To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Oct 14, 1999 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 08:43:01 +0000

From: research-bpr@philologos.org (Moza)

8:00 PM Eastern

 HIST - THE FIRST DETECTIVE - A French master of
   disguise is known as the world's first private
   eye.(CC)(TVG)

 TLC - SAN FRANCISCO QUAKE: A MATTER OF SECONDS - A
   minute-by-minute story of the earthquake that occurred during
   the World Series.(CC)(TVPG)

9:00

 DISC - SCIENCE MYSTERIES - "Between Life and Death" -
   Scientists describe near-death experiences with medical
   terminology.(CC)(TVG)

10:00

 TLC - GUNS UNDER FIRE - Three perspectives on gun
   control.(CC)(TVPG)

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - World Charter
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 09:27:01 +0000

From: research-bpr@philologos.org (Moza)

WORLD CHARTER:
THE NEW CHARTER TO BE PUBLISHED PUBLICLY ON UN DAY OCTOBER 24, 1999 by
Henry Lamb (www.worldnetdaily.com) Friday, October 01, 1999 7:54 PM

In less than a year, the United Nations will convene a special
Millennium Assembly as a global summit on the future of the world.
This event will crown a decade of preparation to launch the new
millennium on a new system of global governance. The blueprint was
published by the Commission on Global Governance in 1995. Now, a
Charter to achieve global governance has been developed for
presentation at the Millennium Assembly next September. It will be
published publicly on UN day, October 24th. [2000] It is called The
Charter for Global Democracy. It has already been signed by
influential leaders in 56 nations, and has the support of civil
society non-government organizations around the world. The document
is, in reality, a Charter for the abolition of individual freedom.

The first of 12 principles calls for the consolidation of all
international agencies under the direct authority of the United
Nations.

The second principle calls for regulation by the UN of all
transnational corporations and financial institutions, requiring an
"inter- national code of conduct" concerning the environment and labor
standards. Principle number 3 demands an independent source of revenue
for the UN, such as the "Tobin tax" and taxes on aircraft and shipping
fuels, and licensing the use of the global commons. The "global
commons" is defined to be "outer space, the atmosphere,
non-territorial seas, and the related environment that supports human
life." Number 4 would eliminate the veto power and permanent member
status on the Security Council. Number 5 would authorize a standing UN
army. Number 6 would require UN registration of all arms and the
reduction of all national armies "as part of a multilateral global
security system" under the authority of the United Nations. Principle
number 7 would require individual and national compliance with all UN
"Human Rights" treaties and declarations. Number 8 would activate the
International Criminal Court, make the International Court of Justice
compulsory for all nations, and give individuals the right to petition
the courts to remedy social injustice. Principle 9 calls for a new
institution to establish economic and environmental security by
insuring "sustainable development." Number 10 calls for the
establishment of an International Environmental Court. Number 11 calls
for a declaration that climate change is an essential global security
interest that requires the creation of a "high-level action team" to
allocate carbon emission based on equal per-capita rights. Principle
number 12 calls for the cancellation of all debt owed by the poorest
nations, global poverty reductions, and for "equitable sharing of
global resources," as allocated by the United Nations.

As preposterous as these ideas may sound to freedom-loving
Americans, most of the world considers them to be an improve- ment
over their current circumstance. The fuel that fires the global
governance movement, however, is not the desires of oppressed people,
it is the money supplied by the well-to-do elite who feel the need to
"do something" to help the less fortunate people of the world. The
strategy for advancing the movement is supplied by those who expect to
control the machinery of global governance. It is no coincidence that
financial contributions in support of the Charter for Global Democracy
are to be made to the London office of United Nations Association.
Dozens of documents, all promoting some form of world government, have
been circulating for most of this decade. All contain these same
principles. The Millennium Assembly will receive these documents and
meld them into the legal instruments required to modify the existing
UN Charter. It will take a year or two for the legal documents to be
prepared and adopted, and another year or two for ratification.

THE WORLD IS TRULY STANDING AT THE THRESHOLD OF WORLD GOVERNMENT

The world is truly standing at the threshold of world government.
Woodrow Wilson brought the world to the same threshold nearly 80 years
ago; the United States decided not to enter, and the League of Nations
collapsed. Once again, it is up to the United States to determine the
future of the world. If the United States embraces this Charter for
Global Democracy, the world will be subjected to global dominance by
the United Nations.

If the United States opts out, the world may be spared centuries
of inevitable oppression. There is no issue of greater importance in
next year's election than where each candidate stands on global
governance and national sovereignty. So far, this issue has not
emerged in any national campaign. The United States must prevent this
catastrophe-in-the-making. Global governance, as envisioned by the
Commission on Global Governance and the Charter for Global Democracy
cannot succeed without the support of the United States. The United
States must walk away. For all practical purposes, the next President,
and the next Senate will make that decision. By walking away from the
UN's vision of global governance, we are not turning our backs to the
rest of the world. Our next President and Congress should say no to
global governance, and offer a better idea. There is no better idea,
nor higher aspiration, than individual freedom. America pioneered that
technology 200 years ago, and it is still the most valuable asset we
possess.

FREEDOM OR DEMOCRACY?

FREEDOM and democracy are not synonymous. In most of the world,
the term democracy means the right of citizens to participate in the
process of government. It is a right granted by the government, and
controlled by the government, and if exercised improperly, it is
denied by the government.

FREEDOM, on the other hand, is the God-given right to govern
one's self.

FREEDOM is the power to enter into voluntary agreements with
other people who have precisely the same freedom,
to achieve objectives of mutual benefit, as determined only
by the parties to the agreement.

FREEDOM is the power to make the rules that govern those
agreements.

FREEDOM the power to create and control a system of general
governance designed to serve its creators.

FREEDOM is the power to cheat, lie, and steal -- and learn the
consequences of those actions.

FREEDOM is the power to experiment, to invent, to help others --
and learn the consequences of those actions.

FREEDOM is the ultimate objective of human kind. A system of
global democracy, administered by the United Nations, would turn the
world away from its primary quest -- individual freedom. Poverty
cannot be eliminated by taking wealth from some and giving it to
others. The inevitable consequence of such action is the expansion of
poverty, by taking not only wealth, but the incentive to produce
wealth as well.

THE ENVIRONMENT

The environment -- the global commons -- cannot be protected for
long by regulated preservation. It must be protected by those who use
it to meet their daily needs. Government ownership or control of the
environment is the most certain way to ensure its degradation through
stagnation. People, like virtually every other species on earth,
should be free to use that portion of the environment they can control
in whatever way they choose. If they abuse that environment, the
environment will not sustain them. If they cultivate and care for that
environment, it will sustain them. This is a fundamental law of nature
that cannot be repealed by any institution of government. In the long
term, government attempts to manage the environment become, in
retrospect, examples of gross mismanagement. Individuals, managing
that portion of the planet they are able to control, provide the
surest way to achieve a healthy, vibrant environment for all.

FREEDOM is the power to gain control over a portion of the
environment -- land ownership.

FREEDOM is the power to defend that land, by whatever means
necessary, from those who have not learned the consequences of
cheating, lying, or stealing. Freedom is the power to use the
resources the land provides to create products and services others are
willing to buy.

FREEDOM is the power to buy products and services others have
produced.

These are the ideas for which the world hungers. These are the
better ideas America should offer the world. Because these ideas have
produced prosperity beyond the wildest dreams of the rest of the
world, we should happily share our freedom technology with the world.
Democracy can be imposed upon people by government; freedom cannot be
imposed. Freedom must be learned through experience. Sometimes the
experience is bloody, as it was in America, and always, it is painful,
as is the current learning experience in Russia. It is the price we
must pay for the benefits freedom bestows. America should stop pouring
its prosperity down the United Nations' drain. Instead, it should help
directly, any nation that wants its people to be free. If given the
choice, the people of every nation would choose individual freedom
over a system of UN handouts. The governments of those nations,
however, are not likely to embrace the possibility of relinquishing
power. Governments of every stripe around the world, are the obstacles
preventing individual freedom.

THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES should first ensure their
continued freedom by limiting the power of the government through the
people elected to represent us. We should insist that America never
relinquish one more ounce of its national sovereignty, and begin to
reclaim our national sovereignty by disengaging from the labyrinth of
UN treaties we have embraced in recent years. We should insist that
our national defense is second to none, and never subject it to the
command of any authority but our own. We should never relinquish our
right for individuals to own and use land, nor should we allow our
government to use our tax dollars to buy the land which is our
posterity's birthright. We should direct our government to reestablish
as its highest priority, the protection of individual freedom for
every American.

These ideas are repugnant to the promoters of global democracy
under the authority of the United Nations. These ideas are labeled as
"jingoism." These ideas are described as "extreme nationalism
bordering on hatred of non-nationals." The opposite is true. These
ideas are offered to the rest of the world because America
demonstrates that these ideas can bring the same kind of benefits to
all nations that embrace them.

THIS IS THE MESSAGE THE UNITED STATES SHOULD DELIVER TO THE UNITED
NATIONS

The next President and the next Senate will deliver whatever
message we, the voters, send. If we, the United States, embrace the
Charter for Global Democracy and the world government it establishes,
America will be reduced to the lowest common denominator forced equity
demands. The power of individual freedom will be caged in history
books for generations. It could easily take centuries of gradual
decline and rising oppression before a new generation of founders cast
off the scourge of the UN-King and rediscover the truths upon which
America's founders built our great nation.

WE, THE PEOPLE, LITERALLY HOLD THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD IN OUR
HANDS. The people we send to Washington as the result of our next
election will either embrace world government, or reject it. It is up
to us.

 - - - - - - - - - - Henry Lamb is the executive vice president
of the Environmental Conservation Organization and Chairman of
Sovereignty International. 1999 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.

via: prophezine-newsbites2@lists.best.com

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Daywatch News Briefs (10/14/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 09:36:26 +0000

From: research-bpr@philologos.org (Moza)

MARANATHA NEWS BRIEFS

JERUSALEM -- A special Israeli ministerial committee met
Wednesday to finalize a compromise solution in a two-year-old
land dispute between Arab Christians and Muslims in Nazareth.
However, the Muslims have already rejected the compromise over
the plot, which has invited involvement from both Moslem and
Christians authorities.
Full Story: http://www.mcjonline.com/news/news3511.htm

NEW YORK -- Pro-life groups say that the United Nations' venture
to highlight the birth of the so-called six billionth baby on
earth is part of an orchestrated movement with abortion
providers to implement public policies which promote abortion as
a way to control the size of the world's population.
Full Story: http://www.mcjonline.com/news/news3512.htm

OREGON -- When city council members in Ashland, Ore., voted 3-1
Oct. 5 to establish a registry in which same-sex couples could
document their relationship, they joined in a movement now
encompassing nearly 50 other local government across the nation.
While statewide battles have raged the last three years in
Hawaii, Alaska and Vermont over the issue of same-sex marriages,
municipalities and county governments have quietly been setting
up what are being called "domestic partner registries".
Full Story: http://www.mcjonline.com/news/news3513.htm

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The United Methodist Board of Church and
Society has called for the Boy Scouts of America to end its
policy of excluding homosexuals from its ranks. Otherwise, the
social action agency of the 8.2-million-member denomination
implied, Methodists should consider ending their ties to
Scouting.
Full Story: http://www.mcjonline.com/news/news3514.htm

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - One billion moviegoers to view global warming message
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 09:45:37 +0000

From: research-bpr@philologos.org (Moza)

ONE BILLION MOVIEGOERS TO VIEW GLOBAL WARMING MESSAGE

                           CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, October 13, 1999
                           (ENS) - A new movie trailer on the risks of
                           global warming will debut in theaters later
                           this month to reach an international
                           audience of more than one billion people.
                           Produced by the Union of Concerned
                           Scientists (UCS) and the Earth
                           Communications Office (ECO), "A Perfect
                           Balance" uses images and celebrity
                           narration to illustrate the causes of
                           global warming, and describe simple ways to
                           reduce climate change. Patrick Stewart and
                           Linda Hunt narrate the 30 and 60 second
                           spots. "'A Perfect Balance' will be seen by
                           more people around the world than any other
                           single piece of paid or unpaid
                           advertising," said ECO chairman Larry
                           Kopald.

                           The trailers will be translated into at
                           least 10 languages and broadcast in more
                           than 60 countries through Earth Day 2000
                           next April. Television spots, a series of
                           celebrity and scientific chats on the
                           Internet, and a series of media interviews
                           with experts will also highlight global
                           warming throughout the year. Vice President
                           Al Gore attended the Hollywood premiere of
                           the trailer in September, joined by Ted
                           Danson, Patrick Stewart, Ed Begley, Jr.,
                           Bill Maher, Alexandra Paul, and other
                           celebrities. Nobel laureate and UCS board
                           member Mario Molina delivered the keynote
                           address. "Scientists and actors may not
                           have much in common, but we believe that
                           global warming is real and action is needed
                           now," said UCS executive director Howard
                           Ris. "The key to that action is public
                           awareness, and these spots will go a long
                           way in drawing attention to the problem."

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/oct99/1999L-10-13-09.html

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Proposing a federal republic of Earth
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 09:47:24 -0500

From: owner-bpr@philologos.org

Proposing a federal republic of Earth

By Mary Jo Anderson
© 1999 WorldNetDaily.com

World leaders convened in San Francisco at the posh Fairmont
hotel last week for the fifth annual State of the World Forum.
The Forum is a project of the Gorbachev Foundation whose mission
statement reads, "To serve as a non-partisan forum for
addressing the central concerns facing humanity at the beginning
of the new millennium." The overarching theme of this year's
Forum was the establishment of a planetary government empowered
to "enforce human rights."

As the chic leftists, with their new age gurus in tow, feasted
sumptuously on $100 per plate dinners their chatter decried the
plight of the poor. Enforcing equitable distribution of the
world's resources demands global adoption of "sustainable
development," as part of the "environmental rights" of all men.

We might laugh it off as the final utopian scheme of the
millennium were it not for the deadly serious intent of some
very influential people. Past and present speakers at the Forum
include: George Bush, Margaret Thatcher, James A. Baker, III,
media mogul Ted Turner, Jean Houston, Desmond Tutu, futurist
John Naisbitt, Carl Sagan, Jesse Jackson, Deepak Chopra,
alternative medicine star, Andrew Weil, Queen Noor of Jordan,
Earth Council president Maurice Strong, primatologist Jane
Goodall and Yashuhiro Nakasone. These luminaries were joined by
U.S. senators and business leaders (namely, David Rockefeller
and Steve Kirsch, CEO of Infoseek), Nobel laureates, spiritual
gurus, indigenous peoples' representatives and world-class
scientists. World peace, nuclear disarmament, and ecology
rounded out the six-day agenda, but the centerpiece was a call
for a "new world spirit" which recognizes the "unity of the
human family" and the necessity of a world federation to keep
peace in the family.

Full story:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_excomm/19991014_xex_proposing_fe.
shtml

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Misc. News
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 18:55:05 +0000

From: research-bpr@philologos.org (Moza)

GLOBAL TRADE SUMMIT TO BE WIDELY PROTESTED October 13, 1999

The London Guardian reported: "It is the worst nightmare of US
conservatives. Hundreds of protest groups, tens of thousands
of political activists from all over the world, plus Fidel
Castro and the Mexican Zapatista revolutionaries, will gather
in Seattle next month for the biggest
protest against global capitalism ever held. The demonstrations
during the summit meeting of the World Trade Organization from
November 30 to December 3 are being labeled 'the apocalypse',
and the federal authorities are nervously considering how to
defuse the tension at an event the world will
be watching...Every day new groups, ranging from mainstream
US trade union federations such as the AFL-CIO to the People
of Color Against Aids Network and radical Christian organizations,
register their intention to join the activities at the edge of the
stage where the world's most powerful decision-makers will meet.
Preliminary demonstrations offering a taste of what will happen next
month have been taking place this week in Seattle. About 5,000
delegates from 150 countries will attend the official event. President
Bill Clinton will represent the US and Bill Gates of Microsoft and
Phil Condit of Boeing are heading the host city's delegation. They
will be discussing - although many of the decisions will already have
been made - the further liberalization of trade, the cutting of
tariffs and subsidies, the introduction of GM foods, and the patenting
of nature, to open the global market to greater investment..."

MALAYSIA TRACKING RELIGIOUS BELIEFS ON ID CARDS October 13, 1999

The South China Morning Post reported: "A Malaysian government
decision to include religion on identity cards has drawn strong
criticism from religious groups and a leader of one of its
own parties, who described it as an =E6undesirable exercise=C6.
The plan was announced on Friday by the Deputy Prime
Minister, Abdullah Badawi, who said the added feature would
help authorities in cases where members of a family disagreed
over the religion of a person who had died. It would also help
them expose Muslims masquerading as non-Muslims in order to
patronize the Genting Highlands casino or to avoid
fasting during Ramadan, he claimed. Followers of Islam are
barred from gambling and, during the fasting month, are required to
abstain from food or drink during daylight hours. The Malaysian
Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism
immediately called on the Government to reconsider its decision. The
council president, A. Vaithilingam, said the inclusion of religion on
identity cards could lead to bias and discrimination. A non-government
Muslim group said the move could disrupt religious harmony."

MILITARY COUP IN PAKISTAN October 13, 1999

Associated Press reported today: "Pakistani Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif and his Cabinet have been dismissed, army-controlled
television said today. Troops took control of airports and government
buildings throughout the country. A message scrolled across the
television screen announcing that Sharif's government had been ousted.
It said Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf, who had been fired hours before by
Sharif, would address the nation in a broadcast speech. In reaction to
Musharraf's dismissal, troops quickly seized television and radio
stations across the country, temporarily halting transmissions, and
took over major airports. Troops cordoned off Sharif in his residency
in Islamabad, took over the houses of several other top ministers and
seized other government buildings. Sharif fired Musharraf while the
military leader was on a visit to Sri Lanka. Soon afterward, army
personnel moved rapidly though the capital, seizing important
buildings and putting state-run television off the air. Musharra flew
back to Pakistan later in the day and was met by a large contingent of
soldiers at the airport in the southern city of Karachi. He was seen
leaving the airport, which was also closed by the military,
accompanied by several jeeps filled with soldiers."

BILDERBERG GLOBALISTS TO MEET IN WASHINGTON D.C. October 13,
1999

WorldNetDaily reported: "The secretive Bilderberg society,
a group some believe conspires semi-annually to foster global
government, will hold a steering committee meeting in Washington next
month, WorldNetDaily has learned. The Nov. 4-5 conference, featuring
invited guests such as Vice President Al Gore and presidential
candidate John McCain, is scheduled for the Library of Congress in the
nation's capital and is sponsored by the American Friends of
Bilderberg. The U.S. group is directed by Henry Kissinger, David
Rockefeller, Paul Allaire and Richard C. Holbrooke. Since 1953, the
Bilderberg group has convened government, business, academic and
journalistic representatives from the U.S., Canada and Europe with the
express purpose of exploring the future of the North Atlantic
community. The international steering committee includes Conrad Black,
publisher of newspapers throughout Canada, the U.S. and the London
Telegraph and Jerusalem Post, Vernon Jordan, George Mitchell,
Kissinger and Rockefeller. On the agenda for the November meeting is a
panel discussion of the U.S. presidential elections and an exploration
of the national security requirements for the 21st century. Among
those involved in the discussion of the latter subject will be former
U.S. Sens. Gary Hart and Warren Rudman, former Speaker of the House
Newt Gingrich, journalist Leslie Gelb and Secretary of Defense William
Cohen. McCain, at the special invitation of Kissinger, will speak at
breakfast Friday morning

via: pre-trib-news <pretribnews@listbot.com>

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Sunspot cycle update
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 19:00:19 +0000

From: research-bpr@philologos.org (Moza)

Solar Cycle Update

Updated predictions from NASA scientists place the solar
maximum in mid-2000.

October 14, 1999: Beginning in late September, a continuing
series of minor to moderate geomagnetic storms have triggered
aurorae along the northern tier of U.S states and may have
affected some public power systems operating at high northern
latitudes. These events were caused by high-speed material
streaming out from areas on the sun known as coronal holes. This
week we can expect more of the same as another coronal hole
rotates into position to send high-speed solar wind particles
toward our planet. Space weather forecasters expect moderate
levels of aurorae, shortwave radio disruptions, and power grid
fluctuations at high latitudes for at least the next three days.

Right: On Sept. 14 1999, the space-based SOHO observatory
photographed a huge eruptive prominence escaping the Sun, seen
in the upper right corner of the image. Prominences are loops of
magnetic fields with hot gas trapped inside. Sometimes, as the
fields become unstable, the prominence will erupt as this one
did and become part of a coronal mass ejection. Beautiful
prominences like these become more common as we approach solar
maximum.

The recent increase in geomagnetic activity offers a taste of
things to come as the Sun approaches the maximum of its 11-year
sunspot cycle. As sunspot numbers mount, coronal mass ejections
and solar wind disturbances will trigger more and more
geomagnetic storms. In extreme cases, these storms can induce
electric currents in the earth and oceans that interfere with
electric power transmission equipment.

The extra ultraviolet (UV) and X-ray radiation created by
magnetic fields around sunspots also cause the Earth's
atmosphere to heat up and expand. This creates added drag in the
area where low-earth orbit satellites and the Space Shuttle
orbit. Solar flares and energetic particle events further
complicate matters by interrupting satellite and shortwave radio
communications.

It's not all bad news, though. The increased levels of solar
activity will likely trigger dazzling auroral displays at mid-
latitudes. Sky watchers in the continental U.S. will be treated
to sights normally reserved for residents of higher latitudes.
Another piece of good news is that increased atmospheric drag at
solar maximum acts as a scavenger and helps clean out space
debris from low-Earth orbit.

When will the solar maximum actually take place? Recent work by
David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the Marshall Space Flight
Center, and his collaborators indicate that the solar activity
will peak around the middle of the year 2000.

"Our predictions have consistently targeted 2000 as the
beginning of solar maximum," says Hathaway, "but the latest
numbers suggest that the peak sunspot count in 2000 will be a
bit lower than expected. The projected peak is comparable to,
but lower than the peaks of the last two maxima (in 1989 and
1978). That would put all three of the recent sunspot maxima in
the same class -- above average compared to all the sunspot
cycles since the mid 1700's."

A common misconception about the solar maximum is that it is a
brief event that happens on a particular day, as reported in one
recent news story that warned of a solar catastrophe on January
1, 2000. Not so, says Hathaway.

"The sunspot maximum is usually a broad peak. There is a two or
three year period when activity is quite high. I wouldn't say
that we're really in the solar maximum yet. I expect solar
activity to be highest in 2000 and 2001, and then in 2002 it may
decline back to where we are now in October 1999."

"The effects we've been experiencing for the past few weeks are
relatively minor geomagnetic disturbances caused by the solar
wind flowing out of coronal holes. A coronal hole is something
you see in x-ray pictures of the sun where the corona appears
dark. In contrast, bright spots in the x-ray image tend to
overlie sunspot groups where hot gas is bottled up in magnetic
fields that rise up out of one sunspot and bend back to
reconnect at another spot nearby."

Right: This x-ray image of the sun, captured on Oct 12, 1999,
by the Japanese Yohkoh X-ray Observatory shows the coronal hole
that has rotated into a favorable position to send high-speed
solar wind particles toward Earth. The resulting gust of solar
wind is expected to buffet Earth's magnetic field and trigger
moderate geomagnetic disturbances over the next few days.

"The magnetic fields around coronal holes are different," he
continued. "Instead of looping back to reconnect on the sun's
surface, these magnetic fields are essentially open. They go way
out into the solar system and no one knows exactly where they
reconnect. These open field lines allow high-speed solar wind
particles to escape."

In fact, the solar wind streams off of the Sun in all
directions, not just from coronal holes. But the wind speed is
high (800 km/s) over coronal holes and much lower (300 to 400
km/s) elsewhere. The higher pressure streams from coronal holes
buffet the Earth's magnetic field and can produce geomagnetic
activity.

For more information about space weather and current solar
activity, including official alerts, warnings, and forecasts,
please see NOAA's Space Environment Center web site at
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/.

http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast14oct99_1.htm

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 19:07:25 +0000

From: research-bpr@philologos.org (Moza)

*** World dismayed by U.S. treaty vote

LONDON (AP) - Russia Thursday accused the United States of
undermining world stability and countries around the globe expressed
dismay at the U.S. Senate's defeat of an international treaty to ban
underground nuclear testing. India, whose neighbor Pakistan is also
armed with nuclear weapons, said it was still committed to signing the
treaty, but many observers believed that Delhi will now feel less
pressured to sign the pact. There was no immediate reaction from
Pakistan, which is in the midst of an army coup. NATO's new secretary
general Lord Robertson said the Wednesday night 48-51 vote largely on
party lines was very worrying and appealed to Congress to rethink the
move. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2561629864-d6b

*** 4 added to UN Security Council

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday to give
Mali, Tunisia, Jamaica and Bangladesh two-year terms on the powerful
U.N. Security Council. The four countries had won endorsements from
their regional groups weeks ago and their selections were all but
decided. In Thursday's first round of balloting they won overwhelming
support from the 172 nations that cast votes. The only real contest at
the start of voting was between the two newly independent east
European nations, Ukraine and Slovakia, which were both vying for the
final spot on the council. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2561631021-f9b

*** France gives unwed couples rights

PARIS (AP) - French legislators have passed a law giving unmarried
couples - including gays - the same status as married couples,
including the right to file joint tax forms and to bring foreign
partners to France. The National Assembly approved the law Wednesday
by a vote of 315-249, nearly a year after it was introduced. Leftist
lawmakers praised the law and stood up after the measure passed.
Justice Minister Elisabeth Guigou, a Socialist, said the law would
help "diminish homophobia and intolerance." Conservative lawmakers
immediately said they would ask the Constitutional Council to decide
if the law was unconstitutional, in which case it would be void. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2561629323-2fb

*** Rabbis: Rabin assassin must repent

JERUSALEM (AP) - Dozens of rabbis declared Yitzhak Rabin's assassin an
outcast on Thursday, saying observant Jews should not visit Yigal Amir
in prison or pray with him until he repents. Amir's mother called the
decree a joke. "My son is alone in a jail cell, with whom is he to
conduct a minyan," Geula Amir said, referring to the quorum of 10 male
Jewish worshippers needed for public prayer. The declaration has been
signed by 54 rabbis, including several from Jewish settlements in the
West Bank, ahead of next week's Hebrew calendar anniversary of Rabin's
assassination on Nov. 4, 1995. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2561629250-fc7

Millennium Resolution on Brit TV

           LONDON (AP) _ A millennium resolution calling for world peace
 will be recited on Britain's national television stations just
 before midnight Dec. 31.
           The government also announced Thursday that the resolution will
 be sung at the opening ceremony of Britain's Millennium Dome as the
 clock ticks down to the 21st century.
           The British Broadcasting Corp. plans to have one individual read
 the resolution, the words of which were announced earlier by the
 churches of England, Scotland and Wales. ITV will show a group of
 people reciting the words with lighted candles in a rural setting.
           A copy of the resolution, along with a candle, will be
 distributed to every household in Britain.
           Churches hope people will light the candle and read the
 resolution as close to midnight as possible.
           The resolution says: ``Let there be respect for Earth, peace for
 its people, love in our lives, delight in the good, forgiveness for
 past wrongs, and from now