"Am I therefore become your enemy,because I TELL YOU THE TRUTH...?"
(Galatians 4:16)

DNC Interfaith Event Reaches Out to the Muslim Brotherhood

The love-feast is about to begin in Denver. The Democratic National Convention will convene beginning on Monday to anoint The One We’ve Been Waiting For as their candidate for President of the United States.Before the convention proper begins, a small prodromal event has been arranged for tomorrow to create the right mood among the party faithful. It’s billed as an “interfaith event”, the progressive equivalent of a tent revival, and a host of stars has been invited to rouse the crowd with that New-Time Religion.According to The Denver Post:
Convention interfaith event announced

By Electa Draper
The Democratic National Convention Committee today announced the program for its first-ever interfaith gathering, which kicks off at 2 p.m. Aug. 24 at Wells Fargo Theater in the Colorado Convention Center.Keynote speakers include Bishop Charles Blake, presiding prelate of Church of God in Christ Inc. and pastor at the West Angeles cathedral in Los Angeles; Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America; social activist Sister Helen Prejean, author of “Dead Man Walking”;and Rabbi Tzvi Weinreb, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union. Grammy-award-winning gospel artist Richard Smallwood & Vision and Denver’s The Spirituals Project will perform the music.The program also will feature readings from diverse religious texts.“Democrats have been, are, and will continue to be people of faith-and this interfaith gathering is proof of that,”((1))said DNCC chief executive Leah Daughtry,herself a Pentecostal pastor.Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter is scheduled to address the event, along with local clergy, including Imam Abdur-Rahim Ali of the Northeast Denver Islamic Center, Rabbi Steven Foster of Congregation Emmanuel, the Rev. Lucia Guzman, Buddhist Kathryn Ida and Democratic leader Polly Baca.
Most readers can guess the kind of show that will be put on. A lot of “Social Gospel” and radical politics can be expected, given the resumés that some of the participants will bring to the pulpit. Sister Catherine Pinkerton, head of the National Catholic Social Justice Lobby. The Reverend Lucia Guzman, the 2008 winner of the ACLU’s Carle Whitehead Memorial Award.The Black Liberation Theology advocate Leah Daughtry will be the MC of the event.But for our purposes, the most intriguing guest speaker is Dr. Ingrid Mattson, President of the Islamic Society of North America. As the Traditional Values Coalition notes:
The presence of Dr. Ingrid Mattson with ISNA at this DNC interfaith service should be of grave concern to American voters.The ISNA is a radical Islamist group that pretends to be moderate. TVC’s friend Frank Gaffney with the Center for Security Policy, recently posted a column about Obama’s Islamist Problem and described the radical background of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Gaffney notes that the ISNA is a creation of the Saudi-financed Muslim Students Association and is part of what’s known as the Muslim Brotherhood. According to documents entered into the trial of the Holy Land Foundation, the “work [of Brotherhood members] in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within, and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.” FrontPageMagazine has more details on the ISNA.
This is Dr. Mattson’s speaker bio :
Dr. Ingrid Mattson is Director of the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, CT. A native of Canada, Dr. Mattson has traveled the world and lived in Pakistan where she worked with Afghan refugee women. In 2001 she was elected Vice-President of ISNA and in 2006 she was elected President of the organization. Dr. Mattson is the first woman and the first convert to Islam to lead the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).
However, there’s a little bit more to Dr. Mattson than meets the eye. As the TVC mentioned above, she’s connected via the ISNA and the MSA to the Muslim Brotherhood. And it turns out to be more than just a casual connection, since she has promoted the works of Sayyid Qutb in a course she teaches at Hartford Seminary.As a service to all the delegates to the Democratic Convention, not to mention everyone who will watch it over the remote screens and on their TVs at home, I’m happy to present a white paper on Dr. Ingrid Mattson. It was compiled by Christine Brim of the Center for Security Policy, and it hoists the good doctor on the petard of her own words:
- - - - - - - - -
Center for Security Policy Research Brief: August 23, 2008
Ingrid Mattson, President of the Islamic Society of North America: In Her Own Words
1)Mattson places loyalty to Islam before loyalty to the United States of America:
“If Muslim Americans are to participate in such a critique of American policy, however, they will only be effective if they do it, according to the Prophet’s words, in a “brotherly” fashion. This implies a high degree of loyalty and affection. This does not mean, however, that citizenship and religious community are identical commitments, nor that they demand the same kind of loyalty. People of faith have a certain kind of solidarity with others of their faith community that transcends the basic rights and duties of citizenship.“
2)Mattson on Americans defining themselves as an ethical nation:
“The first duty of Muslims in America, therefore, is to help shape American policies so they are in harmony with the essential values of this country. In the realm of foreign policy, this “idealistic” view has been out of fashion for some time. Indeed, the American Constitution, like foundational religious texts, can be read in many different ways. The true values of America are those which we decide to embrace as our own. There is no guarantee, therefore, that Americans will rise to the challenge of defining themselves as an ethical nation; nevertheless, given the success of domestic struggles for human dignity and rights in the twentieth century, we can be hopeful.”
3)Mattson denies the existence of terrorist cells in the United States:
“There’s a prejudgment, a collective judgment of Muslims, and a suspicion that well “you may appear nice, but we know there are sleeper cells of Americans,” which of course is not true. There aren’t any sleeper cells.“
4)Mattson defends the extremist Wahhabi interpretation of Islam:
“CHAT PARTICIPANT: What can you tell us about the Wahhabi sect of Islam? Is it true that this is an extremely right wing sect founded and funded by the Saudi royal family, and led by Osama bin Ladin? What is the purpose of the Wahhabi?“MATTSON: No it’s not true to characterize ‘Wahhabism’ that way. This is not a sect. It is the name of a reform movement that began 200 years ago to rid Islamic societies of cultural practices and rigid interpretation that had acquired over the centuries. It really was analogous to the European protestant reformation. Because the Wahhabi scholars became integrated into the Saudi state, there has been some difficulty keeping that particular interpretation of religion from being enforced too broadly on the population as a whole. However, the Saudi scholars who are Wahhabi have denounced terrorism and denounced in particular the acts of September 11. Those statements are available publicly.“This question has arisen because last week there were a number of newspaper reports that were dealing with this. They raised the issue of the role of Saudi Arabia and the ideology there. Frankly, I think in a way it was a reaction to the attempts of many people to look for the roots of terrorism in misguided foreign policy. It’s not helpful, I believe, to create another broad category that that becomes the scapegoat for terrorism.”
5)Mattson on the Islamic Caliphate:
“CHAT PARTICIPANT: Osama bin Laden made a reference that Muslims have been living in humiliation for 80 years. Did he refer to the Treaty of Sevres in 1920 that dismantled caliphates and sultanates?“MATTSON: Yes, he is referring to that, to the overthrowing of the caliphate, which was a plan of European powers for many years. This deprived the Muslim world of a stable and centralized authority, and much of the chaos that we’re living in today is the result of that.“
6)Mattson teaches the Islamist extremists Sayyid Qutb and Syed Abu’l-’Ala Mawdudi in her course at Hartford Seminary — see the syllabus here.
Sayyid Qutb, In the Shade of the Qur’an, translation of Fi Zilal al-Quran by M.A. Salahi and A.A. Shamis (Leicester, UK: Islamic Foundation, 1999), 355-372.Syed Abu’l-’Ala Mawdudi, The Meaning of the Qur’an, translation of Tafhim al-Qur’an by Zafar Ishaq Ansari (Leicester, UK: The Islamic Foundation, 1993), v. 4, 75-107
7)Mattson is quoted as praising Islamist extremist Mawdudi (aka Maududi):
“In response to another question, ‘Please suggest any comprehensive work of Tafseer (Qur’anic commentary) for us Muslim youth,’ she said, ‘There are different kinds of Tafseers. For e.g. there are ones that contain detailed interpretations of grammatical aspects of Qur’anic language. And there are others that serve to explain the general message of Qur’an, coupled with the experiences and insights of the author of the Tafseer. However, there aren’t really any Tafseers that combine the both aspects. So far, probably the best work of Tafseer in English is by Maulana Abul A’la Maududi.“[Background on Abdul ala Maududi here]
To read more go to:
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2008/08/dnc-interfaith-event-reaches-out-to.html
PS:"Democrats have been and are and will continue to be people of faith-and this interfaith gathering is proof of that"
Well part of the statement above is true:Democrats are people of faith....of faith in anything EXCEPT for JESUS....This statement coming from the lips than non other than leah Daughtry a self proclaimed "pentecostal pastor" is a total disgrace and she gives a bad name to true pentecostal believers...
If you know what Black Liberation Theology is all about you can infere that you cannot be truly born again and follow that man made doctrine...How can she stand for what the democratic party stands and call herself a
pentecostal pastor"???????

The part of "this interfaith gathering is a proof of that"...it only proves one thing...is that they believe in anything BUT truly God......You cannot be a truly born again commited christian and be a democrat WITHOUT COMPROMISING YOUR CORE BELIEFS....
Just like Obama a self proclaimed "devout born again christian that prays daily to the Lord"at the same time SUPPORTS AN INFANTICIDE BILL and is a STRONG ABORTION SUPPORTER and PLANNED PARENTHOOD GOOD FRIEND.....
WHat a shame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IF you have the time read the whole post at the Gates of Vienna Blog....Its excellent!!!!!!!!!!
As in the days of Noah....

ISLAMIC CRAZE WATCH:Death to England ..

Friday prayers in Qom (Iran) from a leading cleric....it probably speaks for itself.....

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8a7_1219398687
As in the days of Noah...

Kuwait Has Activated Its Emergency War Plan

Rafsanjani:West using Iran's N-case to bully world

SAHAR TV

As in the days of Noah...

IRGC standing up to US imperialism

Sat, 23 Aug 2008--SAHAR TV

As in the days of Noah...

IRAN calls on U.S.to change its approach

SAHAR TV--Sat, 23 Aug 2008

As in the days of Noah...

Iran's Ahmadinejad in new verbal attack on Israel

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad renewed his verbal attacks on arch-foe Israel on Saturday, accusing it of dragging the world into turmoil and predicting its demise."About 2,000 organised Zionists and 7,000 to 8,000 agents of Zionism have dragged the world into turmoil," Ahmadinejad told a rally in the central Iranian city of Arak carried live on state television. He said that if the West does not restrain Zionism, "the powerful hand of the nations will clean these sources of corruption from the face of the earth," without specifying which nations.Iran does not recognise the Jewish state and Ahmadinejad has drawn international condemnation by repeatedly saying since his election in 2005 that Israel is doomed to disappear.Last month Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie triggered controversy and calls for his resignation when he said Iranians are "friends with Israelis."Israel, the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, accuses Iran of seeking atomic weapons and wants tougher sanctions against the Islamic republic to make it halt its controversial nuclear programme.Iran insists that its nuclear ambitions are purely peaceful and aimed at meeting the country's growing energy needs.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080823205825.ys8eb6lz&show_article=1
As in the days of Noah...

Transit of US naval ships causes outrage in Turkey

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 http://www.presstv.com/

As in the days of Noah....

Russia invasion speeds Georgia NATO membership: U.S.

MOSCOW-Russia has hastened Georgia's march toward membership in NATO by going to war with it over its breakaway province of South Ossetia, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Saturday."I think what Russia has done now is the strongest catalyst it could have created to get Georgia in NATO," U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza, American envoy to the Caucasus, told Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio."This is what is going to happen now. Georgia is going to accelerate its march toward NATO and,I hope,to an action plan in December." The 26-member alliance, which already includes the three former Soviet Baltic states, will convene in December to decide whether to grant Georgia a road map to accession, known as a Membership Action Plan.NATO has promised Georgia, which Russia's considers part of its traditional sphere of influence, that it will one day be admitted to the alliance. But opposition from some European member states has prevented it setting any timeframe.Russia sent its troops into Georgia to defeat an attempt by the country's pro-Western leadership to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Moscow says it acted in its role as a regional peacekeeper to protect South Ossetia, most of whose people have been given Russian passports.But Georgia and its Western allies accuse Russia of going beyond that aim by pushing deep into Georgian territory.
To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah...

Chad floods force 10,000 from homes, kill 3 - U.N.

N'DJAMENA-Floods in southern Chad have forced 10,000 people from their homes and killed three, the United Nations said on Saturday, adding to the toll from seasonal rains spreading destruction and disease across Africa's Sahel region. The United Nations said last week floods had uprooted an estimated 200,000 people across West Africa.Kingsley Amaning,U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Chad, said in a statement on Saturday that 10,000 had lost their homes due to flooding in and around the southern town of Sahr."Torrential rains have been hitting Sahr since late July, and have continued up to the present time," Amaning's office said in a statement."Three people, caught under their collapsing homes, have been reported dead, and eight seriously injured," it said.Seasonal rains fall generally between June and October across Africa's Sahel band, which runs across the continent south of the Sahara. Heavy or prolonged downpours can cause flash flooding and cause mud-built houses to collapse.School teacher Rock Ndotam was one of the lucky ones: part of his house collapsed, but some of it was still standing at the weekend despite waterlogged streets and alleyways in the Mangara district where he lives on the outskirts of Sahr."We are crammed into two rooms along with all the children," the father of seven told Reuters by telephone from Sahr."We haven't received any help yet-we have been registered, but we are still waiting...These are really difficult conditions," he said.U.N. aid workers are concentrating on getting sheeting for shelter, chlorine to purify drinking water, health supplies and nutritional supplements such as high energy biscuits for children and nursing mothers.They are particularly worried about hygiene and spreading disease as flooding had destroyed some 122 latrines and showers."The spread of malaria, diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases, could affect up to 30,000 people," World Health Organisation doctor Dah ould-Cheik said in the U.N. statement.Water-borne diseases are a threat during seasonal rains, which have been particularly heavy in some parts of West Africa this year.Flooding in July forced an estimated 150,000 people from their homes in Benin alone. In neighbouring Togo, France sent troops to help rebuild bridges swept away by rains that killed at least nine people.Further round Africa's Atlantic coast, tiny Guinea-Bissau is struggling to control an outbreak of cholera that has killed at least 59 people since May.
As in the days of Noah...

Tropical Storm Forms in Pacific, Approaches Baja California

MEXICO CITY-Tropical Storm Julio formed off Mexico's Pacific coast on Saturday and was headed toward Baja California Peninsula.The storm was forecast to brush the west coast of the peninsula near Cabo San Lazaro on Monday morning, and make landfall Tuesday further north near Punto Abreojos.Forecasters said Julio was not expected to become a hurricane, though it will likely strengthen. The storm packed maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and was centered Saturday afternoon about 240 miles south-southeast of the tip of the Baja Peninsula, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami."We think it's going to remain a tropical storm. There's not a zero chance of a hurricane but it's very small," said Richard Knabb, a senior hurricane specialist with the center.A tropical storm watch was issued from Santa Fe on the west coast of the peninsula to Buenavista on the Gulf of California.A watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within 36 hours.Julio was moving northwest at 12 mph.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,409443,00.html
As in the days of Noah...

FAY WON'T GO AWAY:Stubborn Tropical Storm Breaks Record

Tropical Storm Fay Makes Fourth Florida Landfall; Death Toll Rises to 10

STEINHATCHEE,Fla.-Tropical Storm Fay crossed into the Florida Panhandle on Saturday, becoming the first storm of its kind in recorded history to hit the state four different times.Fay's center made landfall around 1 a.m. EDT about 15 miles north-northeast of Apalachicola, Fla., according to the National Weather Service's National Hurricane Center.Fay was expected to skirt across the Panhandle's coast Saturday and the coast of Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday, forecasters said. Though Fay never materialized into a hurricane, its zigzagging downpours have been punishing and deadly.Florida authorities said 2 more people were killed by Tropical Storm Fay Saturday, raising death toll to 10. The state attributed an additional death, before the storm hit, to hurricane preparedness after a man testing generators died of carbon monoxide poisoning."The damage from Fay is a reminder that a tropical storm does not have to reach a hurricane level to be dangerous and cause significant damage," said Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who toured flooded communities this week....
To read more go to:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,409321,00.html
As in the days of Noah...

Tropical Storm Fay

Forecasters downgrade Fay to a tropical depression

APALACHICOLA,Fla.-Tropical Storm Fay was downgraded to a tropical depression Saturday night, but cities along the Gulf Coast were still bracing for heavy rain.As a tropical storm, Fay set a record with four landfalls in Florida and was blamed for at least 11 deaths there and another in Georgia, emergency officials said.Though the storm weakened as it traveled inland Saturday, with maximum sustained winds of about 35 mph, cities from Pensacola to storm-wary New Orleans were still preparing for possible flooding."People automatically assume that if it weakens, the hazards go down with it, but in the case of rainfall, it's not a function of wind speed," said Jamie Rhome of the National Hurricane Center. "Slow moving systems dump a lot of rainfall."At 11 p.m. EDT, the tropical depression was 60 miles northeast of Mobile, Ala., and moving west at 8 mph.The forecast indicates the depression could slow in the next few days and possibly stall over southern Mississippi or eastern Louisiana, Rhome said.Thousands of homes and businesses in Florida were inundated with flood waters this week as the storm worked its way north from its first landfall in the Florida Keys and zigzagged across the peninsula.Fay's center made its fourth landfall early Saturday about 15 miles north-northeast of Apalachicola, according to the National Hurricane Center.Rains and strong wind gusts blitzed Tallahassee, the state capital, for more than 24 hours, knocking down trees and power lines and cutting electricity to more than 12,000 customers, city officials said.In southwest Georgia, officials said a boy drowned Saturday while playing in a drainage ditch swollen by 10 to 12 inches of rain.The storm was expected to move over southern Alabama and Mississippi on Sunday.The U.S. Coast Guard in Mobile, Ala., closed numerous ports and waterways between Panama City in Florida and the Alabama coast to the east.Emergency officials in low-lying cities in the storm's path weren't taking any chances.In Alabama, officials opened shelters in the coastal counties of Mobile and Baldwin. Trucks capable of rescuing people from floodwaters were also in place, said Yasamie Richardson, spokeswoman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.In the New Orleans area, which is approaching the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, forecasts called for 1 to 3 inches of rain on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain. In St. Bernard Parish, site of some of the worst post-Katrina flooding, emergency officials were handing out sandbags Saturday.City officials in Slidell, La., where forecasters predicted several inches of rain late Sunday and through Monday, said emergency vehicles had been fueled and workers were on call.Sandbags were also distributed in Ocean Springs, Gulfport and Biloxi on the Mississippi coast. The Air Force Reserve's 403rd Wing evacuated aircraft Saturday from Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi to locations in South Florida and Texas. The 403rd includes planes known as "hurricane hunters" that officials said would be available to continue to monitor Fay.The Gulf Islands National Seashore closed a campground area and four barrier islands to the public. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, R. David Paulison, visited the National Hurricane Center in Miami on Saturday to discuss concerns of flooding on the Gulf Coast if the storm continues to creep on its path, a FEMA spokeswoman said.The 11 people killed in Florida and one in Georgia bring the death toll from Fay to at least 35. A total of 23 died in Haiti and the Dominican Republic from flooding.Fay's wake caused widespread flooding along Florida's east coast, especially in Jacksonville near the storm's third landfall.The Office of Insurance Regulation reported Saturday that roughly 6,700 homeowners filed claims, although only some were because of flooding.Gov. Charlie Crist has asked the federal government to declare the worst-hit areas major disaster areas.Fay had been an unusual storm since it was named Aug. 15. After hitting the Keys Monday, it crossed open water again before hitting a second time near Naples on the southwest coast. It limped across the state, popped back out into the Atlantic Ocean and struck again near Flagler Beach on the central eastern coast. It was the first storm in almost 50 years to make three landfalls in the state as a tropical storm. Its fourth landfall as such was the first in recorded history."This is unprecedented in terms of the slow nature of this storm, the large circulation and the fact that it's impacted probably about 90 percent of the state with heavy rains and severe weather," state meteorologist Ben Nelson said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/tropical_weather_fay
As in the days of Noah...

Six deaths blamed on Fay

Nuri sweeps into China

ISLAMIC CRAZE WATCH:Muslims crack down on transplants for Christians:Report cites plan to ban cross-religion organ donations

A report from the U.S. Copts Association reveals that the Muslim Brotherhood-influenced Egyptian Medical Association is trying to prohibit any organ transplants that would involve a Muslim donor and Christian recipient or vice versa."This is to protect poor Muslims from rich Christians who buy their organs and vice versa," Hamdi Al Sayed, medical association director, said in the report. The association's plan now has been assembled as a bill before the Egyptian parliament, where it is pending.Physicians who are involved in cases where the proposal would be violated would be subject to sanctions, officials said.A spokesman for the Coptic Christian community, Bishop Marcos, said the explanation doesn't support the proposal, since a rich Christian could seek to buy organs from a poor Christian, or a rich Muslim from a poor one."We all have the same Egyptian blood, but if the reason for the measure is to end organ trafficking, we rejected it because it may also occur between believers of the same religion," he said in the report.He warned the proposal is troubling because it could lead to a prohibition on blood donations across religious boundaries, and even result in physicians being prevented from examining and helping patients of religions other than their own.In Egypt, such measures would put Christians at a disadvantage, since they make up only about 10 percent of the 76 million population."We are afraid that in the future there will be hospitals for Christians and hospitals for Muslims," said the bishop in the report.Al Sayed rejected worries about sectarianism in the proposed law, because Muslims are not angered by the plan."It is not about trying to promote differences between religions but it's just to minimize the trade of organs as much as we can," he said.Some Muslims, however, have opposed the move. Abel Mati Bayumi of the Al Azhar Center for Islamic Studies said the plan could result in discrimination against Christians or Muslims inside Egypt.The agenda is being targeted with a court action by the Egyptian Human Rights Union, whose spokesman, Maguib Gibrael, said it "violates human rights, the constitution and national unity.""If the Medical Association does not annull the measure, there will be more conflict between Muslims and Christians," he warned.The Muslim Brotherhood, a primary opposition party in Egypt that has been linked to Islamist movements around the world, is supporting the proposal.Officials do confirm that Egypt has a lively black market for human organs, and during the 1990s there was an effort to limit kidney transplants for non-citizens because of the number of foreigners visiting Egypt seeking transplants.About the same time, a wave of anti-Christian and anti-Western violence was led by several Islamist organizations including Islamic Jihad, authorities said. The death toll, which is ongoing and mostly involves Coptic Christians as victims, has reached 1,300.
PS:Probably ONLY MUSLIM and ONLY CHRISTIAN hospitals wouldnt be such a bad idea,since as you all know muslim women nurses or MDs are having a hard time to lift up their sleeves to wash their hands prior to surgical or other procedures,cause it goes against their beliefs related to women fully covered,and so on....
IF THAT IS SO...I would gladly take a doctor that is not a muslim and will abide by the rules of the OR--specially IF he or she is gonna perform SURGERY on my body.....I wouldnt like to die before time because of AVOIDABLE SEPTICEMIA...
These MUSLIM CRAZE keeps going farther everyday....And then they want RIGHTS in the countries where they have migrated to....
As in the days of Noah...

DECEPTION WATCH:Duped Christians want their money back

FRAUD PASTOR Michael Guglielmucci
ANGRY Christians have condemned disgraced pastor Michael Guglielmucci's cancer hoax as the ultimate act of betrayal - and they want their money back.
His lawyer revealed yesterday that the inspirational preacher was receiving psychiatric help after confessing to faking a two-year battle with terminal cancer.Lawyer Matthew Selley told The Advertiser his client had no plans to report to police despite Pentecostal church officials advising him to reveal details of any cash that may have been raised deceptively.Mr Guglielmucci remained in hiding yesterday but has already made an exclusive arrangement with Channel 7's Today Tonight.Mr Guglielmucci has been described as a Christian superstar, inspiring hundreds of thousands around the world as he performed his hit song Healer with an oxygen tube in his nose.One of those was former Edge Church International member Alex Saint, 24, who bought the music and was touched by his idol's supposed strength.The video editor, who lives near Murray Bridge, felt a connection because his mother had recently died of breast cancer.As a result, he donated a small amount to the now-defunct Facebook page "Praying Together for Mike Guglielmucci"."I believed every word he said. I believed he was going through hell," Mr Saint said."My heart goes out to all the people who have been hurt...to make all this up is extremely crushing for anyone who has gone through cancer.There's no better script than to be dying of cancer and giving glory to God in a Christian context...it's the highest form of fraud."Another believer, Caroline, 46, donated $800 after seeing Mr Guglielmucci perform at the Edge Church at Reynella about five months ago.The grandmother, who is receiving a disability pension, was saving the money to take her four-year-old grandson - who is wheelchair-bound with cerebral palsy - to Sydney for a holiday."I feel like a real idiot," she said. "I saw Michael talk and sing and he's so very charismatic."I decided to donate the money because I thought it could benefit more people, but what a con."But supporters have rallied around Mr Guglielmucci, including former Family First MLC and Paradise Church pastor Andrew Evans, who believes people will turn the other cheek."My gut feeling is that people will forgive him," he said.Mr Evans' son Russell founded PlanetShakers and has preached alongside Mr Guglielmucci.
PS:Now....What about his wife for example????Didn't she know that he was lying???When you are diagnosed with cancer,your espouse is generally right there and involved in the whole thing:labs,tests of all kinds,surgeries,radiation chemo...you name it....I personally know the process....
What kind of cancer he said he had?Did he lose weight?I mean...Im trying to understand how come this con artist and sick in the head individual goes around even to the point of using an oxigen tank and NOBODY...absolutely NOBODY KNEW ANYTHING,of those close to him????
What about hsopital visits,dr.visits.hospitalizations?What about losing his hair to chemo,what about weakness.....
What did he do with all the money he's got?what about his wife,his fellow pastors and ministers?????This is SO UPSETTING!!!!!!!!!!!
This is UNBELIEVABLE.....!!!!!!!!!!!We are truly living in evil days.......
As in the days of Noah...

LAND FULL of VIOLENCE:Bodies litter streets of Somali city

Bodies littered the streets of the third largest city in Somalia on Friday after Islamic fighters took control of the city, residents said.Fighters from the armed Islamic group Al Shabab took control of Kismayo, a port city in southern Somalia, after fighting between tribal militias.Kismayo is 28 miles southwest of Somalia's capital of Mogadishu.Halimo Mohamed Hassan, a mother in Kismayo's Alaney neighborhood, said six bodies were in front of her house."From 9 a.m. this morning, the fighting has intensified, with both sides using a lot of heavy guns including anti-aircraft guns," she said. "My children and I took cover under our beds and we stayed for three hours, till the situation subsided."Hassan said heavily-armed Islamist militias remained on the streets, and the rival clan militia are rumored to have left the city in defeat."There is (a) very harsh humanitarian crisis in the city," said Ali Bashi Abdullahi Igal, head of Fanole human rights group. "The fighting has displaced more than 5,500 people from the city."Fifteen civilians were killed on Friday, he said, including a mother and her two children, ages 3 and 5, who were crushed in their house when it collapsed under heavy anti-aircraft fire.More than 70 people were killed and 168 wounded in three days of heavy fighting between Al Shabab and tribal militias."We are condemning this inhumane acts of violence," Igal said. "Both sides have breached the international laws."There is a lack of medical care for the wounded, with only one doctor and two nurses at the city's only operational hospital, he said. Civilians are "suffering at the hospital," Igal said.

As in the days of Noah...

Somali rebels seize key port as death toll hits 70

KISMAYU, Somalia-Islamist rebels seized control of this strategic port in southern Somalia on Friday after the worst fighting in the area for months killed 70 people, residents said.The loss of Kismayu to the al-Shabaab insurgents was another blow for the interim government, which signed a peace deal with some opposition figures this week that has only seemed to stoke violence racking the Horn of Africa nation.Artillery and gun battles between the rebels and a pro-government clan militia broke out around the port on Wednesday. "Kismayu is under our control. We overpowered them and concluded the fighting," Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, the al-Shabaab spokesman, told Reuters by telephone."We're still chasing those fighters who ran away. The situation is calm and we urge the people to stay peaceful."Local rights activists and residents said 70 people died in three days of clashes. Scores were wounded.Since the start of last year, al-Shabaab rebels have been waging an Iraq-style insurgency of mortar attacks, roadside bombings and assassinations, targeting the fragile interim administration and its Ethiopian military allies.This year, Washington officially listed al-Shabaab as a terrorist organization with close ties to al Qaeda.
To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....

1st time: Entire 'Lost tribe of Israel' allowed 'home':Indian group believes its lineage includes biblical patriarch Joseph

JERUSALEM-After years of diplomatic wrangling, the Israeli government has given permission to a community of Indian citizens who believe they are one of the "lost tribes" of Israel to move legally to the Jewish state.This decision, first reported in Israel's Maariv newspaper, clears the way for the arrival here of 7,232 members of the Bnei Menashe. They believe they are the descendants of Manasseh, one of the biblical patriarch Joseph's two sons and a grandson of Jacob.Yesterday the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz newspapers quoted an official in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office denying the government approved the immigration of the Bnei Menashe, stating Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit, whose office oversees the process of immigration and absorption, refused to sign off on the deal.But a source close to the immigration negotiations affirmed to WND the Bnei Menashe indeed have been cleared to move to Israel.The source said government officials were upset the story was leaked to Maariv before the approval decision was formally announced. The source added Olmert's office even had a press release written and ready to go announcing the decision.Over the last decade, several organizations, most notably Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based immigrant organization working with the "lost" Jews, brought more than 1,000 members of the Indian group to the Jewish state, where they were successfully integrated into religious Israeli society, holding professional jobs, attending universities, becoming rabbinic leaders and serving in the Israel Defense Forces.The original batches of Bnei Menashe to arrive here came as tourists in an agreement with Israel's Interior Ministry. Once in Israel, the Bnei Menashe converted officially to Judaism and became citizens.But diplomatic wrangling halted the immigration process in 2003, with officials from some Israeli ministries refusing to grant the rest of the group still in India permission to travel here.To smooth the process, Shavei Israel's chairman, Michael Freund, enlisted the help of Israel's chief rabbinate, who flew to India in 2005 to convert members of the Bnei Menashe, a process stopped last year by India.Freund then coordinated with the Israeli government the arrival of batches of a few hundred Bnei Menashe as tourists who would later convert, but that process was halted after Sheetrit took office in July 2007. Apparently Sheetrit now has had a change of heart and has agreed to allow in the remaining Bnei Menashe.Tribe members live in the two Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, to which they say they were exiled from Israel more than 2,700 years ago by the Assyrian empire.According to Bnei Menashe oral tradition, the tribe was exiled from Israel and pushed to the east, eventually settling in the border regions of China and India where most remain today. Most kept customs similar to Jewish tradition, including observing Shabbat, keeping the laws of Kosher, practicing circumcision on the eighth day of a baby boy's life and observing laws of family purity.In the 1950s, several thousand Bnei Menashe say they set out on foot to Israel but were quickly halted by Indian authorities. Undeterred, many began practicing Orthodox Judaism and pledged to make it to Israel. They now attend community centers in India established by Shavei Israel to teach the Bnei Menashe Jewish tradition and modern Hebrew.
As in the days of Noah...

Israel, US and Turkey in Joint Mediterranean Naval Exercise

Reliant Mermaid IX, air and naval forces in action
Naval vessels take part in Reliant Mermaid IX

Helicopters and Navy forces in Reliant Mermaid IX
Israel was the host this week for Reliant Mermaid IX, a joint search and rescue (SAR) exercise in the Mediterranean Sea involving the air and naval forces of Israel, the United States and Turkey.The two-day SAR maneuvers were held in international waters off the coast of Israel. The objective of the trilateral Reliant Mermaid exercises is to practice coordinated emergency search and rescue procedures, as well as life-saving measures at sea. By enhancing their interoperability, cooperation and coordination, the Israeli, Turkish and American forces will be able to respond more efficiently and rapidly to potential maritime emergencies, as well as to provide effective humanitarian assistance when called upon to do so.This year was the ninth that the IDF, Turkish and American military forces held joint SAR maneuvers. The first Reliant Mermaid exercise took place in January 1998. It was decided at the time that the three navies should become familiar with each other's capabilities because they all regularly ply the Mediterranean Sea. The coordinated maneuvers were designed to improve the effectiveness of a joint American-Israeli-Turkish response in the event of an actual emergency rescue operation. Turkey has also hosted the exercise and the armed forces involved in previous years.Syria has called the joint SAR exercise "a sinister alliance" between the US, Turkey and Israel. With territorial ambitions in Turkey and Israel, Syria has a history of confrontation along its borders with both states. Iran, as well as Syria, denounced Reliant Mermaid as part of an American plot to project its power in the Mediterranean through an alliance between the nations involved in the joint operations.In recognition of their common adversaries - including Syria, Iran and fundamentalist Muslim terrorists - Israel and Turkey signed a military cooperation agreement in 1996.
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
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Terror Victims Sue Bank Of China for Ties with Hamas

More than 100 victims and relatives of targets of Arab terrorist attacks have filed an historic suit in Los Angeles against the Bank of China, which transferred hundreds of millions of dollars to Hamas and Islamic Jihad between 2004 and 2007. The suit, filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court Thursday, details how the bank wired money through its American branches to an account in China used by the terrorist groups.Israeli counterterrorist personnel met with Chinese officials in 2005 to demand it cease from transferring more money, but the bank, with the approval of the Chinese government, continued to wire money for Hamas and Islamic Jihad.Among the victims and families whose attorneys filed the criminal and civil suits are the parents of four-year-old Afik Zahavi, who was killed four years ago in a Kassam rocket attack on Sderot as he returned home from a pre-school facility. Other plaintiffs include the families of two men who were murdered in a suicide bombing at an Eilat bakery last year.Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner charged that the Bank of China "even had the chutzpah to make these funds transfers through its U.S. branches right under the nose of the Justice Department, despite the fact that Hamas and the Palestine Islamic Jihad are designated terrorist organizations and that such wire transfers are a crime under American law. We expect the Bank of China to now pay very heavily for its support for terrorism."
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
As in the days of Noah...

Al Qaeda's Influence Grows in Israel; Israeli Bedouin Indicted

Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and police brought charges on Friday against a Be'er Sheva area Bedouin was who was arrested four weeks ago for plotting to contact Al Qaeda terrorists and suggesting to a friend to carry out a suicide bombing. A gag order on the arrest was lifted Friday.The friend turned down his proposal to carry out an attack.The terrorist was identified as Abu Rakik, a 24-year-old former student at a technological college and a resident of the Bedouin town of Tel Sheva, near Be'er Sheva. He allegedly tried to contact a Gaza terrorist linked with the Al Qaeda network, headed by Osama Bin Laden, with the intentions of setting up a local cell.Authorities said Rakik also had downloaded from the internet instructions on how to manufacture a bomb. The indictment is the latest in a growing number of arrests and charges against Israeli Arabs linked to the international terrorist organization, which government officials several years ago dismissed as having any influence on Arab and Bedouin citizens living in the Jewish state.Last month, four Israeli Arabs, including two from eastern Jerusalem, were arrested for trying to establish an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade cell.Al Qaeda's sights on Israel go back at least until 2002, when the organization was behind the double attack on Israelis in Kenya. Then-Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said at the time, "Our hand will reach them," referring to the Al Qaeda terrorists.A government spokesman stated after the attacks, "The road from 9/11 through Chechnya to Bali and now Mombasa is a clear one", and then-Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned that the attacks showed the dangers of setting up a new Arab state within Israel's current borders. Intelligence experts warned the government after the withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza three summers ago that Al Qaeda might step up attacks in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and that several of its terrorists crossed into Gaza from Egypt. Hizbullah deputy secretary-general Sheikh Naim Qassem told the Christian Science Monitor two years ago, after the Second Lebanon War, "Small [Al Qaeda] groups can infiltrate in and out very quickly. Weapons are available everywhere. It is not complex. These are not large groups of people. Just two or three who plan for a while and then launch several rockets."Al Qaeda has used language in its propaganda similar to that of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, with such statements as, "The rockets fired at the grandchildren of monkeys and pigs from the south of Lebanon were only the start of a blessed in-depth strike against the Zionist enemy."
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
As in the days of Noah....

UK Loses Memory Stick With Data on 130,000 Criminals...

Confidential information on almost 130,000 prisoners and dangerous criminals has been lost by the Home Office, sparking yet another Government data crisis.

The loss of the details, which were stored on an unencypted computer memory stick, has raised fears that the taxpayer may now face a multi-million pound compensation bill from criminals whose safety may have been compromised and police informants who could be at risk of reprisals.The home addresses of some of Britain's most prolific and serious offenders-including those who have committed violent and sexual crimes-are understood to be among the missing data.A full investigation is now underway to find the memory stick-containing information on all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales, including some release dates, plus details of 43,000 most serious and persistent offenders-which was descibed as a 'toxic liability' by David Smith, the Deputy Information Commissioner.The Conservatives have said taxpayers will be "absolutely outraged" and demanded that Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, make a statement on the incident. Dominic Grieve, the shadow Home Secretary, said he was "absolutely horrified" by the breach and the "government incompetence" that he said caused it. The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: "Charlie Chaplin could do a better job of running the Home Office than this Labour Government."Mr Grieve said: "The Home Office is entrusted with a great deal of highly confidential material and it seems to be entirely incapable of keeping it secure. And the consequences are very serious. They're serious because it may lead to the identity of the people involved being revealed."One of the possible consequences is that criminals will bring legal actions against the government and the taxpayer will then have to pay damages to people, who appear to be pretty undeserving, because of the government's incompetence."The breach is the latest blow to Miss Smith in her efforts to reform the Home Office, which was described as "not fit for purpose" by her predecessor, John Reid. Miss Smith is said to be furious.The new scandal follows the loss of 25m child benefit records last year and details of millions of learner drivers and army recruits earlier this year. Whitehall departments were ordered to tighten procedures in the wake of the previous crises and the latest loss has stunned insiders.A Home Office spokesman said that the memory stick had been lost by PA Consulting, a private company they employed to track and analyse serious and prolific offenders in the "JTrack" programme. The Home Office sent the personal details on the criminals to the company on a secure encrypted email, which was then transferred in an unencrypted form on to the memory stick, which was then lost.The spokesman said the Home Office was first told by PA Consulting on Monday that the data might be missing, and that this was confirmed on Tuesday. The transfer of any further data to PA Consulting has been suspended pending an investigation.Home Office officials are now in discussions with the Information Commissioner about what steps it may need to take to protect those whose privacy has been jeopardised. The Deputy Commissioner said last night that "searching questions must be answered" before it decides what further action to take.The stick contains information such as home addresses on 33,000 individuals who have committed at least six offences in the past year. There is also data on about 10,000 people regarded as "prolific and other priority offenders" by the Government. Details of all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales including expected release dates and dates of home detention curfews - are also on the stick, as well as information about drug treatment programmes.Keith Vaz, a Labour MP and Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said the implications of the loss of prisoners' data were "very, very serious indeed"."If you hand out memory sticks almost like confetti to companies that are meant to do research for you, then you need to be absolutely certain that when you give such information away, the company concerned have put into practice procedures that are just as robust as the procedures that I hope the Government has followed since the loss of the child benefit data," Mr Vaz said.The Deputy Commissioner said: "It is deeply worrying that after a number of major data losses more personal information has been reported lost. It is vital that sensitive information, such as prisoner records, is held securely at all times."The Home Office has informed us that an internal report will be carried out into the data security arrangements between the Home Office and its contractor, PA Consulting. We expect the Home Office to provide us at the Information Commissioner's Office with a copy of the report and its findings. We will then decide what further action may be appropriate. Searching questions must be answered about what safeguards were in place to protect this information.A spokesman for PA Consulting, which has also helped to develop the national ID card scheme, refused to comment.

By Robert Winnett and Jon Swaine

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/2601056/Data-on-130000-criminals-lost.html

As in the days of Noah...

Tropical Storm Fay dumps on Florida

Raw Sewage-Filled Floodwaters Prompt Fay Health Warnings:State Officials Warned About West Nile Virus

ORLANDO, Fla.-Flood victims of Tropical Storm Fay were warned about rivers of raw sewage possibly flowing through some Florida neighborhoods.The state's surgeon general, Ana Viamonte Ros, notified Floridians Thursday about fecal matter danger created by the stalled weather system."We just wanted to reiterate again the importance of making sure children do not play in flooded areas," Viamonte Ros said. "We have had reports of raw sewage in some of these flooded plains. Please make sure children (stay out) because there could be downed powered lines (and) there is sewage."Septic tanks flowed over in a subdivision in Merritt Island and leaked into streets near the Colony Park subdivision.Several adults and parents were videotaped swimming in the streets during a Local 6 report.It's like swimming in a toilet and it's very dangerous, Local 6's Jessica D'Onofrio reported.Officials warned that within the sewage water is harmful bacteria and viruses that pose threats.State officials warned about West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne illness in connection with Fay floodwaters.The Department of Health recommends you avoid the outdoors during dusk and dawn, wear clothing that covers skin and to use Deet as a repellant."Remember as well there are potentially dangerous wild animals that will seek higher ground so beware of those as well," Ros said."Most deaths that occur in storms are because of flooding," Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp said Thursday.The reference is to water moccasins, other snakes and alligators, Local 6's Steven Cooper reported.The Department of Health said residents should not wade through standing water. If residents must wade through floodwater, they are urged to bath and put on clean clothes afterward.
Gov. Crist Tours Flooded Cities
Initial damage estimates for a one of the most flooded cities in Central Florida will top $10 million and leave hundreds of homes with water damage.Several hundred homes in Melbourne have three to four feet of standing water inside of them Thursday after days of pounding rain from Tropical Storm Fay, Local 6's News partner Florida Today reported.The city of Melbourne's emergency manager said the $10 to $12 million damage estimate does not include the Lamplighter Village community-which is submerged under chest-high water.Gov. Charlie Crist toured Lamplighter Village-a community of 600 homes near Interstate 95-in a swamp buggy."I couldn't believe all of the water," Crist said.Crist said the area is the worse hit-by far, Local 6's Adam Longo reported."We've lived through several hurricanes and (I have seen) nothing like this," flood victim Timothy Tucker said.There is still about four or five feet of standing water in and around Lamplighter homes."I saw water in my house and I'm like, 'Oh my God,'" Lamplighter Village resident Wayne Wyckoff said. "Cars were stuck and wreckers were pulling them out and I knew that I was going to lose everything. Everything is flooded. I lost everything."The National Guard has been the only personnel allowed into the subdivision to help the remaining people still inside their homes.There are five shelters in the county with about 106 people inside. However, the number was expected to grow Thursday night.Also, the Department of Natural Resources said a preliminary estimate of damage to the Brevard County beaches is about $2.6 million.
Tourist Drowns
A woman on vacation with her husband in Daytona Beach died after being pulled from the ocean, which is producing rough waves and rip currents because of Tropical Storm Fay, Beach Patrol officials said."This is a sad thing for us," Scott Petersohn said. "This is what we've been trying to avoid this whole Fay event."The 35-year-old woman from New York, whose name has not been released, was pulled to shore Thursday afternoon by bystanders and taken to Halifax Hospital, where she later died, Petersohn said.According to Beach Patrol officials, the couple, who was staying at a Daytona Beach hotel, went for a swim in the ocean when a large wave crashed down on them. The woman's husband was able to make it back to shore, but the woman vanished after apparently being knocked unconscious. She was then pulled to shore.No lifeguards were on duty, but Beach Patrol officials have been warning beachgoers to stay out of the water because of the dangers presented by Tropical Storm Fay."It's a sad thing to have something like that happen," Petersohn said.The death marks the first Fay-related fatality in Central Florida.

As in the days of Noah...

Typhoon Nuri Weakens After Hitting Chinese Coast

A man takes a photograph on the waterfront during typhoon Nuri in Hong Kong August 22, 2008
Destroyed vehicles are seen after the scaffolding of a building still under construction collapsed due to typhoon Nuri, in which two people were injured, at a residential district in Hong Kong August 22, 2008.
HONG KONG-Typhoon Nuri, which shut down much of Hong Kong for a day, was gradually weakening on Saturday after making landfall in China, though it disrupted hundreds of flights and left three people dead in Guangdong province.Hong Kong, which was forced to cancel or delay hundreds of flights when Nuri made a rare direct hit on the city on Friday faced an aviation crunch early on Saturday as thousands of stranded passengers flocked to the airport.
One passenger interviewed on Hong Kong's Cable television said the situation was "very disorganized" though the backlog of flights was slowly beginning to clear.The city's major carriers Cathay Pacific and Dragon Air had cancelled most of their flights yesterday.The typhoon was the most severe to hit Hong Kong in five years, toppling scaffolding and trees.Dozens of people were injured and one man who went swimming was washed away by heavy swells.The typhoon has now been downgraded to a weak tropical depression.In China's provincial capital of Guangzhou an expressway traffic sign toppled, crushing a van and killing three passengers, the Xinhua news agency reported.The force 8 to 10 winds which hit the eastern part of the province and the Pearl River Delta, disrupted hundreds of flights there and in the gambling hub of Macau.
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Russian withdrawal "in progress"

Talk of Russia-Cuba ties seen as warning to U.S.

HAVANA-Cuba and Russia have stirred memories of their Cold War alliance with recent talk of restoring "traditional" ties in what experts said was a warning to their old adversary, the United States.Russia, once the island's top economic benefactor and military ally, has hinted at re-establishing a military presence in Cuba in a tit-for-tat for U.S. activities in Eastern Europe, including plans for a missile defense system, they said."Russia is clearly irritated at what it perceives as U.S. meddling in its neighborhood," said Cuba expert Phil Peters at the Lexington Institute in Virginia. "It seems to be sending a message that if you play on our periphery, we'll play in yours."The ghost of Cuba-Russia relations past was raised last month by a news report that Russia might use Cuba as a refueling base for its nuclear-capable bombers. The Russian Defense Ministry later denied the report.Such action would cross a "red line," said a U.S. Air Force general in language that brought to mind the 1962 Cuban missile crisis when the United States and Russia, then the Soviet Union, almost went to war over Soviet missile bases on the island 90 miles from Florida.Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin went to Havana this month on what was billed as an economic trip and, accompanied by Russian Security Council Secretary Gen. Nikolai Patrushev, and met with Cuban President Raul Castro.The security council, which guides Russian national security policy, said in a following statement the two countries planned "consistent work to restore traditional relations in all areas of cooperation."Prime Minister Vladimir Putin chimed in later, saying, "We need to re-establish positions on Cuba and in other countries."
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KNOWLEDGE SHALL INCREASE:Surgeons prepare for world’s first full-face transplant

Following success of partial transplants, British surgeons are among those aiming to conduct first full-face transplants
Three years after the world’s first partial face transplant, significant progress has been made with two further successful operations.A 30-year-old man who had part of his face torn off by a bear and another with a disfiguring tumour have had their quality of life transformed after partial transplants using tissue from deceased or comatose donors, surgeons in China and France report.A French woman, Isabelle Dinoire, received the first partial face transplant in 2005 after she was attacked by a dog.British surgeons are among those aiming to conduct the world’s first full-face transplant but this procedure would carry significant ethical and psychological risks, experts say.The surgeons, writing today in The Lancet medical journal, said that partial face transplants can restore sensation, movement and communication for injured or paralysed patients up to two years after surgery.There are risks, however, and any candidates would have to take powerful drugs for the rest of their lives to stop their immune systems rejecting the new tissue, they said.In one case an unnamed patient from a remote village in Yunnan province, south China, was attacked by a bear in October 2004 and lost his left eye, nose and much of his upper lip and left cheek. Doctors decided to go ahead with a face transplant after an initial attempt to repair the damage with tissue from the patient’s left forearm failed. The face donor was a 25-year-old man who had died in a road accident. After consent was obtained from his family, the operation was performed in April 2006.Shuzhong Guo, from Xijing Hospital and Fourth Military Medical University in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, led the team of surgeons. During an 18-hour operation they reconnected blood vessels and nerves, and repaired the nose, lip and sinuses. Four drugs were used to suppress the patient’s immune system and to decrease the chances of tissue rejection. Other drugs were given to prevent infection.Dr Guo said: “After transplantation, the patient’s facial appearance was greatly improved...the patient was able to eat, drink and talk normally.”Eight months after the operation, the man was able to feel heat and cold on the transplanted side of his face, he added. Dr Guo said that the patient’s body tried to reject the donor tissue three times, at three, five, and seventeen months after transplantation.
While these reactions could be controlled, the required drugs have side-effects that carry an increased risk of cancer and other diseases, the researchers say. In a second case a French team was able to help a 29-year-old man with a massive tumour known as a neurofibroma that disfigured and paralysed the middle and lower parts of his face.The donor was a brain-dead patient with a beating heart. The operation, led by Professor Laurent Lantieri, from Henri Mondor University Hospital in Creteil, France, took place in January last year and lasted 15 hours.The patient made a good recovery and began full-time work 13 months later.Facial transplants have sparked an ethical debate because of the risks when the condition is not life-threaten-ing, problems of tissue rejection and issues for a donor’s family.Peter Butler, clinical director of surgery at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, North London, is among those hoping to attempt the first full-face transplant. Ethical permission has been obtained from the hospital and he hopes to carry out the operation within 12 months.
By David Rose
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PAGAN WATCH:Crocodile Eats Man Who Sought its Blessing

Khan Jahan Ali shrine pond, from where the croc came-according to muslims.....
A marsh crocodile, at Khan Jahan Ali shrine pond at Bagerhat.The people from the mosque calls the crocodile to them and you could then pet the crocodile for a small donation
A CROCODILE killed and ate a 25-year-old man in Bangladesh after he waded into a pond next to a shrine hoping to be blessed by the animal, police say.Inspector Humayun Kabir said Rubel Sheikh and his mother travelled 50km from their home to visit the Muslim Khan Jahan Ali shrine, where the attack happened.Kabir said hundreds of people visit the shrine every day to offer hens and goats to the five crocodiles living in the pond. Part of the ritual involves bathing in the water."He went into the pond hoping to be blessed when a crocodile attacked him and dragged him into the deep part of the pond,'' Kabir said."This is a very unusual incident. Normally, the crocodiles are very friendly and do not harm people.'' Kabir said about 25 people dived into the pond following the attack yesterday, but could not find the man's body.It washed ashore today and had been largely eaten, he said.
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PESTILENCE WATCH:Jump in US Measles Cases Linked to Vaccine Fears

ATLANTA - Measles cases in the U.S. are at the highest level in more than a decade, with nearly half of those involving children whose parents rejected vaccination, health officials reported Thursday.Worried doctors are troubled by the trend fueled by unfounded fears that vaccines may cause autism. The number of cases is still small, just 131, but that's only for the first seven months of the year. There were only 42 cases for all of last year."We're seeing a lot more spread. That is concerning to us," said Dr. Jane Seward, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Pediatricians are frustrated, saying they are having to spend more time convincing parents the shot is safe."This year, we certainly have had parents asking more questions," said Dr. Ari Brown, an Austin, Texas, physician who is a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics.The CDC's review found that a number of cases involved home-schooled children not required to get the vaccines. Others can avoid vaccination by seeking exemptions, such as for religious reasons.Measles, best known for a red skin rash, is a potentially deadly, highly infectious virus that spreads through contact with a sneezing, coughing, infected person.It is no longer endemic to the United States, but every year cases enter the country through foreign visitors or Americans returning from abroad. Measles epidemics have exploded in Israel, Switzerland and some other countries. But high U.S. childhood vaccination rates have prevented major outbreaks here.In a typical year, only one outbreak occurs in the United States, infecting perhaps 10 to 20 people. So far this year through July 30 the country has seen seven outbreaks, including one in Illinois with 30 cases, said Seward, of the CDC's Division of Viral Diseases.
None of the 131 patients died, but 15 were hospitalized.Childhood measles vaccination rates have stayed above 92 percent, according to 2006 data. However, the recent outbreaks suggest potential pockets of unvaccinated children are forming. Health officials worry that vaccination rates have begun to fall-something that won't show up in the data for a couple of years.The vaccine is considered highly effective but not perfect; 11 of this year's cases had at least one dose of the vaccine.Of this year's total, 122 were unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status. Some were unvaccinated because the children were under age 1-too young to get their first measles shot.In 63 of those cases-almost all of them 19 or under-the patient or their parents refused the shots for philosophical or religious reasons, the CDC reported.In Washington state, an outbreak was traced to a church conference, including 16 school-aged children who were not vaccinated. Eleven of those kids were home schooled and not subject to vaccination rules in public schools. It's unclear why the parents rejected the vaccine.The Illinois outbreak-triggered by a teenager who had traveled to Italy-included 25 home-schooled children, according to the CDC report.The nation once routinely saw hundreds of thousands of measles cases each year, and hundreds of deaths. But immunization campaigns were credited with dramatically reducing the numbers. The last time health officials saw this many cases was 1997, when 138 were reported.The Academy of Pediatrics has made educating parents about the safety of vaccines one of its top priorities this year. That's partly because busy doctors have grown frustrated by the amount of time they're spending answering parents' questions about things they read on the Internet or heard from TV talk shows.In June, the CDC interviewed 33 physicians in Austin, suburban Seattle and Hollywood, Fla., about childhood vaccinations. Several complained about patient backlogs caused by parents stirred up by information of dubious scientific merit, according to the CDC report.Questions commonly center on autism and the fear that it can be caused by the measles shots or by a mercury-based preservative that used to be in most vaccines. Health officials say there is no good scientific proof either is a cause. Also, since 2001, the preservative has been removed from shots recommended for young children, and it was never in the measles-mumps-rubella combination vaccine. It can still be found in some flu shots.
Brown said she wrote a 16-page, single-spaced document for parents that explains childhood vaccinations and why doctors do not believe they cause autism. She began handing it out this spring, and thinks it's been a help to parents and a time-saver for her."People want that level of information," she said.At least one outbreak this year of another preventable disease was blamed on lack of immunizations. At least 17 children were sick with whooping cough at a private school in the San Francisco Bay area, and 13 were not vaccinated against the disease, which can be fatal to children.
On the Net:
The CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

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PERSECUTION WATCH:Christian Theology Students Forced off Campus by Mob of Islamic Hard-liners

JAKARTA, Indonesia-Hundreds of Christian theology students have been living in tents since a mob of angry Muslim neighbors stormed their campus last month wielding bamboo spears and hurling Molotov cocktails....
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QUAKEWATCH:Strong earthquake jolts Uzbekistan's capital

--Strong earthquake jolts Uzbekistan's capital
--Earthquake Jolts Tokyo
--Second China quake in same area kills 3 and injures hundreds
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Typhoon targets Hong Kong

Syria:"We'll Host Russian Missile System"

Third Hit From Fay Leaves Florida Under Water

Typhoon Nuri shuts down Hong Kong

HONG KONG-Hong Kong was buffeted by gale force winds on Friday as typhoon Nuri churned toward the major financial hub, with most of the city and its markets shut down ahead of a direct hit by its worst typhoon in five years.The tropical cyclone signal was upgraded to the No. 9 signal at 1340 p.m. Hong Kong time (1:40 a.m. EDT) as typhoon Nuri closed in on the city after wreaking a path of destruction in the northern Philippines.
The last time a storm of such severity hit Hong Kong was in September 2003 with typhoon Dujuan.Over two hundred flights were cancelled or delayed by noon.Howling winds swept across the former British colony early on Friday and white-tipped waves thrashed in Victoria harbor.
Streets were largely deserted, shops shuttered, with trees and scaffolding being toppled by gale force winds of up to 94 kph recorded in parts of the territory.In China, 250,000 people were being evacuated from coastal areas in southern Guangdong province in what weather forecasters there are calling the strongest typhoon to hit the province this year, the South China Morning Post reported.Much of Hong Kong ground to a standstill, with the closure of financial markets and offices, along with schools, courts and most public transport services.
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QUAKEWATCH:Second China quake in same area kills 3 and injures hundreds

BEIJING-A second earthquake in two days in the same county of southwest China killed at least three people and injuring hundreds....
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Algeria Hit by New Bombings