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

'Brain Interfaces' Let Players Control Video Games With Thoughts, Not Thumbs

Thumbs. Who needs 'em?Technology developers are poised in the next month to debut new "brain-computer interfaces," which will allow video game players to control their PlayStations and Xboxes with their thoughts, not their fingers.The devices are powered by neurosensors, attached to points on the scalps of players, where the "Alpha," "Theta" and "Beta" brain waves can be detected, according to researchers.These sensors are connected to the game controls, which move the on-screen characters left or right, up or down, faster or slower, depending upon the thoughts of the players. "Frontlines," "Doom" and "Tetris" may never be the same again."The technology is similar to the electroencephalogram that neurologists and other doctors use to measure brain activity," said Domenic Greco, a doctor of clinical psychology and the founder of SmartBrain Games, a developer in San Marcos, Calif. "It's a neuro-feedback system which sends a signal of brain activity to a specially designed game controller."These consumer technologies have been in development for years, but there will be "announcements that are coming in the next month with several collaborators," said Stanley Yang, CEO of NeuroSky, a developer of BCI sensors based in San Jose, Calif. "This is with well-known companies."Some of the developers are keeping details very closely guarded, however."We very much appreciate your interest in Emotiv Systems and would love to keep you updated on all the news," said spokeswoman Susanna Hughes in San Francisco. "Unfortunately, at this time Emotiv will not be able to participate as the team is very much focused on development of the product, but there will be some announcements in the next couple of months."
• Click here to watch a YouTube clip demonstrating Emotiv's brain-controller interface.
Flight Simulators
The secretive culture surrounding the technology development is somewhat understandable, as these kinds of technologies first emerged in government laboratories.NASA developed brain-computer interfaces for flight simulators at its Langley space flight center during the 1990s, and earlier this decade it licensed the technology to SmartBrain Games.Other developers emerged out of the fringes of the medical sector, where experimental brain-computer interfaces were used by psychologists and neurologists and other clinicians to train children with ADD how to concentrate or quadriplegics how to use their limbs again after an accident.These kinds of technologies emerged a few years ago and worked with an array of off-the-shelf games and game platforms. But they were designed for doctors, not for consumers, as the outputs were still similar to those seen on brain wave monitors at hospitals."One of the major challenges was that individuals had to come to an office of the doctor-psychologists, pediatricians, neurologists-and the doctors would administer the training," Greco said."That was the downside professionals needed to monitor this training, listening for feedback, and coach patients through it."With the new consumer versions of this technology coming to market, consumers may see several benefits of this kind of brain training in addition to the excitement of playing a game without hand controls.One benefit is that players can "improve their general concentration and focus," Greco said. "That has a lot of potential with the aging of the baby boom."They can also improve their ability to relax, as stressful thoughts will speed up a game, and cool, calm and collected thoughts will slow things down on-screen, Greco said."You can also check other mental states- like attention and focus," Yang added.This feature can also alter the game, in real-time, making it more challenging to play if the sensor detects that the player is bored in the early stages of play. "If the game is trying to detect your focus, it would be on a zero to 100 scale," Yang said.
There are other applications available in the lab, but the developers aren't rushing out to market with them."We have a lot of different capabilities, but we're only releasing capabilities that are proven for everybody," Yang said."There is a big difference between science and engineering-engineered products work for everybody all the time."We try to go the engineering way-not pushing out all of our technologies, but only those that are tested in various temperatures, humidity and with different age groups. We want this to be viewed as a mature, wearable technology."Scientists said there may be side-effects to the technology, as there are with all new innovations.Greco is concerned that consumers may get into a relatively relaxed brain state, characterized by "Alpha" waves-the same brain waves present when one is about to sleep-then go out to the garage and try to drive a real car, with adverse consequences, such as an accident.Said Greco: "When you start messing with the brain, that raises concerns."

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WHERE THEOLOGY and TERROR MEET...

Established in 1963 by the by the Saudi-funded Muslim Students' Association of the U.S. and Canada, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) calls itself the largest Muslim organization on the continent. Its annual convention draws more attendees-usually over 30,000-than any other Muslim gathering in the Western Hemisphere. ISNA's mission is to function as "an association of Muslim organizations and individuals that provides a common platform for presenting Islam, supporting Muslim communities, developing educational, social and outreach programs and fostering good relations with other religious communities, and civic and service organizations. "ISNA focuses heavily on providing Wahhabi theological indoctrination materials to a large percentage of the 2,500+ mosques in North America. Many of these mosques were recently built with Saudi money and are required, by their Saudi benefactors, to strictly follow the dictates of Wahhabi imams -- an edict that affects the tone and content of the sermons given in the mosques, the selection of books and periodicals that may be read in mosque libraries or sold in mosque bookshops, and the policies governing the exclusion or suppression of dissenters from the congregations.Through its affiliate, the North American Islamic Trust-a Saudi government-backed organization created to fund Islamist enterprises in North America-the Saudi-subsidized ISNA reportedly holds the mortgages on 50 to 80 percent of all mosques in the U.S. and Canada. Thus the organization can freely exercise ultimate authority over these houses of worship and their teachings.Writes Kaukab Siddique, the editor of New Trend, an Islamic periodical of extremist views that is nonetheless opposed to Wahhabi domination of American Islam: "ISNA controls most mosques in America and thus also controls who will speak at every Friday prayer, and which literature will be distributed there."Islam scholar Stephen Schwartz describes ISNA as "one of the chief conduits through which the radical Saudi form of Islam passes into the United States."According to Sufi leader Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani's testimony before a State Department Open Forum on January 7, 1999, extremists have taken over "more than 80 percent of the mosques in the United States ... This means that the ideology of extremism has been spread to 80 percent of the Muslim population, mostly the youth and the new generation." Kabbani based his statement on his personal investigation of 114 American mosques. "Ninety of them," he said, "were mostly exposed, and I say exposed, to extreme or radical ideology, based on their speeches, books and board members." This is largely due to the efforts of ISNA.According to terrorism expert Steven Emerson, ISNA "is a radical group hiding under a false veneer of moderation"; "convenes annual conferences where Islamist militants have been given a platform to incite violence and promote hatred" (for instance, al Qaeda supporter and PLO official Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi was invited to speak at an ISNA conference); has held fundraisers for terrorists (after Hamas leader Mousa Marzook was arrested and eventually deported in 1997, ISNA raised money for his defense); has condemned the U.S. government's post-9/11 seizure of Hamas' and Palestinian Islamic Jihad's financial assets; and publishes a bi-monthly magazine, Islamic Horizons, that "often champions militant Islamist doctrine." Adds Emerson: "I think ISNA has been an umbrella, also a promoter of groups that have been involved in terrorism. I am not going to accuse the ISNA of being directly involved in terrorism. I will say ISNA has sponsored extremists, racists, people who call for Jihad against the United States."WTHR, an Indianapolis television station located close to ISNA's Plainfield, Indiana headquarters, said it had found "about a dozen charities, organizations and individuals under federal scrutiny for possible ties to terrorism that are in some way linked to ISNA."
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Gay Sex, Hamas-Fatah and Videotape

The Hamas-Fatah power struggle has descended into the gutter over the past few days, with both parties trading allegations about the involvement of their members in homosexual relations and adultery.The alleged "sex scandals" are said to have occurred in the Gaza Strip, which fell into Hamas's hands in June.Shortly after the Islamist movement wrested control of the Strip, Hamas officials began talking about "embarrassing" and "damning" documents and films that were seized inside Palestinian Authority security headquarters formerly controlled by Fatah.According to the officials, the Fatah men had been spying on several senior PA officials, some of whom were caught on tape having homosexual intercourse.A DVD distributed among a limited number of Hamas representatives features a former PA official having sex with another man. The disc, according to a Palestinian journalist in Gaza City, is being sold on the black market for NIS 20.Hamas says the PA's Preventive Security Force played a major role in collecting the evidence against the senior PA officials. In some cases, Hamas said, the documents and tapes were used to extort large sums of money from the PA officials.Two documents that were allegedly seized inside Preventative Security Force headquarters provide insight into the method used to collect information about the sexual conduct of the top officials.According to one document, entitled "A Large Number of Homosexuals," a number of wealthy and influential figures in the Gaza Strip had formed a "gang" for practicing homosexual intercourse."Some of them were summoned for questioning and they admitted to having sexual intercourse with boys and adult males," the document, dated May 12, 2005, stated."Some of them had individual sex, while others preferred group sex. Some of them paid money for sex, while others performed sexual intercourse with males in front of their wives."The sex allegedly took place in hotels, clinics and private homes - in some cases with a picture of Yasser Arafat hanging overhead.The document described the homosexuals as a "very dangerous group" and warned that the phenomenon might spread to other parts of the Gaza Strip, adding that rival political factions could exploit the case to defame Fatah and "create chaos and confusion."The second document is a follow-up to the first.Entitled "Results of Questioning," it names four homosexuals who allegedly had sexual relations with senior Fatah officials in the Strip.The four supposedly blackmailed the officials after filming them during sexual intercourse. "Since we are talking about top Fatah figures, there is a need to summon them and talk to them," the document, dated May 19, 2005, concluded.A Hamas official in the Gaza Strip said the documents were the "tip of the iceberg" and that his movement was planning to reveal more evidence about Fatah's "moral corruption. "The official said Hamas had already posted a short video on the YouTube Web site showing used condoms that were found inside the offices of senior Fatah security commanders and political figures.Another Hamas official said his men had uncovered three brothels that had been frequented by top Fatah officials in the Gaza Strip.Fatah officials in Ramallah refused to comment on the latest allegations. However, they stressed that it was not hard to forge such documents since Hamas was now in control of the security headquarters and of all the archives and files inside the buildings.But a respected Palestinian journalist in Gaza City who examined the two documents said there was no reason to doubt their authenticity.In a bid to counter the Hamas campaign, Fatah members have published details about "sex scandals" involving Hamas activists.According to Fatah, a Hamas imam was recently caught having sex with a male minor in a mosque basement.In another incident, according to Fatah, a senior member of Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, was expelled from his refugee camp after he was caught having sex with a male colleague in a vehicle. And according to a report on a Fatah-controlled Web site, a Hamas man was caught naked together with his neighbor's wife in her bedroom."These Hamas people are very immoral and corrupt," said a senior Fatah official. "They use Islam as a cover-up for their crimes. But our people know very well who they are dealing with. We have a lot of information about the moral corruption of many Hamas officials and we will make them public at the right time."

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The Violent Oppression of Women in Islam

The booklet that you are about to read details some of the principal ways in which women suffer in the Islamic world – often with religious and cultural sanction. Many of these crimes against women, such as wife-beating, are ordained by the Qur’an itself; others, such as female genital mutilation and honor killing, are praised by Islamic clerics and hallowed by Islamic culture. That feminists in the West remain silent about this deeply ingrained and institutionalized mistreatment of women, and even ally with groups that have devoted themselves to the spread of Islamic law that justifies this mistreatment, is one of the unconscionable scandals of our time.This article is a segment of a series being run as part of our nation-wide campus effort, Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, which will be held on 200 university and college campuses on October 22-26. Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is a national effort to focus on all the victims of Islamo-Fascist Jihad -- as well as to counter the lies of the academic Left, which seeks to deny the evil, and even the very existence, of our enemy in this terror war. In this way, Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week hopes to educate American students and to enable them to rally to defend their country.In terms of the booklet of our subject today, its cover is a still photograph that epitomizes Islamic oppression of women, and it has come to also epitomize the Western feminist non-response to it. The picture comes from a Dutch film called De Steen (The Stone), directed by Mahnaz Tamizi, and features the actress Smadar Monsinos. The Stone dramatizes the barbaric treatment of women in Islamic countries. It accurately depicts the reality of Islamic Sharia law regarding adultery: when a couple is caught in adultery, the man is jailed while the woman is stoned to death.It is a telling indication of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Left that it has fastened upon our use of this picture to try to discredit Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, since the photo does not depict an actual event-as if women weren’t being stoned to death under Sharia law in Iran and some other Muslim countries today. In reality, eight women are currently in prison in Iran awaiting death by stoning for the crime of adultery. A mother was sentenced to be stoned to death in Iran for adultery just last week. It is typical of the Left to try to cast opprobrium not upon those responsible for these harsh realities, but upon us who are trying to draw attention to them in the name of human rights.It may have seemed inconceivable that feminists and their allies would defend those who bury women in the earth and kill them by throwing large stones at them, but that is the ultimate thrust of the Left’s outcry against our use of this picture and against Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week in general. Such are the ironies of our troubled age.In this booklet are realities that should be of paramount concern not just for feminists in the West and their allies on the Left, but of all those who are concerned with the universality of human rights and the dignity of every human being.
To read this booklet, click here.

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Islamic Jihad:IAF missed group's cell

The air force fired a missile at a car in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday afternoon, but apparently missed the intended targets and wounded some passersby instead. The attempted strike wounded three civilians, Islamic Jihad and Palestinian medical officials said. The three were lightly to moderately wounded, according to Palestinian sources.The IDF said it attacked the car because it was carrying terrorists involved in firing rockets and mortars at Israel.Thursday night a Kassam rocket fell in the Nir Am region, but caused no damage. Twelve mortars were fired at Israel from Gaza over the holiday and three landed in a community in the south-western Negev. No one was wounded and no damage caused.Meanwhile, in the West Bank, an officer was lightly wounded Thursday afternoon when rocks were thrown at IDF forces in Bil'in. He was initially treated at the scene and then transferred to the hospital for further treatment. Rocks were also thrown at an Israeli vehicle southeast of Kalkilya. No one was hurt but the car sustained damage.At the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus, soldiers discovered two knives on a Palestinian on Thursday evening during a routine check. The knives, seven and 11 centimeters long, were confiscated and the man was turned over to the security services for questioning.On Wednesday, a Palestinian was killed by IDF fire during a raid in southern Gaza, Palestinian doctors said. The IDF said that during an operation against terror infrastructure, the force identified an armed Palestinian and wounded him. Nearby, a Hamas gunman was killed when an RPG he was handling went off. The IDF also said that two outposts along the security fence in central Gaza came under fire, but no one was wounded and no damage was caused.
Elsewhere, a Hamas gunman died of wounds in an explosion blamed on Israel. However, Israel denied involvement. Meanwhile, Hamas said a member was killed digging a tunnel near the Israeli border. Two others were hurt.

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A Call To Persevere

"But ye,beloved,building up yourselves on your most holy faith,praying in the Holy Ghost.
Keep yourselves in the love of God,looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
And of some have compassion,making a difference:
And others save with fear,pulling them out of the fire;hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."
Jude 1 :20-23
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Bush to Syria: Stay out of Lebanon

President George W. Bush warned Syria Thursday against interfering in Lebanon's presidential elections, and said he is sending the US's top military commander in the Middle East to Beirut to see how Washington could do more to help Lebanon fight extremists. "The United States strongly supports the success of democracy in Lebanon," Bush said after meeting with Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority in Lebanon's parliament."The United States is more than just an admirer. We want to help as best as we possibly can."The Lebanese parliament failed last week to elect a president because of a boycott by the Syrian-backed opposition. Lawmakers have been unsuccessful so far in efforts to reach agreement on a consensus candidate between the pro-government camp and the opposition. The anti-Syrian coalition is led by US-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, also a close ally of Hariri, and the opposition is led by the Syria-backed Shi'ite Muslim group Hizbullah."I am deeply concerned about foreign interference in your elections," Bush told Hariri, adding that many nations have called on Syria to stay out. "We expect Syria to honor that demand," he said.The parliament put off another session until Oct. 23 on the issue of choosing a successor to President Emile Lahoud, who steps down Nov. 24. More than 15 declared or undeclared candidates are vying for the post, three of them from the pro-government camp and one from the opposition.If the deadlock persists, some fear the country could end up with two rival governments battling for primacy, much like in the last two years of the country's 1975-1990 civil war.Hariri, a billionaire businessman who is close to the Saudi royal family, leads the largest bloc in Parliament and is tapped to possibly be the next prime minister under a new president. He has in recent days repeatedly stressed the need to reach agreement to elect a president to avoid a power vacuum.Syria is routinely accused by the US and others of being Lebanon's proxy ruler and of fomenting instability in the country. It also has been accused by many in a series of assassinations of top Lebanese officials, including Hariri's father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, slain in a massive 2005 truck bombing."We've had members of our parliament being killed," Hariri said, sitting at Bush's side at the White House after their 45-minute meeting. "This action is taken by terrorists that want to finish our democracy. We will stay resolved, we will stay focused on our democracy.We will not let those who want to destroy our democracy succeed."Damascus has denied involvement in the assassinations. It was the Hariri killing which ignited the huge protests that forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after a three-decade occupation.Bush said an international tribunal looking into the Hariri and other assassinations needs to move more quickly."That tribunal is taking too long to get started," he said."The international community must work more quickly to stand up this tribunal so people will be held to account."The United States has provided military assistance to Saniora's government to help it fight Hizbullah and other radicals. Bush said Adm. William Fallon, commander of US forces in the Middle East, would travel to Lebanon to see what more could be done."We respect your country and we understand the obstacles that you face," Bush told Hariri.

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NAZI REVIVAL WATCH:Prague bans march in its Jewish quarter

Prague City Hall said Thursday it had banned a march planned for next month by a right-wing extremist group through the Czech capital's Jewish quarter.The planned march, which was condemned by Jewish leaders in Prague, was banned because it would lead to "inciting hatred and intolerance of citizens because of their nationality, origin and religious faith," City Hall said in a statement.The march was scheduled to take place on Nov. 10, a day after the anniversary of Kristallnacht-the 1938 night of terror when the Nazis attacked synagogues and Jewish homes and businesses throughout Germany and parts of Austria.The march was organized by the Young National Democrats,which is linked to the National Resistance, a neo-Nazi group. Organizers said it was meant to protest the deployment of Czech troops in Iraq.Members of the Jewish community, including the Jewish Museum director Leo Pavlat and community leader Frantisek Banyai, said last week they considered the march to be an insult to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.On Thursday, Banyai welcomed the ban, saying the Jewish quarter was not "a proper place to march.""It was clear from the first moment that they had something else in mind" from their stated purpose of protesting troop deployments in Iraq, Banyai said.City Hall initially said banning the march would not be possible, after a municipal court overturned another ban on a similar march in December.Nearly 120,000 Jews lived on Czech territory before World War II; 80,000 did not survive the Holocaust. The Czech Republic currently has only a tiny Jewish community of several thousand.

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IAEA chief urges patience with Iran

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency Mohamed ElBaradei urged the world to give Iran more time to prove its nuclear intentions are peaceful, warning in an interview published Thursday that attempts to isolate Teheran are boosting its hard-liners. ElBaradei has come under sharp US criticism over moves that Washington sees as appeasing Iran - particularly a deal he negotiated for Teheran to explain outstanding questions over its nuclear program.He defended the strategy in an interview with the state-run Egyptian daily Al-Ahram as a test for Iran to "show good intentions.""This situation, which might continue for two or three months, is an investment in peace," said ElBaradei, an Egyptian, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.He warned that the standoff between the West and Iran over the nuclear issue was adding "more fuel to a burning fire" in the Middle East."The area is going through one of its worst moments and we cannot add more confrontations.""In my opinion what we should do now is to encourage Iran to cooperate because any attempt to isolate Iran ... means the hard-liners will take over the driving seat," he said."Today, no one talks about Iran having a nuclear weapon. Even Western intelligence agencies say that Iran has the intention but needs three to eight years to get this weapon," he said.The United States and its allies accuse Iran of secretly trying to develop a nuclear warhead, while Teheran insists its nuclear program is aimed only at generating electricity. Iran has refused UN demands that it suspend uranium enrichment, a key process that can be used in developing a bomb or the fuel for a reactor.The United States has pushed ElBaradei to focus on the enrichment suspension. But in July, he reached a deal with Iran for it to explain a series of issues that have raised suspicions over its program and clear its record by year's end.
Washington accused the IAEA chief of overstepping his authority, though it later endorsed the deal - while underlining it does not clear Iran of the need to suspend enrichment. Elbaradei denies he is freelancing.Six key nations and the European Union agreed last week to delay until November a new UN resolution that would toughen sanctions against Iran, waiting to see if Teheran answers questions about its disputed nuclear program. The UN has twice imposed limited sanctions on Iran for the refusal to suspend enrichment.

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Hizbullah getting stronger in Lebanon

When 30,000 UN troops and Lebanese army soldiers were deployed across southern Lebanon at the end of last year's Israel-Hizbullah war, Hizbullah's presence shrank in the villages and hills facing the Israeli border and its influence seemed likely to diminish as well. But more than a year later, the Lebanese guerilla group appears to be again solidly entrenched across the country's south - looking, in fact, as if its fighters never really left but merely went underground. The Shiite Muslim militia's banners hang everywhere, boasting of the "divine victory" over Israel and thanking its chief sponsor, Shiite-majority Iran, for helping with post-war reconstruction. Judging from villagers' reports, the militia's recruitment of young men is booming and its popularity is firm.A few things are different. Hilltop posts near Israel once held by Hizbullah are now in control of the Lebanese army. And the UN peacekeepers are helping the army to establish its authority and maintain a buffer zone between the Litani River and the border - from 3 miles to 18 miles at various points - that's supposedly free of Hizbullah fighters.But in general, Hizbullah appears to be in a strong position north and south of the Litani, both in its political wing and as a militia. And the group - whose name means Party of God - says it is ready to fight again should Israel attack.It's unclear how much Hizbullah, which is labeled a terrorist group by the United States but not by the European Union, has been able to beef up its missiles pointed toward Israel and other weaponry. Israel has complained arms have been smuggled from Syria, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Syria and Iran to cooperate with Lebanese authorities to prevent weapons shipments into the country.Villagers across the south point to various places they say are arms depots for Hizbullah, but it was not possible to verify their statements.In the village of Barflay, about 10 miles north of the border, a middle-aged woman pointed to a low building nestled in trees and brush and announced, "That one there is the party's warehouse for weapons." The woman asked that her name not be used for her safety, and it seemed unwise to go near to the building.Hizbullah boasts that it is both everywhere and nowhere, meaning it's hard to tell who's a civilian and who's a fighter."Hizbullah is not from Mars, they're the people of this land," said Hussein Ayoub, a 40-year-old Shiite in the nearby village of Selaa. Ayoub said he lost six cousins last year when Israeli planes bombed two houses in Selaa."They are among us, even if we don't see them," interjected his uncle, Ahmed Ayoub."That guy over there may be a Hizbullah, or that one," he said, pointing to his son, who's really a policeman, not a militiaman.
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Iranian minister: US can't launch war because of cost to taxpayers

Iran's foreign minister said Wednesday the United States is not in a position to launch a war against Iran because American taxpayers are already saddled with the very costly war in Iraq.
Nonetheless, Manouchehr Mottaki accused US President George W. Bush's administration of engaging in a "psychological war" and raising the option of a military strike every six months over the last two years.At some point during each six-month period, he said, "we were receiving information which looked very exact - in some specific hour and date the strike will take place."
While the US maintains that all options including a military attack remain on the table, Mottaki said "Our analysis is clear. US is not in a position to impose another war in our region against their taxpayers."

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SIGN of the TIMES:Historic Georgia Congregation Leaves Episcopal Church

SAVANNAH, Ga.-Leaders of one of Georgia's oldest churches have voted to leave the Episcopal Church over its liberal interpretation of Scripture and acceptance of homosexuality. The decision by leaders of Christ Church, established in 1733, could prompt a legal battle over ownership rights to the church building and property in downtown Savannah.Christ Church leaders have been at odds with the denomination for years, particularly after the Episcopal Church consecrated an openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, in 2003. Georgia's Episcopal bishop says the Savannah church's building and property belong to the denomination rather than the breakaway congregation, but Christ Church leaders say their parish existed long before the Episcopal Church was formed.
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Ukrainians carry Gospel from their homeland to Kazakhstan

PAVLODAR, Kazakhstan-Roman Gopanchuk gestures with his left hand and leans forward to explain a Scripture passage to his home Bible study group in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan.Just outside the living room door, Gopanchuk's 8-year-old son Timofey plays with Russian-speaking children. After a year of repeated asthma attacks, Timofey can finally breathe freely. And with their son's health restored, so can Roman and his wife Viktoria.The Gopanchuks first considered serving as missionaries in Kazakhstan after reading an article about Pavlodar in a quarterly magazine published by the Ukrainian Baptist Union. As they learned about the need for missionaries there, Viktoria says her son's asthma played a significant role in their decision to move from their home in Lutsk, Ukraine."We were thinking and praying a lot about what to do because treating him and the medicine, they didn't help," Roman says. "Some people advised us to move from where we had lived."Roman and Viktoria contacted Franz Tissen, president of the Baptist Union of Kazakhstan, who invited the Gopanchuks to serve in Pavlodar."Living in the Ukraine, we were absolutely sure God wanted us in Kazakhstan," Roman says. "And when we arrived here, one of the brightest examples is that our son has not had an asthma attack since we came here."Because of Ukraine's wealth of religious freedom and its strategic geographic location connecting Russia to the West, Ukraine is commonly considered the "bread basket" of Christianity in the former Soviet Union.In fact, since the collapse of communism 15 years ago, the Ukrainian Baptist Union has planted 1,900 churches. But despite the growing number of church plants, Bible institutes and theological education programs in Ukraine, fewer than 2 percent of Ukrainians profess to be evangelical believers. "We still have a lot to do here," says Mick Stockwell, International Mission Board strategy associate for Ukraine, Belarus and satellite regions. Until now, he explains, Ukraine has been a receiving culture. "Everything's been about what people bring to them; what people do for them. They are just now working on what it means to go on mission trips, to be called, to search and know God's will."Since July 2005, IMB missionary Joe Ragan has partnered with both Ukraine and Kazakhstan Baptist leaders to recruit Ukrainian believers like the Gopanchuks to serve as missionaries to Kazakhstan.Because of Kazakhstan's diverse population, Ragan explains, missionaries have a unique opportunity to reach a wide range of people groups with the Gospel. Just over half of the Central Asian nation's population is ethnically Kazakh, while the remaining inhabitants are comprised of Russians, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Germans and various other ethnic groups."For me, the important thing is for Ukrainians to discover there's a world outside of Ukraine, and that they can be a part of that work," Ragan says. "Many of them have probably seen American missionaries come to their country and do mission work. And so they never thought that they, themselves, could be a part of something like that and go to another country."The Gopanchuks are only one of several Ukrainian families who have spoken with Ragan about the possibility of relocating to Kazakhstan to serve as long-term missionaries. As Ukrainian believers begin to leave their homeland to share Christ in other parts of the former Soviet Union, Stockwell and Ragan agree Ukrainians have access to places where Americans might have difficulty serving."An American passport is not always welcome in every country simply because they know we're a 'Christian' nation," Ragan says. "But Ukrainians don't have that history. So they have more opportunities to go all around this world, especially in countries closed to the Gospel."Although the Kazakh government has placed some restrictions on missionary work in the country, Ragan says believers can work within the context of those restrictions and still complete their missionary task of planting churches.For the Gopanchuks, the primary goal is to plant churches in a city of 350,000 people, where only one Baptist church exists."If God wants us to create another church here in Pavlodar," Roman says, "I don't know how much time it will take, but I know it's all in God's hands, and He can do everything."

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PERSECUTION WATCH:Despite recent murder,ministry climate in Jharkhand state deemed good

To read these news go to:
http://persecuted-church.blogspot.com/2007/10/despite-recent-murderministry-climate.html
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Pakistan OKs vote, but results must wait

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-On the eve of Pakistan's presidential vote, the country's highest court ruled Friday that no winner can be declared until it decides whether President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is an eligible candidate. Musharraf pushed toward an alliance with a former premier signing an amnesty clearing her of corruption charges. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's party said it was still waiting for formal notification about the amnesty, but welcomed what many saw as the culmination of long-running power-sharing negotiations.Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the president had signed the National Reconciliation Ordinance, dropping corruption cases dating from between 1986 and 1999. The ordinance also amends rules to protect from fraud parliamentary elections due by January.An official at the presidency, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said the ordinance had become law.Musharraf's own standing, however, is likely remain unsure for some time yet. His opponents in Saturday's presidential election are contesting whether he can run for office while still serving as army chief, claiming it is unconstitutional. They had asked the Supreme Court to delay the vote.In a ruling Friday, presiding Justice Javed Iqbal said the vote by the national and provincial assemblies could take place on schedule. But he said the official results could only be announced after it had ruled on the petitions.He said hearings will resume on Oct. 17-meaning that even if Musharraf receives the most votes, as widely expected, he would have to wait at least 11 days before knowing whether he could take up office.His current presidential term expires Nov. 15."Pakistan will be in a state of political limbo for quite some time," said analyst Talat Masood.The government said it would respect Friday's decision."We have always accepted and respected court rulings, and we also accept today's ruling," Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim said.Still, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said government lawmakers were determined to re-elect Musharraf on Saturday and forecast that the election process would "proceed unhindered."A lawyer for retired justice Wajihuddin Ahmed, Musharraf's chief presidential rival and one of the petitioners, acknowledged that the triumph was partial."We have achieved 60 percent victory," lawyer Khan told The Associated Press outside the courtroom. "We are very hopeful that we will be successful in the Supreme Court."Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, has seen his authority and popularity slide since he made a botched attempt to fire the Supreme Court's chief justice in March. His administration has also struggled against a wave of Islamic militancy.He has promised to quit his army post and restore civilian rule by Nov. 15 if he wins re-election.However, Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum said on Geo television that he might continue as military chief if the court proceedings drag on.Qayyum said he hoped a ruling would come within a week after hearings resume. He also said the unofficial result of the election could still be announced after Saturday's vote, although the official notification would have to wait for the ruling.The Election Commission declined to say whether there would be a fresh election or if the second-placed candidate would become president, if the winner of Saturday's ballot was disqualified.Ikram Sehgal, a political analyst and newspaper columnist, predicted Musharraf's allies would cast a proportion of their ballots for Senate chairman Mohammedmian Soomro, who was fielded in the event that Musharraf is disqualified.Bhutto's party has also nominated a candidate, but with the political deal with Musharraf in the offing, it was not immediately clear whether he would run or not.Other opposition parties have already quit Parliament to erode the legitimacy of the election-meaning that they can muster few votes to challenge Musharraf and his covering candidate. On Friday, 35 lawmakers resigned from the assembly in North West Frontier Province.The amnesty appeared likely to head off a threat from Bhutto to withdraw her Pakistan People's Party lawmakers from the assemblies.Hassan Ahmed Bukhari, the spokesman for the party in London, said it was waiting for formal notification of the measure granting her amnesty but added it would help "create a better environment in the country. We hope that this will pave the way for national reconciliation in the country."Bhutto, who plans to return from exile on Oct. 18, also wants a constitutional amendment to let her seek a third term as prime minister and a reduction of the president's sweeping powers.Officials in her party said those issues could be resolved later.

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Report says Communist Chinese company wants minority interest in U.S. cyber firm

An anti-communist activist says he's absolutely appalled that a Communist Chinese-owned company wants to buy into an American firm that provides cyber security technology to the Pentagon.D.J. McGuire, president of the China e-Lobby, recently read a report in the Weekly Standard that said Huiwei Technologies wants to become a minority shareholder in 3Com Corporation -- the company that provides the technology the Pentagon relies on to prevent the sort of cyber attacks the Chinese themselves launched several weeks ago."Basically [we would be] allowing them a stake in a company whose job it is to help prevent the hacking that they instigate against us," McGuire explains.To allow that, he says, would be akin to allowing a German or Japanese company to buy into a top-secret World War II project. "It'd be the equivalent of allowing Krupp or Mitsubishi into a minority stake on someone working on the Manhattan Project," he argues.And it could very well be the most dangerous buyout in the history of the United States military, if not in the history of the United States, he adds. "We're really talking about the crown jewels, if you will, of American cyber-defense," he laments. "And if this deal goes through, this is what Huiwei Technologies is going to get a piece of."McGuire says it is fortunate that the deal hinges on the approval of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which may not let it go through.

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Christian activists to witness at homosexual pride event, despite judge's ruling

The threat of arrest will not stop pro-family activists from bringing a gospel witness to a homosexual pride event this weekend in Philadelphia.On Sunday, the annual homosexual pride event known as "Outfest" will take place on the streets of Philadelphia. Three years ago, 11 Christians with Repent America were arrested and jailed for witnessing at the annual taxpayer-funded event. Since then, a federal lawsuit has been filed against the city of Philadelphia and Philly Pride Presents, Inc.-organizers of Outfest-for violation of civil rights.U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Stengel ruled for the defendants in a summary judgment earlier this year, claiming the police were allowed to discriminate against the Christians out of safety concerns. However, Repent America director Michael Marcavage says although they may be arrested, Christians will be at Outfest on Sunday. "Scripture does teach that we must obey God rather than men. And God has called us to be a light in the darkness of Outfest. And the Bible teaches, in Romans Chapter 10, "How will they hear without a preacher?" says Marcavage.Marcavage says the Christians with Repent America do not have a message of hate. Instead, he says, the pro-family activists are motivated by God's love to warn sinners of the judgment to come and to speak the truth, regardless of the consequences. He stated that Judge Stengel's decision is that "if you have a contrary message at an event, the police-in concert with the organizers-can exclude you because you have a contrary message." He also argues that the ruling is a forerunner of what would commonly occur should hate crimes legislation become law.

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Jesus is asked for a sign from heaven.....

The Pharisses also with the Saducees came,and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.
He answered and said unto them,When it is evening,ye say,it will be fair weather:for the sky is red.
And in the morning,It will be foul weather today:for the sky is red and lowring.O ye hypocrites,ye can discern the face of the sky;but can ye not discern the times?
A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign:and there shall no sign be given unto it,.but the sign of the prophet Jonas.And he left them,and departed.
Matthew 15 : 1-4
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Zimbabwe a disaster, Merkel tells South Africa's Mbeki

Robert Mugabe is presiding over a disaster in Zimbabwe but should still be entitled to attend a forthcoming Europe-Africa summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday.
Summing up talks in Pretoria with President Thabo Mbeki, who is a mediator between Zimbabwe's opposition and President Mugabe's ruling party, Merkel said she had made clear her disquiet about the situation across South Africa's northern border. "The situation is a very difficult one. It's a disastrous one, which I very clearly stated in our conversation," the German leader told a press conference with Mbeki during her first sub-Saharan Africa tour.She declined to back calls for Mugabe to be barred from a summit between African Union and European Union leaders in Lisbon in December, which British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has threatened to boycott if the Zimbabwean head of state attends.
Merkel said she had consistently argued for all African countries to be invited to the summit and they should decide for themselves who should attend."I also said (to Mbeki) that obviously we will make all our assessments heard. We will also raise all our criticisms. We would do so in the presence of each and everyone and obviously each and everyone has the right to attend."During our presidency of the European Union (earlier this year) we worked very much to prepare the ground for the upcoming EU-AU summit ... and we want this summit to indeed open a new chapter in the relationship between our continents."The crisis in inflation-ravaged Zimbabwe dominated the talks on the first full day of a three-day visit to South Africa by Merkel, who flew in late Thursday from Ethiopia, where the AU is based.For his part, Mbeki expressed confidence that elections in Zimbabwe next year would be free and fair, saying he had detected a mood of cooperation among all sides in talks that he has hosted in his role as a mediator."There was a common determination to conclude them (the talks) as quickly as possible," said Mbeki."We are confident they will reach an agreement on all of these matters so, at least as far as the political challenges are concerned, there was a united voice," Mbeki told the news briefing."Both the ruling party and opposition are committed to making sure the elections are free and fair. Next year after the elections it will be very important they take the same approach with regard to economic challenges that they together evolve a common approach."Mbeki was tasked earlier this year by fellow regional leaders with mediating between Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change after some of its leaders were assaulted by the security forces.Merkel meanwhile also told Mbeki that Germany was ready to help South Africa prepare for the 2010 football World Cup after staging the tournament last year."This will open up an opportunity to project a new image for your country and indeed for the continent as a whole," she said.Merkel toured the site where the stadium for the 2010 final is being constructed in Soweto, where she wished South Africa "all the success for 2010" after being welcomed by local organising committee head Danny Jordaan."The World Cup consolidated the Germans as a nation," said Jordaan."There weren't anymore East Germans and West Germans, just Germans. Here, we have blacks and whites ... We want to be one nation after the World Cup.Mbeki earlier praised Germany's hosting of last year's event."We are very fortunate to be holding the FIFA World Cup after Germany. It enables us to draw on your success...We will remain in close contact about this," he said.

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KNOWLEDGE SHALL INCREASE:New Plastic Is Strong As Steel, Transparent

Science Daily-By mimicking a brick-and-mortar molecular structure found in seashells, University of Michigan researchers created a composite plastic that's as strong as steel but lighter and transparent. It's made of layers of clay nanosheets and a water-soluble polymer that shares chemistry with white glue.Engineering professor Nicholas Kotov almost dubbed it "plastic steel," but the new material isn't quite stretchy enough to earn that name. Nevertheless, he says its further development could lead to lighter, stronger armor for soldiers or police and their vehicles. It could also be used in microelectromechanical devices, microfluidics, biomedical sensors and valves and unmanned aircraft.Kotov and other U-M faculty members are authors of a paper on this composite material, "Ultrastrong and Stiff Layered Polymer Nanocomposites," published in the Oct. 5 edition of Science.The scientists solved a problem that has confounded engineers and scientists for decades: Individual nano-size building blocks such as nanotubes, nanosheets and nanorods are ultrastrong. But larger materials made out of bonded nano-size building blocks were comparatively weak. Until now."When you tried to build something you can hold in your arms, scientists had difficulties transferring the strength of individual nanosheets or nanotubes to the entire material," Kotov said. "We've demonstrated that one can achieve almost ideal transfer of stress between nanosheets and a polymer matrix."The researchers created this new composite plastic with a machine they developed that builds materials one nanoscale layer after another.The robotic machine consists of an arm that hovers over a wheel of vials of different liquids. In this case, the arm held a piece of glass about the size of a stick of gum on which it built the new material.The arm dipped the glass into the glue-like polymer solution and then into a liquid that was a dispersion of clay nanosheets. After those layers dried, the process repeated. It took 300 layers of each the glue-like polymer and the clay nanosheets to create a piece of this material as thick as a piece of plastic wrap.Mother of pearl, the iridescent lining of mussel and oyster shells, is built layer-by-layer like this. It's one of the toughest natural mineral-based materials.The glue-like polymer used in this experiment, which is polyvinyl alcohol, was as important as the layer-by-layer assembly process. The structure of the "nanoglue" and the clay nanosheets allowed the layers to form cooperative hydrogen bonds, which gives rise to what Kotov called "the Velcro effect." Such bonds, if broken, can reform easily in a new place.The Velcro effect is one reason the material is so strong. Another is the arrangement of the nanosheets. They're stacked like bricks, in an alternating pattern."When you have a brick-and-mortar structure, any cracks are blunted by each interface," Kotov explained. "It's hard to replicate with nanoscale building blocks on a large scale, but that's what we've achieved."Collaborators include: mechanical engineering professor Ellen Arruda; aerospace engineering professor Anthony Waas; chemical, materials science and biomedical engineering professor Joerg Lahann; and chemistry professor Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy. Kotov is a professor of chemical engineering, materials science and engineering, and biomedical engineering.The nanomechanical behavior of these materials is being modeled by professor Arruda's group; Waas and his group are working on applications in aviation.

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Ramadan in Iran: Jew-Hatred and 'Death to America!'

Speaking on “Al Quds Day,” the last Friday of Ramadan, the disgusting little creature who serves as Iran’s thug-in-chief said the Jews should move to Europe or Alaska.Millions of Iranians attended nationwide rallies Friday in support of the Palestinians, while the country’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel’s continued existence was an “insult to human dignity.”“The creation, continued existence and unlimited (Western) support for this regime is an insult to human dignity,” Ahmadinejad said. “The occupation of Palestine is not limited to one land. The Zionist issue is now a global issue.” ...The Iranian president once again said Palestinians should not pay any price because Europeans committed crimes against Jews in World War II. He said they could give a part of their own land in Europe or Alaska so that the Jews can establish their country.“I ask European governments supporting Zionists and the American people that will you allow occupation of part of your land under a pretext and then talk about a two-state solution?,” Ahmadinejad said after the rallies.
[[I’m sure glad that Islam is a Religion of Peace, hijacked by a few extremists who misunderstand everything about it. Otherwise there might have been millions of people in the streets of Iran, shouting “Death to America!”]]
In the capital Teheran, hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets as they chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Some protesters also burned American and Israeli flags.State television reported similar large rallies in all other provincial capitals and smaller towns across Iran....

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Ahmadinejad and a Murder in Vienna

World Politics Review has the first interview in English with “Witness D,” who claims that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a member of a hit team that murdered three Iranian Kurds in Vienna in 1989: Ahmadinejad and a Murder in Vienna: An Interview with ‘Witness D’.
Profil: Just a couple of more questions. The commando unit in Vienna consisted of how many people?
D: There was a team of negotiators and a hit squad. Ahmadinejad was the link between the Iranian Embassy in Vienna and the hit squad. It was also his job to supply the weapons. He brought them from the Embassy to the house where the murders took place.
Profil: How many people were there in the hit squad? Various sources now claim that in addition to this group and the negotiating team, there was also a third unit.
D: With Ahmadinejad as the backup, there were three people in the hit squad. One cannot speak of a third unit. There were other people — who supplemented the hit squad. If the latter had failed, they would have jumped in.
Profil: In your report, you write that the two who pulled the triggers had traveled to Austria from Abu Dhabi under assumed names. How did Ahmadinejad enter the country?
D: With a diplomatic passport.
Profil: Using his real name?
D: I don’t know.
Profil: A personal question: you don’t want to reveal your identity. Why not?
D: I do not want to put my family in Iran in danger. And I have an uneasy feeling. I am also living in danger. I have gotten support here in France. But I have to watch out that nothing happens to me.

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Religion of Children with Weapons

A child with weapons, at an “Al Quds Day” demonstration in Pakistan, and the Associated Press caption couldn’t possibly be more ridiculous.Pakistanis stage a demonstration for ‘Al-Quds Day’ (Jerusalem Day), in Karachi, Pakistan on Friday, Oct. 5, 2007. Al-Quds Day is a way of expressing support to the Palestinians and emphasizing the importance of Jerusalem to Muslims. (AP Photo/Jamal Ahmed).
For more pictures of the Al Quds Day hatefest:


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The End of An African Nightmare

I am witnessing a truly remarkable turnaround. I’m in Monrovia, Liberia, in the midst of what until recently was a horrible war zone, but is now a place of hope. Led by the indomitable President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman elected head of state in Africa, Liberia is beginning to rebound from its devastating civil war and the monstrous incompetence of Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor that nearly destroyed the country. Liberia is at peace, the economy is growing, democracy is taking root, kids are going back to school, and families are being united.
It would have been nearly impossible to imagine these changes just four-and-a-half years ago. Monrovia was in chaos as rebel groups shelled the city in an effort to oust Taylor. By that point the 14-year civil war had killed 270,000 people – an astonishing one out of every twelve Liberians – and forced another 250,000 to become refugees. The economy had completely collapsed, with GDP falling by more than 90 percent between 1989 and 1996, one of the largest collapses ever recorded anywhere in the world. Children as young as ten had become pawns in the violence, with warlords abducting them from their families, stuffing them with drugs, and arming them with AK-47s (for a first-hand account from a former child soldier in neighboring Sierra Leone, read the riveting A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah).
But UN peacekeepers put an end to the conflict in 2003. Taylor first went into exile in Nigeria and is now in The Hague facing war crimes charges for atrocities committed in Sierra Leone. The UN and thousands of brave Liberians organized elections in late 2005 which resulted in President Sirleaf’s election. And she is resolutely moving the country forward by rebuilding institutions, restoring basic services, reviving the economy, and beginning to heal the deep wounds of war.The signs of change are evident all around. This is my 12th visit here in the last 20 months, where I have the privilege of working with the government on a range of economic issues, most importantly the resolution of its massive foreign debt. Each time I come there are new signs of change: schools and clinics are being reopened, stores are restocked and repainted, the streets are ever more crowded with commercial activity, and electricity and water are being restored (there was no piped water or electricity except generators anywhere in the country for 14 years). Liberia’s “control of corruption” index, as measured by the World Bank, registered the second-largest improvement of any country in the world this year....
To read more go to:

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UN envoy ‘encouraged’ by Burma’s proposal

The United Nations’ special envoy to Burma said on Friday he was “cautiously encouraged” by the decision of its military rulers to hold talks with the country’s main opposition leader, but anti-regime activists dismissed the conditional offer as an attempt to dupe the international community.Addressing the UN Security Council after a four-day visit to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari said unconfirmed reports suggested the casualty toll in the government’s crackdown on street protests was much higher than the dozen deaths it had so far acknowledged.Warning the regime of “serious international repercussions” if it did not re­spond to demands for democratic change, he said: “No country can afford to act in iso­lation from the standards by which all members of the international community are held.”However, despite a string of statements from Security Council members condemning the actions of the regime, the prospect of concerted international action looked certain to be stymied by the resistance of some countries, notably China, to sanctioning the regime.Wang Guangya, China’s UN envoy, said: “Pressure will not help address the problem but might lead to mistrust and confrontation, and even cut off the current channel of dialogue between Myanmar [Burma] and the United Nations.”Opposition spokespeople meanwhile cast doubt on the regime’s sincerity about launching an internal dialogue. Supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s Nobel prize-winning democracy advocate, dismissed the junta’s conditional offer of talks as an attempt to deflect international pressure.Burma’s state television announced on Thursday night that General Than Shwe, the junta’s powerful leader, was willing to meet Ms Suu Kyi if she abandoned her long-standing call for further sanctions on top of those that the regime blames for the poor state of the economy.With Ms Suu Kyi under house arrest and cut off from almost all contact with the outside world, her per­sonal views remain un­clear, though she appeared weary and despondent in photographs taken with Mr Gambari after a meeting on Tuesday.Nyan Win, a spokesman for Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, told Burmese journalists in Rangoon that Gen Than Shwe’s conditions for talks showed that “the government is not really sincere about meeting her”. Zaw Min, a spokesman for the Democratic Party for a New Society, called the offer “un­realistic”, though he said Ms Suu Kyi should be allowed to consult others, including her party members and ethnic minority leaders, before responding.“For the army, they have guns, money and power,” he said. “For the exiles and democracy activists, sanctions are our only weapon.”However, Lian Sakhong, the general secretary of the Ethnic Nationalities Council that represents ethnic minorities still technically at war with the central government, called the offer “a positive sign” that could be an opening to “push forward a more meaningful dialogue”.

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Tents, vehicles readied for feared Indonesian volcanic eruption

For the latest in volcanic activity go to:
http://quakewatch.blogspot.com/2007/10/tents-vehicles-readied-for-feared.html
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As Abbas Fiddles with Dead-End Diplomacy, Hamas Builds an Integrated War Machine

While Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas was immersed this week in dead-end dialogue with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, in obedience to the US and European powers, the Hamas applied the finishing touches to a single integrated armed force by merging its armed branches with the former Palestinian Authority security and intelligence factions which ruled the Gaza Strip until the Hamas takeover in June.From this week, either Hamas members or Fatah defectors man all the command positions and departments of a 40,000-strong armed militia which is provided with military bases, large arsenals, armored personnel carriers, sophisticated communications and intelligence networks-most made in the US-and a logistic infrastructure befitting a regular army.Gen. Tawfiq Jabar, late of Fatah and now a card-carrying Hamas member, has been named commander of the Gaza Strip’s integrated Palestinian force.The new force has assigned a special department with responsibility for the ongoing missile campaign against Israel. Hamas can therefore shrug off responsibility for these attacks.High-ranking IDF officers told DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s sources that that, on the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority under Abbas and prime minister Salam Fayyad has failed to establish a comparable unified security force capable of warding off Hamas’ threatened takeover. Fatah’s al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades were never brought into the official fold except on paper. Instead, the PA has focused on securing Israeli amnesties and other concessions, which failed in their object of drawing wanted Fatah terrorists out of the cycle of violence and harnessing them to the Palestinian Authority’s security forces.As a result, Abbas’ forces are in a state of disintegration, offering a strong temptation for Hamas’ formidable military organization to move in on the West Bank too.DEBKAfile’s military sources note that the feat Hamas pulled off in Gaza three months, Abbas has failed to accomplish in two years, despite substantial American and British assistance. Security sources familiar with the way things are managed on the West Bank report that US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, US security coordinator Gen. Keith Dayton and British intelligence operatives posted there have produced endless plans and forked out huge sums to provide Mahmoud Abbas with an efficient military machine for fending off Hamas and Jihad Islami. However, his forces have resisted every effort to train and get them organized into an effective fighting army.All that these efforts have yielded are competent security details for guarding Abbas, Fayyad and other Palestinian officials engaged in diplomacy with the United States and Israel.The object of the security talks taking place in recent weeks was to portray Abbas as a strong leader with efficient security backing. Rice and Olmert hoped the Palestinians of Gaza would be attracted to his flag by the immunity Israel offered wanted Fatah terrorists who were willing to lay down arms.However, these expectations failed to materialize.The security plan for the West Bank was eventually sidelined by the effort to prepare framework accords for Israel and the Palestinians to jointly present to the Middle East peace conference planned for November in Annapolis, USA. Nothing has come of this effort, as Abbas and Olmert were forced to admit after their last conversation in Jerusalem Tuesday, Oct., 1, and the security project has likewise reached an impasse.In conclusion, it may be said that, while Hamas has strengthened its military grip on the Gaza Strip, Abbas’ control of the West Bank grows progressively weaker.One ill omen largely glossed over was the discovery of Qassam missiles in the West Bank’s Bethlehem district pointed at the residential neighborhood of Gilo in South Jerusalem, which was quickly dismantled. Another was Egypt’s surrender to Hamas’ demand to allow 85 terrorists to re-enter Gaza from Sinai after receiving commando training in Iran and Syria.Finally, the ultimate objective of a constructive meeting in Annapolis appears to be going by the board, especially since Saudi Arabia, which is deemed the key to its success, is inclined to beg off attending.DEBKAfile’s sources see four developments consequently nfolding now:
1. Hamas, in the face of an international boycott and siege, is going from strength to strength;
2. Israeli military and Shin Bet tireless operations in the West Bank provide the sole obstruction and deterrent for a Hamas takeover;
3. The restrictions Israeli prime minister has imposed for fear of spoiling his diplomatic maneuvers have prevented the IDF and Shin Bet cutting down Hamas strength or halting its missile blitz. On the Gaza Strip, they operate at the edge and on the West Bank are allowed no more than blocking operations on the fringes of terrorist strongholds, instead of a campaign to eliminate them root and branch.
4. The unresolved security balance between Israel and the Palestinians suits Hamas very well because they see the IDF leaving the door open for its seizure of the West Bank too.

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The CIA warns several European countries of possible al Qaeda attacks which may include Paris “waste water system” as target

A French official told AP Thursday that the warning referred to al Qaeda agents possible planning suicide or bombing attacks in London and cities in Italy, France and Germany.Le Monde reported that the CIA had intercepted an e-mail on Sept. 11 addressed to Salah Gasmi, a notorious activist of “al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa,” which is based in Algeria. In Washington, there is deep concern about a potential threat from members of an Islamist cell who escaped arrest in Germany after three senior members were detained in September, foiling a plot to attack US and other targets in Germany. Up to 10 others are though to have escaped. At least one considered extremely dangerous is now believed to be in Britain.

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Three groups of experts - Russian, Iranian and Syrian – still at sea over why Syria’s two early warning stations failed to protect its skies or identi

This lapse was first revealed exclusively by DEBKAfile on Sept. 7:
The Israeli jets said to have penetrated Syrian airspace Wednesday night escaped by jamming Russian-made Pantsyr-S1 air defense missilesDEBKAfile’s military experts conclude from the way Damascus described the episode that the electronic systems and radar of the Pantsyr-S1 air defense missiles were a letdown because they failed to down the intruders and therefore leave Syria and Iranian airspace vulnerable to hostile intrusion.Such information on the Russian weapons systems sold to Syria and Iran is essential to any US calculations of whether to attack Iran.
Full article by DEBKAfile’s military sources of Sept. 7: HERE
These revelations were followed up on Sept. 21 by DEBKA-Net-Weekly 318 (for subscribers): Syria’s vulnerability.DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources report that the Syrian early warning station, positioned at Marj as Sultan, 15 km east of Damascus and north of the Syrian air base at the international airport, is there to secure the Syrian capital and monitor Israeli air or missile activity on the Golan and from northern Israel.The Shinshar station south of Homs, near the small Syrian air base of Al Qusayr Shayrat, is located opposite northern Lebanon. Its function is to sound the alarm if airplanes, missiles or warships approach Syria from Lebanese territory of from the eastern Mediterranean.When the early warning stations in Syria were silenced, some communications systems, computers and cell phones were also knocked out in neighboring Lebanon – evidence that Syria had been bested in a cyber war against its electronic and radar systems.DEBKAfile adds: Syrian war planners are at sea on several key points, such as:
1. When and from which did direction did the warplanes enter Syria airspace – the Mediterranean, Israel or Turkey?
2. Was the incursion a one-off or one of several which went unnoticed?
Until Israel released the bare information of the Sept. 6 air raid over Syria this week, neither Damascus nor Tehran knew for sure the identity of the air raiders, whether Israeli American or both.

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PESTILENCE WATCH:Officials say drug caused Nigeria polio

LONDON-A polio outbreak in Nigeria was caused by the vaccine designed to stop it, international health officials say, leaving at least 69 children paralyzed. It is a frightening paradox in a part of the world that already distrusts western vaccines, making it even tougher to stamp out age-old diseases.The outbreak was caused by the live polio virus that is used in vaccines given orally-the preferred method in developing countries because it is cheaper and doesn't require medical training to dispense."This vaccine is the most effective tool we have against the virus, but it's like fighting fire with fire," said Olen Kew, a virologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The CDC and the World Health Organization announced the cause of the polio outbreak last week, even though they knew about it last year.
Outbreaks caused by the oral vaccine's live virus have happened before. But the continuing Nigerian outbreak is the biggest ever caused by the vaccine. It also follows a nearly yearlong boycott of the vaccine in Africa's most populous country because of unfounded fears the vaccine was a Western plot to sterilize Muslims.Officials now worry that the latest vaccine-caused Nigerian outbreak could trigger another vaccine scare.Experts say such outbreaks only happen when too few children are vaccinated. In northern Nigeria, only about 39 percent of children are fully protected against polio.The oral polio vaccine contains a weakened version of polio virus. Children who have been vaccinated excrete the virus, and in unsanitary conditions it can end up in the water supply, spreading to unvaccinated children.In rare instances, as the virus passes through unimmunized children, it can mutate into a form that is dangerous enough to spark new outbreaks.In 2001, officials reported that 22 children were paralyzed from polio in the Dominican Republic and Haiti in this way. Subsequent vaccine-caused polio outbreaks have occurred in the Philippines, Madagascar, China and Indonesia.In the West, the polio vaccine is given as a shot and uses an inactivated virus, but that method is more expensive and requires training.In Nigeria, the outbreak comes "in the wake of all the other problems they've had in," said Dr. Donald A. Henderson, who led WHO's smallpox eradication campaign in the 1970s.
In 2003, politicians in northern Nigeria canceled vaccination campaigns for nearly a year, claiming the vaccine was a Western plot to sterilize Muslims. That led to an explosion of polio, and the virus jumped to about two dozen countries.Now, health officials' decision to keep quiet about the cause of the outbreak for so long may look suspicious.Dr. David Heymann, WHO's top polio official, said that because the organization considered the outbreak to be a problem for scientists and not something that would change global vaccination practices, they thought it was was unnecessary to immediately share publicly.CDC's Kew added: "The people who are against immunization may seize on anything that could strengthen their position, even if it's scientifically untenable."Rumors are still rife among Nigerians that the vaccine is unsafe, and several religious leaders continue to lecture on its dangers. Another mass vaccine boycott could lead to further polio spread, derailing long-standing eradication efforts for good. Nigerian health officials contacted by The Associated Press declined to comment on the situation. "Convincing the Nigerians to take even more of this vaccine will be a tough sell," said Dr. Samuel Katz, an infectious diseases specialist at Duke University and co-inventor of the measles vaccine.
More than 10 billion polio doses have been given to children worldwide, and the vaccine has been credited with cutting polio incidence by more than 99 percent since 1988. Far more children are paralyzed by the wild polio virus than the virus spread by the oral vaccine. But no vaccine is risk-free.WHO said that changing the vaccination strategy is unnecessary. "It would be nice if we had a more stable oral polio vaccine, but that's not the way it is today," Heymann said. "We will continue working the way we have been working because we don't want children to be paralyzed anywhere."

As in the days of Noah....
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