News, Prophecy and other

[Soldier4Christ]

Syria, Iran directed rocket barrage against Israel
Lebanese leader Jumblatt says 'Damascus agents' working to destabilize his country


The rocket attacks that targeted the Jewish state yesterday, prompting cross border clashes and Israeli Air Force retaliation, were carried out by "agents" working on behalf of Syria and Iran, Lebanon's Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said in an interview.

"Agents working for the axis of Tehran and Damascus arranged the rocket volley [against Israel] to create instability in Lebanon and bring conflict to our borders," Jumblatt told WND.

Jumblatt is the head of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party and is largely considered the most prominent anti-Syrian Lebanese politician.

He accused Syria and Iran of attempting to draw Israel into military clashes with Lebanon to justify the continued arming of Hezbollah, which a United Nations resolution obliges Lebanon to disarm.

"They are trying to prevent the Lebanese army from implementing authority in [areas controlled by Hezbollah.] Also Syria has an economic goal in that it wants to stop investments into Lebanon by making our country unstable," said Jumblatt.

Yesterday, a barrage of large Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon landed at an Israeli Defense Forces base in the north of the country near the Israel-Lebanese border, wounding a soldier and causing some damage.

Israel then directed tens of thousands of its citizens in border towns into bomb shelters as it carried out retaliatory air strikes against two bases used by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Palestinian group with known ties to Hezbollah and the Syrian government.

The IDF said one of the two bases it targeted was used as a storage facility for weaponry and ammunition. The strikes killed at least one PFLP member and wounded five others.

Soon after, Hezbollah guerillas reportedly struck across the Israeli-Lebanese frontier, hitting local Jewish communities and army bases with mortar shells and small arms fire. Israeli jets and IDF artillery units replied by bombarding southern Lebanese areas, striking Hezbollah positions and reportedly killing one Hezbollah militant.

Following several hours of clashes, U.N. peacekeepers last night brokered a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in which both sides called an end to the fighting.

The truce was reached after Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora held contacts with U.N. officials, Hezbollah and the U.S., French and Russian ambassadors to Lebanon.

Siniora laid the blame on Israel for yesterdays hostilities, claiming an Israeli withdrawal from the Shaaba Farms, a sliver of territory on the Israel-Lebanese-Syrian border, was "the only way to stop the cycle of violence."

In a cabinet meeting on Friday, Siniora blamed Israel for a car bombing the same day that killed Mahmoud Majzoub, a top Islamic Jihad terrorist. Israel denied it was involved in the blast.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson yesterday told WND Israel would present a complaint against Lebanon to the U.N. Security Council, urging it to implement Resolution 1559, which calls for the disarmament of all armed Lebanese militias, including Palestinian groups and Hezbollah.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Israel could not ignore Katyusha fire on its territory, and stated he holds the Lebanese government responsible for attacks the originate from its country. Peretz called on Lebanon to deploy its army in areas controlled by Hezbollah.

But Jumblatt said the pressure needs to be applied to Syria and Iran.

"These armed groups are out of control. They are taking orders from Syria and the Tehran government," said Jumblatt.

The Lebanese government has recently proposed incorporating Hezbollah into its army. Some Lebanese politicians have demanded Hezbollah disarm entirely. But little progress has been made on enforcing an arms ban on the terror group.

[Soldier4Christ]

Iran says research on nuclear fusion progressing


TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran is pressing ahead with research tests on nuclear fusion, a type of atomic reaction which has yet to be developed for commercial power generation, a senior Iranian official said on Monday.

Iran said in the 1990s it was working on nuclear fusion research but this is the first mention in years that the work is continuing and comes at a time of heightened tension over Iran's nuclear programme.

Iran has been hauled before the U.N. Security Council for failing to convince the world that its atomic work is not being used to make bombs. Tehran insists it only wants to generate electricity.

"Iran has done various fusion tests for research purposes at its Amirabad research reactor over the last few years," the official told Reuters, referring to the reactor in central Tehran, adding that Iran was continuing to carry out such tests.

"We do fusion tests for research purposes from time to time," he said.

Commercial nuclear reactors rely on nuclear fission, a process that generates energy from splitting atoms.

Fusion tries to generate power by joining nuclei of atoms together, but scientists have yet to develop a commercial way of doing this so that it produces more energy than it consumes.

Each development in Iran's nuclear programme is scrutinised by the international community. Iran surprised experts in April by announcing it had enriched uranium for the first time in small quantities to the level used in nuclear power plants.

As long ago as 1996, the then Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Iran was pressing ahead with research on nuclear fusion.

In 1999, Canada said it had blocked a plan to sell its experimental nuclear fusion programme to Iran because it could be used to make atomic bombs.

Nuclear arms incorporating fusion are also called thermonuclear bombs.

[Soldier4Christ]

At Least 100,000 Flee Homes in East Timor

At least 100,000 people have fled their homes in East Timor's capital because of days of violence, a spokeswoman for a group of aid agencies said Wednesday.

Many residents of Dili, where gangs of machete-wielding youths have clashed and set dozens of fires despite the presence of hundreds of foreign peacekeepers, have taken refuge in churches, community centers and with relatives outside the city in recent days.

Kym Smithies, a spokeswoman for some 30 private aid groups operating in East Timor, said the number of displaced people exceeded 100,000.

"We are estimating that upward of 70,000 people are in camps in Dili alone," Smithies told The Associated Press.

An additional 30,000 have fled the city altogether, she said.

An estimated 3,000 women in camps are pregnant, Smithies said.

New camps were forming as people continued to flee their homes, she said.

[Shammu]

Indonesians see disasters as God's will

By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer Wed May 31, 9:55 AM ET

BANTUL, Indonesia - Battered by one calamity after another, Indonesians have found a resilience that has amazed even foreign aid workers. It's rooted in a widely held belief that the troubles were sent by God, either as a test of their love for him or as punishment for straying from his teachings.

"Human beings are greedy, selfish and too arrogant," said Prapto Warsito, a villager who lost his father and house to the country's latest disaster, Saturday's earthquake on Java Island that killed more than 5,800 people.

"The almighty one has decided to teach us a lesson," he said.

Similar sentiments were expressed by survivors of the tsunami that laid waste to the northern tip of Sumatra island in late 2004 and struck 11 other countries around the Indian Ocean's rim, leaving at least 216,000 dead or missing, more than half in Indonesia.

This vast nation has always been prone to disaster, both natural and manmade.

Its 220 million people live on more than 13,000 islands that straddle the world's most seismically active area and are home to scores of active volcanoes. Extreme weather events are common, and more than half its population is jammed onto a single island — Java, where Saturday's earthquake struck and where the Mount Merapi volcano has been spewing lava and gas for weeks.

Regular bouts of communal bloodshed have also plagued the ethnically diverse nation, and it has been hit by a string of terrorist attacks blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants.

But disasters seem to have struck even more often since President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took office in 2004, inspiring a new phrase to characterize the times: "Selalu bencana yah," or "There's always a disaster happening, isn't there?"

It's a tongue-in-cheek poke at the president, widely known by his initials, SBY. It's also a sign of the dry humor that helps Indonesians cope with hardships in their poverty-stricken archipelago.

A month after Yudhoyono took office, six people were killed in a car crash when police stopped traffic suddenly ahead of his motorcade on a toll road in the capital, an event many people saw as an inauspicious start to his leadership.

In December 2004, a quake struck far-eastern Papua province, killing 30 people.

Days later, a massive temblor at the other end of the archipelago spawned the tsunami, sending massive waves speeding across the Indian Ocean.

In March 2005, 1,000 people died on Nias island when another earthquake struck off Sumatra.

In July, the country confirmed its first cases of bird flu and the threat rapidly escalated. There have since been 36 confirmed fatalities in Indonesia, most of them this year.

The list goes on. In August, a plane crash in the Sumatran city of Medan killed more than 150 people. Then, in October, Islamic militants bombed three restaurants on the resort island of Bali, killing 20 people. The blasts came three years after 202 people were killed in another bombing on the same island.

Earlier this month, Mount Merapi began sending massive clouds of hot ash and gas into the air, triggering the evacuation of the volcano's hillsides.

Foreign aid workers say they are impressed with the strength of the victims of the disasters, especially after the tsunami.

"The resourcefulness most Indonesians have demonstrated is heartening," said Daniel Ziv, a U.N. aid worker who was in Sumatra immediately after the tsunami. "Everyone's busy getting things done."

Yudhoyono has won praise by some for his reaction to the disasters, but rival politicians have been quick to capitalize on what they say has been a sluggish response to this weekend's quake.

Analysts say the earthquake has more potential to hurt Yudhoyono politically because it occurred on densely populated Java, not in remote regions where most of the other disasters have occurred.

"His enemies are trying to capitalize on this," said Riza Syichbudi, a political analyst at the Indonesian Science Institute. "If there is no improvement in the government's performance over the next few days, he could see his popularity dip significantly."

Yudhoyono, a former military general whose election ironically ushered in relative political and economic calm after years of instability, left Jakarta on Saturday for the quake zone, moving the seat of government to the nearby historic city of Yogyakarta.

He, too, saw God's hand in the suffering.

"These (disasters) all come from Allah," he said Monday. "We must be grateful and tests like this should be met with resolve and humbleness."

Indonesians see disasters as God's will

My note; Little do they realize that it is God trying to get their attention. But it is not allah, but Jesus saying wake up.

[Shammu]

Russia-China Relations at Unprecedented High — Hu Jintao

Created: 31.05.2006 09:36 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 10:31 MSK, 12 hours 4 seconds ago

MosNews

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Relations between giant neighbors China and Russia have reached an unprecedented high, China’s president said in comments published on Wednesday ahead of a regional security forum summit, the Reuters news agency reported.

President Hu Jintao also called Russia China’s most important strategic cooperation partner in an interview with journalists from member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which groups the two with the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

“Relations between the two countries have reached unprecedented levels,” Hu said, in comments that were carried on the Foreign Ministry’s website (www.fmprc.gov.cn). “The volume of bilateral trade has had seven years of extremely high growth and cooperation in the fields of energy and investment has made great progress,” he said.

Ties between the two, for years Cold War foes, have been growing, as China seeks to tap Russia’s oil and gas resources to fuel its booming economy and with the two countries sharing common views on how the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program should be resolved.

Trade between China and Russia, who share a 4,300-km (2,700-mile) border, reached nearly $30 billion last year, and the two signed a series of energy agreements during a visit by President Vladimir Putin in March.

Beijing and Moscow also see common ground in trying to ensure stability in Central Asia and in checking theU.S. presence there.

Hu Jintao said fighting the threats of terrorism, separatism and extremism were the main goals of the SCO, whose annual summit will be held on June 15 in Shanghai. Its members have signed an anti-drug-trafficking agreement and are considering extending the accord to include Afghanistan, whose President Hamid Karzai has been invited to attend the forum as its guest.

China is also offering SCO member states $900 million worth of loans in the form of preferential buyers credit for members who buy Chinese exports, Hu said.

In addition to the six members of the regional group, observer states Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Iran have also been invited to attend.

Russia-China Relations at Unprecedented High

My note; Is anyone else seeing a pattern here, comparing Prophecy to the Bible?

[Shammu]

Russia’s Putin Hosts EU Leaders Focused on Energy, Visas

Created: 25.05.2006 09:39 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 10:11 MSK

MosNews

Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting the European Union leadership for a summit colored by EU concerns about Russia’s reliability as a key energy supplier and Moscow’s persistent bid for European retail gas assets, The Associated Press reports.

Energy disputes and Russia’s longtime push for easing visa procedures are expected to dominate the semiannual talks Thursday at Putin’s Black Sea retreat with Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

“There are far more problems in Russia-EU relations now, compared with the previous summit (in October), and it doesn’t look like there is a trend toward settling them,” said Yevgeny Volk, the head of the Heritage Foundation’s Moscow office.

A brief disruption in Russian gas supplies to Western Europe early this year amid a price dispute with Ukraine tarnished Russia’s reputation as a reliable supplier and encouraged the EU to intensify a search for alternative supply routes. Ironically, the shutdown, which was followed by gas shortages amid a harsh winter, came as Russia declared energy security to be a top priority of its leadership this year of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations.

European fears of excessive energy reliance on Russia, which supplies a quarter of Europe’s gas and is its second-biggest supplier of oil, further rose amid talk that Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom natural gas giant was considering acquiring Britain’s largest gas distributor.

When British officials warned of possible legal changes to block such a deal, Gazprom and even Putin himself angrily warned that the gas monopoly could refocus its future export strategy toward an energy-hungry eastern neighbor — China.

After the initial British outburst, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said there were no barriers to Gazprom and the Kremlin also toned down its rhetoric.

While the Europeans realize the measure of their dependence on Gazprom, the Kremlin clearly doesn’t want a public spat with the EU coming on top of a growing rift with Washington that threatens to mar the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg, said Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor of Russia in Global Affairs magazine.

Gazprom struck an asset-swap deal with Germany’s BASF last month, underlining a special relationship with Germany — Russia’s biggest trade partner and largest single importer of gas, and the terminus of a widely touted gas export pipeline under the Baltic Sea. The deal raised Gazprom’s stake in BASF marketing subsidiaries while increasing the German company’s stake in a giant Siberian gas field.

The Russian gas leviathan has held similar talks with Fluxys, the operator of Belgium’s national gas transport and distribution network, and Italy’s Eni SpA. “It wouldn’t be surprising if there are other discussions under way,” said Steven O’Sullivan, oil and gas analyst at Deutsche UFG in Moscow.

Putin aide Igor Shuvalov defended the assets exchange as “one of the most efficient instruments of ensuring global energy security.”

While there is little chance of any visible progress in talks over gas supplies, Putin and the EU leadership are expected to boast some progress on long-standing visa issues. Russia and the EU are to sign a readmission treaty that would oblige Moscow to take back illegal migrants — the main EU condition for easing visa rules for some categories of Russian travelers in a separate document to be signed Thursday.

Russia’s Putin Hosts EU Leaders Focused on Energy, Visas

[Shammu]

PA prime minister: US is an enemy of Islam
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST    May. 31, 2006

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called the US an "enemy of Islam," an Iranian news agency reported on Wednesday.

"Washington is doing its utmost to ensure the failure of the Hamas-led Palestinian government," claimed Haniyeh.

The PA prime minister added that the US's decision to attack Muslims was "influenced by the Zionist lobby."

PA prime minister: US is an enemy of Islam

[Shammu]

World War III already begun
Associated Press and JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST    May. 31, 2006

Syrian and Iranian diplomats traded barbs with Israel's UN ambassador on Tuesday, as a routine Security Council meeting on fighting terrorism degenerated into insults.

At a meeting aimed at assessing the progress and work of the Security Council's three anti-terror committees, Israel's UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman said that World War III had already begun and urged the former Allied forces from World War to act against the axis of terror, consisting of Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hizbullah.

He called the four entities the "greatest state sponsor of terrorism and the largest threat to international peace and security."

Gillerman also lashed out at the oft-repeated argument by Iran and many Arab states that a distinction must be made between terrorism and armed resistance movements - namely the Palestinians' fight against the Jewish state.

The ambassador said Israel has "an intimate awareness of the need to fight international terrorism," and stressed that there can be no justification for terrorism.

Syria responded that Israel was the one precipitating a third world war, saying that "If we examine the matter, we will find that Israel was behind the eruption of both World War I and World II."

Syrian diplomat Ahmed Alhariri countered that Damascus had taken a front-line role in the fight against terror and called on the Security Council to "avoid double standards in combating terrorism." Such a battle must be "based on strict legal criteria, and not flimsy political considerations," he said.

"In this regard, I must stress that Israel is duty bound to cease this cheap blackmail against the United Nations," said Alhariri. "All are aware that the source of terrorism in the region is Israel's continuing occupation of Arab lands, and the ejection of Palestinians from their land ... as well as continued aggression against Arabs and the denial of their fundamental rights."

Israel and the United States have routinely accused Syria and Iran of supporting terror, either by hosting and funding terrorist organizations such as Hizbullah, or by doing little to halt the flow of weapons and foreign fighters into Iraq - a nation grappling daily with sectarian killings, suicide bombings and other violence.

Gillerman also recalled that Iran's president has called for Israel's destruction "denies the Holocaust and is attempting to develop the nuclear capabilities to perpetrate the next one."

But Alhariri took aim at Israel's own alleged nuclear program, saying Gillerman failed to mention it while lambasting Syria and Iran. He argued that the Israeli ambassador "wants to mix the legitimate rights of those under occupation ... and those who commit terrorism."

"Perhaps he should read the Charter of the United Nations, which was drafted to save generations from the scourge of war and from foreign occupation," said Alhariri. "Those who are ignorant of such facts perhaps cannot read, and perhaps if they cannot read they ought not to be here at the United Nations."

Iran joined in, with diplomat Ahmad Sadeghi accusing Israel of being headed by war criminals and saying the country has suffered from a "lack of legitimacy" since its inception.

Sadeghi called on the United Nations to step up pressure on Tel Aviv to open up its nuclear facilities for inspection, mirroring the same kind of pressure his nation had been placed under by the international community.

Gillerman was quick to fire back, expressing his "appreciation, which I hope is shared by members of the Security Council, for the opportunity afforded to all of us to hear lectures about terrorism by two of the world's greatest experts on that subject."

In the meeting, chairmen of the council's committees on combating terrorism and weapons of mass destruction said concerns had been raised by various nations about the inclusion and removal of certain entities and individuals from committee sanctions lists. They said more effort needed to be exerted to streamline the process.

World War III already begun

[nChrist]

Dreamweaver Said:

In addition to the six members of the regional group, observer states Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Iran have also been invited to attend.

Russia-China Relations at Unprecedented High

My note; Is anyone else seeing a pattern here, comparing Prophecy to the Bible?

YES BROTHER! I would say we are either seeing a preview of the end of this age, OR, the end of this age of Grace is unfolding before our very eyes right now.

I really don't know how the majority of Christians see or understand world events in light of Bible prophecy. I'm really thinking that many of the luke-warm or cold Christians either don't know, don't care, or both. That's really sad because we should all know that GOD has work for us to do, and eternity is at stake for friends and family members. One would think that enough has happened to wake everyone up, but that is sadly not the case.

Love In Christ,
Tom

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NASB  Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

[Shammu]

YES BROTHER! I would say we are either seeing a preview of the end of this age, OR, the end of this age of Grace is unfolding before our very eyes right now.

I really don't know how the majority of Christians see or understand world events in light of Bible prophecy.

Love In Christ,
Tom

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NASB  Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

Brother, these Bible prophecies are shouting at me, which is why I post the news. I also believe, that we are coming to an end, of the age of Grace.

[Shammu]

Socialists call for binding EU definition of public services

31.05.2006 - 09:55 CET | By Lucia Kubosova
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Just hours after member states struck a deal on the liberalisation of services, MEPs launched a campaign for an EU law defining, safeguarding and promoting public services, in a bid to prevent attempts to open them up to cross-border competition.

The socialist group - the second biggest in the European Parliament - on Tuesday (30 May) presented a draft EU directive defining "services of general interest" which its leaders are planning to deliver to the commission and council, representing member states.

"All EU citizens must have the right to high-quality schools and hospitals, a healthy water supply, safe transport and social services," said the Socialist leader, Martin Schulz.

The group's text sets out key principles on how to define public services, such as their universal provision, high quality at affordable prices, openness and transparency.

It also confirms the right of countries' authorities to decide how to manage and finance such services or grant exclusive concessions and compensations to their providers.

The socialists suggest this directive should be legally above the general law on services, adopted this week.

The campaign has sparked an angry reaction from the centre-right parliamentarians.

According to Swedish MEP Gunnar Hokmark, it "will not improve today's services but certainly will stop development of new and better services for the citizens of Europe."

"It is de facto a campaign to protect certain producers from the emergence of better and more customer oriented service providers," Mr Hokmar added.

Not easy to draft a law
Only the European Commission can table a legislation, with parliament and member states modifying it.

But Brussels has so far not moved further in setting out principles of what should constitute a public service - despite calls from some NGOs, mainly in the area of social services.

The Socialists now claim they want to put more pressure on the EU executive to act and draft a law to give legal certainty for providers of public services as well as mainly local and regional authorities.

The issue has come under the spotlight during a debate on the controversial services directive, as it is the definition of public interest that is not clear making it also unclear where EU internal market rules would apply.

But the social policy commissioner, Vladimir Spidla, has pointed out on several occasions that member states need to discuss what kind of legal instrument to use for this sensitive area in the first place.

Socialists call for binding EU definition of public services

[Shammu]

Iran ready to talk to Europe again
31.05.2006 - 09:59 CET | By Teresa Küchler
Iran has declared it is ready to resume negotiations over its nuclear programme with the European Union's negotiating troika - Germany, France and the UK - but says the US must "change its behaviour" before Tehran lends an ear to Washington.

From a meeting with non-aligned countries in Malaysia on Tuesday (31 May), the Iranian foreign minister announced the country's intention to study a package of incentives made by the EU trio to stop uranium enrichment and put an end to the nuclear programme rift.

"Iran is willing to answer positively to a re-launch of negotiations about its nuclear enrichment program without preliminary conditions," foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.

The European package includes offering Iran help with building light water reactors that do not produce plutonium waste, a nuclear fuel bank that would guarantee Iran access to reactor fuel and various security guarantees.

In return, Tehran must halt its uranium enrichment program, allow more access for UN inspectors and answer outstanding questions from those inspectors.

Earlier this month, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticised the European offer, saying "they can steal our gold and offer some nuts and chocolate in return".

The five security council permanent powers and Germany will meet in Vienna on Thursday (1 June) to finalise the package of incentives for Iran to halt enrichment, as well as sketching out possible penalties if the country keeps defying international pressure.

The US wants the UN to impose sanctions if Iran fails to comply with the demands, but Russia and China are reluctant to support sanctions.

A quarter century of silence can be broken
From Malaysia, Mr Manouchehr Mottaki also said Tehran could resume dialogue with the US, after a 26-year official freeze, if Washington "changed its behaviour", without further description of what it would expect.

In a reaction to the offer, a US state department spokesperson told reporters in Washington that the hand-out was nothing spectacular.

"We've heard that from them before. Nothing new there," the Washington spokesperson said.

EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana said on Tuesday he would be happy to see Iran and the US engaged in direct discussion about this nuclear dossier, "after a quarter of a century without talking to each other".

"As far as direct contacts between the US and Iran, as you know they've spent over 20 years not talking to each other," Mr Solana said.

"A logical analysis would say that that should come to an end because Iran is going to be a very important player in the world. But this is a decision that they have to take," he added.

Speaking in the European Parliament, Mr Solana also said the package being drafted for Iran would enhance significantly its ability to produce energy.

"If they reject it, it will be once again a clear sign they are looking for a level of enrichment that goes way beyond what is necessary for production of energy, to enter nuclear weapon type of enrichment that for us will be very dangerous," Mr Solana told the parliament's foreign affairs committee.

In Malaysia, Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki reitereated claims that Iran wanted enriched uranium only for peaceful domestic energy production.

"The level of enrichment is enrichment for peaceful purposes... the level which makes us able to produce fuel for our nuclear power plants," the minister said.

"It means we are not going to the level of enrichment for other purposes, including military purposes," he concluded.

Iran ready to talk to Europe again

[Shammu]

A ‘Smorgasbord’ for Pedophiles
By Mark Earley
5/30/2006

A few months ago, a 16-year old New York girl began exchanging messages with a stranger on the social networking site, MySpace. It was a tragic mistake. One day the stranger—a 37-year-old man—drove to where the girl had an after-school job and sexually assaulted her. How did he know where to find her? She had listed her place of work on her MySpace profile.

MySpace. It’s a place for kids to go to escape parents—and teenagers know it. So do sexual predators.

The body of another MySpace fan, a 14-year-old New Jersey girl, was found in a dumpster in Newark, strangled. In California, the body of a 15-year-old girl was found floating in an irrigation canal. Both girls had MySpace accounts, and police are investigating the possibility that they met their killers through it as well.

Clearly, kids do not realize the danger. According to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, more than 2,600 reports were made involving adults going online to lure minors. The center has received nearly three hundred complaints involving MySpace alone. U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan says MySpace “creates a smorgasbord” for pedophiles.

Tragically, our kids make it all too easy for them often. Nearly 40 percent of American high school kids have posted their personal information online—information that allows predators to learn who they are, what they look like, where they live, and where they go to school. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, teenagers consider MySpace the way to communicate with friends; checking for messages, and receiving them, is part of a daily computer ritual. And they reveal a chillingly naive attitude about what they’re doing. As one boy told the Post-Gazette, “I don’t think it is so much of a worry . . . everyone posts pictures and puts their ages up. It’s kind of like a rite of passage to have MySpace.”

Clearly, teaching our kids how to be safe online has to become a rite of passage for us as adults. For several decades, we have seen increasing efforts in our culture to drive a wedge between children and their parents—from toymakers advertising toys parents don’t approve of, to sex education that sends the wrong message, to films that encourage kids to engage in dangerous behavior. MySpace has become a huge success in part because it exists as a space where kids can go to escape parental influence. It’s no accident that MySpace advertises itself as “a place for friends.”

While kids usually think they can take care of themselves, the Scriptures are full of warnings that children need their parents, their wisdom, their protection. In the book of Proverbs, we find a father warning even his young adult son to beware of the attraction of evil and the danger of making the wrong friends.

Parents need to make sure their own kids are safe—by preventing access to MySpace, perhaps, or keeping a sharp eye on whom their kids are conversing with online and how much information they have divulged. Warn your kids about the predators out there; make sure they never give out personal information. And all of us must demand that the authorities vigorously enforce laws protecting kids from online predators—predators who consider online social networks “a smorgasbord” for evil.

[Shammu]

Pedophile party wants age of consent cut
From: Reuters
From correspondents in Amsterdam

May 30, 2006
 

DUTCH pedophiles were launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations from 16 to 12 and the legalisation of child pornography and sex with animals.
The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its website it would be registered officially on Wednesday, proclaiming: "We are going to shake The Hague awake!"

The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether.

"A ban just makes children curious," Ad van den Berg, one of the party's founders, told the Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper.

"We want to make pedophilia the subject of discussion," he said.

He said it had been a taboo since the 1996 Marc Dutroux child abuse scandal in neighbouring Belgium.

"We have been hushed up. The only way is through parliament," Mr van den Berg said.

The Netherlands already has liberal policies on soft drugs, prostitution, and gay marriage, but the NVD is unlikely to win much support, the AD

Pedophile party wants age of consent cut

My note; More debauchery from satan.

[Soldier4Christ]

U.S., Other Powers Reach Deal on Iran

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Six world powers meeting to discuss the crisis over Iran's nuclear program have reached an agreement on a package of incentives and penalties to be presented to Tehran, diplomats told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The diplomats were speaking on the sidelines of a meeting between officials from France, Britain, Germany, the United States, Russia and China. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to make a public announcement.