To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - EU rethinks the size of Europe
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1999 08:34:21 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Wed, July 7, 1999
EU rethinks the size of Europe
With the NATO-led operation in Kosovo, Western nations
make integrating Eastern states a priority.
Peter Ford (fordp@csps.com)
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
PARIS
As French Health Minister Bernard Kouchner takes up his new
job as United Nations administrator of Kosovo this week, even
more is riding on his appointment than the way in which he
restores the shattered Serbian province to life.
His posting, boosted by the European Union, is a major piece in
the jigsaw puzzle that is taking shape as Europeans debate a key
question about their future: How far does "Europe" stretch?
"For the first time in Western policy, I sense a determination not
just to put money there, but to give serious political thought to
integrate the area," says Chris Cviic, a Southeast Europe expert at
the Royal Institute for International Affairs in London.
Just before NATO began bombing Yugoslavia, British Prime
Minister Tony Blair defended the use of force against President
Slobodan Milosevic on the grounds that Europe could not tolerate
his savagery "on our doorstep."
Integration challenge
Three months, a war, and the launch of a reconstruction effort
later, the Balkans have come in from the porch and installed
themselves in the hallway of the "common European home" that
the Continent has been building since the Berlin Wall came down
in 1989.
They have arrived with an uninvited guest - a Serbia still led by
President Milosevic - but they are here to stay. For the first time in
five centuries a curtain of religious and political differences has
been lifted, and Europe is embarking on possibly its hardest-ever feat
of integration.
It all begins in Kosovo, as the focal point for a German-sponsored
"stability pact" for the Balkans, designed to finance the
redevelopment of the region and encourage democracy. German Foreign
Minister Joschka Fischer recently accepted US pressure for Europe to
contribute most to this program, saying that "Southeast Europe is part
of Europe. It is our responsibility."
Different from Dayton
But European leaders also are anxious to
take a leading role in the political
development of the area, especially since
many resent the fact that they are providing
the lion's share of peacekeepers and
economic aid in Bosnia to implement a
peace deal there that Washington designed
and imposed at the Dayton, Ohio, peace
conference.
This time, insists French Foreign Minister
Hubert Vedrine, "Europe should play a
very important role in the reconstruction,
because this is part of Europe ... but there
is no question of Europe being confined to
the role of a writer of checks."
And just as European troops, from Britain,
France, Germany, and Italy were the first
into Kosovo to secure the region in the
wake of the Serbian military withdrawal,
European companies are hoping to be the
first into the region to take advantage of
rebuilding opportunities.
"It won't just be Washington and Brussels," says Mr. Cviic. "If
Italy would invest, Greece would invest, the neighbors too, will get
involved ... they trade with the region and use it as a transit
route."
Already European businessmen are scanning www.seerecon.org,
the Web site set up by the European Commission (the EU's ruling
body) and the World Bank as a clearing house for information on
Southeast Europe Reconstruction.
The task, both political and economic, of making the Balkans a
real part of Europe is daunting: Southeast Europe includes two of the
continent's most backward and damaged economies - in Serbia and
Albania - and none of the countries in the region have any experience
of democracy as it is practiced in Western Europe.
Expanded EU a ways off
Nor is anyone suggesting that regional countries might join the EU any
time soon. Even the most advanced applicant countries, such as Cyprus
and the Czech Republic, are not likely to be admitted for another five
years. But European officials have offered to associate Macedonia and
Albania with the EU in some form of partnership, as a sign of
gratitude for the help those two countries gave to NATO during the war
in Kosovo.
And Montenegro, though a constituent republic of Yugoslavia, is
expected to benefit from the regional stability pact, in recognition
of its government's pro-Western stance during the conflict.
On the military side, European armies will provide the bulk of the
45,000-man peacekeeping force that is currently being deployed in
Kosovo, under the command of British Lt. Gen. Mike Jackson.
This open-ended commitment to keep the peace in a region where
no political solution is in sight is a costly one. But it puts flesh
on the bones of the EU's new determination - enshrined at last month's
EU summit in Cologne - to forge a common defense policy backed up by
common forces.
US still needed
As Europe extends its boundaries beyond the largely peaceful and
prosperous nations that have created the European Union over the
past half century, and into more troublesome hotspots such as the
Balkans, it will need troops of its own for crisis-management
operations.
Never is Europe likely to be able to mount an offensive such as
the Kosovo bombardment without American help: US planes
accounted for nearly 80 percent of the total force. But for
smaller-scale missions in which Washington might have no interest, the
EU can build forces.
If the war in Kosovo turns out to have been a springboard to
lasting stability in the Balkans, and to a new and broader
European sense of identity, it may also prove to have been the
launch pad for a military force capable of imposing that identity.
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/07/07/fp5s1-csm.shtml
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Weekend News Today items (7/6/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1999 08:58:16 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Yeltsin, Assad praise Barak
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Ha'aretz
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- Syrian President Hafez al Assad and Russian
President Boris Yeltsin said yesterday that the formation of a new
Israeli government by Prime Minister Ehud Barak provides a chance for
"constructive efforts" on the road to Middle East peace. A joint
communique released by the Kremlin after the leaders met in Moscow
said that they believed the results of the Israeli vote "open specific
opportunities for constructive efforts towards a comprehensive and
just peace in the region". This is Assad's first trip to Moscow since
the demise of the USSR almost a decade ago. The Syrian president came
to Moscow to discuss renewing the Damascus-Moscow alliance, including
diplomatic coordination and the resumption of arms sales. The $12
billion Damascus owes Moscow for arms purchased from the former USSR
was pointedly not raised by Assad's hosts, despite their own
precarious economic situation. In their joint communique, both men
agreed that Russia should play a significant role in resolving the
Middle East conflict, and called for "a multipolar world order in
which no nation can dictate terms to the rest of the world." Yeltsin
said that Russia supports a resumption of the negotiations between
Israel and Syria from the point at which they were suspended during
the Netanyahu era, and called Assad "a distinguished statesman and
valued friend and ally of Russia.
Iraqi deputy premier in Moscow
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arabic News
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- Iraqi Deputy Premier Tareq Aziz has announced that
his visit to Russia aims at taking part in the works of the
deliberations of the World Council Forum of former foreign ministers
on Wednesday. AFP quoted Aziz as saying on Monday in a predeparture
statement in Baghdad that the forum will discuss several international
and regional matters as well as on exchanging views over international
and regional issues taking place in the world, environmental matters
and disputes. The agency added that Aziz will meet with several
Russian officials in order to discuss bilateral relations and current
issues of mutual concern.
Barak urges Assad to forge peace with Israel ``as quickly as
possible''
Weekend News Today
By Staff Writer
Source: Yahoo!
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- In an address before being sworn in as prime
minister on Tuesday, Barak urged Assad to forge a peace with Israel
``as quickly as possible.'' Assad and Yeltsin's Moscow communique made
no direct reference to Barak's comments.
Quotes from Israeli Barak's speech
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: TampaBay Online (AP)
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- Quotes from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's
speech Quotes from a speech by incoming Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Barak to the Israeli parliament, hours before he was to be sworn in
Tuesday: -- "(We will know success) ... only if we lean equally on
four pillars; Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon - which are one in a
way - and the Palestinians. As long as peace doesn't rest on all the
four pillars, it will not be complete and not be stable."{Editor's
note: Ezekiel 29:6,7 tells what will happen when Israel leans on Egypt
for support} -- "The Arab states should know that only a secure and
confident Israel can bring peace. From here and today, I call on all
the region's leaders to stretch out their hands to meet our
outstretched hands and forge a peace of the brave in the region, a
peace of the brave in a region that knew so many wars, blood and
suffering." -- "I know not only the pain of my nation but also
recognize the pain of the Palestinian people. My intention and my
desire is to end the violence and suffering and act ... to find a fair
and agreed arrangement for coexistence.'' --"(I say) to the president
of Syria, Hafez Assad, that the new Israeli government is determined
in its intent to progress as quickly as possible in the negotiations
so as to achieve an arrangement based on peace and security. ... We
were bitter and tough enemies in the battlefield. The moment has come
to conclude a secure and brave peace that will ensure the security and
the future of our nations, our children and our grandchildren. It's my
intent to end the Israeli presence in Lebanon within a year."
--"Millions of eyes in Israel and millions of Jews in the Diaspora and
hundreds of millions in the entire world are looking at us today,
hoping we will know how to open ... a new page in the book of Israel's
history, a new page of peace. ... We are departing today on the long
and difficult path."
Russia cautioned against weapons deal with Syria
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: TampaBay Online (AP)
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- The State Department cautioned Russia it could be
denied U.S. assistance if it concluded new weapons deal with Syria.
``We would be very concerned about any new Russian arms sales to Syria
or to any other designated state sponsor of terrorism,'' spokesman
James Foley said Tuesday. Syria has been listed by the department as a
sponsor of terrorism for 20 years. At the same time, the United States
has been courting Syria to negotiate a peace treaty with Israel in
which Syria hopes to recover lost strategic territory. Foley cited a
law that authorizes withholding U.S. assistance to any country that
provides lethal military equipment to a sponsor of terrorism. Syrian
President Hafez Assad is visiting Moscow. That has stirred speculation
he is seeking new Russian weapons.
Getting Israel ready for Jerusalem solution?
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arutz 7
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- MK Michael Kleiner (Likud) told IMRA today that the
appointment of Ramon is "problematic... He will start talking about
autonomous rule for Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem... with the idea
that, over time, they become integrated into the Palestinian
Authority..." Kleiner added that Ramon's appointment "may be the
beginning of a move to prepare the public for the 'Abu Dis' solution,"
granting the PA a capital in a Jerusalem suburb. Reacting to an
interview published yesterday with Abu Mazen in which he rejects the
Abu Dis solution and calls for Palestinian sovereignty over all of
eastern Jerusalem, Kleiner told IMRA, "It should come as no surprise
that as a result of the rise to power of the Left, the positions of
the Arabs should harden."
Barak keeps tight rein
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arutz 7
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- Arutz-7 correspondent Yehoshua Mor-Yosef reports
that the new Prime Minister will be a very strong one - "at least on
paper." Barak's authority is prevalent in many clauses of the
coalition agreement, says Mor-Yosef. "For instance, in arguments that
may arise between the National Religious Party and Shas regarding the
division of the Religious Affairs Ministry, or between the NRP and
Meretz in the Education Ministry, Barak will be the final arbiter.
Furthermore, Barak saw how his predecessor Netanyahu suffered from
coalition MKs who proposed private bills that were against government
policies. For this reason, Barak has established an 18-member
'coalition administration,' comprised of nine One Israel MKs and nine
from the coalition partners, which will decide whether a given bill
should be proposed. Here, too, in case of disagreement, the decision
of the coalition chairman - Ophir Pines, a faithful Barak-underling -
will prevail. Other proposed coalition bills must pass the approval of
a Ministerial Committee on Legislation, headed by another Barak-man."
Political commentators are unsure whether the new government will last
its full term, given the rivalries among the personalities and parties
therein. "Barak's government may be compared to a ship loaded with
many barrels of cargo," concluded Mor-Yosef. "While it's docked in the
port, it looks very impressive bulging over with merchandise. But once
it starts towards sea and the turbulent currents, the barrels start
pushing against each other, and the slightest knock can send one of
them reeling and the whole thinly-connected network falling into the
ocean."
Discussions between Egypt and Croatia
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arabic News
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- A formal discussion session between Egypt and
Croatia is be held today in the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, in which
the Egyptian side is headed by Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa,
while the Croatian side is headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign
Minister Mate Granic, who arrived in Cairo yesterday evening. The
Croatian - Egyptian discussions are focusing on discussing methods of
supporting bilateral relations between the two countries, especially
in the economic field, as well as on exchanging points of view
regarding the development of regional situations in Middle East and
the Balkans.
Syrian - Egyptian summit in preparation for a pan-Arab summit
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arabic News
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- The London-based al-Hayat daily has quoted Egyptian
diplomatic sources as saying that the forthcoming Egyptian - Syrian
summit will discuss preparations for the pan-Arab summit,
reconciliation between Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat and maintaining coordination among Arab states
concerned with the Middle East peace process. In its Sunday issue the
paper added that it is expected that President Hafez al-Assad and
President Hosni Mubarak will convene their meeting following President
al-Assad's visit to Russia in order to discuss the results of the
talks Mubarak held with Presidents Clinton and Jacques Chirac
concerning promoting the Middle East peace process on all tracks as
well as results of President al-Assad's talks with Russian President
Boris Yeltsin. Egyptian diplomatic sources added that the summit
between President al-Assad and President Mubarak will discuss the
results of contacts to convene a pan-Arab summit, which is expected to
be called for by King Hassan II of Morocco.
PA denounces Barak's criticism on Clinton's refugee statement
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arabic News
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- Palestinian Liberation Organization executive
committee member Asaad Abd El-Rahman, official of the refugees' file
denounced the criticism of Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak of
the statements made by U.S. president Bill Clinton in Washington on
last Thursday regarding the right of Palestinian refugees to live
freely where they want. In a press statement today, Abd El-Rahman
said, "Barak's declarations form a unilateral stance, an improper and
hostile beginning that joins Barak's four nos and does not serve the
peace process." He said the refugee issue is one of the final status
topics, and no one has the right to veto it.
Abdullah praises Moroccan's king for Arabu unity
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arabic News
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- King Abdullah Bin Hussein of Jordan who paid a work
visit to Morocco over the weekend hailed the efforts made by Morocco's
King Hassan II to cement Arab ranks, foster Arab solidarity and
promote economic complementarity and extended the sovereign an
invitation to visit Jordan. This came in a message of thanks King
Abdullah sent to King Hassan II at the end of his visit to Morocco.
The Jordanian king also hailed the stature of King Hassan II who is
known "for his perspicacity, wise behavior, long political experience,
and concern to cement Arab ranks, turn the page of the past and orient
Arab relations towards the consolidation of Arab solidarity and
economic complementarity, to enable the Ummah overcome the situation
of weakness and division it is going through and take the place it is
worth of, given its history and outstanding civilizational message."
King Abdullah lauded further the Moroccan sovereign's initiatives "to
establish a comprehensive, fair and lasting peace in the Middle East
region, guaranteeing peace and security to the peoples of the region."
Israeli flag used as doormat by Egyptians
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: IsraelWire
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- 500 meters separated the peace conference on Monday
which included the Israelis, Egyptians, Jordanians and the PA in Cairo
from the assembly organized by Egyptian opposition groups which chose
to use Israeli and American flags as a doormat. 700 representatives of
opposition groups participated in the assembly, all opposing
normalization of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors. 150
representatives were present in the Marriott Hotel for the four-way
peace conference. The participants of the opposition assembly made
their position clear, pointing out there was no difference between
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The
opposition leaders filed an emergency petition with a Cairo court to
stop the "forum of shame," doing whatever possible to pressure the
Egyptian government not to attend. According to the Ma'ariv daily,
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, who was scheduled to address the
peace forum, did not attend due to the pressure but a spokesman for
the minister insisted that Moussa was never scheduled to make an
appearance. Ma'ariv added that as a result of Moussa's cancellation,
Yassir Arafat also cancelled his planned attendance.
IDF preparing for Wye implementation
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: IsraelWire
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- According to an Israel Radio report, the IDF command
is preparing for an ordered implementation of land withdrawals from
areas throughout Judea and Samaria as stipulated in the Wye Memorandum
signed in Washington by outgoing Prime Minsiter Binyamin Netanyahu.
Last Thursday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz convened a
meeting of senior commanders to discuss the likelihood that Prime
Minister-elect Ehud Barak would order a continuation of the
implementation of Wye upon taking office. Over the past weeks, senior
commanders have been reviewing maps to prepare for withdrawal
possibilities. According to Wye, Israel must now withdraw from another
five percent of lands throughout Judea and Samaria but it remains
unknown if Barak will follow the formula or order a contingency plan.
U.S. embassy moves from Bonn to Berlin
Weekend News Today
By Kelly Pagatpatan
Source: AP
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- U.S. Ambassador John Kornblum takes up residence in
Germany's refurbished, prewar capital tomorrow, joining the eastward
procession of the German government and the rest of the world's
embassies from Bonn to Berlin. The return of the first U.S. envoy to
the city since World War II became possible only after the fall of the
Berlin Wall, the merging of communist East Germany with the West and
the growth of unified Germany into a thriving, confident democracy --
events in which the United States claims a pivotal role. True, the new
U.S. Embassy has not been built yet, thanks to a small scandal over
U.S. security demands. But while Kornblum begins his Berlin stint in
temporary offices, he still views his arrival as a momentous event in
the success of U.S.-German relations.
bin Laden received millions from Saudi and Gulf businessmen
Weekend News Today
By Kelly Pagatpatan
Source: AP
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- Osama bin Laden, alleged mastermind of last year's
U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa, has received millions of dollars from
Saudi and Gulf businessmen to help reinvigorate his campaign against
the United States, sources said today. The donations, mostly alms paid
by devoted Muslims, came after Washington offered a $5 million reward
in January for bin Laden's capture, according to the sources. The
sources, speaking to The Associated Press in Cairo on condition on
anonymity, said bin Laden may have received more than $50 million
before Saudi authorities uncovered the donations and stopped the
transfers. Without the Saudi government invention, bin Laden might
have received much more, said one source. In the latest move,
President Clinton signed an executive order Monday imposing sanctions
against the Taliban religious militia that rules Afghanistan in
retaliation for its reputed support of bin Laden. Bin Laden has denied
any role in the attacks against Americans but in an interview with an
Arabic television last month, he expressed admiration for the people
who bombed American forces in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and 1996 and said
that all Americans are targets. The United States last week renewed a
warning that bin Laden may be preparing to strike as the anniversary
of the embassy bombings approaches. It briefly closed six of its
African embassies on June 24, saying they were under surveillance by
``suspicious individuals.'' CIA Director George Tenet said in February
that ``there is not the slightest doubt'' that bin Laden and his
allies are planning further attacks against the United States ``at any
time.''
Iraq cooperates with Russia on dipomacy and oil
Weekend News Today
By Kelly Pagatpatan
Source: Reuters
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- Russia and Iraq pledged on Tuesday to cooperate on
diplomacy and oil, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Foreign Minister
Igor Ivanov promised visiting Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz
that Moscow would work in the U.N. Security Council to end Gulf War
trade sanctions and establish a new regime to inspect Iraqi weapons.
The Foreign Ministry statement said Ivanov also spoke out against the
``systematic bombardment of Iraqi territory'' which ``breaches U.N.
Security Council resolutions and the norms of international law, and
should be halted immediately.'' The statement said Russia and Iraq
would continue cooperating under an existing oil-for-food deal, which
allows Baghdad to export limited ammounts of crude oil, and also
``with a view toward post-sanctions perspectives in oil, gas and other
economic areas.'' Russia has been Iraq's most vocal backer in the
Security Council, but other countries, including China and France,
have also sought to ease sanctions.
Barak issues basic guidelines for his government
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: IsraelWire
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- Barak has issued the guidelines for the 28th
government of the state of Israel: The main objectives of the
Government are: national and personal security by way of a determined
struggle against terrorism; an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict by
achieving genuine peace; the prevention of war and bloodshed; the war
on unemployment and the cultivation of stable, employment-creating
growth; the reduction of social gaps; the promotion of immigration and
immigrant absorption through integration and partnership; Also, the
creation of living conditions and an environment that offer a sense of
purpose and hope, and promote immigration to Israel; the fortification
of democracy, the rule of law, Jewish heritage and human rights, with
respect for the courts; the promise of equal opportunity for all; the
making education its top priority, ensuring an education for the young
generation from kindergarten through university, and; the struggle
against violence and traffic accidents.
Arafat to brief Mubarak
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: IsraelWire
Tue Jul 6,1999 -- PLO Authority (PA) Chief Yassir Arafat is planning
to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to brief him on the
status of the Oslo process between the PA and Israel. According to
senior PA advisors, Arafat has been in contact with Prime
Minister-elect Ehud Barak and is making arrangements to meet with him
following Barak's assuming control of the government. Mubarak has been
working to assist Arafat and is also calling upon Israel to move
forward on the Syrian front. Mubarak has just met with US President
Bill Clinton in Washington and continues to call upon Israel to
implement the land withdrawals spelled out in the Wye Memorandum
signed in Washington last year by outgoing Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu.
via: bible_prophecy-news@onelist.com
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (7/7/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1999 09:02:56 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
*** Iraq: UN worker spread locusts
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq asked the United Nations Tuesday to
withdraw a U.N. worker from northern Iraq, accusing him of trying to
infest Iraqi crops with locusts. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry identified
the official as Ian Broughton, a New Zealander with the U.N. agency
charged with removing land mines from the Kurdish autonomous areas of
northern Iraq. The ministry summoned Hans von Sponeck, U.N.'s
humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, and demanded Broughton's departure
within 72 hours, according to a ministry statement carried by the
official Iraqi News Agency. "The United Nations has begun an
investigation of the allegations," said U.N. deputy spokesman Manoel
de Almeida e Silva. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560201543-c4a
*** Britain probes organ donation report
LONDON (AP) - Britain's health minister ordered an investigation
Tuesday into a report that kidneys were donated to a hospital on the
condition that they be given only to a white person. Health Secretary
Frank Dobson said he was "appalled" that there appeared to be a
loophole in laws governing transplants that allowed such agreements.
The family stipulated the condition, a British Broadcasting Corp. TV
program reported. A memo was attached to the donation, saying "this
organ is not allowed to go to anyone who is not white." The kidneys
were subsequently transplanted to a white person at the Northern
General Hospital in Sheffield in north England. But the BBC said it
was impossible to say if a white person was chosen over others because
no information was available about the transplant waiting list. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560205073-78e
*** Kazakstan suspends rocket launches
ALMATY, Kazakstan (AP) - Kazakstan suspended all rocket launches from
its Baikonur cosmodrome Tuesday while it investigates the crash of a
Russian military satellite and any environmental damage it may have
caused. The suspension of its launch schedule could be a major
inconvenience for Russia, which leases the field for cargo flights to
the Mir space station and its launches of commercial and military
satellites. After several postponements due to problems with its
launch mechanism, a Russian Raduga-1 satellite blasted off from
Baikonur Monday evening but quickly disappeared from Moscow's mission
control screens. An 80-ton rocket fragment had plummeted to the ground
six miles from the town of Salamalkol in Kazakstan's central region of
Karaganda, ITAR-TASS reported. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560203122-a4b
*** La. school respect bill now a law
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Gov. Mike Foster signed the nation's first
state law Tuesday requiring students to address teachers as "ma'am" or
"sir" or use the appropriate title of Mr., Miss, Ms. or Mrs. The
Republican governor and other politicians said the law will help
return respect to the classroom. The law will apply to those in
kindergarten through fifth grade beginning next fall. Higher grades
will be phased in over the next few years, one grade per year. No
punishment is included in the law. Each of Louisiana's 66 school
systems will decide how to discipline students refusing to respond
politely. However, no student can be expelled or suspended. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560203396-d96
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - July 7, 1999 TV Listings
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 07 Jul 1999 09:32:23 -0500
From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
07/07/1999
8:00/5:00 The Roman Emperors. When the power of Rome was concentrated
into the hands of supreme rulers, the empire began to corrode as the
emperors led lives of increasing depravity. We'll visit their mansions
to
get an inside look at the splendor--and squalor--in which they lived,
and
insight into their sometimes inexplicable acts. [TV G] [History Channel]
9:00/6:00 Arms in Action. The Sword. Examines history's most mythical,
symbolic, and spiritual weapon--the sword. Modern sword makers try their
hands at the lost secrets of Celtic and Viking techniques, and in Japan,
where sword making is deeply steeped in religion, we watch their
construction. Produced in partnership with the Royal Armouries in the
Tower of London. [TV G] [History Channel]
11:00/8:00 Weapons at War. Attack Aircraft. Trace the history of attack
aircraft--from the grenade-dropping biplanes of World War I to the A-10
"Warthogs" of Desert Storm. [TV G] [History Channel]
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Meteor explodes in sky above New Zealand
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1999 13:15:24 -0500
From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
Meteor explodes in sky above New Zealand
July 7, 1999 6:29 AM EDT (1029 GMT)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A meteor exploded in the sky
above New Zealand on Wednesday, casting an eerie blue light and
showering the earth with fragments from space, authorities and
witnesses said.
No injuries were reported, but authorities were flooded with hundreds
of calls from people who reported seeing the streaking meteor,
emergency services said.
The Carter Observatory in Wellington said the explosion occurred
about 4:15 p.m. (0615 GMT) and was followed by smoke in the sky -
and a flood of phone calls from witnesses.
"It was picked up by aircraft and on radar, so we've had some air
traffic controllers calling too," said John Field, the observatory's
public programs officer.
Police said hundreds of people reported seeing a bright streak across
the sky over a remote part of New Zealand's North Island, between the
cities of Napier, 186 miles (300 kilometers) north of the capital,
Wellington, on the east coast and New Plymouth, about the same
distance from Wellington, on the west coast.
With a loud explosion, the meteor apparently broke up in the
atmosphere, leaving a vapor trail and blue cloud hanging in the sky,
the police spokesman said, on customary condition of anonymity.
Brendon Bradley, an instructor with the New Plymouth Aero Club,
said he was in the air when he saw the meteor streak over the top of
his plane.
"It was just a bright light, exactly like a flare," he said. "Afterwards
there was smoke in the sky."
Other witnesses described a bright flash, followed by an explosion
and a cloud of brown smoke.
"A big fiery ball came down. There was a terrific red glow and it sort of
went pop," said Eric Ray, a resident of the town of Te Aroha.
One man told police the explosion sounded like a natural gas tanker
igniting, the police spokesman said.
Field said the meteor could have been either metal or rock and was
probably as big a a car. A rock meteor would have broken up as it
came through the atmosphere and broken into a shower of stones, he
said.
He said that throughout the world about one meteor falls to Earth each
week.
Police said reports of objects seen falling to the ground were received
from across the region. Night has since fallen, and there were no
reports of any pieces being found.
via: Newmill <hblonde1@tampabay.rr.com>
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - July 8, 1999 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 08:53:09 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
8:00 PM Eastern
HIST - THE CARDIFF GIANT - A huge and ancient human
discovered near Ithaca, N.Y., is an archaeological
hoax.(CC)(TVG)
9:00
A&E - INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS - "Maneaters" - In Uganda,
lions are hunting villagers crossing Queen Elizabeth National
Park.(CC)
HIST - ARMS IN ACTION - "Mail and Plate Armor" -
Armorers develop chain mail to allow movement as well as
protect.(CC)(TVG)
10:00
CBS - 48 HOURS - "Multiples" - Reproductive technology
affects U.S. population as multiple births
increase.(CC)
DISC - INTO THE UNKNOWN - "Mysteries of the Sea" - The
Bermuda Triangle; mermaids.(CC)(TVG)
HIST - CLOCKS - Timekeeping, from antiquity to the atomic
clock.(CC)(TVG)
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Executive Order Defines Witnessing a Hate Crime
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 09:08:56 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Someone sent this to me this morning:
EXECUTIVE ORDER DEFINES WITNESSING A HATE CRIME
"President Clinton recently signed executive order (E) 13107,
Implementation of Human Rights Treaties. The new EO requires
federal, state and local governments to comply immediately with
all United Nations Treaties, whether or not those treaties have
been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as required by the
Constitution.
One of these treaties, the UN Treaty of Genocide, says that
persuading someone to change his or her religion is a hate crime
punishable by international law. The new EO 13107 is expected to
be used strongly by the newly established Office of Religious
Persecution Monitoring to arrest and imprison Christian
missionaries and witnesses anywhere in the world who preach Jesus
only. From now on, this will be considered a hate crime --
genocide.
According to R. Limbaugh, Clinton has signed more Executive
Orders than any other president ever." (E-mail from S. Nieten)
Because of the threat by the Muslim leaders, missionaries with
the Sudan Interior Mission in Somalia, circa 1973, used a
strategy to stay legal and still declare the Truth. Anyone
wanting to know the Gospel had to sign a
card saying that they wanted to hear the message.
The Genocide Treaty of the United Nations, the US Hate Crimes
Act, and Dictator Clinton's Executive Order, allow that IF
someone WANTS to hear the message of another person's religion,
the seeker must ASK.
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (7/8/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 09:21:51 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
*** Israeli court rules on tombstones
JERUSALEM (AP) - In an unprecedented decision, Israel's Supreme Court
ruled Wednesday individuals may choose between religious and secular
calendars for inscriptions on tombstones. Lobbyists for religious
freedom in Israel said the decision marked a great step forward in
limiting the powers of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel. The court ruling
came in response to a petition from the family of Rosa Greital, who
died in 1986 and was buried in a cemetery in Rishon Lezion, a city
south of Tel Aviv. The family requested Western dates be inscribed on
her tombstone, but the ultra-Orthodox burial societies that oversee
almost all Israeli cemeteries permitted only the Jewish dates. The
Jewish calendar dates back more than 5,000 years and uses a Hebrew
lettering system for numbers. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560217748-6a9 ***
Also: Israeli court convicts McDonald's, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560215372-c22
*** Deaths increase at start of month
(AP) - The number of deaths in the U.S. rises at the start of every
month and drops at the end and addicts spending their
first-of-the-month government checks on drugs and drink probably
account for most of the difference, researchers say. University of
California-San Diego sociologist David P. Phillips and colleagues
reached that conclusion after analyzing nearly 32 million electronic
death certificates over 15 years. The study was published in
Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers suggested
that addicts get aid that can be used only for food, clothes and
shelter. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560215371-30e
*** Internet romance ends with suicide
TOPSHAM, Maine (AP) - A Missouri man who came to Maine to pursue a
relationship with a woman he had met over the Internet died after
cutting his neck with a chain saw on her front lawn to prove his love.
James Dinardi, 44, of Columbia, Mo., died at a hospital Monday. Police
said he had moved to the area on June 23. "The distraught individual
had met the individual lady on the Internet, started up a romance,"
Police Chief Paul J. Lessard said. But the woman apparently wanted to
end the relationship, so Dinardi drove up to her home, pulled a chain
saw from the trunk and cut part of his neck off to show her how much
he cared for her, Lessard said. Police withheld the woman's name. ###
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Weekends News Today items (7/7/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 09:26:22 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Barak and Arafat jockeying for position and Clinton's support
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Wed Jul 7,1999 -- Premier Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority chair
Yasser Arafat are currently maneuvering to improve their opening
positions before the race for the final settlement gets underway. At
the same time, each is trying to get referee President Bill Clinton to
see things his way. The first stage of the final agreement talks will
resume almost as soon as Barak assumes office. The first item on the
agenda will be all the unfinished business inherited from the
Netanyahu era, primarily the Wye accords. Barak will suggest to the
U.S. President that the safest route to a viable final agreement is to
skip over all the remaining interim ones, and get down to the nitty
gritty ASAP. He will try and get out of the unimplemented Wye accords,
telling Clinton that implementation of this agreement will force him
to use up irreplaceable political credit with Israel's right wing that
will be missed when the plebiscite on a final agreement is held.
Barak's prime objective at this time will be to reduce U.S.
involvement in the negotiations. During the Netanyahu era the U.S.
came closer to the Palestinian position then ever before, and Barak
would prefer to see Washington resume its traditional role of
moderator and umpire, at least until he can get the U.S. to see things
more his way. Arafat will be offering Clinton a mirror image of
Barak's ideas. He wants to get as much territory as possible prior to
the final agreement, working on the principle that possession is
nine-tenths of the law. He will not give up on the Wye accords or the
third stroke, but will be willing to settle for a single percent more
than the one percent offered by Netanyahu. He will insist that all
outstanding issues such as safe passage and the Gaza port be referred
to the joint committee, and not postponed until the final agreement.
He would prefer as active an American role as possible, for precisely
the same reasons that Barak doesn't. As soon as agreement regarding
format has been reached, the talks themselves will start in earnest.
The opening positions differ significantly. Arafat will demand a
return to the Green Line, the dismantling of the settlements and
recognition of East Jerusalem as his capital. Barak will draw his
lines in the sand. No return to the '67 borders, no compromise on
Jerusalem's status as Israel's capital, a united city fully under the
Israeli flag. He will insist on a significant Israeli military
presence west of the Jordan river, and will only be willing to give up
those settlements whose size and location make them totally
non-viable. The establishment of a Palestinian state will not be part
of the negotiations, since Barak has already said that the
Palestinians are free to define the limits of their sovereignty, so
long as it does not endanger Israel. The issue of the final status of
the refugees will also be postponed as far into the future as
possible. The main issues to be resolved in the final agreement
negotiations are boundaries, the settlements, security arrangements
and last but far from least, the thorny issue of Jerusalem. Israel
will try to keep as much West Bank real estate as possible, while
Arafat will try to prevent precisely that. The successful outcome of
the talks hangs on the resolution of three issues: *The settlements -
The Palestinians have come to terms with the unpalatable fact that the
major blocks of settlements will remain under Israeli sovereignty.
These include Gush Ezion, Maaleh Adumim-Beitar-Givat Ze'ev, and
western Samaria. The problem is drawing a border that will keep as
many adjacent Palestinian villages as possible out of Israeli
territory without creating a line that looks like tracks left by the
three blind mice. *Jerusalem - Alpher says that the Beilin-Abu Mazen
understandings, under which the Palestinian capital would be in Abu
Dis just outside Jerusalem and be called Al Quds, are a basis for an
agreement. Barak has, by virtue of his continued silence on the
matter, already given them his de facto acceptance. *Safe passage -
This is Barak's biggest trump card, since it is clear that the
Palestinian entity cannot survive without a land link between Gaza and
the West Bank. Barak's idea of a 47- kilometer bridge connecting
Hebron to Gaza stretching above Israel, and for all practical purposes
detached from it, is probably the only game in town.
Barak: 'Nothing can stop us from achieving peace'
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Ha'aretz
Wed Jul 7,1999 -- Prime Minister Ehud Barak called on Arab leaders
yesterday to join Israel in establishing a "peace of the brave" in the
region. Barak made it clear that peace was its central policy goal. "I
know very well that we can expect difficult negotiations, marked by
crises and ups and downs, before reaching the desired target. If the
other side musters the same degree of determination and goodwill
toward reaching an agreement as we have on our side, no power in the
world can prevent us from reaching peace here," Barak declared. Barak
called on Syrian President Hafez Assad to promptly resume negotiations
on full peace and mutual security arrangements based on Security
Council resolutions 242 and 338. "We were tough and bitter rivals on
the battlefield. The time has come to establish a brave and open peace
that will secure the future and security for our peoples, our children
and our grandchildren," Barak said, emphasizing that "We have an
historic duty to take advantage of the window of opportunity opened
before us in order to bring long-term peace and security to Israel."
Barak also reassured the Palestinians and the Syrians that both tracks
are equally urgent and essential for Israel and would be pursued
simultaneously. This determined pursuit of peace on all fronts would
be waged without compromising Israel's security needs and essential
interests, including a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty.
Barak looks for detente with Iran
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Ha'aretz
Wed Jul 7,1999 -- Prime Minister Ehud Barak intends to try a new
approach toward Iran, long regarded as Israel's enemy number one: a
detente. Iran's military power and ballistic advances, together with
her steadily rising favor with the U.S., have convinced Barak that it
may be time to stop branding Iran an evil, terrorist nation and start
falling in line by recognizing it as an unchangeable factor that can
be dealt with. Barak has never considered Iran Israel's worst threat.
As Chief of Staff, he expressed the opinion that Iraq, which had
proven its belligerence against Israel in previous wars, was far more
troublesome than Iran, who was on Israel's side throughout those
conflicts. He pointed out the natural common interest between the two
countries as two of the three non-Arab states in the region. A
diplomatic source in Jerusalem said yesterday that no steps will be
taken with Iran so long as 13 Jews are still imprisoned on charges of
espionage. Military Intelligence, however, has taken a hard line
against what it sees as a threatening state, bent on developing
long-range surface-to-surface missiles that can reach Israel, and
acquiring nuclear weapons. Military Intelligence further objected that
Iran has maintained a hostile attitude toward Israel and the peace
process, and supports many terrorist groups, including Hezbollah and
Islamic Jihad. The attitude military Intelligence expresses is only
the latest voice in a tradition of anti-Iranian sentiment that echoes
from Rabin's, Peres's and Netanyahu's recent governments. Netanyahu,
meanwhile, pressured the U.S. to impose sanctions against Russia for
her involvement in the Iranian missile development program, and has
considered that involvement the foremost problem in Israeli-Russian
relations. Movement over the past year in the long-frozen relations
between the U.S. and Iran has Israelis worried, however, that they
could be the last voice left damning Iran when others, including the
American one, die down. In previous discussions with U.S. officials,
Israel suggested cooperation and sharing of information on Iran in
order to coordinate diplomatic efforts toward Tehran, but the U.S. has
not yet responded. Barak will raise the issue in his upcoming visit to
Washington.
Drought in Israel to become an issue in peace negotiations?
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Israel Wire
Wed Jul 7,1999 -- Following a winter, which provided approximately
one-third of the normal annual rainfall, PLO Authority (PA) officials
are reporting severe drought conditions in its autonomous areas,
especially in Hebron. PA officials report that in Alia Hospital,
physicians are unable to wash their hand due to the lack of water.
Hospital officials report that at times, patients' bedding cannot be
changed since there is no water available to do laundry. Residents in
PA autonomous areas of Hebron do not seem to feel the problem is at
all connected to the fact that the PA has failed to meet its
commitments regarding the building of a proper water infrastructure to
service area resident, despite donations from the international
community to do so. Israel has been forced to deal with an increasing
number of illegal wells, aimed at tapping into the Israeli water
supply while Arab residents point a finger of blame at nearby Jewish
communities and their swimming pools. "We have not received water
through the pipes for two months," said Dr. Adnan Maswadeh, head of
surgery. The municipality tries to make up for the shortage by sending
four water tankers a day but Maswadeh said it was not enough.
"Sometimes the lack of water has led to fatalities in the kidney
dialysis department," he said. Arab experts reject any attempt to
place the blame on the PA, insisting the average Israeli consumes four
times more water than the average Arab resident. In addition Arab
water experts report that Israel keeps about 80 percent of the
available water for Jewish residents, leaving a minuscule amount for
the Arab population. Kamal Dweik, a PA water official report that the
area's Jewish population is allocated 600,300 cubic feet of water a
day, while the Arab population of 400,000 gets a total of only 250,000
cubic feet. Israeli Water Commissioner Meir Ben-Meir dismissed claims
that Israel fails to distribute water equitably. "I do admit there is
a water crisis among the Palestinians but the answer is not by
creating another crisis for Israelis," he said. With the winter months
far away, water experts in the PA and Israel agree that the increasing
demand for water in the region will become "the" key issue in future
negotiations between Israel and its neighbors. As reported earlier by
ISRAELWIRE, Professor Moshe Inbar of Haifa University's Department of
Geography, the water issue will be the main problem facing the area.
He added that if the coming winter of 2000 does not bring with it an
abundance of rainfall, the problems the following spring and summer
will be unprecedented.
via: bible_prophecy-news@onelist.com
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Russia Today items (7/8/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 09:30:28 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
U.S. takes steps to allow super-computer sales to Russia
(http://www.russiatoday.com/features.php3?id=77769).
YELTSIN SEEKS MIDDLE COURSE IN RELATIONS WITH NATO
MOSCOW -- Russia will chart a middle-of-the-road course in relations
with the West, seeking neither confrontation nor unquestioning
friendship, President Boris Yeltsin said on Thursday.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=77747&text
RUSSIA ASKS BULGARIA FOR SEA, LAND CORRIDORS
SOFIA -- Bulgaria said on Thursday that, as well as overflying rights,
Russia had asked Sofia for a sea and land corridor for Russian
peacekeeping troops to reach Kosovo.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=77745&text
STEPASHIN MAY VISIT KOSOVO IN JULY
MOSCOW -- Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin may visit Russian
peacekeepers in Kosovo at the end of July, Interfax news agency
reported on Thursday, citing sources in the Russian peacekeeping
forces there. http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=77744&text
OFFICIALS DEFEND COST OF KREMLIN PALACE RENOVATION
MOSCOW -- A hugely expensive two-year project to restore the Kremlin
Palace to its imperial splendor has ended, with a senior presidential
official on Wednesday defending the $335 million price tag as good
value for money. http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=77737&text
KEMEROVO GOVERNOR TURNS DOWN YELTSIN AWARD
MOSCOW -- The communist governor of Siberia's Kemerovo region has
turned down an award from President Boris Yeltsin, accusing the
Russian leader of ruining the country.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=77734&text
RUSSIA, U.S. HAIL COOPERATION OVER NEW AIRCRAFT
MOSCOW -- Russian and U.S. officials on Wednesday hailed cooperation
on the construction of new wide-bodied aircraft and said they hoped to
work together on other projects.
http://invest.russiatoday.com/business.php3?id=77765&text
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Once-silent Earth now a cacophony
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 09:40:12 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Thursday, July 8, 1999
SCIENCE
Once-silent Earth now a cacophony
The chirp of satellites and the rumble of vessels are disturbing science
and nature
Alex Salkever Special to The Christian Science Monitor
A mere half-century ago, the music of nature rang out largely unmolested.
Whales, dolphins, and turtles crooned their eerie songs and distant
galaxies spewed out their radio signals bearing information from the big
bang and the great beyond.
Not so today. In short order, mankind has raised such a ruckus that if the
planet were a party, Mother Nature would have to call the cops.
The incessant chirp of radio waves from communications satellites has
grown so pervasive that astronomers claim it interferes with their radio
telescope observations. Marine biologists say the throb of supertanker
propellers creates such a din that whales, dolphins, and other sea
creatures are at risk.
"These things have gradually built up without people taking too much
interest in whether or not the noise is affecting the natural system,"
says Sylvia Earle, the explorer in residence for that National Geographic
Society and an oceanographer. "To be so arrogant to think that we can do
anything with the skies above or the seas below without studying the
consequences is inexcusable."
To be sure, radio waves and sound waves are very different. When radio
astronomers refer to noise, they mean local radio interference that blocks
out signals from outer space. When marine biologists refer to noise, they
mean sound waves that physically vibrate and can even damage living
tissues but are not part of the electromagnetic spectrum like radio waves.
But both types are symptoms of technological progress and economic
development.
In the seas, the size and tonnage of the world's merchant fleet has
skyrocketed to service growing global trade. This has led to increases in
shipping noise, particularly near big ports like San Francisco and New
York. While oil prospectors in the past drilled with maps and a hunch,
they now use high-tech airguns that blast sound waves deep into the Earth
to detect likely deposits of crude.
Navies around the world are developing deep ocean sonar systems that
broadcast sound waves in their search for submarines, often in wavelengths
used by whales for communication. Scientists have also set up underwater
"boomboxes" to gauge ocean temperatures and test for global warming by
measuring the speed of sound waves through seas.
"The issue is acute in the ocean because sound travels better in water,"
says Joel Reynolds, director of the Natural Resource Defense Council's
(NRDC's) Marine Mammal Protection Project. "It's not really a visual
world, so animals have adapted to use of sound for crucial tasks like
identifying food sources...."
Some environmentalists believe mass whale beachings and increased rates of
marine mammal mortality are directly attributable to louder oceans. Others
worry that underwater noise is interfering with communications of whales
and other creatures in the same way that car horns hamper human
conversation.
According to the NRDC, the amount of ambient noise in the ocean may have
increased by 10 decibels - in other words, 10-fold - between 1950 and
1975.
In the skies, new constellations of communications satellites broadcast
radio waves on frequencies very close to those used by big radio
telescopes to study distant galaxies. Dozens more of these satellites are
scheduled for launch as the demand for cell phones and global
communications increases.
Despite efforts by telecommunications companies to protect bandwidths that
hold crucial astronomical information, the volume of satellites threatens
to overwhelm astronomers. Such is the case with Motorola's Irridium
satellites. Signals from this global network allowing callers to phone
home from virtually any point on Earth bleeds into an observation
bandwidth for hydroxide molecules, a crucial in element in star formation.
"When a communications satellite passes overhead, it can be like setting
off dynamite in someone's living room," says Seth Shostak, a radio
astronomer with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute.
According to Mr. Shostak, the repetitive radio signals from satellites and
space probes mimic what scientists expect to be characteristics of a
transmission from aliens. This will make it difficult to pick out such
signals.
But prospects for mitigating noise in space and in the oceans are slim at
best. Demand for bandwidth seems insatiable as communication becomes even
more important for more people.
In the seas, regulating Naval shipping traffic or oil prospecting seems a
Herculean task that would require cooperation from diverse states, some of
which are unfriendly to the West. Although some of the corporations that
ply these trades have shown interest in turning down the volume, their
shareholder interest is paramount and serious mitigation could be very
expensive.
Furthermore, the basic understanding of how noise affects sea creatures is
flimsy at best, and everyone agrees that more research needs to occur
before sound policies can be implemented. The National Marine Fisheries
Service is putting together a proposal for expanded noise regulation in US
waters, which would be a start but would still fail to address the global
aspects of the problem.
But the greatest fear is that these policies and protections, if they
arrive at all, will be too late both above and below. "I suspect there
will be some point where no matter how inventive we are it may become
impossible to sort out the signals we are looking for," says Shostak. "At
that point, all you can do is move the whole project to the back side of
the moon."
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/07/08/fp3s1-csm.shtml
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - `NAFTA' for military proposed
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 08:09:15 -0500
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
`NAFTA' for military proposed
U.S. war college report urges joint command with Canada, Mexico
By Linda Diebel
Toronto Star Latin America Bureau
MEXICO CITY - A United States military report advocates a joint
command for American, Mexican and Canadian forces, in the
same way the three countries are united under free trade.
The report, by Lt.-Col. Joseph Nunez for the U.S. Army War
College in Carlisle, Pa., also suggested a North American
peacekeeping force, headquartered in the U.S., with deputy
commander positions rotating between Canada and Mexico.
``Moving from bilateral arrangements to a (military) organization
that reflects regional economic and security concerns is a better
strategy, particularly considering our burgeoning trade through
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and the
growing threat of terrorism that can penetrate through our
borders,'' the report said.
The war college study is the first to publicly advocate the
sensitive issue of integrated military command - a matter of
sovereignty in Canada and Mexico, as well as countries
throughout the hemisphere.
Such a command would co-ordinate military action on terrorism,
insurgency, security threats and drug trafficking.
Full story:
http://www.thestar.com/thestar/editorial/news/990707NEW01b_F
O-ARMY7.html
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Israel Archaeologists Find Rare 'Jesus Coins'
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 19:21:38 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Wednesday, July 7, 1999: The Culture Channel
Israel Archaeologists Find Rare
'Jesus Coins'
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- One-thousand-year-old
coins found near the Sea of Galilee bear the likeness
of Jesus and have Greek inscriptions praising him,
Israeli archaeologists announced on Wednesday.
The coins were unearthed in October in archaeological
excavations at the site of ancient Tiberias in
northern Israel but only during a cleaning of the
find last month did archaeologists discover the image
of Jesus on 58 of the 82 coins.
Some coins also bore Greek inscriptions such as
"Jesus the Messiah, the King of Kings," and "Jesus,
the Messiah, the Victor."
"This is the largest collection of these types of
coins. They are very rare," said archaeologist Yizhar
Hirschfeld, who co-directed the excavations.
Archaeologists also found many types of bronze
utensils dating from the 10th and 11th centuries,
when the Islamic Fatimid ruled the region.
Hirschfeld said the coins were probably brought from
Constantinople to Tiberias by Christian pilgrims.
"We know Tiberias was a mixed city, where Jews,
Muslims and Christians all lived together. Tiberias
was a pilgrimage site." Hirschfeld said.
Archaeologists found the coins and other objects in
three large clay pots hidden under the floor of a
structure. The Crusaders destroyed ancient Tiberias
at the end of the 11th century but the invaders did
not discover the coin hoard.
http://www.arabia.com/content/culture/7_99/coins_7.shtml
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Messianic Seal
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 19:24:32 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
One of our readers sent me the following:
For more on the Messianic Seal recently discovered (menorah/star of
David/fish) please see:
http://christianfloral.com/presskit/index.htm
Large image of seal:
http://christianfloral.com/presskit/fish2b.htm
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Americas Doomsday cultists vanish
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 19:35:37 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Americas Doomsday cultists vanish
Up to 60 members of a Colombian doomsday cult have gone missing in the
mountains of the Sierra Nevada in Northern Colombia.
They were due for an alleged rendezvous with a spaceship, and nothing
has been heard of them since the weekend, despite a continuing police
search. The members of the Stella Maris Gnostic church were hoping to
be carried off by extraterrestrial beings before what they believe
will be the imminent end of the world at the turn of the Millennium.
Police checked the sect's half-finished temple in the Caribbean city
of Cartagena, but found no clue as to where the cult has gone or what
their intentions were.
Mariela Tovar, whose 23-year-old daughter Patricia is among the
disappeared, said the group's failure to return prompted worried
relatives to contact the police.
The head of the sect apparently assured followers that the Sierra
Nevada - a sacred territory to indigenous Indians - was where they
could contact a spaceship.
According to their interpretation of the Bible, the sect believes that
extraterrestrials will take 140,000 people from the earth before the
end of the world - a sort of second Noah's Ark.
The authorities have not discounted any theory about the
disappearances and are exploring the possibilities of a mass suicide,
mass kidnapping or a lift from a passing UFO.
URL:http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_388000/3888
09.stm
via: End_Times_News@onelist.com
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - NASA plans to smash projectile into comet
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 08:37:31 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
http://www.nando.net/noframes/story/0,2107,68624-108595-770238-0,00.html
NASA plans to smash projectile into comet
Copyright c 1999 Nando Media
Copyright c 1999 Associated Press
By MATTHEW FORDAHL
LOS ANGELES (July 8, 1999 10:45 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) -
A spacecraft named Deep Impact will fire a 1,100-pound copper bullet
at the nucleus of a comet, blasting out a crater the size of a
football field and as deep as a seven-story building.
The radical $240 million mission, approved Wednesday by NASA
administrators, may sound more like fiction than science, but its
primary purpose will be to study the makeup of comets.
It's a coincidence that the project has the same name as last summer's
disaster movie "Deep Impact," which was about a comet smacking Earth,
mission planners said Thursday.
"The name was selected prior to the movie," said James Graf, Deep
Impact's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif. "It wasn't inspired by it.
Deep Impact is scheduled to be launched in January 2004 and will
arrive at comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005. The projectile will separate
from the spacecraft and hit the comet at 22,300 mph.
Shortly after impact, the craft will come within 300 miles of the
comet surface and send back data and pictures of the debris and
crater. It will eventually zoom off into space.
Comets are believed to be remnants from the early days of the solar
system, and several missions are planned to observe them close-up.
Deep Impact's projectile, however, will be the first to crash into
one.
Deep Impact will allow scientists to study the inside of a comet by
observing the debris ejected from the crater.
"It can give us an understanding of what the solar system looked like
during its formation, and what contributions comets may have made to
our life here on Earth," Graf said.
The impact should be visible from Earth - 83 million miles away - with
the aid of a telescope.
The mission poses no threat to Earth, Graf said. The impact crater
will be small compared with the overall size of the comet's nucleus.
NASA's approval of Deep Impact was made less than two weeks after the
space agency pulled the plug on another mission to the same comet.
Space Technology 4/Champollion would have landed on Tempel 1 and
drilled beneath the surface.
NASA administrators decided to favor Deep Impact because it was
focused solely on science and fit into existing budget plans, said
Doug Isbell, a NASA spokesman in Washington, D.C.
via: isml@onelist.com
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (7/9/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 09:08:46 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
*** Vatican in the black for 6th year
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Crediting the generosity of faithful around the
world as well as profits on investments and real estate, the Vatican
reported its sixth straight year in the black Thursday. But the
cushion was far from plump. The surplus for 1998, just over $1.5
million, was paltry when compared to the nearly $11 million surplus
recorded in 1997. The Vatican went through 23 money-losing years until
1993. In the last few years, the Holy See has been exploring new ways
of making money, such as marketing papal compact discs and
merchandising ventures linked to its museums, post office and mint.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560231102-0f6
*** NASA clears telescope for launch
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - The largest and most powerful X-ray
telescope ever to be launched will leave aboard the space shuttle
Columbia July 20, the anniversary of man's first moon landing, NASA
said Thursday. The five-day shuttle mission will be led by Eileen
Collins, NASA's first female commander. In development since the
1970s, the Chandra X-ray Observatory is meant to detect faint sources
of cosmic X-rays, such as quasars, exploded stars and possibly black
holes. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560228654-a7c
*** Mystery of solar wind solved
WASHINGTON (AP) - Particles streaming out from the sun catch a
magnetic wave and surf across the solar system at almost two million
miles an hour, a speed twice as fast as experts had predicted,
according to new measurements from satellites. The high speed flow
from the sun, called the solar wind, has been a mystery to scientists
for 37 years because they expected the particles to poke along at a
mere one million miles an hour. New measurements by two science
satellites have solved the puzzle, researchers said Thursday, by
showing that the solar wind's speed is boosted by magnetic waves that
spiral out from the sun. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560227595-58e
*** Track offers drive through gambling
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas (AP) - Starting Friday, gamblers at Lone Star
Park can play the horses the same way they buy Egg McMuffins - at the
drive-through on the way to work. The four service lanes are in the
track parking lot, just off Belt Line Road. "People just don't have
time these days," said track spokesman Darren Rogers. "This is just
something that will make life a little easier." Lone Star is the
nation's second thoroughbred track to offer drive-up windows,
following Keeneland, a track in Lexington, Ky., that started similar
service last year. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560227386-98a
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Weekend News Today items (7/8/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 09:08:46 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Barak to meet with Demirel
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arabic News
Thu Jul 8,1999 -- Israeli political sources said that Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak will meet on Wednesday in (occupied) Jerusalem
with Turkish President Suleiman Demirel. Israel Radio said Demirel
will be the first foreign figure to visit Israel since Barak assumed
power this week. Israel Radio added that Demirel will also meet with
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
Meetings of World Islamic Council held in Cairo
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arabic News
Thu Jul 8,1999 -- The Arab League has called upon the new Israeli
government to fully abide by basic requirements for a genuine Middle
East peace based on implementing international legitimacy resolutions
and the Madrid terms of reference, especially the land-for-peace
formula. In a speech he made on behalf of AL Secretary General at the
World Islamic Council, AL Assistant Secretary General for Arab Affairs
Ahmad Bin Hali said the new Israeli government is called upon to avoid
procrastination as practiced by the outgoing Likud government as well
as to resume peace negotiations from the point at which the Middle
East peace process was broken off. Bin Hali added, "The Israelis must
implement agreements concluded with the Palestinians and should pull
out of all the occupied Arab territories." The AL called on the Arabs
and the Islamic states to unite stances to support substantial issues
in Arab negotiations, including the question of holy Jerusalem. The AL
also called for confronting arbitrary Israeli practices aimed, among
other things, at changing the demographic and geographic conditions of
the city.
Morocco, Croatia sign four agreements
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arabic News
Thu Jul 8,1999 -- Morocco and Croatia signed on Wednesday four
agreements to upgrade economic cooperation in various fields. The
agreements deal with air transport, a project to cancel the visa
requirement for holders of diplomatic passports, sea transport and the
consolidation of political consultation between the two countries'
foreign ministries. The agreements were signed by Moroccan Minister of
Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Mohamed Benaissa and his Croatian
peer, Mate Granic, who started on Monday a working visit to Morocco.
Jordan discusses water issue with US
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arabic News
Thu Jul 8,1999 -- Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul Raouf al-Rawabdeh met
on Wednesday in Amman with Wayne Owens, chairman of the Center for
Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation in the US on the question
of the water shortage in the region as a result of the lack of
rainfall in this year. The Jordanian prime minister stressed that the
question of water is on top of the priorities of the Jordanian
government program and its set plan. He added that eliminating this
problem requires Arab and regional efforts and cooperation. He
continued that settling the question of water in the region is linked
closely to attaining a progress in the Middle East peace process on
various tracks so as to reach a just and comprehensive peace in the
region.
AL stresses European role in Middle East peace
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arabic News
Thu Jul 8,1999 -- Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdul Meguid has
underlined the British and European role in reviving the Middle East
peace process and resuming negotiations from the point at which they
broke off and the need to urge the government of Israel to implement
the agreement signed with the Palestinians. Upon meeting on Wednesday
in Cairo with the British ambassador accredited in Cairo, the AL chief
called on the new Israeli government to promote the peace process. The
AL chief added that he has discussed the question of Iraq in light of
the current debates at the UN Security Council. The British
ambassador, for his part, explained his country's viewpoint towards
the British project currently proposed to the UN Security Council. The
ambassador said he listened to the ideas the AL chief concerning
issues in the region, especially the Middle East peace process after
the new Israeli government assumed power, adding that he had informed
the AL chief about the British position which complies with the
European vision based on the importance of reviving peace
negotiations.
Rare statue of sun god found
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arabic News
Thu Jul 8,1999 -- Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni yesterday
dropped the curtain on a statue of the sun god Amun Ra and his wife
Mut whose age is 3,300 years. The statue was reconstructed from pieces
stored in several spots. In 1994, Dr. Hourigso Urouzian identified
some of the fragments as belonging to the same statue, and the effort
to restore the piece had begun. The statue's first parts were found
130 years ago in Luxor while the rest of it was found in stages. "The
sculpture was broken up in the Middle ages by stone robbers who
quarried away blocks from the statue's back slab and base and hollowed
out a basin in the back of the throne. Ever since, different pieces of
the statue had been excavated and subsequently sent to different
storerooms," head of the Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities, Dr.
Gaballah Ali Gaballah, added. The statue is 4 meters high, 2 meters
across, 2.5 meters deep, and was reformed by using 250 pieces, but it
was not possible to compensate for the lost parts during the repairs
for fear of changing the features of the statue. "Each fragment was
measured, drawn, photographed and recorded in files, before and during
examination. After almost a century of storage they had suffered from
heavy soiling and sulphation. All surfaces of the stone fragments were
cleaned and then protected by applying a thin coating of
microcrystaline wax. Once cleaned, the fragments were studied and
brought together in groupings," Gaballah said. He added that the
pieces of the statue that were found had to be "supported by a
frame-like structure within the original dimensions of the statue,
allowing separate pieces to be supported with minimal intervention
while remaining unobtrusive."
IDF says Wye can be implemented by September
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Dateline Israel
Thu Jul 8,1999 -- Senior IDF commanders who are preparing for the
implementation of the Wye Memorandum land withdrawals, believe the
move can be accomplished by September. The senior commanders are
making necessary preparations, believing that Prime Minister Ehud
Barak will order the withdrawal in keeping in line with statements
that he plans to honor the Wye accord which calls for the retreat from
areas throughout Judea and Samaria which are to be handed over to the
PLO Authority.
Barak to meet with Clinton July 15
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Dateline Israel
Thu Jul 8,1999 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is scheduled to
arrive in Washington on July 14 for a six- or seven-day trip that will
include at least one meeting with President Clinton on July 15. Barak
has left time open for a second meeting with Clinton on July 19. In
addition to meeting with Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, senior
Clinton administration officials and members of Congress, Barak is
scheduled to spend the July 16-18 weekend in New York, where he will
meet with representatives of the organized Jewish community.
Demonstration against appointing Arab to government post prevented
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arutz 7
Thu Jul 8,1999 -- The Israel police today prevented Kach activists
from demonstrating in front of Prime Minister Barak's home in Kokhav
Ya'ir against the likely appointment of an Arab MK to the Knesset
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. One of the candidates for the
post is MK Taleb Asana, who, at a 1995 Hamas/Islamic Jihad rally in
Gaza, shouted, "We must continue the struggle against Israel. We must
liberate the capital of the Palestinian nation, Jerusalem." The other
candidate is United Arab List leader MK Abdel-Malek Dahamshe, in whose
living room hangs a portrait of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. When
questioned by Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane some months ago about having "a
picture of a terrorist in his home," Dahamshe replied, "You are a
terrorist, and so is anyone who calls people like him a terrorist.
Ahmed Yassin is not a terrorist. He is a man who works to defend the
rights of his people." This is a continuation of remarks he made in
1997, when he told Arutz-7 what he thinks about Yassin (who was
convicted of the murder of at least two soldiers): "I identify with
the man and everything he represents. He is a hero... a man of peace,
he is as far from a terrorist as the earth is to the heavens. He is a
freedom fighter, he is not against Jews, but will fight with someone
who does not give him his home peacefully." Knesset Speaker Avraham
Burg released a statement today in favor of "a larger role" for Arab
MKs in the legislature. "The Knesset is a mirror of all Israel's
citizens," he said. ""There cannot, and should not, be any obstacle to
the participation of an Arab MK in any committee, as a member or as
chairman... including the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee."
Barak to Egypt
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arutz 7
Thu Jul 8,1999 -- Prime Minister Ehud Barak flies to Alexandria
tomorrow to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Barak's
advisors stated today that he will not agree to have Mubarak act as a
mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, noting the Egyptian
President's "negative contribution" to the Oslo process over the past
few years. Foreign Minister David Levy said this morning that the
Barak-Mubarak meeting is designed only to "break the ice," and that no
great diplomatic achievements should be expected at this point. Levy
added his opinion that the new government should implement the Wye
withdrawals, explaining, "If we do not fulfill our obligations, we
cannot expect the Palestinians to carry out their side of the
agreements." A meeting is scheduled for this Monday between Ehud Barak
and Yasser Arafat on the Israeli side of the Erez Junction in the Gaza
Strip. Barak plans to meet with U.S. President Bill Clinton during the
second half of next week in Washington.
via: bible_prophecy-news@onelist.com
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Religion Today items (7/9/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 09:08:46 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
"A Millennial Tribute to Jesus" is being planned for Christmas
Day 1999. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ (see link #1
below) and Paul Eshelman of the Jesus Film Project (see link #2
below) are behind the effort to honor Christ in a worldwide
telecast to an estimated 500 million people, the Network for
Strategic Missions (see link #3 below) said. The evangelistic
feature-length movie depicts the life, death, and resurrection of
Christ. ...A special edition of the film will be aired. World leaders
and heads of state will be asked to tape 30-second messages about
Jesus Christ and the influence of His life, and people of various
faiths will be asked to comment on the character and teachings of
Christ. A video of the program will be made available for worldwide
distribution. ...Distributors of the Jesus film want to show it to
everyone in the world by the end of 2000. They passed the 2 billion
mark earlier this year, the Jesus Film Project said.
RELATED LINKS:
1: http://www.ccci.org
2: http://www.jesusfilm.org/
3: http://www.strategicnetwork.org
http://www.religiontoday.com
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Russia Today items (7/9/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 09:12:39 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Keep Off The Grass: Russian heatwave spawns killer ticks
(http://www.russiatoday.com/features.php3?id=78008).
RUSSIA CONDEMNS TURKISH INCURSION INTO IRAQ
MOSCOW -- Russia on Thursday condemned Turkey's incursion into Iraq in
pursuit of separatist Kurd rebels and said it was a sign Western
powers were practicing double standards in international policy.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=78034&text
EGG-SIZE HAIL BREAKS MOSCOW HEAT
MOSCOW -- A violent storm pelted Moscow with hail stones the size of
small eggs on Thursday, denting cars and driving people indoors after
a record-setting month of baking heat.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=78019&text
MINISTER: CRISIS THREATENS RUSSIAN ENERGY SUPPLY
MOSCOW -- The crisis in Russia's energy sector caused by tax and price
policies, non-payment, and weak government regulation is so severe
that energy supplies to the population are at risk, the Energy
Minister said on Friday.
http://invest.russiatoday.com/business.php3?id=78049&text
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Israeli Dig Finds Traces of Lost City of Abraham
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 09:15:31 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
ISRAELI DIG FINDS TRACES OF LOST CITY OF ABRAHAM
Archaeologists believe they have found the heart of the ancient city of
Hebron, where Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch, lived 3,700 years ago.
On the site of an Israeli settlement, in territory claimed by both Arabs
and Jews, excavations have uncovered a 9-foot-thick city wall and
fortified tower that have been dated to the middle bronze period, circa
1700BC.
Scholars say this is about the time when, according to the biblical story,
Abraham - who was ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac as a test of
faith - came to the city.
Between the tower and the city wall, researchers have unearthed two stone-
walled rooms that they believe also date back to the period of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, whose 12 sons became the founders of the 12 tribes of
ancient Israel. Artifacts found in the rooms include silver jewelery,
bronze axe-heads, two scarabs and the handle of a dagger.
"You usually find such things in tombs because people were buried with
their belongings, but to find them here on the floor gives us a more
precise date," said Emanuel Eisenberg, in charge of the work.
Royal seals from the period of the kings of Israel several hundred years
later were found in another layer, clearly identifying the location as
biblical Hebron. "This is the ancient city of Hebron -no doubt about it,"
said Eisenberg.
The archaeological site is on the edge of Tel Rumeida, a mound across
which scholars believe the city once stretched eight acres. By digging
down through the tel, archeologists have been able to sift nearly 4,000
years of history.
Modern Hebron, however, has an uncertain future. Seven Israeli families
have lived in temporary housing on Tel Rumeida since 1984. The enclave is
one of three islands of Israeli settlement left in Hebron after Israel
handed over control of most of the city, with its population of 120,000,
to the Palestinians in 1996.
The archaeological work was licensed two weeks before the Israeli general
election in May as a "rescue excavation" to research the site before
permanent homes are built there for the settlers. The Palestinians want
all of Hebron to be handed over. They believe the city's 550 Israelis
should leave.
Dr Hamdan Taha, director-general of the Palestinian ministry for
archaeology, said the excavation had been politically motivated. "We think
the site should be protected as an archaeological site without any
ideological attempt to threaten and endanger a cultural heritage that
represents the ancient history of Hebron," he said.
Officials at the Israeli antiquities authority privately agree. "If such a
significant site were inside Israel proper, the law would prohibit
anything being built on it," a senior Israeli archaeologist said.
Persuading the settlers to go, however, will be difficult. David Wilder,
spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron, said the excavation proved
their right to live there.
"We always knew this was the site of the ancient city; now these
excavations have found positive proof of Jewish presence from the time of
the patriarchs," said Wilder. "In terms of Jewish roots and heritage, what
more do you need?" [Pictures of the excavations are accessable at
http://www.hebron.org.il/TelRumeida/trdig.htm] (by Matthew Kalman, The
Sunday Times, London, July 4 1999)
via: Friends (and friends of friends) of Bridges for Peace July 9, 1999
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Barak Wants To Combine Wye With Final Status Pact
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 19:22:36 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Friday July 9 2:27 PM ET
Barak Wants To Combine Wye With Final Status Pact
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Friday that he
hoped to combine implementation of the U.S.-brokered Wye
land-for-security deal between Israel and the Palestinians with a
future final status treaty.
``The Wye agreement will be implemented. The issue that (Palestinian
President Yasser) Arafat and I will discuss is whether we can together
... find a way to combine the implementation of the Wye agreement with
a final status agreement,'' Barak told Israel Channel One television.
Barak, who took office Tuesday, is scheduled to hold talks with
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat Sunday in what will be the first
Israeli-Palestinian summit in seven months.
Barak met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Alexandria Friday in the
first of a series of meetings with Arab leaders before he travels to
Washington to meet President Clinton Thursday.
Earlier Friday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat ruled out
making any changes in the Wye Plantation deal signed by Arafat and
former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Barak ousted
Netanyahu in the election held in May.
``We absolutely, totally and utterly reject even the idea, or the mere
thinking about it, and we urge Mr. Barak not even to suggest it if he
means and intends to build trust,'' Erekat said.
URL:http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/wl/story.html?s=v/nm/19990709
/wl/mide ast_israel_38.html
via: End_Times_News@onelist.com
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (7/9/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 19:29:21 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
*** Barak vows to end clash with Arabs
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) - Israel's new leader pledged Friday to make
every effort to reach peace with his Arab neighbors, but cautioned
that he needs more time to revive the deadlocked peace process. "We
are determined to turn every stone to find a way to go forward without
risking our security or vital interest," Prime Minister Ehud Barak
said at a news conference with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak after
their two-hour meeting in this Mediterranean city. Before returning to
Israel, Barak said he would never give up fighting terrorism, but
together with the people of the Middle East "I am determined to make
peace." See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560236754-b6e ***
Also: Barak pushing hard for peace, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560238095-e52
*** Saddam: UN waging germ warfare
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - President Saddam Hussein has accused the United
Nations of mounting a secret germ war against Iraq, citing his
government's accusation that a U.N. employee bred locust eggs to harm
Iraqi crops. In remarks carried by three state-run newspapers today,
Saddam also charged U.N. employees in Iraq of theft, mainly of
archaeological treasures, for sale abroad. The United Nations did not
immediately respond to the allegations, the harshest and most serious
ever made by Iraq. It was even more unusual that the accusations came
personally from the Iraqi leader who made no effort to mince his
words. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560236528-909
*** Japan, China seal WTO agreement
BEIJING (AP) - Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Chinese
Premier Zhu Rongji agreed today on terms for China's entry to the
World Trade Organization, the first such agreement between Beijing and
a major industrialized nation. The deal brings China a step closer in
its sporadic, 13-year effort to join global trade's rule-making body.
But it still must negotiate separate pacts with the United States and
the European Union, among other trading partners. After weeks of lower
level talks and a Thursday night meeting by their Cabinet ministers,
Obuchi and Zhu sealed an agreement covering access to services during
talks today in the Great Hall of the People. The pact complements a
1997 agreement on trade in goods. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560235393-38a
*** EU president promises new era
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Hoping to overcome the cronyism and
mismanagement that has plagued the European Union's executive arm, its
incoming president promised a new era Friday and named the team he
wants to run Europe's affairs for the next five years. "I promised
that I would start a new era of change," said former Italian Prime
Minister Romano Prodi, who is taking over as president of the
20-member European Commission. "It's what the commission needs. It's
what the European public has asked for." Only four of the 20 people on
Prodi's list were holdovers from the previous Commission, which
resigned in March after a panel of experts found widespread nepotism
and financial mismanagement at the EU's head office. Of the four, only
Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler of Austria will keep his old
job. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560238109-2a8
*** Hillary's Israeli support welcomed
WASHINGTON (AP) - The chairman of a key congressional committee is
welcoming Hillary Rodham Clinton's support for Jerusalem as the
capital of Israel. But he says it would be better if she convinced her
husband to relocate the U.S. Embassy there. Mrs. Clinton, in pursuit
of a U.S. Senate seat from New York, has assured Jewish leaders she
considers Jerusalem "the eternal and indivisible capital" of Israel.
She also says she will advocate locating the U.S. Embassy there if she
gets elected next year. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560234734-ad8
*** Report: AIDS cases in China soaring
BEIJING (AP) - The number of Chinese infected by the virus that
causes AIDS has climbed past 400,000, a state-run newspaper reported,
citing Health Ministry sources. About two-thirds of the people
infected with HIV are drug addicts living in rural areas, although the
number of sexually transmitted cases is increasing, the Yangcheng
Evening News said in a report seen Friday in Beijing. It said 82.9% of
HIV carriers were men and that more than half were between 20 and 29
years old. China recorded 412 new cases of HIV infection in the first
three months of the year, the report said without giving a current
total for originally reported cases. As of last September, the Health
Ministry had confirmed only 11,170 carriers of HIV nationwide. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560235826-5a2
*** Russia says Mir may be evacuated
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia warned Kazakstan that the three crew members
aboard the Mir space station may have to come home early if a ban on
launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome is not lifted, a news report
said Friday. If Russia isn't able to launch a Progress cargo ship on
July 14, "the crew of the Mir orbital station...will have to be
evacuated," Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko said
in a telegram to Kazak Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbayev, according to
the ITAR-Tass news agency. According to Russian media, the Mir's crew
- cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev, Sergei Avdeyev and French astronaut
Jean-Pierre Heignere - will have to leave the station July 17 if they
don't get fresh supplies of food and equipment. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560237789-e16
*** Napoleon's footsteps echo in Israel
JAFFA, Israel (AP) - The bloody battle for Jaffa's twisted alleyways
was over. As cannon smoke drifted away, Muslim defenders of the
ancient port sent word of surrender from their last barricade. French
troops gathered the 3,000 POWs on a beachfront. Exercising the
privilege of the first European sovereign in the Holy Land since the
end of the Crusades, Napoleon gave his order: shoot them, bayonet
them, drown them. The sea turned red, according to contemporary
accounts. For modern-day Palestinians, the 1799 massacre and the
invasion it capped is symptomatic of two centuries of sometimes
catastrophic European meddling in the Holy Land's statecraft. "The
memory of Napoleon is still alive for Arabs in Jaffa," Tsvi Shacham,
the director of The Antiquities Museum of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, told a group
of historians gathered in Israel this week to discuss Napoleon's
legacy. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560234055-59e
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Locusts descend on Russian fields
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 16:47:51 -0500
From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
Locusts descend on Russian fields
Thursday, 8 July 1999 14:25 (GMT)
MOSCOW, July 8 (UPI) - Giant swarms of locusts, believed to have
originated in northern Kazakhstan, have migrated to central Russia
and central Siberia, destroying thousands of hectares of crops.
Russian television today says the locusts, which have not been seen
in the Novosibirsk region in 40 years, have completely devoured crops
and all vegetation in several areas over the past week, causing
extensive damage to the farms.
According to a local news agency, one woman committed suicide
because the locusts had eaten her crops, her main source of income.
Farm managers in the area have issued an appeal to the federal
government to provide financing and send aircraft for an emergency
fumigation operation to save endangered crops.
Agricultural officials fear an even larger infestation of locusts next
year if steps aren't taken to eradicate the insects now.
The plague of insects is now affecting the central Samara region, on
the River Volga.
The locusts migrate great distances, covering as much as 50 km (31
miles) a day in search of food.
Kazakhstan, a natural breeding ground for locusts, has curtailed its
formerly extensive fumigating program because of financial difficulties.
Russian agriculture officials say the unusually arid weather this spring
and summer has helped produce vast clouds of locusts that are now
attacking Russian crops.
Russia expects another poor harvest of grain this year because of
drought conditions in many parts of the country, but the plague of
locusts, which has become the top news item in the past two days,
threatens to destroy what is left of the crops.
Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin, meeting agricultural officials
in Moscow today, admitted that the forecast of a grain harvest of 60
million tons is "lower than our minimum requirements."
Stepashin said the grain shortage this year is likely to reach a level of
14 or 15 million tons, due to "unfavorable factors and conditions."
Russia is already receiving a million tons of grain as aid from the
United States.
http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=94429
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Barak Says Palestinian State Exists
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 15:04:40 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Saturday, July 10, 1999: The News Channel
Barak says Palestinian State Exists
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Reuters) --Prime Minister Ehud
Barak said on Friday that in reality a Palestinian
state already existed and his goal was to ensure that
it did not become a threat to Israel.
"A Palestinian state, (former Foreign Minister) Ariel
Sharon said more than a year ago...in reality,
defacto, there is one already.
The question is how we make it neither an enemy nor a
threat to Israel," Barak told Israel Channel Two
television.
http://www.arabia.com/content/news/7_99/barak10.shtml
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - USSR Planned to Atom Bomb Moon
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 19:22:49 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
http://www.independent.co.uk/atp/INDEPENDENT/NEWS/P5S2.html
-
USSR PLANNED TO ATOM BOMB MOON
HAD SOVIET astronauts been first to land on the Moon, they might have
done more than just plant a flag. They considered detonating an atom
bomb, in an explosion that would be visible from Earth, to prove they
were there before their rivals.
The nuclear flash might have been visible with the unaided eye,
despite being 250,000 miles away. It would also have meant "no one
would have doubted the Soviet Union was capable of landing on the
surface of the Moon", says Boris Chertok, now 87, a leading rocket
scientist from the earliest days of the Soviet space programme.
The plan was hatched in 1958, though there was no way then to predict
whether such an explosion might have had a disastrous effect on the
Moon's crust. "The plan was to send an atomic bomb to the Moon, so
that astronomers across the world could photograph its explosion on
film," says Dr Chertok. At the time, atomic tests were all the rage as
the Soviet Union and the US vied for supremacy in the Cold War.
The USSR had joined the nuclear race in 1949, detonating a warhead
over Siberia. In the next nine years they and Britain carried out 396
atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons. The Moon looked just another
test ground, albeit harder to reach than Pacific atolls.
The plan was dropped only when the scientists realised the absence of
an atmosphere on the Moon meant there would be no "mushroom cloud" to
accompany the explosion, nor the rolling ball of burning gas.
"Our physicists decided the flash would be so short-lived, because of
the lack of an atmosphere on the Moon, that it might not register on
film," says Dr Chertok.
Sir Martin Rees, Britain's astronomer royal, believes the bomb would
probably not have caused any damage to the Moon. "It would just be
another small crater."
Soviet scientists have admitted their quest for the Moon was futile,
because they were hampered financially. Despite that, they managed to
be the first to put a satellite in orbit with Sputnik, put the first
male astronaut and first female astronaut into space, and werefirst to
hit the Moon with a probe in 1959. They also landed an uncrewed craft
in 1966.
And in 1968, the Soviet Union sent the first space ship to orbit the
Moon with life abroad, returning turtles back to Earth. Clearly, wiser
counsel had prevailed over delivering bombs to the Moon.
via: isml@onelist.com
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - High resolution spy satellite set for launch
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 19:24:12 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000579381554028&rtmo=0X2sxGKq&atmo=99
999999&pg=/et/99/7/8/ecnsat08.html
High-resolution spy satellite set for launch
By Simon Davies
A COMMERCIAL satellite capable of distinguishing objects the size of a
tea tray will be launched from America next month. The Ikonos-1 is the
most powerful commercial imaging satellite yet built. Its parabolic
lens will be able to resolve objects 80cm (32in) in length anywhere on
Earth.
Ikonos-1, owned by Denver-based Space Imaging, will be the first of a
new generation of high-resolution satellites using technology formerly
restricted to government security agencies. Another 10 companies have
received licences to launch equally powerful satellites, four of them
this year.
Closing in: the Millennium Dome is clearly visible in this picture
taken by GEC's SPOT 4 satellite last year. Ikonos-1 will be able to
resolve objects 32in across
Space Imaging's corporate communications director, Mark Brender, told
a London meeting of the "Freedom Forum" think-tank last week that the
technology would pioneer a "new age of transparency - "we intend
bringing death to distance"."
Satellite resolution has constantly improved over the past decade.
Since the end of the cold war, companies such as EarthWatch, Motorola
and Boeing have invested billions of dollars to create satellites
capable of mapping the most minute detail on the face of the earth.
The technology is already being used for a vast range of purposes, from
media reporting of war and natural disasters, to detecting unlicensed
building work and even illegal swimming pools. Brender says "we won't
ask clients who they are or for what purpose they want the images".
But the companies have a distance to go before they catch up with
governments. The new generation of secret spy satellites can recognise
objects 20cm (8in) across.
While Ikonos-1 falls short of the sort of technology featured in the
film Enemy of the State, " the privacy implications are vast. The
"open skies" policy accepted worldwide means that there are few
restrictions on the use of satellites.
Dave Banisar, a Washington DC privacy lawyer and author of The
Electronic Privacy Papers, says the next generation of satellites will
cause a privacy crisis. "The technology may reach the point where
people will be forced to retreat to their basements to find privacy."
via: isml@onelist.com
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