News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

Three arrested in Alabama church fires
Wed Mar 8, 2006 2:22 PM ET173

By Peggy Gargis

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama (Reuters) - Authorities have arrested three college students in connection with a spate of fires that damaged or destroyed 10 Baptist churches in Alabama, investigators said on Wednesday.

Prosecutors identified the suspects as Ben Moseley and Russell Debusk, 19-year-old students at Birmingham-Southern College, and Matthew Lee Cloyd, 20, who transferred last year from Birmingham-Southern to attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Federal and state investigators planned to release details at an afternoon news conference.

The pastor at one of the destroyed churches said investigators notified him of the arrests on Wednesday.

"We are relieved. We were fearful while they were on the loose because we did not know their agenda," said Jim Parker, pastor of the Ashby Baptist Church in Brierfield, Alabama, which was burned to the ground.

At least 10 Baptist churches have been damaged or destroyed in arson fires that began on February 3. Several had their doors kicked in and their pulpits set ablaze but no motive was known.

The FBI was investigating whether the fires could be considered hate crimes under the Church Arson Prevention Act. The 1996 law makes it a crime to intentionally damage or destroy houses of worship or to use threats or violence to halt the exercise of religion.

Baptist is the predominant denomination in the region. The attacks did not appear to be racially motivated since some of the churches had majority white congregations and some had majority black congregations.

Three arrested in Alabama church fires

[Shammu]

Mar. 9, 2006 3:53
US: State Dept. blasts Arab allies rights records
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

The State Department called the human rights records of key Arab allies poor or problematic on Wednesday, citing flawed elections and torture of prisoners in Egypt, beatings, arbitrary arrests and a lack of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia, and flogging as punishment for adultery or drug abuse in the United Arab Emirates.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited all three last month and called each a strategic partner or stalwart ally that wields regional influence or helps in such areas as anti-terror investigations.

The relationship between the United States and the UAE is at the center of a political fracas over a Dubai company's plans to take over operations at several US ports.

On Iraq, the report said the government's performance was handicapped by insurgency and terrorism that has an impact on every aspect of life.

US: State Dept. blasts Arab allies rights records

[Shammu]

Mar. 9, 2006 5:20
Bird flu may reach Americas within six months


The deadly strain of Asiatic bird flu may reach the American continents within six months, according to a Thursday report by UN experts.

Until now this strain of flu has been discovered in Asia, Europe and Africa, Army Radio reported.

Bird flu may reach Americas within six months

[Shammu]

Mar. 8, 2006 15:16 | Updated Mar. 8, 2006 21:52
Missiles may have been fired at China
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOKYO

Two surface-to-air missiles fired by Pyongyang near its border with China may have landed in North Korean territory, a Japanese news agency reported, citing security sources.

Kyodo News agency cited a "security source" in China as saying the missiles were fired by mistake in the direction of China during a military drill, and the missiles appeared to have landed in North Korean territory.

But the agency also cited a "Western military source" as saying the short-range missiles were test-fired in an eastern direction from the North's eastern coast, toward the Sea of Japan.

The agency said it couldn't immediately reconcile the conflicting reports, and the exact time of their launch was unknown.

Pyongyang shocked Tokyo and other nations when it test-fired a ballistic missile over northern Japan in 1998.

It has since test-fired short-range missiles many times, including one that was launched into the Sea of Japan in May last year.

In 2003, it test-fired short-range land-to-ship missiles at least three times during heightened tensions over its nuclear weapons program.

Japan's Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the report. But Tokyo "constantly monitored the military activities of neighboring countries," a spokesman said on condition of anonymity, citing regulations.

Kyodo quoted an unnamed defense official as saying the government would not inform the public of the possible misfires because they did not threaten Japan's security.

Yang Chang-seok, spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry, which deals with North Korean affairs, said the ministry could not confirm the report. Calls to US military and embassy officials in Tokyo and China's Defense Ministry in Beijing went unanswered Wednesday night.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Wednesday that Bush administration officials were still looking into the reports.

Analysts say North Korea is developing long-range missiles capable of reaching Alaska, Hawaii or perhaps other states on the West Cost of the United States.

Japan and the United States are developing a joint ballistic missile defense system, and Tokyo has said it will launch two spy satellites by March 2007 to monitor North Korea and other trouble spots.

There is no evidence North Korea has managed to load a nuclear warhead on a missile, but the isolated communist state claims to have produced nuclear weapons.

Last September, Pyongyang agreed at multilateral talks to abandon its atomic weapons program in exchange for aid and security guarantees. However, no progress has been made since then on implementing the accord.

Missiles may have been fired at China

[Shammu]

Mar. 9, 2006 5:01
UK cited for 'obsessive' anti-Semitism
By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER

It turns out that joining the EU hasn't been the only thing to draw England closer to continental Europe.

For the first time since the Middle Ages, England is exhibiting classic "obsessive" anti-Semitism until now reserved for its neighbors across the channel, according to a British anti-Semitism expert.

Robert Wistrich, who heads the Hebrew University's Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism, pointed to recent characterizations of Jews as the cabal behind the Iraq war and anti-Israel rhetoric leading to activities such as boycotts.

Historically, Wistrich explained at a lecture Wednesday night, British Jew-hatred has been less ideological, less violent and less successful in influencing government policies than in places such as Germany, Russia and Poland.

And, he stressed, "you cannot say that the British government was anti-Semitic in the 20th century," calling Prime Minister Tony Blair "one of the better or best friends Israel has in the outside world."

He attributed England's less "compulsive" anti-Semitism in part to British "self-confidence" as a prosperous empire with no need to feel threatened by a small minority, which started to change in the 20th century as the empire began to fall apart.

Yet Wistrich noted that even when that minority was so small it disappeared entirely - during the 350 or so years of medieval Jewish exile that preceded the reign of Oliver Cromwell - anti-Semitic tropes survived and found their way into high literature as well as popular culture.

Wistrich, who grew up in England, recalled that "every single author I had to read for advanced-level English literature - Chaucer, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Dickens - could be described at least as contributing to the corpus of anti-Semitism, even if unintentionally." Even as a doctoral student in the 1970s, Wistrich told of anti-Zionist sentiment on campus and bans - later rescinded - on Jewish organizations.

"The main difference between then and now [is that] it was not mainstream," he said of these sentiments. He described multi-culturalism, among other developments as a "sea-change" which paradoxically seemed like it might worsen the position of Jews.

Now, according to Brenda Katten, chair of the Israel, Britain and the Commonwealth Association, the demonization of Israel at British universities is so prevalent that "our biggest problem on campus today is that students are being asked to justify Israel's right to exist."

"We're back to square one," she told the crowd packing the small hall holding Wednesday's symposium on "The New Anti-Semitism? The Case of Great Britain." She said that members of the Jewish community, who face regular anti-Semitism, were beginning to blame themselves.

An audience member challenged the panelists' depiction of widespread anti-Semitism in Britain, but Katten countered that she knows of first-hand experiences proving the opposite.

She mentioned that a group of Jewish students she spoke to recently related being taunted with anti-Semitic jeers when they congregated in Golders Green, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in London.

She said they told her: "We think it's our fault, because the girls dress a little loud and we talk a little loud."

Katten lamented that "the victim had suddenly become the perpetrator, and I couldn't help thinking if this is the problem we are facing in the academic world, where so many Jewish professors criticize Israel." She referred to several instances in which Jews and even Israelis lead protests against Israel and boycott drives.

Members of the British embassy attended Wednesday's event. Public Affairs Officer Karen Kaufman said that anti-Semitism in the UK is "obviously still a problem" and that it is "an issue that is very, very important to the British government."

UK cited for 'obsessive' anti-Semitism

[Shammu]

New Animal Resembling Furry Lobster Found

Tue Mar 7, 9:28 PM ET

PARIS - A team of American-led divers has discovered a new crustacean in the South Pacific that resembles a lobster and is covered with what looks like silky, blond fur, French researchers said Tuesday.

This photo released Tuesday March 7, 2006 by the IFREMER (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) shows a new crustacean, called 'Kiwi hirsuta'. The eyeless shellfish, about 15cm long was discovered in March 2005 during a diving mission led by American researcher Robert Vrijenhoek, of the MBARI Institut, Cal., in hydrothermal vents of the Pacific Antartic Ridge, south of Easter Island.

Scientists said the animal, which they named Kiwa hirsuta, was so distinct from other species that they created a new family and genus for it.

The divers found the animal in waters 7,540 feet deep at a site 900 miles south of Easter Island last year, according to Michel Segonzac of the French Institute for Sea Exploration.

The new crustacean is described in the journal of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

The animal is white and just shy of 6 inches long — about the size of a salad plate.

In what Segonzac described as a "surprising characteristic," the animal's pincers are covered with sinuous, hair-like strands.

It is also blind. The researchers found it had only "the vestige of a membrane" in place of eyes, Segonzac said.

The researchers said that while legions of new ocean species are discovered each year, it is quite rare to find one that merits a new family.

The family was named Kiwaida, from Kiwa, the goddess of crustaceans in Polynesian mythology.

The diving expedition was organized by Robert Vrijenhoek of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California.

New Animal Resembling Furry Lobster Found

[Shammu]

Ice Thawing Earlier on Maine Lakes

Wed Mar 8, 8:38 PM ET

LEWISTON, Maine - Ice on dozens of lakes in Maine and four other states is melting earlier in the year than in decades past, according to a new analysis.

The study, "On Thin Ice: The Melting of an American Pastime," examined the records of ice cover on more than 50 lakes in Maine, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York and Alaska.

In Maine, the study found that Moosehead Lake, the state's largest body of water, is now thawing eight days earlier than its historic average based on 149 years of records. Damariscotta Lake is clearing 12 days earlier than in the past, and Rangeley Lake is thawing five days earlier.

The analysis mirrors other studies that show that the climate is changing, said Susan Sargent, Maine representative of the National Environmental Trust.

"Old Man Winter is becoming old man warmer," Sargent said.

The analysis was put out by Clear the Air, a joint project of the National Environmental Trust, the Clean Air Task Force and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund.

The study looked at data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, which is part of the University of Colorado and is affiliated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The early thawing isn't limited to just the lakes included in the analysis. Ice on Lake Auburn also clears out earlier than it did in the past, said Mary Jane Dillingham, a spokeswoman for the Auburn Water District.

"We're trending toward warmer springs," she said. "It's always (ice-out) in April now. No more in May."

This winter's warm temperatures further reinforce the warming trend, Sargent said.

The warm weather, Sargent said, is hurting ice fishing, skiing, snowmobiling and other winter industries that rely on the cold.

"A lot of people count on winter recreation to put money in their pockets," Sargent said. "Global warming isn't just costing us something that makes our state special. It's costing us money too."

Ice Thawing Earlier on Maine Lakes

[Soldier4Christ]

"Old Man Winter is becoming old man warmer,"

It is warmer here today (55 F at 7:30 AM) than I have ever seen it this early in the season. It is supposed to be even warmer tomorrow and Sun.

[Soldier4Christ]

Iran Calls Referral to U.N. 'Unjust'

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran said Thursday it won't be bullied into abandoning its nuclear program, rejecting its referral to the U.N. Security Council as "unjust."

"The people of Iran will not accept coercion and unjust decisions by international organizations," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by Iranian television during a visit to Iran's western province of Lorestan. "Enemies cannot force the Iranian people to relinquish their rights."

"The era of bullying and brutality is over," he added.

The statements came a day after Iran threatened the United States with "harm and pain" as the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency ended a three-day meeting in Vienna, Austria, over Iran's nuclear program, formally opening the path to Security Council action.

The Security Council, whose action could range from a mild statement urging compliance to sanctions or even military measures, was expected to debate the issue next week.

The IAEA had put the council on alert over the issue last month but delayed any action to give more time for diplomacy under an agreement by the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain - the five permanent Security Council members that wield veto power.

The five countries met in New York on Wednesday to discuss a first response to the crisis.

Washington is seeking harsh measures against Iran, but economic and political sanctions are unlikely because of opposition from Russia and China, which have strategic and commercial ties with Tehran.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns suggested Wednesday that America would push for sanctions if appeals and demands failed.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov indicated that Moscow would not support sanctions and he ruled out military action.

Wednesday's IAEA meeting featured an intense debate over a critical report on Iran's nuclear program. Soon after the meeting ended, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said he would send the report to the Security Council within 24 hours.

ElBaradei, however, cast Security Council involvement as a continuation of diplomacy with Iran. He suggested Washington might need to talk to Iran directly if negotiations reach the stage of focusing on security guarantees to Tehran in exchange for concessions on its nuclear program.

ElBaradei's report accused Iran of withholding information, possessing plans linked to nuclear weapons and refusing to freeze uranium enrichment - a possible pathway to nuclear arms.

Tehran's newspapers published news of the decision on their front pages Thursday. The official Persian-language daily Iran called the move "a message of weakness and failure" by the nuclear agency.

Iran claims its nuclear program is peaceful and only aimed at generating electricity, but an increasing number of countries have come to share the U.S. view that Tehran is seeking to develop atomic weapons.

The U.S. and its European allies want Iran to give up uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or materials for a nuclear bomb.

Iran has rejected the demand, saying it will never give up its right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel.

[Soldier4Christ]

Dubai company
quits ports fight
Move announced as Congress
warns Bush it will block deal

With Congress moving to overrule the White House, Dubai Ports World announced it will give up its management stake in a deal to operate some of the terminals at U.S. ports and transfer it to an American company.

"Because of the strong relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the United States and to preserve that relationship, DP World has decided to transfer fully the U.S. operation of P&O Operations North America to a United States entity," said DP World's chief operating officer, Edward H. Bilkey.

The statement was read on the Senate floor today by Sen. John Warner, R-Va.

Warner said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates, "advised the company ... that this action is the appropriate course to tak

DP World was to manage two of Baltimore's 14 cargo terminals, three of 12 in Houston, one of three in Miami, one of four in Newark, two of five in New Orleans, one of five in Philadelphia and one cruise terminal in New York City and one in Boston.

It also was to help run stevedoring operations in some of those ports and a number of others.

The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee voted yesterday 62-2 to add an amendment to a military funding bill, essentially blocking the pact with the government-owned company.

In a meeting today at the White House with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., President Bush was told measures would be passed to block the deal by veto-proof majorities, according to CNN.

The president has threatened a veto of any legislation to scuttle the agreement.

Senate Democrats, seeing opportunity to seize ground from Republicans on a national security issue, tried to get their own measure passed by attaching an amendment to a lobby reform bill.

A recent poll suggested Democrats may have found an issue that could take away the advantage Republicans have enjoyed on national security issues.

The survey by Rasmussen Reports indicated Americans opposed the Bush administration's decision to allow the Dubai government to control terminals in U.S. ports by 64 percent to 17 percent.

Senate GOP leaders wanted to prevent a vote before the end of the 45-day review period, but those hopes were dashed when the House panel voted overwhelmingly against the ports deal.

"I admire what the House did," said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., according to the Associated Press. "They said we know the president feels strongly about this. We know he said he's going to veto this. But we're going to do it because we think we have an obligation to our constituents."

But Democratic leaders remained cautious following the Dubai firm's announcement.

Reid said, according to the New York Times, "We will have to wait and see what is really going to happen."

A leading critic of the agreement, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, called the announcement today a promising development.

He said, however, that if the Dubai-owned company retained ultimate control over the port operations, "I don't think our goals would be accomplished and obviously we will need to study this agreement carefully."

Opponents have voiced security concerns about control of port terminals by an Arab country that has been a conduit for terrorist funds, spawned some of the 9-11 hijackers and refuses to recognize Israel.

A group opposing Islamic extremism sponsored rallies in New York City and Los Angeles to protest the deal.

"We have heard from our politicians; now it's time that we hear from the people of America," said Jesse Petrilla, founder of the The United American Committee. "We need to send a clear message to our president that Republicans and Democrats alike agree that this sale goes greatly against the best interest of our nation and its people."

[Soldier4Christ]

U.S. to Hand Over Notorious Prison to Iraq

U.S. Military to Begin Moving Prisoners Out of Notorious Abu Ghraib Prison Within Three Months

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military said Thursday it would begin moving thousands of prisoners out of Abu Ghraib prison to a new lockup near Baghdad's airport within three months and hand the notorious facility over to Iraqi authorities as soon as possible.

Abu Ghraib has become perhaps the most infamous prison in the world, known as the site where U.S. soldiers abused some Iraqi detainees and, earlier, for its torture chambers during Saddam Hussein's rule.

The sprawling facility on the western outskirts of Baghdad will be turned over to Iraqi authorities once the prisoner transfer to Camp Cropper and other U.S. military prisons in the country is finished. The process will take several months, said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.

The Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad currently houses 4,537 out of the 14,589 detainees held by the U.S. military in Iraq.

The U.S. government initially spoke of tearing down Abu Ghraib after it became a symbol of the scandal. Widely publicized photographs of prisoner abuse by American military guards and interrogators led to intense global criticism of the U.S. war in Iraq and helped fuel the Sunni Arab insurgency.

But Abu Ghraib was kept in service after the Iraqi government objected. Planning for the new facility at Camp Cropper began in 2004, Johnson said.

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. wants to turn Abu Ghraib over to the Iraqis fast as possible.

"There are facilities being built so that the U.S. can pull out of Abu Ghraib. Then it will be up to the Iraqi government to decide what they want to do. I do not know that the Iraqi government had decided. It's an Iraqi decision, I just don't know that they've made that decision."

But the Iraqis were all but certain to use Abu Ghraib as a jail for some time at least, because they do not have the money to build new ones.

The Iraqi Cabinet announced Thursday that it hanged 13 insurgents, the first executions of militants since the ouster of Saddam.

The announcement listed the name of only one of those hanged, Shukair Farid, a former policeman in the northern city of Mosul, who allegedly confessed that he had worked with Syrian foreign fighters to enlist fellow Iraqis to kill police and civilians.

"The competent authorities have today carried out the death sentences of 13 terrorists," the Cabinet announcement said.

Farid had "confessed that foreigners recruited him to spread the fear through killings and abductions," the government said.

A judicial official said the death sentences were handed down in separate trials and were carried out in Baghdad.

"The 13 terrorists were tried in different courts and their trials began in 2005 and ended earlier this year," an official of the Supreme Judiciary Council said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisal from insurgents.

In September, Iraq hanged three convicted murderers, the first executions of any convicts since Saddam's ouster in April 2003. They were convicted of killing three police officers, kidnapping and rape.

Capital punishment was suspended during the formal U.S. occupation, which ended in June 2004, and the Iraqis reinstated the penalty two months later for those found guilty of murder, endangering national security and distributing drugs, saying it was necessary to help put down the persistent insurgency.

The authorities also wanted to have the option of executing Saddam if he is convicted of crimes committed by his regime. Under the former dictator, 114 offenses were punishable by death.

Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial for allegedly massacring more than 140 people in Dujail, north of Baghdad, after an assassination attempt against him there in 1982.

Death sentences must be approved by the three-member presidential council headed by President Jalal Talabani, who opposes executions. In the September hangings and again in the Thursday executions, Talabani refused to sign the authorization himself but gave his two vice presidents the authority.

Also Thursday, a series of explosions rocked Baghdad, including a car bomb that struck a Sunni mosque and a shooting that killed a total of 17 civilians and wounded 31 as a dust storm enveloped the capital.

One of the deadly blasts targeted an Iraqi army patrol in the mostly Sunni western neighborhood of Amariyah, killing nine civilians and wounding six, according to an Interior Ministry official, Major Falah al-Mohammedawi.

A car bomb also exploded near the Sunni Al-Israa Walmiraj mosque in east Baghdad, killing five civilians and wounding 12 others, police Capt. Mahir Hamad Mousa said.

Police reported finding five more blindfolded, handcuffed bodies killed execution-style, three of them near Fallujah, west of Baghdad , and two others in the Sadr City Shiite slum in the east of the capital.

The U.S. military reported the death of another Marine, killed Wednesday in insurgency-ridden Anbar province. At least 2,304 U.S. service members have died since the war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi Justice Ministry official said the U.S. military had released two senior members of Saddam's former regime, including a deputy prime minister, after finding they were not involved in crimes against humanity.

Abdel Tawab Mullah Huweish, a former deputy prime minister and minister of military industrialization, and Saeed Abdul-Majid al-Faisal, former Foreign Ministry undersecretary, were released Feb. 23, said Justice Ministry official Busho Ibrahim Ali.

Huweish, who had been in custody since May 2, 2003, was one of the 55 most-wanted members of Saddam's regime.

"They were freed because there is no proof that they committed crimes against humanity," Ali said.

In political developments, Shiite politicians said they asked President Talabani, a Kurd, to convene parliament March 19, one week past the constitutional deadline, marking an apparent compromise in the battle over a second term for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite.

Shiite legislators Khaled al-Attiyah and Khudayer al-Khuzai told The Associated Press that the request for parliament to convene had been delivered to Talabani. On Sunday, the president sought to issue a decree that would have called the parliament into session on March 12, as spelled out in the constitution.

But the move was blocked when one of two vice presidents a Shiite initially refused to co-sign the decree as required by law. Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi relented Wednesday, but the issue still faced heated opposition from other Shiite political forces, especially in the powerful bloc loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

[Soldier4Christ]

Plan moves 'Jewish West Bank' to desert
Relocation in works for displaced residents of Israeli withdrawal

JERUSALEM – With acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announcing his administration will seek to withdraw from most of the West Bank following elections here later this month, WND has learned a plan is in the works to relocate the tens of thousands of displaced Jewish residents in the Israeli Negev desert.

"We are talking about a very large population that would be removed from the West Bank," a top member of Olmert's Kadima party told WND. "The plan is to push for them to settle in the Negev, which is able to accommodate the big numbers and which is already prepared to accept a large influx of new residents."

Olmert officially announced last month Israel will withdraw unilaterally from most of the West Bank and make other moves aimed at changing the Jewish state's borders.

"[Israel] will separate from most of the Palestinian population that lives in the West Bank, and that will obligate us to separate as well from territories where the state of Israel currently is," Olmert told reporters.

Olmert said under his West Bank withdrawal plan, which he detailed this week in an interview with Israel's leading newspaper Yediot Aharonot, the Jewish state will maintain select security zones and some of the area's large West Bank Jewish communities, alluding to evacuating major West Bank towns that fall outside Israel's security fence.

"We will gather ourselves into the main settlement blocs and preserve united Jerusalem. ... Ma'aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion and Ariel will be part of the state of Israel," he said.

About 200,000 Jews live in the West Bank.

The security fence, still under construction in certain areas, cordons off nearly 95 percent of the territory from Israel's pre-1967 borders. More than half the West Bank's Jewish residents reside on the side of the fence closest to Israel. About 80,000 more Jews live on the other side of the barrier.

In an interview last weekend, top Kadima member and former Shin Bet Security Services Director Avi Dichter said immediately after Israeli elections, scheduled for March 28, Olmert's administration will draft a plan to evacuate specific West Bank Jewish communities, naming several major settlement blocs he said will be dismantled.

But the question of what to do with the tens of thousands of West Bank Jewish residents who would be displaced as a result of any large-scale withdrawal has yet to be addressed.

Seven months after Israel's evacuation of 8,500 residents from Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip, many of the former Gaza residents still are living in temporary housing, including hotels and dormitories, and have not received full compensation payments promised by the government. A report by Israel's state comptroller released earlier this week blasted the Israeli government for being "inexcusably unprepared" in dealing with the Gaza evacuees' relocation programs.

A top Kadima official told WND Olmert's plan is to push for any displaced Jewish residents to either move to other West Bank communities that will remain intact or to settle in the Israeli Negev desert.

The Negev stretches from Eilat at the south of the country through Ber Sheva in the north. It encompasses about 66 percent of the land of Israel, but only houses about 10 percent of its population.

"The Negev is seen as a very good alternative for those expected to be displaced," the official said. "The climate is warm and Israel has been searching for years for ways to bring in a large influx of people to the Negev."

Together with Jewish organizations, particularly the American-based Jewish National Fund, Israel has led teams in developing the Negev into fertile land and preparing new communities in the area. Several American real estate companies and private U.S. citizens have invested large sums in Negev construction efforts.

"The future of Israel is here in the [Negev]," biologist Avigad Vonshak, who heads a Negev research program at Ben Gurion University, told reporters. "Unless you believe we have to conquer back the West Bank and Lebanon, there's no other choice."

The Jewish National Fund's website outlines its plans to bring large numbers of people to the Negev:

"Grasp the economic, demographic and geographic realities of Israel, and you will understand the immediate need to develop the Negev. Over the next five years, our goal is to bring 250,000 new residents to the Negev," the Fund's website states.

Olmert has been using demographics to justify his plan to vacate the West Bank, which borders most of Israel's major cities. He claimed unless Israel soon separates from the Palestinians, Arabs will outnumber Jews and threaten the country's Jewish character.

But as WorldNetDaily reported, a new study presented to Congress this week by American researchers contends a West Bank withdrawal based on demography is groundless because Israel's Jews will more than double Arabs in 20 years. The study found Israel and the U.S. have been relying on allegedly exaggerated Palestinian Authority demographic information, which inflated the Palestinian population by over 50 percent.

Americans Bennet Zimmerman, Roberta Seid and Michael Wise put the current Palestinian-Arab population of the West Bank at 1.4 million and Gaza 1.1 million, for a total of 2.4 million, instead of the 3.8 million reported by the Palestinian Authority Central Bureau of Statistics.

They found faults in the methods used by the PA to determine its population, including counting the 230,000 Arab residents of Jerusalem twice and retroactively raising growth and birth rates while the rates actually have been declining.

Zimmerman's team has shown birthrates among Israeli Orthodox Jews are at their highest levels ever and that general Israeli Jewish fertility over the past five years has risen above top scenarios first considered by Israel's Bureau of Statistics. The study says Israel did not account for a likely continuation of Jewish immigration trends over the next 20 years, which reportedly result in a Jewish majority in Israel in 2025 of 63 percent.

"It is ironic that just as we now find Israel is in the best position ever with regard to population, Olmert announces a plan to run away and give up the West Bank, claiming Israel's Jewish character is threatened," said Zimmerman.

The West Bank is considered landlocked territory not officially recognized as part of any country. Israel calls the land "disputed," while the United Nations says the West Bank is "occupied" by Israel. The Jewish state maintains overall control of most of the area while the Palestinian Authority has jurisdiction in about 40 percent.

The territory remained under Jordanian rule from 1948 until Israel captured it in 1967 after Jordan's King Hussein ignored Israeli pleas for his country to stay out of the Six Day War. Most countries rejected Jordan's initial claim on the area, which it formally renounced in 1988.

The West Bank is near most of Israel's major cities, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Military strategists long have estimated Israel must maintain the West Bank to defend its borders from any ground invasion.

Terrorist groups have warned if Israel withdraws, they will launch rockets from the West Bank into Israeli cities.

Many villages in the West Bank, which Israelis commonly refer to as the "biblical heartland," are mentioned throughout the Torah.

The book of Genesis says Abraham entered Israel at Shechem (Nablus) and received God's promise of land for his offspring. He later was buried in Hebron.

The nearby town of Beit El, anciently called Bethel meaning "house of God," is where Scripture says the patriarch Jacob slept on a stone pillow and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a stairway to heaven. In that dream, God spoke directly to Jacob and reaffirmed the promise of territory.

And in Exodus, the holy tabernacle rested in Shiloh, believed to be the first area the ancient Israelites settled after fleeing Egypt.

[Shammu]

UN powers mull action on Iran
Sat Mar 11, 2006 6:03 AM ET

 By Irwin Arieff and Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council ended a second round of talks on Friday on how to persuade Iran to suspend uranium enrichment-related works, but there was no sign they had agreed on a statement.

The British and French U.N. ambassadors, Emyr Jones Parry and Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, both said the consultation will continue with the United States, Russia and China on a statement on Iran's nuclear activities, an indication the five had not agreed on a text.

Most envoys expect the full 15-member council to issue a statement sometime next week in response to a report from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran's nuclear activities. The report cleared the way for the council to take up for the first time Iran's nuclear program that the United States and others say is a cover for bomb-making.

"We talked about our objectives, how the Security Council can reinforce the role of the IAEA," said China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, after the hour-and-a-half meeting.

Britain and France distributed a text on Wednesday for a meeting of the five powers -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- to consider, parts of which were read to Reuters. It echoed demands of the IAEA governing board that Iran suspend all uranium-enrichment activities and answer outstanding questions about its atomic programs.

It would give "full support" to the IAEA and ask the U.N. nuclear watchdog for a report in a short time frame, that has not been agreed yet. Britain at one point suggested 14 days but most envoys expect a longer timeline.

"We didn't talk about dates yet," Wang told reporters when asked about a deadline.

RESOLUTION

But the next step is the difficult one. Normally a statement is followed by a resolution demanding Iran comply and hinting at consequences, which might lead to some low-level sanctions, like a travel or assets freeze.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said several times this week the Security Council should not take the lead on the crisis. China is thought to agree.

A resolution in the Security Council needs a minimum of nine votes and no veto from any of its permanent members.

Lavrov told state television Rossiya on Friday that although the situation was critical, it "does not mean that everybody now has to go to the Security Council."

"It means we all have to get together again to collectively find a new consensus regarding our strategy at the current stage," Lavrov said.

He proposed further talks, presumably in Vienna that would include the IAEA, the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, "I hope the parties will get back to the table, and Iran will take the necessary steps to cooperate with the atomic agency." He said Iran had to convince the international community "that indeed its ambition is peaceful use of nuclear energy."

But like the United States, British Prime Minister Tony Blair vowed to pursue Iran's case through the Security Council, saying a failure by Tehran to meet its global obligations would lead to "a serious situation."

"The key to this is in Iran's hand," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said. "If they give up their pursuit of nuclear weapons, then a variety of other things are possible."

But Bolton again said that if Iran did not comply, "we will think of other options because ... all options are on the table, as they must be, to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons."

U.S. officials in Washington have indicated the United States would seek its own coalition of countries to impose punitive measures on Iran if all action in the Security Council failed.

UN powers mull action on Iran

[Shammu]

Judge Won't Drop Charges in Mosque Sting

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press Writer Sat Mar 11, 6:35 PM ET

ALBANY, N.Y. - A federal judge refused to dismiss charges against two Muslims arrested in an FBI anti-terrorism sting, rejecting claims that evidence was tainted by use of illegal warrantless wiretaps.

U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy's "classified" order leaves secret his reasons for also turning down defense requests to suppress any evidence acquired from warrantless wiretaps or force authorities to disclose whether they were used in the Albany case.

His three-sentence public order was issued late Friday.

Yassin Aref, 35, an imam at Masjid as-Salam in Albany, and Mohammed Hossain, 50, are accused of laundering money in 2003-2004 for an FBI informant, a Pakistani businessman posing as an arms dealer. Neither is accused of actual violence.

Both deny charges that they conspired to provide support to Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based group listed by the federal government as a terrorist organization. Aref remains in jail awaiting trial, while Hossain is free on bond.

McAvoy's ruling came only hours after federal prosecutors filed classified court papers that were expected to address whether the National Security Agency's program of warrantless wiretapping was part of the Albany investigation.

The program, disclosed publicly in December by The New York Times, began sometime after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and involved electronic intercepts of telephone calls and e-mails in the U.S. of people with suspected ties to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

The disclosure prompted national debate about its legality.
President Bush says it is an effective tool to disrupt terrorists and insists it was not an abuse of Americans' civil liberties.

Defense attorney Terence Kindlon said Saturday he is researching possible appeals of the ruling. "My sense is, this can't be right. This has to be wrong," he said. "The question is, how do you even argue it when you don't know what the basis is?"

Prosecutors have repeatedly asked McAvoy to shield certain documents, citing national security. Kindlon and defense attorney Kevin Luibrand said they haven't seen the material even though both are U.S. military veterans and have security clearances.

Calls to Assistant U.S. Attorney William Pericek and to McAvoy were not immediately returned Saturday.

Judge Won't Drop Charges in Mosque Sting

[Shammu]

Iran Threatens to Use Oil as Weapon in Nuke Standoff
Saturday, March 11, 2006

TEHRAN, Iran  — Iran threatened Saturday to use oil as a weapon if the U.N. Security Council imposes sanctions over its nuclear program.

The nation's interior minister raised the possibility of using Iran's own oil and gas supplies and its position on a vital Persian Gulf oil route as weapons in the international standoff.

"If (they) politicize our nuclear case, we will use any means. We are rich in energy resources. We have control over the biggest and the most sensitive energy route of the world," Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Iran is the No. 2 producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and has partial control over the narrow Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf. The strait is an essential passage for crude oil from key producers such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.

Pourmohammadi's statements were the most specific yet — and the first explicitly targeting oil — in a series of threats levied by Iranian officials as the Security Council discusses what action to take over Iran's nuclear program. Washington says Iran wants to produce atomic weapons. Iran denies that claim, saying it intends only to generate electricity.

"No means (for reprisals) will be ignored and we will not disregard any means," said Pourmohammadi, who warned from the sideline of a Tehran city ceremony that Iran's critics could be underestimating his country's ability to strike back if sanctions are imposed.

"If they want to try other options, they have to be sure that our potential is not less than theirs," he said.
Iran's hard-line president warned Thursday that the West will suffer more than his country if it tries to block Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The top Iranian delegate to the U.N. atomic watchdog agency said a day earlier that the United States will face "harm and pain" if the Security Council becomes involved.

Some diplomats saw the comments as veiled threats to use oil as a weapon, though Iran's oil minister ruled out any decrease in production. Iran also has leverage with extremist groups in the Middle East that could harm U.S. interests.

About 90 percent of the oil exported from the Gulf in recent years passed through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. Closure of the strait would require more costly shipping of oil and natural gas by pipeline across Saudi Arabia, according to the agency's Web site.

The five veto-holding members of the Security Council — Britain, France, the United States, Russia and China — were considering proposals Friday to pressure Iran to resolve questions about its nuclear program, including demands that it abandon uranium enrichment and stop construction on a reactor, diplomats said.

Enrichment can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for an atomic bomb.

Britain, France and the United States are seeking a tough statement aimed at pressuring Iran. Russia indicated it was uncomfortable with significant action, fearful that Iran could spurn negotiations entirely. China is believed to side with Russia.

Former Israeli military chief Moshe Yaalon said Thursday that Israel and the West have the ability to launch a military strike that could set back Iran's nuclear program for years. Yaalon was widely criticized for the remarks, with some saying he was drawing unnecessary attention to Israel's capabilities.

Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Saturday that Israel remains part of an international coalition against a nuclear Iran, suggesting Israel would not act alone against Tehran.

Also Saturday, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted an unnamed Russian official as saying Iran's refusal to restore a moratorium on enrichment has made a compromise offer to host the Iranian uranium enrichment program impossible.

In an attempt to stave off sanctions against Iran, Moscow had proposed a joint venture to conduct Tehran's enrichment on Russian territory, an offer backed by both the U.S. and the European Union as a way to prevent Iran from diverting enriched uranium to a weapons program.

Talks on the proposal stalled over Iran's insistence on maintaining some domestic enrichment activity.

Iran Threatens to Use Oil as Weapon in Nuke Standoff