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[Soldier4Christ]

Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia cement left alliance

HAVANA (Reuters) - Leftist leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia met in Havana on Saturday to complete an integration agreement cast as an alternative to U.S. plans for a free-trade pact with the Latin American region.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived on Friday. They planned to sign the accord with Cuban President
Fidel Castro on Saturday and participate in an evening rally in Havana's Revolution Square.

"This meeting is a great meeting of three generations, of three revolutions," Morales, who was elected in December, said upon arrival.

Castro came to power in a 1959 communist revolution, and Chavez first won election in 1998 to lead what he calls a "Bolivarian revolution."

The three-way summit takes place on the first anniversary of a comprehensive political, social and economic integration agreement between Cuba and Venezuela, dubbed the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), after South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

The accord gives Cuba preferential financing for Venezuelan oil and payment for more than 20,000 Cuban doctors and other professionals working in Venezuela. It has helped Cuba emerge from the economic crisis that followed the demise of the Soviet Union, its former benefactor .

Bolivia, by joining the pact, will gain access to Venezuelan energy resources and financing, Cuban doctors, teachers and other professionals, and markets for products such as soy.

"ALBA has worked very well for both Cuba and Venezuela, and Bolivia's joining can only improve it by adding another dimension," Cuban economist Omar Everleny said.

LATIN AMERICA SPLIT ON FUTURE

Nicaraguan Sandinista revolutionary Daniel Ortega, who held power in the 1980s and is a leading candidate in a presidential election this November, was also in Havana, apparently as an observer.

Chavez and Castro cast ALBA as a contrast to a faltering U.S. plan for a "Free Trade Area of the Americas," which they charge is a U.S. bid to reinforce its domination of Latin America. The message has resonated in a region where free-market policies have failed to alleviate chronic poverty.

"Until this year, Castro and Chavez seemed doomed to remain a two-man club. The addition of Morales dramatically changes this equation," said Daniel Erikson, Caribbean programs director at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington policy group.

"By adding a country with significant gas reserves that are increasingly under government control, Bolivia's membership expands the economic potential of ALBA, which already includes Venezuela's huge oil reserves," Erikson said.

Latin America is increasingly divided on how to form an economic bloc that can compete in the global economy.

Venezuela and Bolivia threatened this month to the leave a five-member Andean Community of Nations because members Colombia, Peru have signed U.S.-sponsored free-trade agreements. Ecuador is considering a similar pact with Washington.

Nine Latin American countries, including Mexico and Chile, have signed free-trade agreements with Washington. Others, such as all-important Brazil and Argentina, have refused, while also keeping their distance from Venezuela's ALBA.

"It remains to be seen how far this alternative economic model will take hold in the hemisphere. Most countries are not about to adopt restricted, selective policies toward foreign investment or turn toward state direction of the economy," said Phil Peters, vice president of the Lexington Institute, a conservative U.S. think tank.

[Shammu]

Church Launches 'Da Vinci Code' Campaign

31 minutes ago

SYDNEY, Australia - An Australian church group has launched a Web site and a series of cinema advertisements challenging theories in the blockbuster book "The Da Vinci Code" to coincide with the release of the movie version.

The $38,000 campaign by Anglican Sydney Media urges viewers of the film and readers of Dan Brown's novel to seek the truth about Jesus Christ.

"Our concern is that 'The Da Vinci Code' will mislead people about the truth," said Bishop Robert Forsyth, the chairman of the group, which promotes the Sydney diocese of the Anglican church in the media.

"We are not afraid of the film. We are not seeking to discourage people from seeing it," he said Sunday. "But we are well aware of the power popular films have in filling the information void about Jesus."

Among other disputed claims, "The Da Vinci Code" contends that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had descendants.

The film version of "The Da Vinci Code," starring Tom Hanks, is due to open worldwide May 17-19.

Church Launches 'Da Vinci Code' Campaign

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Break looms within American Baptist Churches
Associated Press

POMONA, Calif. - Delegates representing congregations of the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest voted overwhelmingly Saturday to recommend severing ties with the national denomination in a dispute over homosexuality.

The matter now goes to the board of directors, which has already recommended withdrawal from American Baptist Churches, USA, citing "deep differences of theological convictions and values."

The board was scheduled to meet May 11.

On Saturday, delegates from the region's 300 churches voted 1,125 to 209 to withdraw from American Baptist Churches, USA. The delegates met in seven locations across the West, including First Baptist Church in Pomona.

The board of directors had the authority to withdraw from the national denomination, but decided to seek input from the delegates, according to a statement on the group's Web site.

There has been a growing split within the 1.4 million-member American Baptist Churches, USA over homosexuality.

In November, the governing board added language to the denomination's self-definition, saying American Baptists are believers "who submit to the teaching of Scripture that God's design for sexual intimacy places it within the context of marriage between one man and one woman, and acknowledge that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with biblical teaching."

The denomination has taken previous stands against gay sex. But it has not disciplined congregations with liberal gay policies, drawing the ire of the Pacific Southwest region and others.

Last year, the West Virginia association, the largest regional group with 465 congregations, narrowly rejected a proposal to break with the national denomination.

The debate over interpreting the Bible on homosexuality is tearing at many Protestant denominations. Among the most dramatic examples is the worldwide Anglican Communion, which is struggling to stay together following the decision of its U.S. province, the Episcopal Church, to consecrate its first openly gay bishop a few years ago.

Break looms within American Baptist Churches

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Jordan, Egypt say will urge Abbas, not Hamas, to make peace
By The Associated Press

Jordan and Egypt said Saturday they hoped to encourage the newly formed Israeli government to return to the negotiating table and wanted the Palestinian Authority chairman - not his Hamas-led government - to reach a final settlement with the Jewish state.

Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak discussed their common strategy against terrorism and to promote peace in the region, said Egypt's foreign minister after a closed-door meeting in the Red Sea resort town of Aqaba.

There is a "joint Egyptian-Jordanian-Arab effort to encourage the new Israeli government to abandon unilateral moves, return to the negotiating table and implement the road map for peace," Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul-Illah al-Khatib added that the two Arab leaders wanted Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to negotiate a final peace
settlement, rather than his Hamas-led government. "The Palestinian president is the one entitled to pursue the negotiations," he said.

Pressed on whether this was an effort to circumvent Hamas - which has declined any official contact with Israel - al-Khatib said Jordan and Egypt hoped for a "unified Palestinian position."

The ministers confirmed that Mubarak and King Abdullah planned to hold separate meetings with Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to push for the U.S.-backed peace agreement, which envisions an end to Palestinian-Israeli violence and the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

The Egyptian foreign minister also called for an international conference to discuss "counter terrorist operations."

He said Egypt - battered by terror attacks earlier this week - had sent letters to the U.S. and European Union governments urging them to reconsider an Egyptian proposal for a U.N. meeting that would discuss how to "uproot terrorism in the region and in the world."

During the talks at the Jordanian king's seaside palace in Aqaba, the two leaders also discussed the situation in Iraq, and Iran's nuclear program, the ministers said.

Mubarak's visit to Jordan came in the wake of multiple bombings that killed at least 21 people in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula this week.

Jordan, Egypt say will urge Abbas, not Hamas, to make peace

[Shammu]

 Iran warns U.N. curbs will increase oil prices
Islamabad, April 30, IRNA

Iran-Pakistan-Gas pipeline
Iran warned on Sunday that oil prices could go substantially high if the United Nations slapped sanctions on the country for its nuclear program but hoped its oil and gas sectors will not be sanctioned.

"Any action like that will increase oil price very high. And I believe that U.N. or its bodies will not put any sanctions on oil or gas industry," Iran Deputy Minister of Petroleum for International Affairs, Hadi Nejad Hosseinian told a news conference at the conclusion of three-day talks in with Pakistani officials.

"I do not think any body could put any sanction on oil and gas industry, Mr Hosseinian said when asked what would be the future of the multi-billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.

Ahmad Waqar, Secretary of Pakistan Petroleum, who led delegation in talks with Iran, also played down the threat of sanctions and said Pakistan is dealing with the project in view of its energy requirements.

"Pakistan is viewing this project keeping in view its national interests. There are our energy requirements. We need energy for sustaining economic growth and the decisions taken by our leadership is based on that," Mr Waqar told the news conference with his Iranian deputy oil Minister.

We hope substantial progress ahead of the ministerial meeting in June, he said.

Both the sides in the 7th meeting of the Iran-Pakistan Joint Working Group (JWG) on Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) agreed to make immediate efforts for concluding the bilateral arrangements, said a statement issued at the press conference.

The JWG examined in detail various financial, commercial, technical and legal aspects of the project.

Major issues discussed in the Working Group meeting included Gas Pricing Formula, Project Structure, Project Feasibility, Gas Off-take Volumes and Gas Sales & Purchase Agreement.

Iran agreed to enhance off-take volumes for Pakistan from 2.1 Bcfd to 2.8 Bcfd in case the project is implemented bilaterally, the statement said.

The two sides resolved that the contracts and agreements for the projects would be developed and finalized expeditiously.

Both sides deliberated upon different gas pricing formulae and agreed to the basic principles for the formula.

Both sides further agreed to a project structure wherein gas would be delivered at Iran-Pakistan border under a supply agreement.

The statement said that both sides agreed to develop a Joint Declaration Document signifying the commitment of both the governments to the Project for signature in the joint ministerial meeting in June 2006 at Tehran.

Both sides reaffirmed to try to develop Gas Pipeline project by adopting international best practices and standards.

The next JWG meeting will be held in Islamabad on May 25, 2006.

Petroleum Ministers of both the countries would meet in Tehran in June 2006 on mutually agreed date to sign Join Declaration of the Project.

Dr Ahmed Waqar said that the construction cost of Pakistan is likely to be between 2 and 2.5 billion dollars but detailed study will be conducted.

He said the gas would be received on the Iran-Pakistan border and later the pipeline will be coming to the town of Bhung near Rahim Yar Khan in Punjab.

Asked if China can benefit from the project, the Secretary of Pakistan Petroleum said this is the great vision of the President and the Prime Minister that Pakistan is going to become an energy corridor for China and obviously it would be an important elements in that.

If India does not join this project, then we can go ahead on bilateral basis by Iran and Pakistan, he said.

He said there could also be a possibility of two parallel pipelines coming, meeting India requirements as well as Pakistan's requirements.

Things still to have sorted out at bilateral levels, he said.

Iran warns U.N. curbs will increase oil prices

[Soldier4Christ]

Bush to Seek Overhaul
Of Cars' Fuel-Economy Levels


Responding to public anger over gasoline prices, the White House and Senate Republican leaders backed new measures to shift the burden to car makers and oil companies.

Both President Bush and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist yesterday urged Congress to pave the way for higher passenger-car fuel-economy standards. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said a rise would "save jobs, save lives and save fuel." Mr. Bush said during a visit to a Mississippi gasoline station that he would ask Congress for clearer authority to raise the levels, and Mr. Frist, as part of a new energy bill, offered to give it. Detroit has long resisted higher economy standards -- but the administration said it would support higher levels only if it could restructure the overall program, which could wind up helping domestic auto makers.

The Senate energy bill also proposes a tax-accounting change that oil companies said could cost them billions of dollars and curb tax incentives for oil exploration granted just last year. Some of that revenue would be turned over to consumers in the form of a $100 tax rebate, to be mailed by Aug. 30, on this year's federal income taxes.

The industry-bashing in recent days from normally pro-business, antiregulation Republicans in response to surging pump prices has been striking. But the Senate bill also includes some carrots for energy producers, including new tax incentives for increasing oil-refining capacity. And the plan would open up a supposedly oil-rich area along the coast of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration, although similar attempts in the past have proved controversial and have been stripped out of bills.

"I think this is a bold bill that does everything possible to increase our supply and ease the burden on consumers," said Sen. Pete Domenici, (R., N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy Committee.

Even if the bill passes the Senate, it's unclear how far it would get in the more conservative House.

The Senate bill reflects the intensifying election-year posturing against oil companies in many ways. It proposes a federal law that, for the first time, would define "price gouging," and allows the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department to prosecute companies and dealers found to have manipulated prices beyond market limits. The provision, modeled after state antigouging laws, would first require the president to issue an emergency proclamation claiming that "an abnormal market disruption" had occurred in a given area before federal cases could be brought.

One particularly contentious measure in the package would require companies to move away from so-called last-in, first-out accounting practices. The move, set for future tax years, would require oil companies, for example, to account for profits by assuming the oldest barrel in their inventory is the first one sold. It could expose billions of dollars more to federal taxes in times when prices are rapidly rising, as they have been in recent weeks.

"This would be extremely punitive," said Robert Slaughter, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. "It would have the same impact as a windfall-profits tax."

While the proposed accounting change is part of an energy bill and the rhetoric is focused on oil companies, it would, as proposed, affect all industries and sparked an outcry from other sectors, including retailers.

Since 1990, fuel-efficiency standards for passenger cars have been stuck at a fleet average of 27.5 miles per gallon, as auto makers have opposed any increases -- under the current formulas. But the administration yesterday said it would oppose simply increasing the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards that passenger cars must achieve. Rather, the administration wants to overhaul the program in its entirety, much as it did this year for light trucks.

"The administration would oppose any increase in passenger-car CAFE standards without corresponding reform," Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said in a letter yesterday to Sen. Frist. "It is imperative that CAFE standards be set through an administrative process based on sound science and data."

[Soldier4Christ]

'Ahmadinejad speaks today like Hitler before taking power' 

Iran's psychopath in chief, by Israel



ISRAEL’S prime minister designate, Ehud Olmert, yesterday denounced the president of Iran as a “psychopath” and likened him to Adolf Hitler, in a growing confrontation over the Iranian nuclear programme.

The attack on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map”, came as it emerged that the head of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, secretly discussed the nuclear programme with officials in Washington last week.

Meir Dagan, the Mossad chief, is believed to have passed on the latest Israeli intelligence on covert Iranian plans for enriching uranium, with a warning that Tehran may be nearer to acquiring nuclear weapons than widely believed.

The Israeli leader’s comments, his most forceful condemnation of Ahmadinejad, came in an interview with the German newspaper Bild.

“Ahmadinejad speaks today like Hitler before taking power,” Olmert said of the president, who has questioned the Holocaust and suggested the Jewish state be moved to Europe or North America. “So you see, we are dealing with a psychopath of the worst kind — with an anti-semite. God forbid that this man ever gets his hands on nuclear weapons, to carry out his threats.”

The strength of Olmert’s denunciation reflected mounting concern not only about Iran’s nuclear projects, but also about the international community’s perceived failure to respond decisively to what many Israelis see as a threat that will ultimately have to be eliminated by force.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) admitted on Friday that it was alarmed by “gaps” in its knowledge about Iran’s centrifuge programme and the role of the Iranian military in undeclared nuclear work. An Israeli source said Mossad had evidence of hidden uranium enrichment sites in Iran “which can short-cut their timetable in the race for their first bomb”.

Dagan, a stocky former commando who was injured in the 1967 six-day war, was sent to Washington by Olmert, the victor of last month’s Israeli elections, to prepare the way for his own visit to the White House on May 23. The Mossad boss is thought to have held meetings with counterparts at the CIA, the Pentagon and national security council. “Dagan is not given to small talk and niceties,” said an Israeli intelligence source, who believes he told the Americans: “This is what we know and this is what we’ll do if you continue to do nothing.”

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, vowed last week that Iran’s nuclear programme would go underground if attacked. But many intelligence experts believe it is already operating a parallel uranium enrichment programme concealed from IAEA inspections.

“When I read the recent (intelligence) reports regarding Iran, I saw a monster in the making,” said Dr Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Israeli parliament’s foreign and defence committee, who oversees Mossad’s activities in Iran.

Steinitz fears the Islamic republic might be only a year away from developing a bomb, although the Iranians claim to be pursuing a peaceful nuclear energy programme. “There is only one option that is worse than military action against Iran and that is to sit and do nothing,” Steinitz said.

Although the Israelis would like the Americans to take military action against Iran, should it become necessary, President George W Bush is in no rush to order airstrikes. After the IAEA released its report last week, Bush said “diplomatic options are just beginning” and promised to work with allies to achieve a “peaceful solution”.

Britain, France, Germany and America hope to pass a resolution at the United Nations security council this week mandating Iran to suspend its work on uranium enrichment. If Iran refuses to back down, the security council could impose targeted sanctions.

Ahmadinejad boasted last week that he did not “give a damn” about UN resolutions.

If America does not get its way at the security council, it intends to raise the possibility of isolating Iran economically at the July G8 summit in St Petersburg.

A senior Israeli source said in Washington last week that Israel could not allow Iran to spin out negotiations indefinitely. “If we do not see any progress on the political or economic track that convinces the Iranians to back down, one of the parties will use the military option,” he said.

[Soldier4Christ]

How and when U.S. will hit Iran
British sources say Bush 'significantly closer' to attack

LONDON -- A secret crisis meeting of Britain's military and political chiefs has been told President Bush has moved "significantly closer" to launching attacks on Iran's nine nuclear plants, reports Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Both Washington and the International Atomic Energy Agency believe the facilities are now "advanced in providing uranium enrichment and plutonium materials which will be used to provide nuclear bombs," according to the report in the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND. The time frame for this to happen "is within three years at the outside," the meeting was told.

The report, authored by intelligence analyst Gordon Thomas reveals the U.S. strategy for the air assault and the capabilities of the Iran defenses. Though no date has been fixed, it is likely for later this year or early in 2007, it says.

[Soldier4Christ]

$100b Iran-China energy deal ready to be signed: Chinese ambassador
TEHRAN, April 29 (MNA) – Chinese Ambassador to Tehran Lio G. Tan has said that the oil and gas deal between Iran and China has been thoroughly studied by experts and is ready to be signed.

The Chinese ambassador was clearly referring to an energy agreement between Tehran and Beijing which is worth over 100 billion dollars.

“No country can prevent the deal,” the ambassador told the Mehr News Agency correspondent in Tehran last week.

When asked whether China was under U.S. pressure not to sign the deal, Lio responded by asking, “Would the U.S. export oil to us if it didn’t let you (Iranians) give it to us?”

The ambassador said that even if there were no dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, the U.S. would have tried to halt the deal, but China will not be swayed.

He noted, “For example, can you find a time since the victory of the Islamic Revolution that the U.S. has not interfered in your country’s affairs?”

He put China’s annual oil imports from Iran at over 10 million tons.

A delegation from Iran’s Oil Ministry is due to visit China soon to conclude the huge oil and natural gas deal.

 A memorandum of understanding was signed in October 2004 between Iran and Sinopec, China's largest refiner, to buy 250 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) over 25 years.

In exchange for developing Yadavaran, one of Iran's largest onshore oil fields, China would agree to buy 10 million tons of liquefied natural gas a year for 25 years beginning in 2009.

 

[Soldier4Christ]

Nelson announces bill to block Cuban oil drilling near Keys


MIAMI -- U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson announced legislation Friday to keep Cuba from oil drilling in the waters between the Caribbean island nation and the Florida Keys.

The Democratic senator's bill would block the renewal of a 1977 international agreement allowing Cuba to conduct commercial activity near the Keys -- unless Cuba would agree not to put oil rigs in the Florida Straits close to the low-lying island chain off Florida's southern tip.

"At risk are the Florida Keys and the state's tourism economy, not to mention the $8 billion that Congress is investing to restore the Everglades," Nelson in a statement.

The 1977 Maritime Boundary Agreement dividing control of the 90 miles of sea between Cuba and the Keys must be renewed every two years, and was last renewed in 2004.

Nelson's legislation would also deny visas to executives of foreign oil companies who continue drilling off Cuba's northern coast.

A message left for the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., was not immediately returned.

In a February meeting in Mexico with U.S. energy executives, Cuban officials announced plans to double their drilling capacity and explore for oil offshore. Since the discovery of oil deposits off its coast two years ago, Cuba has signed exploration deals with Canadian, Chinese, Indian and Norwegian firms.

Nelson has joined Mel Martinez, Florida's Republican senator, in opposing efforts to allow oil and gas drilling off the state's Gulf coast, saying drilling could interfere with military training and poses environmental risks that could threaten beaches vital to Florida's tourism industry.

A Martinez spokesman said he could not immediately comment Friday.

U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., who last year co-sponsored legislation that would have removed drilling moratoriums in parts of the Gulf of Mexico, called Nelson's bill an "attempt to control the national energy policy of Cuba."

Other countries already drill just as close to the coasts of other states, Peterson said.

"If Mr. Nelson was serious about preventing foreign nations from producing energy off our coasts, his bill would seek to obstruct the Canadian drilling program as well -- which has set up shop off Maine in the east, Washington state in the West, and Lake Erie in the north," Peterson said in a statement.

U.S. companies are prohibited from doing business with Cuba under a 45-year-old trade embargo.

[Shammu]

Egyptian Parliament Extends Emergency Law

By SALAH NASRAWI, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 14 minutes ago

CAIRO, Egypt - Egypt's parliament agreed Sunday to extend an emergency law President Hosni Mubarak imposed on the country after he took power in 1981, ignoring a growing chorus of opposition both inside and outside the country.

The emergency law, put in place after Islamic extremists killed Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat during a Cairo military parade, gives security forces broad powers to arrest and detain suspects. The United States last year called on Mubarak to lift the law, which human rights organizations and Egypt's opposition say is subject to abuse.

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif told legislators the two-year extension was important to the government's effort to combat terrorism, the official Middle East News Agency reported.

Nazif called terrorism a "vicious tool of destruction" bent on destroying the efforts of Egyptians' "labor, sweat and money."

"Terrorism does not differentiate between states, people or religions," he told Parliament.

Mohammad Saad al-Katatni, a spokesman for lawmakers affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which opposes the emergency laws, said Mubarak's National Democratic Party used its overwhelming majority in the 454-seat parliament to pass the extension.

The Brotherhood's deputy leader said the laws aim to "silence the opposition."

"The government has no intention of launching real political reforms. It aims to tighten its grip," Mohammad Habib said, adding that the government had failed to end terrorism despite repeated renewal of the laws.

Bombings that killed at least 21 people in the Red Sea resort of Dahab last week were the third deadly attack in Egypt's Sinai peninsula in two years.

Security forces killed two gunmen Sunday in a sweep through central Sinai for suspects in the bombings, police said. A third suspect was reported killed late Saturday. The three were killed about 140 miles northwest of Dahab, police said.

During the late 1980s and for most of the 1990s, Mubarak contended Islamic extremist activity in Egypt legitimatized the continuation of emergency rule, which allowed government agents wide latitude in dealing with those suspected of violent acts.

Human rights groups and opposition parties have stepped up pressure on Mubarak to scrap the law. The United States, Egypt's top source of foreign aid, has also urged an end to the emergency measure as part of a larger strategy to democratize the Arab World's most populous nation.

Mubarak has said that he ordered the ruling party to propose new anti-terrorism legislation to replace the emergency laws, but said such legislation could take two years to draft.

Egyptian Parliament Extends Emergency Law

[Shammu]

EU Imposes More Trade Sanctions on U.S.

By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 38 minutes ago

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union imposed $9.1 million in additional retaliatory sanctions against the United States on Monday in response to antidumping measures meant to protect U.S. companies. The World Trade Organization had declared the U.S. rules illegal.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson's office said the new measures were justified because U.S. government payments to American companies are scheduled to continue for two more years despite the disputed trade law being repealed in February.

The new $9.1 million in EU sanctions, brings the total amount of penalties levied against the U.S. in response to the disputed trade law to $36.9 million, the European Commission said in a statement.

Since May 2005, Europeans have had to pay more for U.S. clothing, textiles, machinery, paper products and sweet corn as part of the EU trade sanctions.

The EU executive said the measures would counter U.S. government payments to American companies estimated to be worth more than $2 billion over the next two budget years, ending 2008. The U.S. payments are part of a law known as the Byrd amendment, which allows American companies to receive proceeds from antidumping duties levied on foreign rivals.

"As long as the distributions continue, the United States will not be in compliance with WTO rules," the commission said.

Eight new items have been added to the list of U.S. products covered by the punitive 15 percent additional import duty, the commission said. "These products are different types of blankets, paper products, photocopying apparatus and drills," it said.

The Geneva-based WTO ruled the U.S. legislation illegal in 2002 and gave the United States until the end of 2003 to conform. When it didn't, seven countries and the EU were given the option in 2004 to impose sanctions.

The other complainants were Canada, Brazil, Chile, India, Japan, South Korea and Mexico.

The Byrd amendment was approved in 2000 and billions of dollars in payments have been distributed to producers of metals, food and other household items.

The EU said despite the long-running feud over the Byrd Amendment, "the huge bulk of EU-U.S. trade is trouble free."

The two sides continue to spar in world trade talks and have slammed each other's recent proposals over opening up trade in their agricultural sectors.

The EU and U.S. have also come to blows over subsidies and aid it gives rival aircraft builders Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS, a dispute which is currently before a panel at the WTO.

EU Imposes More Trade Sanctions on U.S.

[Soldier4Christ]

Castro slams US terrorism charge

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro charged on Monday that the U.S. characterization of his country as a terrorist nation was cynical and shameless as Washington had harbored violence-prone Cuban exiles for decades.

The State Department, in its annual terrorism report released last week, once more included Cuba as one of six terrorist nations, along with North Korea, Iran, Libya, Syria and Sudan.

"The Department of State has in a cynical and shameless fashion accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of friendliness toward terrorism and Cuba of being a terrorist country," Castro said during a more than four-hour May Day speech.

Washington accused Cuba of harboring and aiding terrorists from Spain and Colombia, as well as fugitive Black Panthers and Puerto Rican independence militants from the United States.

Venezuela, Cuba's closest ally, was fingered for allowing Colombian guerrillas in its territory, being too friendly with Iran and Cuba, and not supporting the U.S. led war on terrorism.

Castro charged the United States had organized terrorist attacks on Cuba, from the 1976 bombing of Cuban commercial airliner to dozens of bombings and shootings over the years.

'GROSS LIES'

"Will this report conclude the endless chain of gross lies by the president of the United States about terrorism? No!" Castro told hundreds of thousands gathered in Havana's Revolution Square on Monday.

Castro accused the Bush administration of being behind Panama's 2004 pardon of former CIA agent Luis Posada Carriles and three others found guilty of planning to assassinate him during a 2000 Latin American Summit.

After their pardon all the men but Carriles received a hero's welcome in Florida. Carriles dropped from sight, only to appear in Miami last year where he was eventually imprisoned on immigration charges and is currently trying to obtain his freedom.

Carriles is widely believed to have masterminded the 1976 plane bombing in which 73 people died. A suspected co-conspirator in the terrorist attack and many other bombings, Orlando Bosch, lives in Miami.

Castro also spoke of the recent arrests in Florida and California of Cuban-Americans with large stores of arms and explosives. He said the arrests proved Cuba's long standing charge that the U.S. war on terrorism is a sham as it sponsors Cuban-American terrorists.

Castro also announced the economy was growing at a 12.5 percent clip despite Bush administration efforts to strengthen further the trade embargo slapped on the Caribbean island soon after the 1959 revolution.

The Bush administration has established a special blue-ribbon Commission for a Free Cuba, which in 2004 recommended new financial, trade and travel restrictions on the Caribbean island which were quickly implemented.

The commission plan to hasten a democratic transition in Cuba and control the process was also adopted.

President Bush recently reactivated the commission and asked for more recommendations which are due on his desk this month.

"Let's see what they are planning for May," Castro said, gloating that so far the Bush administration had proved unable to slow Cuba's economic advance.

[Shammu]

'Ahmadinejad speaks today like Hitler before taking power' 

Now this is bad I made a quote about him, compared to Hitler in the quotes topic a few days before this. Okay, do we have some one from one of the ministers from Israel looking in on the forum?

[Soldier4Christ]

Now this is bad I made a quote about him, compared to Hitler in the quotes topic a few days before this. Okay, do we have some one from one of the ministers from Israel looking in on the forum?

If not they need to be looking and more than just at this forum.