BPR Mailing List Digest: 06/05/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
June 5, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | June, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Earthquakes--6/4/00
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 08:30:44 -0400

Magnitude 7.9 earthquake near SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
4.73S, 102.05E depth 33.0km Sun Jun 4 16:28:25 2000 GMT

An earthquake has occurred. Following is information provided
by the National Earthquake Information Service of the USGS.
This information is preliminary and subject to correction.

Time: GMT Sun Jun 4 16:28:25 2000
(EDT Sun Jun 4 12:28:25 2000)
(PDT Sun Jun 4 09:28:25 2000)

Magnitude: 7.9, determined using its surface wave characteristics
Epicenter: 4.73S, 102.05E (SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA)
Precision: B, where A is fine and D is coarse.
Depth of focus: 33.0km below sea level at the epicenter.

Note that the depth of focus is given as 33.0km, indicating
that the depth was known to be shallow but could not be determined
precisely.

For a map showing this event, please consult the web page
<http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/000604162825.HTML>
-----------------------

Magnitude 6.7 earthquake near SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
4.60S, 102.07E depth 33.0km Sun Jun 4 16:39:45 2000 GMT

An earthquake has occurred. Following is information provided
by the National Earthquake Information Service of the USGS.
This information is preliminary and subject to correction.

Time: GMT Sun Jun 4 16:39:45 2000
(EDT Sun Jun 4 12:39:45 2000)
(PDT Sun Jun 4 09:39:45 2000)

Magnitude: 6.7, determined using its body wave characteristics
Epicenter: 4.60S, 102.07E (SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA)
Precision: B, where A is fine and D is coarse.
Depth of focus: 33.0km below sea level at the epicenter.

Note that the depth of focus is given as 33.0km, indicating
that the depth was known to be shallow but could not be determined
precisely.

For a map showing this event, please consult the web page
<http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/000604163945.HTML>
---------------------------

Magnitude 5.1 earthquake near ANDREANOF ISL, ALEUTIAN IS.
52.81N, 174.71W depth 178.8km Sun Jun 4 05:26:12 2000 GMT

An earthquake has occurred. Following is information provided
by the National Earthquake Information Service of the USGS.
This information is preliminary and subject to correction.

Time: GMT Sun Jun 4 05:26:12 2000
(EDT Sun Jun 4 01:26:12 2000)
(PDT Sat Jun 3 22:26:12 2000)

Magnitude: 5.1, determined using its body wave characteristics
Epicenter: 52.81N, 174.71W (ANDREANOF ISL, ALEUTIAN IS.)
Precision: A, where A is fine and D is coarse.
Depth of focus: 178.8km below sea level at the epicenter.

For a map showing this event, please consult the web page
<http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/000604052612.HTML>
--------------------------

Magnitude 6.3 earthquake near PAKISTAN
28.67N, 65.31E depth 33.0km Sun Jun 4 17:52:16 2000 GMT

An earthquake has occurred. Following is information provided
by the National Earthquake Information Service of the USGS.
This information is preliminary and subject to correction.

Time: GMT Sun Jun 4 17:52:16 2000
(EDT Sun Jun 4 13:52:16 2000)
(PDT Sun Jun 4 10:52:16 2000)

Magnitude: 6.3, determined using its body wave characteristics
Epicenter: 28.67N, 65.31E (PAKISTAN)
Precision: A, where A is fine and D is coarse.
Depth of focus: 33.0km below sea level at the epicenter.

Note that the depth of focus is given as 33.0km, indicating
that the depth was known to be shallow but could not be determined
precisely.

For a map showing this event, please consult the web page
<http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/000604175216.HTML>

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Artist conducts mass nude photo shoot
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 08:33:41 -0400

Artist conducts mass nude photo shoot in
New York

June 4, 2000
Web posted at: 10:41 AM EDT (1441 GMT)

                  NEW YORK (AP) -- A day after the U.S.
                  Supreme Court denied an attempt to stop them,
                  150 flabby, thin, tattooed, pierced, pale,
                  sunburned and hairy people posed nude under a
                  bridge.

Full Story:
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/06/04/nude.photo.ap/index.html

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 08:57:23 -0400

*** Barak, Arafat spar over Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (AP) - On the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright's expected arrival in the Middle East, Israel and the
Palestinians exchanged sharp words that could bode ill for the latest
U.S. efforts to revive the flagging peace process. Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak repeated accusations Sunday that the Palestinians
were dragging their feet, and said he had instructed his negotiators
to refrain for now from discussing what may be the most explosive
issue between the two sides: the status of Jerusalem. Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat retorted angrily that the city belongs on the
agenda of so-called final status talks, which are meant to resolve
crucial disputes including the borders of a future Palestinian state,
the fate of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, and
Jerusalem, which both Israel and the Palestinians claim as their
capital. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567092327-405

*** Albright opens Moscow embassy

MOSCOW (AP) - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright officially
inaugurated the newly debugged U.S. Embassy in Moscow Sunday, 15
years after American officials halted construction because Soviet
builders left the structure riddled with listening devices. In a
brief ceremony, Albright removed a velvet cloth covering a plaque
bearing the emblem of the U.S. and the inscription, "Embassy of the
U.S. of America in Russia." Afterward, Albright briefly spoke to
embassy personnel and toured the new offices, which were unofficially
opened May 12. Work on what was to be the new embassy stopped in 1985
when listening devices installed by Soviet construction workers were
found throughout the building. Washington decided the bugging was so
extensive that the building could not be used for diplomatic
purposes, and it remained empty for a decade. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567081435-a18

*** Women pray aloud at Western Wall

JERUSALEM (AP) - Dozens of Jewish women, some draped in prayer
shawls, prayed out loud at the Western Wall Sunday, a week after
parliament passed a bill that would sentence them to seven years in
prison. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men in the adjacent male section at the
site considered most sacred to Jews shouted "Shame!" and "Quiet!" at
the women, as they faced the stone wall that was once part of the
biblical Second Temple compound. Four men were detained for
possessing eggs police said they planned to throw at the women. No
violence was reported, but dozens of police were on hand. A bill
forbidding women from praying aloud at the wall was passed last week
by a half-full parliament in a preliminary reading, but would have to
pass some half-dozen more legislative steps before becoming law. The
bill directly contradicts a Supreme Court ruling last month allowing
women at the site to read aloud from the Torah, the Jewish Bible, and
don prayer shawls traditionally worn by men. But in Israel the
legislature can pass laws that override Supreme Court decisions. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567087193-fdd

*** West Papua declares independence

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - After 37 years of repressive rule, a
landmark congress of West Papua activists defied a warning from
Indonesia's government and publicly declared independence Sunday. In
a statement hammered out during an extra day of the weeklong
congress, the 501 delegates unanimously called on the world to
recognize West Papua's rights as a sovereign state and claimed that
the half-island territory on the western side of New Guinea island
was never legally integrated into Indonesia. The southeast Asian
nation annexed West Papua, also known as Irian Jaya, in 1963, a
process formalized by the U.N. in 1969 following a vote by community
leaders. Independence activists now say that the process was a sham
and should be overturned. "We have passed a resolution stating our
independence from Indonesia. We have been independent since 1961,
when the Dutch left," congress organizer Willy Mandoen said in a
phone interview. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567081254-b02

*** Archaeologists discover lost cities

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) - Archaeologists scouring the Mediterranean
seabed announced Saturday they have found the 2,500-year-old ruins of
submerged Pharaonic cities that until now were known only through
Greek tragedies, travelogues and legends. Among the stunning
discoveries at the sites - where the cities of Herakleion, Canopus
and Menouthis once stood - are remarkably preserved houses, temples,
port infrastructure and colossal statues that stand testimony to the
citizens' luxuriant lifestyle, which some travelers had described as
decadent. This is the first time that historians have found physical
evidence of the existence of the lost cities, which were famous not
only for their riches and arts, but also for numerous temples
dedicated to the gods Isis, Serapis and Osiris, making the region an
important pilgrimage destination for various cults. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567062431-7f6

*** Satellite breaks up over Pacific

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) - The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, after nine
years of unprecedented studies of the universe, was deliberately
slammed into the atmosphere Sunday where it broke up and fell in a
shower of hot metal to a remote stretch of the Pacific Ocean. In the
first planned and controlled crash of a satellite, NASA engineers
directed the Compton through a series of suicide rocket firings that
dropped it from a high orbit and sent it plunging to Earth. Compton
was launched April 5, 1991. It died after completing 51,658 orbits of
the Earth. The 17-ton spacecraft worked perfectly through a final
30-minute rocket firing and then engineers watched on instruments in
mission control as the speeding satellite heated, broke apart and
then went silent. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567081365-16e

*** NASA, media company sign contract

WASHINGTON (AP) - A California company will put television cameras
aboard the International Space Station and distribute the images on
the internet under a contract with NASA that the agency said is worth
$100 million. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and
Dreamtime Holdings Inc. announced the agreement at a news conference
Friday at NASA's Ames Research Center in California. Brian Welch, a
NASA spokesman, said the value of the equipment and services that
Dreamtime is providing to NASA has been assessed at $100 million. The
deal does not include an exchange of cash, he said. Under the terms
of a five-year contract, Dreamtime will place high-definition
television cameras aboard the International Space Station and aboard
the space shuttle. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567040264-9f4

*** U.S.-EU data privacy deal near

LONDON (AP) - Despite protests from consumer rights advocates, the
European Union has endorsed a data privacy pact with the United
States that critics fear will erode legal protections many Europeans
now enjoy. The so-called safe harbor agreement, likely to take effect
this summer, will make U.S. businesses responsible for safeguarding
the privacy of any personal information they may collect about
European consumers. The U.S. Commerce Department favors this type of
industry self-regulation, and President Clinton, together with EU
officials, lauds the accord as a milestone in international
e-commerce that will encourage economic growth. Consumer advocates
worry, though, that "safe harbor" is a sellout to corporate
interests. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567086940-7c0

*** Court holds pretrial online

MEDINA, Ohio (AP) - Two lawyers separated from a judge by miles of
road took a superhighway shortcut this week in what may have been the
first online pretrial conference. Saving time and money, Robert J.
Dubyak, in Cleveland, about 30 miles from the Medina County
courthouse, and John T. Murray of Sandusky, about 40 miles away from
the courthouse, didn't travel to court Wednesday. Instead, they went
to their office computers and used a private chat room.
"Increasingly, parties and attorneys using this court come from
outside Medina County," said Judge James L. Kimbler. "Making parties
and attorneys come to Medina for pretrials drives up the cost of
litigation and is time-consuming." See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567039320-de0

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Report questions ties between state and Church of England
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 09:18:50 -0500

Report questions ties between state and Church of England

http://www.newsroom.org/

LONDON, 1 June 2000 (Newsroom) -- The thorny issue of whether Britain should
remain an officially Protestant country has been raised by a new government
report commissioned to study religious discrimination in all its guises,
including the effect of state religious ceremonies on other faiths.

The report -- welcomed by Muslims calling for an end to religious
discrimination -- argues that the special role reserved for the established
Church of England puts other faiths at a disadvantage. And it makes the case
for severing the connection between the state, the monarchy and the Church.

The head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has said that
he expects the Church of England to one day be disestablished. But, Dr.
George Carey recently told a church audience in Kent, "Our sense of national
identity would be weakened more grievously than many people realize if the
rich fabric in which religion and society are woven together in so much of
our national life were to be unraveled."

The Anglican bishop of Woolwich, Colin Buchanan, applauds the prospect of
disestablishment, however, and has called on the Church of England "to shake
off our chains."

"Parliamentarians owe no constitutional allegiance to the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ," he said. "Since Parliament and politics are
fundamentally godless, it is surely time we broke our bonds rather than
trying to make a literally incredible virtue of them."

The gradual shift toward disestablishment is taking place as the government
and the Church wrestle with the reality of a multi-cultural society and the
uncertain future of the monarchy. The issue has become more urgent with
moves to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into English
law. The act will offer protection against religious discrimination.

Against this backdrop Home Office Secretary Jack Straw commissioned a team
of researchers from the University of Derby to study religious
discrimination. The team met with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), an
umbrella organization representing some 250 Islamic groups in the U.K. that
is pressing for a change in the law to make religious discrimination
illegal. Muslims are Britain's largest religious minority.

The researchers noted that Britain has changed radically since the 1950s. A
growing ethnic population means that a once-white Protestant society has
become multi-cultural and multi-faith. At the same time there has been a
steady decline in traditional Christianity.

According to the recent independent English Church Attendance Survey, fewer
than one in 12 people now attends Sunday services, a figure that is expected
to plummet to one in 50 by 2020. In the last decade church attendance fell
22 percent, compared to a drop of 13 percent in the 10 years before that.
There are now fewer than a million regular Church of England churchgoers,
compared with 1.2 million Roman Catholics, whose numbers also are falling
rapidly.

There were increases, however, in the number of Baptists -- 2 percent -- and
in those attending new churches -- 38 percent. Perhaps most alarmingly, only
5 percent of people in their 20s now go to church. The figures reflect the
trend in society as a whole, where only 31 percent say they believe in a
personal God, and more than a quarter consider themselves to be atheists.

At the same time the ethnic population is rising. Across the U.K. there are
now 1.5 million Muslims, 500,000 Sikhs, 500,000 Hindus, and 300,000 Jews.
British law prevents racial discrimination against Sikhs and Jews, but
offers no protection against discrimination on the grounds of religion. That
will have to change in October when the Human Rights Act becomes law.

The University of Derby study cuts straight to the symbolic heart of the
issue -- the coronation of the monarch by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
symbolizing the submission of the state to the government of God as
represented by the established Church of England.

The report regards the coronation as pivotal to British national identity.
It says: "Coronations ... historically have expressed a close symbolic
relationship between established religion and the state. [But] the religious
composition of society has changed significantly since the last coronation."

The history of the coronation stretches back more than 1,000 years to 973,
when King Edgar was crowned at Bath. The most recent coronation was that of
Elizabeth II in 1953. Then, in her coronation oath, dating back to 1688, the
queen as "Defender of the Faith" vowed to do her utmost "to maintain in the
United Kingdom the Protestant reformed religion established by law" and
"preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England."

Before the report's preliminary findings were released the Church of England
already had been considering changes to the coronation ritual, including the
possibility of rewriting the oath. Anglican arch-liberal David Jenkins, the
former bishop of Durham, has been meeting privately to draw up plans to
replace the historic coronation with a multi-faith ceremony, drawing in
representatives of Judaism, Islam, and the non-established churches. The
idea has been welcomed by Jewish, Catholic and Muslim communities.

Britain's future king, Prince Charles, also favors reform and has asked for
the title "Defender of the Faith" to be replaced by "Defender of Faith," a
term intended to be inclusive of non-Christian believers.

Prince Charles' stance is welcomed by the Muslim Council of Britain. A
spokesman told Newsroom that the council is "heartened by the comments
Prince Charles has made, in recognition that Britain is a multi-faith
society." Those comments show "the Prince intends to be a monarch for all
communities."

The prince may have another reason for privately welcoming steps toward
disestablishment. At his coronation the new king would become the Supreme
Governor of the Church of England. The Church is doctrinally opposed to
remarrying divorcees, especially if the new spouse was connected in some way
with the break-up of the previous marriage. Prince Charles' long-standing
affair with the then-married but now divorced Camilla Parker-Bowles while he
was still wed to the late Princess Diana would prove difficult to sweep
under the cathedral carpet.

Charles wouldn't be the first British monarch to benefit from a change in
the relationship between Church and state. In 1534 King Henry VIII
established the Church of England because the pope stood in the way of his
divorce. Until then, the title Defender of the Faith applied to Roman
Catholicism.

Traditionalists opposed to tinkering with the coronation include the Church
Society, an association of Church of England members dedicated to upholding
biblical standards. "The central position given to the Bible at the
coronation of a monarch and the fact that the whole of the ceremony is a
Christian religious service bears testimony to our Christian heritage,"
argues writer Eddy Stride.

Clifford Denton, editor of Prophecy Today magazine, which is dedicated to
"bringing the unchanging word of God to a changing World," goes further. The
oath should be strengthened and more rigorously enforced, he insists, not
diluted. "For more than a thousand years the laws of Britain have reflected
the principles of the Bible," he told Newsroom. "The coronation oath asserts
that the laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel will be preserved
in the nation.

"Britain has a distinct Christian heritage. God has preserved us, protected
us, and blessed us because of this. Now, in our generation, there seems to
be a deliberate attempt to deny our Christian heritage and, in so doing, to
turn our nation from God and his blessings. The oath should have been
maintained through the nation's laws and education system [but] growing
numbers of people in various ways are not obeying the laws of God. We are on
the brink of judgement."

Denton has organized a petition calling for the government to honor the
monarch's pledge to Almighty God. "Oaths before God are sacred. It is time
for repentance in the British nation, involving the monarch, her ministers
and all the leaders."

Given the U.K.'s long and tangled history any progress towards
disestablishment would become a constitutional nightmare. It would leave
Britain no longer an officially Protestant or even Christian country.

Parliament would no longer be obliged to acknowledge the sovereignty of God
and the influence of the bishops on the government would be diminished. At a
stroke, it would leave the Church of England both marginalized and free to
appoint its own bishops and pursue its own agenda without political
interference.

Currently the prime minister is advised regarding senior church appointments
in confidence by the Crown Appointments Commission, which cannot be called
to account by the Church for its decisions. Prime Minister Tony Blair and
Margaret Thatcher before him both used their veto to overrule the
appointment of bishops they considered unsuitable whose names had been put
forward by the Anglican hierarchy.

Some commentators believe disestablishment could have wider implications,
paving the way for a future challenge to the monarchy.

Since the death of Princess Diana the popularity of the royal family, while
still strong, has been fading, weakened by the collapse of successive royal
marriages and a combination of overexposure and criticism in the media. Some
see the monarchy as an anachronism that should be allowed to die out with
the present queen. Moves to devolve government in Scotland and Wales have
given vent to further grumbling about the established order. Yet, apart from
rumblings in far-flung Australia, part of the Commonwealth where the queen
is still head of state, republicanism is little more than a distant rumor.

Disestablishment could profoundly affect British society, argued the
U.S.-born, but London-based poet and playwright TS Eliot: "We must pause to
reflect that a church, once disestablished, cannot easily be re-established,
and that the very act of disestablishment separates it more definitely and
irrevocably from the life of the nation than if it had never been
established. The effect on the mind of the people of the visible and
dramatic withdrawal of the Church from the affairs of the nation, of the
deliberate recognition of two standards and ways of life, of the Church's
abandonment of all those who are not by their profession within the fold --
this is incalculable; the risks are so great that such an act can be nothing
but a desperate measure."

ENDS

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Catholics gaining visibility in Russia
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 09:19:49 -0500

Catholics gaining visibility in Russia

http://www.newsroom.org/

MOSCOW, 2 June 2000 (Newsroom) -- The increasing visibility of the Roman
Catholic church in Russia is posing a challenge to the traditionally
Orthodox country amid signs of an improving relationship between Moscow and
the Vatican.

A May 28 parade through Russia's capital city by hundreds of Catholics with
banners and crucifixes -- part of the church's millenarian celebration --
elicited mixed reviews from Muscovites. "For some it was a direct challenge
to the Orthodox, since prior to that only Russian Orthodox were allowed
religious processions in Moscow," said Alexander Soldatov, religion
correspondent for the daily English-language Moscow News. "For others it's a
sign of improving Russia's religious liberties policy."

A new Russian law on religion has raised tensions because it appears to
favor the Orthodox Church over other Christian confessions. The Vatican, the
United States, and human rights groups have branded the law discriminatory.
The Orthodox Church, however, undergoing a revival after decades of
persecution, resents what it sees as efforts to poach members from
congregations in Russia and other ex-Soviet republics. Ukraine has been an
especially sore spot, with its more than 5 million eastern-rite Catholics.

Proselytizing, perhaps more than any other issue, has stood in the way of a
papal visit to Russia. During his 21-year pontificate, John Paul II has made
92 journeys outside Italy to 123 countries, but never to Russia. Russian
Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II has said there is no point in his meeting the
pope until issues such as proselytizing have been resolved. A planned
meeting in Austria in 1997 collapsed after the Orthodox leader backed out.

Since then, John Paul has traveled to two traditionally Orthodox countries,
Romania and Georgia. They were the first papal visits to Orthodox nations
since the "Great Schism" into Eastern and Western Christianity in 1054.

Yet recently Alexy has toned down considerably his anti-Catholic rhetoric
and made significant overtures to the Vatican. On May 18 he sent a message
to John Paul congratulating the pope on his 80th birthday, and calling for
better ties between their rival churches in the third Christian millennium.

"Your long service as head of the Roman Catholic Church has brought you
well-deserved recognition among the Christians of many countries," Alexy
wrote to the pope. "I express the hope that the problems existing between
our churches can be successfully overcome through joint efforts and that the
new millennium will become a time for healing the rifts and divisions
between the churches of the East and the West."

Russian political analysts suggest that Alexy's change of heart toward the
pope was ordered from the Kremlin. Newly-elected President Vladimir Putin
has a pragmatic attitude towards religion and sees the pope as a remedy for
healing Russia's deteriorating relations with the West, the analysts say.

Since the reforms of Tsar Peter the Great in the 17th century, the Russian
Orthodox Church largely has been dependent on the central government and
traditionally has placed its blessing any of the governing ruler's
initiatives.

Putin also sent his congratulations to the Polish-born pontiff. Yakov
Krotov, a renowned Russian church historian, commented to Newsroom that it
is "symbolic and ironic that Putin, a former KGB spy, congratulates the
Pope, whose moral stance contributed to the fall of Moscow's atheistic
Soviet empire a decade ago."

Putin was baptized as a baby into the Orthodox Church, wears a crucifix
given to him by his mother, and dutifully attends important church
celebrations like Easter. On Monday Putin will travel to Rome where a
meeting with the pope is expected on Tuesday. Sources close to the Moscow
Patriarchy report that Putin will bring the pope an invitation from
Patriarch Alexy.

ENDS

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - World Affairs Report items (6/2/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 13:13:39 -0400

GERMAN COURT ALLOWS "BABYCAUST" SLOGAN'S USE BY PRO-
LIFERS German anti-abortion campaigners have won the right to compare [?]
abortion to the Holocaust in a controversial judgement from the country's
highest court. After a long battle between pro and anti-abortion groups,
judges ruled that use of the term "Babycaust" - a deliberate play on the
Holocaust - can be used by protesters. The judgment was reached by a
federal court in Karlsruhe, south-west Germany, following a battle between
authorities at a hospital in Nuremberg where abortions are carried out and
anti-abortion campaigners. The court ruled that protesters who had used the
term "Babycaust" had been doing so as part of a proper debate on an issue
of great public interest. Above all, their right to freedom of speech, which was
enshrined in the German constitution, should be protected. [Except if you try
to exercise this right in debating what really happened in the "holocost"!] The
case arose after the Nuremberg hospital rented rooms to a gynaecologist
who specialised in abortions. Protesters handed out leaflets in which they
referred to the "murder of children in their mothers' wombs". The leaflets used
the slogan "Holocaust then, Babycaust now." The hospital authorities took
the protesters to a court in Munich demanding a ban on such language and
won their case. But an appeal was lodged and was allowed by the federal
court, which released details of its judgment yesterday. Overturning the
verdict in Munich, the court said the leaflets "expressed the opinions of the
authors that today's practice of abortion is a mass extermination of life".
Furthermore the judges viewed the demonstration as "a contribution to
opinion-forming in a matter which is fundamental and moving to the public in
which we have to deal with the protection of living rights of the unborn. "But,"
they added "in spite of that freedom of speech has to be accepted in a free
democracy." The issue of abortion is particularly sensitive in southern areas
of Germany such as Bavaria where many Roman Catholics opposed abortion
laws passed in 1995 which they thought too liberal. Technically, abortion
remains illegal in Germany but under certain conditions women who have the
operation go unpunished. (The London Telegraph)

GERMANY BACKS BOOST FOR EURO France and Germany have agreed
a strategy to boost the euro by giving it a stronger political identity. The
German Finance Minister, Hans Eichel, has backed a French plan to create
what some are describing as a eurozone economic government. Details have
yet to emerge, but the proposal is bound to prove controversial. It centres
around bolstering the influence of the Euro-11, an informal committee of
eurozone finance ministers who meet once a month. One idea is to create a
committee chairmanship, to act as the voice of the eurozone on all economic
policy matters. France has made no secret of its desire to make the
European Central Bank more politically accountable. What is more
surprising is the change of view in Germany, traditionally a staunch defender
of the bank's independence. The French Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, said
on Tuesday there needed to be more co-operation between politicians and
the ECB over exchange rate policy. That will be viewed with deep suspicion
in Frankfurt, where the bank's president, Wim Duisenberg, has made clear
his hostility to political interference. The plan is also certain to be resisted by
EU countries like Britain, who are not members of the euro and fear a loss of
influence. But France is clearly determined to use its six-month presidency
of the European Union, starting in July, to push forward its initiative. (BBC)

EUROPE PROPOSAL FOR FEDERAL EUROPE IS DENOUNCED AS
SURRENDER The French interior minister, Jean-Pierre Chevenement, has
denounced ideas about a federal Europe as a surrender to globalization that
would keep Europe a ''suburb in the American Empire.'' Taking aim at critics
of his recent comments about Germany, Mr. Chevenement wrote in the
weekly magazine Le Nouvel Observateur that the EU could not evolve into a
federation without losing its democratic legitimacy. Mr. Chevenement, who
provoked an uproar by saying that Germany had not yet overcome its Nazi
past, praised the German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, for starting a
debate about Europe's future. But he rejected Mr. Fischer's federalist vision
and argued for a more integrated Europe made up of self-confident nation-
states. ''A burst of federalism is not a panacea. Dismantling nations can only
lead to the triumph of globalization.'' He added that Europe must establish a
strong union of nation-states to become ''the crossroads of the world.'' ''Are
we resigned to never being anything more than a suburb, albeit a rich one, in
the American Empire?'' his article said. ''To construct a European Europe, w
e need a German nation that is confident and has fully mastered its past.
We don't need a Germany that flees into the 'postnational.' We need a
citizens' Germany.'' (Int'l Herald Tribune)

GERMANS WARN OF BRITISH TABLOID TORPEDO The Germans have
long been warning Europe that when Britain's tabloid press gets wind of the
proposals for a European Constitution the project is finished. Germans are
among those most enthusiastic for a written EU Constitution, which they say
is essential to codify the basic principles of democracy and human rights,
especially for new entrants. But some Germans are among the project's
fiercest critics, arguing that such a constitution will alienate Europe's
citizens from Brussels. All recognise, however, that it is the British who will
fight hardest against a federal Europe. They say that the greatest fear among
committee members drawing up proposals in Brussels is that the fiercely
Eurosceptic British press will torpedo the plan. German press reports have
spoken repeatedly of the reluctance of EU governments to commit
themselves to a constitution that they know will cause a new row with
Britain. They say that as a result the committee has repeatedly tried to
disguise the scale and intention of the proposals. Committee members are
attempting to present the charter as little more than a tidying up exercise.
(The London Times - Commentary)

BRITAIN LEFT OUT IN COLD BY EURO AXIS France and Germany have
taken a major step towards forming a single economic government for the 11
countries that have adopted the euro, isolating Britain inside the EU. The
plans, agreed at a meeting in Berlin, involve beefing up the powers of the
hitherto informal Euro-11 group of finance ministers from which Britain is
excluded as it has not joined the single currency. After the Franco-German
talks, Laurent Fabius, the French finance minister, said he had persuaded
his German counterpart, Hans Eichel, to give Euro-11 a "more concrete
character", with greater visibility and clout. A spokesman for Mr Eichel,
whose government has resisted French pressure for an economic
government, confirmed that Germany had shifted ground and wanted to
increase Euro-11's role and influence. "One of the great problems is that at
present there is no political voice for the euro. Mr Eichel agreed with the
French proposals that we need to develop the Euro-11 within the scope of
the European Treaties." The Franco-German push is the result of concern
among EU leaders over the euro's plight. As the currency has slumped,
politicians have formed the view that only with "political input" will the public
and the financial markets begin to believe in the euro. Another Franco-
German idea is that the Euro-11 group will eventually appoint a "Mr Euro" to
speak on behalf of the new currency. One German official said: "This is
something that could be looked at in the long term." The ideas will alarm Mr
Blair, who fought hard before the euro was launched in January 1999 to limit
the powers of Euro-11 and ensure that Britain could be represented at all its
meetings. Having failed on both counts, he is seeing his worst fears come
true as France and Germany concentrate more power and influence among
those already in the euro. The French press has reported that the up-graded
Euro-11 would have its own chairman with the clout to speak for the euro in
the international financial markets, matching the power of the US Treasury
Secretary. The accord is the strongest evidence so far that the Franco-
German partnership, the traditional engine of EU integration, is coming back
to life after two years of quiescence. As a euro outsider, Britain is not invited
to attend meetings of the Euro-11 group, meaning that Mr Brown is likely to
be excluded from key decisions. The British Government has fought hard to
ensure that the full committee of the EU's 15 ministers remains the only
legitimate forum, but this looks increasingly like a lost cause. (The London
Telegraph)

EUROPE BILL OF RIGHTS RISK TO BLAIR British workers would have the
right to demand shorter hours and time off with their families under a draft
charter of rights that is being seen as an embryonic European constitution.
The draft, obtained by The Times, promises European citizens 50 basic
rights relating to employment, family life, discrimination, liberty and medical
advances. The European Parliament, Commission and several EU members
want the final version incorporated into European law, meaning it would
override national law. Integrationists predict that Tony Blair will find himself
isolated if he seeks to veto it. But critics denounced the draft saying it would
lead inexorably to a European superstate and hobble business with workers'
entitlements that are seen as a direct challenge to Britain's free market
philosophy and trade union reforms. "If the charter ever became law it would
be deeply damaging for Britain," Francis Maude, the Shadow Foreign
Secretary, said. "The real agenda here is not to protect peoples' rights -
which we would strongly support - but to create a European constitution
leading to a European superstate. The British people emphatically do not
want this." The so-called Charter of Fundamental Rights was commissioned
last June to "make their (the rights') overriding importance and relevance
more visible to the Union's citizens". The draft has been drawn up over six
months by a 62-strong convention of MEPs, national parliamentarians and
representatives of the 15 heads of governments. The final version will be
presented to the heads of government before December's Nice summit,
which must decide whether it should be legally binding. The draft charter
prescribed a "reformed European social model," written "on the presumption
that it will be mandatory", and was certainly a "building block for a European
constitution". Most of the charter is based on existing entitlements, with the
articles dealing with economic and social rights the most contentious. (The
London Times)

A TRAP FOR BLAIR: THE NEW E.U. CHARTER IS ABOUT POWER MORE
THAN RIGHTS The draft obtained by The Times of the new " Charter of
Fundamental Rights of the European Union" reveals an ambitious legal plan
that has the potential to undo many of the trade union and free market
reforms that have made Britain a competitive, job-creating society. That is,
naturally, not how the Blair Government presents it. It claims that, by making
human rights "more visible", the Charter will bring "Europe" closer to the
people and enable them to hold EU institutions to account. But this Charter
has far less to do with human rights than it does with building the legal basis
for a federal Europe. The draft has many highly contentious clauses; but this
is one case where the devil lies, not in the detail, but in the overall project.
Intended for adoption by EU governments at the Nice summit in December, it
belongs squarely within the discreditable EU tradition of proceeding by
stealth to enlarge the powers of Brussels. That is freely acknowledged in
Italy, France and Germany, although not by Tony Blair. Germany, whose
brainchild it is, is forthright in its determination to give this Charter "pride of
place among Europe's treaties". By "consolidating the legitimacy and
identity of the EU", in the words of Joschka Fischer, the Charter will act as
the constitutional building block for the federal European government the
German Foreign Minister wants to see. But, partly because its proponents
do not want the British public, in particular, to realise that at this stage, and
partly because Britain has once again agreed to a major EU initiative without
first securing agreement about what the Charter is for, that intention is
swathed in vagueness. An ambiguous remit was, with British assent,
deliberately given to the drafting "convention" - a term that clearly implies an
intent to make the Charter legally binding - by last year's European Council
in Cologne. The Council invited the European Parliament and the
Commission to "solemnly proclaim" the Charter; it would "then have to be
considered" whether to integrate it into the EU treaties. Tony Blair's anxiety
not to be "isolated in Europe" has drawn him into a trap - as his personal
representative at the convention, Lord Goldsmith, appears to understand.
Robin Cook has left the Charter to be handled by a junior minister, Keith
Vaz, who "welcomes it as "a showcase of existing rights". That however
begs the question why, when Europe already has the European Convention
on Human Rights (ECHR), it is then needed at all. But in testimony to the
EU committee of the House of Lords, Lord Goldsmith admitted that the
drafters are working on the assumption "that it could be a legally binding
document", subject to interpretation by the European Court of Justice. Lord
Goldsmith's task is to avoid a Charter with any real power. It is asking the
impossible. It sets out "social rights" which are "binding on the Community
legislature, on national legislation" implementing EU law and on "social
partners". But, as the Lords note, there is no clearcut distinction between
national laws which do, and do not, fall within the scope of EU law. The
Charter covers areas of social policy, including education, now left to
individual states. European trade unionists see Article 38's "right to
protection in cases of termination of employment", for example, as a route to
EU-wide legislation reinforcing the European "social model". "The family shall
enjoy", as of right, "legal, economic and social protection"; and who is to
define what social security benefits "guarantee a decent existence", if not
Brussels? This Charter would, at the least, embolden Brussels to be much
more proactive in social policy. The Charter is a jumble that mixes rights with
aspirations. It also duplicates political rights laid down in the ECHR, whose
incorporation into British law has been a priority for this Government. To
create a rival EU charter of rights could weaken the ECHR, create confusion
between rival judgments in the Strasbourg and Luxembourg courts and thus
weaken Europe-wide protection for human rights. That is not in Britain's
interest. Margaret Thatcher was lulled into tolerating the EU's Social Charter
by assurances that it would not be binding. Mr Blair, who must know what
his EU peers want from this Charter, can be under no such illusion. He has
only weeks to make his true position plain. (The London Times - Editorial) *
"Article 35: Right to rest periods and annual leave; Right to limits on working
hours, to daily and weekly rest periods [This is pretty general - it doesn't say
"Sunday", so there would be no problem for Sabbath keepers! How could this
possibly be "the mark" as some "prophets" would proclaim?!] and to annual
paid leave."

EUROPE IS UNIFIED ON 1 THING: FREEDOM FROM U.S. CONTROL
President Bill Clinton's ''victory swing'' around Europe includes the
presentation to him, in Aachen, Germany, of a prize for his contribution to
European unity. This seems an agreeable demonstration of German
amiability, or of irony. The Clinton administration, usually without meaning to,
has made a number of contributions to European unity, but their cumulative
effect has been to America's disadvantage. They have united the Europeans
against the United States. Mr. Clinton cannot be held responsible for the
latest trans-Atlantic conflict, over America's offshore Foreign Sales
Corporations, regarded in Europe (and now by the WTO) as illegal export
subsidies, since they are mandated by Congress. Nor is he responsible for
the practices of U.S. industrialized agriculture, which produces food
Americans want to eat, even if Europeans don't. His aggressive promotion of
U.S. corporate and financial interests is what he was elected to do, at least
in the opinion of those who pay for U.S. presidential elections these days.
The European governments do no less for their own. However, the
administration's strong-arm style has made its own contribution to European
unity, since taking no prisoners solidifies resistance. The outcome of all this
may be good for Europe, but it is not so good for the American relationship
with the Europeans or with its allies elsewhere. As Peter Rodman of the
Nixon Center writes in the forthcoming issue of the Washington quarterly The
National Interest, most of the world's other major powers, allies included,
now have made building ''counterweights to American power'' one of the main
trends in international politics today. It is this which Mr. Clinton's successor
will have to handle. (Int'l Herald Tribune - Opinion)

CLINTON TO RECEIVE THE CHARLEMAGNE PRIZE The Charlemagne
Prize is being awarded to President Clinton in Aachen, Germany, for his
contributions to peace and integration in Europe and for having furthered the
close partnership that has existed between the United States and Europe
over the last five decades. The Charlemagne Prize was established in 1949
to recognize "the most meritorious contribution serving European unification
and the European community, serving humanity and world peace." The Prize
was conferred for the first time in 1950. Recipients have included Jean
Monnet, Konrad Adenauer, Winston Churchill, Francois Mitterrand, Helmut
Kohl, Vaclav Havel, King Juan Carlos of Spain and Tony Blair. President
Clinton will be the first American president to receive the Prize and only the
third American after George Marshall and Henry Kissinger. The Charlemagne
Prize award ceremony, rooted in tradition, serves as an occasion for putting
forward new ideas and perspectives on European integration. Honorees
typically use the occasion to reflect on Europe - a review of achievement and
an appraisal of what remains to be done. The body responsible for selecting
the recipients of the Charlemagne Prize is made up of ex officio members
and citizens. The Mayor of Aachen, a representative of the Catholic Church
and the rector of the Technical University of Aachen serve as the
committee's permanent members. The other eight members, elected for life,
are Aachen citizens, representing the city council, the university, major
businesses and foundations. Aachen, the ancient capital of Charlemagne,
has been at the heart of the European identity for over 12 centuries. It was
severely damaged during World War II, though its historic cathedral remained
intact, including the chapel originally built by Charlemagne. In 1944, Aachen
was the first German city liberated by the U.S. Army. Its citizens issued the
following proclamation in 1949: "having suffered dreadful experiences, our
citizens are ready to urge European unity [and] have agreed upon
establishing an International Prize of the City of Aachen." The Prize includes
a cash award of DM5000, a certificate and a medal engraved on one side
with the old town seal of Aachen (dating from the 12th century and depicting
an enthroned Charlemagne) and inscribed on the reverse with a dedication to
the recipient. The Charlemagne Prize celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2000,
but was not awarded every year. In ten instances the Prize was not awarded
because the committee could not find a suitable honoree. President Clinton
will be the 40th recipient. (The White House - Office of the Press Secretary)

MICHAEL TURNER
(mykelturner@airmail.net)

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - June 6, 2000 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 19:02:10 -0400

8:00 PM Eastern

PBS - SAVAGE PLANET - "Volcanic Killers" - Volcanoes;
lahars.(CC)(TVG)

9:00

PBS - NOVA - "Ice Mummies: Siberian Ice Maiden" - An
ancient female corpse is very
well-preserved.(CC)(TVPG)

TLC - ASTEROID IMPACT - Astronomy and space probes predict
collisions with the Earth.(CC)(TVG)

10:00

PBS - FRONTLINE - "The Survival of Saddam" - Saddam
   Hussein maintains his position in Iraq despite economic
   sanctions, U.N. weapons-inspectors and military
          attacks.(CC)(TV14)

TLC - DOOMSDAY ASTEROID - Using computer graphics,
scientists describe the cataclysmic effects of a comet
colliding with Earth.(CC)(TVG)

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - US pushing for final accord by September
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 19:21:36 -0400

Monday, June 5 2000 16:11 2 Sivan 5760

               US pushing for final accord by
               September
               By Janine Zacharia and David Franklin

               JERUSALEM (June 5) - US Secretary of State
               Madeleine Albright, who arrives today to help narrow
               gaps between Israel and the Palestinians, said yesterday
               the US would work tirelessly to try to meet the
               September 13 deadline for a final peace agreement.

               But in an interview from Moscow on CNN's Late
               Edition, Albright sidestepped a question on whether the
               administration believes the deadline is still achievable.

               "[Palestinian Authority] Chairman [Yasser] Arafat is
               saying that he will declare a state at that point, and I do
               think that we need to work as hard as we can with the
               parties over the summer, because as President [Bill]
               Clinton has said both publicly and to Prime Minister
               [Ehud] Barak and Chairman Arafat separately, privately,
               there's an opportunity here to move the process forward.
               And we're going to be working very hard," she said.

               Meanwhile, Barak again accused the Palestinians of
               "foot-dragging" in the peace talks and saying the
               negotiations are in a state of regression, according to a
               statement by the Prime Minister's Office.

               Barak also ordered the Israeli negotiating team not to
               discuss the status of Jerusalem for now, a cabinet
               statement said yesterday.

               It said Barak "ordered the negotiating teams not to hold
               any discussions at this point on the matter of Jerusalem...
               even though, based on the Camp David and Oslo
               Accords, the Palestinians are able to raise the subject of
               Jerusalem in the permanent-status negotiations."

               Asked about the statement, Arafat said he wanted to
               remind Barak that previous accords called for Jerusalem
               to be atop the agenda in final-status talks.

               "Whether they like it or not, Jerusalem is the single most
               important element of these negotiations, and Jerusalem
               will be the capital of the Palestinian state whether they like
               it or not. And if they don't, they can go and drink the
               Dead Sea," Arafat told reporters in Ramallah after
               meeting with Prime Minister Goran Persson of Sweden,
               which has played host to Israeli-Palestinian talks over the
               past month.

Full Story:
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/06/05/News/News.7771.html

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Sick of yourself? Get a gene upgrade
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 18:46:51 -0500

JUN 5, 2000
Sick of yourself? Get a gene upgrade
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/ea1_0605.html

Scientists will soon be able to develop gene techniques to avoid disorders
such as cancer, and even produce ""perfect'' babies. But where do we draw
the line on such modifications, and is the world ready to accept them? China
Correspondent MARY KWANG finds out.

BEIJING -- About 50 local and foreign geneticists, physicians, philosophers,
demographers and law professors gathered in a non-air-conditioned room in
the 30-deg C heat of early summer two weeks ago to discuss how man could
soon order genetic upgrades of himself as he now purchases upgraded computer
models.

A sense of urgency about the need for debate permeates the room, in which a
bust of the Peking Man sits on a side table, as an announcement is imminent
this month by an American company, Celera Genomics, that it has completed
the first sequencing of the human genome, or the unravelling of man's
genetic code.

A separate, non-profit group, the Human Genome Project, is set too to
complete a working draft of the human genome this month.

Professor Robert Lanza of the United States said: ""Now for the first time
ever, we have the tools to change man's genetic makeup. We are about ready
now to do things we were not able to do before.''

The location, Zhoukoudian, about 50 km from the heart of Beijing, was picked
as the forum venue because it was the home of the Peking Man, where the
discovery of the largest collection of fossils of early man has contributed
greatly to studies of human evolution.

Mr John Naisbitt, author of bestseller Megatrends and a co-founder of the
non-profit-making Global Academy which organised the forum, said that man
was on the verge of another clash between science and religion.

The research would help scientists to develop precise gene targeting
techniques to avoid disorders like Down's Syndrome, diabetes, or cancer and
might one day lead to the production of ""perfect'' babies with desirable
genes.

-- more --

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Helpful hints reveal how to get more done in less time while youare online
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 18:57:33 -0500

Helpful hints reveal how to get more done in less time while you are online
June 4, 2000
By Dave Farrell
http://www.knoxnews.com/science/9935.shtml
Here are four tips to help you become more productive while online.
* Use more than one browser at a time.
A simple way to speed up your surfing sessions is to open several browser
windows and surf several sites at the same time. Even though I have a fast
cable-modem connection, I frequently have three or four browsers open. While
one is connecting to a site, I'm viewing the others, which have already
delivered their pages to my desktop.
To open additional browsers simply pull up the first browser onto your
screen, then press the "n" key while holding down the "control" key. This
shortcut will work on both Netscape Navigator and Microsoft's Internet
Explorer.
The number of windows you can have open at one time depends on the memory
capabilities of your computer. Experiment to see what works best for you.
* Learn keyboard shortcuts.
Yes, you can do just about everything you need to do online using mouse
clicks, including cutting and pasting text into documents. Keyboard
shortcuts will save you lots of time.
For example, if you've opened five browser windows using the technique
described above, you may want to minimize them all in order to get to
another application on your desktop. You could minimize them one by one by
clicking on them, but holding down the "window" key (the key between the
"control" and "alt" keys on most keyboards) and pressing the "d" key will
minimize everything at once.
Other shortcuts I use a lot:
CONTROL A: This defines all the text on a page.
CONTROL C: This takes defined text and puts it onto a hidden clipboard.
CONTROL V: This pastes the clipboard text into other documents.
* Remember where you've been.
How many times have you wasted hours looking for a Web site you visited
before but forgot to bookmark? Next time that happens, go immediately to
your browser's history file. That's where the browser keeps a record of all
the sites you've visited during the past few days (you can configure your
browser to lengthen or shorten that time).
Netscape and Explorer both offer history files. You can see them by holding
down the "control" key and touching the "h" key. (Note: Some employers and
parents use this history file to check to see where their employees and/or
children have been surfing.)
* Keep your bookmarks well-organized.
An unwieldy bookmark file is worse than none at all. Keep your bookmark file
neat by eliminating useless addresses before they make it into your
permanent record.
I do that with the help of a temporary folder where I store bookmarks that
I'm considering saving. If I stay interested in those sites after visiting
them several times over a period of several weeks, I move the bookmark into
my browser's permanent bookmark file.
The result: My bookmark file is now filled with only the addresses I find
the most interesting and useful.
For more shortcuts for Netscape, visit Geekspeak at:
http://www.geekspeak.net/ shortcuttips.html.
For Internet Explorer and Windows shortcuts, try Keybord shortcuts:
http://www.halcyon.com/cerelli/ keyboard.htm.
Dave Farrell writes this column for Universal Press Syndicate. Seen anything
interesting on the Information Highway you'd like to share with others? Drop
an e-mail message to Dave Farrell at: roadside@cris.com. The Roadside
Attractions archive is at: http://www.mlive.com/rsa/

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Vladimir Putin Arrived in Rome
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 19:00:47 -0500

Updated 05.06.2000 at 19:12:06
http://www.allnews.ru/english/2000/06/05/rome/

Vladimir Putin Arrived in Rome

Vladimir Putin arrived in Rome on his first official foreign visit as
President of Russia. According to the report of the RIA News Agency, after
Putin was greeted by Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini at the Fiumicino
airport, the Russian delegation headed to the Chigi Government Palace. There
Putin immediately began talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuliano D'Amato.
Afterwards, Putin plans to meet with the Pope. It is expected that the
Russian President will present the Pope with an invitation to visit Russia,
as was already done by former presidents Gorbachev and Yeltsin. The
possibility of the results of this meeting becoming sensational is not
excluded, a correspondent of RTR television reported from Rome. The Russian
delegation includes Vice-Premier Alexei Kudrin, Foreign Affairs Minister
Igor Ivanov, Minister of Industry Alexander Dondukov, Moscow Mayor Yuri
Luzhkov, and heads of the leading financial and industrial structures in
Russia.

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Waiting for the `killer flu'
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 19:18:02 -0500

Waiting for the `killer flu'
By Medical Writer BARRY HAILSTONE
06jun00

http://theadvertiser.com.au/common/story_page/0,3533,771618%255E910,00.html

THE NEXT few weeks will tell. Are we overdue for a killer flu epidemic - or
will we escape with the usual moderate outbreak of coughs, colds and flu
that have proven to be relatively minor in recent years?

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Hospital cameras capture mothers making their children sick
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 19:20:19 -0500

Hospital cameras capture mothers making their children sick

http://www.seattlep-i.com/national/abus06.shtmlMonday, June 5, 2000

By ERIN McCLAM
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA -- Baffled by unexplained illnesses in some children, researchers
hid video cameras in 41 rooms at an Atlanta hospital. More than half the
time, the videotapes confirmed doctors' fears -- mothers were injecting
their children with urine, switching their medication and even suffocating
them to keep them sick.

The cameras, installed over four years, helped diagnose 23 mothers with
Munchausen syndrome by proxy -- a mental illness that causes parents hungry
for attention or sympathy to abuse their children.

Doctors say the mental illness leads to children's deaths in about 10
percent of cases. But they say diagnosing the disorder is difficult, and the
number could be higher.

-- more --

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - French renew love affair with the olive
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 19:31:32 -0500

French renew love affair with the olive

http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,327919,00.html

Plan to boost production of oil that gives longer life

Jon Henley in Paris
Sunday June 4, 2000

They are scattered all over the sleepy South, enclosed by crumbling
drystone walls, overgrown with weeds: the forgotten olive groves of
France, many of them 300 or more years old, yielding their crops year
after year to lie rotting in the sun. Not for much longer, however, if a
new government plan bears fruit. Convinced by mounting medical evidence
that a Mediterranean diet keeps you healthier for longer, France aims to
double its olive-oil output by paying farmers a premium to bring neglected
groves back to life.

-- more --

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

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