News, Prophecy and other

[Soldier4Christ]

My note; Seems Iran is doing alot of demanding now a days.

Yes they are getting quite bold. They are either completely stupid or they already have a means to back themselves up. From what I have read I think it is the latter one.

[Shammu]

Thousands expected in Portugal for final move of Fatima witness

Sun Feb 19, 6:33 AM ET

LISBON (AFP) - More than 250,000 Roman Catholic faithful are expected at services in Portugal as the remains of the last of three shepherd children who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in 1917 were to be moved to the shrine of Fatima.

Sister Lucia de Jesus dos Santos, the eldest of the three children who said the Virgin appeared to them on six occasions near Fatima, then a small farming town, died at the age of 97 on February 13 last year.

She was buried in the graveyard of the Carmelite convent in the central city of Coimbra, some 70 kilometres (45 miles away), where she had lived in virtual isolation as a Roman Catholic nun since 1948.

A private mass was held at the convent on Sunday morning before her remains were to be moved at 12:30 pm (1230 GMT) to the shrine at Fatima, built on the site where the visions are said to have taken place.

As was Sister Lucia's request, she will be laid to rest near the remains of her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, the two other children who said they saw the mother of Jesus Christ.

Jacinta and Francisco died of respiratory diseases within three years of the visions, which transformed Fatima, about 110 kilometres north of Lisbon, into one of Catholicism's most revered sites that is visited by millions of people each year.

The high point of the ceremonies is expected to be a mass held at the Fatima shrine at 3:00 pm (1500 GMT) after Sister Lucia's remains are placed in their final resting spot, with pilgrims expected from around the world at the open-air service.

The children said the first sighting of the Virgin was on May 13, 1917 and that Marian apparitions took place for another five months, ending abruptly in October.

Sister Lucia was the only one of the three children who claimed to have heard clearly what the Virgin said, including three prophecies about key 20th-century events.

The first two were interpreted as predicting the end of World War I and the start of World War II, and the rise and fall of Soviet communism.

But the third "secret" of Fatima was not unveiled until 2000, spawning dozens of books and Internet sites which speculated it was a doomsday prophecy foretelling the end of the world.

When it finaly was revealed the Vatican said it foretold the attempted assassination attempt of then pope John Paul II in 1981.

The shooting by a Turkish gunman who opened fire on the head of the Roman Catholic Church in St. Peter's Square came on May 13 -- the same day as the first of the reported Fatima visions in 1917.

John Paul II visited Fatima three times, spending a few minutes with Sister Lucia on each trip.

Jacinta and Francisco were beatified, a key step on the path to possible sainthood, by John Paul II in May 2000 in a ceremony attended by more than 600,000 people. Sister Lucia is also expected to be beatified.

Thousands expected in Portugal for final move of Fatima witness

[Shammu]

Muslims Assault U.S. Embassy in Indonesia

By ALI KOTARUMALOS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 43 minutes ago

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Hundreds of Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad tried to storm the U.S. Embassy on Sunday, smashing the windows of a guard post but failing to push through the gates. Several people were injured.

Pakistani security forces, meanwhile, sealed off the capital of Islamabad to block a planned mass demonstration and fired tear gas and gunshots to chase off protesters. In Turkey, tens of thousands gathered in Istanbul chanting slogans against Denmark, Israel and the United States.

Protests over the cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September and have been republished in other European publications and elsewhere, have swept across the Muslim world, growing into mass outlets for rage against the West in general, and Israel and the United States in particular.

Christians also have become targets. Pakistani Muslims protesting in the southern city of Sukkur ransacked and burned a church Sunday after hearing accusations that a Christian man had burned pages of the Quran, Islam's holy book.

That incident came a day after Muslims protesting in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri attacked Christians and burned 15 churches in a three-hour rampage that killed at least 15 people. Some 30 other people have died during protests over the cartoons that erupted about three weeks ago.

In Jakarta, about 400 people marched to the heavily fortified U.S. mission in the center of the city, behind a banner reading "We are ready to attack the enemies of the Prophet."

Protesters throwing stones and brandishing wooden staves tried to break through the gates. They set fire to U.S. flags and a poster of President Bush and smashed the windows of a guard outpost before dispersing after a few minutes.

The U.S. Embassy called the attacks deplorable, describing them as acts of "thuggery."

A protest organizer said the West, and particularly the United States, is attacking Islam.

"They want to destroy Islam through the issue of terrorism ... and all those things are engineered by the United States," said Maksuni, who only uses one name.

"We are fighting America fiercely this time," he said. "And we also are fighting Denmark."

In Pakistan, where protests last week left five people dead, police put up roadblocks around Islamabad to keep people from entering the capital for a planned mass protest called by a coalition of six hard-line Islamic parties, the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal — United Action Forum.

Authorities also detained several lawmakers and Islamic leaders during raids in three cities and announced they would arrest anyone joining a gathering of more than five people to prevent the demonstration.

Opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman, a senior figure in the Islamic coalition, was eventually given permission to lead a small rally through a square in the city center. The protesters chanted "God is great!" and "Any friend of America is a traitor."

But when about 100 other protesters tried to reach the square, officers fired tear gas and at least one gunshot to chase them off. More gunshots were heard later in the city, but it wasn't clear who fired them. At least two policemen were injured, one bleeding from the head. Several demonstrators also were hurt.

A crowd of 700 people, some throwing stones at police, tried to march toward Islamabad's heavily guarded diplomatic enclave about 1.3 miles from the square but with blocked by troops in armored personnel carriers.

Police also blocked about 1,500 protesters from reaching Islamabad from the city of Peshawar by putting shipping containers and sandbags on a bridge along a highway leading to the capital, said Mohammed Iqbal, a key member of the religious alliance.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, about 600 people staged a protest in Chaman, a town near the Afghan border, burning Danish flags and an effigy of the Danish prime minister.

Such protests prompted Denmark on Sunday to temporarily recall its ambassador to Pakistan, Bent Wigotski, because it was impossible for him "to perform his job duties during the present circumstances," the Danish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Muslims Assault U.S. Embassy in Indonesia

My note; I see this cartoon is uniting the muslim world.

[Shammu]

Last update - 13:34 19/02/2006            
Iranian cleric: Use of nuclear arms sometimes permissible
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent and The Associated Press

A religious leader in Iran has said that in certain situations it is permissible by Muslim law to use nuclear weapons.

Hojatol-Islam Mohsen Gharavian was quoted by the Iran News as saying that according to Muslim Shariya, "When the world is armed with nuclear weapons, it is permissible to make use of these weapons in order to stand up against this threat."

This is the fist time the Iranian government has not censored such statements from a religious leader, according to Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli of Iranian descent and Middle East analyst at the Middle East Economic and Political Analysis Company. Until now, said Javedanfar, the Iranianian government had given clear instructions against saying anything that could be interpreted to mean that Iran is planning to use its nuclear technology for military purposes.

Gharavian's statement contradicts the words of other religious leaders, who have declared that Islam does not permit the production or use of nuclear weapons.

Javedanfar said that Gharavian's words testify to the difference of opinion within the Iranian elite, both governmental and religious.

Gharavian is considered a close associate of the conservative Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, who recently attempted to rank himself as candidate for the replacement of the ruling Ayatollah Ali Khamenei upon the latter's resignation.

Iran on Friday confirmed that it has begun using centrifugal gas in its uranium enrichment facility.

On Saturday, a gathering of Iranians who claim they are dedicated to becoming suicide bombers warned the United States and Britain of attacks on coalition military bases in Iraq if there were a strike against Tehran's nuclear facilities.

"With more than 1,000 trained martyrdom-seekers, we are ready to attack the American and British sensitive points if they attack Iran's nuclear facilities," said Mohammad Ali Samadi, spokesman of Esteshadion (Martyrdom Seekers). "We have registered more than 52,000 people who willingly are ready to defend their country."

"If they strike, we have a lot of volunteers. Their (U.S. and British) sensitive places are quiet close to Iranian borders," Samadi said after a gathering of about 200 students for a seminar on the suicide-bombing tactics at Tehran's Khajeh Nasir University.

Samadi reviewed the history of the suicide bombing as a weapon, praising it as the most effective Palestinian tactic in their confrontation with Israel.

The organizers also showed video clips of suicide attacks against Israelis, including one in the Morag settlement near Rafah in the Gaza Strip in February 2005. One settler, three Israeli soldiers and the two attackers were killed in the attack.

Hasan Abbasi, the main speaker, also praised suicide bombers but denounced attacks against "innocent people as al-Qaida did in New York."

Abbasi told the audience of potential martyrs that Iran was not seeking nuclear weapons as claimed by the United States and some of its allies.

"Our martyrdom-seekers are our nuclear weapons," said Abbasi, a university instructor and former ranking in the elite Revolutionary Guards.

After his speech, about 50 students filled out membership applications.

"This is a unique opportunity for me to die for God, next to my brothers in Palestine. That was why I signed up," said Reza Haghshenas, 22, an electrical engineering student.

A 23-year-old woman student, Maryam Amereh, said: "We are trying to defend Islam. It's a way to draw the attention of others to our activities."

But Rahim Hasanlu, a 22-year-old industrial management student, sipped his orange juice and declared himself not interested in joining. "I just attended to learn what they're saying, thats all."

Esteshadion was formed in late 2004, calling for members on a sporadic basis at Friday prayer ceremonies, state-sponsored rallies and at the group's occasional meetings.

Those who join have three choices: To train for suicide attacks to defend Iran's national interests, for suicide attacks against Israel or the assassination of British author Salman Rushdie, who was sentenced to death by former Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini for his 1989 book, "Satanic Verses."

Iranian cleric: Use of nuclear arms sometimes permissible

My note; YES! The show is about to begin.

[Soldier4Christ]

My note; I see this cartoon is uniting the muslim world.

That was the full intent of the Imam that started all this with the use of the fake cartoons that he used.

[Soldier4Christ]

Iranian cleric: Use of nuclear arms sometimes permissible

My note; YES! The show is about to begin.

Amen brother, it is well on it's way.

[Shammu]

Bin Laden Vows Never to Be Captured Alive

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden promised never to be captured alive and declared the United States had resorted to the same "barbaric" tactics used by Saddam Hussein, according to an audiotape purportedly by the al-Qaida leader that was posted Monday on a militant Web site.

The tape appeared to be a complete version of one that was first broadcast Jan. 19 on Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite channel, in which bin Laden offered the United States a long-term truce but also said his al-Qaida terror network would soon launch a fresh attack on American soil.

"I have sworn to only live free. Even if I find bitter the taste of death, I don't want to die humiliated or deceived," bin Laden said, in the 11-minute, 26-second tape.

In drawing the comparison to American military behavior in Iraq to that of Saddam, the speaker said:

"The jihad is continuing with strength, for Allah be all the credit, despite all the barbarity, the repressive steps taken by the American Army and its agents, to the extent that there is no longer any mentionable difference between this criminality and the criminality of Saddam."

By using that language to describe Saddam, bin Laden appeared to be denying assertions by the Bush administration that the former Iraqi leader had ties to al-Qaida — ties that were given as one rationale for invading Iraq.

Bin Laden also challenged Bush administration assertions that it was better to fight terrorists in Iraq than on U.S. soil.

"The war against America and its allies has not remained confined to Iraq as he (Bush) claims, but rather Iraq has become a point of attraction and recruitment of qualified forces," the speaker said.

"What's more, the mujahideen, by the grace of Allah, have been able to penetrate time after time all the security procedures undertaken by the oppressive countries of the alliance as evidence by what you have seen, in terms of bombings in the capital of the most important European states."

The tape's release in January came days after a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan that targeted bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, and reportedly killed four leading al-Qaida figures, including possibly al-Zawahri's son-in-law. There was no mention of the attack on the segments that were broadcast.

In the full tape posted Monday, bin Laden engaged in renewed propaganda, mocking Bush's aircraft carrier declaration in April 2003 that major conflict in Iraq had ended.

"The Pentagon's figures indicate an increase in the number of your killed and injured in addition to the massive material losses, not to mention the collapse of troop morale and the increase of the suicide rates among them," the speaker said.

Speaking directly to the American people, he said:

"You can rescue whatever you can from this hell. The solution is in your hands, if their (U.S. troops') situation matters to you at all."

The initial excerpts had been the first tape from the al-Qaida leader in more than a year — the longest period without a message since the Sept. 11, 2001 suicide hijackings in the United States.

The CIA last month authenticated the voice on the initial recording as that of bin Laden, an agency official told The Associated Press at the time. The al-Qaida leader is believed to be hiding in the border region between
Afghanistan and Pakistan

Bin Laden Vows Never to Be Captured Alive

[Shammu]

Hundreds Arrested in Pakistan Protests

By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani security forces arrested hundreds of Islamic hard-liners, virtually sealed off the capital and used gunfire and tear gas Sunday to quell protests against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

Pakistan had banned protests after riots killed five people in two cities last week.

Elsewhere in the Muslim world on Sunday, demonstrators with wooden staves and stones tried unsuccessfully to storm the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia, while tens of thousands rallied in the Turkish city of Istanbul and complained about negative Western perceptions of Islam.

Troops patrolled the deserted streets of the northern Nigerian town of Maiduguri, where thousands of Muslims attacked Christians and burned churches Saturday, killing at least 15 people during a protest over the cartoons. Most of the victims were beaten to death by rioters.

In Saudi Arabia, newspapers ran full-page apologies by Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first ran the caricatures in September. The newspaper's Web site said businesses placed the ad on their own initiative, using an apology issued by the newspaper late last month. It did not identify the companies or say if they were Danish.

Boycotts of Danish products throughout the Muslim world have taken a heavy toll on Denmark's exporters, especially those selling Denmark's famed dairy products.

The cartoons, which have been reprinted by other Western publications, have outraged Muslims. But protests over the past three weeks have grown into a broader anger against the West in general, and Israel and the United States in particular.

Demonstrations have turned increasingly violent and claimed at least 45 lives worldwide, including 11 in Afghanistan during a three-day span two weeks ago and 10 on Friday in the Libyan coastal city of Benghazi. The Libyan riot outside the Italian consulate apparently was sparked by a right-wing Italian Cabinet minister who wore a T-shirt with a caricature of Muhammad.

On Sunday, thousands of police and paramilitary troops manned armored personnel carriers and sandbag bunkers in and around Islamabad to block a planned rally organized by a coalition of hardline Islamic parties that sympathizes with the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and is fiercely anti-American.

As roadblocks went up around the capital, authorities declared they would arrest anyone joining a gathering of more than five people.

Maulana Fazlur Rahman, an opposition leader who denounced the government ban as unconstitutional, was allowed to stage a small rally with eight other opposition lawmakers and a few supporters. They chanted "God is great!" and "Any friend of America is a traitor."

But police fired tear gas and guns to chase off hundreds of stone-throwing protesters who tried to join the rally and then enter an enclave where most foreign embassies are. The three-hour clash left the street littered with rocks and spent tear gas shells. An Associated Press reporter saw two injured police, one bleeding from his head, and several injured protesters.

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said police used tear gas, but denied they fired guns. The private Geo TV network said officers fired rubber bullets.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad, a top leader of the hardline Islamic coalition, the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (United Action Forum), was confined to his Lahore residence and others were detained or told to stay at home, police said.

"These people could create problems of law and order," said Chaudhry Shafqaat Ahmed, chief investigator of the Lahore police.

In Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, police said 15,000 coalition supporters, most wearing white shrouds of mourning splashed with red paint to symbolize their willingness to die defending the prophet's honor, rallied peacefully.

Twelve-year-old Amar Ahmed joined the protest, carrying a sign reading, "O Allah, give me courage to kill the blasphemer."

Hundreds of Muslims burned a church in the southern city of Sukkur. No worshippers were inside at the time, but one person was hurt afterward when police fired tear gas.

Local police chief Akbar Arian said the riot was not sparked by the cartoons but by allegations that a local Christian had burned pages of Islam's holy book, the Quran — another sign of the heightened sectarian tensions in this overwhelmingly Muslim nation.

In Indonesia, about 400 people marched to the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy in central Jakarta behind a banner that read, "We are ready to attack the enemies of the prophet."

Brandishing wooden staves and lobbing stones, they tried to storm the gates. They also set fire to U.S. flags and a poster of President Bush, and smashed the windows of a guard outpost before dispersing after a few minutes.

The U.S. Embassy condemned the attack as "thuggery."

In Istanbul, tens of thousands joined a protest organized by the Islamic Felicity Party, whose leaders shouted over loudspeakers that the crowd symbolized the anger of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims and urged them to "resist oppression." Protesters chanted slogans against Denmark, Israel and the United States.

Ethem Erkovan, a 47-year-old participant who held a banner in one hand and his daughter in the other, accused Western nations of maligning Islam. "They are the ones who are trying to depict the expanding Islamic community as terrorists, though all we want is peace," he said.

Hundreds Arrested in Pakistan Protests

[Shammu]

Italian Minister Quits In Cartoon Uproar
Libyan Police Kill 11 in Protest There; Muslims Attack Christians in Nigeria

By Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, February 19, 2006; Page A14

ROME, Feb. 18 -- An Italian official who wore a T-shirt emblazoned with caricatures of the prophet Muhammad during a television interview resigned Saturday, a day after Libyan police killed 11 people during a protest at the Italian consulate in the city of Benghazi.

Meanwhile in Nigeria, Muslims protesting the cartoons attacked Christians and burned down churches in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the Associated Press reported. At least 15 people were killed.

Troops and police reinforcements were deployed to the city to stop the rioting, which included the looting of shops owned by Christians, said Haz Iwendi, a police official.

Nigeria, a country of 130 million people, is roughly divided between a mostly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south.

In Pakistan, police fired on crowds trying to set fire to shops in the eastern Punjab city of Chaniot as protests continued against the cartoons, the Associated Press reported. At least four people were injured, police said. And in the southern city of Karachi, about 12,000 women rallied in an event organized by Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest religious party.

About 10,000 people joined a peaceful rally in London, with many carrying placards that read "Free speech, cheap insults," and "How dare you insult the blessed Prophet Muhammad?" the Associated Press reported.

Italian Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli, who had displayed the T-shirt on television Wednesday, said he resigned because the issue was being "shamefully manipulated" against him and his anti-immigrant party, the Northern League, which is part of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's ruling coalition.

Calderoli said he had not intended "to offend the Muslim religion" but would continue what he called "a battle to affirm values in which I believe, teachings of the Christian religion and of being a free man."

"I may even be sorry for the victims, but what happened in Libya has nothing to do with my T-shirt," he said. "That's not what's at stake. What's at stake is Western civilization."

Berlusconi, who faces an uphill battle in elections for parliament scheduled April 9, had urged Calderoli to resign, and opposition politicians demanded his ouster.

Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini expressed fears that protests against Italy would spread and that the country might become the target of an economic boycott. Denmark, where the caricatures were first published, has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in sales to countries in the Middle East.

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, responding to the deaths of the demonstrators, dismissed his interior minister, Nasr al-Mabrouk, and Benghazi police officials, saying that "disproportionate force" had been used to quell the protest, the government said in a statement. Some of the protesters, who set fire to a car and a door to the consulate and threw stones at the building, will be prosecuted, the government said.

Berlusconi and Gaddafi spoke by telephone Saturday and reaffirmed the "friendly relations" between Italy and its former North African colony, a spokesman for the Italian prime minister said. Fini, meanwhile, visited Rome's only mosque to show that "we respect all religions," according to the Foreign Ministry.

Italian Minister Quits In Cartoon Uproar

[Shammu]

Teens at Risk on Web Sites, Experts Say

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 56 minutes ago

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - On MySpace.com, teenagers can find kindred spirits who share their love of sports, their passion for photography or their crush on a Hollywood star. They can also find out where their online friends live, where they attend school, even what they look like.

And so can adults.

Parents, school administrators and police are increasingly worried that teens are finding trouble online at sites like MySpace, the leader of the social-networking sites that encourage users to build larger and larger circles of friends.

Police in Middletown, Conn., are investigating recent reports that as many as seven local girls were sexually assaulted by men in their 20s who contacted them through MySpace pretending to be teenagers.

One girl allowed a man into her room while her parents were home, police said, underscoring just how in the dark parents often are about one of the most popular Web activities for teens today.

There are other reports like these scattered around the country, prompting some parents and schools to equate the likes of MySpace with the Internet's red-light district, even as many experts believe that the worries are greater than the actual dangers.

Joseph Dooley is among those who has heard it all before. A retired FBI agent who supervised the agency's first undercover Internet task force in New England, Dooley remembers when America Online chat rooms were the rage. Teens posted detailed profiles of themselves and chatted with any of AOL's subscribers.

Chat rooms soon gave way to services like MySpace, but Dooley said the rules haven't changed and parents need to become more engaged.

"Let the kids know, on the Internet, you don't know who you're talking to," Dooley said. "Parents aren't the friends of their kids. Parents needs to know and observe what their kids are doing."

That can be daunting for working parents. Keeping tabs on the kids used to mean knowing where they went after school, not whom they talked to in their bedrooms.

So when they hear of a new fad among teens, their instinct is to worry.

And the horror stories are indeed terrifying.

Last month, for example, 14-year-old Judy Cajuste was found strangled and naked in a Newark, N.J., garbage bin. Police seized a computer from her bedroom after friends said she told them of a man in his 20s she met on MySpace. The death remains unsolved.

Beyond the threat of abduction, bullies who once made the rounds on playgrounds are using Web logs and home pages to spread rumors and lies faster than the schoolyard grapevine ever could.

MySpace profiles have been used to threaten classmates and in at least one case, to mock a school principal.

Many schools have responded by restricting Internet access from school computers. One private school in Newark, N.J., ordered students to remove all personal blogs from the Internet, even if accessed from home, to protect them from online predators.

Some parents, like Ululani Stauffacher of Eureka, Calif., forbid their children from using MySpace. Stauffacher said her 17-year-old daughter ran off for two days with a 19-year-old man she met online.

"I was going crazy," Stauffacher said. "I was just hearing things about MySpace and incidents of girls missing and some don't get returned to their families. All that I was thinking about was that my daughter was going to be another statistic."

The concerns aren't limited to MySpace, but the News Corp. unit gets the attention because of its sheer size — 54 million users, a quarter of them registered as teens.

MySpace forbids minors 13 and under from joining and provides special protections for those 14 and 15 — only those on their friends' list can view their profiles. Nonetheless, kids lie when they sign up, and many of their profiles carry photos of themselves in suggestive poses, along with personal information against the site's recommendations.

"They're licking their lips and arching their back for the camera because they can, and they have no idea of the consequences," said Parry Aftab, an Internet safety expert.

But Aftab said most MySpace users aren't getting themselves in trouble.

Experts say that banning children from using social-networking sites is akin to forbidding them from going to the mall or the movie theater for fear they'll be abducted.

"I wish I could hover over my children 24-7, but the best I can do is teach them that there are ways to keep themselves safe," said Steve Jones, a communications professor who studies new media at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

In a statement, MySpace said it has developed safety tips for parents and children and devotes scores of employees to monitoring the site around the clock. The site also has ways for users to report inappropriate behavior. The company says it removes inappropriate images and closes accounts that violate its rules.

Chris DeWolfe, MySpace's chief executive, encourages parents to talk to their kids about Internet safety, but Aftab said many parents ignore advice until it is too late.

Connecticut Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano, who has strictly limited the information his 10- and 12-year-old children put on the Internet, said he was surprised to learn that they had been contacted by strangers they believed were pedophiles. His kids ignored it, Morano said, but parents need to closely monitor Internet activity.

"You wouldn't leave your kid on the side of the highway without supervision," Morano said. "You shouldn't put them on the Internet highway without the same type of supervision."

Teens at Risk on Web Sites, Experts Say

[Shammu]

Danish editor defends decision to print Prophet cartoons

58 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A Danish editor has defended his decision to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, saying his goal was to defy a self-censorhip trend in Europe regarding Islam.

In an opinion piece in Sunday's Washington Post, Flemming Rose, the culture editor of the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, said his goal was to stir a debate about freedom of speech and not disrespect Islam.

He refused to apologize for exercising his right to print offensive material, but he said the aim was not to instigate the violence that followed.

"I commissioned the cartoons in response to several incidents of self-censorship in Europe caused by widening fears and feelings of intimidation in dealing with issues related to Islam," Rose wrote in the Post.

"The idea wasn't to provoke gratuitously -- and we certainly didn't intend to trigger violent demonstrations throughout the Muslim world. Our goal was simply to push back self-imposed limits on expression that seemed to be closing in tighter."

His Post commentary came out on the same day a Saudi-owned pan-Arab newspaper printed a full page apology from Jyllands-Posten.

It was the strongest expression of regret yet from the paper, but stopped short of explicitly saying sorry for printing the cartoons themselves, instead apologizing for the turmoil caused in their aftermath.

Rose said his newspaper had not intended to insult or disrespect Islam.

"I acknowledge that some people have been offended by the publication of the cartoons, and Jyllands-Posten has apologized for that," he wrote.

"But we cannot apologize for our right to publish material, even offensive material. You cannot edit a newspaper if you are paralyzed by worries about every possible insult."

The Jyllands-Posten publication of the cartoons in September has led to a "constructive debate in Denmark and Europe about freedom of expression, freedom of religion and respect for immigrants and people's beliefs," he said.

"Never before have so many Danish Muslims participated in a public dialogue," he said, adding that Danish moderate Muslims had repudiated radical imams.

"This is the sort of debate that Jyllands-Posten had hoped to generate when it chose to test the limits of self-censorship by calling on cartoonists to challenge a Muslim taboo," Rose wrote.

"Did we achieve our purpose? Yes and no," he said.

"Some of the spirited defenses of our freedom of expression have been inspiring. But tragic demonstrations throughout the Middle East and Asia were not what we anticipated, much less desired."

Danish editor defends decision to print Prophet cartoons

[Shammu]

Venezuela's Chavez may end presidential term limits

By Brian Ellsworth Sun Feb 19, 5:00 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday he may seek to lift constitutionally mandated presidential term limits if opposition parties boycott the upcoming December presidential elections.

"I might sign a decree calling for a popular referendum -- do you agree that Chavez should run for a third term in 2013?" Chavez said during his weekly Sunday broadcast. "It's not a firm decision, it's something I'm thinking about."

Chavez was first elected in 1998 and again in 2000 after he led a move to rewrite the country's constitution. He is up for re-election in December, and has accused the opposition and the U.S. government of seeking to disrupt the poll.

Opposition parties boycotted parliamentary elections last December on allegations of electoral authority bias, allowing Chavez's allies to win all the legislature's seats.

"If the opposition tries to pull the same stunt of everyone pulling out (of the vote) ... that might strengthen this idea," Chavez said.

Venezuela's fractured opposition parties still have not united behind a possible candidate to face Chavez in December.

Many opposition leaders advocated abstention after Chavez won an overwhelming victory in a recall referendum on his rule in 2004. Chavez's critics alleged he won the vote through fraud, an accusation not backed by international election monitors.

The former soldier, who led a failed coup attempt in 1992, has won the support of millions who have benefited from a multi-billion dollar social investment campaign that has provided basic services like free health care and education.

He has also appealed to nationalist sentiment by promising to end U.S. influence over Venezuela and increased ties with other Latin American nations.

But Chavez's critics accuse him of concentrating power and seeking to remain in office indefinitely. The constitutional changes he promoted in 1999 eliminated Venezuela's traditional ban on immediate reelection, and increased the presidential term from five to six years.

Chavez last year opposed a move by one of his allies to end term limits, insisting he did not have any intention of remaining in the presidency permanently.

He said the current debate was meant to teach the opposition "a lesson about true politics, so they'll stop being so ridiculous."

Venezuela's Chavez may end presidential term limits

[Shammu]

Chavez to Rice: 'Don't Mess With Me'

2 hours, 57 minutes ago

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez warned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday "not to mess" with him and said her diplomatic efforts to turn Latin American nations against Venezuela would fail.

Chavez said Washington opposes his government because Venezuela — the world's fifth largest oil exporter — was broadening petroleum and natural gas development projects with fellow Latin American countries rather than the United States.

"We are breaking the imperialist chains that bound us," Chavez said during his weekly television and radio program.

Chavez modified lyrics from a Venezuelan folk song, warning: "I sting those who rattle me, don't mess with me Condoleezza."

Relations between Caracas and Washington have been tense in recent months, with U.S. officials voicing concerns over the health of Venezuela's democracy and left-leaning Chavez threatening to cut off oil exports to the United States.

Last week, Rice said told U.S. lawmakers that the Venezuelan government posed "one of the biggest problems" in the region and that its ties to Cuba were "particularly dangerous" to democracy in Latin America.

Chavez insists his government is democratic and accuses Washington of conspiring against him. He says the United States was behind a short-lived 2002 coup, an allegation that U.S. officials reject.

Chavez to Rice: 'Don't Mess With Me'

[Shammu]

Suit seeks to block Arab firm's takeover of U.S. port operations

Sunday, February 19, 2006; Posted: 10:50 p.m. EST (03:50 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A company at the Port of Miami has sued to block the takeover of shipping operations there by a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates.

The effort is the first American courtroom effort to capsize a $6.8 billion sale that has prompted a national debate over security risks at six major U.S. ports affected by the deal.

The Miami company, a subsidiary of Eller & Company Inc., is a business partner with London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which Dubai Ports World purchased this month. In a lawsuit in Florida circuit court, the Miami subsidiary said that under the sale it will become an "involuntary partner" with Dubai's government and it may seek more than $10 million in damages.

The Miami subsidiary, Continental Stevedoring & Terminals Inc., said the sale to Dubai was prohibited under its partnership agreement with the British firm and "may endanger the national security of the United States." It asked a judge to block the takeover and said it does not believe the company, Florida or the U.S. government can ensure Dubai Ports World's compliance with American security rules.

A spokesman for Peninsular and Oriental indicated the company had not yet seen the lawsuit and declined to comment immediately.

The lawsuit represents the earliest skirmish over lucrative contracts among the six major American ports where Peninsular and Oriental runs major commercial operations: New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. The lawsuit was filed moments before the court closed Friday and disclosed late Saturday by people working on the case.

The sale, approved by the Bush administration, has drawn escalating criticism by lawmakers in Washington who maintain the United Arab Emirates is not consistent in its support of U.S. terrorism-fighting efforts. At least one Senate oversight hearing is planned.

The Port of Miami is among the nation's busiest. It is a hub for the nation's cruise ships, which carry more than 6 million passengers a year, and the seaport services more than 30 ocean carriers, which delivered more than 1 million cargo containers there last year.

A New Jersey lawmaker said Saturday he intends to require U.S. port security officials be American citizens, to prevent overseas companies operating domestic shipping facilities from hiring foreigners in such sensitive positions. Republican Frank A. LoBiondo, chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, cited "significant" security worries over the sale to Dubai Ports World.

Caught by surprise over the breadth of concerns expressed in the United States, Dubai is cautiously organizing its response. The company quietly dispatched advisers to reassure port officials along the East Coast, and its chief operating officer -- internationally respected American shipping executive Edward "Ted" H. Bilkey -- is expected to travel to Washington this week for meetings on Capitol Hill and elsewhere.

The Bush administration in recent days has defended its approval of the sale, and has resisted demands by Congress to reconsider. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack described the United Arab Emirates on Friday as a "long-standing friend and ally" and said the United States and UAE had a good relationship.

But Mayor Martin O'Malley of Baltimore on Saturday criticized the president's approval of the ports deal as an "outrageous, reckless and irresponsible decision" and urged the White House to reconsider the sale. Baltimore is one of the affected ports, and O'Malley is co-chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Task Force on Homeland Security. O'Malley also is running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Maryland.

Suit seeks to block Arab firm's takeover of U.S. port operations

[Shammu]

Christians website are attracting many from the Muslim world
February 16, 2006
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International (MNN/ANS) -- While hard-line Muslim nations make accessing Chrsitians websites difficult, it's not impossible and these websites are making an incredible impact for the kingdom.

Strategic Resource Group (SRG) helps organizations reach out to the lost inside the 10/40 Window. SRG reports Christian websites are receiving nearly 9 million hits per month from the Middle East. One Christian organization hosting chat rooms for Arabic-speaking web users estimates that more than 42,000 people visit those sites daily.

About 2,000 Arabic language Bibles are downloaded from the Internet each month. One organization estimates that 20 people per month are giving their hearts to Christ as a result of learning about the Christian faith on these websites.

Although some Islamic governments try to block these websites, the Internet generally knows no borders. More than half of the population in the Middle East is 25 years old or younger, and many of these young people own computers or have access to them. This technology has connected people together through e-mail groups, networks, blogs and chat rooms.

Christian organizations are seizing the Internet opportunity to create communities of people who can openly talk about faith issues in a safe environment. In the greater Middle East, the Internet represents a crucial growth sector for communicating the Christian message in Arabic, Farsi and regional languages.

Unfortanlly I can't post the link because of request for donations.