines".

Military experts said this was not a step towards disarmament, but a move to improve the performance of the weapons. Until now each submarine carried 16 French-made M45 missiles, each fitted with six nuclear warheads. After being fired, each warhead would separate to hit a different target, in effect giving each submarine 96 nuclear bombs.

In reducing the number of warheads, down to one per missile in some cases, the weapon is lighter and has a longer range. It can also be targeted more accurately.

Libération speculates that while potential targets are "secret", it is clear they include the Middle East or Asia, and that its military contacts suggest the changes are aimed at adding "flexibility" to France's nuclear deterrent.

"These evolutions are aimed at better taking into account the psychology of the enemy," defence minister Michèle Alliot-Marie said after President Chirac's warning in January.

In a speech to MPs, she added: "A potential enemy may think that France, given its principles, might hesitate to use the entire force of its nuclear arsenal against civilian populations.

"Our country has modified its capacity for action and from now on has the possibility to target the control centres of an eventual enemy."

French government sources said the president's speech, given at a nuclear submarine base in Brittany, was not targeted specifically at Iran - despite Tehran's decision to continue its nuclear programme - or at individual terrorist organisations, but at countries that posed a direct threat to France itself.

It is also seen as an attempt to justify the more than €3.5bn (£2.4bn) a year France spends to maintain its estimated 300-350 nuclear weapons more than a decade after the end of the cold war.

"The ultimate warning restores the principle of dissuasion," the military source told Libération. The president is not talking about a choice between an apocalypse or nothing at all."

The paper says according to its information "ultimate warning" could take two new forms.

The most demonstrative would be to fire a relatively weak warhead into a deserted zone far from centres of power and habitation. The more radical option would be to explode a bomb at an extremely high altitude with the aim of creating a brief but enormously strong electromagnetic field which would disable or destroy all non-protected electronic systems in the area.

During the cold war France's "ultimate threat" involved firing nuclear bombs into Soviet military divisions and large cities.

France secretly upgrades capacity of nuclear arsenal (http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,1706776,00.html)

Israel, Russia clash over moves on Hamas
Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:48 AM ET165

By Adam Entous

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Friday protested a plan by Russia to have talks in Moscow with Hamas, the Islamist militant group that swept recent Palestinian elections and whose charter calls for Israel's destruction.

But Russia stood its ground and predicted other countries would follow its lead in dealing with Hamas.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav and others said Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened peacemaking prospects if he followed through on his invitation to Hamas to visit after its victory in parliamentary elections on January 25.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni warned against what she called a "slippery slope" that could lead other international powers to compromise with Hamas.

Meir Sheetrit, an Israeli cabinet minister and political ally of interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Israel should consider recalling its ambassador to Russia in protest, and accused Putin of "stabbing Israel in the back".

Putin's surprise overture to Hamas came as a blow to Israel, which wants major powers to boycott Hamas at least until it recognized the Jewish state and renounced violence.

Israel has ruled out negotiating with the group, which masterminded more than 60 suicide bombings against Israelis since 2000 but has largely adhered to a truce declared in March.

"Any weakness... will result in a negative effect -- not only for Israel, but also for the Palestinian people and for the international community," Livni said in an interview with The New York Sun.

Katsav told Israel Radio that Putin's invitation to Hamas was liable to undermine peace prospects.

Senior Israeli officials said Russia, as a member of the Quartet of major powers trying to broker Middle East peace, had a responsibility to shun Hamas.

"It's not just a slap in the face to Israel. It's a slap in the face to Western countries," said one Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because talks with Russia were going on.

The official said the government was "waiting for an explanation" from Russia's ambassador in Israel.

But Russian Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov defended Russia's offer of talks with Hamas.

"Hamas is in power, this is a fact, and secondly, it came to power as a result of free democratic elections," Ivanov told reporters at a NATO-Russia meeting in Italy.

He said Moscow was not happy with all of Hamas's policies, but predicted the West had no choice but to deal with it.

"I hazard the prediction that sooner or later certain countries, including those of the Quartet, will be favorable to contacts with Hamas," he said.

France appeared to side with Russia in the diplomatic row.

When asked about Russia's invitation to Hamas, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau said: "As long as we stay within the framework of the objectives and principles that we have fixed, we think that this initiative can contribute toward advancing our position."

"We share with Russia the goal of leading Hamas toward positions that permit reaching the objective of two states living in peace and security," Simonneau said.

At a meeting in London on January 30, Quartet representatives said the Palestinians risked losing international aid if Hamas did not renounce violence and recognize Israel. Hamas has rejected the demand.

In a bid to shore up international resolve, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz will travel to Cairo on Tuesday for talks with President Hosni Mubarak and other officials.

"The rise of Hamas is not just a local problem for Israel, but a strategic threat for all states that seek peace in the middle east," a Mofaz spokeswoman said.

Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by Washington, has suggested it could be extended further if Israel gave up land it captured in the 1967 Middle East War.

Senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh has said leaders of the group "would be delighted" to visit Russia if Putin tendered a formal invitation.
Israel, Russia clash over moves on Hamas (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-02-10T134815Z_01_L09773458_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST.xml&archived=False)

Shiites Fail to Select New Iraq PM

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Shiite politicians failed Saturday to select a new prime minister as rivalry within their alliance forced a delay in the balloting. An Iraqi army spokesman was assassinated in Basra, a southern city plagued by lawlessness and violence by Shiite militias.

Members of the Shiite alliance who won seats in parliament in the December election gathered in Baghdad to discuss their choice for prime minister but postponed a vote for at least a day at the request of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's faction.

Shiite officials who attended the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the delay was due to last-minute differences between al-Sadr's faction and another group within the alliance.

Choosing a new premier, and in turn forming a long-term government, are key steps in Iraq's sluggish political process that the United States — and many Iraqis — hope will lead to an end to the bloodshed and an improvement in the daily lives for this country's 27 million people.

But the violence underscored the worsening sectarian nature of the country's conflict and the dangers facing Iraqi security forces, which the United States hopes will be able to control the insurgency so U.S.-led forces can go home.

An Iraqi tribal leader, Sheik Osama al-Jadaan, said his followers have seized more than 1,400 "terrorists" in a three-month counterinsurgency operation that began about a month ago along the Iraq-Syria border.

"This campaign aims at restoring security on the Iraqi-Syrian borders until the formation of the government and in assisting Iraqi forces to take control on Anbar" province, al-Jadaan said.

U.S. authorities have touted efforts by some Iraqi groups to combat foreign fighters and Iraqi insurgent groups in Anbar, where the insurgency is also influenced by tribal rivalries. U.S. military officials have been recruiting scouts among al-Jadaan's tribe after a rival tribe threw its support to the insurgents.

In the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi, a U.S. Marine helicopter fired two rockets Saturday into an insurgent hide-out, killing six militants and wounding another, said Marine spokesman Capt. Jeffrey Pool.

The rocket attack followed clashes between U.S. soldiers and militants near the soccer stadium in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad. The wounded insurgent was taken to a military hospital for treatment and will be questioned.

In nearby Fallujah, gunmen in a red sedan shot dead a policeman Saturday as he was heading to work, police said.

Fallujah, a former insurgent stronghold 40 miles west of Baghdad, has become one of the tightest controlled cities in Iraq following the November 2004 U.S.-led operation to flush out militants. But deadly militant activity has resumed in recent weeks.

Iraqi army spokesman Capt. Makram al-Abbasi was killed in a hail of gunfire from a civilian car accompanied by a police vehicle Saturday in Basra, army Capt. Firas al-Tamimi said.

The British-controlled southern city also had been noted for its relative stability but has seen renewed violence, in part fueled by rival Shiite militias and local opposition to the coalition troop presence.

Al-Abbasi, a Sunni Arab, had been coordinating media coverage of raids conducted in the city, which largely target suspected Shiite militiamen that Sunnis say have infiltrated the Iraqi police force.

The most recent such operation for which al-Abbasi arranged coverage was last week when troops detained 22 people before all were mysteriously freed, al-Tamimi said.

In Baghdad's southern neighborhood of Dora, gunmen killed traffic policeman Ahmed Majeed Obaid as he left his home at midday, Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq said.

Armed men also killed police Sgt. Bassem al-Rikabi while he patrolled in the southeastern Jisr Diyala area of the capital at about 11:30 p.m. Friday, police said.

Iraqi police forces are routinely targeted by Sunni Arab insurgents bent on derailing this country's post-
Saddam Hussein reconstruction.

Members of the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance — which has first crack at the prime minister's job since it won the largest number of seats in the Dec. 15 parliamentary election — convened at the home of political boss Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim.

However, the group announced that the session would be postponed until Sunday because some of al-Sadr's followers were unable to attend.

Speculation for the top government job has fallen on Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi and the current prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Each is supported by two major factions in the Shiite alliance.

Parliament is supposed to convene within two weeks now that the certification of the results is complete, with choosing a figurehead president as the first order of business.

But an end to speculation over the new prime ministers could speed the process of forming the government, which is due to be completed by mid-May.

Meanwhile, kidnappers of American journalist Jill Carroll have given until Feb. 26 until their demands are met or they will kill their 28-year-old captive, according to the owner of a Kuwaiti private TV station that aired the latest tape showing the hostage Thursday.

Al Rai TV owner Jassem Boudai said the kidnappers contacted the station Friday with demands that were "more specific" than the release of all Iraqi female detainees, which the group laid down in the first tape released last month. Boudai refused to elaborate.

The U.S. military has released five Iraqi women from detention but said the releases were routine and not part of any swap for Carroll, who was abducted Jan. 7 in Baghdad. Five Iraqi women still remain in U.S. military custody.

"We continue to make every effort to secure her release, to see that she's back safe and sound with her family and her co-workers," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack in Washington. "We call upon her captors to release her immediately."

Shiites Fail to Select New Iraq PM (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060211/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=Ah7hDLgVdK05pDv_J7Crbh2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Denmark Pulls Envoys From Syria, Iran

By KARL RITTER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 35 minutes ago

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Denmark has temporarily withdrawn its ambassadors from Syria, Iran and Indonesia because their safety was at risk in the wake of a Danish newspaper's publication of drawings of the Prophet Muhammad, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

Denmark's embassy buildings in all three countries had been targeted by angry mobs protesting the publication of the caricatures in September. European and American newspapers subsequently reprinted the drawings.

The Foreign Ministry said it withdrew all Danish staff from its embassy in Tehran, Iran, because of "serious and concrete threats" against the ambassador.

Threats had also been directed at the embassy personnel in Indonesia, the ministry said, without giving details. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country.

The Finnish Embassy would take over Denmark's consular services in Tehran, while the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta would handle the same duties in Indonesia, the Foreign Ministry said.

Earlier Saturday, the ministry announced it had temporarily pulled back its ambassador and other Danish staff from Syria because they were not getting enough protection from authorities.

The building housing the embassy in Damascus was burned last week by protesters.

"The de-escalation of the protection of the ambassador and his staff to an inadequate level is the reason for the departure," the ministry said in a statement.

It said the German Embassy in Damascus would handle Denmark's consular services for the time being.

Sweden, whose embassy is in the same building in the Syrian capital, said it did not have any immediate plans to withdraw staff, said Jan Janonius, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm.

Denmark temporarily closed its diplomatic mission in Lebanon earlier this week after similar protests there.

The small Scandinavian country is shell-shocked by the wave of anti-Danish protests, some of them violent, that have spread like wildfire across the Muslim world. Danish paper Jyllands-Posten, which first published the cartoons, apologized for offending Muslims but stood by its decision to print the drawings, citing the freedom of speech.

Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.

Many Danes suspect a group of Danish Islamic leaders helped stir rage in the Muslim world with visits to the Mideast and inflammatory comments to Arabic media.

The Muslim leaders deny responsibility for fueling the flames and repeatedly have denounced the violence.

Denmark Pulls Envoys From Syria, Iran (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060211/ap_on_re_eu/denmark_prophet_drawings;_ylt=AlnNSSekd0k2sIVtbnoUr_Ss0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Iran Rejects Call to Freeze Nuke Program

NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer Sat Feb 11, 6:07 AM ET

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's president on Saturday rejected U.S. and European pressure to freeze the country's nuclear program and hinted that Iran may withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The remarks came in a speech to tens of thousands of Iranians massed in Tehran's Azadi Square to mark the 27th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that brought a Muslim theocracy to power.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also said that the true Holocaust was happening now in the Palestinian territories and
Iraq. The Iranian leader has caused worldwide outrage by questioning the Jewish genocide and arguing Israel should be "wiped off the map."

Ahmadinejad appeared in part to be responding to a call on Thursday by U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan for Iran to restore a freeze on its nuclear activities and pursue talks to shift its uranium enrichment program to Russia.

"The nuclear policy of the Islamic Republic so far has been peaceful. Until now, we have worked inside the agency (
International Atomic Energy Agency) and the NPT (Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty) regulations.

"If we see you want to violate the right of the Iranian people by using those regulations (against us), you should know that the Iranian people will revise its policies," he said.

He did not specify what changes Tehran envisioned, but it was believed to be a threat to withdraw from the NPT and the IAEA.

"The West is hiding its ugly face behind international bodies, but these bodies have no reputation among nations. You have destroyed the reputation of the NPT," the Iranian president said.

Ahmadinejad has not relented in attacking Israel and recently a Tehran newspaper announced it was holding a contest for caricatures of the Holocaust.

"If you want to find the real Holocaust, you will find it in Palestine where Zionists kill Palestinians everyday. You will find it in Iraq," he said.

He also charged that "Zionists" were behind the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that have set off global demonstrations by angry Muslims and attacks on Western embassies.

"Now in the West insulting the prophet is allowed, but questioning the Holocaust is considered a crime," he said. "We ask, why do you insult the prophet? The response is that it is a matter of freedom, while in fact they (who insult the founder of Islam) are hostages of the Zionists. And the people of the U.S. and Europe should pay a heavy price for becoming hostages to Zionists," he declared.

While Iran's nuclear program has been formally reported to the U.N. Security Council, Annan urged Iran to continue negotiations with Britain, France and Germany, which are trying to resolve the nuclear dispute.

"And I hope Iran will continue to freeze its activities, the way they are now, to allow talks to go forward, to allow them to pursue the Russian offer, and to allow negotiations with the European three and the Russians to come back to the table," Annan said.

The three European nations have led months of futile talks on behalf of the 25-nation European Union amid suspicions that Iran's civilian nuclear program is aimed at producing nuclear weapons — not electricity as Tehran insists.

Tensions escalated last month after Iran removed U.N. seals and began nuclear research, including small-scale uranium enrichment.

On Feb. 11, the International Atomic Energy Agency's board voted to send Iran's nuclear file to the Security Council, saying it lacked confidence in Tehran's nuclear intentions and accusing Iran of violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Iran responded by ending voluntary cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency and announcing it would start uranium enrichment and bar surprise inspections of its facilities.

But the Islamic republic left the door open for further negotiations over its nuclear program, saying it was willing to discuss Moscow's proposal to shift large-scale enrichment operations to Russian territory in an effort to allay suspicions.

High-level talks on the proposal begin in Moscow on Feb. 16, but Russia says it still awaits word from Tehran. The proposal is backed by the United States and the European Union as a way to provide additional oversight of Iran's use of atomic fuel.

After years of opposition, Russia and China backed sending the Iran nuclear file to the Security Council. But in return, Moscow and Beijing demanded that the United States, France and Britain agree to let the Iran issue rest until March when the IAEA board meets to review the agency's investigation of Iran's nuclear program and compliance with board demands that it renounce uranium enrichment.

Annan said the IAEA report was expected at the end of the month.

Iran Rejects Call to Freeze Nuke Program (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060211/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear;_ylt=Al4f5YzrnVSfbRN69XG205.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Iran plant 'has restarted its nuclear bomb-making equipment'
By Con Coughlin, Defence and Security Editor, in Washington
(Filed: 11/02/2006)

Iran's controversial Natanz uranium processing plant has successfully restarted the sophisticated equipment that could enable it to produce material for nuclear warheads, according to reports received by Western intelligence.

In the past few days Iranian nuclear scientists have reportedly restarted four of the centrifuges required to produce weapons-grade uranium, and have begun feeding them with uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas, a key component in the production of nuclear bombs.

This crucial development follows Iran's decision to withdraw its co-operation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna after the body decided last week to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council.

Iranian officials have moved quickly to obstruct the work of the UN nuclear inspectors still working in the country's nuclear facilities.

Intelligence officials say restrictions have been imposed on the inspectors' movements between the various facilities at Natanz.

They have been specifically excluded from those areas where the Iranians have announced they would resume uranium enrichment, and have ordered the UN inspectors to report to officials running the plant on a daily basis. Security cameras installed by IAEA officials to monitor key facilities have been disabled.

Having effectively excluded the UN inspection teams from the most sensitive sites, Iranian nuclear scientists have removed the seals from the P-2 centrifuges that Iran acquired from Pakistan through the secret nuclear network operated by Dr A Q Khan, the "father" of Pakistan's nuclear bomb.

They have also begun installing tanks in underground bunkers that are designed for industrial enrichment.

In previous submissions to the UN inspectors, the Iranians insisted they had acquired the P-2 centrifuges merely for research purposes, They have continued to insist that their nuclear programme is solely aimed at developing alternative energy sources.

However, a senior Western intelligence official said: "Iran's recent activity is a clear escalation of its attempts to enrich uranium to weapons grade. With the UN inspectors out of the way they are basically free to do as they please."

Iran plant 'has restarted its nuclear bomb-making equipment' (http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/11/wiran11.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/02/11/ixportal.html)

Europe Forsakes Christianity for Islam?
By Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. Reporter

CBN.com – Welcome to post-Christian Europe, a land filled with beautiful monuments to an ancient religion that few Europeans practice anymore or know much about.

While Christianity is still very relevant in the United States, and is exploding in the developing world, Europe today has sunk below unbelief, and is now labeled "Christophobic" and "anti-religious."

While an American might look at a church building and think nice thoughts, that's rarely the case with a European, especially here in France, where religion is more likely to be associated with oppression, irrelevance, or simply the past.

In France, as in much of Europe, only five percent go to church on a weekly basis, and most of them are the elderly. Only 10 percent think religion is "very important." For all Europeans, that figure is only 21 percent.

“As an American in Europe, when you tell Europeans that you go to church on Sunday, they look at you like a museum piece--something strange,” said journalist Richard Miniter.

Near Brussels, at Christian Center, an Assemblies of God church, Belgian Pastor Paul Devos ministers to a culture in which Christianity is largely irrelevant.

“In the United States, people would more quickly turn toward at least Christ in general and Christianity, because it's still somewhat part of the culture in general. Here in Europe we have gone beyond that point, and we do not expect anything from religion apart from some very abstract hope that there is something after this life,” Devos said.

Among the clergy in the state churches, unbelief is extraordinarily high.

Baylor Sociologist Rodney Stark said, “It's easy to have a negative religious experience going to church in Europe. The one place unbelief is rampant is in the churches.”

The study "Fragmented Faith?" found that in Britain, one out of five Anglican pastors does not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ. And only 60 percent believe in the virgin birth--that's a lower level of belief than among churchgoers.

“It's the churches they don't go to. And one of the reasons is [that] they don't go is the people running them don't care if they don't go,” Stark explained.

There have been reports recently that although church attendance in Europe is low, belief in God is actually very high, but belief in what sort of God? Judging from surveys, it's a new age faith with a large dose of moral relativism.

Vince Esterman, a Frenchman who grew up in Australia, has been a French pastor for almost 20 years, and has a dynamic street ministry in Paris. Although he has led a lot of Frenchmen to Christ, he doesn't talk much about revival. He speaks of a Europe that is still moving away from God.

“Europe that was the custodian of the gospel in the very early decades now is the continent that is rejecting the gospel and Christianity,” Esterman said. “And so we have seen France go into decline and with it, Europe generally.”

But instead of looking to faith for answers, the European media continue to mock America's high church attendance as weird. The British Economist Magazine wrote, "To Europeans, religion is the strangest and most disturbing feature about (America).”

Esterman said, “This last week in prime time television on one of the French national stations they had a program on God in America. And again it was Pentecostal Christians in the states, and they were ridiculed and treated as a simple minded naive people. But absolutely nothing can be said against Muslims of course because there's always retaliation.”

Stark wrote in the Victory of Reason that Europe owes everything--its culture, its freedom, its science, and its wealth--to Christianity. But European leaders today are defiant in their efforts to keep God and Christian faith out of public life.

A sociologist at the Sorbonne in Paris summed it up this way: "We are not going to sacrifice women's equality, democracy, and individual freedoms on the altar of a new religion,” said Patrick Weil, University of Paris-Sorbonne, Christian Science Monitor.

But some would say Europe has a new religion. Italy's Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione, a devout Catholic, calls it "a nihilistic fundamentalism against truth." Stark calls it hedonism, and says it is why Europe is dying. No Western European country is having enough babies to replace its current population.

“The loss of faith in Europe is like an unseen black star that still has a tremendous gravitational pull,” Miniter said. “They don't understand why their culture is failing. They don't understand why divorce rates and suicide rates are so high. They don't understand why so few European women have more than one child, and why on most European streets, you see more dogs than children. This is the impact of the death of real Christian belief in Europe.”

One writer described Europe today as a majority of Christian atheists and a minority of Muslim fanatics--an exaggeration. But there is a spiritual void on the continent that Islam waits to fill. It was this void in the life of a Belgian woman, a former drug addict named Muriel DeGauque that caused her to convert to Islam, go to Iraq, and blow herself up trying to kill U.S. troops.

“I have been an eyewitness to France becoming increasingly Islamicized. There is no longer an ability to morally resist a strong culture like Islam coming into the country,” Esterman said.

Stark said, “Europe is going to get more religious than it is either because of a revival of Christianity or because they go Muslim…you can't sit there with no babies for ever.”

And because belief impacts everything from culture, to economics, to the war on terror, religious America and anti-religious Europe are likely to drift farther apart unless Europe returns to God.

Europe Forsakes Christianity for Islam? (http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/archived-060201/060206a.asp)

Pentagon plans
blitz on Tehran
Submarine-launched ballistic missiles, bombing raids
– 'more than just the standard military contingency'
Posted: February 12, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Planners with the Pentagon's Central Command and Strategic Command are working closely with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to develop working plans for a devastating strike on Iran's nuclear facilities in order to block its efforts to produce nuclear weapons, reports the London Telegraph.

The increasing number of threats against Israel and the West by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the growing disclosures about Iran's nuclear program have forced the administration to assess all military options.

As reported by WorldNetDaily, Ahmadinejad told a large crowd in Tehran yesterday that Israel would be "removed" by the Palestinians and "other nations," and dismissed the West as "hostages of the Zionists."

"The people of the U.S. and Europe should pay a heavy price for becoming hostages to Zionists," Ahmadinejad declared. "We ask the West to remove what they created sixty years ago and if they do not listen to our recommendations, then the Palestinian nation and other nations will eventually do this for them. Do the removal of Israel before it is too late and save yourself from the fury of regional nations."

Ahmadinejad also threatened to abandon previous commitments to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty if harsh measures were taken against Iran for its nuclear program.

Iran has restarted its uranium enrichment program and removed International Atomic Energy Agency surveillance cameras from its nuclear research sites following last week's U.N. vote to submit the matter to the Security Council.

The most likely military strategy, it is believed, will depend on heavy bombing by B2 bombers flying from bases in Missouri and refueling in mid-air. Each plane is capable of carrying 40,000 pounds of precision weapons, including bunker-busting bombs. Air strikes would be supported by ballistic missiles carrying conventional warheads fired from Trident nuclear submarines if an attack is delayed for two years. That is the length of time required to convert the highly accurate missiles from their current nuclear configuration to conventional explosives.

In December, the German press reported suspected U.S. diplomatic efforts to prepare its allies in the region for a first strike on Iran. A series of high level contacts, including CIA Director Porter Goss, the head of the FBI, NATO General Secretary Jaap De Hoop Scheffer and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made stops in the Turkish capital. Other Mideast leaders were visited as well.

But now, the London Telegraph is reporting the development of operational plans if a diplomatic offensive fails to convince Iran to bring its program to a halt.

"This is more than just the standard military contingency assessment," said a top Pentagon adviser. "This has taken on much greater urgency in recent months."

Leader of cartoon rally warns of 'fire throughout the world'
By Ben Leapman, Nina Goswami and Charlotte McDonald-Gibson
(Filed: 12/02/2006)

A Muslim leader behind a mass rally in London yesterday gave a warning of "fire throughout the world" if the West continues to publish cartoons of Mohammed.

At the protest in Trafalgar Square, attended by 5,000 Muslims, there were no arrests and none of the inflammatory placards or costumes seen at last weekend's demonstrations.
Protest in Trafalgar Square
The London protest was attended by 5,000 Muslims

However, a row erupted over comments by Dr Azam Tamimi, a senior figure in the Muslim Association of Britain, which staged the event. He told Sky News: "The publication of these cartoons will cause the world to tremble. Fire will be throughout the world if they don't stop."

Last night Louise Ellman, the Labour MP and vice-chairman of Labour Friends of Israel, said: "It is inciting confrontation when he should be calming the situation." A Muslim Labour MP at the protest distanced himself from Dr Tamimi's comments. Sadiq Khan, the MP for Tooting, said: "Speakers can get carried away, but they are just flowery words. I don't take them on board and others shouldn't."

Organisers of the rally said it was intended to show that moderate Muslims believed in peaceful protest. Coaches brought protesters from Bradford, Oldham, Luton, Leicester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow and imams had appealed for the avoidance of behaviour that would "shame Islam".

Thousands of official placards bore the slogans "United against Incitement", "United against Islamaphobia" and "Mohammed - Symbol of Freedom and Honour".

More than 700 police and stewards were on hand to stop the rally being hijacked.

Police, criticised last week for standing by while protesters displayed slogans such as "Massacre those who insult Islam", ordered demonstrators to remove Socialist Worker stickers saying "Blair must go".

The rally was endorsed by the Muslim Council of Britain and speakers included the Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather and Labour's Jeremy Corbyn. But while most speakers received noisy applause, there was an eerie quiet - and some booing - when George Galloway, the Respect MP, addressed the crowd.

Habibur Rahman, the president of the Islamic Forum Europe, told extremists: "When you burn the Union Jack what are you burning but the flag of your home?"

Leader of cartoon rally warns of 'fire throughout the world' (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/12/ncart12.xml)

Israel Seeks Explanation as Putin Invites Hamas Leaders to Moscow

Created: 10.02.2006 14:01 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 21:06 MSK

MosNews

Click Here!

Israel criticized Russia’s plan to invite Hamas leaders to Moscow, saying on Friday it undercut international pressure on the militant group to recognize the Jewish state and to renounce violence after its election victory, the Reuters news agency reported.

Israel’s foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, warned in an interview with The New York Sun against what she called a “slippery slope” that could lead some international powers to compromise with Hamas.

Speaking on Israel Radio, Israeli cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “stabbing Israel in the back” for saying on Thursday that he planned to invite leaders of Hamas to visit.

Israeli officials said Russia’s move could weaken the resolve of other countries regarding contact with Hamas, which won January 25 Palestinian parliamentary elections. “Any weakness ... will result in a negative effect — not only for Israel, but also for the Palestinian people and for the international community,” Livni said in the newspaper interview.

Senior Israeli officials said that Israel was seeking a full explanation from Russia’s ambassador and from other top Russian officials. “It’s not just a slap in the face to Israel. It’s a slap in the face to Western countries,” said one Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because talks with Russia were ongoing. “We are waiting for an explanation.”

U.S. President Bush’s administration has also asked Moscow to explain Putin’s statement. Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by Washington, won a crushing victory over the long-dominant Fatah group in an election on January 25.

Israel has said governments should not speak to Hamas unless it recognized the Jewish state and renounced violence. It has ruled out negotiating with the group, which has masterminded more than 60 suicide bombings against Israelis since 2000.

Senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh said that leaders of the group, whose charter calls for Israel’s destruction, “would be delighted” to visit Russia if Putin tendered a formal invitation.

At a meeting in London on January 30, Quartet representatives said the Palestinians risked losing international aid if Hamas did not renounce violence and recognize Israel. Hamas has rejected the demand.

Hamas has largely adhered to a truce militant factions declared in March and has suggested it could be extended further if Israel gave up land it captured in the 1967 Middle East War.

Israel Seeks Explanation as Putin Invites Hamas Leaders to Moscow (http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/02/10/israelonhamas.shtml)

Hamas Expects No Conditions on Talks in Russia

Created: 12.02.2006 13:08 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 13:47 MSK, 9 hours 33 minutes ago

MosNews

Hamas leaders said they don’t expect Russia to impose conditions for their trip to Moscow this month for talks, while Israel’s foreign minister cautioned the international community on Sunday against going down the “slippery slope” of legitimizing the violent Islamic group, The Associated Press reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin extended the invitation to Hamas last week, following its sweeping victory in Palestinian elections last month. The invitation, later supported by France, infuriated Israel, which fears the international resolve to shun the militant group is weakening.

The militant group, which remains committed to Israel’s destruction and has been branded a terrorist organization in the U.S. and Europe, is to form a new Palestinian government in the coming weeks.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said Russia and Hamas would engage in a dialogue during the militant group’s visit. “We are going to present our positions ... about the political developments and issues related to the rights of our people,” Abu Zuhri said on Saturday. “Russia will listen to Hamas and Hamas will listen to Russia.”

Although an official date for the visit hasn’t been set, Abu Zuhri said he expects it to take place in the second half of February.

Putin’s position runs counter to the stand recently taken by the so-called Quartet of Mideast peace negotiators, comprising Russia, the U.S., the European Union and the U.N. The Quartet, which backs the “road map” peace plan, has called on Hamas to renounce violence and recognize Israel, and has threatened to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in desperately aided need to the Palestinian Authority once Hamas takes power.

On Sunday, Livni urged the international community to stand firm against Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings.

“The Russian position is currently not accepted in the international community,” Livni told Israel Radio. “Part of the danger is going down the slippery slope of first talking, then starting to understand why, then supporting with money, then granting legitimacy. This is a phenomenon that needs to be acted against.”

With Hamas issuing mixed messages about the future of its military activities, Livni cautioned the world against accepting vague Hamas statements. “There is no negotiation here with Hamas about what it will and will not agree to,” she said. “The conditions here are very clear, the situation is black and white.”

Hamas, while adhering to its violent ideology, has voiced willingness to agree to a long-term truce if Israel would reciprocate. Hamas has largely honored a year-old cease-fire.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has invited his Israeli counterpart, Shaul Mofaz, to visit Russia to make Israel’s views known, but Mofaz hasn’t decided whether to accept the invitation, the Israeli Defense Ministry said Sunday. The two men met on Saturday on the sidelines of a NATO meeting.

Hamas Expects No Conditions on Talks in Russia (http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/02/12/ivanovisr.shtml)

Some Personal Web Pages Give Dark Glimpses

By ANDREW RYAN, Associated Press Writer 57 minutes ago

BOSTON - It's like countless Internet photo albums: An adorable baby girl aglow at Christmas, at her baptism, in a skunk costume for Halloween — joined in some frames by one or both of her smiling parents.

Those pictures of Lillian Rose Entwistle, now heart-wrenching, have a far broader audience than the friends and family for whom they were intended, after she and her mother were slain and her father charged with killing them. The warm images helped catapult the Hopkinton murder from cable news onto the cover of People magazine and newspapers in Neil Entwistle's native Britain.

As Web diaries and personal home pages proliferate, the likelihood that the victim or suspect of a high-profile crime had a life online is increasing. The blogs and photos normally lost in the clutter of the Internet can speak for the dead and hint at the motivation of killers when violence thrusts ordinary people into the spotlight.

"People share their intimate thoughts, writing and rambling," said Lisa Bloom, an anchor for Court TV, who has covered several homicides in which personal home pages shed light on the cases. "You are really looking inside their heads."

Jacob Robida, who was being sought in a hatchet-and-gun attack at a New Bedford gay bar when he killed a police officer, a companion and himself in Arkansas, left behind a Web site decorated with swastikas, bloodied axes and obscenities. "I'm interested in death, destruction, chaos, filth and greed," the 18-year-old wrote.

Myspace.com, the forum where Robida created his site, has more than 53 million users, with 220,000 new members logging in every day. Overall, the online Blog Herald estimates there are about 200 million blogs or Internet diaries.

"Back in the old days one of the first things we looked for in some cases was a diary," said Andy Spruill, a police officer in Orange County, Calif., who works at Guidance Software, a cyber forensics firm. "Now that diary just happens to be online and everybody can see it."

Last year in Vienna, Va., the online musings of a missing 17-year-old college freshman captivated a region for weeks. Taylor Behl's online poems and photographs paint a picture of a naive young woman excited to venture into the world.

"I just graduated from high school," Behl typed one day on her blog. "and ... I love to meet new people."

Prosecutors allege that Ben Fawley, 38, an amateur photographer, killed Behl in September after talking with her online. Investigators found Fawley with the help of his own online postings, including photos of an abandoned shack where Behl's remains were found. His trial is scheduled for May.

In Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, authorities have said they will review Joseph Duncan's blog, called "The Fifth Nail," for possible evidence in the convicted child molester's upcoming murder trial.

On May 11, 2005, Duncan wrote: "I am scared, alone and confused, and my reaction is to strike out toward the perceived source of my misery, society."

Five days later police found the bludgeoned bodies of Mark McKenzie, his girlfriend, Brenda Groene, and her 13-year-old son, Slade. Investigators would later discover the remains of 9-year-old Dylan Groene.

In Craig, a remote island in Alaska, a jury is currently deliberating the fate of teenager Rachelle Waterman. Prosecutors say she conspired with two men to murder her mother, Lauri Waterman in November 2004.

At age 15, Waterman began a blog she called, "My Crappy Life." She rambled about fights with her parents, and railed against coerced trips to church on Sunday. At the same time, the blog is laced with happy moments, baking Christmas cookies with her mother and academic triumphs.

"I think the Internet allows more insight into the people's lives," said Roxanna Z. Sherwood, a producer at ABC's "Nightline." "It helps us in the media learn about the victims quickly, but at the same time we have to do our independent reporting and sort out fact from fiction."

Police have the same problem.

"People lie a lot," said Hollywood, Fla., police Capt. Tony Rode. "They like to embellish how much money they make, or how tall they are. They touch up photos or take a picture from five years ago and say, 'That's me.'"

Another consequence can be saturation media coverage. The Web pages, blogs and photos become fodder for reporters, especially when investigators are sharing few details about a case.

"It's oxygen for what should be a one- or two-day story," said Tobe Berkovitz, an associate dean at Boston University's communications college.

"You go from just an ordinary person in the suburbs to B-roll on the cable news night after night," Berkovitz said. "What it does is it takes a regional crime story and turns it national frenzy."

Some Personal Web Pages Give Dark Glimpses (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060212/ap_on_hi_te/evidence_online;_ylt=AiEyllXdBB6ezQ3FWupeNP6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3cjE0b2MwBHNlYwM3Mzg-)

Iran Rejects Charge of Inflaming Violence

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer 57 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran on Sunday rejected U.S. and Danish accusations that the government had inflamed and encouraged last week's violent protests against Western embassies in Tehran over caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad and demanded an apology.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi singled out comments by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and said Denmark should apologize to help calm the furor that has erupted over the images that first appeared in a Danish newspaper four months ago.

"What happened was a natural reaction. Rice and Danish officials should apologize. Such comments could worsen the situation and an apology could alleviate the tension," Asefi said.

While many of the protests over the caricatures deemed offensive to Islam have been peaceful, Danish and other European diplomatic missions were attacked by demonstrators last week in Syria, Lebanon and Iran. Nearly a dozen people also were killed in protests in Afghanistan.

Rice said Wednesday that "Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes. And the world ought to call them on it."

When asked to offer evidence on ABC's "This Week," the Secretary of State pointed to the fact that little happens in the two countries without government permission.

"I can say that the Syrians tightly control their society and the Iranians even more tightly. It is well known that Iran and Syria bring protesters into the streets when they wish, to make a point," she said Sunday.

The drawings — including one that depicts the prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb — have been reprinted in several publications in Europe, the United States and elsewhere in what publishers say is a show of solidarity for freedom of expression.

Protests continued Sunday. Ultra-nationalist Turks, chanting "vengeance," pelted the French consulate in Istanbul with eggs as about 2,500 pro-Islamic demonstrators shouted "Down with America, Israel and Denmark."

Graffiti insulting the Prophet Muhammad — including offensive slogans equating Islam's founder with a pig, an animal Muslims regard to be unclean — also was found scrawled on a West Bank mosque, touching off a protest in which three Palestinians were shot by Israeli soldiers and an Israeli woman was slightly injured by stones thrown at her car.

Israeli soldiers erased the slogans, but hundreds of villagers in the area gathered to protest the graffiti, which they blamed on Jewish settlers.

The Iranian foreign minister told reporters Sunday that Denmark could have resolved the problem had it apologized immediately for the caricatures. He also repeated claims by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the drawings were part of an Israeli conspiracy.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen repeatedly has said he cannot apologize for the actions of a free press.

"Neither the government, nor the Danish people can be held responsible for what is published in a free and independent newspaper," he said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition."

He also said he agreed with Rice.

"I think she has a point. It's obvious to me that certain countries take advantage of this situation to distract attention from their own problems with the international community, including Syria and Iran," he said.

Denmark has withdrawn embassy staff from Iran, Syria and Indonesia. It also warned Danes to leave Indonesia, saying they faced a "significant and imminent danger" from an extremist group.

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Sunday that the decision was "too hasty" as protests in the world's most populous Muslim nation had been "orderly enough" and police had boosted security at Denmark's diplomatic facilities.

Protests over the cartoons have been relatively small across Indonesia, although hard-liners last week briefly stormed the lobby of the high-rise building housing the Danish Embassy in Jakarta and threw stones at the Scandinavian country's consulate in Surabaya city.

Protesters took to the streets again Sunday, with about 1,000 Muslims staging a noisy but peaceful demonstration in the West Java town of Sumedang, according to the el-Shinta radio station. Around 500 turned out in Jakarta.

Also Sunday, a poll published in Jyllands-Posten, the paper that first published the prophet drawings in September, showed that the anti-immigration Danish People's Party is gaining support as outrage sweeps the Muslim world over the cartoons.

The party received 17.8 percent support in the Feb. 6-8 survey by pollster Ramboll Management, up 3.6 points from a similar survey a month earlier. The margin of error was not available, but pollsters said they questioned 1,058 people for the survey.

The Danish People's Party leader Pia Kjaersgaard has accused a group of Danish Islamic leaders of inciting the outrage in Muslim countries by spreading anti-Danish propaganda. She called them "the enemy within" in her most recent weekly newsletter.

In other developments:

• Algerian editors Kamel Bousaad and Berkane Bouderbala have been taken into police custody for publishing the caricatures of the prophet, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Sunday.

• The Indian government expressed its "deep concern" about the growing controversy in an official statement late Saturday, urging greater sensitivity to the beliefs of others.

Iran Rejects Charge of Inflaming Violence (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060212/ap_on_re_mi_ea/prophet_drawings;_ylt=Ai0laPq9ABeeLBX_EFs76pCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Compromise between Darwin and God
In effort to challenge the belief by some that God, Darwin’s theories don’t jibe, clergy group calls for coexistence

BY CAROL EISENBERG
STAFF WRITER

February 11, 2006, 9:31 PM EST

The Rev. Richard E. Edwards will not mince words in his sermon today about God and Charles Darwin, the 19th century naturalist whose theory of evolution rocked the world.

"I want to reaffirm the compatibility of Biblical tradition and modern science," said Edwards, pastor of Stony Brook Community Church, a small, Methodist congregation that draws members from the nearby university and medical center. "This is a community where science counts, and where folks really need to hear that."

At a time when conservative Christians are mounting aggressive challenges to the teaching of evolution in public schools, Edwards is one of about 400 pastors nationwide, mostly from mainline Protestant churches, who are participating in "Evolution Sunday" to promote the idea that Christianity and .science may coexist peacefully.

Today, on Darwin's birthday, some will draw upon the Book of Job to validate the innate human thirst for understanding. Others will lead discussions about how to reconcile a divine Creator with the notion that life evolved through a random process of .natural selection.

"I believe that instead of suppressing or falsifying science, we people of faith need to go back to the theological drawing board in order to rethink our existing theology in the light of new data -- just as Martin Luther and John Calvin did nearly five centuries ago," said the Rev. Byron E. Shafer of Rutgers Presbyterian Church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Evolution Sunday is part of a broader campaign begun a year ago called the Clergy Letter Project. Through e-mail and word-of-mouth, 10,266 clergy have now signed an online letter backing evolution as "a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests."

The project is the brainchild of Michael Zimmerman, a biologist rather than a clergyman, who said he was fed up with Christian preachers who told people that they had to choose between evolution and God -- "and that if you choose evolution, you're going to hell, and if you choose our version of .religion, you'll be saved."

"One of the goals of the Clergy Letter Project," Zimmerman said, "is to demonstrate that the choice that people are trying to foist on them is a false dichotomy. The fact that thousands of clergy are standing up and saying, 'We are comfortable in our beliefs, in our faith and in our God, and we are comfortable with modern science,' is a very forceful statement."

Zimmerman, a Wisconsin college administrator, declined to elaborate on his own religious beliefs beyond saying he does not attend church.

Many of the clergy participating in Evolution Sunday say they have no doubt that God is behind the process of natural selection -- but unlike backers of intelligent design, they describe those beliefs as religious, rather than scientific, and therefore, appropriate for Sunday school rather than science class.

A few acknowledge they are struggling themselves with how to reconcile Darwin's concepts with a .Christian world view.

The notion that life evolved through a random and often brutal process does not square easily, Shafer said, with Christian notions of creation -- or, for that matter, a benevolent God.

"People want to believe that we humans are special in the sight of God, and that we are a distinct and separate creation," he said. "So obviously those who are challenging that concept have a lot of .explaining to do."

Others are more sanguine about reconciling the world views -- if only to enhance their appreciation of the .complexity of God's creation.

"Does the theory of natural selection raise questions for us?" asked the Rev. Catherine Schuyler, Protestant chaplain at Stony Brook University and pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Selden, who is .married to Edwards.

"Yes, of course. But I don't think questions are such a scary thing. Questions are how we go deeper into our understanding, and therefore, deeper into our own faith."

Compromise between Darwin and God (http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lidarw0212,0,7289620.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines)

Annan prepares for privatisation of UN

By Joe Lauria in New York and Fraser Nelson
12 February 2006

Pressure from US forces Secretary General to put reforms in place

Annan prepares for privatisation of UN

THE United Nations has drawn up plans to privatise the bulk of its staff at its New York headquarters or have their work done more cheaply overseas. The move is in response to mounting demands for reform from the United States, its biggest paymaster.

The Business has learned that Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, has commissioned a study into the outsourcing of the department for General Assembly and Conference Management, the main UN decision-making body whose officials issue about 200 documents a day in six languages.

The move comes as the UN grapples with the oil-for-food scandal in which officials have been accused of taking bribes from Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Annan will report by the end of February on management reforms to the General Assembly. According to an internal UN document previewing Annan’s report obtained by The Business, he will include “proposals to outsource or off-shore select administrative processes” – suggesting its New York headquarters may shed staff.

Annan is reviewing the study conducted for the UN by US consulting firms Epstein & Fass Associates and Faulkner & Associates. Their preliminary study, which The Business has seen, makes no firm recommendations. But it examines three privatisation possibilities, from the most conservative to the most radical:

* Maintain the status quo of in-house operations, but save money and create efficiency through greater use of technology and eliminating more than 200 jobs through attrition by 2009;

* Retain a core of in-house functions while outsourcing some operations, along the lines of a similar exercise by the World Bank and IMF;

* Spin off the General Assembly department entirely as a for-profit, private company or an independent unit with some control by the secretariat.

The study gives frank assessments of the risks with privatisation, especially guarding privileged information and interrupting projects if new contractors are hired. It concedes privatisation may not save money. “Outsourcing does not guarantee reduced cost”, which “depends on market factors, and also… on how outsourcing is managed”, it says.

The Bush administration has made an overhaul of management a centrepiece of its UN reform programme. John Bolton, US ambassador to the UN, once said that if the New York headquarters lost 10 of its 38 floors, “it wouldn’t make a bit of difference”. He is leading an effort to move the UN towards the efficiency of a private company, including transforming the deputy secretary general into a chief operating officer and demanding that tasks are done by merit, not geography.

Christopher Burnham, a former Bush State Department chief financial officer, was named UN undersecretary general in charge of management last June and declared the UN needed to “refocus on those areas where we have a competitive advantage”.

Rick Grenell, spokesman for the US mission, told The Business the Bush administration had no position on outsourcing. “Our position is that the UN needs to function better,” Grenell said. “We need to look at all ways to make that better. No one is talking about cutting jobs or turning out lights. Talking about outsourcing is way ahead of the game.”

But there has been growing pressure from Washington on the UN to cut costs. The US pays 22% of the UN’s general budget. France pays 6.4%, the UK 5.5%, China 1.53% and Russia 1.2%. All five can wield a veto on war-making decisions.

Congressman Henry Hyde’s proposed UN Reform Act of 2005 would withhold 50% of US dues unless at least 32 of 39 proposed reforms are adopted – a clear indication of pressure intended to break the deadlock.

Some staff fear privatisation would cause a cultural shift at the organisation where international civil servants have been chosen through competitive exams for more than 60 years.

Annan prepares for privatisation of UN (http://www.thebusinessonline.com/Stories.aspx?Annan%20prepares%20for%20privatisation%20of%20UN&StoryID=523E5488-44AB-4751-8EEB-171844A8CC44&SectionID=F3B76EF0-7991-4389-B72E-D07EB5AA1CEE)

February 12, 2006

British imam praises London Tube bombers
A LEADING imam in the mosque where the July 7 bombers worshipped has hailed their terrorist attack on London as a “good” act in a secretly taped conversation with an undercover reporter.

Hamid Ali, spiritual leader of the mosque in West Yorkshire, said it had forced people to take notice when peaceful meetings and conferences had no impact.

He also praised the bombers as the “children” of Abdullah al-Faisal, a firebrand Muslim cleric, who was convicted of inciting murder and racial hatred in 2003.

Ali revealed that the leader of the London suicide bombers had attended sermons in Yorkshire by al-Faisal and tapes of al-Faisal’s teachings were still circulating within his mosque.

Al-Faisal, who has branded non-Muslims as “cockroaches” ripe for extermination, is serving a seven-year prison sentence but is eligible for early release next week.

Evidence of continuing extremism and terrorist sympathisers in the bombers’ community has been exposed by a six-week investigation by The Sunday Times. It contrasts with the public statements of condemnation by community leaders — including Ali — in the immediate aftermath of the July 7 attacks.

The disclosures come as a Sunday Times-YouGov poll today shows that people are gloomy about the prospects of living in peaceful coexistence with Britain’s Muslim community. Nearly two-thirds, 63%, think that tensions will rise and only 17% are optimistic about the outlook. By 10 to one, 52% to 5%, people say that recent events have made them less tolerant of other religions.

How the July 7 bombers came to be radicalised has proved to be one of the biggest mysteries surrounding their involvement. Even the intelligence services are understood to be in the dark.

In an attempt to shed light on this, an undercover reporter of Bangladeshi origin, posing as a student, lived among the Muslim community in Beeston, Leeds, where three of the bombers — Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer and Hasib Mir Hussain — had grown up.

The community had closed ranks in the aftermath of the London attacks which killed 56 people, including the bombers. Besieged by the world’s media and fearing reprisals from far-right extremists, many people had refused to talk about the bombers.

However, among those now willing to condone the bombers was Ali, spiritual leader of the Al-Madina Masjid mosque in Tunstall Road, Beeston, where the bombers had worshipped.

A week after the attack he had told newspapers that the perpetrators ought to be punished. But in a secretly taped conversation, he said: “What they [the bombers] did was good. They have warned that we are here, we Muslims. People have taken notice that we are here. They died so that people would take notice . . . big meetings and conferences make no change at all. With this, at least people’s ears have pricked up.”

Describing the bombers as the “children” of “Sheikh” al-Faisal and part of his group of followers, the imam disclosed that al-Faisal had visited the Beeston mosque at least three times to give “lectures”.

The imam described al-Faisal as a good Islamic scholar who was also “fiery”. He said Khan had many of his audio tapes: “He had lots of them. He definitely used to listen to al-Faisal tapes. I borrowed some from him.”

He recalled Khan asking al-Faisal many questions during one of these lectures. Khan, a primary school teaching assistant, is believed to have received training at terrorist camps in Pakistan after al-Faisal was jailed.

British imam praises London Tube bombers (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0%2C%2C2087-2036538%2C00.html)

Musharraf: Al-Zawahiri's Kin Killed in U.S. Attack

Saturday, February 11, 2006

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistan's president said Saturday that an American missile attack last month killed a close relative of Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader and a terror suspect sought by the United States.

It was the first time that Gen. Pervez Musharraf has provided details about the terror suspects killed in the strike. Until now, he has only said that "foreigners" had died.

"Five foreigners were killed in the U.S. attack in Bajur. One of them was a close relative of Ayman al-Zawahiri and the other man was wanted by the U.S. and had a $5 million reward on his head," Musharraf told a gathering of tribal elders at the residence of the interior minister in the northwestern city of Charsada.

Musharraf did not offer the names of the two militants killed in the Jan. 13 attack, which officials also said killed about a dozen civilians, including women and children.

But Pakistani intelligence officials have told The Associated Press that they were Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar and Abdul Rehman al-Maghribi.

Al-Maghribi was a Moroccan and relative of al-Zawahiri, possibly his son-in-law.

Umar, 52, an Egyptian, has been described by the Justice Department as an explosives expert and poisons instructor.

The strike in the remote northwestern town near the Afghan border sparked massive protests in Pakistan.

Musharraf said al-Zawahiri, Usama bin Laden's personal physician and top adviser, had been expected to be in the town, where the suspects were meeting for a dinner. But Pakistani officials have said al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian, skipped the event and instead sent his deputies.

Umar is suspected of having trained hundreds of mujahedeen, or Islamist fighters, at a terrorist camp in Afghanistan near the eastern city of Jalalabad before the hard-line Taliban regime was ousted in late 2001.

Pakistani officials have said the bodies of the five foreigners were taken away by their associates and buried at an undisclosed location. So far, authorities have not been able to find the graves, and Musharraf did not say how he knew two of their identities.

Details of the attack remain sketchy: it was reportedly carried out by unmanned Predator drones flying from Afghanistan and Pakistan has maintained it wasn't given advance word of the airstrike.

Many Pakistanis were furious because they saw the attack as a violation of the nation's sovereignty. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry lodged a protest with the United States.

Musharraf also defended his country's role in the war on terrorism.

"We are supporting the international community in the war against terrorism in our own interests," he said.

"We are not doing it just to appease Americans," he added. "We are pursuing a campaign against terrorism because it is against our own safety."

Other terror suspects believed to have died in the Jan. 13 strike are:

— Abu Obaidah al-Masri, an Al Qaeda chief, responsible for attacks on U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan, who was based in the Afghan province of Kunar.

— Khalid Habib, an Al Qaeda operations chief on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

The identity of the fifth alleged militant has not been made public.

Pakistani officials have said that the Al Qaeda men had gathered in Bajur to plan a wave of summer attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Al-Zawahiri threatened a new attack against the United States in a video released 17 days after the attacks.

Musharraf: Al-Zawahiri's Kin Killed in U.S. Attack (http://www.worthynews.com/news/foxnews-com-printer_friendly_story-0,3566,184573,00-html/)

Islamic furor exposes a rift across Europe

By Colin Nickerson, Globe Staff | February 10, 2006

BERLIN -- The outpouring of wrath toward Europe from Muslim immigrants and from people in Islamic countries suggests, analysts say, that Europe has become the ''new" United States for many Muslims: a rich and powerful entity seeking to impose its will and values on the poorer regions of the world.

In the controversy over the pen-and-ink drawings of the Prophet Mohammed, Europe is perceived to have imposed its conception of ''free expression," according to the analysts, just as it has sought to dictate the nuclear policies of Islamic Iran.

The result is that Muslims in Europe, many of whom already see themselves as second-class citizens in their new homes, and elsewhere regard Europe as antagonistic to their aspirations and interests.

''Muslims have long seen Europe as more sympathetic, more inclined to dialogue with Muslims," than the United States, said Udo Steinbach, director of the German Institute for Middle East Studies in Hamburg. ''But now, to many Muslims, Europe is little differentiated from the United States -- just another enemy of Islam."

Thus what started as a quirky debate over freedom of expression versus respect for religious taboos has become something deeper and far more dangerous for Europe, according to analysts on both sides of the divide.

The furor over the dozen cartoons depicting Mohammed, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper and have since been reprinted in scores of newspapers in Europe and beyond, has flared from the gritty Muslim districts of London to the steaming streets of Jakarta, with Islamic radicals calling for a ''European 9/11," Muslim crowds torching European diplomatic offices in the Middle East and Asia, and protesters staging assaults on Western military bases in Afghanistan.

The frenzy over the satiric images, analysts say, has given a powerful boost to radical regimes and militant movements that care little about cartoons, but which are eager to exploit grievances against the West. Iran's radical Shi'ite government, Afghanistan's Taliban fundamentalists, Syria's dictatorial regime, armed factions in the Palestinian territories, and obscure Southeast Asian ''jihadi" groups have been fastest in pouncing on the issue.

Still, say analysts, if various renegade regimes and militant outfits have been able to fan outrage over the Prophet Mohammed cartoons so successfully, that's only because white-hot embers of resentment toward Europe were already smoldering among Muslims near and far.

''For Muslims living in Europe, the cartoons are a symbol of the racism and disgrace they feel they face every day," said Olivier Roy, one of France's foremost experts on Islamic issues, in a phone interview from Paris. ''There is a new trend to see Europe as interventionist -- like the US -- not as neutralist and even-handed. This view is taking both the Islamic world and Europe in a very dangerous direction."

Specific sore points, according to Roy and other analysts, include Europe's aggressive lead in opposing Iran's nuclear ambitions; the blistering criticism that European leaders have directed at the election of the Hamas militant faction to a majority in the Palestinian legislature; the growing European role in military operations in Afghanistan, seen by some as suppressing Islamic aspirations; and the hard-line stand taken by France in opposing Syrian attempts to maintain Lebanon as a vassal state. Also raising Muslim ire at Europe: Last year's election of pro-American conservative Angela Merkel to the chancellorship of Germany; France's assertion that it has a right to employ nuclear weapons against rogue regimes (presumably in the Middle East); and thunderous condemnation by European leaders and editorialists of vitriolic anti-Israel comments by Iran's president.
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''The cartoons are merely the final drop that caused the cup to overflow," said Ahmed Abu-Laban, imam of Copenhagen's Scandinavian Waqfs Mosque. ''Again and again we have watched the West show disrespect for our faith. Again and again we've listened to European politicians linking our faith to terrorism. Until finally it became too much.

''So now you see what happens," the Muslim cleric said in a telephone interview from Copenhagen.

It was Abu-Laban who helped turn a local brouhaha into an international crisis by bringing satiric cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to the attention of activists in the Middle East. The calls for action against the 12 drawings -- originally published in September in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which has since apologized for offending Muslims -- spawned a boycott of Danish goods that started in December. The economic protest cost the Danish economy tens of millions of dollars in lost sales of dairy goods and pharmaceuticals in the Middle East, and triggered the violent outbursts across the Muslim world.

One of the cartoons shows Mohammed wearing a sputtering bomb instead of a turban; another shows him turning suicide bombers away from heaven, declaring, ''Stop! We have run out of virgins" -- an allusion to the tradition that Muslims who die defending their faith are accorded 72 virgins when they reach paradise.

Islamic tradition prohibits physical representations of Prophet Mohammed, who founded the faith in the seventh century, for fear that faith in God will deteriorate into veneration of human images.

The original cartoons have been reprinted in scores of newspapers, mainly in Europe, usually accompanied by editorials defending freedom of expression as a higher value in secular democracies than respect for the rules of a single religion.

Emigration of Muslims from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia has made Islam the second-largest religion in Europe, after Christianity.

Experts estimate that there may be as many as 20 million Muslims in the 25 nations of the European Union, whose total population is 455 million. France, Germany, and Britain have the largest Muslim communities.

Not since the invasion of Iraq has a single circumstance brought Muslims together as much as has anger over the cartoons.

''It's a confluence of forces," Rami G. Khouri, editor-at-large of Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper, said in an interview from Beirut. ''Just at a time when Europeans are becoming more alarmed at the Muslim presence in their midst, ordinary people in the Arab-Asia world are angered that Europe seems to be adopting the same pushy, patronizing, pro-Israel positions usually associated with the US.

''The cartoons are just a fuse that ignited a combustible mixture of pressure and tensions," he said. ''Sure, Islamist troublemakers are stirring things up. Surprise, surprise. But Europeans are sending out the offensive message that their attitudes and their values count more than the attitudes and values of Muslims. More is at stake here than a few insulting, blasphemous cartoons in an obscure Danish newspaper."

Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Muslim by heritage, said that Europeans should be proud of creating democracies that permit criticism and even ridicule of religious dogma, and that freedom of expression is perhaps the single most precious of liberties.

''There is no freedom of speech in those countries where demonstrations and public outrage are being staged," she told reporters in Berlin. ''There is a right to offend within the bounds of law. It is a necessary and urgent right."

Islamic furor exposes a rift across Europe (http://www.worthynews.com/news/boston-com-news-world-europe-articles-2006-02-10-islamic_furor_exposes_a_rift_across_europe-mode-PF/)

Haitian Official Alleges Vote Manipulation

By ANDREW SELSKY, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 18 minutes ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A member of Haiti's electoral council said results of the presidential elections were being manipulated, echoing complaints by throngs of supporters of Rene Preval, who poured into the streets on Sunday with angry allegations of fraud.

With 75 percent of votes counted, Preval was falling short of winning Tuesday's elections outright by less than a percentage point.

"According to me, there's a certain level of manipulation," Pierre Richard Duchemin, an electoral council member, told The Associated Press, adding that "there is an effort to stop people from asking questions" about the counting process.

Duchemin said Sunday he needed access to tallies of vote counts in hopes of learning who was behind the alleged manipulation. He called for an investigation.

Preval's supporters converged on the electoral council headquarters. Blowing horns and pounding drums, they denounced Jacques Bernard, director-general of the nine-member council.

"Jacques Bernard is a thief. He doesn't know how to count!" they chanted. U.N. peacekeepers blocked Preval supporters from reaching the Montana Hotel, where election officials have been giving updates on the results.

"When you get thousands of people on the streets, things can get unpredictable," said U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst.

Bernard denied accusations the council voided many votes for Preval, a former president.

Suspicion has risen among many Haitians that the results were being manipulated in the five days since voters turned out in droves to elect a new government. It will replace an interim government installed after then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a bloody rebellion two years ago.

Jean-Henoc Faroul, the president of an electoral district with 400,000 voters northeast of the capital, accused the electoral commission of trying to force a runoff, saying tally sheets from Preval strongholds have vanished.

"The electoral council is trying to do what it can to diminish the percentage of Preval so it goes to a second round," Faroul told The Associated Press. Faroul said he wanted Preval to win but added that he would be protesting if any candidate was being denied votes by manipulation.

"I am not only the president of an electoral board, but I also vote," Faroul said. "And I want my vote and the votes of all the people to be respected."

Wimhurst said tally sheets with vote results have been found in the garbage, but he said the discovery was not necessarily evidence of fraud as they may have been simply mishandled by election workers. He said 136 tally sheets containing the results of possibly thousands of votes were still unaccounted for in Port-au-Prince, but added that sheets were still being delivered piecemeal from various districts.

Wimhurst also said U.N. officials had removed the doors from the tabulation center to prevent electoral council lawyers from meeting in private.

Patrick Fequiere, another electoral council member, said on local radio that Bernard was releasing results without notifying other council members, who did not know where Bernard was obtaining his information.

Preval demonstrators threatened violence if Preval is not declared the first-round winner. As demonstrators marched on the Montana Hotel, the electoral council abruptly canceled a Sunday evening news conference.

"If they take the election from Preval, it's not going to go smoothly," said Robert Antoine, a 23-year-old from the Bel-Air slum.

Duchemin accused Bernard of "megalomania," saying he had blocked other council members from getting information on the tabulation process.

"What we're talking about now is a magician that is sitting down and saying 'I am the only one doing something ... everything I'm doing is perfect,'" Duchemin said. "We're playing with the future of this country and this is something we can't afford."

Preval was leading 33 candidates with 49.1 percent of the vote, short of the 50 percent plus one vote he needs to avoid a March 19 runoff with the runner-up. Leslie Manigat, also a former president, was second with 11.7 percent of the vote.

South African Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, presiding over services at Trinity Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, urged Haitians to be patient.

"They've started well, let them finish the race well," Tutu, the retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, told the AP. "And I think they will, that they will be peaceful and that they will accept the results of the elections."

An estimated 2.2 million people cast ballots, or 63 percent of registered voters.

About 125,000 ballots — or 7.5 percent of the votes cast — have been declared invalid because of irregularities, raising suspicion among Preval supporters that polling officials are trying to steal the election. Another 4 percent of the ballots were blank but were still added into the total, making it harder Preval to obtain the 50 percent plus one vote needed.

Haitian Official Alleges Vote Manipulation (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060213/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/haiti_elections;_ylt=AkdFFdcMVnAdtN1j578.VLis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-)

Archaeologists Find Massive Tomb in Greece

By COSTAS KANTOURIS, Associated Press Writer Sun Feb 12, 7:28 PM ET

THESSALONIKI, Greece - Archaeologists have unearthed a massive tomb in the northern Greek town of Pella, capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia and birthplace of Alexander the Great.

The eight-chambered tomb dates to the Hellenistic Age between the fourth and second century B.C., and is the largest of its kind ever found in Greece. The biggest multichambered tombs until now contained three chambers.

The 678-square-foot tomb hewn out of rock was discovered by a farmer plowing his field on the eastern edge of the ancient cemetery of Pella, some 370 miles north of Athens, archaeologists said.

"This is the largest and most monumental tomb of its kind ever found in Greece," said Maria Akamati, who led the excavations.

Archaeologists believe the tomb — filled with dozens of votive clay pots and idols, copper coins and jewelry — will shed light on the culture of Macedonia in the period that followed Alexander's conquest of Asia.

Alexander's empire, which stretched from Greece to Asia, broke into separate kingdoms upon his death in 323 B.C., as his generals battled over the remains of the ancient world's greatest empire.

Similar tombs from the same era have been discovered on Crete, Cyprus and Egypt, which was ruled by a Greek dynasty founded by Ptolemy, Alexander's general.

The tomb's size suggests it belonged to a a wealthy Macedonian family, Akamati said.

The tomb, believed to have been used for two centuries, was probably plundered in antiquity as most of the artifacts were strewn by the entrance to the chambers, Akamati said.

The complex is dominated by a central area surrounded by eight chambers colored in red, blue and gold dyes. Three inscribed stone slabs inside bear the names of their female owners — Antigona, Kleoniki and Nikosrati. A relief on one of the slabs depicts a women and her servant.

The discovery was confirmed on Friday by a senior archaeologist responsible for the Pella site and will be presented at an Archaeological Conference in Thessaloniki that begins Thursday

Archaeologists Find Massive Tomb in Greece (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060213/ap_on_sc/greece_ancient_tomb;_ylt=AvN.ZibZ_ekeW24QbRb8ofys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MzV0MTdmBHNlYwM3NTM-)

Last update - 16:03 13/02/2006
Study: U.S. attack on Iran would spark conflict involving Israel
By Reuters

LONDON - A United States attack on Iran could eventually lead to a lengthy confrontation involving many other countries in the region, including Israel, a British think tank said in a report released on Monday.

"A U.S. military attack on Iranian nuclear infrastructure would be the start of a protracted military confrontation that would probably involve Iraq, Israel and Lebanon as well as the United States and Iran, with the possibility of west Gulf States being involved as well," it said.

According to the Oxford Research Group report, thousands of military personnel and hundreds of civilians would be killed if the U.S. launched an air strike on Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear arms.

The report said any bombing of Iran by U.S. forces, or by Israel, would have to be part of a surprise attack that would inevitably catch many Iranians unprotected.

An attack could lead to the closure of the Gulf at the Straits of Hormuz and would probably have a substantial impact on oil prices, as well as spurring new attacks by Muslim radicals on Western interests, the report said.

"Military deaths in [the] first wave of attacks against Iran would be expected to be in the thousands, especially with attacks on air bases and Revolutionary Guard facilities," said the report by Paul Rogers of the University of Bradford.

"Civilian deaths would be in the many hundreds at least," it said. "If the war evolved into a wider conflict, primarily to pre-empt or counter Iranian responses, the casualties would eventually be much higher."

Western states suspect Iran of secretly aiming to build a nuclear bomb. Tehran says its nuclear facilities are intended to produce only electricity.

The U.S. and Israel have said they would prefer to solve the dispute through diplomacy but have not ruled out military action.

The report said an attack by the U.S. or Israel on Iran would probably spur Tehran to work as rapidly as possible towards developing a nuclear military option.

It said U.S. forces, already tied down in Iraq, would have a limited number of military options when dealing with Iran and would have to rely almost entirely on the air force and navy.

Any attack would almost certainly unify Iran and bolster the government in Tehran, and mean that any future U.S. relationship with Iran would have to be based on violence, the report said.

A military response to the crisis would be a "particularly dangerous option and should not be considered further," the report concluded.

Study: U.S. attack on Iran would spark conflict involving Israel (http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/682299.html)

Monday, February 13, 2006 E-Mail this article to a friend Printer Friendly Version

N Korea warns Seoul of ‘nuclear war’ over US-led WMD drill

SEOUL: Stalinist North Korea has warned South Korea against sparking “nuclear war” by joining a US-led international drill aimed at intercepting weapons of mass destruction, state media said. Rodong Sinmun, the official communist party mouthpiece said late Saturday Seoul’s participation in the drill would be “conspiring with the US in its moves for a war of aggression.” “It is also a dangerous act of bringing the disaster of a nuclear war to the Korean Peninsula,” Rodong said in a dispatch carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

South Korea said last month it would send a team to “observe” a US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) drill off Australia in April and that it would get briefed regularly on the initiative. But Seoul says it has yet to join the politically sensitive initiative, which Pyongyang believes aims largely to blockade North Korea, at a time of burgeoning inter-Korean rapprochement. North Korea is locked in a standoff with the United States and its allies over Pyongyang’s nuclear programme. The PSI a US-led drive to improve global efforts to intercept nuclear, chemical and biological weapons shipments by rogue states and terrorist groups was launched in May 2003.

It has since held joint manoeuvres involving ships and maritime patrol aircraft with over 60 nations signing up for the initiative. The key signatories include the United States, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia and Singapore. China, a North Korean ally, and South Korea, which has sought closer ties with the North since a peace summit in 2000, have yet to join the initiative.

N Korea warns Seoul of ‘nuclear war’ over US-led WMD drill (http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006/02/13/story_13-2-2006_pg4_2)

EU's Solana tries to ease cartoons crisis on Mideast trip

2 hours, 40 minutes ago

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has expressed Europe's respect for Islam on a visit to the Middle East to ease the global crisis over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

Solana met with Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, head of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which is based in the western Saudi city of Jeddah, on Monday.

The OIC chief called for international legislation banning the defamation of religion and prophets, saying Muslims had become the "new Jews of Europe" and being subjected to an assault comparable to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"(In) the European Union we feel a profound respect yesterday, today and tomorrow, and we never had wanted in any case to offend their feelings," Solana told reporters after the meeting.

"This is not our intention. This has not been our intention, and will not be out intention," he added.

The EU chief was sounding a conciliatory note over the cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed that have triggered a wave of violent protests across the Muslim world.

The row, initially sparked by the publication last September in a Danish newspaper of cartoons of the Prophet, including one with a turban shaped as a bomb, pits defenders of free speech against Muslims who see the cartoons as insulting and blasphemous.

Solana said he had conveyed this message to the OIC chief over the phone but wanted to transmit it in person.

But the head of the pan-Islamic body called upon the EU through the European parliament, to pass legislation to combat what he termed as "Islamophobia" and to implement a code of ethics for journalists that would prohibit insulting or caricaturing religious symbols.

"Unfortunately, what is going on now ... people in the Muslim world are starting to feel this is a new September 11 against them," he said. "Muslims of Europe are taking the place of the Jews before the Second World War."

Solana was evasive about the possibility of passing new legislation in Europe regarding the issue, saying it was covered in the exisiting EU conventions.

"We are trying to do our utmost so that things of this nature cannot be repeated, but you know when you have a very important law saying you shall not kill, people continue killing," he said.

"It's something that you cannot prevent and people do things which are not appropriate."

He nonetheless said one possibility would be to address the issue in the new proposed UN Human Rights Council which would replace the current 53-member Human Rights Commission as part of the reforms of the international body slated for 2006.

"If in the construction of the new council something can be said in that direction ... I would not object to that," he said.

Solana stressed the obligation of all parties, including Arab and Muslim governments, to calm sentiments on the cartoons issue which has led to violent riots across the Muslim world that have killed 13 people and seen the torching of Danish embassies in some countries.

Solana was in Saudi Arabia, which is the home of Islam holiest cites, on the first stop in a five-country Middle East trip mainly aimed at repairing ties strained by the row over the caricatures.

The four-day tour will also take him to Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Israel.

Solana was to meet with King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal in Riyadh, before flying on to Cairo later Monday

EU's Solana tries to ease cartoons crisis on Mideast trip (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060213/wl_afp/europeislammediaeusaudi;_ylt=AmlqOttYvQymhTGCljouHCN0bBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--)

My note; This will be insetersting to watch. I have my own supitions about Mr. Solana, which I'm not ready to share yet.

Tehran plans a nuclear weapons test before March 20, 2006 – the Iranian New Year, moves Shahab-3 missiles within striking range of Israel

January 22, 2006, 9:30 AM (GMT+02:00)

Reporting this, the dissident Foundation for Democracy in Iran, a US-based watch group, cites sources in the US and Iran. The FDI adds from Iran: on June 16, the high command of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force ordered Shahab-3 missile units to move mobile launchers every 24 hours instead of weekly. This is in view of a potential pre-emptive strike by the US or Israel.

Advance Shahab-3 units have been positioned in Kermanshah and Hamad within striking distance of Israel, reserve launchers moved to Esfahan and Fars.

The missile units were told to change positions “in a radius of 30-35 kilometers” and only at night.

DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources add: FDI reporting has a reputation for credibility. Western and Israeli intelligence have known for more than six months that Iran’s nuclear program has reached the capability of being able to carry out a nuclear explosion, albeit underground. It would probably be staged in a desert or mountain region and activated by a distant control center. Tehran would aim at confronting the Americans, Europeans and Israelis with an irreversible situation.

At the same time, an explosion of this sort would indicate that Iran is not yet able to produce a nuclear bomb that can be delivered by airplane or a warhead adapted to a missile. The stage Iran has reached is comparable to Pakistan’s when it conducted its first nuclear tests in the nineties and North Korea’s in 2001. All the same, an Iranian underground nuclear blast, which will most probably be attempted on March 22, would turn around the strategic position of all the parties concerned and the Middle East as whole.

The question now is: will the United States, Israel or both deliver a pre-emptive strike ahead of the Iranian underground test - or later? Or will Washington alternatively use the event to bring the UN Security Council round to economic sanctions? Tehran is already organizing to withstand economic penalties. For Israel, the timing is getting tight in view of its general election on March 28. Acting prime minister Ehud Olmert must take into account that a ruling party which allows an Iranian nuclear explosion to take place six days before the poll would draw painful punishment from the voter.

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=1696
_________________________________

German Newspaper: Iran Tested Missile Secretly in January
February 6, 2006 :: News

The German daily Die Welt cites western intelligence sources as reporting that Iran secretly tested a new surface-to-surface ballistic missile last month. The purpose of the test, which allegedly took place on January 17, was to collect electronic and aerodynamic measurements from the long-range missile during its flight. The test was conducted by a 15-person engineering team under the direct control of the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and was attended by commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as well as some high-ranking employees of the Iranian aviation industry. Diplomatic sources in Iran are cited as saying the test was a success.

The German news agency DDP speculates that the above-mentioned missile may have been the Shahab-4, an intermediate-range weapon similar to the older Shahab-3 except for its increased range of over 2,000 km (approx. 1,250 miles) and its improved accuracy based on more modern digital guidance systems. Although the Shahab-4 project has been shrouded in secrecy in recent years, it is most likely an attempt to make Iran’s missile program less dependent upon foreign materials. (Article, Link)

http://www.missilethreat.com/news/200602061133.html

Cartoon Protesters Tear Gassed in Pakistan

11 minutes ago

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Police fired tear gas Tuesday as they chased away about 200 protesters who entered the heavily guarded diplomatic enclave in Pakistan's capital to demonstrate against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons.

The crowd — which briefly demonstrated outside the French and British embassies — were among about 4,000 who attended a march in Islamabad that was organized by lawmakers. Police shot them with tear gas near the British Embassy.

U.S. and British embassy staffers were confined to their compound until police expelled the protesters from the fenced-off diplomatic enclave.

"We heard there were some protesters who entered the diplomatic enclave and for security reasons we were advised not to leave the High Commission (embassy)," said a British Embassy official. "There were no signs the protesters were aggressive or violent and they were quickly dispersed."

Outside the enclave, the protesters — mostly students — smashed street lights and burned tires while chanting "Death to America" and other slogans. Police rounded up about 50 protesters and put them in pick-up trucks.

People in the conservative Muslim nation have been enraged by the publication of the cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September. Papers in other countries, mostly in Europe, reprinted them. One of the caricatures depicts Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with an ignited detonator string.

There have been a series of mostly peaceful protests across Pakistan against the cartoons, and last week Parliament adopted resolutions condemning the drawing.

On Monday, about 7,000 protested against the cartoons in the northwestern city of Peshawar, smashing windows at universities with stones and police fired tear gas and swung batons to stop them from marching on the residence of the provincial governor.

Cartoon Protesters Tear Gassed in Pakistan (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/pakistan_prophet_drawings;_ylt=AuKleEoZZYoqVrglqSvGqRCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--)

Iran, Syria should pay for protest damage -Annan

By Irwin Arieff Mon Feb 13, 7:36 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran, Syria and other governments that failed to protect foreign embassies from mobs protesting over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad should pay for the damage, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday.

The cartoons' publication in a Danish newspaper have triggered widespread protests across the Muslim world including violent attacks on Western diplomatic offices in a number of countries.

"The government has a responsibility to prevent these things from happening. They should have stopped it, not just in Syria or Iran but all around," Annan said.

"Not having stopped it, I hope they will pick up the bill for the destruction that has been caused to all the foreign countries," he told CNN. "They should be prepared to pay for the damage done to Danish, Norwegian and the other embassies concerned."

Danish facilities have been singled out for attacks, including diplomatic missions in Syria, Lebanon and Iran.

Denmark has withdrawn its diplomatic staff from Indonesia and Iran because of threats to their security, and from Syria, citing inadequate security provision by the Syrian authorities.

Annan said he personally raised the question of government responsibility with Syria's ambassador to the
United Nations, Fayssal Mekdad, asking him, "Why couldn't you stop it?"

"His answer was, 'It was so spontaneous, we couldn't stop it."' Annan said.

Mekdad, who was named Syria's vice foreign minister over the weekend, was en route to Damascus and unavailable for comment, an aide in Syria's U.N. Mission said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused the Syrian and Iranian authorities over the weekend of helping incite the violence in their countries.

But Annan said he had no evidence of that. "You had demonstrations all over the world," he told CNN.

Iran, Syria should pay for protest damage -Annan (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060214/wl_nm/religion_cartoons_annan_dc;_ylt=AjPBwHn2JJMczDkCvLh1PlT9xg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NTMzazIyBHNlYwMxNjk2)

Iran starts enrichment work, upping stakes with West: diplomats

30 minutes ago

VIENNA (AFP) - Iran has restarted uranium enrichment work by putting its feedstock gas into centrifuges, defying the West with a program that could make nuclear reactor fuel or atom bomb material, diplomats told AFP.

It came as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted his country was not worried about possible sanctions and Tehran said talks in Moscow aimed at finding a compromise to the long-running international standoff would not go ahead as planned later this week.

Uranium enrichment is seen as a red line by the United States and European Union in the dispute over Iran's nuclear program, as it is crucial to making atomic weapons.

Putting uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas into centrifuges, which distill out enriched uranium, is a major escalation by Iran, and comes amid threats by the Islamic republic to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

In an interview published Monday, Ahmadinejad said that nations calling for economic sanctions would lose far more than Tehran.

"I believe those who want to impose limitations on us will lose more than us," he told USA Today newspaper in an interview conducted Saturday.

Separately, Iran said Thursday's planned talks between Tehran and Moscow on a compromise to enrich uranium on Tehran's behalf in Russia, so that it would not acquire the strategic technology, would not go ahead.

Russia however said talks could still be held.

The United States and EU governments fear Iran's nuclear program could hide atomic weapons development, a claim strongly denied by Tehran which says it is for strictly peaceful civilian nuclear power.

Iran had earlier Monday said it would resume uranium enrichment even before the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meets in Vienna next month to decide whether to recommend UN Security Council action.

Meanwhile French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin arrived in Moscow for a 24-hour visit due to include talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Villepin said in an interview published Monday in a Russian newspaper that the international community was willing to negotiate with Iran on the nuclear crisis if Tehran took steps to end the standoff.

But diplomats' comments in Vienna appear to show Iran is following through with its threat to carry out enrichment.

"Iran has put gas into centrifuges at its pilot enrichment plant in Natanz," one diplomat said.

The diplomat, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, said Iran had not yet fired up the whole 164-centrifuge cascade but had "over the past two or three days" started work with some centrifuges.

A second diplomat said Iran was doing "preliminary work" with "stand-alone" centrifuges, almost certainly putting uranium gas into single machines rather than a whole cascade.

The diplomat said this was necessary in a step-by-step approach involving first getting centrifuges running, then operating a pilot plant, which Iran has dubbed research work, and then moving on to industrial-scale enrichment with thousands of centrifuges.

Iran says it wants to produce low enriched uranium, which is not refined enough for weapons.

But it wants to install over 50,000 centrifuges at Natanz, an array which could produce enough highly enriched uranium every two or three weeks for one atom bomb.

IAEA inspectors are Tuesday to visit Natanz, where Iran is threatening to remove surveillance seals and cameras, diplomats said.

But one diplomat said some seals and surveillance cameras would remain in place as they would be monitoring the production of nuclear fuel rather than enrichment.

Although Iran had suspended uranium enrichment work until talks with an EU negotiating troika broke down last month, it has since August been making the feedstock UF6 at a conversion plant in Isfahan.

The West has seemed ready to let Tehran pursue this work, which technically is part of the activities the EU says should be suspended, as long as it did not actually enrich.

The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors voted February 4 to report Iran to the Security Council, but left a one-month window for diplomacy on getting it to return to a full suspension of enrichment-related work and cooperate more with IAEA inspectors.

Iran starts enrichment work, upping stakes with West: diplomats (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/irannuclearpolitics;_ylt=AlJR1277gzPi6ip58URmwRes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--)

Muslim Brotherhood to Fight Egyptian Law

By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD, Associated Press Writer Mon Feb 13, 6:21 PM ET

CAIRO, Egypt - President Hosni Mubarak's decree to extend the terms of thousands of political allies in local government drew an angry response Monday from the Muslim Brotherhood, which claimed the Egyptian leader was trying to keep power for his ruling party.

Local council terms were to have expired Tuesday, and by law new elections were to be scheduled within 60 days.

But Mubarak has asked for a two-year extension of the terms of those now in office — a majority of them members of Mubarak's party — to six years. That would give Mubarak more time to try to stem momentum for the increasingly popular Brotherhood.

"They are trying to bloc further gains for us. Why else would they postpone?" Essam Mukhtar, a Brotherhood-linked member of parliament, told The Associated Press.

The local councils are responsible for services at a district, town and village level and are critical institutions of centralized state control.

The Shura Council, Egypt's upper house, voted in favor Sunday of the Mubarak decree to extend by two years the terms of 4,500 officeholders.

The measure still needs a vote in the People's Assembly, the lower house, where Mubarak's National Democratic Party holds a solid majority. Approval of the decree was seen as a virtual certainty.

"We are going to try to stop that law from passing. We're not going to be frustrated. We're going to use the legitimate means available to us, and make the whole nation know our stance," Mukhtar said.

In parliamentary elections last year, candidates aligned with the Brotherhood surpassed all expectations, winning 88 seats, compared with the 15 the previous 454-member parliament.

The victories came despite widespread police violence aimed at preventing opposition supporters from reaching polling stations and accusations of rigging results.

Mubarak's NDP still holds a 311-seat majority, however, and the Brotherhood's attempt to block the delay seemed doomed to failure.

Mufid Shihab, minister of state for Legal Affairs and Legislative Councils and a key member of Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party, said the delay was necessary because "we are planning a constitutional amendment." His explanation was posted Sunday on the ruling party Web site.

The nature of the amendment has not been made public.

In what was probably a futile attempt to block the decree, the Brotherhood introduced its own proposal on Monday that would limit the postponement to six months.

The government sought to explain the delay as purely procedural.

"Holding elections now won't be in line with a new law for local administration which is under way," Shura Council speaker Safwat el-Sherif was quoted as saying in the pro-government daily Al-Gomhouria.

In an interview with Newsweek last month, Egypt's Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, acknowledged government interference in the last legislative elections to prevent even greater Brotherhood gains.

But "after the victories of the Brotherhood in Egypt and Hamas in Palestine, the NDP is afraid of the pro-Islamist atmosphere," he said.

The militant, anti-Israeli Hamas organization won an overwhelming victory in Palestinian elections last month.

Gamal Mubarak, Mubarak's 42-year-old son who is spearheading reform within NDP, said Sunday "we need a constitutional amendment (on elections). It might be limited or big. We all agree on amending some of the current articles, but we differ on a comprehensive amendment," he said.

Egypt has been a focus of U.S. efforts to bring greater democratic reform to the Middle East. But after last year's presidential elections which returned Mubarak to power with a huge, if questionable margin, and the violence-tarnished parliamentary voting, the U.S. issued critical assessments.

That was compounded by the imprisonment of Ayman Nour, an opposition leader who came in second to Mubarak in the presidential vote.

Muslim Brotherhood to Fight Egyptian Law (http://www.worthynews.com/news/news-yahoo-com-s-ap-20060213-ap_on_re_mi_ea-egypt_vote_delayed-printer-1/)

Leader says Iran can take sanctions
By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran can withstand whatever punishment the United Nations may impose next month over its nuclear program, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview with USA TODAY.

In the interview Saturday, the first with a U.S. newspaper since he took office last August, Ahmadinejad said "we do not have any problem with the people of the United States." But he assailed the Bush administration, which may seek U.N. sanctions over Iran's resuming its nuclear program after a two-year freeze.

"They choose to threaten us and make false allegations, and they want to impose their lifestyle on others, and this is not acceptable," Ahmadinejad said.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful uses, such as energy, but the United States says Iran wants to build weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency voted Feb. 4 to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible economic or political sanctions.

Ahmadinejad has gained a reputation for his casual attire, sharp attacks on the United States and statements questioning whether the Holocaust occurred.

Wearing a windbreaker over a sports coat and sweater in his presidential office, he blamed the U.S. government for estranged relations. For example, he said, Washington blocked Iran from sending aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"The way they have treated our people here has left no ground for talks," he said. "They think no one can live without them, and this is a wrong notion."

"They think they can solve everything with a bomb. The time for such things is long over," he said.

The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980 after student radicals seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held hostages there for 444 days.

Ahmadinejad said the future of the Palestinian territories is "the most important" for the region.

He said Israel was founded on "propaganda regarding the Holocaust," the extermination of 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany. Palestinians shouldn't suffer as a result, he said.

Ahmadinejad, who has called for a conference in Iran on the Holocaust, said Saturday that he would accept testimony from Jewish survivors of Nazi death camps, but "impartial" investigators should also re-examine the tragedy.

Ahmadinejad said Palestinians are killed "every day with the Holocaust as a pretext," and they've been denied "peace and security" by Israel. "I don't know who is annoyed by revealing facts," he said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Sunday, "The regime seems more interested in confrontation and defiance than cooperation and diplomacy."

Leader says Iran can take sanctions (http://www.worthynews.com/news/usatoday-com-news-world-2006-02-12-iran-president_x-htm/)

Iran owns China, Russia UN votes - US senator

Tue Feb 14, 6:51 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia and China have too much riding on commercial relations with Iran to help the West in curbing Tehran's nuclear ambitions, a U.S. senator said on Tuesday, calling for tough measures with Moscow and Beijing.

"The two countries that are sending the wrong signals today are Russia and China," said Kansas Republican Sam Brownback.

"Part of the problem is Iran ... has effectively bought U.N. Security Council vetoes from China and, very likely, Russia," Brownback, a potential presidential contender in 2008, said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

Experts at a symposium at the conservative think tank said Moscow is a major arms supplier to Iran, while Beijing has struck energy deals worth as much as $100 billion with Tehran.

Both of those large powers have also embraced Iran as part of a strategic policy of blunting U.S. influence in the Middle East and Central Asia, the experts said.

"I don't think China and Russia are going to make serious efforts to stop Iran or North Korea," said Stephen Blank, a China expert at the U.S. Army War College.

Brownback said that to pressure countries that support Iran, Washington should initiate a campaign of sanctions modeled on a 1980s campaign targeting companies that helped the Soviet Union build a pipeline to Western Europe.

"Like the former Soviet Union, both Russia and China need international technological and managerial support to keep their activities going," said Brownback.

"No international company is going to treat lightly exclusion from the U.S. market in exchange for contracts with the Iranian government," he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran resumed feeding uranium gas into centrifuges for nuclear-fuel enrichment after a break of 2-1/2 years and announced it was deferring until next week talks on a Russian proposal to defuse the nuclear standoff.

The West suspects Tehran of trying to develop atomic bombs under cover of a civilian program and persuaded the
International Atomic Energy Agency's governing board last week to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible action, which could include sanctions.

Iran says its nuclear work is designed solely to generate electricity for its economy.

Iran owns China, Russia UN votes - US senator (http://www.worthynews.com/news/news-yahoo-com-s-ap-20060213-ap_on_re_mi_ea-egypt_vote_delayed-printer-1/)

Italian minister puts Mohammad cartoon on T-shirts

By Crispian Balmer Tue Feb 14, 10:50 AM ET

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's Reform Minister Roberto Calderoli has had T-shirts made emblazoned with cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a move that could embarrass Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government.

Calderoli, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, told Ansa news agency on Tuesday that the West had to stand up against Islamist extremists and offered to hand out T-shirts to anyone who wanted them.

"I have had T-shirts made with the cartoons that have upset Islam and I will start wearing them today," Ansa quoted Calderoli as saying.

He said the T-shirts were not meant to be a provocation but added that he saw no point trying to appease extremists.

"We have to put an end to this story that we can talk to these people. They only want to humiliate people. Full stop. And what are we becoming? The civilization of melted butter?" Calderoli said.

The publication of the cartoons in some European newspapers, including one showing an image of the prophet with a bomb for a turban, have provoked widespread anger in the Muslim world.

Many Muslims believe it is blasphemous to depict the Prophet and there have been a number of violent protests in the Middle East and Asia.

The Northern League, which is gearing up for an April general election, has leapt on the controversy to promote its own far-right political agenda.

RELIGIOUS WAR

The League has long led the charge against illegal immigration and its leaders say the cartoon violence shows the dangers of allowing Muslim immigrants to settle in Italy.

"This is only the tip of the iceberg of the religious war Islamist extremists have declared on us," Calderoli told reporters earlier this month.

The Italian press reported that Berlusconi last week urged Calderoli to take a more moderate stance over the issue, but the minister said on Tuesday he had no intention of keeping quiet.

"As for Berlusconi, seeing as he has compared himself to Jesus Christ, I would call on him to follow (Christ's) example and think about evangelizing Christian values and not be evangelized by Islam," Calderoli was quoted as saying.

Berlusconi caused a storm at the weekend when he said: "I am the Jesus Christ of politics...I sacrifice myself for everyone."

Maintaining a steady stream of anti-foreigner invective, Calderoli earlier this month dismissed a Palestinian journalist on a television chat show, as: "that suntanned lady." He also said he was delighted newcomers to Italy would not benefit from a government scheme to encourage people to have more children.

"I am proud of the fact that the baby bonus will only go to Italian citizens. I say to all those Ali Babas that either Allah or their governments will have to think of them."

The League's anti-immigrant stance has found a sympathetic audience in the wealthy north of Italy, where many third world immigrants have settled in recent years.

League politicians say the immigrants are responsible for growing crime rates and are also challenging Italians for jobs.

Latest opinion polls say the League will get up to six percent of the vote in the April election against just 3.9 percent in the 2001 ballot. However, it is not clear what part the anti-immigrant rhetoric has played in this increase.

Italian minister puts Mohammad cartoon on T-shirts (http://www.worthynews.com/news/news-yahoo-com-s-ap-20060213-ap_on_re_mi_ea-egypt_vote_delayed-printer-1/) ;D

U.S., Israel look to oust Hamas

New York Times reports U.S., Israel discussing ways to destabilize Palestinian government so newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again; intention is to starve PA of money, int’l connections to point where Abbas is compelled to call new elections Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON - The New York Times reported Tuesday that the United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again.

According to Israeli and western diplomats, the intention is to starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, is compelled to call a new election.

The hope is that Palestinians will be so unhappy with life under Hamas that they will return to office a reformed and chastened Fatah movement, the New York Times said.

The officials also argue that a close look at the election results shows that Hamas won a smaller mandate than previously understood.

They say Hamas will be given a choice: Recognize Israel's right to exist, forswear violence and accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements - as called for by the United Nations and the West - or face isolation and collapse.

Last week Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held talks with President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It is estimated that Hamas will not comply with the Quartet and U.N. Security Council demands.

According to the New York Times, efforts will focus on sabotaging Hamas’ political platform, as opinion polls show that Hamas' promise to better the lives of the Palestinian people was the main reason it won. But the United States and Israel say Palestinian life will only get harder if Hamas does not meet those three demands, The New York Times said.

‘It's hard to move millions of dollars in suitcases’

The officials said the destabilization plan centers largely on money. The Palestinian Authority has a monthly cash deficit of some USD 60 million to USD 70 million after it receives between USD 50 million and USD 55 million a month from Israel in taxes and customs duties collected by Israeli officials at the borders but owed to the Palestinians.

Israel says it will cut off those payments once Hamas takes power, and put the money in escrow. On top of that, some of the aid that the Palestinians currently receive will be stopped or reduced by the United States and European Union governments, which will be constrained by law or politics from providing money to an authority run by Hamas. The group is listed by Washington and the European Union as a terrorist organization.

So beginning next month, the Palestinian Authority will apparently face a cash deficit of at least USD 110 million a month, or more than USD 1 billion a year, which it needs to pay full salaries to its 140,000 employees, who are the breadwinners for at least one-third of the Palestinian population.

The employment figure includes some 58,000 members of the security forces, most of which are affiliated with the defeated Fatah movement.

According to The New York Times, officials said if a Hamas government is unable to pay workers, import goods, transfer money and receive significant amounts of outside aid, Abbas would have the authority to dissolve parliament and call new elections.

Hamas gets up to USD 100,000 a month in cash from abroad, Israel and Western officials say. "But it's hard to move millions of dollars in suitcases," the New York Times quoted a western official as saying.

U.S., Israel look to oust Hamas (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3215847,00.html)

Religious Leader Urges Responsibility

By BRIAN MURPHY, AP Religion Writer Tue Feb 14, 4:35 PM ET

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - Freedom of expression is a "fundamental human right," the head of the world's largest Christian umbrella group said Tuesday, but Muslim rage over cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad shows that the world must still tread with caution when dealing with religious views.

The comments by the Rev. Samuel Kobia — at the beginning of a 10-day global assembly by the World Council of Churches — illustrated how dialogue with Islam and worries over mounting religious-inspired violence have become priorities for the group's more than 350 member churches.

"Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right," said Kobia, the WCC's general secretary, "but that is not the right to say anything for any reason. Used to devalue human dignity, it devalues the very freedoms on which it is based."

Kobia, a Methodist pastor from Kenya, said both Muslims and Christians have responsibilities to "work together" to end the unrest over the cartoons, which included riots and attacks on Western-affiliated hotels and restaurants in two Pakistani cities on Tuesday.

"The cartoons have sparked a fire," Kobia told a news conference. "The question now is: How do we put out that fire?"

The WCC gathering — its biggest and most ambitious in nearly a decade — is expected to include further discussion of the role of Christian churches and democratic traditions in an age of rising terrorism and deepening rifts between the West and Muslim world.

Speakers and messages to open the WCC meeting repeatedly urged Christian churches to look beyond differences that undermine unity within the faith, such as intense disputes over homosexual clergy and tolerance of same-sex blessing ceremonies. WCC members include mainline Protestants, Anglicans and Orthodox churches representing more than 500 million followers. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member, but cooperates on many levels.

"In the face of so much disorder in our so-called world order, we cannot allow ourselves to be overwhelmed or distracted, however conscious we are of our own fractured condition as churches," said a message from Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, which is under the most direct threat of rupture along liberal and conservative lines.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Vatican's council for Christian unity, read a letter from Pope Benedict XVI noting "spiritual closeness" with the WCC's goals.

Other issues on the wide-ranging WCC agenda include discussions on church aid to fight AIDS, human trafficking and to assist in international gotcha120 programs.

Religious Leader Urges Responsibility (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060214/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/brazil_world_churches;_ylt=Asjk1I5X.jPQiDk_Z5t4x5e3IxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--)

World Council of Churches: http://www.wcc-coe.org

Quote from: DreamWeaver on February 15, 2006, 12:21:43 AM

U.S., Israel look to oust Hamas

According to the New York Times, efforts will focus on sabotaging Hamas’ political platform, as opinion polls show that Hamas' promise to better the lives of the Palestinian people was the main reason it won. But the United States and Israel say Palestinian life will only get harder if Hamas does not meet those three demands, The New York Times said.

‘It's hard to move millions of dollars in suitcases’

The officials said the destabilization plan centers largely on money. The Palestinian Authority has a monthly cash deficit of some USD 60 million to USD 70 million after it receives between USD 50 million and USD 55 million a month from Israel in taxes and customs duties collected by Israeli officials at the borders but owed to the Palestinians.

Israel says it will cut off those payments once Hamas takes power, and put the money in escrow. On top of that, some of the aid that the Palestinians currently receive will be stopped or reduced by the United States and European Union governments, which will be constrained by law or politics from providing money to an authority run by Hamas. The group is listed by Washington and the European Union as a terrorist organization.

So beginning next month, the Palestinian Authority will apparently face a cash deficit of at least USD 110 million a month, or more than USD 1 billion a year, which it needs to pay full salaries to its 140,000 employees, who are the breadwinners for at least one-third of the Palestinian population.

The employment figure includes some 58,000 members of the security forces, most of which are affiliated with the defeated Fatah movement.

U.S., Israel look to oust Hamas (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3215847,00.html)

This is a plan that will backfire like no other 'plan' washington came up with since the roadmap to hell.
And I think it will put the Jewish people in the genocide-tunnel of the 1260 days of Jacob.

People underestimate the fanatism that the Israelis are dealing with; already Muslim sources have acknowledged that they will stand in the financial gap for Hamas.

Egyptian opposition in crisis
By Amira Howeidy in Cairo, Egypt

Wednesday 25 January 2006, 17:36 Makka Time, 14:36 GMT

Almost a month after their poor showing in legislative elections, Egyptian opposition parties are embroiled in coups, divisions and scathing self-criticism.

The two main contenders and party leaders who competed against Hosni Mubarak, the president, in the first multi-candidate presidential elections last September have been dramatically dethroned.

The man who came a distant second to Mubarak, Ayman Nour, head of al-Ghad party, is now in prison serving a five-year sentence for forging his party's membership applications - a crime he denies and says is politically motivated.

Such political disarray, observers say, does not augur well for Egypt's hoped for post-election democratic transformation.

In-fighting

In-fighting among the opposition parties is no secret.

Ahead of the November parliamentary elections, a number of al-Ghad's founders attempted a failed coup against Nour and announced a new leadership. The dispute has gone to court.

But the al-Wafd party crisis has proved more spectacular.

Noaman Gomaa, head of the liberal al-Wafd - Egypt's oldest political party which finished third in the presidential election - was ousted in a sensational coup by his party's high committee members on Wednesday.

He was replaced temporarily by Mahmoud Abaza, the party's deputy president, until al-Wafd's general assembly elects a new president on 2 March.

But the repercussions of al-Wafd's upheaval, which dominated the front pages of the local media in Egypt for days, are far from over.

Sign of demise

Politicians and pundits fear it is a sign of the demise of the nation's political parties.

Hassan Nafaa, a political science professor at Cairo University, says: "When Egypt's oldest and biggest opposition party begins to collapse, it is normal for the national political forces of this country ... to view this as sign and evidence of how the entire multi-party experience is falling apart."

The results of November's parliamentary elections back this view.

Out of 444 contested parliamentary seats, official political parties won only nine (al-Wafd 6, Tagammu 2, al-Ghad 1). The Nasserist party failed to win any seats.

Unofficial groups outdid those with legal status.

The banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood won 88 seats, almost a fifth of parliament. And eight seats went to independent candidates of the "civil opposition", including two to the nationalist al-Karama (Dignity) party, which was denied a licence to form a legal opposition party.

Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) won 73% of the seats.

Hamdeen Sabahi, al-Karama's president and member of parliament, told Aljazeera.net: "The role of legal political parties is ending, and if these parties remain alive, they'll be much weaker than they are now."

Nasserist

Frustrated with its stagnation, Sabahi and others defected from the Nasserist party to form al-Karama in 1999.

Although the move weakened the Nasserist party, its daring mouthpiece, the newspaper Al-Araby and its editors Abdallah El-Sennawi and Abdel-Halim Qandil, remained as a reminder that the party was not dead.

At a time when it was strictly taboo, Al-Araby was the first opposition paper to campaign against the rumoured grooming of Mubarak's oldest son Gamal to succeed his father.

In November 2004, Qandil paid the price for dissent when he was kidnapped, beaten up and left naked in the desert by thugs.

Despite incessant pressures on the Nasserist party to clamp down on Al-Araby, the mouthpiece pursued its caustic critique of Mubarak, the growing powers of his wife and son and the political establishment.

But three weeks ago, both Qandil and El-Sennawi suddenly announced their departure from Al-Araby, triggering speculation about the future of the paper which is expected to tone down.

The decision was followed by the resignation of Ahmed Yassin Nassar, a prominent figure in the Nasserist party, to protest against the party's poor showing in the elections and its "disconnection" from the street.

And according to al-Karama's Sabahi, "migrations" from the Nasserist party to Al-Karama are occurring.

Although El-Sennawi cites professional reasons for leaving, related to the dismal funding of the Al-Araby and the need for change, he acknowledged chronic problems in the Nasserist party.

Tagammu

While no defections have been reported in the left-wing Tagammu party, many of its prominent figures have been publicly criticising its performance in the parliamentary elections, the mellowness of its mouthpiece Al-Ahaly and the party's wavering relationship with the government.

Abdel-Ghafar Shokr, the leader of Tagammu leader, says the party's politburo held three meetings in the past month to address the crisis.

He said they were devising suggestions and solutions to try to give the party "a six-month chance" for improvement.

"If that doesn't work, the central committee will meet and we might consider a change in leadership," he said.

Third way

While such confusion could usher in the demise of the so-called multi-party system in Egypt, it is hardly the end of politics.

Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed, a political scientist at the American University in Cairo, describes the current political trend as "a process of contestation".

"But it's too early to judge if it will lead to their demise or transformation."

George Ishak, Kifaya's spokesman, believes "the curtain has been drawn on all the legal political parties and new formations are in the making".

He told Aljazeera.net: "There is the corrupt NDP or the Islamic Muslim Brotherhood. What about all the people who want a third way?"

While Kifaya and al-Karama say they offer that alternative, al-Wafd party's so-called reformists, who ousted Gomaa over the weekend, insist their coup will revive the "liberal" legacy of their party which will serve as a third option for Egyptians.

But they are not alone.

Gamal Mubarak who heads the NDP's Policies Secretariat has long been associated with the now-popular political lexicon.

Although there is little evidence he will introduce the "third way" approach to the NDP, the party is said to be preparing itself for big changes very soon.

In his first interview with an Egyptian newspaper on Sunday, Gamal said the NDP "will proceed with methods of developing itself in the coming period", but did not give details.

Egyptian opposition in crisis (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4C193867-0E30-4159-A88C-4782261CF3FF.htm)

Iran hints at Venezuelan nuclear tie

Thursday 16 February 2006, 4:00 Makka Time, 1:00 GMT

Iran is open to helping Venezuela develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, but the two Opec members have not yet held talks about such cooperation, an Iranian lawmaker says.

Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president and an ardent critic of the US government, is backing Iran's right to develop nuclear fuel despite international community opposition to Tehran pursuing its atomic programme.

Gholamali Haddadadel, Iran's parliament speaker, said: "Although we have not had any conversations until now with Venezuelan authorities, we would be willing to study the possibility."

Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, last year said it was interested in developing nuclear technology with the possible help of Argentina, Brazil or Iran for civilian energy and medical purposes.

Venezuelan capability

Venezuela had a small research reactor that was closed more than a decade ago and is now used for food irradiation and sterilisation. Experts say nuclear development could take Venezuela as long as 10 years of investment and training.

The Iranian delegation visiting Venezuela to boost ties between the two nations signed a joint statement ratifying "the right of all nations to make peaceful-use nuclear energy" and condemned the "imperialism" of foreign powers.

Iran on Tuesday confirmed that it had restarted uranium enrichment that it insists will only be used for peaceful civilian purposes despite US and European fears that the technology would be used to create nuclear weapons.

Possible sanctions

Venezuela joined Syria and Cuba this month at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in opposing the UN watchdog's decision to send the Iran nuclear energy dispute to the UN Security Council, which could impose sanctions.

Chavez's growing ties to Iran have only made Washington more wary of the former army colonel turned populist president, whom the US accuses of using the nation's oil wealth to destabilise democracy in the region.

The Venezuelan leader says the United States is meddling in democracies in the region, and accuses the US State Department of sponsoring a brief coup against him in 2002. He has promised a socialist revolution to end poverty and promote the integration of Latin American nations.

Common factor

The US signalled on Wednesday a broadened diplomatic offensive against Iran, claiming Tehran posed a "strategic challenge" to the world on several fronts beyond fears over its nuclear programme.

Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, testifying before a Senate committee, heralded stepped-up efforts to muster international action against Iran's alleged support for terrorism and human rights abuses at home.

She said she would travel to Egypt and the Gulf next week for talks with Washington's Arab allies on how to contain a government she says is bent on "political subversion, terrorism, and support for violent Islamist extremism".

Farsi radio

Rice said the administration would seek an additional $75 million from the US Congress to fund around-the-clock Farsi radio and television broadcasts, and other efforts to promote Iranian democracy.

"The United States will actively confront the aggressive policies of the Iranian regime," she said. "At the same time, we will work to support the aspirations of the Iranian people for freedom and democracy in their country."

US officials said they were trying to expand their approach to Iran which for the past two years had been focused on suspicion the country was secretly trying to build a nuclear bomb.

Iran hints at Venezuelan nuclear tie (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/90A8F3DD-22A5-4651-9D3B-931153B6495E.htm)

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Theology => Prophecy - Current Events => Topic started by: Shammu on January 10, 2006, 12:04:40 AM