Birth Pangs of Matthew 24, Jan. 14, 2007

[Shammu]

Federal Agents Arrest North Carolina Man Suspected of Decapitating His 4-Year-Old Daughter

Saturday , January 13, 2007

RALEIGH, N.C. — A man suspected of decapitating his 4-year-old daughter and leaving the body for her mother to find in their suburban home was arrested in Washington, D.C., early Saturday, authorities said.

Investigators have not found any history of domestic or mental health problems at the home, and still have no leads as to a possible motive in the killing, said Clayton police Lt. Jon Gerrell.

Amber Violette told police Friday evening she had found her daughter, Katlin, with her head severed from her body, police said.

An "edged weapon" believe to have been used in the killing was found in the house, though Gerrell declined to give more details.

"This is devastating for the whole community as a whole, and it's the most horrific thing I've seen in 13 years of police work," said Sgt. S.P. Lapsley. "That a father could do this to his child, I just can't believe it."

John Patrick Violette's vehicle was found at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, and investigators learned he had taken a flight to Washington. Deputy U.S. marshals arrested the 37-year-old after police tracked his credit card to the hotel, Lapsley said.

Police said Violette, 37, would be held in Washington pending an extradition on a murder charge expected to be filed in Clayton, about 15 miles southeast of Raleigh. The U.S. Marshals Service said an extradition hearing is expected to be held Tuesday.

The mother is not a suspect in the investigation, and Lapsley said police don't expect to make any more arrests.

Police said John Violette quit his job at a home improvement store on Thursday, the News & Observer of Raleigh reported.

Lori McCreary, who lives across the street from the Violette home in Clayton, a suburb about 15 miles southeast of Raleigh, described the family as "very private, but normal."

"They went to church every Sunday. They just seemed like a very happy, normal couple," McCreary said. "This is just so very, very shocking — and devastating."

Federal Agents Arrest North Carolina Man Suspected of Decapitating His 4-Year-Old Daughter

[Shammu]

Leader says ban on animal sacrifice is affront to faith

By Michael Grabell,
The Dallas Morning News

Euless, Texas | The room was set up with benches and shrines, the herbs, dried coconuts and eggshell chalk laid out on a table. With the preparations done, 10 church members sat by the pool behind the red-brick home on the cul-de-sac and drank beer.

The next day, they would sacrifice a chicken to initiate a new member, using the energy in its blood to communicate with the spirits, known as orishas.

But then Euless police knocked on the door.

The officers explained to the priest, Jose Merced, that killing animals of any kind is illegal within the city limits. And Merced tried unsuccessfully to explain that animal sacrifice is as essential to his religion, Santeria, as the Eucharist is to Catholicism.

Now, Merced has filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the city, thrusting the African-Caribbean religion and the quiet suburb into the spotlight. And Merced has a U.S. Supreme Court case supporting Santeria animal sacrifice, indicating that Euless might have to compromise.

"It appears that city officials are either deliberately defying the Supreme Court justices on this ruling or they're simply confused," said Ernesto Pichardo, head of the Santeria religion in the U.S. and the plaintiff in the 1993 Supreme Court case.

Euless officials declined to present their side of the story, saying they wouldn't comment on their dispute with Merced, the intentions of their ordinance or the Supreme Court case because of the pending lawsuit.

The city's code says the law against slaughtering animals is intended to promote "the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the city," "to protect property values" and "to enhance the quality of life of persons, pets and other animals."

What is Santeria?

Santeria, also known as Lukumi, originated among the Yoruba people in southwestern Nigeria thousands of years ago and came to the Caribbean through the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

It arrived in South Florida during the Cuban exodus of the 1960s. High priests, or obas, like Pichardo estimate that there are 3 million to 4 million followers in the U.S.

"This is not drinking blood, and we don't sacrifice children," Pichardo said. "It is an African religion that has its own central dogma, its own bible. It is a pre-Christian religion. It has its own ceremonies. It has its own rituals."

But like other African religions that followed the slave trade, such as voodoo and macumba, the practice of Santeria takes place outside the public eye, through home worship instead of in a central temple.

"We don't do it in a church because due to the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the diaspora, they totally pulverized those kinds of religious and social structures," Pichardo said.

Believers in Santeria came to Euless for the same reason many others did - its proximity to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and higher-paying jobs with the airlines.

Merced arrived from Puerto Rico in 1990. He says at least four other Santeria families live in Euless, and he estimates that there could be as many as 6,000 followers in North Texas.

Trouble brews

The complaints started after he became the only Santeria oba in the region in 1999 and started performing rituals and holding gatherings at his house. Neighbors began complaining to police about cars blocking driveways, loud chanting, animal cries and smells.

There have been many ceremonies at the house, but Merced says he's conducted just two animal sacrifices in the area, using chickens and goats.

The offerings are an essential part of the religion, considered so sacred that Santeria would cease to exist without them. Santeria teaches that the orisha spirits, which emanated from God, can manifest themselves only through the energy contained in blood, which opens a channel of direct communication with the orishas.

The blood is also an essential part of what makes a priest a priest.

"If you were to remove animal offerings from ordination rites, (Santeria) would not have priests," Pichardo said.

"Can we remove the ritual symbolic cannibalistic act of drinking wine as Jesus Christ's blood?" he asked. "You do that, you do not have the ability of conducting a Christian Mass."

After the ritual, the animals are cleaned, cooked in a stew and eaten during a feast.

Euless isn't some hayseed Podunk, ignorant of other cultures. This is a town that rallies around its high school football team's dancing of the haka - a Polynesian war dance that involves chanting, chest-thumping and tongue-flailing.

The city of about 50,000 people has one of the highest concentrations of Tongans in the U.S. and a large percentage of Mexican immigrants. Almost 40 languages are spoken in its elementary schools.

"We are not narrow-minded, and we certainly are not insensitive to other cultures," said Betty Fuller, whose husband is related to the town's founders.

Fuller lives four houses down from the house where Merced performs the Santeria rituals. She said she believes they're entitled to their religious beliefs but shouldn't be sacrificing animals in a neighborhood. Years ago, her husband's ancestors slaughtered pigs and chickens for food on the very same land.

"You would wring a chicken's neck and have it for Sunday dinner, and that was perfectly fine," Fuller said. "That was back in the '30s and '40s, when there were only 200 people living in Euless.

"This is not out-in-the-country Euless anymore."

Leader says ban on animal sacrifice is affront to faith

[Shammu]

John Bolton: Mideast Peace Efforts a Waste

Sunday , January 14, 2007

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As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets with Mideast leaders to jumpstart the peace process, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton called the attempt a waste of time.

Bolton, who also said it's time another body replace the United Nations, told the Sunday Times of London the Arab-Israeli conflict was “not a priority," adding: “I don’t see linkage to Iraq, and Hamas and Fatah are in a state of civil war.”

Now back at American Enterprise Institute, Bolton let loose on a variety of topics during the interview, from negotiating nuclear weapons with Iran to the reunification of the Korean peninsula.

“I wouldn’t have engaged in negotiations with Iran in the first place,” he told the paper, in a nod to Britain, France and Germany, nations that have made contact with Tehran. “The policy has failed. Sanctions won’t stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.”

Bolton said President Bush and his administration would “rather find a way for diplomacy to succeed but time is running out — that's me speaking."

Regime change, he said is "preferable" to a U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear sites, though “the only course worse than the use of force is an Iran with nuclear weapons."

“President Bush has said it is unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons and he will not accept it,” Bolton said.

“There are all kinds of ways to change the regime,” he said, mentioning covert and overt means to topple the government. “We have an extensive diaspora of people with Iranian heritage in America who we don’t use effectively.”

As to the threat of nuclear weapons posed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, Bolton said that the only solution was through a “peaceful reunification of the [Korean] peninsula."

The vocal critic of the U.N. still believes that other organizations such as NATO might be better suited to governing world affairs.

“Fifteen years ago people said NATO would either go out of area or out of existence and now it is in Afghanistan and it is all but NATO — absent Germany and France — in Iraq,” he said. “I think NATO should go global. There is no reason why Japan and Australia shouldn’t join.”

In Bolton’s view, America needs to take the lead in global affairs because “Who else will?”

John Bolton: Mideast Peace Efforts a Waste

[Shammu]

Jordan's king urges Rice to push peace process
14 Jan 2007 20:36:01 GMT

By Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN, Jan 14 (Reuters) - King Abdullah of Jordan warned U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday that failure to get Middle East peace talks moving quickly could lead to worse violence, officials said.

They said the king was encouraged by the Bush administration's determination to embark on a new drive to resume the stalled negotiations, and urged Rice to promote a stronger U.S. role in Middle East peacemaking.

"The passage of time without achieving tangible and real progress based on specific steps to activate the road map in the near future will only lead to widening the cycle of violence," a palace statement quoted the king as telling Rice.

Rice promised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday a bigger American push towards a Palestinian state and said she would focus on kick-starting the stalled "road map" peace plan.

Abdullah told Rice peace talks should aim at a "viable Palestinian state enjoying full sovereignty", and said a just and permanent solution to the Palestinians' plight was the key to resolving the broader Arab-Israeli conflict.

Israeli officials said Washington was exploring several options, including the creation of a Palestinian state with temporary borders along the route of the barrier Israel is building in and around the West Bank -- an idea Abbas has rejected.

WASHINGTON UNDER PRESSURE

Rice, on her eighth trip to the region during her two years as secretary of state, offered no details on how Washington would accelerate the peace process.

Washington is under pressure from European and Arab allies to get more involved in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Peace talks collapsed in 2000.

Rice met top Israeli ministers on Saturday and will meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem on Monday.

The three-stage peace plan has not moved past the first stage because neither side has met its obligations -- Israel is supposed to halt settlement building in the West Bank while Palestinians must dismantle militant groups.

The second stage outlines a Palestinian state with provisional borders.

Rice said all the road map requirements should be fulfilled but she did not rule out jumping to the next stage to try to create new momentum.

Rice is seeking Arab help to bolster Abbas and stabilise Iraq during a trip that will include stops in Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as well as Germany and Britain.

Abdullah said U.S. support for Abbas was crucial to ensure a strong Palestinian partner in any future talks to reach a final peace settlement with the Israelis.

The king, a staunch U.S. ally, also told Rice that Iraq's disaffected Sunnis must be drawn into the U.S.-backed political process to ensure the country's stability.

Jordan's king urges Rice to push peace process

[Shammu]

Iraq's Talabani visits Assad seeking closer ties
14 Jan 2007 19:14:15 GMT

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

DAMASCUS, Jan 14 (Reuters) - President Jalal Talabani, on the first trip to Syria by an Iraqi head of state for 30 years, met President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday during a visit expected to focus on stabilising Iraq and preventing insurgents crossing their long border.

Talabani, who lived in exile in Syria in the 1970s, wants to use his six-day trip to discuss ways to stem the violence in Iraq and stop what the United States says is a flow of men and arms across the border to help the insurgency in Iraq.

The two neighbours restored diplomatic relations only last month after a breach in the 1980s when Syria, alone in the Arab world, sided with Tehran during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

"We hope this will be a successful visit. We have a desire to develop ties in all fields," Assad told Talabani when they met at a hilltop palace overlooking the Syrian capital.

"Syria stood with us in difficult times," said Talabani, speaking in the presence of journalists. "I came here with a large delegation to show our seriousness about advancing our relations with Syria."

Talabani has said he wants Damascus to stop a flow of fighters and weapons into Iraq to join the insurgency against his government. Syria denies involvement and says it has an interest in preventing Iraq's conflict from becoming civil war.

Talabani, a Kurd, founded the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in the 1970s, when he, along with scores of other exiled opponents of then President Saddam Hussein, was living in Syria.

Fakhri Karim, a member of the Iraqi delegation who is well connected in Syria, said security would figure high in talks between Iraqi and Syrian officials.

A deal to sell up to 400,000 tonnes of Syrian wheat to Iraq is also expected to be discussed.

Syria, which has been strengthening its ties with Iran, is trying to convene a conference of Iraqi political forces to stop violence in Iraq. Iran has influence with some groups in the Shi'ite majority now in power in Iraq.

Damascus hopes that improved ties and stability in Iraq will increase Syrian exports and allow the resumption of crude oil flows through a pipeline running from the oil city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq to Syria's Mediterranean coast.

Talabani's delegation includes the chief of the State Oil Marketing Organisation and the interior, trade, and water ministers. He will also meet some of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have fled to Syria since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that removed Saddam from power but led to civil strife.

Talabani is likely to hold further talks with Assad and other top officials during his visit, which is expected to end on Jan 19.

Iraq's Talabani visits Assad seeking closer ties

[Shammu]

US accuses Iran over officials seized in Iraq
14 Jan 2007 20:01:30 GMT

By Ibon Villelabeitia and Alastair Macdonald

BAGHDAD, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The United States accused five Iranians it arrested in Iraq of running arms and money to Iraqi militants as Iraq joined Iran in calling for the men's release.

Washington also told Arab allies it would do more to contain Tehran.

With U.S. forces preparing a big push to avert civil war in Baghdad, Vice President Dick Cheney urged Americans to have the "stomach" to see through a campaign with global ramifications and Iraq's president sought help from another U.S. foe, Syria.

Three days after it stormed an Iranian government office in the Iraqi Kurdish capital Arbil, the U.S. military said five men it seized had ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard-Qods Force -- "known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilise the government of Iraq and attack Coalition forces".

In Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini demanded their immediate release, saying the five were diplomats involved in "consulate affairs". Iraq has said the mission did not yet have consular status but had operated with its approval.

Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters the row showed the "thin line" U.S.-occupied Iraq must tread at the heart of the oil-rich Middle East -- flanked by Iran, with its links to fellow Shi'ite Muslims dominating the new Iraqi government, and by Sunni-ruled Arab states suspicious of non-Arab Tehran.

"We fully respect the views, policies and strategy of the United States which is the strongest ally to Iraq but the Iraqi government has national interests of its own," Zebari said.

"We can't change the geographical reality that Iran is our neighbour. This is a delicate balance and we are treading a very thin line," he said, adding he hoped the men would be freed.

Iraq's national security minister discussed the issue in Tehran with Iran's intelligence minister, ISNA news agency said.

The Arbil incident was the second such detention in a month and Cheney and U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley were blunt in comments on Iran in U.S. television interviews:

"You have seen in the last couple weeks that Iranians found doing things in Iraq have been picked up by Coalition forces. And I think you're going to see more of that," Hadley said.

"We intend to deal with it by interdicting and disrupting activities in Iraq, sponsored by Iran, that are putting our troops and Iraqis at risk," he added, while declining to say whether U.S. forces would pursue targets inside Iran.

"STOMACH" FOR FIGHT

Cheney cited concerns about growing Iranian strength among not just Israelis but also Sunni-ruled U.S. Arab allies in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia and Jordan: "The entire region is worried.

"The presence of U.S. military out there ... is indicated as reassurance to our friends in the region that the United States is committed to their security," he said.

President George W. Bush has been cool to suggestions he seek help from Iran and Syria over Iraq. Talking to Al-Arabiya television, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he had "no objection" to such dialogue and said he had had a "positive response" from Saudi King Abdullah about helping Iraqis.

But he added: "If they (the Americans) envisage that they can -- through dialogue with us or Syria or Saudi Arabia or any other side -- undermine the interests of the Iraqi people or ignore them, then they are wrong."

Cheney also defended Bush's decision last week to send more than 20,000 extra U.S. troops to try to end sectarian bloodshed in Baghdad between Sunnis and Shi'ites, describing it as essential to a broader, global front against militant Islam.

He said it was not "just a U.S. show" and that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was aware of U.S. expectations he tackle both Sunni rebels and militias loyal to his fellow Shi'ites.

Asked about opposition to the troop deployment in Congress and whether the United States would do "whatever it takes to win", Cheney replied: "I believe we will. If the United States doesn't have the stomach to finish the job in Iraq, we put at risk what we've done in all of those other locations out there."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is on a week-long tour of the Middle East, partly to seek support for the Iraq policy.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani arrived in Syria, which the United States and Iraqi leaders say lets arms and fighters cross into Iraq in support of Sunni insurgents. Talabani says he wants it to stop and Damascus says it wants to help peace in Iraq.

Little was said after talks between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Talabani, who plans to spend some days in a city where he was once exiled. It is the highest level visit since diplomatic relations were restored last year after a quarter of a century of estrangement during the rule of Saddam Hussein.

"We hope the Syrians will help Iraqis stabilise security," Talabani said before leaving. Aides said he will ask Damascus to control its borders. Syria denies helping fighters reach Iraq.

US accuses Iran over officials seized in Iraq

[Shammu]

Use of new Red Crystal finally allows Israel to join Red Cross
By Reuters

GENEVA - The world's largest relief organization, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, on Sunday began using a third emblem whose adoption allowed Israel to join after a decades-long struggle.

The red crystal on a white background is an alternative to either the cross or the crescent and is intended to provide protection to relief workers operating in areas of conflict.

Both the Israeli Magen David Adom (MDA) and the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency services joined the umbrella relief organization in June 2006, six months after the movement's signatory states and national societies agreed to the new emblem at a specially convened conference.

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Israel's MDA had resisted using the cross and crescent because of their links to Christianity and Islam.

In return for being allowed to join, Israel had to acknowledge the Palestinian Red Crescent as the internationally recognized emergency service within the occupied territory.

Arab states had insisted on this before they would accept a new emblem custom-made for Israel.

"The red crystal reaffirms the determination of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to ... enhance its strength and credibility," the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a joint statement.

Its adoption involved a new protocol to the 1949 Geneva Conventions which lay down rules for warfare and the treatment of prisoners and the wounded.

So far 84 countries have signed the protocol and nine have ratified it. The emblem automatically came into force six months after being ratified by the second state, which was Switzerland, on July 14, 2006.

Use of new Red Crystal finally allows Israel to join Red Cross

[Shammu]

Iran and Venezuela plan anti-U.S. fund

By NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON, Associated Press Writer Sat Jan 13, 11:41 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — fiery anti-American leaders whose moves to extend their influence have alarmed Washington — said Saturday they would help finance investment projects in other countries seeking to thwart U.S. domination.

The two countries had previously revealed plans for a joint $2 billion fund to finance investments in Venezuela and Iran, but the leaders said Saturday the money would also be used for projects in friendly countries throughout the developing world.

"It will permit us to underpin investments ... above all in those countries whose governments are making efforts to liberate themselves from the (U.S.) imperialist yoke," Chavez said.

"This fund, my brother," the Venezuelan president said, referring affectionately to Ahmadinejad, "will become a mechanism for liberation."

"Death to U.S. imperialism!" Chavez said.

Ahmadinejad, who is starting a tour of left-leaning countries in the region, called it a "very important" decision that would help promote "joint cooperation in third countries," especially in Latin America and Africa.

It was not clear if the leaders were referring to investment in infrastructure, social and energy projects — areas that the two countries have focused on until now — or other types of financing.

Iran and Venezuela are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and Chavez said Saturday that they had agreed to back a further oil production cut in the cartel to stem a recent fall in crude prices.

"We know today there is too much crude in the market," Chavez said. "We have agreed to join our forces within
OPEC ... to support a production cut and save the price of oil."

OPEC reduced output by 1.2 million barrels a day in November, then announced an additional cut of 500,000 barrels a day, due to begin on Feb. 1. Dow Jones Newswires reported Friday that OPEC is discussing holding an emergency meeting later this month to reduce output by another 500,000 barrels a day. Venezuela and Iran have been leading price hawks within OPEC.

Ahmadinejad's visit Saturday — his second to Venezuela in less than four months — comes as he seeks to break international isolation over his country's nuclear program and possibly line up new allies in Latin America. He is also expected to visit Nicaragua and Ecuador, which both recently elected leftist governments.

Chavez and Ahmadinejad have been increasingly united by their deep-seated antagonism toward the Bush administration. Chavez has become a leading defender of Iran's nuclear ambitions, accusing the Washington of using the issue as a pretext to attack Tehran.

Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, has called Chavez "the champion of the struggle against imperialism."

U.S. officials have accused Chavez — a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro — of authoritarian tendencies, and National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said recently in an annual review of global threats that Venezuela's democracy was at risk.

The U.S. also believes Iran is seeking to use its nuclear program to develop an atomic bomb. Tehran says its program is peaceful and geared toward the production of energy.

The increasingly close relationship between Chavez and Ahmadinejad has alarmed some Chavez critics, who accuse him of pursuing an alliance that does not serve Venezuela's interests and jeopardizes its ties with the United States, the country's top oil buyer. Venezuela is among the top five suppliers of crude to the U.S. market.

In a speech earlier Saturday, Chavez called for the U.S. government to accept "the new realities of Latin America," as he brushed aside restrictions that limit presidents to two consecutive terms. He vowed to stay in office beyond 2013, when his term expires, saying he would revise the constitution to get rid of presidential term limits.

But Chavez also said in his state of the nation address to government officials and legislators that he had personally expressed hope to a high-ranking U.S. official for better relations between their two countries.

Chavez said he spoke with Thomas Shannon, head of the U.S. State Department's Western Hemisphere affairs bureau, on the sidelines of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's inauguration earlier this week.

"We shook hands and I told him: 'I hope that everything improves,'" Chavez said. "I'm not anyone's enemy."

Chavez prompted a crash in Venezuelan share prices this past week when he announced he would seek special powers from the legislature to push through "revolutionary" reforms, including a string of nationalizations and unspecified changes to business laws and the commerce code.

He also announced plans for the state to take control of the country's largest telecommunications company, its electricity and natural gas sectors and four heavy crude upgrading projects now controlled by some of the world's top oil companies.

He said Saturday, however, that private companies would be allowed to own minority stakes in the lucrative Orinoco River basin oil projects.

The government has already taken majority ownership of all other oil-producing operations in the country through joint ventures controlled by the state oil company. Most companies have shown a willingness to continue investing despite the tightening terms, which have also included tax and royalty increases.

Iran and Venezuela plan anti-U.S. fund