News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

Iran's Nukes Concern Some Arab Countries

By DIANA ELIAS, Associated Press Writer Wed Mar 22, 2:09 PM ET

KUWAIT CITY - This tiny Gulf country is increasingly nervous — as are some of its neighbors — about
Iran's controversial nuclear program, right across the water. But heading into a key summit, Arab leaders are divided, and publicly squabbling, over how to defuse a crisis that has caused the West to haul Iran before the
U.N. Security Council.

Countries close to Iran, including Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, have focused on safety issues, the threat of a possible regional arms race and the possibility that a crisis with the West could spill onto other nations. Iran's nuclear program "still poses a big worry," Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nayyan, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, said this month.

But Arab countries farther away from Iran have insisted that the United States and Europe should not pressure Iran over its program unless they also push for an end to Israel's nuclear program.

In January, the secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, an Egyptian, quarreled publicly with the Emirates' foreign minister after Moussa sent a message to the Gulf Cooperation Council summit, urging the leaders of the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar to focus on Israel, not Iran.

Moussa repeated his stance last month, saying at one Arab meeting: "We should avoid double standards."

Israel maintains ambiguity over its nuclear program but is widely believed to have hundreds of nuclear warheads.

The United States accuses Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. But Iran says its nuclear program aims only to generate electricity and has insisted it has a right to carry out uranium enrichment, a process that can develop either fuel for a reactor or material for a nuclear weapon.

As they head into next week's Arab League meeting in Sudan, both Iran's program itself — and the fight over it — have many in the Gulf nervous.

"Accidents happen in developed countries. What would reassure us that they won't happen in a Third World country?" asked Kuwaiti strategist Sami al-Faraj.

His Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies is advising the Kuwaiti government — as well as the secretariat-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council — on how to prepare for any nuclear accidents in Iran, he said. The country's first nuclear reactor, expected to go online this year, is in Bushehr in southern Iran, just 150 miles across the Persian Gulf from Kuwait.

Iran is seismically unstable, and an earthquake could cause an accident that would be more disastrous for Gulf countries than for Iran.

"A catastrophe that kills 200,000 people could mean wiping out half of Bahrain," he noted.

In addition, any pollution of the Gulf would shut down the six water desalination plants on the Arab shore, he said.

But it's not just safety issues that concern the Gulf states. Leaders also worry about a possible regional arms race, and fear the dispute with the West might prompt U.S. or Israeli airstrikes against Iran — something sure to rile Shiite Muslim communities in the largely Sunni Muslim Gulf countries.

During a Gulf Cooperation Council summit in December, a government-run think tank, the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies, warned Gulf states against maintaining "silence" over the nuclear issue, saying they "will pay the price for any escalation between Iran and the West."

"Gulf nations utterly refuse any idea that Iran should own a nuclear weapon, and they want Iran to stop uranium enrichment ... except under international control," said Dawood al-Shirian, a Saudi Arabian analyst.

And he said a nuclear-armed Iran would be a "justification" for foreign countries to keep their forces in the Gulf longer to protect their oil interests.

Washington has maintained a military presence in the area since a U.S.-led coalition drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War. Kuwait was the main launch point for the American-led invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, and U.S. naval and air forces have bases in Bahrain and Qatar.

Al-Shirian said any military confrontation between Iran and the West would trigger a response in Iraq that could lead to Shiite-Sunni sectarian tensions across the region.

Iran and southern Iraq embrace the Shiite sect of Islam, while Gulf countries that are ruled by Sunni families have Shiite minorities.

In January, Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric in Iraq, said his militia would defend Iran if that country were ever attacked, an apparent message to the West that Tehran has allies who could make things difficult for U.S. forces in the region.

"They are our neighbors," one former Kuwaiti lawmaker, Ahmed al-Rubei, said recently of Iran. "Their safety is our safety."

Iran's Nukes Concern Some Arab Countries

[Shammu]

Texas arresting people in bars for being drunk

Wed Mar 22, 6:05 PM ET

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.

The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission's Carolyn Beck.

Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkenness, Beck said.

The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.

"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said.

"There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they're intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car," Beck said. "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss."

She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state.

Texas arresting people in bars for being drunk AMEN!!!!!!!!!

[Shammu]

 School wins Muslim dress appeal

Wednesday, March 22, 2006 Posted: 1338 GMT (2138 HKT)

LONDON, England -- A British school has won its appeal against a ruling that had given a Muslim teenage girl the right to wear full Islamic dress in class.

Britain's highest court, the Law Lords, on Wednesday overturned a lower court decision that had cleared the way for Shabina Begum to wear a jilbab, which covers the body except for the hands and face.

Begum, 17, won a Court of Appeal ruling last year establishing that Denbigh High School in Luton, north of London, had infringed on her human rights by not allowing her to wear the traditional Muslim dress.

The school appealed the decision to the Law Lords. Lord Justice Bingham said in his ruling Wednesday that the key question was whether the school denied effective access to education to the girl, The Associated Press reported.

"In my opinion, the facts compel the conclusion that it did not," he said.

Bingham said the school "had taken immense pains to devise a uniform policy which respected Muslim beliefs but did so in an inclusive, unthreatening and uncompetitive way."

"The rules laid down were as far from being mindless as uniform rules could ever be. The school had enjoyed a period of harmony and success to which the uniform policy was thought to contribute," he said.

He noted that the head teacher at the school at the time was a Muslim, and that the rules were acceptable to mainstream Muslim opinion.

Begum was sent home from Denbigh High in September 2002 for wearing the jilbab.

The school said the jilbab posed a health and safety risk and might cause divisions among pupils.

Eighty percent of Denbigh's 1,000 pupils are Muslim, and the school feared those who wore traditional dress might be seen as "better Muslims" than others.

The school denied acting in a discriminatory manner and said it had a flexible school uniform policy that took into account all faiths and cultures.

Pupils are allowed to wear trousers, skirts or a traditional shalwar kameez, consisting of trousers and a tunic.

Begum originally took the case to Britain's High Court, arguing she was being denied her right to education and to manifest her religious beliefs.

In June 2004, the High Court ruled the dress code was a "reasoned, balanced, proportionate policy" and that Begum's human rights had not been violated, AP reported.

Begum appealed that ruling to the Court of Appeal, citing Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees "freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs."

The Court of Appeal ruled last March that Begum had been "unlawfully denied ... the right to manifest her religion."

Begum has since moved from Denbigh to a new school that allows her to wear a jilbab.

"We're not sure if we're going to take it to the European Court or not," Begum told reporters after Wednesday's ruling.

"I think I have made my point at this stage," she said, adding that she hoped the case encouraged others to "speak out."

Unlike France, which banned "conspicuous religious symbols" from state schools last year, Britain has no rule against religious dress in the classroom, and schools are free to set their own uniform policies, AP said.

School wins Muslim dress appeal

[Shammu]

 Pak ruling party chief says terrorists to be eliminated from tribal belt
Islamabad, March 22, IRNA

Pakistan-Tribal Belt
Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Wednesday regretted killings of innocent people during the on-going action against terrorists and miscreants in the tribal areas, insisting for sustainable peace, elimination of such elements was vital.

PML president expressed these views during discussion with a delegation of elders from the tribal areas, particularly from Waziristan, where the law-enforcement agencies are engaged in operation.

Shujaat appreciated the role of the armed forces in promoting national security, integrity. "Their role is commendable for peace for which terrorists and foreigners have to be done away with," he emphasised.

The ruling party leader was of the view that the activities of these elements were the prime reason of instability in the tribal belt.

Tribal elders supported the dialogue and oppose the use of force to settle the issues in Waziristan and elsewhere, a party hand-out said.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao told the Senate on Monday that a large number of terrorists had crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan after 9/11 events and had been indulging in terror acts.

He made it clear that despite several offers, these elements had failed to come to terms and now the government would rid the area of their presence at all cost.

Pakistan has deployed around 80,000 law-enforcement agencies' personnel along Pak-Afghan border to stem the cross border movements.

Pak ruling party chief says terrorists to be eliminated from tribal belt

[Shammu]

 Asefi refutes US claims on al-Qaeda presence in Iran
Tehran, March 22, IRNA

Iran-US-Asefi
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi on Wednesday ruled out "unfounded and false" claims of the US that al-Qaeda members were present in Iran.

"Dissemination of such reports aim to cover up failure of the occupying forces in guaranteeing security of Iraq," said Asefi.

He said Iran's stances against al-Qaeda terrorist group is completely clear and Americans know quite well that "we have thus far acted on our international responsibilities regarding campaign against terrorism and uprooting the international intricacy which has its roots in the inequality and injustice caused by global hegemony." "How can the US government, which itself has no commitment to the international regulations, speak of others' international
responsibilities?" asked Asefi.

Undoubtedly, he said, under the current circumstances when security conditions in Iraq are worsening day by day and people in the country, as the biggest victim, are sustaining casualties and financial damage more than before, presence of the US occupiers will itself pave the ground for terrorist activities of such groups as al-Qaeda.

He added that Americans, which have no response for their public opinion, are laying blame on others and raising such subjects to cover up their weakness and failure.

Asefi refutes US claims on al-Qaeda presence in Iran

[Shammu]

China repeats is in accord with Russia on Iran
Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:19 AM ET9

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Thursday, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin left Beijing, that Beijing and Moscow are in accord on Iran's nuclear standoff with the West.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday criticized a draft U.N. Security Council statement aimed at pressuring Iran to stop enriching uranium, despite a new offer of amendments by Western powers.

The next step is likely to be bilateral contacts among ministers of the council's five veto-wielding permanent members, the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia, diplomats close to the talks said.

A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, Qin Gang, said President Hu Jintao and Putin discussed Iran during Putin's two-day visit.

"China and Russia exchanged views and both sides agreed the Iran nuclear issue should be resolved through diplomatic means," Qin told reporters.

Hu and Putin agreed that "all the related parties should display flexibility and patience", Qin added. "China supports Russia's active efforts to appropriately resolve the Iran nuclear issue."

Russia, backed by China, wants to delete large sections of the draft statement the Security Council has been studying for nearly two weeks as a first reaction to Iran's nuclear research, which the West believes is a cover for bomb-making. Iran insists it wants only to produce electric power.

Both nations fear that involvement by the 15-member council, which can impose sanctions, could escalate and lead to punitive measures including possibly military action.

Asked whether China and Russia would block the proposed U.N. statement on Iran, Qin said: "In making any actions or decisions the concerned parties should be focused on whether they truly help to reach a lasting resolution of the Iran nuclear issue, and whether they help the peace and stability of the region ... That is why we should give diplomacy more time and more space."

Qin said on Tuesday China supported a Russian compromise proposal that would allow Iran to use nuclear fuel enriched in an internationally monitored plant on Russian soil, easing fears that Tehran could divert atomic material to develop weapons.

China repeats is in accord with Russia on Iran

[Shammu]

Board OKs Darwin challenge
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Thursday, March 23, 2006.

By CHRISTOPHER AMICO
Valley Press Staff Writer
LANCASTER - The Lancaster School District board of trustees voted to implement a "philosophy" of science instruction that encourages students to question Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and that permits science teachers to insert critiques of the long-standing and accepted scientific theory into the curriculum.

The new statement, updated from an older document, does not include any alternative theories such as "intelligent design," which posits a master plan or master "designer" as an explanation of how the universe began. Outside groups quickly pounced on the move as a way of sneaking creationism - or a divine explanation - in the back door of the classroom.

Alex Branning, a 22-year-old entrepreneur who owns a Web design and marketing firm based in Lancaster, first proposed the changes at a school board meeting two weeks ago.

He told trustees it was "imperative" that the school district update its stand on the teaching of evolution as soon as possible. Teaching the theory of evolution enters California's curriculum in seventh grade.

Victory came sooner than Branning expected. All five trustees voiced support for the amended statement, which members of the administration worked with Branning to revise.

"We owe it to our students to give them a world-class science education that prepares them as scientifically literate citizens and members of the work force in the 21st century. Our proposed policy is designed to do just that," Branning said recently when he was pursuing adoption of the new standard.

He said the policy adopted by the school board Tuesday night will give students the "thinking skills" needed to compete in today's economy.

Trustee Mel Kleven said the new philosophy will bring "scientific reality to the classroom" and promote an "open environment."

Critics, however, questioned the motives in Lancaster's approach to science instruction.

"You don't do students a favor by pretending there are controversies in the scientific community where there are none," said Kevin Padian, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley.

California Schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell said by telephone that schools should follow the state's standards on evolution.

"We want information that's based upon accepted scientific theory. We need to have that info that's accepted by the mainstream scientific community," he said, adding that a discussion of beliefs may be more appropriate in a philosophy class rather than a science class.

"If it's a back door attempt at promoting creationism or 'intelligent design' if that's being portrayed as gospel, that would be incorrect in a science class," O'Connell said. "That would not be helpful."

Branning insists he is not anti-evolution and does not endorse teaching creationism or "intelligent design." He said the group he founded, called Integrity in Academics, includes others who, like himself, want the whole picture of the origins of life shown to students.

Branning grew up in Quartz Hill and was home-schooled. He attended Antelope Valley College and has run his business, the Branning Group, for three years. He became interested in the controversy over evolution after conducting his own research, reading what he described as arguments for the theory, and challenges to it.

The businessman said he makes no claim to possessing a formal scientific background.

One problem with evolution, he said, is the Cambrian Explosion, a period he said has yet to be explained by modern biology or paleontology.

During that early period of Earth's history - about half a billion years ago - the ancestors of most modern animal phyla first appeared.

Questioners of evolution often describe this period as "sudden," but Padian of UC Berkeley said that scientists consider that view misleading. The period described actually took about 70 million years, he said.

"It's usually misrepresented by anti-evolutionists," he said. "The notion that this stuff appeared all at once is completely wrong."

Branning's push for a re-thinking of how to teach evolution locally comes at a moment of renewed debate over life's origins.

The Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based advocacy organization, has pushed intelligent design as an alternative to Darwin's theory, and other groups have raised questions about supposed gaps in fossil records.

Casey Luskin, an attorney with the institute, said Lancaster's new board-approved philosophy on teaching will open up debate on a subject that is usually one-sided.

Various attempts to introduce intelligent design as a scientifically objective counter-theory to the theory of natural selection has been consistently rebuffed by courts.

"Any time that you're permitting criticism, this is going to be good for students. We definitely support the school district bringing objectivity to science curriculum," he said.

Luskin said Branning did not work directly with the Discovery Institute, but one of his associates, Larry Caldwell, has worked with the intelligent design group in the past.

Caldwell tried unsuccessfully to get a policy similar to the one Branning proposed adopted in Roseville, near Sacramento. In a statement issued on Branning's Web site, Caldwell praised Lancaster and encouraged other districts to follow suit.

"Unfortunately, there is a kind of 'Taliban' in the scientific establishment that seeks to suppress any criticism of Darwinism in the classroom," Caldwell added. "It is refreshing to see school officials willing to stand up against Darwinian fundamentalists to give their students a science education rather than a science indoctrination. After all, effective science education is all about teaching students to ask meaningful questions and follow the evidence wherever it leads."

Howard Sundberg, Lancaster's assistant superintendent of educational services, said the philosophy fits into California's established framework for teaching science.

"If you're dealing in science, you're not dealing in a belief system," he said.

"Sure, kids can question things, but once you start crossing the line into beliefs or religion, that's not something that's appropriate for science."

Still, he believes students will benefit from probing what some see as weaknesses in the theory.

"Those questions could help a theory to be understood," said Sundberg, who crafted the final draft of the philosophy. "I just don't see any bad that can come out of it, as long as we stay within the domain of science."

While Sundberg's background is not in science, he advised teachers faced with student questions to respect individual beliefs, but refer questions of a religious bent to be directed to a social studies class, or to parents or clergy.

Still, evolution's defenders say the philosophy looks like a long-standing tactic aimed at "slinging mud" at Darwin's theory, long accepted as bedrock science.

"It's a bad policy," said Glenn Branch, deputy director of the Oakland-based National Center for Science Education. "The point of it, of course, is to instill scientifically unwarranted doubts about evolution."

"It's a fairly sophisticated approach because to most people it sounds pretty reasonable," added Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

"Evolution is the only thing they single out. It's not real critical analysis. It's just an attack on evolution."

Branning wouldn't discuss his religious beliefs, saying his faith was a private matter. He said he is on the fence about evolution and finds credible arguments on both sides.

He is not, he insists, in favor of teaching creationism or intelligent design in a science class.

"Those aren't scientific," he said.

And Branning does not worry about his group being infiltrated by those who would promote alternatives to evolution.

"We keep those people out," he said. "While we appreciate the encouraging words, we have different goals."

Branning said his next stop is the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second largest school system. He expects a bigger fight there, but he remains confident he'll win.

"Thomas Edison, when he was inventing the light bulb, was told that he couldn't do it," Branning said, "because that was the scientific evidence of the day."

Board OKs Darwin challenge

[Shammu]

University backs off on Bible-study ban
Dorm groups on sexual issues were OK but not Scriptures
Posted: March 24, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

After a lawsuit by a public-interest legal group, the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire backed off on its threat to discipline resident assistants for holding Bible studies in dorms.

Attorneys with Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund filed the suit on behalf of Lance Steiger, a student residential assistant who had led Bible studies in his dorm room since attaining his position several years ago.

University officials, however, recently told Steiger he and other RAs were barred from holding Bible studies anywhere in their dorms, including their own rooms.

ADF pointed out other RAs had led groups in their rooms to discuss a variety of topics, including sexual issues and feminism.

"Colleges and universities shouldn't treat Christian students any differently than other students – whether religious or not," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Kevin Theriot.

A student's speech in his dorm room is free, he continued, "the fact that the speech is religious doesn't change that."

The university initially balked at changing its policy, even after Steiger contacted the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which wrote a letter to university officials explaining his rights.

When ADF filed the lawsuit, the university temporarily suspended its policy, saying it would form a committee to study the matter.

"The university came to the right conclusion that the First Amendment protects religious speech and that this student's rights had indeed been violated," said Theriot.

The settlement called for university officials to pay Steiger a symbolic damages award of $1 along with attorneys' fees and costs.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Edinburgh University in Scotland planned to ban Bibles from its student halls of residence due to concern they are the source of discrimination against students of other faiths.

The ban was a response to student association protests as well as an agenda to equally support all faiths. A Gideon Bible traditionally is placed in the room of all new students.

[Shammu]

Is Easter latest holiday hijack?
Bunny gets booted from city council as some fear offending non-Christians
Posted: March 24, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Joe Kovacs
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com


Is the Easter Bunny an endangered species?

In the wake of the national uproar over the celebration of Christmas in America, some are now focusing their attention on Easter, wondering if political correctness will have an impact on what many Christians consider to be the holiest time of the year.

This week in Minnesota's capital, a toy rabbit, pastel-colored eggs and a sign with the words "Happy Easter" adorning the entrance to the St. Paul City Council offices were ordered to hit the bunny trail by the city's human-rights director who claimed the items might offend non-Christians.

"I sent an e-mail that Easter is viewed as a Christian holiday and advised that it be taken down," Tyrone Terrill told the Pioneer Press. "It wasn't a big deal."

But City Council Member Dave Thune had no problem with the seasonal display.

"I absolutely wonder how colored eggs and bunnies and chickens are Christian," Thune told the paper. "I'm a little puzzled how people can be offended."

In response to the bunny ban, the New York-based Catholic League is sending Terrill a full-size bunny suit.

"It is our hope that once Tyrone dons the costume, he will realize that even non-Christians are not offended," said the league's president, Bill Donohue. "And we urge him to read and digest a copy of the First Amendment, preferably while munching on some rancid carrots."

Terrill has now posted a notice on the city's website, stating, "I wanted to let you know that my request was not to remove bunnies or eggs from the City of Saint Paul, but the sign on the door that says Happy Easter. With that being said, I am sorry for all the confusion that this has caused as my e-mail had nothing to do with rabbits, eggs etc."

Already, many stores and malls across the U.S. are preparing for seasonal events, with some refraining from usage of terms like "the Easter Bunny," opting instead for more generic terms like "Spring Bunny," or other names avoiding the name "Easter."

One such location is the Somerset Collection, an upscale mall in Troy, Mich., serving 14 million shoppers per year. It's now publicizing an event with its "Spring Bunny" and Walt Disney's Winnie the Pooh.

The event caught the attention of WorldNetDaily reader Tim Edwards, who says, "It appears that this very important Christian holiday is under assault just like Christmas is."

Linda McIntosh, the marketing director for the mall, denies any such effort at her location, saying the rabbit in their show has always been called the "Spring Bunny," with a specific name of "Hester Fairweather."

"It's a spring garden and the kids exercise," McIntosh said. "It's more about keeping healthy."

As WorldNetDaily previously reported, other malls have chosen alternate names to the Easter Bunny, including Baxter the Bunny, Peter Rabbit, and Garden Bunny.

Mall officials at Town Center in Boca Raton, Fla., admitted last year to caving in to concern over what could be perceived as religious promotion, and therefore made no reference to Easter.

"Because we're such a multicultural community, it's good just to remain neutral," mall general manager Sam Hosen told the Palm Beach Post.

Another mall manager expressed apprehension over her decision to stick to tradition, hosting an Easter egg hunt complete with a cotton-tailed Easter bunny.

"I suppose the name Easter Bunny is fairly unusual," Boynton Beach mall manager Andrea Horne said. "I know it's probably not the popular thing to call it.

Ironically, while millions of Christians celebrate Easter Sunday each year to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, the origins of Easter have much more to do with the season of spring, itself, rather than anything to do with biblical Christianity.

In fact, the term "Easter" is actually the name of a pagan – that is to say, non-Christian – fertility goddess.

In ancient Babylon, the goddess was known as Ishtar (pronounced the same as Easter is today with a silent "h"), and became known as Astarte to the Phoenicians, Ashtoreth to the ancient Israelites, Eostre to the Greeks, Ostera or Eostre to the Anglo-Saxons, and eventually Easter in modern times.

Historians believe because rabbits and eggs are symbols of fertility, they naturally became associated with the goddess.

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Regarding the Easter bunny specifically, the Catholic Encyclopedia notes the character is not of Scriptural origin: "The Easter Rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in the garden. The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility."

"We sucked a lot up from pagan culture over the centuries," Lawrence Cunningham, professor of theology at Notre Dame University and author of the "Easter" entry in the Harper-Collins Dictionary of Religion.

He told the Philadelphia Inquirer it's only English speakers who use the word "Easter."

"The Anglo-Saxons had a spring festival dedicated to the goddess Eastre – it's spelled several ways – and the early Christians in the British Isles adapted it. It's just a linguistic accident."

The word "Easter" is found only once in the King James Version of the Bible, concerning King Herod's persecution of early Christians including the apostles James and Peter.

"Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people." (Acts 12:1-4)

The word Easter in the text is translated from the Greek word "pascha," which is in every other instance rendered as Passover.

[Shammu]

U.S. designates Al Manar TV as terrorist
Bush issues executive order on station controlled by Hezbollah
Posted: March 24, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

President Bush issued an executive order to the U.S. Department of the Treasury yesterday designating the Middle East satellite television operation Al Manar as a terrorist entity.

Al Manar is owned and controlled by the Iran-funded Hezbollah terrorist network. In addition to Al Manar, the U.S. gave the designation to al Nour Radio and their parent company, Lebanese Media Group.

The U.S. said Al Manar and al Nour are the media arms of Hezbollah and have facilitated the terrorist network's activities.

"Any entity maintained by a terrorist group – whether masquerading as a charity, a business, or a media outlet – is as culpable as the terrorist group itself,"said Stuart Levey, Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

According to the Treasury Department, Al Manar has employed a number of Hezbollah members, including one who engaged in pre-operational surveillance terrorist operations under cover of work for Al Manar.

The TV and radio operations also have supported fund-raising and recruitment efforts by Hezbollah, the U.S. said, through advertisements broadcast on the network and an accompanying website.

Al Manar also has provided support to other designated Palestinian terrorist organizations, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

Tens of thousands of dollars were transferred to an Islamic Jihad-controlled charity. The budgets for the two media outlets were managed by Hezbollah Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah and the group's Executive Council.

The U.S. noted prominent Hezbollah members have been major shareholders of the Lebanese Media Group.

Until the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., Hezbollah was responsible for more American deaths than any other terrorist organization.

Among the attacks were the suicide truck bombings of the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut in September 1984.

[Shammu]

U.S., U.K. Forces Rescue Hostages in Iraq

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer 28 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Without firing a shot, U.S. and British forces stormed a house Thursday and freed three Christian peace activists who were bound but unguarded, ending a four-month hostage ordeal that saw an American in the group killed and dumped along a railroad track.

The U.S. ambassador and the top American military spokesman held out hope the operation on the outskirts of Baghdad could lead to a break in the captivity of American reporter Jill Carroll, a freelance writer for The Christian Science Monitor who was abducted Jan. 7.

The military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, said the 8 a.m. rescue of the Briton and two Canadians from a "kidnapping cell" was based on information divulged by a man during interrogation only three hours earlier. The man was captured by U.S. forces on Wednesday night.

A senior Iraqi military officer told The Associated Press, however, that the operation had been under way for two days in the Abu Ghraib suburb west of Baghdad, site of the notorious prison. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his position, said U.S. and British forces refused to give him other details.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canadian forces also took part in the rescue operation, although their precise role was unclear.

But the joyful news was tempered by violence that raged throughout Iraq as the day wore on. Fifty-eight people were killed in execution-style slayings, bombings and gun battles. For the third straight day, Sunni insurgents hit a major police and jail facility — this time with a suicide car bombing that killed 25 in central Baghdad.

Lynch said a reinforced U.S. and Iraqi security presence in the capital had prevented car bombings on five recent consecutive days, but acknowledged that attacks "surged today."

No kidnappers were present when the troops broke into the house where the peace activists were discovered with their hands tied.

"They were bound, they were together, there were no kidnappers in the areas," Lynch told a news briefing.

The freed men were Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, and Briton Norman Kember, 74. The men — members of the Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams — were kidnapped Nov. 26 along with an American colleague, Tom Fox, 54.

Fox's body was found this month, shot and dumped in western Baghdad.

"We remember with tears Tom Fox," group co-director Doug Pritchard said in Toronto. "We had longed for the day when all four men would be released together. Our gladness today is bittersweet by the fact that Tom is not alive to join his colleagues in the celebration."

The three freed members of Christian Peacemaker Teams were taken to a hospital for observation in Baghdad but were released in good condition, the organization said from the Iraqi capital.

British Embassy spokeswoman Lisa Glover said the men would be flown out of Baghdad in the next few days. She said Kember was in "reasonable condition" and spent the day "relaxing and talking to British authorities."

Kember's wife, Pat, said she had spoken with her husband on the phone.

"He was very, very pleased to be free, but he was very emotional in talking to me. I think he must be very worried about me and the family," she told New Zealand's Radio Live in an interview replayed by the British Broadcasting Corp.

Speaking from her north London home, she said his decision to go to Iraq was "a bit silly," but added "I knew that he felt he must do something and he's getting old, and if he (didn't) do something ... it would be too late."

Loney's brother, Ed, told CBC television that his mother had spoken with James on the phone and that he sounded "fantastic" though "he's lost quite a bit of weight."

"He's alert and he was asking how we were doing and said he was sorry for the whole situation," Ed Loney said. "My mom said, 'Don't worry about it — just get home and we'll talk about all that stuff when you get here.' "

He told CNN that he later spoke directly with his brother, who was "having a lovely chicken dinner with potatoes and a nice soup" and "told me about being rescued and seeing the light of day and smelling the outside air."

Ed Loney also said his brother told him he was well taken care of.

"He was always warm and always fed and things like that. He was more worried about boredom. ... I think that was probably the worst part of it, from what he said."

The Christian Peacemaker Teams volunteers have been in Iraq since October 2002, investigating allegations of abuse against Iraqi detainees by coalition forces. The group says its teams promote peaceful solutions in conflict zones.

Pritchard called for coalition forces to leave the country.

"We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq," he said.

The kidnapped men were shown as prisoners in several videos, the most recent a silent clip dated Feb. 28 in which Loney, Kember and Sooden appeared without Fox, whose body was found March 10.

The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.

"As we study who could conduct these kinds of operations there seems to be a kidnapping cell that has been robust over the last several months in conducting these kind of kidnappings," Lynch said.

While many insurgent groups and the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist organization have kidnapped and often killed foreigners in Iraq, there also is a heavy criminal element involved in such crimes. Thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped for ransom and some Westerners are believed to have been grabbed by those criminal gangs as well.

Often, it is believed, kidnappers take hostages only for the purposes of selling them into captivity to larger, more organized criminal gangs or insurgent organizations.

The last hostage to be freed in a military operation was Douglas Wood, an Australian rescued in west Baghdad by U.S. and Iraqi forces on June 15, 2005, after 47 days in captivity.

Lynch said there was no new information on Carroll that "I can discuss at this time." But, he said: "There are other operations that continue probably as a result of what we're finding at this time. So you've got to give us the opportunity to work through that."

Carroll has appeared in three videotapes delivered by her kidnappers to Arab television stations, and the deadline her captors set for killing her passed weeks ago without word about her fate.

"My expectation and hope is that the released hostages and the associated activities, in terms of information gathered, could help us bring about her release as well," U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said in an interview with Fox News.

The Islamic Army in Iraq confirmed Thursday it had killed Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, claiming he was a spy. Baldoni had been reported killed on Aug. 26, 2004.

"He was a spy. We knew that from the first hour," Rami al-Shammari, a spokesman the insurgent group, told Al-Jazeera television in an interview.

U.S., U.K. Forces Rescue Hostages in Iraq

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Argentines Mark 30th Anniversary of Coup

By BILL CORMIER, Associated Press Writer 11 minutes ago

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Thousands of Argentines swayed to protest songs Friday at an early morning vigil marking the 30th anniversary of a military coup that ushered in the country's Dirty War.
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The gray-haired Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo took center stage at the rock concert-styled rally, wearing the trademark white handkerchiefs of their long human rights struggle.

"Thirty Years of Life Defeating Death!" and "Not One Step Back!" read large banners strung alongside black-and-white photographs of hundreds of "desaparecidos" — Spanish for the "Missing" victims of the seven-year dictatorship and its bloody crackdown on dissent.

It was just after 3 a.m. on March 24, 1976, that coup leaders announced they had toppled the government of Maria Estela Martinez de Peron, widow of the former strongman Juan Domingo Peron. She was flown away by helicopter from the pink Government House, steps from where the rally was held Friday on the Plaza de Mayo.

The junta would remain in power until 1983, leaving a trail of nearly 13,000 now officially listed dead or missing during the era. Human rights groups put the toll for a systematic crackdown on dissidents, now known as the Dirty War, at nearly 30,000.

Many of those in the crowd on Friday were youths born well after the coup,. They waved Argentine flags and leftist banners of red stars and clapped to vintage protest songs of folklore artists. Two large screens projected old newsreel clips of the former junta leaders and armored cars in the streets of Buenos Aires.

Blocks away from the plaza, giant enlargements of photographs of the victims were projected onto the capital's famous Obelisk monument. One photo a second was being projected on the smoothly chiseled granite of the towering Buenos Aires spire through the early dawn hours — a display of 3,600 pictures in all. The memorial was to conclude at the exact moment an announcer broke in on national radio with "Comunicado No. 1" declaring the constitutional government's overthrow.

The rally was led by Hebe de Bonafini, a leader of the most outspoken wing of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo — who have long demanded an accounting for missing sons and daughters.

Friday was the first time the anniversary was a national holiday.

President Nestor Kirchner was to give a speech and Argentina's foreign minister, Jorge Taiana, planned to visit the main Navy Mechanics School torture center. A large march was planned Friday evening.

Justino Carrea was among several former victims and victims' relatives who relived their experiences on television programs and in newspaper coverage blanketing the anniversary.

He recounted being picked up by security forces and whisked away to torture sessions.

"We can't have vengeance but we must have justice," he said of calls to reopen human rights cases before too many more years elapse. Noting that Congress recently repealed amnesty laws shielding officers from prosecution since the 80s, he said: "Now we must have the law, 100 percent of it."

Scores of former officers and others could be called back to courts to testify as a result of last year's repeal of those 80s-era amnesties. Kirchner's center-left government has vowed to reopen old files.

Argentines Mark 30th Anniversary of Coup

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Wife a Suspect in Killing of Minister

By WOODY BAIRD, Associated Press Writer 57 minutes ago

SELMER, Tenn. - A popular and charismatic Tennessee minister was found shot to death in his parsonage, and authorities labled his wife a suspect after she and the couple's three young daughters were found in Alabama on Thursday after a daylong search.

"We've known from the beginning that she was either a suspect or a victim," said Jennifer Johnson, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations.

Church members went looking for 31-year-old Matthew Winkler when he did not show up for an evening service at the Fourth Street Church of Christ. They used a key to enter the parsonage and found him dead in a bedroom late Wednesday, Police Chief Neal Burks said.

There were no signs of forced entry at the parsonage, authorities said, but Winkler's family was gone, along with their minivan.

The other family members were found Thursday night in southern Alabama when a police officer saw their van parked along a road.

Authorities said they were alone in the van.

Johnson said Mary Winkler, 32, had not been arrested, but was considered a suspect. TBI agents and Selmer police were on their way to Alabama late Thursday to question her and the children.

The bureau issued an Amber Alert early Thursday for the couple's daughters, Breanna, 1; Mary Alice, 6; and Patricia, 8. The alert said the girls might be with their mother.

All were in good physical condition when they were found in Orange Beach, Ala., about 400 miles south of Selmer.

Johnson said investigators had learned about 1 1/2 hours before the family was found that they might be in southern Alabama or the Florida Panhandle.

Mary Winkler had last been seen late Tuesday afternoon picking up the children from school, said Ed Jones, TBI assistant director. Burks said she worked as a substitute teacher at the elementary school.

"We're just so relieved that the kids were found safe and now we can focus on the next task" of solving the crime, Johnson said.

Tracy Stewart, city clerk in Selmer, said city investigators plan to go to Alabama to interview the family.

Matthew Winkler was hired as minister in February 2005, said Wilburn Ash, an elder at the 200-member church in Selmer, a town of about 4,600 in western Tennessee. The job was Winkler's first full-time position after working as a youth minister at another church.

Ash said he never saw any conflict in the family.

"He seemed like he was real happy here, and we were happy with him," Ash said. "He preached the Bible. He didn't make his opinions known on what was popular or what was politically right. He just preached the Bible."

Former Mayor Jimmy Whittington said he worked with the minister collecting donations for hurricane victims last year. "They were a nice family," he said. "They just blended in."

Matthew Winkler's grandfather had a 60-year-career as an evangelist in four Southern states, and his father is a minister and adjunct professor at the Church of Christ-affiliated Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson.

He was serving his first full pastorship in Selmer after working as a youth minister at a church in McMinnville, church members said.

Members of the congregation gathered Thursday inside the one-story brick church. "We're just trying to console each other," Ash said.

Pam Killingsworth, a church member and assistant principal at Selmer Elementary, where the Winkler children went to her school, said: "I can't believe this would happen."

"The kids are just precious, and she was precious," Killingsworth said, her eyes red from crying and her voice cracking at times. "He was the one of the best ministers we've ever had — just super charisma."

Wife a Suspect in Killing of Minister

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Rice Won't Tolerate Stall Tactics on Iran

By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer 2 hours, 23 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a veiled warning Thursday to holdouts in a diplomatic impasse at the United Nations over Iran's disputed nuclear program.

"There can't be any stalling," Rice said in response to a question about U.S. efforts to get Russia and China to sign on to a strongly worded rebuke to Tehran.

Russia and China have refused to back a U.N. Security Council statement proposed by Britain, France and the United States demanding Iran suspend uranium enrichment.

Talks among the permanent members of the Security Council have bogged down over the statement, which traditional Iranian allies or trade partners see as a prelude to sanctions they do not support.

Rice planned to call her Russian counterpart Friday to try to break the deadlock.

The Security Council statement was intended to be an opening move in what could be lengthy talks at the powerful U.N. body over how to stop Iran from building a nuclear bomb.

The statement was also meant to be an easier pill to swallow for Russia and China than would another option: A tough Security Council resolution.

A presidential statement requires consensus from the body's 15 members. A resolution would be put to an up-or-down vote, meaning Russia and China would have to approve, abstain or veto action against Iran.

Rice indicated that the United States will not wait long before taking another tack.

"The international community has got to act," Rice said following a first meeting with the new Greek foreign minister, Theodora Bakoyannis.

"People are looking to the international community to show that this can, indeed, be dealt with diplomatically," Rice said. "We are committed to a diplomatic solution, but it has to be dealt with."

Russian deputy U.N. Ambassador Konstantin Dolgov said Russia was still under the assumption that the council was working toward a presidential statement, not a resolution.

"We are continuing negotiations in good faith and we hope that all our partners are doing likewise," Dolgov told The Associated Press.

The Iran nuclear file moved to the Security Council this month, with the support of veto-wielding members Russia and China. That was seen as a diplomatic victory for the United States, which had long sought to place Iran before the U.N. body for possible punishment.

Moscow and Beijing now insist the U.N. nuclear watchdog in Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency, play the lead role in clearing up suspicions over Iran's intentions.

"We think there is still an opportunity to get a compromise but a compromise that would send the right signal — endorse the IAEA, and help in the negotiation process which is going on and should go on," Dolgov said.

Iran says it is developing nuclear technology only to produce electricity, but the United States and its allies accuse the clerical regime of using civilian nuclear power as a cover to develop weapons.

"There is an erosion of confidence in Iran on this point, because they lied to the IAEA for 18 years," Rice said, referring to nuclear research and development activities that Iran kept hidden.

Russia and China have raised concerns that pushing Iran too hard could lead to its withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and expulsion of IAEA inspectors.

Rice Won't Tolerate Stall Tactics on Iran

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Attempts to break UN impasse on Iran stall

By Evelyn Leopold Thu Mar 23, 8:11 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Major powers tried to break a U.N. impasse on Iran's nuclear ambitions with a round of telephone calls among their foreign ministers on Thursday seeking to produce a unified message, diplomats said.

After two weeks of haggling over an initial U.N. Security Council reaction to Iran's suspected nuclear program, Britain, France and the United States were unable to get support from Russia and China, the other two veto-holding Security Council nations, on a draft statement they had proposed.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said talks among foreign ministers of the five permanent council members were needed before any decisions could be taken in the 15-member Council.

"We're waiting for the outcome of the conversations at higher pay grades," Bolton told reporters.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice intends to speak to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has the toughest position, said a senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity in Washington.

The official said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had already spoken to Lavrov.

The proposed Security Council statement, drawn up by France and Britain, would tell Iran to suspend uranium enrichment efforts that could produce fuel for an atomic bomb. Tehran says it nuclear research is for peaceful purposes, while the West believes it is a cover for bomb making.

Russia and China fear involvement by the 15-member council, which can impose sanctions, could escalate the situation and lead to punitive measures, and even justify military action, although the draft statement carries no threat of punishment.

Russia, backed by China, wants to delete large sections of the draft statement. Britain and France are willing to amend the proposal if that would give it a chance of being adopted.

In Washington, Rice told reporters, "There is no time for delay in taking up this issue."

'EROSION OF CONFIDENCE'

"We need to have this statement and to make clear to the Iranians that the international community is united in demanding that Iran return to a posture that is consistent with its international commitments," she said after talks with Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni.

Rice said there was an "an erosion of confidence in Iran "because they lied to the IAEA for 18 years."

"If they do want a civil nuclear program, that's fine. They can have one but not with (uranium) enrichment and reprocessing on Iranian territory," Rice said.

"They need to suspend the activities in which they're engaged and return to negotiations.

Lavrov has made clear the current text would have to be restructured because it removed the issue from the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"The draft includes points that effectively lay the groundwork for sanctions against Iran," Lavrov told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday. "We will hardly be able to support this version."

In Beijing, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry was asked about the deadlock at the United Nations after Russian President Vladimir Putin left the Chinese capital, where he held a summit with President Hu Jintao.

"In making any actions or decisions the concerned parties should be focused on whether they truly help to reach a lasting resolution of the Iran nuclear issue, and whether they help the peace and stability of the region," spokesman Qin Gang said.

"That is why we should give diplomacy more time and more space." he added.

If the talks drag on, Britain and France have considered dropping the idea of a council statement, which requires agreement by all 15 members. Instead they would turn the statement into a resolution, which needs nine favorable votes and no veto, and dare Russia and China to vote "no."

Attempts to break UN impasse on Iran stall