News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

Syria interested in buying Iranian arms

Brother, since this is Gog, it is in the, Gog and Magog in the news

Syria interested in buying Iranian arms

Iran, Syria sign defense agreement

[Shammu]

Chemical Accident - Indoseia archipelago

DESCRIPTION
Hundreds of Indonesians have fled their homes after villages were inundated with toxic mud flowing from a cracked gas exploration well in eastern Java. More than 500 people have been treated at local hospitals for breathing difficulties, severe headaches and stomach pains after inhaling sulfurous gases arising from the mud, which has wiped out dozens of hectares of rice paddy fields. The mud began seeping from cracks two weeks ago in a well operated by mine and gas company PT Lapindo Brantas. Locals say the flow has been increasing every day. Geologists say the cracks were caused by faulty drilling operations and may have been exacerbated by a powerful earthquake that struck central Java late last month. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered a full investigation into the incident, saying residents should receive compensation.

This is the raw news

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 Call to abolish legal marriages
Legal marriages should be scrapped and replaced with a range of civil partnerships, according to a progressive religious think-tank.

Christian group Ekklesia said there should be a separation of the role of the Church and State in weddings.

Under its proposals, couples could specify the kind of legal commitment they wanted to make to each other.

They would still be able to register their partnership in law under a separate process.

'Confused'

Ekklesia said that the current situation was "confused" by attempts to fuse the Christian and civil concepts of marriage onto a "one size fits all" arrangement.

It said its proposed framework would make a clearer distinction between religious marriage and those defined in law.

   Religious communities are entitled to have their own ideal of marriage which they offer to the wider society. But requiring others to accept this definition by law benefits no one
Jonathan Bartley
Director, Ekklesia

This would also give more clarity to the situation created by civil partnerships, which give gay and lesbian couples similar rights to heterosexual couples who marry, but does not convey the same legal status.

'Failure'

Director of the think-tank Jonathan Bartley said the plans were a response to the failure of marriage.

"Legal marriage clearly isn't working. A divorce rate of around 40% is surely evidence enough of this," he said.

"At the moment there is only one form of marriage defined under law, which everyone has to take or leave.

"It does not reflect Christian ideas of marriage, which are based on a covenant before God, rather than a legal contract and agreement between individuals.

"And it does not properly acknowledge the reality of the existence of other, secular viewpoints, either.

He added: "Religious communities are entitled to have their own ideal of marriage which they offer to the wider society. But requiring others to accept this definition by law benefits no one. It is confusing and counter-productive."

The Church of England has argued that granting legal rights to couples who co-habit undermines marriage.

Mr Bartley said: "If the Church wants to argue that Christian marriage, rooted in the grace of God, is preferable to civil cohabitation, it is free to do so.

"But there must surely be something wrong when the Church's defence of holy matrimony involves perpetuating what many will see as an unholy injustice against established live-in couples."

Call to abolish legal marriages

[Shammu]

 EU ignores constitution vote to launch anti-terror squad
By Justin Stares and Patrick Hennessy
(Filed: 18/06/2006)

European leaders were accused of "cherry picking" from the moribund European Union constitution last night after agreeing to create a pan-European counter-terrorism force.

At the Brussels European summit, all 25 member states agreed to pool assets - police, civil protection and military - and place them at the disposal of Javier Solana, the EU's foreign minister-in-waiting.
    
Javier Solana
The counter-terrorism force would be controlled by Javier Solana 

Such a move had been planned in the constitution which was rejected by voters in France and Holland last year. The constitution has been left on the shelf although Europe's leaders want it up and running again by 2008. Minutes of the summit show that the kernel of the counter-terrorism force, the "crisis steering group", will be operational in a fortnight.

The EU presidency, currently held by Austria, has drawn up a "manual" of forces and assets which can be called on following an attack in any country.

Last night, Eurosceptics reacted with outrage. Chris Heaton-Harris, the Tory Euro-MP, said: "This is another example of the Soviet-style regime which rides roughshod over democratic votes in France and the Netherlands.

In both countries voters said No to the constitution and, specifically, No to a continent-wide anti-terror force.

This is meant to be a time for reflection - but instead the EU is cherry picking from the constitution.

" Defending the agreement, Jesus Carmona, the spokesman on counter-terrorism for Europe's council of ministers, said the force would not constitute standing troops but "officers" from a pool, who could be called on when necessary.

It would operate in another member state only at the request of the government. The size of the force had not been defined, he said.

The latest, EU-wide agreement follows preparatory talks between the six largest nations - the G6, which includes Britain.

The G6 is not an EU institution and the talks therefore had no official status but, in a clear sign that Brussels was keen to be involved, the commission vice-president, Franco Frattini, attended.

EU ignores constitution vote to launch anti-terror squad

[Soldier4Christ]

Hundreds rally against Iran's president

More than 700 people gathered Saturday to protest the Iranian president's denial of the Nazi Holocaust as Iran played its second match at the World Cup.

Demonstrators waved Israeli flags at the rally outside the Alt Oper opera house in Germany's financial capital. Some held up signs reading "Support Israel Now!" and "Israel has the right to exist."

They were joined by a small group of Iranian dissidents with their country's flags. Police said there were no incidents at the rally.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has caused international outrage by dismissing the Holocaust as a myth and questioning Israel's right to exist.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said that his country would have to accept a visit by Ahmadinejad if he decided to visit his country's World Cup team.

Holocaust survivor and scholar Arno Lustiger told the rally that any welcome for Ahmadinejad would "be a provocation to all German Jews."

Ahmadinejad has not announced any firm plans to attend, but told Iran's players earlier this month that he would try to join them if they qualified for the second round. However, Iran's first-round exit was sealed Saturday when it lost 2-0 to Portugal in Frankfurt.

Germany's Central Council of Jews has said the presence at the tournament of one of Ahmadinejad's seven vice presidents, Mohammed Aliabadi, already is a provocation.

An estimated 1,200 people, many of them German Jews, demonstrated against Ahmadinejad before Iran's loss to Mexico in its opening World Cup game in Nuremberg last Sunday.

The prospect of a possible Ahmadinejad visit has been a delicate issue for the German government, which is involved in diplomatic efforts to defuse a standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Schaeuble has refused to meet his Iranian counterpart, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, during the World Cup.

His ministry said the Iranian embassy in Berlin had asked whether Schaeuble would meet Pourmohammadi during a visit to an unspecified Iran World Cup game.

Despite reservations, a ministry statement said, a meeting would have provided a chance to condemn Ahmadinejad's statements and to press the case for the early release of a German tourist held in Iran after his boat allegedly strayed into Iranian waters.

However, it said an Iranian official's recent statement that the man would not be released early removed a "significant basis of business" for any meeting.

German Jewish leaders have worried about possible shows of support for Ahmadinejad by Germany's far right.

Police rejected an application from the far-right National Democratic Party to stage a rally in Frankfurt Saturday, and the party did not appeal the ban.

Iran will play its final Group D match against Angola in Leipzig on Wednesday.

[Shammu]

15-June-2006  -- Catholic News Agency      
OPPOSITION TO WAR INCOMPATIBLE WITH SUPPORT FOR ABORTION

Madrid, June 15, 2006 (CNA) - The vice president of the Bishops’ Conference of Spain, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares of Toledo, said this week opposition to war or to domestic violence is incompatible with support for abortion.

Speaking at a summer course on Catholicism and Spain offered through the University of San Pablo and the Garcia Morente Foundation, the cardinal gave his analysis of the moral state of the country and asked, “How can you say no to the war, no to violence in the home and yet say yes to abortion?”

According to the cardinal, family, education and the defense of human life are not “truths of the faith,” but rather “the three basic realities that make Spain what she is and what she is called to be today and in the future.”

These three realities, he added, “are not particular to any one confession, but rather are directed towards all persons independent of their religious preference.” The Spanish cardinal explained that many parents are appealing for urgent help for the family, “which is enduring grave problems, and it is time to provide solutions.”

Cardinal Cañizares said one of the causes of the crisis of the family is “the plague of divorce - whose victims are the children,” and he said homosexual unions and marriage between persons of the same sex are being used to “destroy the truth about marriage.”

“It hurts my ears to hear them talking about (homosexual marriage as) “progress” and defending positions that denigrate the family,” the cardinal said.

OPPOSITION TO WAR INCOMPATIBLE WITH SUPPORT FOR ABORTION

[Shammu]

Beware: the new goths are coming
Peter Almond
ONE of Britain’s most senior military strategists has warned that western civilisation faces a threat on a par with the barbarian invasions that destroyed the Roman empire.

In an apocalyptic vision of security dangers, Rear Admiral Chris Parry said future migrations would be comparable to the Goths and Vandals while north African "barbary" pirates could be attacking yachts and beaches in the Mediterranean within 10 years.

Europe, including Britain, could be undermined by large immigrant groups with little allegiance to their host countries — a "reverse colonisation" as Parry described it. These groups would stay connected to their homelands by the internet and cheap flights. The idea of assimilation was becoming redundant, he said.

The warnings by Parry of what could threaten Britain over the next 30 years were delivered to senior officers and industry experts at a conference last week. Parry, head of the development, concepts and doctrine centre at the Ministry of Defence, is charged with identifying the greatest challenges that will frame national security policy in the future.

If a security breakdown occurred, he said, it was likely to be brought on by environmental destruction and a population boom, coupled with technology and radical Islam. The result for Britain and Europe, Parry warned, could be "like the 5th century Roman empire facing the Goths and the Vandals".

Parry pointed to the mass migration which disaster in the Third World could unleash. "The diaspora issue is one of my biggest current concerns," he said. "Globalisation makes assimilation seem redundant and old-fashioned . . . [the process] acts as a sort of reverse colonisation, where groups of people are self-contained, going back and forth between their countries, exploiting sophisticated networks and using instant communication on phones and the internet."

Third World instability would lick at the edges of the West as pirates attacked holidaymakers from fast boats. "At some time in the next 10 years it may not be safe to sail a yacht between Gibraltar and Malta," said the admiral.

Parry, 52, an Oxford graduate who was mentioned in dispatches in the Falklands war, is not claiming all the threats will come to fruition. He is warning, however, of what is likely to happen if dangers are not addressed by politicians.

Parry — who used the slogan "old dog, new tricks" when he commanded the assault ship HMS Fearless — foresees wholesale moves by the armed forces to robots, drones, nanotechnology, lasers, microwave weapons, space-based systems and even "customised" nuclear and neutron bombs.

Lord Boyce, the former chief of the defence staff, welcomed Parry’s analysis. "Bringing it together in this way shows we have some very serious challenges ahead," he said. "The real problem is getting them taken seriously at the top of the government."

Ancient Rome has been a subject of serious public discussion this year. Boris Johnson, the Conservative MP and journalist, produced a book and television series drawing parallels between the European Union and the Roman empire. Terry Jones, the former Monty Python star, meanwhile, has spoken up for the barbarians’ technological and social achievements in a television series and has written:

"We actually owe far more to the so-called ‘barbarians’ than we do to the men in togas."

Parry, based in Shrivenham, Wiltshire, presented his vision at the Royal United Services Institute in central London. He identified the most dangerous flashpoints by overlaying maps showing the regions most threatened by factors such as agricultural decline, booming youth populations, water shortages, rising sea levels and radical Islam.

Parry predicts that as flood or starvation strikes, the most dangerous zones will be Africa, particularly the northern half; most of the Middle East and central Asia as far as northern China; a strip from Nepal to Indonesia; and perhaps eastern China.

He pinpoints 2012 to 2018 as the time when the current global power structure is likely to crumble. Rising nations such as China, India, Brazil and Iran will challenge America’s sole superpower status.

This will come as "irregular activity" such as terrorism, organised crime and "white companies" of mercenaries burgeon in lawless areas.

The effects will be magnified as borders become more porous and some areas sink beyond effective government control.

Parry expects the world population to grow to about 8.4 billion in 2035, compared with 6.4 billion today. By then some 68% of the population will be urban, with some giant metropolises becoming ungovernable. He warns that Mexico City could be an example.

In an effort to control population growth, some countries may be tempted to copy China’s "one child" policy. This, with the widespread preference for male children, could lead to a ratio of boys to girls of as much as 150 to 100 in some countries. This will produce dangerous surpluses of young men with few economic prospects and no female company.

"When you combine the lower prospects for communal life with macho youth and economic deprivation you tend to get trouble, typified by gangs and organised criminal activity," said Parry. "When one thinks of 20,000 so-called jihadists currently fly-papered in Iraq, one shudders to think where they might go next."

The competition for resources, Parry argues, may lead to a return to "industrial warfare" as countries with large and growing male populations mobilise armies, even including cavalry, while acquiring high-technology weaponry from the West.

The subsequent mass population movements, Parry argues, could lead to the "Rome scenario". The western Roman empire collapsed in the 4th and 5th centuries as groups such as Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Suevi, Huns and Vandals surged over its borders. The process culminated in the sack of Rome in 455 by Geiseric the Lame, king of the Alans and Vandals, in an invasion from north Africa.

Parry estimated at the conference there were already more than 70 diasporas in Britain.

In the future, he believes, large groups that become established in Britain and Europe after mass migration may develop "communities of interest" with unstable or anti-western regions.

Any technological advantage developed to deal with the threats was unlikely to last. "I don’t think we can win in cyberspace — it’s like the weather — but we need to have a raincoat and an umbrella to deal with the effects," said Parry.

Some of the consequences would be beyond human imagination to tackle. The examples he gave, tongue-in-cheek, include: "No wind on land and sea; third of population dies instantly; perpetual darkness; sores; Euphrates dries up ‘to clear way for kings from the east’; earth’s core opens."

TOP STRATEGIST

Rear Admiral Chris Parry is the armed forces’ chief “blue skies” thinker.

Parry, 52, was educated at the independent Portsmouth grammar school and at Jesus College, Oxford. During the Falklands war in 1982, he was mentioned in dispatches while serving with the Fleet Air Arm on the destroyer HMS Antrim.

Parry is one of Britain’s leading specialists on amphibious warfare. He once commanded the assault ship HMS Fearless, was in charge of amphibious warfare training at Portsmouth naval base and headed a joint British-Dutch taskforce before moving to his post at the Ministry of Defence.

The admiral heads the development, concepts and doctrine centre, set up in 1998 and based at Shrivenham, Wiltshire. It has more than 50 staff and is being expanded to include extra analysts.

Beware: the new goths are coming

[Shammu]

Gay parade draws 2.4 million
Brazilians pack street days after even bigger rally of evangelicals

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- More than 2 million gay men, lesbians and transvestites waving rainbow flags and dressed in lavish Carnival costumes paraded Saturday to celebrate gay pride and demand an end to homophobia.

The 10th annual Sao Paulo Gay Pride Parade saw go-go boys and drag queens dancing on the roofs of sound trucks blasting music as they rolled down the skyscraper-lined Avenida Paulista -- the financial heart of Brazil's biggest city.

It also turned into a cheering festival for Brazil's World Cup soccer team, with many paraders dressed in the country's yellow, green and blue. (Watch parade revelers in Brazil and Mexico -- 1:40)

Organizers boast Sao Paulo's pride parade is the largest of its kind on the planet. Police said the parade drew 2.4 million people, far more than last year's official crowd count of 1.8 million.

The theme of this year's event was to halt hate crimes against gays in the nation of more than 185 million people. But in typical Brazilian style, participants turned a somber topic into a huge street party, dancing, drinking beer and kissing as they marched several kilometers.

Some dressed as Batman. Others turned themselves into Elvis Presley, Cinderella, U.S. Marines, Marie Antoinette and the lead characters of the movie "Brokeback Mountain" about two gay cowboys.

Despite a certain measure of tolerance for gays, whose drag parades are major draws during Carnival celebrations, anti-homosexual discrimination is widespread across Brazil, said Nelson Matias Pereira, a spokesman with the Brazilian Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans-gender Pride Parade Association.

"The bottom line is we are citizens, citizens who pay taxes and contribute to the country," Pereira said.

Waving a Brazilian flag, Ulysses Nascimento danced along the street in a skintight, yellow and green T-shirt and a snug black bathing suit.

"This is to show that everyone's equal in this world, gays and lesbians as well," the 22-year-old salesman said.

"I just want to show that we're harmless," said Cao Ramos, a towering 36-year-old architect in a shimmery gold evening gown and high heels. "There are so many other things in the world that we should be worrying about instead of people's sexual preferences."

The march came two days after police said about 3 million people joined an evangelical Protestant rally on the same Sao Paulo avenue, demonstrating their growing influence in the world's largest Roman Catholic country.

The evangelicals and the Catholic church strongly oppose calls for a nationwide law permitting civil unions between same-sex couples. Currently, only Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul allows such unions.

Paraders said they want organized religion to stop regarding gays as sinners.

"The traditional church doesn't want us," said Pastor Justino Luis, 42, who started a church serving 200 mostly gay and lesbian parishioners.

Waving a banner with the words, "I'm Happy, Gay and Christian," Luis said, "I know (God) loves me the way I am, and I know when he made me he planned for me to be the way I am."

Gay parade draws 2.4 million

[Shammu]

Mubarak, Abdullah: 'Resume Mideast peace talks'
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jun. 18, 2006

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II voiced concern Sunday over fighting among Palestinian factions and urged a resumption of stalled Mideast peace talks, the two countries' foreign ministers said.

"The talks (between Mubarak and Abdullah) concentrated on how to work to defuse current tension between Hamas and Fatah and how to lead the Palestinians toward a consensus ... that will prevent any clashes and take them to the land of safety," Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit said after talks in the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheik.

Aboul Gheit and his Jordanian counterpart, Abdul-Illah al-Khatib, also said the two leaders expressed support for a European Union-sponsored plan to channel humanitarian aid to the Palestinians while sidestepping the Hamas government.

The plan approved Saturday would fund Palestinians' health care, utilities and social services with an initial allocation of about $126 million. The EU hopes to have a funding mechanism in place by early July.

Before meeting Mubarak in Sinai, Abdullah met with Abbas in Amman and told the Palestinian leader about his concern over Palestinian infighting.

Mubarak, Abdullah: 'Resume Mideast peace talks'

[Shammu]

 China gives overflight permission to Indian Air Force
New Delhi, June 18, IRNA

China-IAF-Flight
As an exceptional gesture that reflected growing warmth in bilateral ties, China has allowed an aircraft with Indian Air Force insignia, which was carrying Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora, to cross its territory for the first time in over 40 years.

The Brazilian Embraer aircraft of IAF's VIP squadron carrying Deora, who is Indian prime minister's special envoy to the summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Conference on Interactions and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, was allowed to fly into and out of China, Doordarshan News said here, last night.

Deora and his nine-member team flew first to the eastern megapolis Shanghai and later westward to Almaty in Kazakhstan with a night halt at Chengdu, the center of China's military aircraft manufacturing.

Indian diplomats described China's gesture as a sign of growing trust and warmth between the two Asian giants, whose ties witnessed improvement since the 1962 war.

In 2001, Beijing rejected Indian request for an air corridor for the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's special flight to St Petersburg through the Chinese route to save on several hours of tiring journey over Iran.

China gives overflight permission to Indian Air Force

[Soldier4Christ]

Al-Qaeda 'planned US cyanide hit'

Al-Qaeda militants were within 45 days of launching a lethal cyanide attack on New York's subway system in early 2003, US intelligence sources suggest.

But the attack, masterminded by Saudi militants, was called off by Osama Bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The revelations are contained in a new book excerpted by Time magazine.

Unnamed US officials confirmed their knowledge of the plot to the New York Times. The city's underground was placed on high alert in February 2003.

Militant killed

In The Once Percent Doctrine, Ron Suskind says CIA officials came to learn about the plot after members of the cell were arrested in Bahrain in February 2003.

The plan was allegedly found on one of the computers they had been using.

The device they planned to use would have released deadly hydrogen-cyanide gas using a remote trigger, the book says.

Top US officials calculated that the casualties would be almost on a par with the 11 September 2001 attacks.

The CIA built a model of the device and showed it to President George W Bush, who put the US government on high alert, the book says.

Mr Bush and his aides were left guessing at the reasons why Zawahiri allegedly cancelled the plan.

"We were aware of the plot and took the appropriate precautions," the New York Police Department's chief spokesman, Paul Browne, told the New York Times newspaper.

In his book, Suskind says a Pakistani agent close to the al-Qaeda leadership had pointed US officials to the leader of the Saudi militants, who was later killed in a stand-off with Saudi police.

[Soldier4Christ]

British Police To Terrorists: We’ll Let Y’all Know If We’re Coming For You


The British left-wing rag “The Guardian” reports that following a raid during which one person was shot in the shoulder by the police (the cops were looking for a chemical weapon that wasn’t there), said police are going to… are going to… sorry, it’s so incredibly STUPID that I can’t mention it myself. Here is what the Guardian says:

    The police are considering a proposal to let selected British Muslims examine the intelligence used to mount anti-terrorism raids before they take place, the Guardian has learned.

Yup. You read it. It’s really impossible to believe. The Brits are going to voluntarily leak anti-terrorist intelligence before they act on it; not only that, but the intel is going to be leaked to those who are most likely the closest to THE TARGETS!

Following is the entire article.

________________________

Police may let Muslims see terrorism intelligence

· Move to repair relations after Forest Gate raid
· Review of operation ready by end of month

The police are considering a proposal to let selected British Muslims examine the intelligence used to mount anti-terrorism raids before they take place, the Guardian has learned.

The proposal will be considered as part of a review of the raid in Forest Gate, east London, a fortnight ago when 250 officers stormed a family house searching for a chemical weapon which was not found. One man was shot and police have apologised for the "hurt" caused by the raid which has further damaged strained relations with the local community. The review began this week and is expected to be completed before the end of the month.

While such a review after a controversial incident is standard, this one is unique because British Muslims are involved from the start.

A senior police source with knowledge of the issues involved said: "We are working on sharing more information with the community before, during and after events so they understand as much of the context as we can provide."

Other sources said the review would look at the gathering and assessment of intelligence, which is sparser than in other serious crime. The review will also look at what action police then take, and whether hundreds of police need to storm a private family house. Also on the table is more rapid compensation, whether police can do more to stop or counteract leaks "smearing" suspects.

Andy Hayman, the Met's assistant commissioner in charge of anti-terrorism, has already said lessons would be learned after the raid, which saw two brothers held for eight days and questioned, before being released without charge. The two young Muslims faced a welter of allegations in the media, which their supporters accused counter-terrorism officials of leaking and which are denied.

Any British Muslims shown intelligence would be security vetted but would not have a veto on the raid.

The review includes members of the Muslim Safety Forum, which aims to improve relations between police and British Muslim communities.

Azad Ali, its chairman, said fresh measures, such as British Muslims being able to advise the police on their intelligence and how to act on it before any raid, must be found. "Greater cooperation with the police is possible, but it needs the police to take creative steps to build trust," he said. "There are people keen to help the police, but episodes like Forest Gate and the way it was mishandled stoke up the mistrust."

Privately senior officers have said more raids will occur because of the threat of terrorism. But they face several dilemmas. Intelligence they have is sketchy and cannot be hardened up in the way it can in other serious crime. But every episode in which errors appear to be made, cost the police in lost confidence. Senior officers say they need the trust of British Muslims to gain an increased flow of information.

In another sign of the impact of the Forest Gate raid, the head of Labour's ethnic minority taskforce will today warn that the anti-terrorism battle will not work while Muslims feel picked on. Keith Vaz MP will tell a Labour meeting on diversity: "[Defeating terrorism] ... will not be achieved while anyone perceives they remain suspects simply because of their colour or creed."

Yesterday police received another reminder about how long the damage from a botched anti-terrorist operation can last. The family of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian man shot dead last July after being mistaken for a terrorist, condemned delays which could see a report on the death not appearing until the autumn.

[Shammu]

 Asefi hopes for talks with Europe without preconditions
Tehran, June 18, IRNA

Iran-Asefi-Ultimatum
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi here Sunday expressed hope for talks with Europe without any preconditions.

He made the above remark in response to a question about the extent to which Iran hopes to start talks with EU3 on its nuclear issue without any preset conditions, given the West's proposal for suspension of uranium enrichment by Iran as a precondition.

Asefi said that the conditions to be offered should be reasonable, adding that Iran has formerly suspended the enrichment process.

He underlined that Iran will not give up its right to access nuclear energy, adding that in his belief, talks should be based on mutual respect and compliance with norms.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman said that it is impossible to set a precondition for talks without considering the views of the negotiators.

He warned those involved in Iran's nuclear issue against changing it into a matter of prestige. "It is rather a rational issue, given that we have a right based on logic and believe that it should be accepted by Europe.

"Europe should not think that its respects for our rights will be a violation of its prestige. On the contrary, if Europeans respect our reasonable international rights, this will raise their own reputation," he added.

Concerning the outcome of the visit of the Secretary of Iran Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani to Egypt, he said that the outcome of his talks with President Hosni Mubarak and other Egyptian officials was positive.

"A positive atmosphere dominated the talks and Egypt supported our nuclear stance. We believe that this will even have a positive effect on bilateral ties," added Asefi.

Asefi hopes for talks with Europe without preconditions

[Shammu]

 Pakistan/Anti-US rally /WRD/ Pakistani demonstrators burn Israeli, American flags
Islamabad, June 19, IRNA


Anti-American demonstrators condemned the United States for what they said were threats leveled on Iran and burned Israeli and American flags in Islamabad on Sunday.

Some 100 demonstrators chanted slogans `Death to America' in a rally organized by the Jafria Students Organization to express solidarity with Iran.

Ralliers marched for one kilometer from the central Imam Bargah up to the Islamabad Press Club in the city center.

Speakers warned the Bush administration to desist from any aggression against the Islamic Republic and said any attack on Iran would be considered an attack on Pakistan.

Mian Muhammad Aslam, member of the National Assembly from the Islamic alliance Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal told the ralliers that America was bent upon destroying humanity.

He dubbed America the "biggest terrorist" for killing innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He regretted Washington's move of sounding threats on Iran.

Mian Aslam paid tribute to Iranian President Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his courage and firm stand on the country's nuclear program.

He said the Iranian president represented the sentiments of the people of Iran.

We will be with the people of Iran in any case of American aggression, he declared.

Abdul Jalil Naqvi, member of the Shia Ulema Council, told the demonstrators that America was carrying out terrorist acts in Iraq and Afghanistan and demanded withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

Lashing out at policies of President Musharraf, he said that although the president had become part of the so-called anti-terror international coalition terrorist acts continued unabated in the country.

He said that no person involved in last month's suicide bombing at Nishtar Park Karachi during a religious gathering had been arrested so far.

Pakistan/Anti-US rally /WRD/ Pakistani demonstrators burn Israeli, American flags

[Soldier4Christ]

U.S. weapons transferred
to Palestinian terrorists
Militant leader tells WND rifles given to Abbas
for 'security' used in shooting attacks on Jews


TEL AVIV -- It was the United States that coordinated the transfer of weapons last week by Israel to Force 17, the presidential guard units of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, WorldNetDaily has learned. The transfer consisted of American-made weapons, Palestinian officials said.

Abu Yousuf, a senior member of Force 17, told WND in an exclusive interview last week the weapons will be shared with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group and utilized for attacks against Jews. He hinted the weapons already were used in two shooting attacks the past few days that killed one Israeli civilian and wounded another.

Many Force 17 gunmen are well known to also be members of the Al Aqsa Brigades, an offshoot of Abbas' Fatah party that is responsible for scores of recent suicide bombings, shooting attacks and rocket firings at Israel.

The weapons cache included 3,000 American-made M-16 assault rifles and over one million rounds of ammunition, Palestinian officials involved in the transfer told WND. Media reports had stated the transfer, which was credited to Israel, consisted of 370 assault rifles and an unspecified amount of bullets.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced last week he had approved the shipment of weapons and ammunition, explaining the transfer was meant to bolster Abbas' Fatah party in recent clashes against Hamas. The shipment reportedly originated in Jordan and needed Israel's approval for transport.

"I did this because we are running out of time and we need to help Abu Mazen," Olmert told reporters this past Tuesday.

Officials involved in the weapons transfer told WND the cache was driven through Jordan to the Allenby Bridge, the border station between Jordan and Israel. The officials said a U.S. government representative was present at the Allenby Bridge and oversaw the transfer of the shipment across the border, where it was then driven by a convoy protected by the Israeli Defense Forces and delivered to Force 17 representatives in Ramallah and at the Erez Crossing, the main checkpoint between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

It was unclear as of press time if the American weapons originated from U.S. military stockpiles in Iraq, which borders Jordan.

Palestinian officials said Abbas quietly requested the weapons from the U.S. in talks that involved Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

Force 17 senior member Abu Yousuf told WND the weapons his group received will be fired at Israelis.

"These weapons will not be used in an internal war but against Israelis," he said. "Force 17 is proud that we were the first to lead the Palestinian people during tough times such as resistance operations [against the Israeli army during large-scale operations in northern Samaria in 2002]. We will also be the first to lead the Palestinians in the current struggle against Israeli occupation."

Several Force 17 members, including Yousuf, also are members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Yousuf himself previously participated in anti-Israel terrorism, including recent shootings, attacks last month against Israeli forces operating in Ramallah and a shooting attack in northern Samaria in December 2000 that killed Benyamin Kahane, leader of the ultranationalist Kahane Chai organization.

After the Kahane murder, Yousuf was extended refuge by Yasser Arafat to live in the late PLO leader's Ramallah compound, widely known as the Muqata. Yousuf still lives in the compound.

Abbas last week appointed Mahmoud Damra to head Force 17. Damr is on Israel's most wanted list of terrorists. He was offered shelter in Arafat's compound in Ramallah in 2002 after Israel accused him of masterminding a string of terrorist attacks.

Israeli security officials say that since September 2000, Damra has led a terror cell based in Ramallah that has carried out deadly attacks, including shootings at Israeli vehicles, attacks against Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and the planting of roadside bombs.

Yousuf told WorldNetDaily Israel facilitated the transfer of Israel transferred the weapons to his Force 17 unit "for its own political purposes. We are not concerned with the reasons. The weapons will not be used against our brothers, only [against] Israelis."

Sources close to the Al Aqsa Brigades told WND the assault rifles transferred to Force 17 already were used in two separate anti-Israel shooting attacks in recent days. One attack killed a 35-year-old Israeli Arab on a major West Bank highway on the outskirts of Jerusalem this past Sunday. Israeli security officials say the shooters likely mistook the victim for a Jew. The second attack, which occurred Tuesday on the same highway, lightly wounded an Israeli.

Yousuf refused to confirm whether the new weapons were used in the recent spate of highway shootings, but he hinted the information was accurate. He told WND members of Al Aqsa Brigades live with him in the Muqata and that "resistance tools" are shared regularly.

The IDF this morning arrested a Force 17 member, Nasser Abin al-Hafez, in connection with the shootings. Al-Hafez was found in Ramallah near the Muqata.