News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

Homosexual Easter at the White House?
'LGBT families' urged to crash Bushes' annual egg-roll event
Posted: January 17, 2006
5:00 p.m. Eastern


© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

An advocacy group for the so-called lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is urging its supporters to be the first in line this year at the White House Easter Egg Roll to show "family visibility" to the nation.

Mark Tooley, writing in the Weekly Standard, says a church-based homosexual-rights group, Soulforce, sent an e-mail to supporters giving instructions for the event.

"On April 17, 2006, when the White House lawn is opened to families for the Annual Easter Egg Roll, imagine if the first 1,000 families onto the lawn were LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] families," said the Jan. 4 e-mail. Once America sees the White House lawn awash in LGBT families, "there will be no going back," Soulforce promised.

Tooley claims it's the first time anyone has tried to "exploit the annual White House Easter Egg Roll for political purposes."

Soulforce regularly protests church events to demand denominations change their policies on homosexuality, using the principles of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. The organization was begun by Mel White, once a writer for Christian pastors who later embraced homosexuality and became a clergyman in the "gay" Metropolitan Community Church. Soulforce is planning to protest at Focus on the Family in Colorado this summer.

According to the e-mail, the group is asking "LGBT families" to arrive at the White House gate the night before the April event to be sure to be the first ones in. Volunteers will be available to save places for those who cannot spend the night.

Supporters reportedly will arrive with special "non-political" T-shirts to identify themselves as "LGBT."

The annual Easter Egg Roll dates back to President Rutherford B. Hayes.

"The media will be there (they are always there for the egg roll) and millions of Americans – many for the first time – will meet our families," the Soulforce e-mail explained. "This is an amazing opportunity to reach homes in blue states and red states with positive images of our families participating in this great American family tradition.

Homosexual Easter at the White House?

[Shammu]

Panic selling shuts Tokyo exchange early
Probe of Internet company, weak tech earnings spur stampede

Wednesday, January 18, 2006 Posted: 1718 GMT (0118 HKT)

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- A massive sell-off sparked by a criminal investigation of a high-profile Internet company and weaker-than-expected U.S. tech earnings forced the Tokyo Stock Exchange to suspend trading in the world's second-largest market.

Panic selling also swept through other Asian markets Wednesday and later spilled over into Europe and North America.

The TSE, which has been hit by technical glitches in recent months, halted all trading 20 minutes before the official market close when the huge number of transactions threatened to overwhelm the exchange's computerized system.

However, the exchange said morning trading would begin as usual Thursday, although the afternoon session would be delayed by 30 minutes daily until further notice.

"We plan to restart the exchange as normal and will keep a close watch on how trading develops," TSE President Taizo Nishimuro told reporters. "Our goal is to handle things in a way that won't invite confusion."

The extraordinary decision to suspend trading was prompted by concerns that transactions would exceed the system's capacity of 4.5 million. The TSE later said the number of trades hit a record 4.38 million Wednesday.

The sell-off pushed the Nikkei stock average -- the key index of 225 leading shares -- down 464.77 points to 15,341.18. That was 2.94 percent lower than Tuesday's finish. At one point Wednesday, the index was down more than 4 percent.

The TOPIX, a broader index of stocks, finished down 3.49 percent to 1,574.67 after being down more than 5 percent at one stage.

Other markets in the region were also affected, with Taiwan losing more than 3 percent and South Korea dropping 2.6 percent.

European markets ended lower as the Nikkei's plunge unnerved investors who were already shaken by disappointing earnings from Intel (Results) and Yahoo (Results) late Tuesday in the United States. (Full story)

In New York, stocks also slumped as the full impact of weaker-than-expected profits by the technology giants was beginning to be felt. (Full story)

"The cause (of the sell-off) was threefold -- Livedoor, America and a mess-up by the Tokyo Stock Exchange," Seiichi Miura, an investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, told The Associated Press.

"People got worried about what's going to happen tomorrow if we can't sell today."

In Tokyo, the troubles for Livedoor -- a favorite of small investors -- began when investigators raided its headquarters late Monday, after media reports that it had given false information to investors.

The national daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Livedoor is suspected of concealing a $8.7 million deficit for the year ending in September 2004.

The reports prompted a sell-off in Livedoor shares, wiping about $300 million off its market value. The company's flamboyant chief executive, 33-year-old Takafumi Horie, has denied any wrongdoing. (New Livedoor allegations emerge)

The TSE's decision to suspend trading highlighted growing concerns about its computerized handling systems -- prompted by glitches such as a malfunction on November 1 that halted transactions for all but the final 90 minutes.

"It is an embarrassment for this to happen in the world's second-largest economy and that's the emotional aspect of the debate," Hideo Ueki, chief investment officer at UBS Global Asset Management Japan, told Reuters.

"I'm pretty sure the NYSE (the world's biggest exchange) has only had to shut down for snow or a black-out."

Wednesday's plunge was the second straight drop in the Nikkei. Some analysts said the Livedoor probe merely triggered a long-overdue correction in the market.

"While this was an abrupt drop, even if the Nikkei had broken under 15,000 it would have been a fall of around 10 percent. I think that is a completely natural correction," Hajime Yagi, general manager of Japanese equity investment at Meiji Dresdner Asset Management, told Reuters.

Added Hitoshi Yamamoto, president of Commerz International Capital Management: "I had expected a market correction of an almost 10 percent fall sometime between January and March.... The pace of the rally was too fast."

Panic selling shuts Tokyo exchange early

[Shammu]

Mine survivor awakening from coma
'Still a long way to go' for Randal McCloy

Wednesday, January 18, 2006; Posted: 2:16 p.m. EST (19:16 GMT)

Programming Note: Safety questions linger at the Sago Mine. We talk to miners who went back underground. Watch "Anderson Cooper 360°" live from West Virginia, 10 p.m. ET.

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia (CNN) -- More than two weeks after surviving a West Virginia coal mine explosion and 40 hours trapped underground, Randal McCloy is awakening from his coma, his neurosurgeon said on Wednesday.

"He is opening his eyes," said Dr. Julian Bailes, chairman of neurosurgery at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown. "He has purposeful movements. He responds to his family in slight ways. He moves all extremities."

Bailes said McCloy, 26, remains in a "light coma."

Asked how McCloy could have survived so long in the mine, his physician Larry Roberts said, "I think it may start with a miracle."

McCloy's family is welcoming his awakening, said family spokeswoman Aly Goodwin Gregg.

"They remain steadfast in focusing on his recovery and that he'll come out of it," she told reporters. "And they are encouraged by the news."

Because McCloy is among the longest-known survivors of carbon monoxide poisoning, Bailes said, "We are, in many ways, in uncharted territory in terms of predicting his recovery. But again we remain cautiously optimistic."

McCloy and 12 other miners were trapped January 2 after an explosion at Sago Mine in Tallmansville. Rescuers did not reach them for 41 hours.

McCloy suffered a collapsed lung, dehydration and carbon monoxide poisoning, which killed the 12 others.

"It has been only within the past several days that he has opened his eyes -- at first only when he was stimulated ... but now it's spontaneous," Bailes said.

"Now if you call his name, he will do it. He will track family members and they believe that he has some level of connectivity with them."

"If you put a piece of ice in his mouth he will take it and move it around with his tongue and swallow it and chew it and swallow it," he said.

"These are, we think, very important signs, perhaps, of an emergence. But we don't want to give false hope and we know that there is still a long way to go to making that recovery," Bailes said.

"Many people with severe carbon monoxide poisoning end up with severe cognitive, personality, memory, visual, motor response" problems, he said.

McCloy was moved out of the intensive care unit at the hospital about two days ago. Roberts said the miner is still undergoing dialysis for kidney damage he suffered. McCloy is breathing on his own and tolerating nutritional supplements being given to him through a feeding tube, he said.

"What we see for Randy in the next couple of weeks is slowly transitioning him to rehabilitation," Roberts said. "And it is very likely that within the next 10 days to two weeks we may be able to move him to a rehabilitation facility for the services that they can provide."

The miners who died were remembered Sunday at a Buckhannon memorial service where more than 1,800 people gathered.

McCloy's wife, Anna, attended the memorial service and was the first of the miners' families to light 13 candles of honor. West Virginia first lady Gayle Manchin handed each family a statue of a coal miner.

Mine survivor awakening from coma

[Shammu]

'Only a matter of time before terrorists use weapons of mass destruction'

By Con Coughlin

Biological weapons pose a far more serious long-term terrorist threat to the West than nuclear weapons, according to Washington's leading counter-terrorism expert.

And Henry "Hank" Crumpton, the newly-appointed head of counter-terrorism at the US State Department, believes that it is simply a matter of time before international terrorist groups such as al-Qa'eda acquire weapons of mass destruction and use them in attacks.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Crumpton, who previously spent 20 years working for the Central Intelligence Agency, warned yesterday that the "war on terror" was likely to last for decades.

"This threat has changed the way we will fight wars in the future," he said.

"We are talking about micro targets such as al-Qa'eda which, when combined with WMD, have a macro impact. I rate the probability of terror groups using WMD [to attack Western targets] as very high. It is simply a question of time.

"And it is not just the nuclear threat that bothers me. I think, if anything, the biological threat is going to grow.

"As catastrophic as a nuclear attack would be, it would be self-contained. But if you look at a worst-case scenario for a biological attack, it would be difficult to determine whether or not it was a terrorist attack, and it would be far more difficult to contain."

After the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, Mr Crumpton, who was then a senior CIA officer, played a leading role in the campaign to overthrow the Taliban and destroy al-Qa'eda's operational infrastructure in Afghanistan, which relied heavily on covert operations.

After the war, allied forces found that al-Qa'eda had been working on anthrax programmes that it intended to use on western targets.

"They had hired a very experienced biologist to work on this. They were very serious about it and there is no reason to believe they have given up on their interest."

The fear that terrorist groups might be able to acquire WMD from rogue states such as Iran or Syria explains Washington's determination to confront Iran over its nuclear programme.

"If we look at the threat posed by Iran, they have links with Hizbollah [the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim militia], which is a terrorist organisation with global reach, and they are actively pursuing WMD. And the leadership has made a conscious decision to defy international treaties. I am deeply troubled by this."

As for taking action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Mr Crumpton insisted that "every option is on the table" - including military action.

"I would not rule out anything because of the particularly grave threat that we are facing," he said.

In a distinguished career with the CIA, during which he won four of the agency's highest awards, Mr Crumpton was a key figure in its covert operations against al-Qa'eda pre-September 11.

Referred to simply as "Henry" in the 9/11 Commission Report, Mr Crumpton tried to persuade the CIA to do more in Afghanistan to hunt down Osama bin Laden before the attacks, but two key proposals to tackle al-Qa'eda were turned down.

After the September 11 attacks, in which he lost many close friends, he was initially overwhelmed by sorrow.

"But that sorrow was soon replaced by anger, anger that al-Qa'eda could do this to innocent people - and the anger lasted for more than a year."

Mr Crumpton stresses the coalition's achievements in disrupting bin Laden's network. In his view, al-Qa'eda's infrastructure has been so badly damaged that it is now struggling to control the groups that would like to support it.

"They can't communicate with their supporters unless the odd courier breaks through. They can't get access to money and things like that. We have made life very difficult for them."

But despite the initial success achieved during the Afghan war in 2001, he expressed disappointment with the support Washington had received from its European allies since hostilities ended. "The job was not finished and it is not finished now." Bin Laden, who escaped to Pakistan, was "in all probability" still alive, he said.

The regime of President Assad in Syria also seriously threatens western security, he says. "The regime continues to support terror organisations. And we know that the Baathist leadership fled to Damascus taking with them money and terrorist expertise, and we cannot rule out the fact that some of that expertise related to WMD."
__________________________________________________________________________ _______________

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2006.

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[Shammu]

Iranian President Cements Syrian Alliance

By ALBERT AJI, Associated Press Writer Thu Jan 19, 10:26 AM ET

DAMASCUS, Syria - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began a visit to Syria Thursday to consolidate an old alliance made increasingly crucial as both countries face mounting U.S. pressure and the threat of international sanctions.

Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar Assad were expected to talk about Iran's standoff with the West over its nuclear program and the threat to refer it to the U.N. Security Council, as well as Syria's own troubles over a U.N. investigation that implicated it in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister.

Bilateral economic, industrial and cultural agreements also were expected to be discussed during the two-day visit.

Syria is Iran's closest Arab ally. The two countries have had close relations since 1980 when Syria sided with Iran against
Iraq at the start of the Iran-Iraq war.

On the eve of the visit, Ahmadinejad described bilateral relations as "strong and good."

Both countries share to a certain extent similar foreign policy objectives: opposition to what they describe as U.S. attempts to dominate the Middle East, hostility toward Israel and support for Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups fighting the Jewish state.

Ahmadinejad's visit comes at a very delicate time for both nations.

Iran's insistence to proceed with its peaceful nuclear activities have raised great concern in the European Union and the United States, which have been pushing for referring the issue to the Security Council, a first step toward possible sanctions.

Syria faces international accusations of failing to fully cooperate with the U.N. investigation into last year's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Investigators have implicated Syrian officials and now want to interview Assad and his foreign minister. Damascus has denied any role in the killing.

Syria sits on the 35-nation International Atomic Energy Agency board, which meets on Feb. 2 for a vote on whether to refer Tehran to the Security Council.

Ahmadinejad on Wednesday accused the West of acting like the "lord of the world" in denying his country peaceful use of nuclear energy. But the United States and other countries are suspicious that Iran is planning on develop nuclear arms.

Iranian President Cements Syrian Alliance

[Shammu]

Bin Laden Threatens Attacks, Offers Truce

By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 15 minutes ago

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden warned in an audiotape aired Thursday that his fighters are preparing new attacks in the United States but offered the American people a "long-term truce" without specifying the conditions.

The tape, portions of which were aired on Al-Jazeera television, was the first from the al-Qaida leader in more than a year. It came only days after a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan that targeted bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, and reportedly killed four leading al-Qaida figures, possibly including al-Zawahri's son-in-law.

There was no mention of that attack in the tape, which Al-Jazeera said was recorded in January. The network initially reported it believed the tape was made in December, but later corrected itself on the air. Editors at the station said they could not comment on how they knew when it was made.

The CIA has authenticated the voice on the tape as that of bin Laden, an agency official said. The al-Qaida leader is believed to be hiding in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Beyond confirming that bin Laden remains alive, the tape could be aimed at projecting an image of strength to al-Qaida sympathizers and portray the group as still capable of launching attacks despite blows against it, analysts said.

The White House rejected the truce offer.

The United States will not let up in the war on terror despite bin Laden's latest threats, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "We do not negotiate with terrorists," McClellan said. "We put them out of business."

U.S. counterterror officials said Thursday they have seen no specific or credible intelligence to indicate an impending al-Qaida attack on the United States. The Homeland Security Department has no immediate plans to raise the national terror alert, spokesman Russ Knocke said.

In the tape, bin Laden spoke in a soft voice, as he has in previous recordings, but his tone was flatter than in the past and had an echo, as if recorded indoors. He presented his message with a combination of threats, vows his followers can fight forever and a tone of reconciliation, insisting he wants to offer a way to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He even recommended a book for Americans to read — "The Rogue State," apparently a book of the same title by American author William Blum. He said it offers the path to peace — that America must apologize to victims of the wars and promise never to "interfere" in other nations — though it was not clear if these were conditions for the truce.

Bin Laden said he decided to make a statement to the American people because he said President Bush was pushing ahead despite polls which showed "an overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq."

He said the Bush administration was lying about victories in the Iraq war. Bin Laden insisted the insurgents will eventually win the conflict, which he said is only strengthening the cause of the "mujahedeen," or holy warriors.

But he said that even if the U.S. does prevail in the war, "the nights and days will not pass without us taking vengeance like on Sept. 11, God permitting."

He warned that security measures in the West and the United States could not prevent attacks there, citing the July 7 bombings in London that killed 56 people.

"The delay in similar operations happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures," he said. "The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through (with preparations), with God's permission."

He offered a "long-term truce with fair conditions that we adhere to. ... Both sides can enjoy security and stability under this truce so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been destroyed in this war.

"There is no shame in this solution, which prevents the wasting of billions of dollars that have gone to those with influence and merchants of war in America," he said.

Bin Laden then made an oblique reference to how to prevent new attacks on the United States.

He told Americans that "if you are sincere in your desire for peace and security, we have answered you. And if Bush decides to carry on with his lies and oppression, then it would be useful for you to read the book 'The Rogue State.'"

He said the book reads in its introduction, "If I were president, I would stop the attacks on the United States: First I would give an apology to all the widows and orphans and those who were tortured. Then I would announce that American interference in the nations of the world has ended."

The Associated Press found a nearly identical passage in another book by Blum: "Freeing The World To Death: Essays on the American Empire," published in 2004. The passage could not, however, be found in the latest edition of "The Rogue State."

The tape ended the longest silence from bin Laden since the Sept. 11 attacks, a lull which had raised speculation over his fate.

The last audiotape purported to be from bin Laden was broadcast in December 2004 by Al-Jazeera. In that recording, he endorsed Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq and called for a boycott of Iraqi elections.

Previously, the longest period without a message from the al-Qaida leader was from December 2001 to November 2002. He issued numerous tapes in 2003 and 2004, calling for Muslims to attack U.S. interests and threatening attacks against the United States.

Bin Laden appeared in a video released October 2004, just ahead of U.S. presidential elections, saying the United States could avoid another Sept. 11 attack if it stops threatening the security of Muslims.

In an April 15, 2004, audiotape, he vowed revenge against the United States for Israel's assassination of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin — and at the same time offered a truce to European countries.

Since December 2004, al-Zawahri, the al-Qaida Number 2, has issued a number of video and audiotapes, including one claiming responsibility for the London attacks, which he said came after Europe rejected the terms of bin Laden's truce offer.

Al-Jazeera's editor in chief Ahmed al-Sheik would not comment on when or where the latest tape was received.

Jeremy Bennie, a terrorism analyst for Jane's Defense Weekly, said bin Laden appeared to be "playing the peacemaker, the more statesmanlike character" with his offer of a truce.

"They want to promote the image that they can launch attacks if and when it suits them," he said. "They want us to believe they are in control," he said.

The mention of rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan may be a recognition of divisions among the ranks of Islamic militants over the insurgency in Iraq by bin Laden's ally, al-Zarqawi, who has come under criticism by some radicals for attacks on Iraqi civilians.

Former White House anti-terrorism chief Richard A. Clarke said "the initial significance of this (tape) is that he's still alive."

Beyond that, he told the AP, "the only new element in his statement is that they are planning an attack soon on the United States.

"Would he say that and risk being proved wrong, if he can't pull it off in a month or so?" Clarke asked.

The truce offer may be aimed at making bin Laden "look more reasonable in Arab and Muslim eyes. He's a very sophisticated reader of world opinion and American opinion, and he obviously knows he can't affect American thinking. He's too reviled," he said.

Bin Laden Threatens Attacks, Offers Truce

My note; And violate every princable he has, I don't think so.

[Shammu]

Top court orders more hearings on abortion law
Reuters

WASHINGTON - In its first abortion ruling in more than five years, the U.S. Supreme Court said on Wednesday that a lower court should not have struck down a state law requiring parental notice before a minor's abortion because only part of it raised constitutional problems.

"We do not revisit our abortion precedents today," retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the unanimous high court in sending the case back for more hearings.

She said that invalidating the entire New Hampshire law, as a U.S. appeals court had done, was not always necessary or justified when only one part of the law failed to provide for access to an abortion in some medical emergencies.

O'Connor said lower courts in such cases, when considering whether enforcement of just the medical emergency aspect might be unconstitutional, may be able to solve that narrow legal problem without invalidating the entire law.

A federal judge and a U.S. appeals court declared the entire New Hampshire law unconstitutional because it lacked provisions for an exception involving a medical emergency. The law, adopted in 2003, has never been enforced.

Abortion has been one of the nine-member court's most contentious and divisive issues. O'Connor, a moderate conservative who has voted to uphold abortion rights, has said she will leave the court when her successor is confirmed by the Senate, which could happen later this month.

Senate Democrats fear that Judge Samuel Alito, nominated by President George W. Bush to replace O'Connor, and new Chief Justice John Roberts, another Bush appointee, will vote to allow new restrictions on abortion.

'BLUNT REMEDY'

The New Hampshire law requires that a parent be notified 48 hours before a daughter under age 18 has an abortion. It includes an alternative procedure to seek a judge's approval to end the pregnancy. It provides an exception when the minor's life is in danger, but not for non-life-threatening medical emergencies.

"Only a few applications of New Hampshire's parental notification statute would present a constitutional problem," O'Connor said in the 10-page opinion.

O'Connor said the lower courts in the New Hampshire case adopted the most blunt remedy possibly. She said an injunction could be entered barring enforcement of the law's unconstitutional applications.

O'Connor said New Hampshire's has conceded that under Supreme Court precedent it would be unconstitutional to apply the law in a manner that subjects minors to significant health risks.

Although the court disposed of the New Hampshire law on narrow grounds, the justices may soon address another abortion controversy.

The Bush administration has pending before the high court an appeal urging the justices to uphold a federal law that bans certain abortion procedures.

At issue is a U.S. appeals court ruling that declared the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 unconstitutional because it lacks an exception to protect the health of a pregnant woman.

Top court orders more hearings on abortion law

[Shammu]

Pastor Calls for Boycott of Firms Over Gay-Rights Bill

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A pastor on Monday called for a national boycott of Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and other companies that support a gay civil rights bill, saying the corporations have underestimated the power of religious consumers.

The Rev. Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Bible Church in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, said he would formally issue the boycott Thursday on the conservative radio show Focus on the Family.

"We're tired of sitting around thinking that morals can be ignored in our country," he said. "This is not a threat, this is a promise. Check out the past presidential election. We made the moral issue the No. 1 issue."

Last week, several companies, including Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett Packard Co., Microsoft Corp., Boeing Co., and Nike Inc. signed a letter urging passage of the measure, which would add "sexual orientation" to a Washington state law that already bans discrimination in housing, employment and insurance based on race, gender, age, disability, religion, marital status and other factors.

Microsoft is restoring its support for the proposal a year after the company was denounced for quietly dropping its endorsement.

Hutcherson, who has organized anti-gay-marriage rallies in Seattle and Washington, D.C., says he pressured Microsoft into dropping its support for the bill last year by threatening a boycott.

The company, which was criticized by gay activists across the country, insisted it took a neutral stance to focus on other issues but later said it would support the measure in the future.

Asked about the boycott Monday, Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos said the company would not change its position. He declined to comment further.

Boeing spokesman Peter Conte said the company had no plans to withdraw its support for the legislation.

"The position that we have taken is one that we do feel strongly about," he said. "It is entirely consistent with our own internal practices and policies."

Other companies did not return phone calls on Monday.

The bill has been introduced — and rejected — annually for nearly 30 years in the Legislature.

The state House last year passed the bill 61-37. But it lost by one vote in the Senate. The measure is believed to have a better chance of passage this year because a Republican senator has announced he would switch his vote to yes.

Pastor Calls for Boycott of Firms Over Gay-Rights Bill

[Shammu]

Vatican gives nod to Darwin, not Design
January 19, 2006

The official Vatican newspaper has published an article praising as "correct" a recent U.S. court decision that intelligent design is not science.

"If the model proposed by Darwin is not considered sufficient, one should search for another," Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, wrote in the Jan. 16-17 edition of L'Osservatore Romano, The New York Times reported Thursday.

"But it is not correct from a methodological point of view to stray from the field of science while pretending to do science," he wrote, calling intelligent design unscientific. "It only creates confusion between the scientific plane and those that are philosophical or religious."

Advocates for teaching evolution hailed the article. "He is emphasizing that there is no need to see a contradiction between Catholic teachings and evolution," Dr. Francisco Ayala, professor of biology at the University of California-Irvine and a former Dominican priest told the Times. "Good for him."

L'Osservatore is the official newspaper of the Vatican and presents the Vatican's views, the Times noted. Not all articles represent official church policy, but it would not be expected to present a view that dissents deeply from church policy.

Vatican gives nod to Darwin, not Design

[Soldier4Christ]

They still don't get it. Creation according to the Bible is the only true Science and it has been proven over and over again by many scientists. It is the blind leading the blind in anything else.

[Shammu]

They still don't get it. Creation according to the Bible is the only true Science and it has been proven over and over again by many scientists. It is the blind leading the blind in anything else.

Let me add to that. The Vatican officals are showing there true colors.

[Shammu]

Egyptian church clash injures 12
At least 12 people were injured in clashes in Upper Egypt when a group of Muslims attempted to stop Christians converting a house into a church.

Security officials said the Muslims set fire to building materials for the building in Odaysat, near Luxor.

Several members of both communities were reported injured in the subsequent clashes, as well as two policemen.

It is the latest in a series of violent sectarian incidents in Egypt in the past few months.

A security source quoted by Reuters said the Christians did not have official permission to build the church.

Police arrested 10 young men and the owners of the house, reports say.

Correspondents say curbs on building churches have been one of the main grievances among Copts, although these restrictions have been eased recently by presidential decree.

The Coptic Christian community is believed to make up 10% percent of Egypt's population of about 70 million.

Egyptian church clash injures 12

[Shammu]

Bin Laden breaks silence and warns US of new attacks
By Anton La Guardia and Alec Russell in Washington
(Filed: 20/01/2006)

Osama bin Laden broke his 13-month silence yesterday when a new audio tape gave warning of impending attacks on the US, but offered the Americans a "long-term truce" if they stopped fighting "Muslims on Muslim land".

Al-Jazeera, which broadcast the poor quality recording, said it appeared to have been made in December.
    
Last night the CIA said the tape was genuine, confirming that it was the first sign of life from the leader of the al-Qa'eda terrorist network since an audio recording in December 2004.

The voice sounded weak. There has been growing speculation about the fate of bin Laden, who has been rumoured to be ill or dead for months.

The release of the recording may be an attempt by al-Qa'eda to show that it has not been weakened by last week's air strike on a remote Pakistani village. Pakistani officials said four or five senior al-Qa'eda figures were killed alongside 13 villagers.

Claiming victory in Iraq and Afghanistan, bin Laden boasted of the suicide bombings in Madrid and London and said America would not be spared. "The delay in similar operations happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures.

"The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through [with preparations], with God willing."

Bin Laden said he was ready to offer the US a "truce" in response to opinion polls showing that Americans were weary of the war in Iraq.

"The war is still raging. The operations in Afghanistan are increasing all the time on our side. The Pentagon says the number if your dead and injured is rising, and there are your huge financial loses."

He tried to horrify Americans by describing "the psychological state of a soldier who must collect the body parts of colleagues who have stepped on landmines that have torn them apart".

In Washington, officials said that the security alert levels would not be changed as a result of the broadcast.

The White House insisted last night that the tape was a sign of al-Qa'eda's desperation, not its vitality.

"Clearly the al-Qa'eda leaders and other terrorists are on the run, they're under a lot of pressure. We do not negotiate with terrorists, we put them out of business," said Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman.

Previous video-tapes of bin Laden, with their reminder of the September 11 attacks, have tended to help President George W Bush. The al-Qa'eda's last apparent appeal to Americans on the eve of the 2004 election was widely deemed to have won votes for Mr Bush.

But 15 months later the national mood has changed amid concern over the casualties in Iraq and scepticism over Mr Bush's strategy there. The White House wasted no time yesterday in seeking to blunt its critics who suggest that the failure to find bin Laden undercuts any achievements in the last four years against terrorism.

Vice President Dick Cheney said the presence of bin Laden was evidence of an ever-present danger. "It seems more than obvious to say that our nation is at risk of attack." He condemned the "mindset" of the administration's opponents in Washington who, he suggested, had forgotten the lessons of September 11.

"Obviously no one can guarantee that we won't be hit again," he said. "Our nation has been protected by more than luck. It is no accident that we haven't been hit for more than four years."

Bin Laden breaks silence and warns US of new attacks

[Shammu]

France's Chirac Issues Nuclear Warning

Thursday, January 19, 2006

BERLIN  — President Jacques Chirac warned Thursday that France could respond with nuclear weapons against any state-sponsored terrorist attack, broadening the terms of French deterrence to adapt to new threats.

The warning came as France works with other Western nations to ensure that Iran does not become a nuclear power, but officials and experts said Chirac's comments were not aimed specifically at Iran.

"Nuclear deterrence ... is not aimed at dissuading fanatic terrorists," Chirac said in a speech delivered at a nuclear submarine base in western France.

"Leaders of states who would use terrorist means against us, just like anyone who would envisage using, in one way or another, arms of mass destruction, must understand that they would expose themselves to a firm and fitting response from us," he said. "This response could be conventional. It could also be of another nature."

France's nuclear arsenal is considered a purely dissuasive means to protect the nation's vital interests and is not intended for regular combat.

However, in his speech, Chirac addressed new threats in the post-Cold War world, namely from regional powers. He did not explain what he meant by regional powers. But officials close to the president and experts said he was not singling out Iran, which alarmed Western nations last week by restarting nuclear activity after a 2 1/2-year freeze.

"In numerous countries, radical ideas are spreading, advocating a confrontation of civilizations," he said, adding "odious attacks" could escalate to "other yet more serious forms involving states."

He said nuclear warheads have been reduced on some missiles on France's four nuclear-armed submarines with the aim of targeting specific power centers rather than risk wholesale destruction in an enemy country.

"Against a regional power, our choice is not between inaction and destruction," Chirac said. "The flexibility and reactiveness of our strategic forces allow us to respond directly on the centers of power."

Chirac was speaking at a western base with the 110-strong crew manning The Vigilant — one of the four nuclear-armed vessels. Submarines carry 85 percent of French nuclear warheads.

France's Chirac Issues Nuclear Warning

[Shammu]

Purported Tape of Al-Zawahri Posted on Web

By OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 8 minutes ago

CAIRO, Egypt - An audiotape from al-Qaida's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, was posted Friday on an Islamic Web site, but U.S. officials said the recording does not appear to have been made recently and may even date back years.

In the audiotape, al-Zawahri read a poem praising "martyrs of holy war" in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

The tape made no mention of a Jan. 13 U.S. airstrike in Pakistan that was targeting al-Zawahri and killed four al-Qaida leaders.

The CIA verified the voice as al-Zawahri following a technical analysis, an agency official said.

It was unclear when the recording was made, although the poem referred to Afghanistan martyrs in the period during Northern Alliance action against the Taliban that followed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the CIA official said.

The officials at two U.S. counterterror agencies who said the tape appeared old spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss the matter on the record.

Al-Zawahri was not believed to have been among those killed in the Jan. 13 strike. If the tape is new and authentic, it would be al-Zawahri's first statement since the attack.

The 17-minute tape was posted on an Islamic militant Web forum a day after al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden released his first audiotape in more than a year, threatening new attacks in the United States and offering Americans a conditional truce.

The purported al-Zawahri tape made no statement, and instead the voice on it was heard reading a long poem honoring "martyrs of jihad," or holy war.

He dedicated the poem to "all Muslim brothers everywhere, to the mujahedeen (holy warrior) brothers in Islam's fortified borderlines against the Zionist-Crusader campaign in Palestine and Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya."

He said the poem had reminded him of colleagues who died in the jihadist cause, mentioning several by name — but not including any of the figures believed killed in the Pakistan strike.

The Web forum where the tape was posted and other similar ones often carry statements from al-Qaida and other militant groups, but participants also often post old recordings.

The Jan. 13 airstrike hit a building in the Pakistani village of Damadola, where Pakistani authorities suspect al-Qaida operatives were gathered to plan attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thirteen villagers were killed. Officials believe at least four foreign militants also may have died, including a son-in-law of al-Zawahri.

Purported Tape of Al-Zawahri Posted on Web