11/10/2005 - 10:16
CHRONOLOGY-Ethiopian immigration to Israel

Israel said earlier this year it would double the pace of Jewish immigration from the Horn of Africa nation in order to bring out the remaining Falasha Mura members by 2007.
1973: Status of Ethiopian Jews is formally decided by Israeli chief rabbis who determine they are descendants of the Jewish biblical tribe of Dan and entitled to immigrate.

1984: Under tight military censorship, Israel brings 12,000 Ethiopians to the Jewish state in a secret airlift through Sudan known as Operation Moses.

1985: Israeli magazine breaks censorship in interview with Israeli immigration official. The story appears worldwide. Sudan, a Muslim country, responds angrily to disclosure of its involvement, halting airlift.

1989: Israel and Ethiopia restore diplomatic relations, bringing hope to those awaiting stranded relatives.

1990: Under a family re-unification programme, then-President Mengistu Haile Mariam allows Jewish emigration but interrupts it several times. About 3,500 arrive in the year.

1991: Planeloads of Ethiopians arrive several times a week with about 350 passengers each in what Israel dubbed "Operation Solomon". About 2,000 Ethiopian Jews arrive in Israel by February. In March, immigration stops abruptly. In May, Mengistu flees to Zimbabwe. Israel airlifts out more
than 15,000 Ethiopian Jews.

2003: Ethiopia blocks a plan by Israel to move the Falasha Mura to Israel.

2004: Following a visit by Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Israel says it plans to start moving the remaining 20,000 Ethiopians of Jewish origin to Israel.

2005: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon approves the decision to allow 700 Falasha Mura a month to fly to Israel.

In September, about 1,000 members of the Falasha Mura group begin a three-day hunger-strike in Addis Ababa to complain of delays in their promised transfer to Israel.

Ethiopia agrees to step up immigration to a monthly 600 people to Israel, double the previous number.

Ancient writing found in Israel

Wednesday, November 9, 2005 Posted at 9:23 PM EST
Associated Press

Pittsburgh — Two lines of an alphabet have been found inscribed in a stone in Israel, offering what some scholars say is the most solid evidence yet that the ancient Israelites were literate as early as the 10th century B.C.

“This is very rare. This stone will be written about for many years to come,” archaeologist Ron Tappy, a professor at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary who made the discovery, said Wednesday. “This makes it very historically probable there were people in the 10th century (B.C.) who could write.”

Christopher Rollston, a professor of Semitic studies at Emmanuel School of Religion in Johnson City, Tenn., who was not involved in the find, said the writing is probably Phoenician or a transitional language between Phoenician and Hebrew.

“We have little epigraphic material from the 10th century in Israel, and so this substantially augments the material we have,” he said.

The stone was found in July, on the final day of a five-week dig at Tel Zayit, about 50 kilometres south of Tel Aviv.

Peretz vows to achieve peace, security for Israel
By Yair Ettinger, Mazal Mualem and Daniel Ben-Simon, Haaretz Correspondents

Several hours after he was announced as the new leader of the Labor Party, Histadrut Chairman Amir Peretz on Thursday returned to his political roots to outline his political vision as the Labor candidate for premiership.

The victory is an unexpected result and a blow to the Labor old guard by Histadrut labor federation chairman Amir Peretz who was named Thursday morning the new chairman of the Labor Party, defeating the incumbent and favorite, Vice Premier Shimon Peres.

Speaking near the grave of slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin at the Mount Hertzl cemetery in Jerusalem, Peretz stressed that reaching a peace accord with the Palestinians is at the top of his political priority list.

"We will not rest until we reach a permanent agreement (with the Palestinians) that would secure a safe future for our children and that would provide us with renewed hope to live in a region where people lead a life of cooperation and not, God forbid, where blood is shed from time to time," Peretz said.

The new Labor chairman emphasized this move is a direct continuation of Rabin's political heritage: "I came today to make a vow to Rabin, once again, that I intend to do everything I can to continue his way, I intend to do everything I can so that [Rabin's] assassin would know he failed to murder peace."

Peretz recounted his long tenure as a loyal supporter of the late prime minister: "I was by Rabin's side in the days he struggled for his place in Israeli politics, I was with him in his days of isolation, and also in the days of overwhelming support from the people of Israel when they flooded him with warmth and admiration. I was also next to him on that dreadful night when we lost Yitzhak (Rabin) in the murder that shocked Israel and sought to severe and end his life and his way."

Soon after the official results were announced, the new Labor chief quickly reiterated his intention of pulling the party out of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government, propelling the country into political disarray and advancing the likelihood of early general elections.

"We will notify the prime minister that we want to leave. We want to leave... certainly out of a desire to turn the Labor Party into an alternative that intends to take power in the next elections," he said.

"Amir will discuss with the prime minister an agreed date for an election," said Yuli Tamir, a Labor legislator and Peretz supporter.

Winner of a tightly-run race
The voting result, which came at dawn, followed a tightly-run race between the two opponents, which initially showed a slight lead for Peres.

Peretz, a fiery union leader, wants to steer the party back to its socialist roots, pull out of the coalition and force early elections. His message has resonated with Israelis disenfranchised by government cuts in social spending and the country's growing gap between rich and poor.

Shortly after 6 A.M., amid cheering from Peretz's supporters, Labor Secretary-General Eitan Cabel announced that Peretz had won with 42.35 percent of the votes, while Peres was backed by 39.96 percent of voters. In third place was Benjamin Ben Eliezer, with 16.82 percent of the vote.

Cabel was quick to rebuff claims of fraud and irregularities in the elections, which caused Peres to issue a last minute call for a halt in the count.

The release of the vote's final results was stalled by several hours as the Labor election committee, led by Cabel, headed early Thursday morning to the vote counting center in Petah Tikva after several claims of fraud in polling stations.

Peres appeals against results
In a pre-dawn press conference, Peres called on Labor's legal institutions to look into claims of severe irregularities in polling stations in Sderot and Be'er Sheva, two Peretz strongholds.

Some of the vote results "raised exceptional doubts," Peres said. "It is unreasonable that in communities where I had a majority I have now dropped to seven votes."

"I expected a better evening," Peres said.

Sitting alongside Peres, former prime minister Ehud Barak said the outcome of the primaries did not reflect the will of the party's voters.

But several hours later, the election committee announced it had rejected Peres' claims of fraud and okayed the completing of the counting of the votes in the remaining 13 polling stations from a total of 318.

Peretz did not immediately respond to the accusations, but his supporters were already claiming victory.

The Peretz camp erupted into celebrations when the Histadrut chief took the lead in the vote count early Thursday, and Israel Radio said he was headed to party headquarters to make an announcement. The uncounted districts were believed to favor Peretz, and Israeli radio stations said his victory was imminent.

Implications for government
The outcome of the vote will have wide-ranging implications for the future of Sharon's shaky governing coalition, in which Labor is the junior member.

Peres had said that he would keep Labor in the government until the next elections scheduled in November 2006.

The 82-year-old politician led Labor into the government this year to shore up support for Sharon's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The pullout divided Sharon's Likud Party, and without Labor support, the plan could not have been carried out.

US Tells North Korea to Shut Down Reactor
By Luis Ramirez
Beijing
10 November 2005
   

Multi-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament continue for a second day in Beijing, with the United States telling North Korea it needs to shut down a nuclear reactor if it wants to build the trust needed to end the dispute with the international community.

U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill went into the second day of talks here in Beijing Thursday saying North Korea must shut down the reactor at its main Yongbyon nuclear facility now, as it agreed to do at the last round of talks in September.

"You know how you build up trust? You live up to the agreement," said Mr. Hill. "You come up with solid implementing schemes that enable you to move forward and show that what you've agreed to do in the agreement, you're actually doing and that's the best way to build up trust."

This is the fifth round of disarmament talks in two years among China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia, and the United States. They are discussing how to implement a joint set of principles in which North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear programs in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

Mr. Hill suggested that keeping the reactor in operation is an obstacle to resolving the nuclear crisis.

"Yongbyon has continued to operate, and in operating it's continuing to produce material that can, through reprocessing, be turned into weapons grade plutonium. And so every day that goes on the amount of this plutonium theoretically can increase and so that's our concern," he added. "That means we have a bigger problem than when we ended on September 19."

The crisis flared in 2002 when the United States said North Korea had acknowledged it was developing a uranium-based nuclear weapons program in violation of international agreements. North Korea, which has since expelled international weapons inspectors, says now it possesses nuclear weapons - a claim experts say may be true.

Diplomats expect this round of negotiations to continue through Friday.

French interior minister plans to deport foreign rioters
By Simon Freeman and agencies

Nikolas Sarkozy, the French Interior Minister, today risked fanning the embers of suburban unrest by ordering immigrants convicted of rioting to be deported without delay.

M Sarkozy, whose fiery rhetoric has been widely blamed for heightening tensions, told prefets - France's regional governors - to expel all convicted foreigners, including those who have residency visas.

He told parliament that 120 non-French teenagers - "not all of whom are here illegally" - had been convicted of involvement in the nightly rampages since October 27.

He said: "I have asked the prefets to deport them from our national territory without delay, including those who have a residency visa."

The poor suburbs and satellite towns at the centre of the ongoing turmoil are predominantly home to immigrant families from France’s former colonies in north and west Africa, including Algeria, Morocco, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Tunisia.

Although most of the youths are second or third generation French citizens, born and educated in the country, some are non-French, and have been given residency papers to stay with family members.

M Sarkozy's political reputation, already on the wane before the rioting began, has suffered further because of his hardline stance against what he described as the "scum".

That his latest statement to the French parliament resembles the pronouncements of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far-Right leader of the National Front, will not go unnoticed.

M Le Pen has said that even naturalised French with immigrant backgrounds should be stripped of their citizenship and sent "back to their country of origin" if they committed crimes.

M Sarkozy's deportation proposal was attacked as the restoration of the "double jeopardy" law which the Interior Minister overturned three years ago. Under that policy, all convicted foreigners were expelled after serving a jail sentence.

It has fuelled national introspection about France’s failure to properly integrate its African and Muslim minorities. Tensions over racism, unemployment, social exclusion and harsh treatment by police exploded following the deaths of two African youths fleeing police.

Last night, France endured its 13th consecutive night of suburban anarchy despite the implementation of night-time curfews in the worst-hit regions.

Although the number of cars burnt- a barometer of the scale of unrest - has subsided in Paris, pockets of protest remain nationwide.

In the northern town of Arras, youths looted and set fire to a furniture and electronics store and an adjacent supermarket. In Grasse, a town in the south, a newspaper warehouse and subway station were torched.

Overnight, youths burnt 482 vehicles, down from 617 on the previous night and 1,173 the night before. Police made 203 arrests, raising the total to 2,033 since the riots began.  Michel Gaudin, the national police chief, said this was a "significant decline".

In Paris, where the sale of petrol in canisters has been banned, local officials reported another generally calm night. At the peak of the trouble on Sunday some 1,400 vehicles were burned and 395 people arrested across the country.

"Things have got better," said Bernard Fragneau, prefet for the southwest Essonne region. He noted that car burnings have decreased and said there were no direct clashes between youths and police.

"The arrests are bearing fruit," said Interior Ministry spokesman Franck Louvrier. "It’s clear there has been a significant drop, but we must persevere."

Iran offered nuclear power deal

Staff and agencies
Thursday November 10, 2005

The European Union and the US have offered Iran a compromise over its nuclear programme, senior diplomats said today. The deal means Tehran can convert raw uranium into a low-level gas that can be enriched to generate electricity in nuclear power stations.

Unnamed EU officials told the Associated Press they have approved a plan that would allow Iran to continue raw uranium conversion, but the actual process of enrichment would take place in Russia.

If Tehran accepts the deal to send uranium to Russia to be further enriched, it would still be able to use the enriched uranium for fuel purposes, but the threat of building atomic weapons would be reduced.

Iran concealed its uranium enrichment programme from the IAEA for 18 years, fuelling fears in the west that it was developing an atomic bomb. Tehran has always denied that it is enriching uranium to be used as atomic weapons and says it needs nuclear power to fuel its expanding demand for electricity.

Earlier this week, Iran said it had allowed inspectors from the nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to tour its facility in Parchin, 20 miles south of Tehran.

The US had claimed that Parchin was used to develop explosives that could be used in nuclear weapons.

Iran suspended its uranium enrichment programme in November last year and began talks with the EU - represented by Britain, France and Germany - aimed at convincing Iran to use imported low-enriched nuclear fuel for its reactors instead. This was known as the Paris agreement.

However, Iran restarted its nuclear programme in August, leading to the collapse of the talks and the threat of being referred to the UN security council for sanctions.

Months of political brinkmanship followed. Then, last weekend, Iran sent a letter to the three European nations, calling for renewed talks.

Quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency, the letter "assessed the past exchanges and welcomed rational and constructive negotiations in the framework of international regulations".

Raw uranium can be converted into hexafluoride gas, which can then be spun by centrifuges into enriched uranium. Enriched uranium is used in nuclear power plants, or can be further enriched to weapons-grade material.

cris you will probably need to reveal your gender, because somehow I get the feeling that our brothers won't want a female learning Karate (it would defeat the purpose).  

That would be to her benefit.

Pastor Roger and Cris,

Both of you know more about this than I do, especially after you started using all the big words.  

All of this big money talk has convinced me that it's time to go back to candles, tents, and an abacus for a computer.

Who needs a washer and dryer for wash and wear clothes? You simply jump in the creek and wash while you wear. No water bills, and you took care of the bath at the same time. You also did away with the water heater.

We can also get rid of the telephone, television, and teletype  with tell-a-woman.  

We're going to offer classes on making fire by rubbing sticks together. Sign up soon since room is limited in the tent.

After this, we are planning numerous karate classes for men so they can defend themselves from their wives.  

Brother, that was hilarious. I'm ready for it myself. Can I help teaching the classes (all except the karate class I'm afraid I would lose big time there)?

No gas lines, UPS is out of range, community doesn't want to help, utility company won't take responsibility, I would say the only other alternative would be a law suit. If you feel as I do then the word law suit is a dirty word but it is one that sometimes must be used especially when you are having to put out so much money unnecessarily for repairs.

I have found sometimes that just the word alone, dropped to the right person, will get tremendous results.

Yep, it is a dirty word and something that I've never done, but maybe you're right.  Now PR, who might that "right" person be?  Any ideas?

Should I go to city hall with that word?  Who might the right person be there?  Sorry for these questions, but I've never done this before.

Grace and peace,
cris

City hall may have some influence here but the ultimate one responsible is the utility company itself. I would start with the people in charge of the substation, asking them exactly what the problem is as it may not be their fault. If you get a satifactory answer from them and it turns out it isn't there fault then I would go to their source. Be ready though because you may reach an impasse between them with one blaiming the other.

An O scope can show the hertz if you have one that works for that high a voltage and you have it on the right settings. You would just need to check to see how many cycles it does each second. I wouldn't be able to help with the settings on it as each Oscope is somewhat different in it's settings/switches, etc.

If it is an old one that was used for TV repair then it probably has the capability of reading a 115 Volt line.

Everyone in this area has the same voltage supply so would the scope even make a difference?  I checked my neighbors voltage tonight.  It's the same as mine and they are ON A DIFFERENT TRANSFORMER.  There's a DEFINITE problem with the EC's substation.............that's a known.  The substation can't change the cycles per second.  They can only vary the voltage and current.  Our electric company buys their electric from ?wherever........somewhere from the grid

Again, bottom line, am I stuck?


Grace and peace,
cris

 

The problem may not be in the substation but rather in their supply. If they are not being provided sufficient power from their source it could cause such a problem.

I would say that you are stuck unless you can find an alternate power source for a reasonable price. Such as butane.

Hi again, Lee. I have been with Christians Unite for a little over a year now. It doesn't seem like that long a time but time goes fast when you are having fun. I have enjoyed every minute of my time in some great fellowship with some very wonderful Christians.

I read your testimony on the other thread and it has really moved me.

There are a number of us here that are disabled for one reason or another. We all still have a great time in serving the Lord.

I look forward to reading more of your posts.

Hi Lee,

Don't worry about the length of your posts. When it comes to such a sad yet wonderful testimony as yours I enjoyed reading every word of it. I am terribly sorry to hear about your losing your son in that manner but it is wonderful that he is in heaven and the you will be able to rejoin him one day.

No gas lines, UPS is out of range, community doesn't want to help, utility company won't take responsibility, I would say the only other alternative would be a law suit. If you feel as I do then the word law suit is a dirty word but it is one that sometimes must be used especially when you are having to put out so much money unnecessarily for repairs.

I have found sometimes that just the word alone, dropped to the right person, will get tremendous results.

An O scope can show the hertz if you have one that works for that high a voltage and you have it on the right settings. You would just need to check to see how many cycles it does each second. I wouldn't be able to help with the settings on it as each Oscope is somewhat different in it's settings/switches, etc.

If it is an old one that was used for TV repair then it probably has the capability of reading a 115 Volt line.

I just did a look on the internet for a UPS. To get one large enough for your entire house we are talking at minimum $8,600.00 and that is for the minimum appliances, using gas stove, dryer and water heater. I think it would be cheaper to go to gas appliances.

The U.S. used to operate on 50 Hertz. Lighting was poor, bulbs had a tendency to show a slight flicker all the time so they boosted it to 60 Hertz. With AC current Hertz is simply the measurement of the wave length which is the amount of time it goes from zero to 125 Volts to zero to a neg 125 then back to zero (one wave length). 60 Hertz is 60 of those per second.

Hertz can also fluctuate if there is a problem with the generating equipment. If your bulbs seem to have normal output then it probably is not a problem there.

One other point. If your local phone service is using the same utility company it will have an effect on your internet.