To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Violence against Jews called on rise
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2000 13:57:59 -0000
Violence against Jews called on rise
By Charles A. Radin, Globe Staff, 12/6/2000
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/341/nation/Violence_against_Jews_cal
led_on_rise+.shtml
The Palestinian-Israeli battles that have convulsed the Middle East
since late September have sparked the most intense wave of assaults
on Jews and Jewish institutions worldwide since World War II, Jewish
leaders say.
In France, more than 50 synagogues have been attacked, some more than
once, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, one of several
organizations monitoring the events. Most assaults were firebombings,
but there also have been numerous stonings, targeting students and
worshipers as well as buildings.
In Germany and Britain, synagogues have been stoned and others hit
with Molotov cocktails. The Al Mujahiroun Muslim group widely
distributed leaflets and posters in London, Manchester, and
Birmingham declaring that ''the final hour'' for establishment of
God's kingdom on earth ''will not come until the Muslims kill the
Jews.''
In Australia, 90 incidents have been reported, including assaults on
homes of rabbis and an arson attack in which sacred scrolls were
desecrated and prayer shawls tied together and used as a wick to
ignite gasoline in the synagogue, said Shimon Samuels, Wiesenthal's
director of international affairs.
Fewer incidents have occurred in the United States and Canada, but
Molotov cocktails have been thrown or fires set in more than a dozen
North American cities. Anti-Jewish sentiment also is on the rise in
Russia, but it is unclear whether that is directly connected to the
upheaval in the Middle East.
Elsewhere, there is no doubt. Stone-throwers, graffiti-scrawlers, and
attackers of individual Jews have made clear they believe any Jew is
a fair target of retribution for Israel's attempts to suppress
Palestinian rioters and demonstrators.
''It's all over Europe - in France, in Germany, in England, and it is
here too,'' said Elie Wiesel, university professor at Boston
University and a leading author of books on Jewish history and
culture. ''Especially in Europe, they don't speak of the Israelis,
they speak of the Jews.''
Since World War II, outbreaks of anti-Jewish violence have occurred
previously, during oil crises and the first Palestinian uprising in
the 1980s, but ''it is more violent, more concrete, more concentrated
now,'' Wiesel said. ''On the other hand, in the 1980s Jews were
killed. So far, no one is killed'' in the current outbreak.
Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, said
the outbreaks ''underscore the anti-Jewish, rather than anti-Israeli,
character of the violence being directed by Palestinian figures in
the Middle East.''
Steinberg said this is particularly disturbing to Jews, in Israel and
elsewhere, who have advocated a political solution to the Mideast
dispute. ''When we seemed so close to a peaceful resolution,'' he
said, ''it seemed incomprehensible that the political dispute would
be overlaid with this racist dimension.''
Rabbi Marvin Hier, head of the Wiesenthal Center, criticized
Palestinian leaders for complaining that the Israeli Army is firing
on civilians while ''Jewish schools, community centers, and
synagogues are under attack all over the world'' by Palestinians and
their supporters.
''These are institutions far removed from any battle scene, and whose
people are not directly connected to the Israeli Army,'' he said.
Many Muslims condemn the violence against Jews and Jewish
institutions but say it is understandable.
''We don't approve of this,'' said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the
Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. ''We don't
like for a synagogue to be attacked with a firebomb any more than a
mosque. But whenever you have this level of conflict and violence, it
is not just going to be just localized.''
Hooper agreed the conflict is now far more focused on religion than
in the past, but unlike Jewish leaders who said considerations of
race and religion were an overlay on a basically political situation,
he felt religion is the core issue.
''Muslims are realizing they are fighting for al-Aqsa'' and
other ''holy sites in Jerusalem,'' he said, ''and Muslims worldwide
are concerned.''
Many Jewish leaders said they are concerned about the apparent
indifference of most countries to the attacks on Jews and synagogues
at the same time that their representatives in the United Nations are
supporting resolutions sharply critical of Israel's response to
Palestinian protests.
Samuels, the Wiesenthal center's director of international affairs,
said that in a meeting Monday with top Argentinian officials, he
objected to their abstaining from voting on a recent UN resolution
that accused Israel of war crimes.
''The response I got was that Argentina was trapped by the
Europeans,'' he said. ''France basically told them it would prefer a
more extreme resolution against Israel, with Latin America
abstaining, than a more moderate resolution with Latin American
backing.''
France is the epicenter of the recent violence against Jews and their
institutions. Nearly 80 of the 200 serious incidents recorded by Tel
Aviv University's Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism and Racism
have occurred there.
Dina Porat, the head of the institute, said a series of events,
starting with President Jacques Chirac's response to visits by
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Barak to Paris at the beginning of the Palestinian uprising, signaled
to Muslims and anti-Jewish right-wingers that France sided with the
Palestinians. Chirac was widely perceived to have welcomed Arafat
warmly and to have been cold toward Barak.
Porat said anti-Jewish elements in France also were encouraged by the
slowness of French leaders to denounce attacks on synagogues and the
failure of French police to protect Jewish sites and investigate
incidents vigorously.
Francois Delattre, spokesman for the French Embassy in Washington,
rejected Porat's analysis yesterday, saying that ''the French
authorities ... have condemned the violence against the Jewish
community in the strongest terms. ... The Interior and Justice
ministries have taken the necessary measures to ensure that Jewish
religious buildings are protected and the perpetrators of the attacks
brought to justice.''
A French diplomatic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said
the proliferation of incidents in his country was not the product of
resurgent anti-Semitism in France, but reflected the fact that France
now has a Muslim population of 4 million and more than 600,000 Jews,
the third largest Jewish population in the world.
''This violence,'' he said, ''is more a reflection of the current
tensions in the Middle East, transported to France.''
This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 12/6/2000.
=A9 Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.
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Subject: [bprlist] Australia: Conference hears calls for banning of circumcision
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2000 14:00:52 -0000
Conference hears calls for banning of circumcision
Thursday December 7, 2:21 PM
http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/0012/07/A61134-2000Dec7.html
Male circumcision was a criminal sexual assault that should be banned
in Australia in the same way as female genital mutilation, an
international conference at Sydney University heard today.
A Queensland psychology professor told the Sixth International
Symposium on Genital Integrity that the surgical removal of the
foreskin, performed on 12 per cent of Australian infant boys today,
could result in a range of psychological and sexual problems in
adulthood, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Studies now demonstrate quite clearly that circumcision has long-
term adverse consequences, not only physically but also sexually and
psychologically," Professor Greg Boyle, of Bond University, said
after addressing the conference.
"Post-traumatic stress disorder does occur in a certain percentage of
adult men who come to the realisation that they have suffered
irreparable damage sexually as a result of circumcision during
infancy.
"To amputate a highly erogenous sexual tissue such as the foreskin is
quite clearly a criminal sexual assault."
Prof Boyle said circumcision was a violation of a child's human
rights and should be considered an offence to be prosecuted through
the courts.
He said a precedent had been set by a 1992 High Court ruling that
parents could not provide legal consent for an irreversible, non-
therapeutic medical procedure performed on an unconsenting minor.
Prof Boyle said he believed Australia was moving down the path of
criminalising circumcision, with an increasing tide of litigation
against doctors.
In an out-of-court settlement in Perth last December, a 24-year-old
man received $360,000 from a doctor who circumcised him as an infant,
he said.
Prof Boyle said it was a violation of Australia's anti-discrimination
laws to ban female genital mutilation while failing to give boys the
same protection.
Australian historian Robert Darby said circumcision began in
Australia during the 1890s, when it was seen as a cure for a number
of ills, including masturbation, convulsions and diarrhoea. It became
almost universal during the 1920s.
However the popularity of the procedure appears to be on the wane,
according to Medicare figures, Prof Boyle said.
He said the figures showed almost 95 per cent of Australian baby boys
were circumcised during the 1950s and '60s, compared with 12 per cent
today.
The conference will hear tomorrow about progress made by the
federally funded education program on female genital mutilation in
Australia.
Six NSW communities, from Egypt, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone,
Indonesia and the Sudan, were being targeted as at risk of female
genital mutilation, the program's Juliana Nkrumah said today.
Female genital mutilation is illegal in Australia under laws
introduced in 1995.
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Goddess in fresco evokes cries of paganism
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2000 14:04:18 -0000
Goddess in fresco evokes cries of paganism
Ben Long's art upsets hometown of Statesville
By JIM WRINN
http://www.charlotte.com/1205fresco.htm
STATESVILLE -- A group of ministers is objecting to artist Ben Long's
new fresco in the Statesville Civic Center, saying its central figure
of a mythological three-headed goddess promotes paganism.
The ministers say Long's work-in-progress, which the public is
invited to watch through its completion, should be redone with scenes
of Iredell County - or canceled. Fifteen ministers recently shared
their concerns about the work depicting Hecate, goddess of the
crossroads, with Mayor John Marshall.
"It is not a depiction of the characteristics of Statesville," said
the Rev. Ron Harrison, director of the South Yadkin Baptist
Association, speaking as a citizen. "I just don't believe this is who
we are.
"We could not have a picture of Christ in there, I know," he
said. "But Hecate is a religious figure herself. She's well known as
a leader of witches." Harrison plans to speak out about the fresco
during a city council meeting later this month.
Statesville's Mayor Marshall feels differently: "I don't see in it
what they see in it. Is it representative of Statesville? No. Is it
the richness of the crossroads that is depicted? Yes."
Statesville is at the intersection of Interstates 77 and 40, and it
was Marshall's suggestion that "crossroads" be the theme of the
fresco. The work, which is 21 feet high and 19 feet wide, depicts a
goddess serving as a guide to those at the crossroads, he said. "It
says, `choose wisely,'" Marshall said.
Long, a Statesville native who has become nationally known for works
that include paintings at Charlotte's Bank of America Corporate
Center and St. Peter Catholic Church, said the giant fresco has been
misinterpreted.
"I would hope they would look at the work as a whole," Long said
Monday night, as he continued painting from scaffolding. "She was one
of the main figures in Greek mythology and very symbolic of the
crossroads."
The ministers said Hecate is more associated with the underworld than
a Piedmont town of 22,000 known for its conservative values and large
number of churches.
The fresco was created with too little public input, said the Rev.
Pete Varvaris, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.
"For it to have such a prominent place in the city, it should be more
representative of who we are," he said. "We're going to have
something divisive in a building that should unify us."
He said the city's decision on the fresco may affect his church's use
of the civic center.
Marshall, standing near the scaffolding where workers Monday applied
plaster to the work before Long continued, said he was surprised at
the negative reaction.
Among the many scenes depicted are people shown working, disagreeing
and falling in love. "Statesville is a far richer place for this
work," Marshall said. "This is a world-class piece of art."
Statesville resident Marvin Norman was one of a half dozen adults and
children watching the work Monday night. "I don't see it," he said,
referring to the concerns over paganism. "I see some beautiful art."
At least $150,000 in donations and pledges has been raised as part of
a $250,000 campaign to help pay for the fresco. Statesville
businessman Anderson Sherrill, who is co-chairman of the campaign,
said having a mythological figure in a work of art is not the same as
worshiping an idol.
"It is well thought out, not inappropriate, and very well done," he
said. "I think it is a great piece of art that will only add to our
community."
Long, who is being paid $325,000, taped an encyclopedia definition of
the goddess to the scaffolding to help explain Hecate to the many
people who've come to see the fresco since a drawing was unveiled
last month. Hecate also was a guardian of children and a patron of
marriage, before becoming associated with the underworld.
An art expert said debate over the work may have already fulfilled
its mission: to provoke conversation and debate.
"That is what public art is supposed to do," said Charles Joyner,
chairman of the art and design department at N.C. State University.
Joyner said Statesville should continue discussions in a series of
public forums that could explore the relationship between history,
the church and public art.
Marshall said the city is committed to completing the fresco over the
next few weeks. It is filled with details only visible through
careful study. Marshall pointed to a solitary figure standing on a
distant ridge and gazing into the a valley. Nearby, he said, the
blind are leading the blind.
"It is art, and it is seen here and here," he said, pointing to his
head and his heart.
----------
Staff writers Joe Marusak and Shirley Hunter Moore contributed to
this article.
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] THE NOTORIOUS QUOTE OF THE DAY
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2000 14:20:40 -0000
From About.com's Urban Legends and Folklore
http://urbanlegends.about.com/science/urbanlegends/library/blgore.htm
THE NOTORIOUS QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Refusing to accept the earth as our sacred mother, these Christians
have become a dangerous threat to the survival of humanity. They are
the blight on the environment and to believe in Bible prophecy is
unforgivable."
--VP Al Gore, in his book
EARTH IN BALANCE, p.342
Comments: The only reason this quotation is "notorious" is that it
was made up. The words are not Al Gore's, nor, so far as I can tell,
do they express his sentiments. There's no such statement to be found
in Gore's 1992 book, Earth in the Balance.
The following ungrammatical variant is also circulating:
For Gore and other environmentalists, the Judeo-Christain faith is
the source of ecological evil, from oil spills to global warming. He
said, "Ignorant Christians who are afraid to open their minds to
teachings first offered outside their own system of belief by
refusing to accept that the earth is our sacred mother, Christians
have become a dangerous threat to the survival of humanity...blights
on the environment."
Again, there's no evidence in Earth in the Balance or anywhere else
that Al Gore actually said or wrote these words. It's pure political
disinformation.
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Subject: [bprlist] Electrocuted Kazakh man shocks by rising from dead
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:21:40 -0500
12/06/2000 11:29:00 ET
Electrocuted Kazakh man shocks by rising from dead
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/001206/80/arb2q.html
ALMATY (Reuters) - A Kazakh man who was electrocuted and buried
shocked his friends and family by turning up for his own funeral
feast. The man was wrapped in a cloth shroud according to Muslim
tradition and buried in a shallow grave after apparently dying while
trying to steal power cables in eastern Kazakhstan, local media
reported on Wednesday.
But two days later he regained consciousness and rose naked from the
ground, Express K daily said. The paper said he had difficulty
flagging down a vehicle to take him home.
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Religion Today (12/07/00) News item
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:21:40 -0500
------- Forwarded message follows -------
C U R R E N T N E W S S U M M A R Y
by the Editors of ReligionToday
December 7, 2000
[..edited..]
Duke has joined Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, and Emory in permitting same-
sex "marriages" in its chapel. The North Carolina university announced its
decision to allow its famous Gothic chapel (see link #2 below) to be used for
the services based on a recommendation from faculty, staff, students, and
trustees.
...Duke is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, which prohibits same-
sex ceremonies, but the chapel is nondenominational. The ceremonies will be
limited to students, staff, alumni, and faculty. Unitarians, United Church of
Christ members, and some Baptists have said they want to conduct same-sex
ceremonies there.
...Gay and lesbian groups called the decision a bold step forward. Members of
the Duke Conservative Union said Duke is undermining the sacred institution
of marriage. Marion Edwards, United Methodist bishop of the North Carolina
Conference, acknowledged "the sacred worth" of homosexuals, but said that
"the clear affirmation of Scripture" is that marriage is between one man and
one woman.
...Meanwhile, a Methodist minister says he has found a way around the
church's ban on same-sex marriages. Homosexual and heterosexual couples at
Broadway United Methodist Church in Chicago exchange vows at a ceremony
outside the church, then return to the church to celebrate their unions at
another service, pastor Gregory Dell told The Associated Press (see link #3
below). Bishop C. Joseph Sprague told the news service that the ceremony
and service appear to satisfy church law.
-----------
RELATED LINKS:
2: http://www.chapel.duke.edu/
3: http://www.ap.org/
-----------
News from ReligionToday is Copyrighted by Crosswalk.com.
Content may be reproduced provided proper credit is
given to religiontoday.crosswalk.com. Please go to
http://www.crosswalk.com/info/copyright to be sure you
meet all legal requirements.
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Vatican: Nonbelievers have role in God's plan
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:22:16 -0500
NONBELIEVERS HAVE ROLE IN GOD'S PLAN, POPE SAYS
Urges Collaboration to Build the Kingdom of God
VATICAN CITY, DEC. 6, 2000 (ZENIT.org).- Every person is called to
"collaborate" with the coming of the Kingdom of God, John Paul II said, in
an urgent appeal for cooperation between believers and nonbelievers.
In today's general audience address, the Pope said: "All the righteous on
earth, even those who do not know Christ and his Church and who, under the
influence of grace, seek God with a sincere heart, are ... called to build
the Kingdom of God, cooperating with the Lord who is the first and
decisive architect."
Thus, before a crowd of 30,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square,
the Pontiff continued his catechetical talks on the relations of the
faithful with non-Catholics. Today he focused on the collaboration with
nonbelievers in contemporary society.
Above all, the Pope explained the meaning of the expression "Kingdom of
God," which reveals man's mission in the world in light of the Gospel.
"The Kingdom is the effective but mysterious action that God carries out
in the universe and in the tangle of human events," he said. "He conquers
the resistance of evil with patience, not with overbearing force or
clamor. ... Fears, anxieties, worries dissolve, because the Kingdom of God
is in our midst in the person of Christ."
"However," Peter's successor added, "man is not an inert witness of God's
entry into history. Jesus invites us to seek actively the Kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and to make this quest our principal concern."
"Therefore, the human person is called to cooperate with his hands, his
mind, and his heart in the coming of the Kingdom of God in the world. This
is especially true of those who are called to the apostolate and who are,
as Paul says, 'co-workers for the kingdom of God,' but it is also true of
every human person."
And how can one collaborate with the coming of the Kingdom of God? The
Pope suggested the beatitudes as the answer. The collaborators of the
Kingdom are those who live "as 'poor in spirit,'" he said, "detached from
material goods, in order to raise the last of the earth from the dust of
their humiliation."
Collaborators of the Kingdom are those "who lovingly endure the sufferings
of life; ... the pure of heart ... who choose the way of righteousness,
namely, of union with the will of God," the Pope said.
Therefore, he concluded, the collaborators of the Kingdom are the ones who
entrust themselves in God's hands, "as inexperienced children who find
security only in their Father. Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God
like a child ... shall not enter it." ZE00120606
ZENIT, December 6, 2000 - DAILY DISPATCH - The World Seen From Rome
http://www.zenit.org/
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Subject: [bprlist] BreakingNews-Israel 1,2,3,4 (12/7/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:22:16 -0500
BreakingNews-Israel
BNI =96 December 7, 2000 =96 YeshaBB@netvision.net.il
1. Wednesday night shooting attacks=09
2. More attacks against ambulances=09
3. Vehicle seriously damaged in well planned stoning attack=09
4. IDF reports increase in manpower=09
5. Female pedestrian killed in Jordan Valley MVA=09
6. Afula emergency preparedness drill continues in Afula=09
7. Maalot mother stabbed to death by her husband=09
1. Wednesday night shooting attacks
(BNI-DEC.7) There were shooting attacks on Wednesday night aimed at the
communities of P=92sagot (Samaria), the industrial area of Neve Dekalim
(Gaza) and near Bet El (Samaria). There were no reports of injuries.
The shooting at Neve Dekalim was heavy and soldiers used heavy
machineguns
and anti-tank rockets in the gun battle.
++++
2. More attacks against ambulances
(BNI-DEC.7) An ambulance transporting a woman in labor from the
community
of Betar Elite was bombarded with stones from the Arab village of Hussan.
Magen David Adom officials earlier in the week reported that 47 ambulances
were damaged or totally destroyed since the start of the PA orchestrated
Al Aqsa Intifada on September 29, 2000.
There were no injuries in the latest attack. The ambulance was damaged.
The EMS crew explained they did their utmost to calm the mother-to-be who
became quite agitated when hearing the explosions of the stones striking
the vehicle.
++++
3. Vehicle seriously damaged in well planned stoning attack
(BNI-DEC.7) An Israeli motorist was attacked by stone-throwers near the
village of Uga, north of Jericho. Assailants blocked the road and then
when the motorist was forced to slow down, bombarded the car with rocks,
causing serious damage. Fortunately, there were no injuries.
++++
4. IDF reports increase in manpower
(BNI-DEC.7) Official IDF sources report that recent assessments of the
intelligence community indicate all Yesha communities are under the threat
of shooting attacks and as such, the number of soldiers being assigned to
Yesha communities is being increased almost threefold, with most of the
soldiers being combat certified.
In addition, the military is making appropriate adjustments in
fortification of its bases that are deemed =91targets=92, including its
Central Command Headquarters located adjacent to Jerusalem most northern
Jewish neighborhood of Neve Yaakov.
++++
5. Female pedestrian killed in Jordan Valley MVA
(BNI-DEC.7) A female pedestrian was killed in a motor vehicle accident in
the Jordan Valley area. A paramedic ambulance responded to the scene. The
physician on board pronounced the victim dead on the scene.
A passing vehicle struck the victim as she was crossing the street.
++++
6. Afula emergency preparedness drill continues in Afula
(BNI-DEC.7) Military personnel from the Home Front Command will be
participating in a preparedness exercise in Afula on Thursday along with
police, firefighters, EMS, and other first-responder and emergency
personnel. Persons in the area are advised the activity in the area is
only a drill.
++++
7. Maalot mother stabbed to death by her husband
(BNI-DEC.7) A 23-year-old Maalot mother of two, who was in her eighth
month of pregnancy, was stabbed to death by her husband during an
argument
at about midnight. The husband is in custody and will be brought before a
remand hearing in Acre on Thursday morning. Police report the young victim
was stabbed to death and bludgeoned with a hammer.
The victim leaves 3=BD and 2=BD-year-old children. Police reported on Thurs
day
morning there is no existing record of domestic violence complaints from
the home.
------------------
1. Master terrorist =91escapes=92 from PA prison=09
2. No injuries in morning shooting attack in Jerusalem=09
1. Master terrorist =91escapes=92 from PA prison
(BNI-DEC.7) Master terrorist Mohammad Deif, who leads Israel=92s most
wanted
list, reportedly escaped from a PLO Authority (PA) prison. Reports from
the PA indicate PA prison officials assisted the escape.
PA officials deny having permitted him to escape. The PA reportedly issued
an order to apprehend Deif dead or alive.
++++
2. No injuries in morning shooting attack in Jerusalem
(BNI-DEC.7) Two bullets struck the car of an Israeli motorist on Thursday
morning who was traveling in the northern Atarot area of the capital,
adjacent to the Atarot Airport. There were no reports of injuries.
-----------------
1. More on Jerusalem shooting attack=09
2. Hamas credits Dahlan with Deif escape=09
3. Hermon ski resort opens for the season=09
1. More on Jerusalem shooting attack
(BNI-DEC.7) Fifteen shots were fired at the Israeli car traveling in
northern Jerusalem on Thursday morning. Two of the shots struck the car.
As reported earlier, no injuries. The attack occurred near the Atarot
Airport.
++++
2. Hamas credits Dahlan with Deif escape
(BNI-DEC.7) The website of the Hamas terrorist organization stated that PA
Security Chief Mohammed Deif permitted the =91escape=92 of master Izzadin
el-Kassim terrorist Mohammad Deif. PA officials repeated denials that the
escape was PA assisted and reported Yassir Arafat ordered the
apprehension
of Deif dead or alive.
++++
3. Hermon ski resort opens for the season
(BNI-DEC.7) The IDF on Thursday permitted the opening of the Mount
Hermon
ski resort on Thursday. The move comes following recent statements that
the resort would most likely remain closed for the 2001 winter season due
to intelligence and security warnings in the north.
Resort operators are optimistic that Israelis will not hesitate visiting
the ski center.
---------------
1. Shooting attack near Shavei Shomron =96 Three injured
(BNI-DEC.7- 3:00pm) A shooting attack occurred a short time ago in
northern Samaria near Shavei Shomron. The attack took place on the
Trans-Samaria Highway. Preliminary reports indicate three persons injured
from gunfire, with at least one in serious condition.
Emergency medical personnel and other first responders are on the scene.
BNI will provide additional details as they are made available.
++++
News items published by BNI (BreakingNews-Israel) may be distributed,
copied, posted providing the websites and other forums carrying the
stories display the footer below in plain view on the same page with the
news.
++++
To subscribe to the BreakingNews-Israel list, send a blank email message
to 44828-subscribe@listbot.com
To contact the list owner, send and email to BNI1@netvision.net.il
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Daily World Affairs Report items (12/6/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:22:16 -0500
POLISH MAN ACCUSED OF "WAR CRIMES" AGAINST THE
GERMANS
The trial of a 78-year-old Pole accused of killing thousands of German
civilians in the aftermath of WW2 is set to become the first of a series of
court cases in which Germans are seen as the victims instead of the
perpetrators of Nazi-related crimes. The trial, scheduled to begin early ne
xt
year in the Polish city of Opole, has created a furore over a part of Polan
d's
recent history which it would like to ignore.
Czeslaw Geborski, the accused, is said to have systematically raped,
tortured and murdered German civilians while serving as commandant at
the Lambinowice concentration camp in Silesia, where Germans living in
the region were interned after the war. Frantiszek Lewandowski, one of the
prosecutors in the case, said: "The main charge we are bringing against him
is that he ordered a building in the camp to be burned down, killing 48
people. As people tried to escape the flames, he personally shot them or
had them flung back inside."
The concentration camp was initially built by the Nazis to house Allied
PoWs. For most Poles it is inextricably associated with wartime atrocities
committed by the Germans. The trial is set to reverse those roles and
portray a Pole as the villain, something simply unacceptable to many who
lived through the German occupation and the death of an estimated3mn
civilian Polish Jews and 3mn non-Jewish Poles through bombings and in
concentration camps.
A museum at the Lambinowice concentration camp commemorates the
many Poles and Allied PoWs who died there at the hands of the Nazis, but
makes scant mention of the thousands of Germans who subsequently
suffered the same fate. In the decades following the Allied victory, the
communists erased such events from their history, and young Poles today
know little or nothing of the acts of retribution meted out to German
civilians in Silesia and the former East Prussia.
Dr Maruska Svasek, a Central European specialist at Queen's University,
Belfast, said: "Hundreds of thousands of German civilians across Central
Europe were raped, tortured, killed, or died due to terrible conditions aft
er
the war, but communist historiography [and US/UK propaganda!] was
simply anti-Nazi and pro-communist, and disregarded the truth about
postwar anti-German crimes."
Werner Scholz, a German Silesian who was sent to the camp aged only 8,
along with his grandmother and sister, neither of whom survived, believes
real reconciliation can never take place between Germans and their Central
European neighbours until the "criminals" are brought to justice.
"Everywhere you looked in the camp there were people dead or dying. If a
person wasn't beaten to death, then he simply died of typhus, dysentery or
starvation. A cold would be enough to finish him off. These were crimes,
like Nazi crimes, and they should be treated in the same way and
perpetrators brought to justice."
The recollections of German camp survivors bear witness to the harshness
of the camp regime. In one instance a man was sealed in a barrel in which
nails had been hammered through the side. The barrel was then rolled
around the camp until he bled to death. Another survivor claims people
were forced to lie on top of each other forming a huge pyramid, until those
at the bottom were crushed.
Lambinowice was just one of hundreds of Nazi concentration camps
throughout Central Europe which exchanged its Jewish and Allied PoWs
for German soldiers and civilians once the war had ended. In all, around
10mn Germans were expelled from their homes in the region, and it is
estimated that in Poland alone, between 400,000 and 1.2mn were killed in
revenge attacks, during forced labour, transportation, or in concentration
camps.
Konrad Badenhauer of the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft said: "The
case of Lambinowice is just one of many. There were hundreds of people
like Geborskis. In the Czech Republic, for example, we have the names and
addresses of many such criminals whose crimes are well documented and
who are still at liberty." The prospect of Lambinowice creating a precedent
for the prosecution of postwar acts of retribution has provoked widespread
unease. Witold Kulesza, of the Central Commission for the Prosecution of
Crimes against the Polish Nation, said 7 more trials are being prepared in
Poland.
Crimes against German civilians were not limited to hard core "communist"
criminals, but were widespread. In many cases German farms were taken
over by Poles and previous owners were either killed or kept on as slave
labour. Inevitably, all such cases are a fight against time as those involv
ed
are now nearing the end of their lives. Czeslaw Geborski's trial which
involves 40 volumes of evidence and more than 300 witnesses is likely to
last up to a year, and it may well be that the opportunity for such
prosecutions has already been missed. (The London Telegraph)
BRITAIN CANCELS DEBT FOR 41 POOR COUNTRIES
The British government has decided to write off debt repayments from 41
of the world's poorest countries, amounting to a total of $1.43bn. The
measure is conditioned by the commitment of debtor countries to use the
funds saved for basic services such as health, education and the struggle
against poverty. British Finance Minister Gordon Brown explained that this
will contribute to create a "virtuous circle of freedom from debt, reductio
n
of poverty, and sustainable development."
Brown's office on Saturday specified that 12 of the countries will have the
ir
debt with Great Britain canceled immediately, while an additional 8
countries must comply with the parameters set by London over the
remainder of the year. By the end of December a total of $860mn worth of
debt will be canceled. The debt of an additional 21 countries, which are
involved in wars or have not complied with established conditions, will be
maintained as contingently liable and canceled when the clauses are
implemented.
The United Kingdom's decision was welcomed by groups combating the
debt, who appealed to other countries to follow the example. Bob Geldof,
musician and founder of Live Aid, praised Finance Minister Brown. "It
means that Britain absolutely leaps ahead of other countries on a moral
platform," he said, in statements published Sunday in the Financial Times
Web page. Brown said debt payments from countries which had yet to win
debt relief would be held in trust until they had in place plans to reduce
poverty. When these plans are agreed, the government would backdate
payments from the trust.
Jubilee 2000, the debt relief campaign group, said of Brown: "He's done to
the letter what we've asked him to do. It's a good campaigning move." The
group is hoping that President Clinton will make a similar pledge. However,
it warned that the British promise would have little impact on the overall
debt owed by poor countries. Jubilee 2000 estimates that the total debt of
all
poor countries reaches some $300bn and affects 52 countries. The
creditors have already canceled $110bn, including Great Britain's and other
G-7 countries' promises. Jubilee 2000 says that, so far, only $12bn of this
commitment has really been canceled. (Zenit)
NASDAQ AT 1,500 IN A FEW WEEKS
The ongoing decline, combined with violent swings in intra-day trading, on
"New Economy" stock markets, notably the Nasdaq in New York and the
Nemax in Frankfurt, reflect the deepening financial-economic crisis in the
United States and internationally. Over the week of Nov. 27, the Nasdaq
plunged up to 5% on an almost daily basis, and it hit its lowest level in 1
3
months. Since the all-time peak of 5,049 on March 10, the Nasdaq has lost
fully 49% in the overall index value. Losses in select "hi-tech" Nasdaq
companies, however, is far more severe. Already now, the fall in Nasdaq
stock prices in November were the worst since the November 1987 "Black
Monday" crash in the US.
Had the free-fall in Nasdaq continued into Friday, Dec. 1, observers
estimate it would have spilled over into a full-blown systemic crisis - led
by
a dollar meltdown. Hence, the "suckers' rally" that day, which, however,
barely held out until market close. The selling of Nasdaq stocks is far fro
m
over. As a group, Nasdaq companies still have an average price/earnings
ratio of 107. Conventional practice over the past decades has dictated that
a stock is "over-priced," i.e. speculative in value, when its p/e ratio ris
es
above 20-25. Informed estimates are that a Nasdaq index level of 1,500 will
be reached by February 2001.
The Nasdaq's hyper-instability, points to the decreasing effectiveness of t
he
Treasury/Federal Reserve "Plunge Protection Team" to prop up stock
markets and the dollar by using derivatives. Notable in the recent market
fall is the point that the financial powers of Wall Street and beyond are
unable to prop up both the "New Economy" Nasdaq market and the more
traditional Dow Jones Industrials. LaRouche has emphasized that a decision
has clearly been made in the financial establishments on both sides of the
Atlantic to let "New Economy" stocks go, and concentrate on trying to "hold
the line," for the moment, in the more "Old Economy" stocks of the Dow
Jones, Dax, FT-SE or CAC-40. Key to this is the fact that the largest banks
are traded on these "traditional" stock exchanges, and, were bank stocks to
be hit by the selling panic, a snowballing financial crisis would ensue.
(Strategic Alert)
FRENCH FIGHT TO SAVE CULTURAL LEGACY FROM
HOLLYWOOD
While British eyes are locked on Tony Blair=92s battle for tax sovereignty
at
the EU summit, France is girding itself for war in Nice to save Europe from
the supposed ravages of Hollywood. As the self-appointed champion of
Europe=92s right to fend off American entertainment, Paris has staked out t
he
cultural field as a national =93red line=94. This covers areas of vital int
erest,
such as taxes for Britain and immigration for Germany, in which states are
refusing to give up their vetoes.
With France=92s intellectuals and subsidised film-makers breathing down his
neck, President Chirac has told Mr Blair, Chancellor Schr=F6der, and other
leaders that France sees the very soul of Europe at stake in its push for
majority voting. Promising no surrender on culture, Lionel Jospin, the Prim
e
Minister, said last week: =93The beginning of the new century will be a tim
e
of struggle for cultural rights.=94 Europe, he said, was =93threatened with
uniformisation and absorption with the victory of a single (American)
culture=94.
France is determined to =93save the French identity=94 by keeping the right
to
enforce the strict system of subsidies and limits on US films and other
entertainment that can be put on television and radio. Paris fears that wit
h
majority voting =97 favoured now by most other EU states =97 Europe would
soon be pushed by Britain and its supporters to bow to US pressure to treat
=93intellectual property=94 and services as ordinary commercial products. T
he
term encompasses entertainment and, according to the French, the content
of the Internet.
That would put an end to the =93cultural exception=94, which Europe has
imposed in world trade talks to protect its broadcasting quotas and film
subsidies. The subsidy and quota system, now operating across the EU,
would unravel under American legal challenge. In France, at least 60% of
the programmes on television must be European, and 40% of this must be
of French origin. Radio stations have similar rules. The rules encourage
television companies to supply a big share of the cash that keeps France=92
s
film industry afloat. Film-makers are subsidised through taxes that pay the
cost of about 30% of film production.
Paris was not pleased yesterday when Pascal Lamy, European
Commissioner for Trade and a Frenchman, said the veto must be removed
from intellectual property, services and investment under the veto system.
=93Unanimity, particularly in an enlarged EU of 30 states, makes no sense i
n
external trade negotiations,=94 he said. A leading film-maker on France 2,
a
state TV channel, said yesterday the removal of subsidies =93would be the
death of the French cinema both economically and culturally=94.
The same chorus is sounded by stars such as G=E9rard Depardieu and
Catherine Deneuve. The political stakes are high for M Chirac and M
Jospin at Nice, because France has come to see itself as more under threat
than ever from =93Anglo-Saxon globalisation=94, as manifested by everything
from Disney to McDonald=92s. French officials are confident that M Chirac
will have no trouble in keeping the cultural veto as part of a deal that wi
ll
enable Britain to retain its right to reject EU decisions on taxation and s
ocial
security. (The London Times)
STRONG REACTIONS AGAINST ASIAN ACCORDS
The steady moves by the leading nations of East and Southeast Asia to
intensify economic and political cooperation, which were confirmed at the
Nov. 24-25 "ASEAN-Plus-Three" summit held in Singapore, are provoking
sharp public reactions from spokesmen of institutions of the current
international financial regime. The Asian nations' discussion of monetary
cooperation under an Asian Swap Agreement, and increasing regional trade
via an Asian Free Trade Agreement, pose a threat to the current WTO
arrangements,the City of London's Financial Times is making clear.
On Nov. 28, the FT ran a commentary which was broadly dismissive of
what it alleges are Asia's "impracticably ambitious" plans "to sew up a web
of bilateral [trade] deals spanning the region." In particular, the FT is
worried about "Japan's recent embrace of [trade] bilateralism." Then, in th
e
Nov. 30 FT, Prof. Jean-Pierre Lehmann of Lausanne, upped the ante in a
letter to the editor, which proclaims that bilateral and regional trade
cooperation in Asia poses a threat not only to the WTO free trade regime,
but to international security and the "Pax Americana" in the Asia-Pacific
region. The "risks of tighter intra-Asian trade ties are considerable," in
view
of Asia's alleged "political immaturity and instability."
The WTO itself is also protesting the Asian nations' moves. On Nov. 29,
Peter Tulloch, who is director of the WTO's Development Division, warned
Asian nations against discriminating against "outside" trading partners, in
a
speech at an Asian Development Bank seminar in Manila. Tulloch said that
it appears that "an emulative type of regionalism is gaining ground among
Asian countries.... I believe we must all seriously ask ourselves whether
such a trend serves the interests of Asia," Tulloch asserted.
Some Asian nations, he said, are "moving in a way that appears to give
encouragement to a more selective and possibly discriminatory pattern of
regional integration." Regional trade agreements are defended as "stepping
stones to greater economic integration and harmony," but are likely to
create "more conflict and friction," he claimed. The WTO has cause for
concern, Tulloch had to admit. It has recently realized that a "staggering
number of around 170" bilateral and/or regional trading agreements are
already in force, "with a further 70 or so due to come into force by 2005."
(Strategic Alert)
C.I.A. BRIEFS BUSH; G.O.P. URGES VOIDING CLINTON ORDERS
George W. Bush received his first daily national security briefing from the
Clinton administration yesterday while Senate Republicans urged his
running mate, Richard B. Cheney, to reverse Clinton-era executive
orders."It's going to be important to show . . . the American people that t
his
administration will be ready to seize the moment," Mr. Bush told reporters
during another busy day of transition planning in Austin. A CIA official me
t
with Mr. Bush at the governor's mansion in Texas and gave him the same
intelligence briefing that Vice President Al Gore receives daily. The Bush
team had sought the reports for at least 2 weeks, arguing that Mr. Bush
needs the information to conduct a responsible transition.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Mr. Cheney gave congressional Republicans
their first taste in 8 years of what it will be like to work with a Republi
can
administration. He greeted House Republicans in the morning and ate lunch
with Republican senators, who encouraged Mr. Cheney in a free-wheeling
discussion to have Mr. Bush overturn a long list of executive orders signed
by President Clinton. Senators declined to be specific about which
executive orders they want overturned, but one Republican said they
advised Mr. Cheney to be "aggressive" about overturning Clinton
administration policies. Another Senate Republican said they broached the
overall topic but did not get into specific policy areas with Mr. Cheney.
Republicans have long chafed at what they view as Mr. Clinton's excessive
use of this executive power to circumvent Congress on a variety of
issues,from protecting homosexuals from discrimination to declaring new
national monument areas.
"The transition is up and running and operational now, and we look forward
to working with members of Congress of both parties," Mr. Cheney said
after the closed House session. He pledged "a robust effort to get on with
the business of dealing with the nation's problems." In Austin, Mr. Bush an
d
his designee for White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, pored over an
ever-growing list of job applicants for the new administration. Chief polit
ical
adviser Karl Rove said the Bush team will probably announce more
transition appointments this week but likely will postpone Cabinet
nominations until the court cases are resolved.
Speculation continued yesterday about the composition of a Bush Cabinet.
House Republicans said Mr. Cheney solicited their suggestions for
appointments to key positions. Privately, some members said they expected
Mr. Bush to look at conservative-leaning Democrats such as former Rep.
Lee Hamilton of Indiana. Several Bush advisers have suggested that Mr.
Hamilton, who retired in 1998, would be an appropriate choice for an
intelligence or foreign policy position, perhaps as director of the CIA or
an
official at the National Security Agency. Other House members suggested
that Mr. Bush would reach out to Rep. Charles W. Stenholm of Texas and
Rep. Gary A. Condit of California, both members of the conservative "Blue
Dogs" caucus of Democrats. Both men have a keen interest in agriculture
issues. (The Washington Times)
MICHAEL TURNER =0F
(mykelturner@airmail.net)
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] New Scientist Weekly Newsletter
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:22:16 -0500
NEW SCIENTIST WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
No 63, 9 December 2000
If you thought War and Peace was hard work, don't become a patent
examiner. Now that biotechnology is big business, all those sheep
cloners and gene sequencers out there want to protect their inventions
with a patent. No problem so far. But when you get to writing out your
patent application, the sequence part of it (you know, AATTTAGGCATTAAG
etc.) tends to go on a bit. The World Intellectual Property Organization
has already had a few dozen patent applications of more than a thousand
pages, but those were just a warm-up. A drug company has warned WIPO
that
it is about to receive a couple more, each more than 140,000 pages long.
Better put the kettle on.
http://www.newscientist.com/nl/1209/patently.html
HIGH AND DRY
Panic! The Duke of York Islands are drowning! A combination of global
warming and seismic activity is causing this South Pacific paradise to
sink by 30 centimetres per year. The UN announced plans to evacuate the
first thousand islanders last week...Whoa! Wait a minute. 30 centimetres
per year? New Scientist is not so easily fooled. The islands were actually
hoisted up 3 centimetres by an earthquake last month, and melting polar
ice is only expected to add a few centimetres to sea levels in the next
few decades. Has no one thought about El Nino, which has been raising sea
levels in the region for the past few years? Climate change is worrying,
of course, but let's keep things in perspective.
http://www.newscientist.com/nl/1209/high.html
ROAD RAGE
Talking of perspective, did you hear about the 40-year-old secretary and
mother who was cut up on the freeway by another mum on a school run and
ended up shooting her dead? Some people obviously have a problem with
rage, but is there something about driving a car - the speed, the lack of
personal contact - that turns normally reasonable people into maniacs?
http://www.newscientist.com/nl/1209/road.html
DRINK TO THINK
All those studies that say drinking red wine will prevent heart disease
and make you live longer seem a bit too convenient to be true. But get
this one: those who regularly drink a moderate amount of alcohol can notch
up a couple more points on their IQ than teetotallers. The Japanese
scientists behind the research say cautiously that their work does not
necessarily show that drinking will make you smarter: it's difficult to
infer a cause-and-effect relationship. Who are they trying to kid? I'll
have a pint of creme-de-menthe, please.
http://www.newscientist.com/nl/1209/drink.html
ON A WING AND A JOLT
OK. You're sitting in the lab and you switch on the current to your
superconducting electromagnet and it jolts to one side by a centimetre.
What do you do? Bolt it down and try again? Wrong. You build a spaceship
out of it. The physicist at the US Department of Energy who noticed this
effect is now planning to hook such a magnet up to an ultrafast switch
which will turn it on and off 400,000 times a second, in the hope that it
will fly through the roof of his lab and into orbit. Of course, it may
just sit there and vibrate a lot.
http://www.newscientist.com/nl/1209/wing.html
GOING NUTS FOR A HYDROGEN-FUELLED FUTURE
Looking for the fuel of the future? There's one in every bite. Turkey, the
world's biggest producer of hazelnuts, burns 250,000 tonnes of the shells
every year as waste. If, instead, it burnt them in a controlled
environment with restricted oxygen, it could extract 6000 tonnes of
hydrogen - enough to allow a thousand prototype hydrogen-fuelled BMWs to
travel 32,500 kilometres each.
http://www.newscientist.com/nl/1209/going.html
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Chinese Province Forbids Couples from Learning Sex of Fetus
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:27:13 -0500
Chinese Province Forbids Couples from Learning Sex of Fetus
BEIJING, Dec 6, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) A province in east China
has passed a law forbidding couples from using ultrasound scanners to
detect the gender of their unborn baby, in a bid to stop abortions that have
upset the ratio of boys to girls in the province, state media reported
Wednesday.
The move by Anhui province is unusual as it shows the government is
admitting China's one-child policy, which forbids couples from having more
than one child in most cases, is creating an unnatural and potentially
unhealthy gender imbalance.
The law, passed by the central Anhui provincial government, went into effect
on November 1, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The regulation forbids people from identifying the sex of a fetus, except for
medical purposes.
A survey conducted by the provincial government showed a
disproportionately higher number of boys compared to girls born in the
province in the past six years, Xinhua said. The report did not provide the
ratio.
The imbalance is caused by abortions of female fetuses by parents who use
ultrasonic examinations to determine the sex of their babies, the report said.
Under the new regulations, medical institutions, family-planning agencies
and private clinics are prohibited from providing medical means to identify a
fetus' sex, unless there is a need to ascertain whether it carries a hereditary
disease.
The regulation also forbids abortions for women carrying a fetus for over 16
weeks old unless medical evidence show it is seriously disfigured or
continuing gestation would endanger the life and the health of the mother.
Violators will be dismissed from their jobs or fined, the report said.
In 1982, a census showed a huge gap in young females compared to young
males, causing many to wonder about the so-called "missing girls."
Critics of the policy have blamed the millions of missing girls on infanticide or
abortions of female fetuses, while some say they were illegally born, but are
simply not reported to authorities.
The sex ratio of China's population is believed to be 131 males to 100
females, highly unusual by international standards.
Couples, especially in the countryside, still prefer to have a son, considering
it shameful not to have a boy to carry on the family name and continue the
family line.
China adopted the one-child policy in the late 1970s to curb its rapidly
expanding population, which is estimated to stand at 1.3 billion.
The government has touted the success of its one-child policy, saying it has
succeeded in lowering the population growth rate by one percent per year in
the 1990s.
It has vowed to continue the policy, warning that the Chinese population
would continue to grow by 10 million people per year over the next few
decades.
The population is due to reach 1.4 billion around 2010 and 1.6 billion in 2050.
Despite forced abortions and severe financial penalties, the law is often
circumvented with pregnant women sometimes staying with relatives until
their baby is born or claiming their newborn baby was adopted or belonged to
a friend or relative.
The policy makes an exception for peasants, who can have a second child if
their first child is a girl. Couples who are both single children also can have a
second child. Ethnic minorities also can have more than one child.
((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)
http://www.insidechina.com/news.php3?id=227807
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Iraq to host first Arab ministerial meeting in a decade
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:28:41 -0500
Iraq to host first Arab ministerial meeting in a decade
Ministers of the 10 member Arab states decided to hold their next meeting i
n
Baghdad
December 07, 2000, 10:44 AM
BAGHDAD (AFP English) - A group of Arab trade ministers decided
Wednesday to meet in Iraq next year for the first Arab ministerial meeting
there since the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops in 1990, Iraq=92s trade
minister said.
Ministers of the 10 member states of the Arab League=92s committee for
economic unity unanimously decided to hold their next meeting in Baghdad
from June 6 to 7, 2001, Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mahdi Saleh told
AFP.
A League official who asked not to be identified said the decision "reflect
s
the solidarity of the member states with Iraq." Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Libya,
Mauritania, the Palestinian Authority, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen are
the 10 members of the committee. The Arab League has a total of 22
member states.
Iraq, meanwhile, persuaded Egypt and Libya to agree in principle to
announce a free trade zone between the three countries.
Saleh said Iraq wants the prime ministers of the three countries to sign su
ch
an agreement.
=A9 2000 AFP
http://www.arabia.com/article/0,1690,News|34940,00.html
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Pickpocket Children Chained in Streets of Shenzhen
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:30:33 -0500
Pickpocket Children Chained in Streets of Shenzhen
HONG KONG, Dec 6, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Police chained street
children as young as six to roadside railings in southern China's Shenzhen
to stop an alarming spate of pick-pocketing by child gangs, it was reported
Wednesday.
Most of the children, believed to have been recruited by syndicates from
China's westernmost region of Xinjiang, were targeting thousands of
shoppers from Hong Kong, the Chinese-language daily Sing Tao said.
Instead of arrest, police chained reoffenders, aged between six and 13, to
railings by day and released them at night, because they were too young to
undergo criminal procedures, a police source told the newspaper.
"The situation is serious," a patrolling police officer told the daily, adding "the
children are backed by hawkers from Xinjiang in the vicinity."
Authorities were also cautious in making arrests of these illegal peddlers,
mostly ethnic Muslims from Xinjiang regions, for fear of offending regulations
safeguarding their right as national minorities, sources said.
Shenzhen is a favorite shopper's paradise for many people from Hong Kong
because of its low prices. ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)
http://www.insidechina.com/news.php3?id=227430
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Russia, Iran to Join Forces in Fight Against Terrorism
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:31:52 -0500
Russia, Iran to Join Forces in Fight Against Terrorism
MOSCOW, Dec 6, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Russia and Iran plan to
actively cooperate in fighting terrorism, religious extremism and drug
trafficking from central Asia and the Caucasus, the Russian foreign ministry
said Tuesday.
It said in a statement after a meeting between Deputy Foreign Minister
Vyacheslav Trubnikov and Iranian ambassador Mehdi Safari that the two
countries shared "close, even identical" positions on the problems.
A member of the Russian parliament's defense commission, General Andrei
Nikolayev, said last week that Russia was ready to give Iran weapons to help
guarantee security along its border with Afghanistan and to stop terrorists
and drug smuggling.
Russia also announced two weeks ago that it would resume military
cooperation with Iran and warned the United States it would no longer
observe a 1995 accord banning arms deliveries to Teheran.
For more than a year now, Moscow has been waging what it has termed an
"anti-terrorist" campaign against armed separatists in Chechnya, who it
accuses of being behind a series of bomb attacks in Russian cities. ((c)
2000 Agence France Presse)
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=227493
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Subject: [bprlist] Putin Sends Greetings to Libyan Leader
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:37:18 -0500
Putin Sends Greetings to Libyan Leader
MOSCOW, Dec 6, 2000 -- (Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin, who
has tried to forge relations with nations viewed with suspicion by the West,
sent greetings to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Tuesday and said he
hoped for firmer ties.
Full Story:
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=227476
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Subject: [bprlist] Pro-Russian Chechen Leader to Visit Iraq and Libya
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:39:19 -0500
Pro-Russian Chechen Leader to Visit Iraq and Libya
MOSCOW, Dec 6, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Chechnya's pro-Russian
administrator Akhmad Kadyrov plans to visit several Arab countries,
especially Iraq and Libya, this month in order to discuss the conflict in
Russia's breakaway republic, he told AFP Tuesday.
"I am going to ask our brother Muslims to help us rebuild" the troubled
Caucasus republic, much of which has been destroyed in the course of two
devastating wars, Kadyrov said from his headquarters in Chechnya's second
city Gudermes.
The former mufti (Islamic leader) has repeatedly accused Moscow of doing
nothing to revive Chechnya's ruined economy.
Kadyrov said his visit to Baghdad was agreed during a meeting in Moscow
with Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz last July.
"Iraq and Libya are two Muslim countries where there is no Wahhabism,"
Kdayrov said, referring to the extreme Islamic movement whose supporters
Moscow accuses of fighting on the rebel side in Chechnya.
Russia launched its self-declared "anti-terrorism" operation in Chechnya on
October 1, 1999.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Kadyrov, formerly an ally of the
Chechen rebels in the 1994-96 separatist war, head of the republic's civilian
administration in July. ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=227477
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Subject: [bprlist] Japan to conclude WWII peace treaty with Russia
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:44:55 -0500
2000-12-06
JAPAN TO CONCLUDE A WORLD WAR TWO PEACE TREATY WITH
RUSSIA
Japan said on Tuesday that it would keep working with Russia to conclude a
World War Two peace treaty within the year, but dropped a strong hint that
achieving the goal would be impossible. "We are making all-out efforts (to
sign the treaty) by the end of this year," Foreign Minister Yohei Kono told a
news conference after his reappointment in Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's
new cabinet launched earlier in the day. Kono added, however, that an
expected visit to Moscow aimed at resolving a decades-old territorial dispute
and paving the way for a visit by Mori, might not take place in December. "It
doesn't mean the trip will be held within the year," Kono said. "Once we are
ready, we have to make contacts with the Russian side and ask them when
will be good for them." If Kono's trip makes progress, Mori would go to the
Russian city of Irkutsk to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to try
formalise an agreement, diplomats have said. Former Russian President
Boris Yeltsin and then-Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto vowed in 1997 to
work towards clinching a peace treaty by the end of 2000. Analysts have
said that that deadline now seems almost impossible to meet.
A dispute over four tiny Russian-held islands that Japan wants back has
blocked the signing of a treaty for more than half a century. Soviet troops
seized the islands, off Japan's main northern island of Hokkaido, at the end
of the war in 1945, Reuters announces. Mori met Russian President Vladimir
Putin last month on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacifc Economic Cooperation
summit in Brunei, and the two leaders agreed to meet again in the Siberian
city near Lake Baikal, possibly by the end of this year, to try to sign the
World War Two peace treaty. Putin and Mori have met four times this year
but have made scant progress on the territorial dispute.
http://www.russiatoday.com/frames/frames.php3?url=http%3A%2F%2Fenglis
h.pravda.ru%2Fmain%2F2000%2F12%2F06%2F1315.html
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Subject: [bprlist] Kursk Disaster
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 09:50:29 -0500
2000-12-06
THE KURSK SUBMARINE DISASTER: ANOTHER EVIDENCE OF A
COLLISION. NORWEGIANS REMOVE THE VEIL OF SECRECY AND
VIRTUALLY NAME KURSK KILLER
Igor Sergeyev, Russian defence minister, confirmed today in Brussels the
words said by Rear-Admiral Einar Skorgen, former commander of the
Norwegian Northern Force. According to the admiral, Russian anti-submarine
aircrafts did pursue on August 17th a foreign submarine escaping from the
site of the nuclear submarine Kursk=92s crash. Admiral Skorgen also said th
at
Russian North Fleet aircrafts got so absorbed in the pursuit that nearly
violated the Norwegian air space, so Norwegian fighters made an alert
takeoff. Happily, violation was avoided thanks to a talk between the
Norwegian Air Force and the Russian North Fleet commanders. On top of
that, according to the admiral, there was something wrong with the US
submarine Memphis entering the Norwegian port of Bergen. Moreover, wives
of 12 Memphis sailors were then urgently flied from US to Norway, the aim o
f
their arrival being kept secret.
http://www.russiatoday.com/frames/frames.php3?url=3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fenglis
h.pravda.ru%2Fmain%2F2000%2F12%2F06%2F1327.html
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To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] President J.J. Rawlings ,'We'll Hand Over Power At Christ's 2nd Coming'
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 7 Dec 00 12:07:23 EST
'We'll Hand Over Power At Christ's 2nd Coming'
http://allafrica.com/stories/200012060091.html
The Independent (Accra)
December 6, 2000
Accra
The President J.J. Rawlings has launched what may be described as his last
attack on opposition parties particularly the NPP,stating categorically that
his party will only leave power at the second coming of Jesus Christ.
He also urged the chiefs to avoid them when they visit them. According to the
President, the NPP in their quest for power are using all means available,
some being foul and chiefs who are the custodians of the land should not
tolerate that.
The President who was speaking at a well attended final rally of his party in
Kumasi suggested to the Asantehene to warn the minority politicians of any act
of violence in his land. He reminded the people of what happened in 1979 and
said such could be visited again if the opposition in his view intimidates the
people.
The reluctant out- going President who was cheered by the large crowd at every
word he uttered called on chiefs in the country to apportion some land to the
opposition parties and he as an Ewe would carve a stool for them to rule on
those lands and stop pestering his party which will "only hand over power at
the second coming of Jesus Christ". Rawlings lashed at Kufuor, the flagbearer
of the NPP and said he and his men have been preaching deceit which the chiefs
and people will not take to kindly.
He also accused the NPP of stealing. Quoting from the Holy Bible, he said God
issued out the ten commandments among which is "thou shall not steal" but he
said people in the minority parties are not paying heed to the Biblical
advice.
Jerry, who has never hidden his hatred for his political opponents pointed
fingers at the NPP saying they are registering minors with Photo ID cards and
as such are corrupting children. Defending his bloody June 4 1997 uprising
that saw the death of top military men he noted that that was a divine
revolution and God has handed down the keys to this country's prosperity to
him and his men and so giving power to another party will reverse the
"progress" they have made.
He said "this may be the last time I am appearing before you as the President
of the country" and thanked all for the support given him during his rule. He
called for total support for Vice President Atta Mills and said the people
should not listen to silly words aimed at fooling them.
Daring the opposition and all those his "revolution" had affected he added "if
the tiger is sick it does not mean the goat can go to it's back yard
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Subject: [bprlist] China, Russia to Further Bilateral Cooperation
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 12:07:42 -0500
China, Russia to Further Bilateral Cooperation
2000.12.06 09:09:38
MOSCOW, December 5 (Xinhuanet) -- China and Russia inaugurated a joint
committee here Tuesday with the aim of promoting bilateral cooperation in
education, culture, public health and sports. The China-Russia Cooperation
Committee on Education, Culture, Health and Sports was inaugurated by
visiting Chinese Vice Premier Li Lanqing and Russian Deputy Prime Minister
Valentina Matviyenko. Co-chairing the committee's first session, Li said that
the establishment of the committee at the level of deputy prime ministers
will help strengthen the strategic cooperation between China and Russia.
During the session, Li said, the two sides will strive for a better planning and
institutionalization of their cooperation in these areas. He pledged that China
will work together with Russia to push their cooperation to a new level. Also
addressing Tuesday's meeting, Matviyenko said that the Beijing summit in
July between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Jiang
Zemin has promoted the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation
to a substantive stage. Matviyenko said that in order to enrich the content of
such a partnership, the two countries should strengthen their ties not only
in the political and economic spheres but also in the fields of education,
culture, health and sports. According to Chinese officials attending
Tuesday's meeting, the two deputy prime ministers had an in-depth
exchange of views on concrete steps to improve bilateral cooperation in
education, culture, public health and sports and reached broad consensus.
Five relevant documents were signed by officials from the two sides after the
meeting. Enditem
http://www.russiatoday.com/frames/frames.php3?url=http%3A%2F%2F202.8
4.17.11%2Fenglish%2Fhtm%2F20001206%2F253637.htm
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To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Christmas Day to dawn with partial eclipse of the sun
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 7 Dec 00 12:08:08 EST
Christmas Day to dawn with partial eclipse of the sun
http://www.vancouversun.com/newsite/news/001206/5000620.html
Daylight should distinctly dim, with maximum effect at 8:31 a.m.
Stephen Hume Vancouver Sun
(Map of the various times of the eclipse throughout the major cities of
Canada.)
British Columbia sky-gazers will find a spectacular present in the heavens
when they rise to greet the last Christmas Day of the Second Millennium.
A partial solar eclipse that won't be seen again for more than 300 years will
occur just after sunrise Dec. 25.
The passing of the moon's shadow over the face of the sun will last for one
hour and 33 minutes and will be widely visible across the province and the
rest of Canada.
Amateur astronomers should savour the experience. There won't be another
Christmas eclipse like this one until 2307 and observers will have to travel
to west Africa to see it.
Not until 2383 will there be a similar Christmas eclipse visible in the
northern hemisphere.
This time, as the moon's penumbral shadow sweeps across North America from
west to east, about 39 per cent of the sun's diameter (not its total area)
will be obscured to the Vancouver-based observer. Maximum eclipse here will
occur at 8:31 a.m.
Observers should see a distinct dimming of daylight, although the moon's
passing shadow will take only a bite out of the orb, briefly creating a
crescent sun.
Because of the moon's orbital geometry, the solar disk will be more fully
obscured for those viewers who live farther north and to the east.
The greatest degree of eclipse -- more than 72 per cent -- will be observed at
Iqualuit on the southern tip of Baffin Island at 12:45 p.m.
For mathematicians, this partial eclipse adds a special intellectual treat to
the festive season.
Most revelers celebrated the end of the millennium last January but
mathematicians have been at pains to point out that anyone with a grasp of
Grade 4 arithmetic must know the millennium really ends at midnight Dec. 31,
2000.
That's because counting began on January 1 of the year 1 A.D., not the year 0
A.D. So the first century ended on Dec. 31, 100 A.D., not in 99 AD. Ditto for
1999.
So for mathematicians, this Christmas eclipse marks the 57th event in the
sequence that astrophysicists call saros series 122, a system for predicting
the periodicity and recurrence of both solar and lunar eclipses.
In astronomical math, a saros is an interval of 18 years, 11 1/3 days, during
which the positioning of the Earth and moon result in about 43 solar and 28
lunar eclipses, each one at a slightly different latitude.
Because of the orbital mechanics of the earth and the moon, each saros series
begins when the lunar shadow passes close to one pole. With each subsequent
pass, the path of the shadow shifts farther north or south in a mathematically
predictable sequence.
At the end of one saros interval, the Earth, sun and moon have all returned to
the same relative positions and the cycle of eclipses begins to repeat itself.
But the relative positions of the planetary bodies change slightly after each
saros because of the earth's rotation, so a complete eclipse cycle ends only
after a series of saroses that last approximately 13 centuries.
The saros series in which this eclipse is included won't be completed until
2235.
Astronomers number each of these series and use them to calculate future
eclipses.
It's a system known to have been used in biblical times.
Long before the Three Wise Men are said to have made their journey from the
east following the Christmas star that led them to the manger and the Christ
child, Chaldean astronomers were using the saros in their own attempts to
predict lunar eclipses for religious purposes.
The most recent solar eclipse on Christmas Day occurred in 1954 but was
observable only in the southern hemisphere over Africa.
The last total solar eclipse to occur on Christmas Day took place in 1666, the
year Sir Isaac Newton completed his discovery of calculus, the mathematical
tool essential to the understanding of the solar system, gravitational
relationships and the way in which the planets interact with each other and
with the sun.
Without calculus, Marc Garneau would not now be in orbit deploying solar
panels for the new space station that will carry the next phase of science
into space.
And don't miss this partial event because you'd rather wait for the next total
eclipse.
According to calculations done at the Mueller Planetarium at the University of
Nebraska, the next total eclipse of the sun on Christmas Day will be in Europe
-- but not until 2755.
HOW TO VIEW AN ECLIPSE SAFELY:
Anyone planning to observe the partial solar eclipse on Dec. 25 should
remember that looking directly at the sun with the naked eye can result in
permanent eye damage and blindness.
Even during eclipses, the brightness of the sun is so intense that even when
99 per cent of its surface is obscured, it cannot be viewed safely without
proper eye protection.
Just one per cent of the sun's surface is still 10,000 times brighter than a
full moon.
Observing an eclipse through binoculars, a telescope or the viewfinder of a
camera affords no protection and, in fact, can be worse by focusing harmful
solar rays on the fragile retina at the back of the eye.
It's been likened to using a magnifying glass to light a fire by focusing a
sunbeam on tinder.
Experts warn that screw-on solar filters that sometimes come with inexpensive
telescopes often do not provide eye protection. Exposed photographic film,
smoked glass, photographic neutral density filters and polarizing filters are
all unsafe and their use can result in eye damage.
However, David Dodge, resident astronomer at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre,
advises that special solar filter glasses designed for for observing the
eclipse can be obtained at the planetarium gift shop.
Also safe for observing an eclipse are the filters for arc welding glasses,
which can be obtained at hardware stores, although this glass should always be
rated number 14, he says.
Another safe way to observe the eclipse while conducting a simultaneous
science experiment for kids is to make a pinhole projector.
To make it, take two pieces of stiff white cardboard. Make a small pinhole in
the centre of onepiece and stand with your back to the sun so that the
sunlight passes through the tiny hole. Use the second piece of cardboard as a
screen.
An inverted image of the crescent sun will appear on the screen. Make it
brighter by moving the screen closer to the pinhole. To make the image larger,
move the screen away.
Remember, keep your back to the sun. Do not look through the pinhole at the
sun -- even such a tiny aperture permits enough intense light through to
seriously burn the retina.
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To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Rabbis: Temple Mount can be shared
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 7 Dec 00 12:10:52 EST
(Liberal slant, including these Rabbis, on something they Biblically know
nothing about), SSG
Rabbis: Temple Mount can be shared
http://salon.com/news/wire/2000/12/06/rabbis_share/index.html
By Barry Schweid
Dec. 6, 2000 | WASHINGTON (AP) -- One hundred rabbis declared Wednesday that
Judaism does not demand exclusive Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount,
the holy site in Jerusalem that is a contentious issue in the
Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
"As Jewish leaders, we do not want the site of our Holy Temple to be an
obstacle to peace between our two people," they said in a statement
distributed by the Jewish Peace Lobby, a dovish private group.
The site is considered sacred by both observant Jews and Muslims. A dramatic
visit to the site of the ancient Jewish temple by Ariel Sharon, leader of the
opposition Likud coalition in Israel, stirred resentment and violence among
Palestinians.
The rabbis said they were "horrified by the shedding of blood in our Holy
Land" and that they mourn the loss of Palestinian and Israelis lives in
prolonged conflict between the two sides.
"We are even more horrified by the emergence of mob violence on both sides of
the ethnic divide," the rabbis said. "We appeal to all those responsible not
to inflame or use the passions and anger of young people."
While the Israeli government has sharply criticized the Palestinian Authority
and its leader, Yasser Arafat, for Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers and
civilians, the statement was evenhanded, taking neither side of the dispute
that has claimed nearly 300 lives, most of them Palestinian.
The rabbis said Judaism does not demand exclusive Jewish sovereignty over the
Temple Mount and cited a passage from Isaiah in the Bible that the Temple
Mount is a "house of prayer for all nations."
The rabbis were drawn from the Reform, Reconstruction and Conservative
Movement. No Orthodox rabbis signed the statement, according to a lobby
publicist.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in July offered Arafat control of some areas
of Jerusalem, but rebuffed any attempt to assert Palestinian sovereignty over
parts of the city. He has since suggested the dispute over Jerusalem be
deferred and that Israel and the Palestinians conclude an interim agreement
that would give Arafat most of the West Bank and Gaza and a state.
On Tuesday, the Israeli general in charge of military operations said Israel
must not fall into a trap of open conflict with Hezbollah guerrillas who have
carried out four attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians in the last six
weeks.
Sent here to meet with his counterparts at the Pentagon and with members of
Congress, Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland said it would be a mistake to strike back
with full force. "Hezbollah is highly motivated to continue fighting and would
continue," he said.
On another front, Farouk Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation
Organization's political department, said the peace process had failed and
that the Palestinians had "started our intifada."
"We have to continue the intifada by the stones, only by the stones, in order
to ... safeguard our own interests," said Kaddoumi, who unofficially serves as
foreign minister for the Palestinian government-in-exile.
Kaddoumi sought a meeting with State Department officials, but was turned down
as a consistent opponent of the peace process, an official told The Associated
Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Eiland said Iran had armed the Hezbollah guerrillas with missiles and seeks
the destruction of Israel. He called Hezbollah, which operates out of southern
Lebanon, an Iranian "tool."
At the same time, the general said Israel had hoped President Bashar Assad of
Syria would be more moderate than his father, Hafez, and concentrate on
Syria's economic needs.
Instead, Eiland said, Assad has given Hezbollah a green light and encourages
them "with military and political support."
Syria, which is in effective control of Lebanon, is the "real address" should
Israel decide to hit back hard, Eiland said.
Last month, in a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright asked Assad for help in freeing three Israeli soldiers and a reserve
colonel kidnapped by the Islamic group. They remain in Hezbollah's hands.
Without the buffer zone inside Lebanon's border that Israel abandoned seven
months ago at U.N. behest, the guerrillas can easily strike at Israeli
civilians, Eiland said at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a
private research group.
On another subject, he said Israel was willing to lift its blockade of Gaza if
the Palestinians would re-arrest 80 terrorists that Eiland said had been
released from prison.
Eiland said he had told Mary Robinson, the U.N. human rights chief, about the
proposal during a trip to the region last month, but she dismissed it out of
hand, saying it was not fair of Israel to ask the Palestinians "to make the
first move."
Robinson, in a subsequent report, described herself as "shocked and dismayed
and even devastated" at the plight of the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Kaddoumi said U.S. mediators need international help in brokering
peace in the Middle East because "they are biased" toward Israel and their
efforts so far have failed.
"The United States, who was the only superpower in this world and was expected
to do something, did nothing," Kaddoumi said of the faltering 1993 Oslo peace
process.
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] =?ISO-8859-1?Q?US_foes_to_be_Russia=92s_arms_clients?
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 12:11:12 -0500
Last updated 2:00 IST | Wednesday, December 6, 2000, New Delhi
US foes to be Russia=92s arms clients
Ian Traynor (Moscow)
RUSSIA IS trying to revive its declining arms industry and military sales b
y
exploiting market openings among America's enemies as part of President
Vladimir Putin's policy of pursuing a more assertive foreign policy and
restoring a sense of power among his people.
In recent weeks, senior officials have pledged to kickstart military
cooperation with North Korea, and Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev is
expected to visit Tehran in the next few weeks =97 a move that could signal
the ditching of a clandestine agreement with the White House to phase out
arms supplies to Iran.
The Russians are shopping for military orders in Libya, Mr Putin is about t
o
visit Cuba, and last week Iraqi foreign minister two visits to Moscow. Mosc
ow
last week called for the end of a UN arms embargo on Yugoslavia.
According to Jane's Defence Weekly, Moscow's biggest arms customer to
date is China, which will shell out up to $15 billion in the next five year
s on
Russian military equipment.
Where Washington sees a rogue state, Moscow is increasingly seeing a
market niche. "As far as public opinion is concerned, the West is no longer
seen as a reliable partner," said Konstantin Kosachev, deputy head, the
Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee.
Iran is currently Russia's biggest bone of contention with the US. In the
secret 1995 agreement, Moscow bowed to US pressure and assented to
halting arms sales to Tehran by last year. It now says it is no longer boun
d
by the deal.
The army newspaper, Krasnaya Zvezda, said Iranian contracts could total
$8billion. "The decision on Iran was taken a long time ago, last year durin
g
the Kosovo war," said Alexander Pikayev of Moscow's Carnegie Centre.
Russia was a distant second to the US in the world arms sales league table
last year, fuelling Russian complaints that the US consistently sought to
keep Russia out of the arms market.
While the jury is out on whether the Russian arms sector will be able to
deliver on its sales pitches, the President moved last month to streamline
his
arms sales department by sacking the managers of the two main export
organisations, merging them into a single new agency.
"The US was supposed to compensate for our losses in halting sales to Iran
by helping to promote Russian weaponry in other markets, " said Krasnaya
Zvezda, but failed to do so. Mr Kosachev said this was "the West's great
strategic mistake. The only markets left are where there is no serious
western competition."
"Putin's power has been dependent on the military and security structures,"
said Mr Pikayev. "The arms trade is important to them. The military is
gearing up for exports."
(Guardian News Service)
http://www.russiatoday.com/frames/frames.php3?url=3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.
hindustantimes.com%2Fnonfram%2F061200%2FdetFOR01.asp
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Link of the Day: Hayes vs. Tilden: 1876 Electoral College Controversy
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 12:16:34 -0500
Today's Link of the Day is: Hayes vs. Tilden: 1876 Electoral College
Controversy at: http://elections.harpweek.com/controversy.htm
Site provides information on the historic events of the Electoral College
controversy of 1876-1877 along with potential parallels between the
presidential elections of 1876 and 2000.
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] BreakingNews-Israel 5,6,7 (12/6/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 13:54:43 -0500
BreakingNews-Israel
1. Soldiers among the wounded in Samaria attack
(BNI-DEC.7- 3:20pm) According to the Kol M=92Hashetach News Agency, two
of
the three victims of the shooting attack in Samaria are IDF soldiers. A
helicopter has been dispatched to the scene to evacuate the wounded to a
trauma center.
Three persons were injured a short time ago in a shooting attack between
the Jewish communities of Shavei Shomron and Chomesh, near the Arab
village of Burqa.
The injured appear to be in moderate to serious condition according to
preliminary reports from the scene.
In a second shooting attack, IDF armored personnel carriers near Netzarim,
in Gaza, were fired upon a short time ago. Unknown if there were injuries.
In a third shooting attack, a bus was fired upon on the Jenin bypass road.
No injuries. BNI will provide additional details as they are made
available.
------------------
1. Two shooting victims in serious condition=09
2. 2 fatalities =96 at least 7 injured in MVAs=09
3. Hamas credits Dahlan with Deif escape (Corrected)=09
4. IDF arrest four worshipers at Rachel=92s Tomb=09
1. Two shooting victims in serious condition
(BNI-DEC.7- 4:00pm) Two if the victims of the shooting attack near Shavei
Shomron are reported to be in serious condition. The third is reported in
moderate condition. Two of the injured are males, the third a female. One
victim is being flown to the Tel HaShomer Hospital by an Israel Air Force
helicopter. The other two are still being treated on the scene.
BNI will provide additional details as they are made available.
++++
2. 2 fatalities =96 at least 7 injured in MVAs
(BNI-DEC.7- 4:00pm) Two persons were killed and at least seven injured in
three motor vehicle accidents. At least three of the injured are in
serious condition.
a. On Jerusalem=92s Arzei HaBira Street, a 14-year-old resident of Jabal
Mukaber resident was killed by when he was hit by a cement mixer. b. In
an
accident between a bus and a commercial vehicle near Tzippori, one man
was
killed and four persons were injured, two seriously. c. In a third
accident in southern Israel, on the road between S=92dei Boker and Yerucham
,
a bus turned over, injuring three. At least one is in serious condition.
The injured were transported to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.
++++
3. Hamas credits Dahlan with Deif escape (Corrected)
(BNI-DEC.7) The website of the Hamas terrorist organization stated that PA
Security Chief Mohammed Dahlan permitted the =91escape=92 of master Izzadin
el-Kassim terrorist Mohammad Deif. PA officials repeated denials that the
escape was PA assisted and reported Yassir Arafat ordered the
apprehension
of Deif dead or alive.
++++
4. IDF arrest four worshipers at Rachel=92s Tomb
(BNI-DEC.7) Four ultra-Orthodox males were placed under arrest by IDF
forces are Rachel=92s Tomb on Thursday after they entered the area which is
closed to the public, making their way through the PLO Authority
autonomous city of Bethlehem. The four explained they wished to pray at
the holy site and were detained by soldiers.
----------------
1. More details on Shavei Shomron shooting attack=09
2. Stabbing attack in Gaza=09
1. More details on Shavei Shomron shooting attack
(BNI-DEC.7 =965:10pm) Three persons were injured in a shooting attack near
the northern Samarian community of Shavei Shomron at about 3:00pm. An
Israeli car was fired upon from the occupants of a parked car which fled
the scene, escaping to the nearby Arab village of Burqa, under total
control of the PLO Authority.
The gunfire struck three of the four occupants of the Israeli vehicle,
missing the driver, who managed to quickly drive to the nearby Jewish
community of Shavei Shomron. The victims received primary emergency
medical care at that location. Although not injured by gunfire, the driver
was transported to a hospital and is being treated for hysteria.
The three gunshot victims were transported to the Sheba Medical Center in
Tel HaShomer by military helicopter and ambulance.
The female victim was shot in her chest and appears in serious but stable
condition. One male was shot in the neck and chest and is in very serious
condition. Doctors are working to save his life. The third gunshot victim
is listed in moderate condition. The three arrived by helicopter according
to Israel Radio. The driver was transported by ambulance.
It is believed that the driver or one of the other occupants of the
Israeli vehicle was able to fire at the fleeing vehicle. It is unknown if
any of the terrorists were injured by the gunfire.
Police have confirmed that two of the occupants of the Israeli vehicle
were IDF soldiers and the other two civilians. BNI will provide additional
details as they are made available.
++++
2. Stabbing attack in Gaza
(BNI-DEC.7 =965:10pm) An Arab laborer attacked his Jewish employer with a
knife in Gaza during the past hour. The laborer slashed his employer in an
Erez Industrial Zone rubber factory in his neck, injuring him seriously.
Another Israeli witnessed the attack, and came to the aid of the victim.
He drew his weapon and fired at the attacker, wounding him seriously. The
attacker wounded him light-to-moderately.
All three were transported to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. Police report
the attack occurred shortly after 4:00pm. Police also have confirmed the
attacker has died of his wounds.
BNI will provide additional details as they are made available.
++++
News items published by BNI (BreakingNews-Israel) may be distributed,
copied, posted providing the websites and other forums carrying the
stories display the footer below in plain view on the same page with the
news.
++++
To subscribe to the BreakingNews-Israel list, send a blank email message
to 44828-subscribe@listbot.com
To contact the list owner, send and email to BNI1@netvision.net.il
++++
BNI reports are now featured by:
The USA Jewish website - http://www.usajewish.com/
Israel News - http://www.morashanetwork.com/
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=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Infobeat News items (12/7/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 13:54:44 -0500
[Infobeat is in the midst of transition and some links are not working properly.]
*** World Bank OKs Palestinian grant
WASHINGTON (AP) - The World Bank approved a $12 million grant
Wednesday to help put Palestinians back to work and ease the "severe
economic shock" caused by Israel's blockade during two months of
violence. Citing security concerns, Israel has blocked Palestinians
from entering the country since Israeli-Palestinian fighting began
Sept. 28. As a result, some 120,000 Palestinian laborers have been
kept away from their jobs. In a tightening of restrictions two weeks
ago, Israel also began blockading Palestinian communities and
barring residents from leaving. Approval of the grant follows a
United Nations report Tuesday that found Israel's blockade of the
West Bank and Gaza Strip has tripled Palestinian unemployment to 40
percent and wiped out the tentative economic gains of the past three
years. The World Bank said the economy has been further crippled by
work stoppages due to short supplies of materials, movement
restrictions and other related transaction costs.
Full article at: http://www.infobeat.com/fullArticle?article=405230453
*** Iraqis delay agreeing to UN deal
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The Iraqi leadership postponed a decision
Wednesday whether to accept the United Nations' latest extension of
the oil-for-food program, the official Iraqi News Agency reported.
The meeting, headed by President Saddam Hussein, came a day after
the U.N. Security Council renewed the program and unanimously
approved a major increase in humanitarian aid for ordinary Iraqis
trying to cope with a decade of U.N. sanctions. Under the program,
Iraq is allowed to sell oil provided that the revenues are spent on
food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies as well as equipment
needed to maintain its petroleum infrastructure. The sanctions were
imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. In Cairo, Egypt,
Iraq's Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh told The Associated Press
Wednesday that the oil-for-food program has been "a total failure."
Full article at: http://www.infobeat.com/fullArticle?article=405230447
*** Indian troops kill 12 infiltrators
SRINAGAR, India (AP) - Indian soldiers killed 12 suspected Islamic
guerrillas Wednesday as they sneaked across the line that divides
the Himalayan province of Kashmir between India and Pakistan, an
Indian official said. The shooting came hours after India rejected
an offer to hold peace talks with Pakistan, saying it won't discuss
Kashmir with its neighbor until Pakistan stops armed militants from
crossing into Indian territory. India's rejection of Pakistan's
overture was the latest stumbling block in the long saga of Kashmir,
a mountainous province divided between the two nations and claimed
by each. Islamic separatists in the province, who demand either an
independent Kashmir or merger with Pakistan, have fought an 11-year
insurgency against India that has left at least 30,000 people dead.
India says Pakistan arms, funds and trains the guerrillas. Pakistan
maintains that it only provides moral support to the guerrillas and
has no control over their movement across the border.
Full article at: http://www.infobeat.com/fullArticle?article=405230465
*** Palestinian olive harvest shrivels
BEIT JALLA, West Bank (AP) - Farid Shahawan can't remember a worse
olive season. His olive presses are working below capacity because
farmers, confined to their villages by an Israeli blockade, can't
get their produce to him. Across the West Bank, thousands of olive
trees have been cut down by Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers who
say they served as cover for gunmen during the past nine weeks of
fighting, Palestinians say. Some groves remain unharvested because
farmers fear being shot by settlers - one Palestinian has already
been killed and nine wounded in such attacks. Olives play a central
role in towns and villages in the West Bank, even as Palestinians
make the transition from an agricultural to an industrial society.
More than 12 million olive trees cover the rocky slopes of the West
Bank, producing 30,000 tons of oil in a good year and accounting for
up to 20% of agricultural revenue.
Full article at: http://www.infobeat.com/fullArticle?article=405230462
*** Researchers make stem cell advance
LONDON (AP) - Researchers have made unspecialized embryo cells
transform into bone for the first time, an advance that may offer
hope for repairing diseased bones and correcting genetic bone
disorders. Nearly 90% of the mouse embryonic stem cells evolved into
bone nodules when allowed to grow in a lab dish for 21 days, Lee
Buttery, a British scientist, told a symposium on stem cell research
in London on Wednesday. Embryonic stem cells, the predecessors of
all tissue in the body, have become a hot area of medical research
because scientists believe they may eventually be able to treat
scores of diseases by renewing sick body parts with injections of
replacement cells.
Full article at: http://www.infobeat.com/fullArticle?article=405230361
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (fwd) ISRAEL'S NEXT WAR
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 14:49:26 -0500
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Send reply to: "David Dolan" <news@cfijerusalem.org>
From: "David Dolan" <news@cfijerusalem.org>
To: "David Dolan" <news@cfijerusalem.org>
Subject: ISRAEL'S NEXT WAR
Date sent: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 18:21:56 +0200
Three Israelis were shot and wounded, one critically, this afternoon
north of Nablus. The critical man is fighting for his life in a Tel
Aviv hospital, and an injured woman is also in serious shape. The
three were shot at while traveling in a car near the village of Burka.
Soldiers have now surrounded the village. So the trouble continues...
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THE FOLLOWING SPECIAL ARTICLE ON TO
YOUR FRIENDS
ISRAEL'S NEXT WAR
David Dolan
Soon after the new Palestinian uprising began in late September, I
wrote to the few hundred of you getting my early e mail update reports
that I felt the escalating violence could easily lead to a new
regional war. Now, just a little over two months later, Israeli army
and government leaders are saying the same thing, along with
Palestinian, Egyptian, US and UN officials. Some of those comments
have been recorded in my daily updates.
I also wrote that I strongly suspected that the outline for the
seemingly looming conflict might be found in a biblical psalm. This
was the topic of a talk I gave at the Christian Friends of Israel
annual Jerusalem conference in May, 1999. I have found no reason to
change my opinion since then. Indeed, I subsequently wrote about this
in some detail in a chapter that is included in my new book, Israel in
Crisis: What Lies Ahead?
Around 400 of you received a copy of that chapter in early October. I
am sending a few highlights from it below, especially for the vast
majority of you who were not yet receiving these regular updates at
that time. Other versions can also be found in upcoming issues of the
Jewish Voice magazine and the Messianic Times newspaper published in
North America, along with Prophecy Today in England.
LINES ARE FORMING
Let me begin by boldly stating that the outline of a major military
alliance aimed at going to war with Israel is now becoming clear. So
far, it seems to link Syria (and by extension Lebanon), Iran and Iraq
together with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Each country seems to
have its own reason for being involved in such a plot: Iraq to
officially rejoin the Arab world and help break UN sanctions imposed
after its humiliating Gulf War defeat, Iran to further spread its
leadership of the worldwide Islamic fundamentalist movement, and Syria
to try and weaken Israel enough that it will evacuate the entire Golan
Heights, as it did southern Lebanon last May.
However, if I am correct in suspecting that the possibly looming
conflict could very well fulfill an ancient prophecy found in Psalm
83, as detailed below, then at least two other countries listed in
that psalm must come on board: Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Naturally,
both officially backed Arafat's new uprising at the Arab League
emergency summit meeting in late October, as did all the Arab states.
The Saudis even pledged a quarter of a billion US dollars to aid the
uprising, although Arafat has complained that very little money has
flowed his way so far. But neither Riyadh nor Amman is really very
eager to jump on board a ship piloted by Saddam Hussein or the Iranian
mullahs.
Let me digress for a moment and say that I do not think the extensive
plot described in the coming paragraphs existed before the new
uprising began in September. I do suspect that Saddam and Arafat, who
are long-time allies, may have schemed up a plan to "put Israel in a
corner," as the American ambassador to Israel said earlier this week.
But I doubt that Syria, Lebanon and Iran were on board at that point.
In my estimation, they only joined up when Islamic public opinion
became enraged in October over a flood of televised reports pointing
to "naked Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people." I am
certain that Jordan and Saudi Arabia had no inkling of any pending
organized war effort, but they are surely fully aware of it now.
Back to the players listed in Psalm 83. The Saudis could be expected
to financially back any new war effort, if only as a form of
protection money to keep the radicals at bay. On top of that, the
desert kingdom is the earthly seat of Islam, and therefore must at
least give lip service to any holy war struggle to "liberate
Jerusalem" from detested Jewish control.
Jordan is a different matter altogether. It is one of the smallest,
must vulnerable Arab states in the region. Unlike its rich Gulf
cousins, its economy is desperately struggling to keep afloat. More
than this, a majority of its population is of ethnic Palestinian
origin (in other words they or their older relatives originally
resided west of the Jordan River). Not too many of them were happy
when the late King Hussein signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994,
feeling it was premature to do so until all outstanding Arab-Israeli
issues were resolved, especially the fate of refugees and the final
status of Jerusalem. It is important to note that most of Jordan's
Palestinian residents are either refugees themselves or the offspring
of the same.
All this means that the young untested King Abdullah will probably
find it impossible to cling to his father's peace pact with the
increasingly unpopular Jewish State. If he resists the powerful
eastern warfront that is apparently now developing, he may find
himself the target of the same assassination bullets that have been
directed at Israeli embassy personnel serving in Amman in recent days.
One way or another, if I am correct in saying that Israel's next major
war may well be the fulfillment of Psalm 83 (and of course I may NOT
be correct; only God knows for sure), then Jordan must fall in line,
however that occurs.
Below is a bit of the excerpted material from my new book dealing with
this topic. At the very least, I hope you are stirred to prayer by it
in these difficult, but interesting days.
CONSPIRACY
Israeli military analysts say that the 1991 Iraqi long-range missile
strikes on Israel's congested coastal plane were probably a foretaste
of the next major war. It will not be fought on some remote
battlefield like the Sinai desert or the sparsely-populated Golan
Heights, by soldiers backed by tank and artillery fire and supported
by air force jets and helicopter gunships. The next big bust-up, if it
comes, will undoubtedly feature ballistic missile attacks upon urban
centers. Most chillingly, missile warheads are likely to contain
chemical weapons, if not nuclear ones.
Several official scenarios exist as to how Israel's next war might
begin, and who could be involved. They have been drawn up by Israeli
military planners at the request of the government. Although the
projections are supposed to be top secret, some details have been
published by the Israeli and foreign press.
Most war scenarios are said to start with a complete breakdown of the
slow-moving Arab-Israeli peace process, followed by local and then
regional violence. We are already apparently seeing the first part of
this scenario unfold in these tumultuous days. The spark is usually
projected to be the same one that set off the violent new Palestinian
uprising in September--an unresolved struggle over who gets what in
Jerusalem.