News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

EU nations to issue biometric passports

Thu Jun 1, 11:03 AM ET

LUXEMBOURG - European Union nations will have to start issuing new secure biometric passports with a chip containing facial features by the end of August, EU officials said Thursday, and prepare to add fingerprint data to the travel documents by 2009.

"By Aug. 26 of this year member states will need to be able ... to include a facial image in a chip," said Friso Roscam Abbing, spokesman for EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini. He said Frattini would present plans to EU justice and interior ministers for adding fingerprints to the new biometric passports in two to three weeks time.

Roscam Abbing said the new biometric features, which reduce patterns of fingerprints, faces and irises to mathematical algorithms stored on a chip, would go beyond security standards demanded by the United States.

EU nations participating in the American visa-waiver program were given until October this year to comply with U.S. standards to have either a digital photo or a chip containing biometric data in their passports if they wanted to continue visa-free travel to the U.S.

EU nations to issue biometric passports

[Shammu]

6 world powers agree on Iran incentives

By ANNE GEARAN and GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writers 35 minutes ago

VIENNA, Austria - Six world powers agreed Thursday to offer Iran a new choice of rewards if it gives up suspect nuclear activities or punishment if it refuses, a gambit that could either defuse a global confrontation with the Islamic regime or hasten one.

"There are two paths ahead," British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said in announcing agreement among the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China on a package deal for Iran that carries the threat of United Nations sanctions.

The package would be on the table for a proposed new round of bargaining with Tehran over what the West calls a rogue nuclear program that could produce a bomb. The U.S., in a major policy shift, agreed this week to join those talks under certain conditions. It would be the first major public negotiations between the adversaries in more than a quarter century.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with the foreign ministers from the European nations that led talks with Iran that stalled last year. Also present were representatives of Russia and China, which have been Tehran's trading partners and might join in any future talks with Iran.

Since Russia and China hold vetoes in the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. needs their cooperation to seek sanctions or other harsh measures by that body.

"We are very satisfied by the results of today's meetings here in Vienna," U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters. "We consider them a step forward in our quest to deny Iran nuclear weapons capability."

A short statement issued by foreign ministers from the six powers and the European Union did not mention economic sanctions — the punishment or deterrent favored by the United States and that Iran has tried hard to avoid.

The powers agreed privately, however, that Iran could face tough U.N. Security Council sanctions if it fails to give up the enrichment of uranium and other disputed nuclear activities, U.S. officials said.

Diplomats feared Iran would immediately reject any invitation to bargain if the threat of sanctions was explicit, officials involved in the discussions said on condition of anonymity because the seven-party negotiations were private.

The foreign ministers' statement threatens unspecified "further steps" in the Security Council.

The group's statement also contained no details of the incentives to be offered to Iran in the coming days. Diplomats previously have said the package includes help developing legitimate nuclear power plants and various economic benefits.

"We are prepared to resume negotiations should Iran resume suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities," as previously required by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, Beckett said.

If Iran returned to the talks stalled since last year, "we would also suspend action in the Security Council," Beckett said.

The Security Council, which can levy mandatory global sanctions and back its mandates with military force, has been reviewing Iran's case for two months. Its permanent, veto-holding members have been at odds over the possibility of sanctions, with Russia and China opposed.

"At this crucial stage, it is very important that none of the sides involved in the situation makes any sharp movements that would create a threat to the real prospect of using the chance to reach agreement," ITAR-Tass quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying before talks began in Vienna.

Iran insists its nuclear work is peaceful and aimed at developing a new energy source.

Iran's foreign minister welcomed the idea of direct talks, but rebuffed the U.S. condition that Tehran must put uranium enrichment on hold before talks can begin.

"Iran welcomes dialogue under just conditions but won't give up our rights," the state-run Iranian television quoted Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as saying Thursday.

At the White House, President Bush warned that the confrontation would end up at the U.N. Security Council if Iran continues to enrich uranium.

"If they continue their obstinance, if they continue to say to the world, `We really don't care what your opinion is,' then the world is going to act in concert," Bush said.

Bush said he got a "positive response" in a telephone conversation Tuesday with Russian President
Vladimir Putin, adding, "We expect Russia to participate in the United Nations Security Council. We'll see whether or not they agree to do that."

Bush also spoke about Iran on Thursday with Chinese President Hu Jintao. He revealed little about that conversation, saying, "They understood our strategy."

The shift in U.S. tactics was meant to offer the Iranians a last chance to avoid punishing sanctions, and to let the United States assert that it was willing to exhaust every opportunity to resolve the Iranian impasse without force.

Previous talks among Iran, Britain, France and Germany foundered last year. European diplomats and others said the United States was partly at fault, arguing that it alone carries the global weight to force Iran to bargain in good faith and to make any agreement stick.

The U.S. offer for talks is conditioned on Iran suspending its enrichment of uranium and related activities and allowing inspections to prove it. Uranium enrichment can make fuel for nuclear power reactors or the fissile core of warheads.

European nations and the Security Council have demanded the same thing, but Iran has refused to comply.

6 world powers agree on Iran incentives

[Shammu]

Church for gays launches ad blitz
$55,000 campaign asks: Would Jesus discriminate?
By Dan McFeely

May 31, 2006
 
How would Jesus treat gays and lesbians? Would he accept them as they are, or condemn them as sinners?
Whether you're interested in engaging in the debate or not, a local gay and lesbian church's in-your-face advertising campaign could make it a difficult topic to avoid over the next few weeks.
Especially with 2,000 yard signs, which began popping up in the metro area over the weekend, an ad in Sunday's Indianapolis Star (with three more planned), 650 bumper stickers, 720 T-shirts and soon 25,000 door hangers -- all courtesy of volunteers from the Jesus Metropolitan Community Church.
The $55,000 campaign asks: Would Jesus discriminate? And it comes while Indiana lawmakers are being asked to prohibit same-sex couples from adopting children.
"Do you know someone who is homosexual? Would you give your life for that person? Jesus did," the church's ad says.
Pastor Jeff Miner, who heads the church, which was founded in 1990 by 18 gay Christians, believes some people are using Scriptures today in the same way the Bible was used to support slavery, oppose women's suffrage and to defend laws against interracial marriage.
"We want to help other Christians connect the dots between past acts of discrimination and what is happening today," said Miner.
Some conservatives welcome that debate but say Miner is wrong. Curt Smith of the Indiana Family Institute said it was, in fact, dedicated Christians who ended slavery and have fought for many social justice issues throughout history.
"The Bible is misused all the time, and I think the good pastor is misusing it as well," said Smith.
Both sides of the debate on homosexuality quote the Bible to support their argument.
"Look at the example of Jesus," Miner said. "Jesus defended social and religious outcasts. That was one of his trademarks. Yet many in today's church seem to specialize in beating up on those who are different. What's wrong with this picture?"
"Christ was very clear," countered Miller. "Any sexual relations outside of one man and one woman in marriage is condemned by the Bible. Christ discriminated against lots of things. We understand right and wrong. And we need to understand what the Bible says -- and it in no way endorses homosexual behavior."
Jesus Metropolitan Community Church is working with national groups Faith In America -- a group organized to fight discrimination against gays and lesbians -- and Metropolitan Community Churches worldwide, in sponsoring what it calls the 30-day "prophetic action" to spark conversations across the nation.
Their first newspaper ad was run Sunday, a day when nearly 300,000 people were in town for the Indianapolis 500. Miner said a future ad in a Sunday edition of The Star will show a group of Klansmen around a burning cross with a headline, "Remember a time when a symbol of love was used as a symbol of hate?" The subtext: "The Bible shouldn't be misused to justify discrimination against any group, including gay people."

Church for gays launches ad blitz

[Shammu]

Schwarzenegger to Order Troops to Border
 Email this Story

Jun 1, 4:50 PM (ET)

By AARON C. DAVIS

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed Thursday to send the California National Guard to the Mexican border, ending a 17-day standoff with the Bush administration, a Schwarzenegger spokesman said.

The two sides had been at odds over whether California Guardsmen would join the effort to bolster the Border Patrol and who would pay for it.

They reached an agreement under which California will contribute about 1,000 Guardsmen for border duty and the federal government will pick up the full cost, said Schwarzenegger spokesman Adam Mendelsohn.

However, in a separate act that was not part of the agreement with the federal government, Schwarzenegger will sign an executive order that ends the California National Guard's participation on Dec. 31, 2008, state officials said.

All together, President Bush has proposed to send 6,000 National Guardsmen to the U.S. border with Mexico. The overall cost of the multiyear deployment has been put at more than $1 billion.

"This allows us to participate in the plan to secure the nation's border while also addressing the concerns the governor had raised," Mendelsohn said.

Schwarzenegger to Order Troops to Border

[Shammu]

State Denies Judge's Accusations of 'Un-Americanizing' School Curriculum

By Jim Brown and Jody Brown
May 31, 2006

(AgapePress) - A Michigan judge is accusing the state's Department of Education of censoring the words "America" and "American" from public schools. But the Department is denying any such move is afoot.

Judge Michael Warren says the Michigan Department of Education has eliminated the words "America" and "American" from the state testing program and instructed those drafting curriculum content standards to remove the words as well. According to Warren, the department also issued a verbal directive to high-profile educators that they should instruct their teachers to stop using the words because they are "ethnocentric."

Warren, a former member of the state's Department of Education, says "well-intentioned but pernicious political correctness" is rolling around in that department. "I think we all agree that we're Americans in the United States and that we're the United States of America," he says. "There was the American Revolution, and the words 'America' and 'Americans' have a very special meaning for us as individuals and as a nation. The Department of Education didn't understand that."

In a May 24 press release, State Superintendent Michael Flanagan flatly denies Warren's allegations. Flanagan says no such edict has gone out to school teachers across Michigan, nor will one. In addition, if such a recommendation for curriculum change ever came across Flanagan's desk, it would "stopped in its tracks," says the department. He also told American Family Radio News that if the censorship has taken place, he will revise the current testing protocol to allow the words to be used.

Warren contends the Education Department is in a state of denial. He says Superintendent Flanagan is not aware of how much political correctness exists in "the bowels of the Department." The judge asserts that the Department has initiated a series of "different steps to eliminate the words America and American in the state level as well as in the local level."

"In other words," he says, "[there's a feeling] that Mexicans, because they're in the North American continent, are also Americans; and Canadians, because they're in the North American continent. And they also refer to South America, so apparently the Brazilians and the Belizeans are also Americans."

And while the Department acknowledges an "independent association of Social Studies educators has discussed the issue of official U.S. documents or titles," it says no recommendations for changes in curriculum have been submitted to Flanagan for his review.

"These are advisory groups," says the superintendent in the press statement. "The conversations and internal communications between members [of that independent association] have been misconstrued as Department of Education policy. This is not a [Department] policy, nor will it ever be our policy while I'm here. We are not seeking to do away with the terms 'America' or 'American' from classroom instruction. It's not going to happen."

Warren, however, says the alleged censorship was so "ludicrous and disgraceful" it needed to be exposed and stopped. And to counteract the alleged political correctness, the judge suggests the Department create an "American Freedom" curriculum to help educate K-12 children in understanding the principles of the nation's founding documents.

State Denies Judge's Accusations of 'Un-Americanizing' School Curriculum

[airIam2worship]

Iran nuclear bomb 'in 10 years'
   
Bushehr nuclear plant
The UN has agreed new plans to halt Iran's nuclear programme

Negroponte interview
Iran is determined to have a nuclear weapon and could possess one within 10 years, according to the top US intelligence chief.

Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte told BBC Radio's Today programme Tehran could have a nuclear bomb ready between 2010 and 2015.

His comments come after key world powers agreed proposals in Vienna to persuade Tehran to halt its research.

The UK said the UN Security Council would act if Iran did not comply.

But on Friday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Vienna agreement meant that force was ruled out.

Lessons learned

Iran resumed enrichment of uranium this year but remains a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and maintains that its activities are aimed only at energy production.

However in his interview with the BBC, Mr Negroponte said: "[Iran] seems to be determined to develop nuclear weapons.

John Negroponte
Iran is the world's top state sponsor of terrorism, says Mr Negroponte

"We don't have a clear-cut knowledge but the estimate we have made is some time between the beginning of the next decade and the middle of the next decade they might be in a position to have a nuclear weapon, which is a cause of great concern."

He accused Iran of being the world's top state sponsor of terrorism.

"Their behaviour has been a cause of concern not only in Lebanon and Israel and in the Palestinian territories but in Iraq," Mr Negroponte said.

He also acknowledged that US intelligence had made mistakes assessing the weapons capabilities of Iraq before the invasion, but said lessons had been learned and corrective measures taken.

He said: "I think we have improved the integrity of our analyses substantially. I think we have internalised some of these lessons."

Of the US-led war on terror, Mr Negroponte said it was "hard to estimate" when it would end. "I think we are talking about something that might go on for some period of time," he said.

'Significant benefits'

In Vienna on Thursday, the Security Council permanent members plus Germany agreed a package of incentives and penalties to try to induce Iran to curb its nuclear programme.

A European Union diplomat said on Friday contacts were being made with Iran and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was on standby to deliver the proposals.

Sergei Lavrov
Sergei Lavrov says the military force option is ruled out

Also on Friday, Mr Lavrov said the Vienna accord meant there could be no military response, which the US has so far refused to rule out.

"I can say unambiguously that all the agreements... rule out in any circumstances the use of military force," Mr Lavrov told the RIA news agency.

He said if Iran rejected the proposals, the matter would return to the Security Council for a resolution but that this contained no call for sanctions.

Although no details have been made public of the Vienna accord, sources say it could include giving Iran a nuclear reactor and an assured supply of enriched uranium.

All Security Council action could also be suspended upon compliance.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran's response would have to be "within weeks".

There has been no official reaction yet from Iran. But influential cleric Ahmad Khatami said at Friday prayers in Tehran: "The Iranian nation is ready to pay any price to protect its right [to nuclear technology]."

The US has so far refused direct talks with Iran over the issue although this week Ms Rice said Washington would come to the table when Iran fully and verifiably suspended its enrichment and reprocessing activities.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki welcomed the idea of talks with the US but ruled out any compromise on enrichment.

[Soldier4Christ]

Bin Laden family gave $1 million to Carter
Ex-president reportedly met with terror leader's brothers in 2000

Former President Jimmy Carter's center in Atlanta received more than $1 million from the family of Osama bin Laden, according to an investigative report.

A brother of the al-Qaida terrorist leader, Bakr M. bin Laden, funneled the money to the Carter Center in Atlanta through the Saudi Bin Laden Group, according to Melanie Morgan, chairman of a group opposing the Georgia Democrat called the Censure Carter Committee.

Morgan, a WorldNetDaily columnist, based her claim on papers she acquired from the Carter Center.

She points to a report showing Carter met with 10 of Osama bin Laden's brothers early in 2000. The former president and his wife, Rosalyn, followed up the meeting with a breakfast with Bakr bin Laden in September 2000 and secured the first $200,000 towards the more than $1 million that has gone to the Carter Center.

Morgan says the connection between Carter and the bin Laden family is exactly the kind of charge leveled by Michael Moore against President Bush in the film "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Morgan's group commented in a statement: "If you think this news troubles Michael Moore and his friends in the liberal, anti-war crowd, think again. You see, they’re not interested in the truth – they only seem interested in advancing their defeatist political message: America is almost always wrong–America is the source of many of the world’s problems."

There's some hypocrisy at work here, Morgan contends.

"Michael Moore used his film to viciously attack George W. Bush and undermine support for the war on terror," she told John Gibson on the Fox News Channel.

It turns out it was Carter, not Bush, hanging out with the bin Ladens, she said.

The Carters hosted Moore in the presidential viewing box at the 2004 Democratic National Convention while former President Bill Clinton addressed the delegates.

Gibson said the Carter Center declined the opportunity to respond to the charges.

Censure Carter is about to launch a second wave of national television ads urging Americans to rebuke Carter's efforts in North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and elsewhere.

"The mainstream media is pretending that the Carter-bin Laden story is a non-issue, so the Censure Carter Campaign is out raising the money to air the facts in TV ads," the group says.

As WND reported last year, Morgan's Move America Forward said Carter was linked with a key figure in the U.N.'s oil-for-food scandal, Samir Vincent, who pleaded guilty to participating in numerous illegal activities.

Vincent admitted to receiving allocations for more than 9 million barrels of oil between 1996 and 2003 in return for serving as an agent of Saddam Hussein's regime. He worked at Hussein's direction, lobbying U.S. and U.N. officials to end sanctions and to instead implement the oil-for-food scam.

The first documented contact between Carter and Vincent was in September 1999. Vincent had organized a tour of Iraqi religious leaders to meet with individuals in the United States who might be persuaded to speak out against the sanctions against Iraq. The trip also included discussions of ways to oppose U.S. and British air strikes against Iraqi missile batteries in southern Iraq, which had fired on American and British aircraft engaged in enforcing the southern "No Fly Zone."

[Soldier4Christ]

Iran nuclear bomb 'in 10 years'

From all the other information available now I don't think it will take that long.

[Soldier4Christ]

British police shoot man in anti-terrorism raid

LONDON (Reuters) - British anti-terrorist police shot a man in a dawn raid on Friday on a house they suspected could have been used for making bombs or chemical weapons.

More than 250 officers, some wearing chemical, biological and radiological protection suits, descended on the house in east London at 4 a.m. in one of the biggest raids since last July's suicide bombings on the capital's transport system.

"Because of the very specific nature of the intelligence, we planned an operation that was designed to mitigate any threat to the public either from firearms or from hazardous substances," said Peter Clarke, head of the UK's anti-terrorism branch.

Police said a 23-year-old man who was at the house was shot by firearms officers. The man was arrested in hospital on suspicion of "the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism", Clarke said.

A second man, 20, was also arrested at the scene under the Terrorism Act.

"What I can tell you is that the intelligence was such that it demanded an intensive investigation and response," Clarke said.

"The purpose of the investigation ... is to prove or disprove the intelligence that we have received. This is always difficult, and sometimes the only way to do so is to mount an operation such as that which we carried out this morning."

A police spokeswoman said it was believed nothing suspicious had been found in initial searches at the house.

The shooting incident was routinely referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. They said the man's injuries were not life-threatening and one shot was fired.

Clarke said the operation followed close liaison between police, the security services and the Health Protection Agency, a body charged with guarding against infectious diseases.

Police said the raid was not linked to last July's attacks on London's transport system which killed 52 commuters.

"Loads of police came along and broke the windows to get inside the house," said Nimesh Patel, 14, a neighbor on the street in the ethnically mixed Forest Gate area of the capital.

"One guy came out with a shot to his shoulder. He was moving and he was dizzy. They gave him some gas and took him away."

"LOUD BANGS"

He said the family who lived at the house with two sons and a daughter were friendly and described them as "very religious".

Neighbor Student Dimple Hirani, 21, said: "My parents heard loud bangs which we presumed were gunshots."

She said she thought the family were Bangladeshi immigrants. 

"This is a very friendly area and this street in particular. We all know each other," she added.

Britain has been on high alert since the attacks last July 7 when four British Islamists blew themselves up on three underground trains and a bus.

Two weeks later police said they foiled an identical plot.

London police Commissioner Ian Blair, Britain's most senior officer, has said three terrorism plots have been thwarted since the July bombings and that groups were planning further attacks.

The shooting is the first during an anti-terrorism operation since police shot dead Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes last July as he boarded an underground train in south London after officers wrongly identified him as a suspected suicide bomber.

[Soldier4Christ]

Rice holds out possible meeting with Iranians

VIENNA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in another gesture to Tehran, on Friday held out the possibility that she meet Iranian officials if Tehran halts atomic fuel work and agrees to talks with major powers.

Rice, speaking in a series of interviews with U.S. media, added that Iran faced a "moment of truth," with Russia and China now in full support of robust penalties for Tehran if it does not scale back its nuclear program.

U.N. Security Council permanent members plus Germany finalized on Thursday in Vienna a package of incentives for Iran if it gives up potentially weapons-related nuclear work. Failure to agree would see Iran face "robust measures", Rice said.

A meeting with Rice would be the highest-level face-to-face contact between U.S. and Iranian officials since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Washington cut ties with Iran in 1980.

"It depends of course on what Iran does," she said in an interview with National Public Radio.

"If Iran is prepared to verifiably suspend its program and enter into negotiations, then we'll determine the level (of representation) but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the ministers meet at some point," she said.

Many U.S. and other major power officials think it is highly unlikely Iran will accept the package of incentives agreed on by the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany.

But after years of calling Iran part of an "axis of evil" and insisting on its punishment and isolation, the U.S. administration is now going out of its way to embrace diplomatic engagement and make clear that if the nuclear issue is not resolved, it would be the fault of Tehran not Washington.

Rice said Tehran had a "matter of weeks, not months," to deliver a definitive response.

Russia and China, who do not believe Iran poses an imminent threat, have been most opposed to threatening Iran with sanctions if it defies such demands.

But Rice told CNN Television, "Russia and China have signed on to the two paths."

She also insisted in other interviews that both paths agreed on Thursday night -- one leading Iran to international integration with incentives and another path toward isolation through various disincentives -- are "quite robust."

Iran has rejected calls that it scrap or suspend uranium enrichment -- a process that can yield bomb-grade material. It says its atomic work has purely civilian, not military, aims.

Asked if the six foreign ministers believed their initiative would persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear work, Rice said they were hopeful "but I wouldn't call it optimism," she told NPR.

Rice refused to rule out a policy of "regime change" for Iran, which some U.S. officials have advocated because of concerns not only about the nuclear program but complaints that Iran sponsors terrorism and is undermining peace in Iraq, Lebanon and between Israel and Palestinians.

But she was measured in her rhetoric. She noted President George W. Bush "has always said there are no people on earth who don't deserve to be free and the Iranian people are no different."

[Shammu]

From all the other information available now I don't think it will take that long.

Nope I don't think it will take that long either. I look for Iran to have the bomb, in the next 1-2 years.

[Soldier4Christ]

Russia says "military force" excluded in Iran offer

Moscow says that a package of measures worked out by world powers to try to solve the row over Iran's nuclear programme excludes the use of military force. Foreign ministers from Britain, the US, France, Russia, China, Germany, plus the EU foreign policy chief, met in Vienna.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said: "We urge Iran to take the positive path and to consider seriously our substantive proposals which would bring significant benefits to Iran. We will now be talking to the Iranians about our proposals."

The so-called carrots-and-sticks package is thought to offer Iran a light-water nuclear reactor and a secure supply of atomic fuel, while threatening a freeze on assets and visa bans if Iran does not comply.

"I think we should not pay attention to their incentives," says one student in Tehran. "Our nuclear activities are not their business. But, as we are a member of the international community, we have to try to make confidence building measures."

Earlier Iran welcomed the offer of direct talks by Washington, but rejected the condition that it give up uranium enrichment.

[Soldier4Christ]

Russia Outlaws Two Islamic Groups

Russian Supreme Court has outlawed the Islamic Jihad and Jund-al-Sham groups as terrorist organizations, the RIA-Novosti news agency reports.

At its Friday session the court upheld a request from the Prosecutor General’s office to put the Islamic Jihad Group (known in Russian as Jamaata Mojahedin) and Jund-al-Sham (Soldiers of the Levant) on the list of terrorist groups and to forbid them from operating in Russia.

The Supreme Court session was held behind closed doors with representatives from the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Federal Security Service giving testimony.

“These organizations have been outlawed in a number of countries. They pose a danger to Russia,” said Alexander Novokshchenov, a senior prosecutor, adding that they had carried out terrorist attacks in Chechnya, Uzbekistan, and Lebanon.

He said the ruling could be appealed within 10 days.

In 2003, the Supreme Court put 15 organizations, including al Qaeda and Hizb ut-Tahrir, on the list of terrorist groups and banned them from operating in Russia.

[Soldier4Christ]

U.S. Urges Russia To Withdraw Troops From Moldova
   


The United States would ratify an adaptation agreement on the European arms treaty only if Russia withdrew its troops from Moldova unconditionally, reports from Moldova’s capital Chisinau said on Friday, Mosnews reported. As an explicit signal on the issue for the first time, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Paula DeSutter said Russia’s withdrawal from the Dniester River region was a precondition for the U.S. ratification of the Adaptation Agreement on the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty).

[Soldier4Christ]

Euronext accepts NYSE bid for merger

 Germans still plan a push for Euronext

As top officials from Euronext and the New York Stock Exchange defended a $10.2 billion deal to create the first trans-Atlantic exchange, Deutsche Börse of Germany said Friday it would stick to plans for a central role in changes sweeping the industry by pushing to join forces with Euronext.

The NYSE announced late Thursday that it would enter into a merger of equals with Euronext, creating an electronic trading giant with a market capitalization of around $20 billion. By accepting the NYSE offer, Euronext rebuffed Deutsche Börse's attempts to create an all-European champion.

But Deutsche Börse said it "continued to believe in the substance and value of a transaction with Euronext," and it vowed to pursue a combination of the two exchanges.

Jan-Michiel Hessels, the Euronext chairman, who would take over as chairman of a merged NYSE Euronext, said the exchange remained "obliged to listen to anything that makes sense or adds value." But he said Euronext "is no longer in touch with Deutsche Börse."

Completing the NYSE deal would represent a major triumph for the management of Euronext, which has maneuvered for 18 months to find a way to continue growing rapidly while avoiding a loss of control.

The chief executive of Euronext, Jean-François Théodore, and the chief executive of the NYSE, John Thain, who would be chief executive of the new group, with Théodore as his deputy, said the combination was necessary in a rapidly evolving world where around-the-clock trading was becoming commonplace and competition for listings growing fiercer with the London Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong market.

Even so, the outcome will hinge on how amenable Euronext and NYSE shareholders are to the deal, and on whether Deutsche Börse pushes a more attractive counteroffer. Deutsche Börse has not released terms of its bid, but analysts have estimated it to be worth about $1 billion more than the NYSE bid.

A spokesman for the German government, Thomas Steg, said Deutsche Börse had made "an exceptionally attractive offer," and he said the government favored an alliance of European exchanges, according to The Associated Press.

Last week, some Euronext shareholders warned Théodore to hold out for better offers, and encouraged him to stoke a bidding war before striking an agreement with either the New York exchange or with Deutsche Börse.

TCI, the London-based hedge fund that is the largest shareholder in Euronext and also has stakes in the German exchange, has been pushing for an all-European merger.

But Thain played down the chances of a bidding war for Euronext, pointing out that one of the largest hedge funds that holds shares in Euronext backed the deal with the NYSE.

Speaking alongside Théodore at a packed news conference in Paris, Thain said: "That shareholder is the biggest shareholder of the New York Stock Exchange and certainly one of, if not the biggest, in Euronext," an apparent reference to Atticus Capital, an influential hedge fund.

The New York exchange's acquisition of Euronext still must be approved by regulators and shareholders in the United States, some of whom are concerned that Thain is building an expensive and unwieldy empire.

Thomas Nagtegaal, of Rabobank in the Netherlands, said it was too early to know whether enough Euronext shareholders would support the NYSE Euronext deal, saying it still was unclear what "for them is the most profitable combination."

Consolidation among exchanges gained momentum this year when Nasdaq, the second-largest U.S. stock market, built a stake of more than 25 percent in the London Stock Exchange. Under British takeover rules, it cannot make a takeover bid for six months.

On Friday, Théodore sought to assure European companies already listed on Euronext markets in Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris that they would not be subjected to the strict scrutiny of the Sarbanes-Oxley law, which was passed in the wake of financial scandals in the United States.

"No Sarb-Ox at all in Europe," Théodore declared.

The NYSE deal would only go forward if more than 50 percent of shareholders voted in favor at an extraordinary general meeting, Théodore said. He did not give the date of that meeting, but both men said they expected to complete the deal within six months.

Théodore said a NYSE Euronext combination would continue to be an attractive partner for other bourses. Borsa Italiana said Friday it would start talks with the group, Bloomberg News reported.

"We would welcome with pleasure Borsa Italiana," Théodore said.

Thain also said the deal would give the NYSE a far stronger business in derivatives and called it an example of how European and American companies could show that a recent wave of economic nationalism on both sides of the Atlantic was outmoded.

With the NYSE and Euronext determined to merge, Deutsche Börse reportedly might be interested in trying to expand across the Atlantic in a deal with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

That would potentially lay the groundwork for three separate trans- Atlantic exchanges: the NYSE and Euronext; Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange; and Deutsche Börse and markets like the Chicago exchange.

The NYSE Euronext merger would also be a disappointment to some European financial market operators and commentators, some of whom have long called for a combination of Euronext and Deutsche Börse to make it easier for investors to trade across borders, and for start-ups to raise capital.

Under a NYSE Euronext deal, experts say, little will change for investors and for small companies because markets in Europe and the United States will remain almost entirely separate.

"Only a tight integration between Euronext and NYSE will significantly effect liquidity, and this integration will raise complicated regulatory and technology issues," said Clem Chambers, chief executive of the London-based stocks and investment Web site Advfn.

Units of a NYSE Euronext would be managed separately, and operational headquarters of the new company would be split among New York, Paris, Amsterdam and London. Regulators from each country would continue overseeing trading in those countries.

The consolidation of exchanges is being driven largely by the need to make cost savings through combining technologies, and to own markets in a wider variety of jurisdictions than in the past.

Companies are increasingly seeking out the most advantageous legal environment in which to raise capital, and exchanges like the NYSE are eager to chase them.