BPR Mailing List Digest: 04/06/01

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
April 6, 2001

Digest Home | 2001 | April, 2001

From: "Moza"
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 10:19:25 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [bprlist] Moscow and Beijing to Sign Friendship Treaty During Zemin Visit

Hello JaneB!

I'd like to throw in a few things here regarding the alliances being formed all
over the world.

Moscow & China: I would've always thought Russia would stand alone and
be considered more a "king of the north" but this "friendship" might mean
that it is going to be more in line with a "king of the east" (besides having
their fingers in the pot with the "kings of the north" in the Middle East).

The thing that particularly has my attention is all this "unity" between Jordan,
Syria, PA (and maybe Iraq). This area used to be called Greater Syria and it
seems to be coming back together as the "king of the north." This is the
area that was ruled by Antiochus Epiphanes who was a forerunner of
Antichrist. (please see BPR file on Daniel 11-12 for more) I've always thought
that Jordan would provide the Antichrist/Antiochus figure because the other
nations in that area have dictators that are just too far from mainstream to be
considered--although Saddam Hussein seems to have the biggest ego and,
therefore, the closest resemblance to Antiochus Epiphanes who considered
himself a god. I think if the rest of the world had to deal with anyone in the
area it would be King Abdullah.

The "king of the south" seems to be Egypt which will have a lot of African
help, I believe, if it ever came down to push and shove. Qaddafi is just
chomping at the bit to get his hands bloodied, Sudan is just a mess and
looking for some way to redeem themselves and a lot of the African countries
are becoming very, very Muslim.

Just a few things that have been kicking around in my head,
Moza

> Does anyone want to make a comment on this news item in regards to
prophecy?
>
> "Moscow and Beijing will sign a 10-year friendship treaty during a summer
> visit here by Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Deputy Foreign Minister
> Alexander Losyukov said Wednesday."
>
> Looking up,
> JaneB

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From: Pam
Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 23:01:28 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] 400 vs 430

Dear Ruby:
I think the answer to your question is that it could have been 30
years from the time Joseph's family joined him in Egypt until the time
the Egyptians turned against the Israelites and began to afflict them.
Initially they were not afflicted but welcomed by pharoah. If that is
incorrect then, so be it, I am sure there is an explanation. Praise the
Lord!
God bless you. Charlie Baker

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From: "Patt A."
Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 23:20:10 -0700 (PDT)
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Fwd: [gcimediaspotlight] GCI Media Spotlight - Extra! Download complete NIV Bible for FREE!

I know this isn't of a prophetic nature, but I thought maybe someone would like a free bible :)

GCI Media Spotlight <gcimediaspotlight@lists.gospelcom.net> wrote:
From: GCI Media Spotlight
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 01:20:34 -0400
To: gcimediaspotlight@lists.gospelcom.net
Subject: [gcimediaspotlight] GCI Media Spotlight - Extra! Download complete NIV Bible for
FREE!

FREE NIV BIBLE DOWNLOAD, only until April 16.

Dear friend of Gospel Communications International,

As a subscriber to our monthly online e-newsletter, GCI Media Spotlight,
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If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter, e-mail:
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From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 13:19:34 -0000
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Was America Hunting for a New Killer Submarine?

>From Stratfor's Global Intelligence Update:

Was America Hunting for a New Killer Submarine?
04 April 2001

http://www.stratfor.com/home/giu/archive/040401

The loss of the EP-3E aircraft means the demise of some of the United
States' capabilities to eavesdrop along China's coastline. It also
could eventually spell more trouble for relations between the two
countries.

Both observations beg the question: What was a U.S. spy plane doing
down there in the first place? True, missions are flown routinely
along the China coast. But a series of incidents, stretching back
several years, indicate the United States has been hunting for signs
of a breakthrough in Chinese submarine technology =96 one that poses a
serious threat to America's most powerful conventional weapon: the
aircraft carrier.

There has been a rash of arrests of Western defense attaches in
China. And recently a U.S. vessel was chased from an exercise area.
Both actions suggest China is close to a breakthrough in its long-
stalled efforts to build an effective submarine threat. Sources in
China confirm the Chinese military reaction to the EP-3E incident was
sharp because the military is trying to safeguard its submarine
secrets.

There are two vessels at issue. The People's Liberation Army Navy
(PLAN) placed a new version of the Russian-designed Kilo-class
submarine into service April 4, 2000, according to a brief report in
the Hong Kong-based Sing Tao Jih Pao. The new Kilo is equipped with
anti-ship weapons and has conducted recent drills simulating combat
with carrier-type warships, according to the paper, which cited
sources in the People's Liberation Army. It takes up to a year to
qualify a new vessel and crew for duty at sea.

But the Chinese navy may have made a more significant breakthrough.
It has been working for years on a variant of the larger, more
powerful Victor III submarine. This submarine, known in China as a
Type 093 and due for completion sometime in late 2000, was designed
to launch cruise missiles while submerged. That would allow the
Chinese to threaten the pre-eminent American weapons system in the
region: the aircraft carrier.

The flight of the EP-3E along China's coastline suggests it was
monitoring transmissions of navy vessels and coastal installations.
The aircraft may have been looking for signs of either of these two
submarines as well.

-- more --

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From: Stafford's Mail <simmonds@freeuk.com>
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 15:20:33 +0100
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Reporters under fire

Shalom dear friends

The following report dropped into my mbx and I thought you would be
interested to see it. It provides an interesting anlysisof the way in
which the press interprets 'even-handedness'.

Blessings Stafford
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
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=3D

HonestReporting Communique 05 April 2001

"BURYING THE CHILDREN"

* * *
Dear Friend,

The deliberate murder of the Jewish baby, Shalhevet Pass, by a
Palestinian sniper was condemned around the world, leaving people
everywhere to wonder how a human being could line up a baby's head in
the crosshairs of his sniper scope and pull the trigger.

But the atrocity apparently had a different effect on some reporters
who have toiled for six months to present a "balanced and even-handed"
portrayal of the fighting -- or in some cases a sympathetic picture of
the Palestinian side. These reporters have mitigated Palestinian
terrorist bombers by calling them "militants," while whenever possible
labeling Israeli victims as "settlers" -- in an attempt to "downgrade"
them from the ranks of innocent civilians.

So how did the "even-handers" handle Shalhevet=92s funeral?

On April 2, The New York Times ran Deborah Sontag's report headlined
"Israeli Baby's Funeral Becomes Focus of Settler Militancy." Sontag
reminds readers several times of Palestinian casualties in describing
Shalhevet's funeral: "One [Jewish mourner] held a framed photograph of
Shalhevet in her Purim costume, in the style of the Palestinian
mothers who grieve for their martyred sons."

That sentence provided Sontag with the perfect and immediate segue
into her reminder of youthful Palestinian casualties killed by
Israelis: "An 11-year-old Palestinian boy, Muhammad Tamini, was buried
today in a small quiet funeral in his village near Ramallah. The boy
died of wounds sustained in clashes with Israeli troops two weeks ago."

In her search for evenhandedness, Sontag then finds a backhanded way
to portray Shalhevet as a despised settler: "Many Israelis have long
considered the Hebron settlers to be extremists, living in a world
apart. But they rallied behind the community after Shalhevet was
killed; newspaper headlines referred to the killing of an Israeli baby
and not a "settler baby."

Sontag makes the outrageous implication that Jews might normally
disregard the ruthless murder of another Jew, simply because they
don't share the same political views. Is the average Israeli so petty
and cold-hearted? I don't believe so. But perhaps Sontag is.

Read Sontag's article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/02/world/02MIDE.html

Not to be outdone, Suzanne Goldenberg of the Guardian paints a nasty
picture of Shalevet's mourners: "Thousands of Jewish settlers,
bristling with sophisticated weapons and swearing revenge, gathered
yesterday for the funeral of a baby girl..."

Goldenberg then attempts to "even out" the atrocities: "Few
Palestinians shed tears for Shalhevet. About 130 of the 455 people who
have been killed in the uprising were Palestinians under the age of 18,
the latest an 11-year-old Ramallah boy who was also buried yesterday,
after being shot in the head by an Israeli soldier."

In Goldenberg's eyes, two children have been shot in the head, and
there is no distinction to made. But the comparison, of course, is
false. No Israeli soldier has ever aimed to kill innocent children
sitting in baby carriages or playing in a sandbox. Tragically,
Palestinian children are shot when they participate in violent
demonstrations or by errant bullets that may have also come from
Palestinian gunmen shooting at Israeli soldiers.

Read Goldenberg's story:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,466904,00.html

And in a Guardian analysis piece, Jonathan Freedland draws another
false comparison: "[Palestinians] have seen a 12-year-old boy,
Muhammad al-Durrah, shot dead in his father's arms (just like
Shalhavet)."

Of course, the Muhammad al-Durrah incident left a lot of questions
unanswered, the most important being what he and his father were doing
in the heart of crossfire shooting, whether it was actually an Israeli
or Palestinian bullet that struck him, and how the media came to be
perfectly placed to photograph it. Is this comparable to Shalhevet
being murdered in cold blood on the playground?

Read Freedland's column:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,464346,00.html

CNN had its own version of even-handedness: "Two children on either
side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are being buried on Sunday.
Jewish settlers are burying a 10-month-old girl killed by sniper fire
while Palestinians are burying an 11-year-old boy shot during clashes
with Israeli forces."
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/04/01/israel.funeral/index.html

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Times reporter Tracy Wilkinson downplayed the
Arab identity of Shalhevet's killer, leaving it as mere Israeli
=93hear-say.=94 She writes: "Jewish settlers buried 10-month-old Shalhevet
Pas on Sunday, six days after the army says she was shot dead by a
Palestinian sniper... Shalhevet was shot to death and her father,
Yitzhak, was wounded by what Israeli authorities say was a single
bullet from a Palestinian gunman."

Read Wilkinson's coverage:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/20010402/t000028229.html

If you feel that the reports are biased, write to these publications at:

letters@nytimes.com
letters@guardian.co.uk
letters@latimes.com
eason.jordan@turner.com

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=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

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From: Stafford's Mail <simmonds@freeuk.com>
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 17:16:52 +0100
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] THE SOUND AND THE FURY

Dear friends

The following article is found in today's issue of Haaretz. It
discusses Hebron settler's reactions to the policing of Hebron.

It is followed by comments by Jerry Golden on the article. Though
rather long both the article, and the comments by Jerry, are important
to our understanding of the situation and I encourage you to read them.

Blessings Stafford
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
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=3D=3D
THE SOUND AND THE FURY
(from Haarez Magazine dateline 5th April 2001)

Hebron was a cauldron of anarchy and hatred in the week after the
murder of Shalhevet Pass, and IDF soldiers found themselves fighting
on two fronts. Avihai Becker reports

By Avihai Becker

The murder of 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass in Hebron overshadowed the
reports about the settler who tried to stab Private Amihai Sasson, a
soldier from the paramilitary Nahal Brigade of the Israel Defense
Forces. "I am in shock over what is going on here," Sasson said a few
hours after the incident. "The police placed a [Jewish] detainee in my
jeep and the residents, who didn't want to let me take him, surrounded
the vehicle and wouldn't let me move. They started shouting at us -
there were two members of the police special unit with me - 'perverts,'
'Jew-haters,' 'Nazis.' Just look at this," he says, taking a sharp
utensil out of his pocket. "This is something that is meant to kill,
not just to scratch you."

The confrontation took place in Hebron's Gross Square. "Suddenly
someone with evil in his eyes approached me," Sasson continues. "He
opened the door on the driver's side and tried to stab me with the
utensil, which he had already used to puncture the jeep's tires. If I
hadn't been alert he would have stabbed me in the neck. Instinctively
I pushed the door in his face and he fell. I was scared; I had already
cocked my rifle in order to shoot him, but the police commandos jumped
up and threw themselves on him, shouting, 'Don't shoot! Don't shoot!'
If I hadn't been alert, I would have taken that thing in the neck. I
took the utensil, which slipped out of his hand, so people wouldn't
say I was making up things - and also as a souvenir from the Jewish
settlement in Hebron." (Sasson's assailant was not detained.)

The Nahal Brigade's Shaham Battalion left the Hebron sector that
evening after half a year's duty there. "People in Israel are asleep,"
Sasson says. "They have no idea about what's going on here. My whole
attitude has changed because of what I saw in Hebron. Until the mess
that happened to me you could say that I had a lot of admiration for
the settlers. I was pretty right-wing in my outlook."

Not far from there, at the plaza leading to the Jewish neighborhood
called Avraham Avinu (Abraham the Patriarch), Miriam Levinger was
screaming obscenities. The target this time was a member of the police
special unit, whose blonde hair apparently led Levinger to think he
wasn't a halakhically correct Jew. "Go to Ukraine," she shouted at him.
"The blood still isn't dry and you have already come to abuse the Jews?
Where are you from? Kishinev? Chmielnicki? Isn't it enough what you
already did to the Jews there, now you have to come to the Land of
Israel to beat us? A Ukrainian import, direct from Kishinev, the blood
still isn't dry. There is no forgiveness for you, shits, retards,
doormats for Arabs, gentiles, God will not forgive you."

"Get out of here," Levinger's friends uttered like a Greek chorus
every few sentences, "get out of here.".

LUNATIC FRINGE

In the week between the murder of the infant and her burial, Hebron
was a cauldron of anarchy and hatred. In the absence of Arabs on whom
to vent their wrath - due to the curfew - the settlers turned their
invective on the IDF, the Border Police and the regular police. In the
camel area next to the old market, gangs of children, barely 10 years
old, roamed with iron rods, hammers and jerricans of kerosene,
vandalizing everything in their path. They ripped locks out of the
doors of abandoned stores, set fire to the contents, destroyed
equipment. The campaign of destruction, in which girls also took part,
went on uninterrupted. When a soldier occasionally tried to stop the
young rioters, they sometimes ignored him, but more often reacted with
brutal impertinence. The cry "Nazi" has long since become routine here.

What is now going on in Hebron should not come as a surprise; in large
measure, it is the result of a prolonged policy of the authorities'
looking the other way. More than one commander of the Hebron Brigade
has built a brilliant career on the basis of close relations with the
settlers, dismissing the "extremists" as a negligible, marginal
phenomenon. When was the last time a commander of the Judea and
Samaria Division or the head of Central Command publicly condemned
behavior by settlers that deserves condemnation, and not only in
Hebron? No one has been more forgiving than the settlers' darling, the
deputy chief of staff, and pretender to the crown, Major General Moshe
(Boogie) Ya'alon.

All those who stood aside and did nothing are directly responsible for
the current humiliation of the army in Hebron. The Jewish settlement
is trying to create the impression that their anger is only a reaction
to the supposedly violent attitude of the police special unit, but the
settlers are also making life hell for IDF soldiers. Not to the same
degree, but still hell.

The commander of the Shaham Battalion, Yehuda Fuchs, vehemently
objects to this description of the situation. "I have no problem with
them," he says. "Thirteen years ago I took at an oath at the Western
Wall to defend the citizens of Israel with my life and I am proud to
be doing that, even though my friends in Tel Aviv don't understand how
it's possible for me to guard with delight even those who call me a
Nazi. My views are totally irrelevant to the issue; I am not the
policeman of the State of Israel, I am only a soldier. The moral
position I undertook involves only my subordinates. I am not here to
judge people's opinions, I am here to enable people to express
opinions."

OUTSIDE AGITATION

A few hours before the company commander, Captain Yisrael Amid, handed
over responsibility for the main street to a Paratroop company, he
made the rounds among his men, who were scattered two by two at points
of friction, to ensure that the soldiers' fatigue would not mean any
relaxation of vigilance. The Nahal company was drafted in March 2000
and half a year later was sent to the territories, where they have
been ever since. That morning and the previous night the company had
been busy chasing groups of settlers who climbed the hills of Abu
Sneina, from where the infant girl was shot to death.

While the adults were dealing with Abu Sneina, the youngsters stayed
behind to deal with the stores at the entrance to the market. "The
present situation absolutely doesn't reflect what went on the previous
half year," Amid emphasizes. "There are some serious demagogues here,
but these riots definitely are not typical. A vociferous minority is
giving the Hebron settlement its bad name. You won't find the silent
majority involved in the disturbances." When one of his soldiers,
Private Boris Plotnikov, tries to stop the unrestrained vandalism, the
children respond by threatening him, grabbing his rifle, harassing and
cursing.

The settlers who attack the Abu Sneina neighborhood rely on the
protection of the army, Amid says. "If they knew that the IDF made a
decision absolutely not to endanger soldiers, I imagine they wouldn't
try. Last night they split up into several forces on the way there,
and we followed those who turned left. It was no accident that the
whole group that ran to the right doubled back and joined us from
behind."

If the battalion commander talks about "outside elements" in the
settlers' camp, the company commander, Amid, blames outsiders for the
Palestinians' fire from Abu Sneina. "Those who are shooting from Abu
Sneina are not residents of the neighborhood," he says. "Here and in
Beit Jala [the West Bank town from which shooting has been directed at
the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo in Jerusalem], squads of Tanzim
militiamen come from outside, do their work and flee. The murder of
the baby girl broke a taboo - we all believed that they wouldn't harm
the settlers, and more out of fear of the settlers than of the IDF."

LIGHT TRIGGER FINGER

As we spoke, three shots were heard from the direction of the Avraham
Avinu neighborhood. A group of children ran along the main street.
"It's a diversion." Amid says about the movements. He is 25, a
resident of Natufa, a hilltop "lookout" in Lower Galilee. "I try very
hard to keep things at a distance; the rule is not to take the barking
at me personally. What haven't they shouted at me, and more than once?
Very quickly you learn to seal yourself, to treat the whole thing like
a game. After all, it's clear that this is a situation for which the
solution is not in your hands."

The Shaham Battalion has a thick file of press reports about incidents
that make it look as though its soldiers are trigger-happy. Two hours
before the pullout from Hebron, Amid takes time out for some spiritual
stock-taking. "In my briefings to the company I always emphasized that
when it comes to the attitude toward the Arab population, they are
first of all human beings." But that did not prevent the wounding of
Jaabri Jadallah, 50, whose leg was amputated after he was shot by
soldiers stationed at the roadblock in the market in the center of
Hebron, an incident that was captured on film by a cameraman of the
Associated Press.

"From our point of view, that was a bad incident," Amid says,
acknowledging the faults that were later found to have occurred. "This
was a civilian who was walking around during curfew and who didn't
respond to a call to stop. What is very regretful is that the soldiers
hit a civilian and not a terrorist. We investigated the episode
thoroughly, we didn't try to whitewash anything, and we drew important
lessons for the continuation of our mission, including how to tell a
suspect from an innocent person. In long talks I had with the soldier
who opened fire, he told me that he was afraid the guy would approach
and try to stab him. In his defense I have to say that all this
happened in the company's first week in Hebron, so we still didn't
know who we were dealing with and we weren't really experienced."

The soldier in question was suspended and send to the battalion's
headquarters. The matter was then placed in the hands of the Military
Police; the soldier was returned to the company and the investigation
has not yet been completed. In the wake of the incident, the battalion
commander was summoned to the chief of staff to explain what happened.
The IDF issued an explanatory video that sets forth the lessons from
the unfortunate incident and makes it available to all the units that
are assigned to combat duty in the territories.

SHOWDOWN WITH A GUNMAN

Whether the battalion liked it or not, its actions were totally open
to the media. In Hebron there is a photographer on almost every
street: The conflict is reported live to the world with crews from CNN,
NBC and the BBC running shoulder to shoulder with the soldiers.
Frequently a feeling of despondency gripped the battalion: the men
felt that the interpretations that were placed on some of their
actions cast them unjustly in a negative light. One such case was the
shooting of Khaled Ghanem, a wanted man who had many times opened fire
on the Jewish settlement in Hebron.

Ghanem was caught at a surprise roadblock set up by the auxiliary
battalion at the junction of the village of Halhoul, adjacent to
Hebron. He was examined and handcuffed. As he was being led to the
jeep that was to take him to prison, he took advantage of a split
second of hesitation by the soldiers and broke into a fast run. "The
soldiers shouted at him to stop," the battalion commander recalls. "He
did not stop. They shot around him and he kept on running, it was
already dark, he was just about to enter the built-up area when the
commander of the auxiliary battalion assumed the kneeling position and
fired three shots, one of which felled him. He then summoned an
ambulance, which took the wounded man to hospital."

The battalion commander's complaints about his troops' behavior is
confined to the events until Ghanem fled, not afterward. "Out of
humanitarianism, they didn't blindfold him, a simple means that would
have prevented him from getting away. In the meantime, Ghanem's
brother, who was with him at the time of the incident, alerted a
television crew and put out a story that was believed by the public,
according to which we supposedly shot a bound terrorist in cold blood.
Instead of congratulating us for capturing a quality terrorist, the
press confused everything and judged us."

The same thing happened after a clash in which a legendary Hebron
figure, Shaker Hassuna al-Husseini, was killed. Even before the
battalion reached the sector they heard tales about the daring "gunman."
In every case of a disturbance he would suddenly appear among the
demonstrators, fire a few bullets at the soldiers and disappear until
the next incident. In mid-January, they encountered him face-to-face
in a joint operation with the Border Police. Sergeant Y. from
Jerusalem, who was involved in the clash, analyzes the operational
achievement, which turned into a propaganda debacle:

"Suddenly, amid all the stones and Molotov cocktails, an explosive
charge was thrown at us. For a second we were in shock, but then we
snapped out of it and rushed to the alley to try and find the
terrorist. He was standing there, armed with his pistol, and when he
saw us he was completely taken by surprise. Then we didn't yet know
that this was the famous gunman, of course. Barely five meters
separated us. We shot him seven times before he could even react, then
we dragged him out of the alley and a doctor pronounced him dead. I
definitely felt a sense of satisfaction, from our point of view, it
was a tremendous success."

The next morning, when he opened the paper, he was appalled. A
photograph credited to Reuters showed him smiling as he dragged the
dead man: hardly complimentary. The soldiers, who were desperate to be
praised for the operation, didn't find anything of the sort in the
papers. "That's what hurts me," Sergeant Y. says. "It was a Tanzim
terrorist who doesn't deserve any respect. Instead of that I have to
hear on the news that we were the ones who were supposedly in the
wrong."

CRUSHING VICTORY

At Tel Rumeida in the Jewish settlement of Hebron, the Palhod, the
battalion's lead company, was completing its preparations to pull out.
The equipment was stored and packed, the replacements from the
Paratroops were already there, the atmosphere was of relief and
release from high pressure. When company commander Ro'i Sheetrit took
a few minutes to analyze the battalion's period in Hebron, which
consisted mainly of incessant confrontations with the Palestinians and
ended with efforts to prevent the settlers from venting their anger on
the Arabs.

"Of course this is not the assignment we were looking for," Sheetrit
says. "The situation here is very strange and complicated. First you
throw them back, using reasonable force, then they joke with you over
a cup of tea and shake your hand. So their comments never bothered me,
and when they called me a Nazi - and by the way, it was someone who is
not from the settlement here - I laughed."

He is not upset by the settlers' complaints about the supposed
softness of the IDF's reactions. "Our victory here was crushing," he
says. "The Shaham Battalion knows exactly what it's worth. If a bullet
is fired at me, I retort with 40 bullets. I have the full authority
and discretion to react with disproportionate fire. It's no
coincidence that everyone who tried to get us failed. Here is the Abu
Sneina neighborhood, 300 meters from us, while what I have are ready
weapons that let me respond up to a range of three kilometers. Our
resilience will not be affected either by the Tanzim or by Hamas or by
the murder of the baby girl or by the terrorist attacks outside. It's
important for the public to understand that we are causing them damage
here that is confronting Arafat with a serious problem."

Sheetrit, though, is also quick to say that "we mustn't be arrogant. I
had a soldier whom I ejected from the company for one reason - human
life was cheap for him. A Palestinian is not automatically the enemy.
When a [Palestinian] boy comes to our positions to scrape the last
scraps of food from the trays that were distributed to the soldiers, I
can't remain indifferent to him. Families without medicines, women who
carry water in jerricans, an ambulance that arrives carrying a sick
person - what, you won't let it pass because there is curfew? After
it's checked out, I even give it protection, to prevent friction with
the Jewish settlement. There are things I heard from the Palestinians
that really touched my heart. We have to be firm, but we also have to
know where the boundaries are."

WIPED OUT

In the final hours, in the eye of the storm in Hebron, the sector
which the IDF defines as the most complex of all, they were already
dreaming of the moment when at long last, after half a year, they
would be able to sleep without their uniforms. An unofficial count
credits the battalion with killing 10 armed Palestinians, most of them
by sniper fire; uncovering two bombs that were meant for the number
160 bus, which plies the Jerusalem-Hebron line; and thwarting a
terrorist attack at Idna.

"There isn't a soldier in the battalion who wasn't fired at or who
didn't reply with fire," the battalion commander says. In combat
activity stretching across six consecutive months, the battalion lost
two of its fighters, Lieutenant David Chen-Cohen and Sergeant Shlomo
Adishana, who were killed at the village of El Khader, south of
Bethlehem. In addition to Shalhevet Pass, the baby girl, two others,
Rina Didovsky and Eliahu Ben Ami, were killed in the sector for which
the battalion was responsible, which at the start of the Intifada was
the Beit Haggai area. The two were killed in a drive-by shooting.

"Generally, after three straight months on the line, the soldiers look
wiped out," the battalion commander says. "This time, despite the fact
that the mission was twice as long as usual, they came out of it
strengthened." The only riddle that Fuchs hasn't yet figured out is
how it happened that a battalion of "softies," as he calls them,
became the symbol of irregularities in the media, whereas the IDF has
only praise for its work. When Amid's company left Hebron, the
residents of the Jewish settlement took their leave of the soldiers
with the words "See you again soon" and highly meaningful smiles.
After a brief training period, the Shaham Battalion will man the
northern line - though a brief survey reveals that most of the
soldiers would prefer to return to the action in Hebron. Lebanon,
which a year ago was headline news, is now totally passe

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Shalom Stafford,

I read the article "THE SOUND AND THE FURY" by Avihai Becker, and
found it to be accurate, but like any article on such a subject there
are many other objective views to be considered. My son has been
stationed there in the IDF for the most part of the past 6 months
Intifata. And I might add has found himself standing between the
Police and the Settlers far to often. I could go on and on but it is
some times hard to justify human behavior, when it seems to be
irrational. and more to the point when religious values are at state.

It would be well to remember that these Jewish Settlers are a very
brave and courageous people. Their numbers are around 500 in the two
Settlements right in the middle of the Palestinian "A" area,
surrounded by 130,000 hostile Arabs. They feel it is their God given
right to be there, it is where our Forefathers are buried with their
wives. It is where David was crowned King. It is the second most
Holy City in Israel. And I personally admire them for their
willingness to stand their ground, they are certainly a tough bunch of
Jews. They are faced and are the subject of even more hatred from the
Arabs than is being reported. A case in point, the recent killing of
the 10 month old child "Shallheveh Tehiya Pass" who was targeted by a
Palestinian sniper and shot through the head while setting in her
stroller, the same shot went through her fathers legs as well. Is now
being reported on the Palestinian Radio (The Voice of Palestine) out
of Gaza for the past two days that the Jewish mother killed her child
because she was retarted. There seems to be no limit to how low they
will go with their lies.

I hope I have been helpful,
Shalom and have a good Holiday. Jerry Golden

><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><>
Stafford's Mail <staffordsimmonds@ntlworld.com>

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From: "Patt A."
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 09:48:11 -0700 (PDT)
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Fwd: (Fwd) 'Lost' asteroid could hit Earth

------- Forwarded message follows -------

'Lost' asteroid could hit Earth

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=3D378
030&in_review_text_id=3D323494

by Geraint Smith, Science Correspondent

At least one potentially dangerous asteroid is being discovered every
night and the rate is increasing rapidly.

More than 300 asteroids with orbits that cross Earth's were found last
year, and this year the discoveries are coming faster, Dr Duncan Steel
of the University of Salford will tell the National Astronomy Meeting
in Cambridge later this week.

However, even more worrying may be one that has gone missing.

"One, in particular, we need to find. It was seen for only 10 days in
1998, and it looked as though it might be on a potential collision
course within the next 30 years.

"However, it was not seen for long enough to calculate the orbit to
know for certain."

The object, known as 1998 OX 4, is about half a mile across, he said.
"If it hit San Francisco, California would cease to exist. If it hit
London, much of England would cease to exist."

The object that killed the dinosaurs was between five and 10 miles in
size, but just 93 years ago an asteroid only 60 or 70 yards across
blew up in the atmosphere above Siberia, producing a blast which, had
it had Marble Arch as its centre, would have flattened all of London
out to the M25.

"The chance of that occurring is small, but the consequences are so
phenomenal that it is a hazard we must take seriously," Dr Steel said.

Dr Steel is one of six foreign scientists on Nasa's Spaceguard
Committee, which made recommendations to the US Congress on how to
deal with "Near Earth Objects".

=95 The building blocks of life on Earth probably arrived as small
fragments of comet that looked remarkably like the surface of the M1.

Dr Steel will today tell the National Astronomy Meeting it is likely
they came in the shape of tiny meteoroids made of a tarry substance
called keragin, billions of which still bombard the Earth. Although
these vaporise high in the atmosphere, the chemicals of which they are
made then float gently to Earth, largely intact.

---------------------------------
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Personal Address - Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mai=
l.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 13:29:45 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Hepatitis C Spreads Mostly Unchecked in Prisons

Thursday April 5 9:41 AM ET

Hepatitis C Spreads Mostly Unchecked in Prisons

By Alan Elsner, National Correspondent

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (Reuters) - Hepatitis C, a silent killer that attacks the
liver, is rampant among the almost two million inmates of U.S. prisons and
jails but authorities are making only half-hearted efforts to combat it, medical
and prison experts say.

``The prevalence of this disease is believed to be 30 to 40 percent of the
prison population, depending on the state,'' said Anne Degroot, a doctor who
treats AIDS (news - web sites) and hepatitis patients in the Connecticut
prison system and heads a prison health education project at Brown
University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Hepatitis C is a virus spread through contact with human blood and is rarely
transmitted sexually. It can lead to life-threatening liver damage by scarring
the liver (also called cirrhosis), liver cancer or liver failure. Fewer than half of
those treated are cured. There is no vaccine.

The disease is particularly prevalent among intravenous drug users. For
example, in Baltimore 90 percent of those seeking treatment for heroin
addiction are infected.

In total, more than 4 million Americans have been exposed to the disease, of
whom up to 15 percent can expect to become seriously ill in the next 20
years, according to David Thomas of Johns Hopkins University Hospital.
Carriers often have no symptoms.

Most state prison systems do not require testing of inmates. In many
systems, testing is voluntary and in a few it is non-existent. Prison activists
charge that prison authorities do not want to know if inmates are infected
because once they do know they are obliged to offer costly treatment.

Diagnosis may involve giving patients liver biopsies to determine how far the
disease has progressed. Drug treatment can cost up to $12,000 a year for
each patient. In some advanced cases, the only treatment may be liver
transplants.

``The incarcerated population is the only population in this country that has a
constitutional right to health care,'' said Barry Zack of Centerforce Inc, a non-
profit organization that offers HIV (news - web sites) and hepatitis education
to inmates of California's San Quentin state prison.

``If they find something, they have to treat it at the same standard as that
which prevails in the outside community. The implications are enormous.
People used to think that treating prisoners with HIV would break the bank.
That's nothing compared to what treating hepatitis C would do,'' he said.
Incidence of HIV among the prison population, although much higher than in
the community at large, is still relatively low. A 1997 Justice Department
(news - web sites) report estimated that 2.3 percent of state and federal
prison inmates -- just under 25,000 individuals -- were HIV positive.

For those who are infected with both HIV and hepatitis C, the prospects are
grim.

Hep C Expensive To Diagnose, Treat

Ted Hammett of Abt Associates, a research and consultancy company in
Cambridge, Mass, conducted a study for the Texas prison system which
concluded it would cost $40 million a year to diagnose and treat prisoners for
hepatitis C in that state.

``A lot of states are really gun shy about the cost issue for pretty obvious
reasons,'' he said.

Prisoners are San Quentin are told about AIDS and hepatitis C as they enter
the prison and are urged not to do things that could put them at risk,
including tattooing, body piercing, fighting, sharing razors, sharing needles
and engaging in homosexual sex. Prison rape puts inmates at additional
risk.

At one briefing for newly admitted prisoners this week, John Romain, a peer
counselor serving three years for drug possession, did not mince his words.

``Since I've been in this institution, quite a few fellows have died of Hep C.
Don't share needles, don't do tattoos, don't share needles with nobody, don't
share cotton balls, don't share water, don't share toothbrushes, don't share
nothing with no one,'' he said.

Judy Greenspan of California Prison Focus, a grass-roots advocacy group,
said San Quentin was the exception in the state prison system. Other
facilities offered little or no health screening and education to inmates.

``Even if prisoners were tested, they were not always told the results. We
have people who have gotten sick and gone back to their medical records
and found they tested positive in prison years ago. By that time, it's too late,''
she said.

Phyllis Beck, director of a hepatitis C awareness project in Oregon, said
hundreds of inmates within that state's prison system desperately needed
treatment but only a handful were receiving it.

``We are seeing more and more inmates who are being released with
cirrhosis or close to cirrhosis due to a lack of follow-up care after a positive
diagnosis has been made,'' she said.

Oregon started counseling prisoners about hepatitis C only last year. Of the
state's 9,600 inmates, 937 requested a test of whom 339 tested positive.
Four liver biopsies have been conducted and 9 more prisoners are in the
process of work-ups.

Degroot, who has seen two of her patients die in prison, said treatment
would be highly cost effective for U.S. society despite the high price tag.

``If we treat these people, nearly all of whom will be returning to the
community, we can avert public health expenditures down the road to the
tune of billions of dollars,'' she said.

``If we aggressively treat in the prison system, we could avoid 30 percent of
the liver transplants that will otherwise be needed,'' Degroot said.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010405/ts/life_disease_dc_1.html

via: End_Times_News@yahoogroups.com

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 13:30:16 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) PM SHARON: MEMBERS OF ALL FAITHS HAVE RIGHT

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 09:27:49 -0400
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: PM SHARON: MEMBERS OF ALL FAITHS HAVE RIGHT - IN PRINCIPLE - TO

VISIT TEMPLE MOUNT
Sender: owner-imra@imra.org.il
Precedence: bulk

PM SHARON: MEMBERS OF ALL FAITHS HAVE RIGHT - IN PRINCIPLE - TO VISIT TEMPLE
MOUNT
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
Thursday, April 05, 2001

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon supports, in principle, visits by members of
all faiths to the Temple Mount. He has directed security officials to
find an appropriate way to realize this right and enable visitors to go
up to the Temple Mount.

--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 13:37:56 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] 87 Senators urge Bush not to invite Arafat to White House

87 Senators urge Bush not to invite Arafat to White House
Ha'aretz Service

According to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, 87 of 100 U.S. senators
sent a letter to President George W. Bush demanding that he not invite
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat </breaking-
news/people/342681.stm> to the White House as long as the American
government is reassessing its relationship with Arafat and the Palestinians,
Israel Radio reported.

In the letter, the senators called on President Bush to add parts of the PLO
and the PA to the State Department's list of organizations that support
terrorism.

According to the report from Washington, members of the House of
Reprsentatives are also embarking on a similar move, and more than 140
Congress members have already signed a letter, soon to be sent to
President Bush, that opposes inviting to Arafat to White House.

via: Third_Watch@yahoogroups.com

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From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 18:50:07 -0000
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Livestock Plagues Could Be Bioterrorist Attack

Livestock Plagues Could Be Bioterrorist Attack
NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday, April 5, 2001

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/4/4/192525.shtml

As the number of animals in Britain facing slaughter passes 1
million, United Press International presents a survey on the causes
and likely implications of the epidemic, the worst disaster to hit
British agriculture in modern times. Here, analyst Claude Salhani, an
experienced expert on international terrorism, finds that respected
authorities take very seriously the possibility that the epidemic
could be the deliberate result of a bioterrorist attack on Britain
and that such an attack could be a "dry run" for an even more
devastating future bioterrorist assault on the $1 trillion U.S.
agriculture industry.

WASHINGTON (UPI) =96 Is a new breed of terrorists responsible for the
epidemics of "mad cow" and foot-and-mouth diseases plaguing Europe,
and are these part of a well-planned "agro-terrorist" assault?

While the idea of agro-terrorism might seem to jump straight from the
script of "The X-Files," a James Bond movie or even be the subject of
some far-fetched conspiracy theory, terrorism experts consider the
scenario all too credible.

"I take this extremely seriously," said Peter Probst, who consults on
terrorism and is vice president and director of programs for the
Institute for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence.

Probst, who has studied this possibility for the last six years, said
such an attack would not only have a devastating impact against a
nation's agriculture in economic terms but would also have far-
reaching psychological aspects.

"If you have a conspiratorial mind-set you might think the U.K. is
being used as a test," said Probst.

Agro-terrorism =96 the term used by these experts =96 is not science
fiction, and it's a lot closer to reality than many may realize.

"It's incredibly easy to do it, and it requires no sophistication,"
said Dr. Peter Chalk, a Rand policy analyst who has also studied agro-
terrorism.

"As a weapon, it's less expensive. It's also very good in so-called
asymmetrical warfare, where you hit a very powerful country at its
most vulnerable point: the economy," said Chalk.

"I would call the American agriculture base the soft underbelly of
the American economy," said Probst. "It generates $1 trillion a year
in export revenue, and an attack against beef or swine would be
incredibly costly. It would be disastrous."

While both experts agree that there is no concrete evidence at the
moment to support the notion that the outbreak in Britain and other
parts of Europe is the result of a terrorist attack, they do not
close the door on that possibility.

"I have no information that what is happening in Europe is terrorist
related," Probst told UPI. But he then hastened to add, "Now, all
that being said, attacks by terrorists or rogue states against the
agriculture basis is something which has been long considered by many
states."

According to Chalk, there is certainly a history of states investing
in biological warfare programs that target agriculture. But could
Iraq, for example, be responsible for such an attack?

While agro-terrorism experts remain reluctant to admit that the
current virus infecting Britain's agro-industry is the result of a
terrorist attack, some nonetheless believe this is what happened.

One such expert, who asked not to be named, went as far as to point
the finger at Iraq.

Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence sources at the Department of Agriculture
say they are working on a vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease, because
they think the terrorist threat here is immediate.

Chalk noted that major nations in modern times have seriously
explored unleashing biological attacks upon their enemies.

"Germany, for instance, had an operation going in 1917 here in the
United States," he said. "They infected draft animals that were going
to be sent to Europe. The Soviet Union had about 10,000 scientists
and technicians working on anti-agriculture agents."

Proving that a specific country, or group, is guilty of an agro-
terror attack will be difficult.

"There is something called stealth terrorism," said Probst, "which is
basically terrorist acts that masquerade as acts of God or
unfortunate accidents."

Then there are "black operations," where in another situation one
country would purposely leave clues pointing to another nation.

One example, said Probst, "would involve a scenario where Iraq would
leave trails leading to Iran."

Indeed, if the perpetrators do not want the action traced back to
them, proving it would be nearly impossible.

Iraq, for example, could well be out for revenge against Britain and
the United States for the part they played in the Gulf War in 1991,
and for the continued economic sanctions imposed on it to this day.

What is particularly attractive to potential terrorists when
targeting agriculture is the ease with which it can be attacked.

"Firstly," said Chalk, "when talking about terrorism and terrorists
experimenting with exotic weapons, like biological weapons, one of
the main factors that appears to have constrained their escalation to
that level has been the difficulty in actually weaponizing pathogens
and viable agents and actually accessing suitable strains.

"With agricultural diseases neither of those conditions hold.
Something like foot-and-mouth, for instance, spreads by itself,"
Chalk said. "There is no need to weaponize the agent, it's so
transmissible."

The nature of agriculture livestock in many Western countries,
particularly in the United States, where it is so concentrated,
further facilitates the agro-terrorist's task.

"If you introduced the disease at a location, you would be sure to
get a very rapid transmission of that disease," said Chalk.

"The second thing is that it is very easy to get the disease and
import it," he said.

An added bonus for the terrorist is that there are numerous places
around the United States where foot-and-mouth is prevalent, Chalk
said.

"All you have to do is pop one of the lesions on an infected animal
in order to have enough to ensure an outbreak. Needless to say, it is
harmless to the handler," he said.

The next question is why would terrorists want to attack the
agriculture? The answer is it is an easy target that can lead to
great social disruption.

Think how the disease has affected tourism and industry in Britain.
Since the outbreak, many parts of the country have been closed to
visitors, costing the tourist industry millions every week.

Daily life has been greatly perturbed, with consumers shunning meat
products, sports events being canceled, and Prime Minister Tony Blair
being forced to postpone the general elections he was expected to
hold in May.

More than a million heads of cattle, sheep and pigs =96 many of them in
good health =96 are being slaughtered to curb the epidemic from
spreading.

There are serious concerns now among those closely following these
issues that it may spark off extremism from animal rights protesters
and environmental activists =96 both of whom act more or less in
coordination with one another.

The epidemic could also turn the population against the government,
because it could be charged with incompetence. One of the best ways
to do this would be by an attack on agriculture, specifically using
foot-and-mouth disease, because it is so highly contagious, and
because of the ripple effect on the economy.

"If you actually had a disease that was transmissible from animal to
human, you'd also have the potential to spark mass panic," said Chalk.

There was a slight indication of that occurring with the West Nile
virus outbreak in New York and other parts of the East Coast last
year.

That outbreak was taken very seriously by the FBI, the U.S. Army, the
Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, and other intelligence-
gathering agencies in the United States.

Brazil, according to one report, blamed sabotage for an outbreak of
foot-and-mouth on its territory last year.

According to the British New Scientist magazine, "the U.S. is so
worried about bioterrorist attacks on its livestock industry it has
just spent $40 million on upgrading its secure research facilities
for animal disease on Plum Island, New York."

The question of how easy it would be for potential agro-terrorists to
attack livestock and agriculture was raised at a bioterrorism
conference held in St. Petersburg, Fla., last November that was
organized by the CDC, Pinellas County, the University of South
Florida and Battelle Memorial Institute.

But a better example would be the Rift Valley fever that hit Saudi
Arabia, also last year, and that started out in animals but then
spread to humans.

"The issue of bioterrorism has become more of a public health issue,"
said Barbara Reynolds at CDC.

Dr. Chalk said that, taking all those factors into account, "you've
got economic impact, you've got destabilizing of the government,
you've got social attacks and you've even got the possibility of mass
scare."

"I actually think it would be far more likely than some of the
nightmare scenarios that are painted of mass anthrax attacks on
Manhattan, for instance," said Chalk.

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From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 18:51:51 -0000
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Most Complete Scientific Ghost Investigation Begins

Most Complete Scientific Ghost Investigation Begins
April 5, 2001

http://www.cosmiverse.com/paranormal04050102.html

Today in Edinburgh marked the beginning of the most in-depth
scientific investigation to date studying the existence of ghosts.
During the next two and a half months, 10 researchers with the help
of 200 citizens will try to record the presence of various types of
spirit beings. They will utilize the most state-of-the-art equipment
available to find what lurks in the dungeons of Edinburgh Castle, the
vaults beneath South Bridge, and Mary King's close, under the High
Street.

Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at Hertfordshire University, is
leading the investigation. He is not convinced of the existence of
ghosts but is willing to be converted. "I am not a great believer in
spirit hypotheses but we have equipment which is more sensitive than
what has been used before. The difference is that we will be logging
all the information and the good thing is that the public can also
join in," he said.

The researchers chose Edinburgh because of a high concentration of
paranormal personages and unusual events. "It is probably the most
haunted city in Europe. A lot of people report unusual experiences,
particularly in the underground city," said Dr. Wiseman.

The team will be using thermal imagers, geomagnetic sensors,
temperature probes, and night vision equipment to monitor the
locations. The initial results will be presented on the final day of
Edinburgh Science Festival. "I would be totally delighted if we did
detect something. But if a spirit did come out in front of me I would
be out of there pretty quickly," Dr. Wiseman said.

During his last investigation, he examined claims that Catherine
Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII was still roaming Hampton Court
Palace screaming in terror about being beheaded. The study, reported
last week to the British Psychological Society's annual conference in
Glasgow, indicated a more logical physical cause - two cold, drafty
areas, one of which was next to a concealed door.

According to Dr. Wiseman, more was found in Hampton Court, but he is
not revealing what lest anything prejudices what might be revealed in
Edinburgh. "We think we are on to something in terms of understanding
why people have these experiences - something that we did not know
before," he said. Dr. Wiseman does not doubt the reality of the
powerful experiences people report. It is in how these events are
interpreted that causes the debate.

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From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 18:56:24 -0000
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Poster With Picture of Jesus Lands Kindergartner in Court

Poster With Picture of Jesus Lands Kindergartner in Court
By Jason Pierce
CNS Editorial Assistant
April 03, 2001

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?
Page=/Culture/archive/200104/CUL20010403c.html

(CNSNews.com) - Drawing a picture of Jesus on a poster for parent's
day has landed a New York state kindergartener in a legal battle over
First Amendment rights. An appellate judge ruled Wednesday that
Antonio Peck and his parents may have their day in court, but no date
has been set.

The case dates back to when Antonio was a kindergartener at
Baldwinsville Elementary School in Syracuse, where he was assigned to
draw a poster relating to his class' study of environmental issues.
Antonio drew people picking up litter, children holding hands around
the globe and a picture of a white-robed man kneeling in one corner.

According to Antonio's attorney, Erick Stanley, Antonio meant the
picture to be Jesus, but never wrote it anywhere on the poster. When
the poster was hung on a wall with posters from almost 80 other
students, teachers folded the poster to hide the figure of Jesus and
covered part of Antonio's name at the bottom.

"When they [folded the poster], they cut Antonio's name in half and
made the poster look out of place among all the other posters,"
Stanley said. "We believe by them doing that, they violated
[Antonio's] right to free speech, so we filed a lawsuit."

According to Stanley, the lawsuit brought against the school claims
that teachers who hid the image of Jesus on Antonio's poster violated
Antonio's First Amendment rights and seeks an injunction so the
school may not censor students who display religious images.

"One thing we are arguing is that ... the school's censorship of that
was related to nothing other than a hostility to religion," Stanley
said. "We believe that is impermissible under the first amendment."

Stanley added that the school's action singled Antonio out from the
other students, causing him humiliation and embarrassment.

"His was the poster singled out for this kind of treatment," Stanley
said. "It looked out of place. His name was cut in half, and he was
embarrassed.

"It was one of those things that he felt when he was doing his
assignment. He was doing a good job. And for a kindergarten student,
religion is a part of his everyday life, and he didn't understand why
his picture was inappropriate in school," he said.

Paul Battaglia, the attorney who is representing the school, said the
school did not censor Antonio's work because of a religious image,
but instead was enforcing an assignment that wasn't done properly.

"This is not at all a case of censorship," Battaglia said. "This is
simply a case of requiring students to be responsive to the
educational curriculum.

"It is not at all a case of great religious significance, but simply
a case where a student was asked to ... perform a particular lesson
and give back certain material and failed to do so," he said.

Battaglia added that the school gave Antonio multiple chances to redo
the assignment according to instructions, but he failed to do so by
keeping the religious figure on the poster.

"He didn't follow the teacher's instructions despite given two
opportunities to do so," Battaglia said. "It's unfortunate, but the
school has particular curriculum standards it must enforce."

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From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 18:58:18 -0000
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] More School Districts Consider Hiring Advocates for Homosexual Students

More School Districts Consider Hiring Advocates for Homosexual Students
By Joanne M. Haas
CNS Correspondent
April 05, 2001

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200104
\CUL20010405a.html

Madison, Wis. (CNSNews.com) - As the national debate intensifies over
whether public schools should encourage tolerance of homosexuality,
the Madison Metropolitan School District in Wisconsin is taking
applications for a newly-created full-time advocate for students of
alternative lifestyles.

Similar counselors are already in place in eight other public school
districts around the country, and they report receiving frequent
requests for information about how they set up their programs.

Seattle is one of the school districts with programs devoted to
homosexual students. "This is a serious issue," said Lisa Love of the
Seattle Public School's health education office, the district's go-to
department on sexuality issues. "It is the (school's) legal
responsibility to protect students from liability. I think the legal
threat is very real."

Whether real or perceived, the threat of lawsuits resulting from the
harassment of students because of their sexual orientation has some
school districts thinking such counselors and programs are needed,
not just in high schools, but in elementary schools as well.

"Historically, it has only been a high school issue," Love
said. "We've had a few phone calls at the elementary level
saying, 'We think some kids are asking questions about sexuality.'
This is ground-breaking for us," Love said. "We're trying to figure
out appropriate kinds of conversations. And the staff is not used to
dealing with it."

Alan Horowitz, the sole full-time specialist at the "Out for Equity"
program in Saint Paul, Minnesota Public Schools, said his program
offers high school support groups, gay/straight alliances, and guest
speakers among its services. And Horowitz said he is not surprised
that younger students are now asking questions about their sexuality.

"Times have changed so quickly," Horowitz said. "If you just look at
the last six years and how many gay characters there are on TV
(shows). Over 30 have gay characters. This is a reflection on how
society has changed."

Programs similar to those in Seattle and St. Paul are now likely to
be established in Madison, where school board members voted 7-0 in
February to hire the advocate for GLBTQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transgender and questioning) students before the end of the 2000-2001
school year. Plans call for the new staffer to be a teacher or
guidance counselor who will be expected to "improve the academic
achievement, emotional security, and personal acceptance," of
students, while being a source of information about homosexuality for
staff as well. The job has been posted internally, school officials
said, and will be posted externally if necessary.

The Madison school board's action triggered a lot of debate within
the city. Those who supported the hiring said the frequent harassment
of homosexual students made it necessary. Opponents, however, such as
Terrell Smith of Madison, criticized the plan to hire a homosexual
advocate because of the precedent it would create.

"The board wishes to protect students who are harassed. Should there
be an advocate for Christian students that are discriminated against
because they pray at lunch or bring a Bible to school? An advocate
for the Muslim students who wish to pray on Fridays?" Smith wrote in
a published newspaper public forum on the hiring.

Smith, who has a lesbian sister and a close friend dying of AIDS,
also worried that the advocate will fail to speak with the students
about what he calls the "destructiveness of the homosexual
lifestyle."

Debra Lehmann of the greater Madison area said in the same newspaper
forum that the hiring seems to satisfy a special interest agenda. A
better use of tax dollars, Lehmann said, would be to hire an advocate
for all persecuted children.

"Fill it with someone who would promote programs that teach children
the seemingly lost art of respect and consideration for all people
who may be different but not any less valuable," she wrote.

The Seattle school district offers mostly two types of programs for
students. There are the gay-straight alliances that are more
political in nature. And there are the discussion groups where the
topics are wide-ranging and determined by whoever attends. "The
majority of them meet weekly at lunch and it is just an optional
thing. The doors are open and you come if you like," Love said. "All
the high schools have support groups, and those support groups are
confidential."

In St. Paul, Horowitz said he helps teachers respond to the
harassment of students, even those who are not homosexual.

"Slurs get hurled at students that aren't gay. Words run rampant. And
there is a direct correlation between any type of slurs and the
school violence that we see happen," said Horowitz, who worked as a
elementary school teacher for 11 years in suburban New York City
before accepting his current job in the Midwest about 18 months ago.

Love and Horowitz acknowledge that such programs have created
concerns about counselors allegedly encouraging homosexuality. But
Horowitz said science doesn't support that. "Sexual orientation is
determined by age six. It's not possible scientifically," he said.

Love points to some of the responses in the district's student survey
as an endorsement of the program. "I'm so glad there's a group," Love
quoted one student's response. "I can't imagine (not) having some
place for us to go."

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From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 18:59:42 -0000
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] U.S. Christians Risk Long Jail Terms For Sharing Faith In Gulf State

U.S. Christians Risk Long Jail Terms For Sharing Faith In Gulf State
By Patrick Goodenough
CNS London Bureau Chief
April 04, 2001

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?
Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200104\For20010404f.html

London (CNSNews.com) - Three young Americans caught handing out
Christian compact discs and videos on the streets of Dubai face up to
10 years' imprisonment if convicted of promoting Christianity in the
oil-rich Muslim emirate.

The leading U.S. religious freedom body said Wednesday that if United
Arab Emirates law forbids proselytizing, "we would see that as a
violation of international law."

Only one of the three, Charles Ashley Gearling, 28, has been named in
Persian Gulf press reports. His name was released by the attorney
general in announcing this week that he would be put on trial.

Investigations against the other two, aged 26 and 30, are continuing.
Neither their home states, nor the name of the U.S. organization said
to have sent them, have been made public.

One report said a fourth American had also been arrested on suspicion
of having arranged their entry visas into the country.

-- more --

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From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 22:34:29 -0000
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Tuberculosis hits UK

Thursday, 5 April 2001 9:48 (ET)

Tuberculosis hits UK

http://www.vny.com/cf/news/upidetail.cfm?QID=174501

LONDON, April 5 (UPI) -- Tuberculosis, the disease that was the
scourge of Victorian England, has erupted again in a "major outbreak"
in Britain, this time in a "particularly virulent strain" that has
struck at least 27 students at a school in the country's midlands,
medical officials said Thursday.

Experts said another 60 pupils at the Crown Hills Community College
in Leicester were believed to be infected, and one said it had
become "a race against time" to halt the outbreak, the largest in
Britain in recent memory.

Emergency screening of the 1,200 students at the college was under
way Thursday as those already infected with the disease were put on
heavy doses of antibiotics. Leicestershire Health Authority officials
said they were considering whether to screen pupils at other schools
in the area.

"It is a particularly virulent strain of the disease that is
spreading rapidly," said Dr. Philip Monk, a consultant on
communicable disease control at the health authority. "This is
clearly a major outbreak."

"While we have found a lot of students at this (Crown Hills)
college," he added, "it is most likely to be a reflection of a
community outbreak."

Monk soft-pedaled speculation that the disease could have been
imported by students who had visited relatives in Asia. "How it was
introduced, we do not know," he said, "but it doesn't have to be from
traveling abroad."

Tuberculosis was a major killer in England in the 19th century and
early years of the 20th century and was particularly devastating in
poorer areas before it was brought under control in the 1920s.

Experts said the Leicester outbreak appeared to be gaining a hold in
the wider community and that the final number of TB cases could
rise "a lot higher."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said "this is a large and unusual
outbreak, but a thorough investigation is under way."

That investigation also was expected to examine claims that
suspension of a TB vaccination program for teenagers in Britain was
suspended 18 months ago because of a shortage of vaccine. The
Department of Health said inoculation would be resumed immediately.

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 19:10:09 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Machine intelligence technology

JUST STOP CRASHING, PLEASE!
There's an advert on British TV for online banking which warns that
we're all turning into bank managers. Bob Brennan of Synapse Solutions
in Cambridge has a device that goes further and may turn us all into
computer nerds. MI-Tech (machine intelligence technology) translates
typed requests into machine code. So, you type what you want the
computer to do and it writes the necessary program. You don't have to
follow any special syntactic rules when typing in your request: MI-Tech
is designed to extract instructions from statements made in ordinary
English. Brennan isn't telling how he has done this he until his patents
are granted, but if it works it could open up programming to millions
more people and give us a much greater diversity of programs. Watch out
Microsoft!
http://www.newscientist.com/newsletter/news.jsp?id=ns228539

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 19:10:09 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Daily World Affairs Report (4/4/01)

POPE RECEIVES ECUMENICAL GROUP FROM GERMANY

This morning in the Clementine Hall John Paul II received an ecumenical
group of 40 Protestant and Catholic theologians from Germany,
accompanied by Cardinal Karl Lehmann and by the co-president of the
Evangelical Church, Bishop Hartmut Lowe. Addressing them in their native
language, the Pope said "the growing awareness of community in the
Triune God has made it possible for various Christian denominations to no
longer see each other as hostile or unfamiliar, but rather as brothers and=

sisters."He added that "the desire for unity accompanies us beyond the
threshold of the 3rd Millennium."

He also recalled the ecumenical celebrations during the Holy Year 2000,
saying "we were able to see once again the incisive prophetic sign of
ecumenism." "It seems clear that the love of truth must be the deepest
dimension of a credible search for full communion of Christians. Without
the love of truth it is impossible to overcome the theological and
psychological difficulties." "I see," he said in conclusion, "a sign of hop=
e that
you have chosen Rome as the place for your encounter: perhaps one day
we will succeed in finding, through reciprocal and patient dialogue, a form=
in
which the Petrine ministry can be realized by everyone as a service to trut=
h
and love." (Vatican Info Service)

RUSSIAN OFFICIALS WARY OF PAPAL TRIP TO UKRAINE

A prominent Russian official, in a letter released on Friday, has expressed=

concern over Pope John Paul II's planned visit to Ukraine in June. First
Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Avdeyev wrote the letter in reply to a
question from a senior member of parliament. Avdeyev said the foreign
ministry had discussed relations between the Catholic and Orthodox
Churches with the Vatican. "This is naturally done in a delicate manner
based on the constitutional principle of separation of church and state. At=

the request of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Foreign Ministry
... has made known to the leadership of the Holy See our concerns in
connection with preparations for the Pope's visit to Ukraine." he said.
(Catholic World News)

RATZINGER SEES DIFFICULTIES WITH SOCIETY OF ST. PIUS X

Speaking to reporters in Milan, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger indicated that th=
e
Holy See and the schismatic Society of St. Pius X are probably not close to=

an agreement despite the recent round of talks. The prefect of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was in Milan for the publication=

of his latest book. During a press conference there, when questioned about=

the talks with the traditionalist group, he replied, "I wish, I hope, and I=
pray
that this wound will be healed. But we still have a long way to go."

The Italian daily Avvenire also quoted Cardinal Ratzinger as noting a
"hardening" on the part of the Society of St. Pius X. The German
[Bavarian!] prelate observed that the traditionalist group was "closing in =
on
itself," and that this attitude "complicates the process of reconciliation.=
"
Nevertheless, Cardinal Ratzinger continued, the Church is doing everything=

possible to serve the pastoral needs of all the faithful, including those w=
ho
are attached to the traditional liturgy. He said that the Holy See is willi=
ng to
accept "diverse rituals" for the celebration of the Mass. In return, he sai=
d,
the Society of St. Pius X must make it clear that its members accept the
Novus Ordo Mass as valid. As he put it, the traditionalist group "must
understand that the post-conciliar liturgy is not that of another church."=

(Catholic World News)

LOVING TOUCH OF EURO LEAVES BERLINERS COLD

The euro tent looked a little forlorn, as if nomads with dysfunctional
compasses had pitched up in the centre of Berlin. Two men, presumably on
the European Commission payroll, had dressed up as euro mice and
scattered chocolate euros in the direction of an indifferent public. =93Don=
=92t
take things from strangers,=94 a mother hissed, tugging her child past the=

faintly sinister animals. Television cameras appeared and 3 euro counsellor=
s
promptly picked up telephones to simulate urgent interest in other matters.=

The first, shining euro coins were spread out on a table. =93To touch the e=
uro
is to understand it,=94 Ernst Weltecke, the Bundesbank chief, said. A secur=
ity
guard checked that the euros were not touched too enthusiastically. It was=

an easy job; there were no queues, no crowds. It will take more than this
amateurish campaign, as sophisticated as a school f=EAte, to convince
Germans that the euro is safe for consumption. Advertising directors are
still searching for non-political celebrities =97 Boris Becker is no longer=

deemed suitable =97 to plug the euro. The main newspapers have agreed to
carry consciousness-raising articles.

Next month banks will trumpet an operation to recall marks and pfennigs
stored in piggy banks and old cognac bottles. More than 70% of all
transactions in Germany are conducted in cash and it is normal for
Germans to have hundreds, even thousands, of marks stashed at home. The
population is overwhelmingly hostile to the euro. The latest survey by the=

Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion shows that 75% of Germans have
little or no confidence in the new currency. The closer euro day
approaches, the more stubborn the resistance.

=93The euro must be loved,=94 Reinhold Rickes, the euro co-ordinator of the=

German savings banks, said =97 and he emphasised the word =93must=94. By
December 17 =97 after a summer and an autumn of intense marketing =97
euro starter kits will be issued so that Germans can begin their love affai=
r
early. From early next year marks may still be used to pay for cinema
tickets or a meal, but the change will be in euros.

The country is already on edge. Germany may not be as plague-ridden as
Britain =97 there are no officially acknowledged cases of foot-and-mouth
disease =97 but the countryside is in similar turmoil. When the slaughter
programmes begin in earnest, there will be trouble.The introduction of the=

euro does not just affect a small slice of the community: the sight of the=

army escorting thousands of armoured cash transporters around the country
is sure to curdle stomachs. Burning marks is even more emotionally
charged than burning cattle.

Ordinary people are beginning to notice the economic slowdown. Business
confidence has declined for 9 months in succession. Unemployment is
rising. The bankruptcy courts are busy. German growth soared to 4.4% in
the first half of 2000 and almost a year ago Hans Eichel, the Finance
Minister, was declaring Europe to be ready to supplant the United States as=

the motor of global prosperity. Now the prospects look more glum. Many
economists believe that Germany will be lucky to top 2% growth this year.

The mood swings quickly in Germany. People are starting to feel the
effects of stronger inflation. There was an eagerness to write it off as th=
e
blight of the 20th century. Indeed, by 1999 inflation in Germany was barely=

0.6%, one of the key components in Chancellor Gerhard Schr=F6der=92s
popularity. By last February inflation had risen to 2.6% and prices are
creeping up everywhere: television licences, car tax, meat, fish and even
cheese prices.

This dismay is translating into industrial unrest =97 only rumblings at pre=
sent
but hitting in painful spots. Travellers were furious when Lufthansa pilots=

staged protest strikes =97 hundreds of flights had to be cancelled =97 in a=
n
attempt to bring their salaries somewhere close to those enjoyed at British=

Airways. Disappointed travellers with high blood pressure were out of luck;=

Berlin doctors closed their surgeries for a week, protesting against the
erosion of earnings. Other professional groups are in striking spirit, inte=
nt on
a wage rise before the economic malaise dominates the political agenda.

There could hardly be a worse time to abandon the mark.Germans,
Europe=92s most enthusiastic tourists, are facing hefty increases in the bi=
lls
for their summer holidays. Many will stay at home and that invariably
makes Germans surly in the autumn wage round. Helmut Kohl signed the
death warrant for the mark at Maastricht. Herr Schr=F6der will have to
preside over the execution. It will not be a pleasant task. If the euro swi=
tch
is bungled, Europe=92s most successful statesman (as The New York Times
insists on calling him) could be in peril. (The London Times)

JESUS WASN'T THE SON OF GOD, SAYS FORMER BISHOP

The former Bishop of Edinburgh said he no longer believed Jesus was the
Son of God "literally and biologically" and thought that the Church was
"going down the tubes". The Most Rev Richard Holloway, who retired as
leader of the Scottish Episcopal Church in October, said he believed Jesus=

was simply "an extraordinary man". The bishop, 67, disclosed his
disillusionment with the Christian faith in an interview for the Spring iss=
ue of
a quarterly magazine, Lesbian and Gay Christians.

As a member of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, Bishop
Holloway has campaigned for homosexual church weddings and for the
ordination of practising homosexuals. He chose to retire early as Primus of=

Scotland after clashing with the Archbishop of Canterbury and other
conservative bishops over their teaching on homosexuality. Bishop
Holloway has been a member of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement
for 5 years but he is not homosexual.

Although outspoken, he has never denounced the Church's teachings or
questioned its future with such vigour. Now free of his mitre, Bishop
Holloway gave a candid interview to Nathan Foster, the magazine's editor.
He had experienced a "seismic event" in his thinking and now saw the Bible=

and the Church differently. The central Christian claims, he said, were
"metaphors for living a good and humane life" and that he chose to follow
"the radical example of Jesus".

The belief that Jesus was the Son of God, he said, was "simply a way of
heightening an understanding of this extraordinary man". He said: "If peopl=
e
could really understand that the nature of religion is this wonderful mythi=
c,
symbolic, poetic system about deep truth, then they would relax. But we
claim that you have to get into your head certain convictions about histori=
cal
events, that are in a sense irrelevant."

The former Primus compared the expectations of Christian faith with
asking people to believe that the Emperor Alexander "had a 3-hour piss one=

afternoon in the sands of Arabia". He said he had once been a traditional
Anglo-Catholic rector who disliked radical churchmen. But a recent visit to=

Westminster Abbey for Lord Runcie's memorial service showed him how
much he had moved on. He loved "the stateliness and theatre of English
Christianity" but believed it was "out of synch". (The London Telegraph)

RUSSIA TURNS ITS BACK ON I.M.F.

Flush with oil income and bristling with a new assertiveness, Russia is
moving to shake off the training wheels of Western assistance, particularly=

from the International Monetary Fund, and manage finances on its own.
Last week, Russia said it would no longer seek approval from the IMF for
its economic program, even though officials have said the program meets all=

their requirements. By the end of this month, it expects to catch up on all=
its
foreign-debt arrears as the economy keeps purring along.

"Now we are stronger inside the country," the finance minister and deputy
prime minister, Alexei Kudrin, said in an interview. "We have a balanced
budget, we are conducting reforms. We can afford not to get embroiled in
obligations." As recently as 2 months ago, Russia was near default on the
$42bn it owed to a group of Western governments known as the Paris
Club. And it was asking for relief, especially from Germany, which holds
about half the debt.

The same high oil prices and booming economic growth that led the Paris
Club to turn down the request for relief have also spared Russia from
needing it any more, Mr. Kudrin said. But top Russia experts of the IMF
warned Tuesday that the continued strengthening of the ruble could stall th=
e
country's exports and domestic production, putting a halt to the recent
economic improvements, The Associated Press reported from Moscow.
(Int'l Herald Tribune)

PUTIN: RUSSIA HAS TURNED CORNER

Russia's economy remains at risk, but the worst is over, President Putin
said in his annual state of the nation address yesterday. The country had
experienced record growth over the past year, but was still a long way from=

being a normal country, Mr Putin went on. Reforms must continue, but
there would be no more revolutions. "The cycle of revolution and counter-
revolution is over. Many of Russia's problems are rooted in the citizen's
long-born mistrust of the authorities. It is the duty of the authorities to=
dispel
this mistrust." (The London Telegraph)

&: President Putin signalled a potentially momentous shift in Russian
foreign policy yesterday, choosing in future to ignore the US in favour of=

promoting European integration. In his annual state-of-the-nation address t=
o
both chambers of parliament in the Kremlin, Mr Putin, by adjusting his gaze=

to Europe, reversed decades of making Washington the priority for
Moscow's foreign policy. He neglected to mention the USA at all in his
passage on foreign policy, instead stressing the need for partnership
between Russia and the EU. "A course of integration with Europe will be
one of the main directions of our foreign policy," Mr Putin stated in his 1=
-
hour speech.

The new Bush administration in Washington has shown its intent to
downgrade Russia as a foreign policy priority and Mr Putin responded in
kind yesterday, declaring that Russia's policy should reflect the country's=

economic interests. He also took a sideswipe at NATO, asserting that
Russia wanted to cooperate with the western alliance but only if it
respected international law and observed the strictures of the UN security=

council. "Unfortunately, in its decision making, this organisation ignores =
the
views of the international community." By contrast, he said, in its relatio=
ns
with the rest of the world, Russia would always be "a trustworthy and
predictable partner".

The keenly awaited speech focused mainly on Russia's domestic problems,
dwelling more on diagnosing its ills than the prescriptions for their cure.=
The
thrust of Mr Putin's message was stability and continuity, with an emphasis=

on law and order. He spoke of the planned reforms of the judiciary,
taxation, land and property rights, education, health, and pensions, withou=
t
being too specific in any area.

Capital was fleeing Russia at the rate of $20bn a year because of a lack of=

business confidence, he said. To its detriment, the Russian economy
remained dependent on raw material production and export, and serious
structural reform was non-existent. The decade since the collapse of the
Soviet Union, he said, had been a revolutionary time but those days were
now gone. "There will be no more revolutions or counter-revolutions." (The=

London Guardian)

MICHAEL TURNER =0F
(mykelturner@airmail.net)

************************

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 19:10:09 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] World Summit on Peace & Time

[NOTE: See date.

"Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and
shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and
laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the=

dividing of time."]

                                  The Daily =0F
                            WORLD AFFAIRS REPORT =0F
                                    EXTRA
                        WORLD SUMMIT ON PEACE & TIME
                        Summary Review & Conclusions
               (http://www.earthascending.com/core/bolon2.htm)
      The World Summit on Peace and Time convened at the University for =

                        Peace, Costa Rica, =0F
              June 22-27, 1999 (Crystal Moon 24-Cosmic Moon 1), =0F
    for the expressed purpose of concluding the matter of Calendar Reform
The Summit was called on behalf of the people of the Earth to ratify the
Declaration of Calendar Reform, and, organized as Seven Commissions, to
prepare the 8 articles of Resolution to accompany the Declaration. Over 100=

people attended the Summit, including some 50 invited Commissioners and
at least an equal number of planetary kin, followers of the World 13 Moon
Calendar Change Peace Movement.

Letters of acknowledgement were sent on behalf of Kofi Annan, Secretary-
General of the UN; Federigo Mayer Zaragoza, Secretary General of
UNESCO; HH the Dalai Lama; and by Jonathan Granoff of the Lawyers
Alliance for World Security. Though they were not able to attend, both Dr.=

Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, World Bank Special Environmental Representative to
the UN, and Lama Gangchen of the UN Spiritual Forum contributed relevant
documents and statements of support.

The Summit opened with a prayer ceremony by Rev. Yusen Yamato,
followed by the opening address of Dr. Rodrigo Carazo, former president of=

Costa Rica and founder of the University for Peace. In attendance with Dr.=

Carazo was Gerardo Budowski, acting Rector and representative of the
newly appointed President of the University for Peace, Maurice Strong.
Following her welcoming remarks, Mrs. Lloydine Arg=FCelles introduced her
husband, Dr. Jos=E9 Arg=FCelles, who formally convened the Summit with a
prepared statement, "Calendar Reform and the Future of Civilization,"
outlining the Summit's purposes and objectives. Finally, Dr. Ashok
Gangadean, of the Global Dialogue Institute, the Summit's On-site
Coordinator, laid out the ground rules for the Seven Commissions.
By defining the process of Deep Dialogue as the means of differentiating
between egoic language and the higher "logos," Dr. Gangadean made an
inspiring invitation to get to the serious task faced by each of the Seven=

Commissions, to write up a 1-page article of resolution for each one of the=
7
areas covered by the Commissions: Time, Education, Wealth, Biosphere,
Spirituality, Peace, and Art and Culture. Dr. Gangadean elaborated on the
technique of Deep Dialogue at the mid-day meeting of the 2nd day.
For the better part of the next 4 days, the Seven Commissions went to their=

tasks. The lunch time furnished the main central gathering point for all to=

come together. But it was the small groups that provided the central activi=
ty
of the Summit. Each Commission appointed a facilitator and a secretary, as=

well as someone who was bilingual to translate between the 2 main
languages, Spanish and English.

Participation in the Commissions was more or less voluntary. Interestingly,=

the smallest Commissions were Wealth and Peace, while Art and Culture,
Time, Education and Spirituality gathered greater numbers. The idea at firs=
t
was that the Commissions would consist of an inner cadre of invited
Commissioners, and an outer circle of planetary kin who were to hold the
space. However after several sessions, most of the groups melted these
boundaries.

On the morning of the 3rd day, Roberto Poz, Day Keeper and priest of the
Quiche Maya, from Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, offered a ceremony to all
the participants, who now also included long-time Chancellor of the
University for Peace, and former assistant Secretary-General of the UN,
Robert Muller. Before returning to their work on the Commissions, the
participants were given a personally guided tour by Robert Muller of the
archeology and history of the site of the University of Peace, concluded by=
a
walk to his near-by residence.

The following day, after observations and remarks on the Deep Dialogue
process by Dr. Gangadean, the participants took the general afternoon
session to vocalize all of their issues and concerns. While this was at tim=
es
a painful and grueling process, the overall effect was highly beneficial. O=
n the
next day, the 5th day of the Summit after a Women's Healing Circle, the
Commissions were all seriously at work. Finally at 4:00 in the afternoon, t=
he
final plenary session was convened for the sole purpose of hearing the Seve=
n
Articles of Resolution. The first 3 Commission reports were read by a singl=
e
representative. However, the last 4 groups invited all members of the
Commission to be present for the report. The response for all the reports w=
as
overwhelmingly positive.

Over the next 2 days, the reports were fine tuned and edited. As the Seven=

Articles of Resolution now stand, each one is the product of 1 group of
Commissioners. This means that each one of the Articles is genuinely the
result of the will of the people, a resolution put together, for the most p=
art, by
people who had never met or gathered in this way before. The seriousness of=

tone and practical suggestions put forth for implementing the Calendar=20
Reform speak to the truth and timeliness of the Reform itself.=20

The final and 6th day of the Summit was the largely ceremonial conclusion=20
and the only part of the event that did not occur at the University for Pea=
ce.=20
Beginning with a performance by the Aztec Dancers in the patio outside, the=
=20
remainder of the ceremonies occurred inside the historic Fanal Theater in=20
downtown San Jos=E9, the capital of Costa Rica. Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris, who=
=20
facilitated the Commission on the Biosphere, gave the opening address,=20
which elaborated on biological metaphors for the current planetary rite of=
=20
passage, marked by the World Summit on Peace and Time.=20

Following Dr. Sahtouris' Address, Mrs. Lloydine Arg=FCelles formally read t=
he=20
Declaration of Calendar Reform which was ratified by common consent of all=
=20
the participants. Dr. Jos=E9 Arg=FCelles called forth the self-selected Lea=
ders of=20
the 2 Peace Emissary Teams, Mr. Martin Zoller of Bolivia, for the mission t=
o=20
the UN, and Mr. Vandir Natal Casagrande of Brazil, to head the mission to=20
the Vatican. These 2 were joined by a 3rd special Emissary to Libya, Mr.=20
Reinhart Ruge Co-President of the World Parliament Association.=20

The Rev. Yusen Yamato served as the silent witness to this solemn=20
occasion. With the formal presentation of the "Declaration of Calendar=20
Reform and the Peoples' Moral Referendum," (the Seven Articles of=20
Resolution), to these 3 representatives, the work of the World Summit on=20
Peace and Time entered its next phase, the notification of Calendar Reform=
=20
to the World Leaders beginning with His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan, His=20
Holiness Pope John Paul II of the Vatican, and His Excellency Moammar=20
Qhadafy, President of Libya. These Missions are to be completed by=20
Gregorian July 17, 1999, Cosmic Moon 21.=20

To celebrate the conclusion of the Summit, the Youth Orchestra of Costa=20
Rica played an inspired selection of symphonic music, followed by the group=
=20
Kurime, who performed folkloric ballet and traditional music of Costa Rica.=
=20
After the musical performances, the Costa Rica Coordinating Committee of=20
the World Summit was honored on stage, followed by the presentation of=20
Certificates of Honor to all those who participated in the World Summit on=
=20
Peace and Time.

The conclusions to the Summit are summarized in the formal "Declaration of=
=20
Calendar Reform and Peoples' Moral Referendum." The matter of Calendar=20
Reform has now been dealt with by representatives of the People of the=20
Earth. This has been the only recourse possible since previously in this=20
Century, the Nations had their opportunity and defaulted, while the Vatican=
=20
had left the door open to reform. The People have now had their say affirmi=
ng=20
the moral and scientific need for a Calendar that is in harmony with the=20
cycles of nature and which is perfectly represented by the 13 moon 28-day=20
Calendar of Peace.=20

People's Declaration of Calendar Reform & Moral Referendum =0F
World Summit on Peace & Time=20

In recognition of the existence of a planetary moral emergency, and in orde=
r=20
to preserve the biosphere, to minimize suffering, and to eliminate the scou=
rge=20
of war, thus assuring a new time of justice and a genuine culture of peace =
on=20
Earth, we, the delegates of the World Summit on Peace and Time, do=20
hereby authorize the Declaration of Calendar Reform and its attendant=20
Resolutions constituting the People's Moral Referendum; and that to achieve=
=20
the universal ends which this Declaration of Calendar Reform encompasses,=20
we do hereby call upon the highest level leadership of the United Nations a=
nd=20
the Vatican to begin to implement this People's Declaration of Calendar=20
Reform and Moral Referendum by joint proclamation of intent to Reform to al=
l=20
the peoples of the Earth, on the 1st day of the Magnetic Moon, White=20
Resonant Wizard Year(Gregorian: July 26, AD 1999).=20

Thus, do we solemnly and sacredly declare, that whereas the Gregorian=20
Calendar was instituted by papal decree in the year AD 1582, and henceforth=
=20
adopted by virtually all nations as the common world standard; and that
Whereas by rational discourse and common sense, it has been determined=20
that the Gregorian Calendar does not represent a true or accurate standard=
=20
of measure nor belong to any systematic science of time, and hence, is=20
worthy of reform; and that

Whereas the League of Nations proposed such reform to be effective January=
=20
1, 1933, and again January 1, 1939, both of which efforts were inconclusive=
;=20
and that=20

Whereas the United Nations opened debate on calendar reform without=20
closure in AD 1956; and that

Whereas in 1962, the Vatican II Council issued a "Declaration of Calendar=20
Reform," being unopposed to a new perpetual civil calendar, we, the=20
delegates of the World Summit on Peace and Time, on behalf of all the=20
people's of the Earth regardless of race, creed or religious belief, and on=
=20
behalf of the biosphere, the terrestrial life support system, in order to a=
ssure=20
peace, freedom, equality, justice and a new beginning in a new time, do=20
hereby abrogate the use of the Gregorian Calendar, and authorize its=20
immediate replacement as the common world standard, the biologically=20
accurate measure of the perpetual, 28-day 13-moon calendar, henceforth=20
known as the Calendar of Peace.

We further affirm that objections previously sustained against the "null" d=
ay,=20
henceforth known as the "day-out-of time,"are no longer justifiable in ligh=
t of=20
the course of events in the 2nd half of this century, and that, whereas the=
=20
peoples of the Earth having tested the nature of this day-out-of-time throu=
gh=20
common sacred observation and celebration, declare that this annual day-out=
-
of-time -- Gregorian: July 25th; the 365th day of the new 28-day thirteen=20
moon civil calendar year -- henceforth be declared to be the annual day of=
=20
universal pardon and forgiveness and for the exaltation of festivals of pea=
ce=20
through culture.

In recognition of the fundamental change and unparalleled opportunity=20
augured by the Calendar Reform, on behalf of all the people of the planet=20
Earth and its biosphere, and in accord with the principles of equality, jus=
tice,=20
harmony and peace represented by adoption to the even 28-day 13 moon=20
measure of the new Calendar of Peace, the World Summit on Peace and=20
Time hereby authorizes in the form of Seven Articles of Resolution=20
constituting the People's Moral Referendum, changes to civil society world-
wide, as determined and decreed by the Seven Commissions of the World=20
Summit on Peace and Time, and that these Articles of Resolution reflect the=
=20
common good as determined by the following 7 areas of human endeavor=20
and concern: Time, Peace, Wealth, the Biosphere, Education, Art and=20
Culture, and Spirituality.=20

Presented on behalf of all of the Commissioners and the Planetary Kin=20
delegates of the Seven Commissions of the World Summit on Peace and=20
Time, dated: Gregorian June 27, 1999; Cosmic Moon 1, of the new Calendar=20
of Peace.=20

* * * * * * * * * * * * *=20

Following are the Resolutions of the Seven Commissions in the form of =
=0F
Seven Articles appended to this Declaration of Calendar Reform=20

Article I. Resolution of the Commission on Time =0F
Article II. Resolution of the Commission on Education =0F
Article III. Resolution of the Commission on Wealth =0F
Article IV. Resolution of the Commission on the Biosphere =0F
Article V. Resolution of the Commission on Spirituality =0F
Article VI. Resolution of the Commission on Peace =0F
Article VII. Resolution of the Commission on Art and Culture
=20
Article I. Resolution of the Commission on Time=20

Preamble=20

In order to return to an original wisdom and safeguard the future evolution=
ary=20
unfoldment of the human species, we, the people of planet Earth, call for t=
he=20
establishment of a harmonious measure of time. To prevent the further=20
desecration of the biosphere, this measure must reflect the natural pulse o=
f=20
the planet. Time is primarily a function of consciousness and has a much=20
richer structure than can be modeled with the linear geometry of 3-
dimensional space.=20

Our analysis demonstrates that the mechanical clock and the Gregorian=20
Calendar are artificial and entropic time-templates the following of which =
has=20
a discordant effect on the conduct of the human mind, adversely influencing=
=20
the entire fabric of global civilization. This adverse influence is due to =
the way=20
that the species-wide use of these humanly contrived time-defining=20
systemsthrows the patterns of human life out of phase with the life-giving=
=20
rhythms of the biosphere as a whole, effectively disconnecting humanity fro=
m=20
nature.=20

The Calendar of Peace catalyzes a global shift in consciousness by the=20
harmonization of the human species with the natural order of its life suppo=
rt=20
systems. In the course of our research we have become convinced that to=20
elevate the quality of human experience and deepen our reverence for all li=
fe,=20
the realm of natural time must be entered wholeheartedly. To live and grow =
in=20
natural time we declare to be a universal human right.=20
Referendum on Time=20

The 1st stage in initiating reform of civil society to the standards of the=
=20
Calendar of Peace is the establishment of the necessary Councils to=20
implement the following tasks:=20

1. The production and global distribution of a generic 13 moon 28-day=20
calendar, including the 260-day Tzolkin as a demonstration of how the 13=20
moon framework can be used to integrate any spiritual and cultural traditio=
n=20
into the world Calendar of Peace. =0F

2. The creation and publication of manuals for local, bioregional conversio=
n,=20
and implementation of the 13 moon Calendar of Peace. =0F

3. The creation and dissemination of computer operating systems=20
compatible with the 13 moon 28-day measure. =0F

4. To actively seek material and financial support for these initiatives. =
=0F

5. The establishment of a global network of bioregionally organized Council=
s=20
to discuss and explore the emerging new science of time. Each Council will=
=20
meet regularly in accordance with the Calendar of Peace in their own=20
bioregions and will share their findings with all other Councils at the end=
of=20
each 13-week quarter. Publications and findings will be issued annually to=
=20
support the awakening global culture of peace. [I didn't include the other =
6=20
resolutions.]=20

MICHAEL TURNER =0F
(mykelturner@airmail.net)

************************

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=20

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 19:17:12 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Arutz-7 News: Thursday, April 5, 2001

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 18:17:48 +0200
To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnew=
s.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Thursday, April 5, 2001
Send reply to: feedback@israelnationalnews.com

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Thursday, April 5, 2001 / Nissan 12, 5761
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
--- See below for subscription instructions ---

*******************************************************
Arutz-Sheva's JEWISH UNIVERSE
Top 5 sites updated every week! Simple Surfing w/ Pictures of each website=
!
<a href=3D"http://www.jewishuniverse.net"> www.jewishuniverse.net </a>
*******************************************************
STERLING EXPERIENCE - FREE CD-ROM - A PERFECT PASSOVER!
<a href =3D"mailto:chacham@aol.com"> chacham@aol.com </a>
<a href =3D"http://www.sterlingexperience.com/index2.html">=20
www.sterlingexperience.com </a>
********************************************************
Up-To-The-Minute News From Israel, New on Arutz Sheva's Homepage
<a href =3D"http://IsraelNationalNews.com "> www.IsraelNationalNews.com </a=
>
*********************************************************
http://NewsFromIsrael.com - Arutz Sheva's All-English Newsradio

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. LEADING TERRORIST WIPED OUT
   2. DAHLAN'S CONVOY FIRES ON IDF
   3. CRITICISM OF GOVERNMENT'S TALKS WITH P.A.
   4. PALESTINIAN ATTACKS
   5. CAR ACCIDENTS CLAIM 13 ISRAELIS
   6. EZER WEIZMAN ERASED MURDERER'S CRIMINAL RECORD
   7. SEVERE REPORT AGAINST PROF. HISS
   8. NO JEWISH PRAYER ON TEMPLE MOUNT THIS PASSOVER (AS OF NOW)
   9. CHECKING FOR CHAMETZ AROUND THE COUNTRY
   10. A HEAVENLY DEAL

1. LEADING TERRORIST WIPED OUT
A leading Islamic Jihad terrorist, Iyad Hardan, was killed this afternoon=20
in what is presumed to be an Israeli liquidation. He was considered to be=
=20
one of the most widely wanted Palestinian terrorists, responsible for=20
dispatching several suicide terrorists and carbombs over the past several=20
years. Most notably, he directed one of the Machaneh Yehuda market=20
bombings in 1998, in which two people were killed and 21 were wounded.

Hardan was imprisoned for a while by the Palestinian Authority, but was=20
released six months ago when the current war started. He was killed by an=
=20
explosion in a public phone booth near the former Israeli Administration=20
offices in Jenin. His boss was similarly killed by Israeli forces three=20
months ago. Jihad leaders promised today to avenge the killing.

2. DAHLAN'S CONVOY FIRES ON IDF
Palestinian terrorists scored an impressive propaganda victory early this=20
morning when they not only opened fire at Israeli soldiers, but were also=20
able to assume the role of the aggrieved party on international media. An=
=20
army investigation has found that bodyguards of PA's Gaza security chief=20
Muhammad Dahlan opened fire on an IDF guard post at the Erez Checkpoint -=20
yet it was reported on CNN, BBC, and elsewhere that the Israelis opened=20
fire. Dahlan even told BBC, "Israel will not force us with aggression to=20
sign an agreement..." Moreover, the firing came just as Dahlan and his PA=
=20
colleague Amin al-Hindi were returning from a "security coordinating" talk=
=20
with IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon, other IDF officers,=
=20
GSS head Avi Dichter, and representatives of the CIA.

"Quite a coup," said an Arutz-7 commentator. "The terrorists return from=20
talks with Israeli officials about security, open unprovoked fire on an=20
Israeli position - and Israel is depicted as the aggressor... It also=20
shows yet again that the media are quite willing to take the Palestinian=20
version of events at face value."

The IDF investigation showed that shots came from the back window of the=20
lead jeep of the three-car convoy right after it passed through the=20
checkpoint. The soldiers returned precise fire, and the jeep then turned=20
towards a Palestinian Authority building, from where it resumed shooting at=
=20
the Israelis. Two of Dahlan's guards were lightly hurt by the Israeli=20
fire. Dahlan's trip to Tel Aviv marked the first time he had been=20
permitted to enter Israel since he masterminded the Kfar Darom school bus=20
bombing, which killed two adults and injured eleven people, including the=20
three Cohen children who each lost part of a leg. Then-opposition leader=20
Ariel Sharon said at the time that Dahlan should be killed.

Dozens of Palestinians rioted early this afternoon at Erez. They attacked=
=20
IDF soldiers with large rocks and bricks, and the soldiers responded with=20
rubber bullets. One Palestinian is reported dead.

3. CRITICISM OF GOVERNMENT'S TALKS WITH P.A.
Voices on the right, and even within the Likud, are critical of the=20
negotiations that the Sharon government has initiated with the=20
Palestinians. Although Sharon says that the talks are not diplomatic in=20
nature and deal only with the need to stop the violence, Likud MK Michael=20
Eitan says that Sharon was elected with a national mandate to wage a=20
totally different policy than that of Ehud Barak. "Sharon promised not to=
=20
talk with Arafat as long as the warfare continues," Eitan said. In=20
addition to the Yaalon-Dahlan talks in Tel Aviv last night, Sharon's son=20
Omri met with Arafat on Sunday in Ramallah, and Foreign Minister Shimon=20
Peres met in Athens yesterday with PA seniors Nabil Shaath and Saeb Erekat.

The Yesha Council, too, is not happy with the Israeli-Palestinian=20
meetings. The Council convened last night and called upon Sharon to=20
apologize to Ehud Barak for criticizing him for "conducting talks under=20
fire." Council leaders will meet with the heads of all the right-wing=20
parties next week to discuss what protest measures will be taken against=20
Sharon.

Uri Shani, director of the Prime Minister's Office, said that the talks are=
=20
designed only to prevent terrorist attacks, and called upon the public to=20
be patient. "In the end, Sharon will put an end to the terrorism," Shani=20
promised.

Minister of Infrastructures Avigdor Lieberman (National Union-Yisrael=20
Beiteinu) spoke with Arutz-7 today about the talks and the criticism=20
thereof: "I can't deny that there is some feeling of discomfort, but on=20
the other hand there is clearly a change from the previous government - for=
=20
instance, the actions against Force 17 and Islamic Jihad, with the=20
accompanying results... I can only say that Sharon told us categorically=20
yesterday that there are no diplomatic talks, but only an attempt to reach=
=20
security coordination. The impression is that the Israeli side stood our=20
ground on these issues... I'm not totally unperturbed, but we knew ahead=20
of time that this government is comprised of parties other than ourselves,=
=20
and some compromises are required... I would have liked to see more=20
determination and more initiatives."

*******************************************************
Pesach in Jerusalem! Suite available in Lev Yerushalayim Hotel from April=20
6-16. Only $80 a night - for up to 4 people!! Contact=20
<rivka@israelnationalnews.com> for details.
*******************************************************

4. PALESTINIAN ATTACKS
Five grenades were hurled, in two separate incidents, at Israeli patrols=20
along the Egyptian border near Rafiah this afternoon=85 Palestinian=20
terrorists shot from Khan Yunis towards N'vei Dekalim; no one was hurt in=20
the incidents=85 Soldiers were attacked by terrorist gunfire east of=20
Bethlehem last night; no one was hurt, and IDF soldiers returned fire=85 A=
n=20
explosive device exploded on the approach road to Brachah (central Shomron)=
=20
this morning; no one was hurt, and the road was closed=85 Israeli security=
=20
forces apprehended two terrorists last night from Burka, near Shechem. The=
=20
two are alleged to have taken part in shooting attacks against=20
Israelis=85 Eight suspected Palestinian rock-throwers were also arrested=
=85

5. CAR ACCIDENTS CLAIM 13 ISRAELIS
Today is a day of funerals in Israel: those of five soldiers killed in the=
=20
army vehicle accident yesterday, three members of the Pincus family who=20
were killed in a car accident last night, and four members of the Dror=20
family who died in yet another traffic accident in Scotland yesterday.

The five soldiers were killed yesterday afternoon when the armed personnel=
=20
carrier in which they were traveling near Pnei Hever south of Kiryat Arba=20
overturned. The victims are St.-Sgt. Idan Brody, 20, of Rishon LeTzion;=20
Sgt. Yaki Bardugo, 19, of Hadera; Sgt. Ido Karni, 20, from Kibbutz Amir;=20
Corp. Borosh Alisaf, 18, from Ra'anana; and Sgt. Ido Klein, 19, of=20
Yahud. Another soldier - Aviad Yitzchak ben Zahava Kolitz - is=20
hospitalized in serious condition with a head wound.

One of the leading rabbis in the Negev city of Ofakim - Rabbi Shimon David=
=20
Pincus, 56 - as well as his wife Chaya, 48, and their daughter Miriam, 19,=
=20
were killed in a car accident near Beit HaG'di. Three of their other=20
children - Rachel, Yosef, and Shalom - were injured moderately and=20
seriously. The family has nine other children who were not hurt. Their=20
car suddenly veered to the side of the road, hit a tree, and turned=20
over. Rabbi Pincus was well known as a lecturer throughout Israel and=20
Jewish communities around the world.

In Scotland, four members of the Dror family from Be'er Yaakov were killed=
=20
when they were hit by a truck while attempting to merge into highway=20
traffic. The father Ehud, his wife Ada, and their daughters Maya, 21, and=
=20
Ya'ra, 12, were buried in Yahud this afternoon. Ya'ra's twin sister Reut=20
is hospitalized in serious condition. The family's only boy - Nir, 17 -=20
was in Israel when he heard of the accident.

Yet another traffic accident claimed another victim this morning: a=20
pedestrian in Netanya.

6. EZER WEIZMAN ERASED MURDERER'S CRIMINAL RECORD
How was Jean Pierre Elraz, the suspected murderer of Kibbutz Manara's=20
security officer who was once sentenced to five years in prison for=20
smuggling, able to win a contract to build a defensive system along the=20
northern border? Simple: In April 1998, then-President Ezer Weizman=20
signed an order wiping Elraz's criminal record from the books. So reports=
=20
Ha'aretz today.

Elraz is suspected of murdering Yitzchak Kvartach, Kibbutz Manara's=20
security officer, and stealing and selling dozens of automatic rifles to=20
Palestinian elements. He served in the security services and in elite army=
=20
units; photographs of him with Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon, and other=20
leading politicians have been featured in the Israeli press in the past=20
days. But his career as a security officer ended when he was caught=20
smuggling from Lebanon. He was convicted in 1989, and served 2.5 years in=
=20
prison. In January 1998, his attorney appealed to Weizman, asking the=20
president to use his power of clemency to wipe Elraz's criminal record from=
=20
the books. "He served his time and paid his debt to society," wrote the=20
lawyer, "but the criminal record pursues him and doesn't let him resume a=20
normal life and earn a decent living." Three months later, Weizman signed=
=20
the order, paving the way for Elraz to become friendly with Kvartach and=20
secure the job in the north. Elraz and several Israeli-Arab collaborators=
=20
sold the weapons for 600,000 shekels.

7. SEVERE REPORT AGAINST PROF. HISS
Prof. Yehuda Hiss has been all but officially suspended from his position=20
as Director of the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute. Health Minister Nissim=20
Dahan received a severe report today detailing Hiss' faulty performance=20
over the past years. The report accuses Hiss of violating both laws and=20
Health Ministry regulations, including the removing of many organs from=20
corpses - and even preserving them for years - without the knowledge of the=
=20
families of the dead. Dr. Yitzchak Berlovitz will run the Institute until=
=20
a formal decision is made based on the report.

The report, written by former Justice Aryeh Segelson, two doctors, and=20
three medical professors, states that large quantities of corpse organs are=
=20
stored in Abu Kabir. Hiss and his workers "violated the concept of=20
honoring the dead and their families" by transferring many of the organs to=
=20
research institutes, sometimes for money, and by replacing them with other=
=20
objects in the bodies. The required agreement from the families was not=20
obtained, and proper records were not kept.

Hiss and several of his workers testified before the Committee, but they=20
apparently did not make a good impression; the report states that the=20
workers appeared to have been briefed beforehand on what to say, and that=20
Hiss himself gave "confused and contradictory answers." The report's=20
findings will be made available to justice officials, to see if a criminal=
=20
investigation should be begun against Prof. Hiss.

Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane notes that State Pathologist Hiss generally decides=
=20
Israel's pathological-legal questions, and many people are now in prison=20
based on his findings. However, this is not the first time that his=20
professional standards have been publicly maligned. In the case of Beitar=
=20
community security chief Nachum Korman, Jerusalem District Court Judge Ruth=
=20
Orr sharply criticized Hiss for testifying that a 12-year-old Arab=20
rock-thrower died as a result of a beating by Korman. She wrote that Hiss=
=20
"was carried away by his desire to find the exact cause of the death... and=
=20
ignored important pathological findings that did not correspond with this=20
desire."

In addition, on Oct. 13, '97, Arutz-7 reported as follows:
"Margalit Omeisi, who was proven to be the mother of Tsila Levine - a=20
California woman who disappeared from her family almost 50 years ago in the=
=20
"Yemenite children" scandal - submitted a complaint to the police yesterday=
=20
against Professor Yehuda Hiss of the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute. Mrs.=20
Omeisi claims that he violated the medical secrecy to which he obligated=20
himself when he publicized the results of a DNA test that he carried out=20
which showed that she and Tsila Levine are not related. Both Omeisi and=20
Levine do not accept the results of the Hiss test, saying that the method=20
used is reportedly not authoritative."

In yet another case, Arutz-7 reported in March '99 that 20 Israelis=20
"requested that the police investigate State Pathologist Dr. Yehuda Hiss on=
=20
suspicion of altering Rabin's wounds and submitting false evidence to the=20
Shamgar Commission=85 [Barry] Chamish presented Dr. Hiss' Pathological=20
Report, which stated that Rabin suffered no damage to his spinal cord, nor=
=20
was wounded by a frontal chest wound. [However,] the complainants also=20
submitted Dr. Mordechai Gutman's Surgical Procedures Report, as well as=20
taped testimony by Ichilov Hospital Director Dr. Gabi Barabash and former=20
Health Minister Ephraim Sneh, to the effect that Rabin's backbone was=20
shattered and that there was a frontal chest wound..."

8. NO JEWISH PRAYER ON TEMPLE MOUNT THIS PASSOVER (AS OF NOW)
The Supreme Court today rejected a request by the Temple Mount Faithful to=
=20
be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount during this coming Passover=20
holiday. The judges accepted the government position that allowing the=20
Jews to pray there could cause riots. The Prime Minister's Office=20
announced today that Sharon has instructed the security forces to "find the=
=20
way to allow Jews to enter the site."

9. CHECKING FOR CHAMETZ AROUND THE COUNTRY
Interior Minister Eli Yeshai has asked cities and towns around Israel to=20
make sure to enforce the Holiday of Matzot Law of 1986. The law forbids=20
the public display of chametz (leaven) - products such as bread, pita,=20
cakes, and anything else comprising "chametz flour" - during and=20
immediately before the holiday of Passover, from midday Passover eve (or 24=
=20
hours earlier this year, because Passover eve falls on Shabbat) until=20
sundown of the last day of the holiday (this year: Saturday night, Apr.=20
14). Some eight Druze citizens have been already been hired to patrol city=
=20
streets and ensure that no store owners violate the law, which is=20
punishable by a fine.

10. A HEAVENLY DEAL
An "out of this world" business deal was consummated recently somewhere in=
=20
Israel. Tuli Pikarsh of HaTzofeh reports that a businessman, known as A.,=
=20
and a well-known performer of good deeds, D., signed an agreement=20
stipulating that the Heavenly reward D. had earned for his good deeds up to=
=20
the day of the agreement will be transferred to A., in exchange for 50,000=
=20
shekels. The agreement also states that D. will use the sum, about=20
$12,000, for other acts of charity and good will. D. is known for helping=
=20
hundreds of cases of needy people, including raising money for them and=20
bringing them food and clothing. He told HaTzofeh that he agreed to the=20
deal after much hesitation and consultations with family members and rabbis=
=20
"only in order to be able to continue our acts of charity."

Hebrew News Editor: Haggai Sega and Haggai Seri
English News Editor: Hillel Fendel

***************************************
The perfect book on Jewish customs - Great gift idea!
http://www.jewishuniverse.org/education/books/rite_and_reason.htm

Special Discount on exciting Pesach Trips in Israel! 25% off with mention=
=20
of this ad!
http://www.jewishuniverse.net/tracking/yossi-maimon.asp

Arutz-Sheva's JEWISH UNIVERSE - Top 5 sites updated every week!
<a href=3D"http://www.jewishuniverse.net"> www.jewishuniverse.net </a>
***************************************

ARUTZ-7 ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1. ANNOUNCING A NEW RELIGIOUS-ZIONIST COMMUNITY - Dynamic and vibrant=20
community life, private homes on large plots, beautiful view, attractive=20
prices, near Ramat Beit Shemesh. Contact <bshemeshgroup@hotmail.com> or=20
(02) 991-3453. Also looking to hire community Rabbi.

((((ARUTZ-7 ENGLISH RADIO BROADCASTS))))
Live on the Net / or 98.7 FM / 1539 AM
English News Updates Every Half Hour
Programming Schedule:=20
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/english/radio/schedule/schedule.htm
____________________________________________________________
Arutz-7 Educational Radio: a project of Beit El Institutions=20
http://yeshiva.org.il
Individual items may be reproduced along with Arutz-7's URL and e-mail.

Subscribe (free): <a href=3D"http://subscribe.a7.org/subscribe.asp">Arutz-7=
</a>
To Unsubscribe: mailto:unsubscribe@IsraelNationalNews.com
For other subscription-related=20
matters: mailto:listmanager@IsraelNationalNews.com
For automated response about Arutz-7: mailto:info@IsraelNationalNews.com
How to retrieve email from archives: mailto:archives@IsraelNationalNews.com

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Bible Prophecy Research
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=20

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 20:00:03 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Weekend News Today items (4/5/01)

Termites eating their way through Paris, France=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: faith=20
                         Source: Discovery News=20

Thu Apr 5,2001 -- Hoards of termites have been eating their way through=20
Paris, France, including its famed Latin Quarter, devouring historic buildi=
ngs,=20
furniture and trees, as well as books and paper. Dr. Fabien Squinazi, head =
of=20
Paris' municipal Public Health and Hygiene Service, said, "Each year it has=
=20
gotten worse. People don't realize it's a critical problem." French authori=
ties=20
reported that at least 1,500 buildings in the capital city have been infest=
ed=20
with the tiny insects. The termites have met with virtually no resistance t=
o=20
their invasive march since they descended on the city decades ago.=20=20

Experts believe that the pests first arrived in Paris in the 1950s, when th=
ey=20
were spotted near the Austerlitz train station. That depot is for trains tr=
aveling=20
to the SW part of the country, where termites have posed a serious problem=
=20
for years. So, they might have hitched a ride on the train.=20=20

Freak South African Storm Leaves Hundreds Homeless=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: faith=20
                         Source: Discovery News=20

Thu Apr 5,2001 -- At least 2 people in the South African province of KwaZul=
u-
Natal were injured and hundreds of others left homeless by a freak storm th=
at=20
lashed the region last Sunday. The storm hit the city of Pietermaritzburg a=
nd=20
surrounding areas, ripping roofs from homes, leveling walls and toppling=20
trees. Emergency services had been stretched to capacity as they=20
responded to calls from homeowners reporting fallen trees, and to others wi=
th=20
no electricity or street lighting. The disaster management services will=20
provide the victims with tents, blankets, mattresses and food while they=20
rebuild their homes.=20=20

Syria believed bolstering defenses in Golan=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: Kelly=20
                         Source: Middle East Newsline=20

Thu Apr 5,2001 -- Syria is believed to be bolstering military positions alo=
ng=20
the ceasefire line with Israel in the Golan Heights. Israeli military sourc=
es=20
said the Syrian military appears to be building positions to launch an atta=
ck=20
on Israeli defenses in the Golan, captured by the Jewish state in the 1967=
=20
war. The sources said Israeli reconnaissance has not spotted troop=20
movement in the Golan. Instead, they said, Syrian contractors have been=20
building houses and structures in abandoned villages across from Israeli=20
positions in the Golan Heights.=20=20

Syrian rapprochement of PA as Arafat visit nears=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: Kelly=20
                         Source: Ha'aretz=20

Thu Apr 5,2001 -- Syria has recently begun to recognize Palestinian=20
Authority passports for the first time since the Oslo Accords were signed i=
n=20
September 1993. This decision marks a positive change in Syrian policy=20
toward the PA, following the Syrian government's decision to change their=20
relations. Head of the "Palestinian Rescue Front," Dr. Halad Fahoum, who is=
=20
extremely close to the Syrian government, said recently that Syria would=20
even begin allowing PA residents to enter its territory with their vehicles=
.=20=20

Sharon: Find ways for Jews to return to Temple Mount=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: Kelly=20
                         Source: Jerusalem Post=20

Thu Apr 5,2001 -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this afternoon said Jews=20
should be allowed to enter the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem's Old=20
City. Sharon called on the security apparatus to find ways of enabling Jews=
=20
to carry out the biblical command of ascending to the Temple Mount on the=20
three pilgrimage festivals, Passover, Shauvuot (The Feast of Weeks) and=20
Succot (The Feast of Tabernacles). The walled compound, enclosing the Al-
Aksa mosque, is the area where the Temple of Solomon from the Second=20
Temple Period once stood.=20=20

The Supreme Court earlier today turned down a request by the Temple=20
Mount Faithful group to go up to the area, citing police fears the act woul=
d=20
likely spark riots by Moslems throughout Israel and PA-controlled area of t=
he=20
West Bank and Gaza. Numerous Moslem and Palestinian spokesmen,=20
including Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat have repeatedly=20
denied any Jewish connection with the area, despite overwhelming historical=
=20
and archaeological evidence to the contrary.=20=20

World rallies demand Palestinian return=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: Kelly=20
                         Source: Jerusalem Post=20

Thu Apr 5,2001 -- The Al-Awda Coalition is organizing a series of rallies=20
throughout the world this Saturday to demand the right of Palestinian=20
refugees to return to locations within Israel's pre-1967 borders.=20=20

Russia-EU discuss security ahead of May summit=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: Kelly=20
                         Source: Reuters=20

Thu Apr 5,2001 -- Russia and the European Union, gearing up for a summit=20
in Moscow next month, said on Thursday they were expanding their ever=20
deepening contacts to embrace security issues. EU foreign policy chief=20
Javier Solana said he had brought fresh proposals to Moscow on joint=20
cooperation with Russia on defence and security. The former Spanish foreign=
=20
minister and NATO secretary-general met Russian Foreign Minister Igor=20
Ivanov, new Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov and the incoming head of the=20
influential presidential Security Council during his stay.=20=20

"We have some concrete proposals of how to continue working together on=20
the field of crisis management," Solana said after meeting the foreign=20
minister, a reference to the greater role in solving regional conflicts sou=
ght by=20
the 15-nation E.U. The Union wants to set up a 60,000-strong rapid reaction=
=20
force by 2003 which will be able to act without the full involvement of NAT=
O.=20
Russia has expressed an interest in the project and might participate in=20
operations with the new force.=20=20

Job posting: 'Development Director' for World Faiths Development Dialogue =
=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: Leo=20
                         Source: Workopolis.com/The Globe and Mail=20

Thu Apr 5,2001 -- DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR WORLD FAITHS=20
DEVELOPMENT DIALOGUE=20=20

Job Category: management Industry: Associations/Organizations Year(s) of=20
Experience: Date Posted: April 2, 2001=20=20

Job Description:=20=20

WORLD FAITHS DEVELOPMENT DIALOGUE=20=20

The World Faiths Development Dialogue is a joint initiative founded by Jame=
s=20
Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, and His Grace, Dr. George Carey,=20
Archbishop of Canterbury and operating, for the time being, from London,=20
England. Its mission is to reduce poverty, enhance the quality and impact o=
f=20
development policies and programs, and help build social cohesion by=20
catalyzing the coordinated engagement of the world's faiths in the=20
development process. WFDD is an autonomous and nonprofit organization,=20
led by a body of patrons representing the world's major religions and=20
development organizations, supported by a group of trustees.=20=20

DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR=20=20

The Development Director, reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, will ha=
ve=20
the responsibility for refining a strategy and implementing a development p=
lan=20
to identify and secure resources to support this effort. WFDD provides a=20
competent development professional with a unique opportunity to lead a=20
project with worldwide significance and substantial multinational support. =
The=20
successful candidate will have meaningful experience in effective proposal=
=20
writing and obtaining support from public sources as well as from foundatio=
ns=20
and individual donors. This executive will also be an effective event plann=
er,=20
knowing all aspects of financial resource development.=20=20

While the position may be based in North America, at least one year's=20
relocation to London is a requirement of the position. A resume and salary=
=20
history should be sent in confidence before April 30, 2001 to:=20=20

                         The Globe and Mail
                         Box # 5660
                         444 Front St. West
                         Toronto, Ontario M5V 2S9=20

Climate change killing Amphibians at alarming rates=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: faith=20
                         Source: Discovery News=20

Thu Apr 5,2001 -- Since the 1970's, frogs, toads and other amphibians=20
worldwide have been declining at alarming rates. Previous studies had=20
pointed to declining stratospheric ozone levels as a possible reason, but a=
=20
new study points to global warming as fueling the downward spiral. In a=20
report published in this week's journal Nature, scientists for the 1st time=
have=20
identified a direct link between climate change and local factors that caus=
e=20
the death of amphibians in the wild.=20=20

Joseph Kiesecker, professor of biology at Pennsylvania State University,=20
authored the report with Oregon State University's Andrew Blaustein and Lis=
a=20
Belden. He explained, "Exposure to UV-B can damage DNA, directly slowing=20
growth and development and, in extreme cases, causing mortality directly. I=
n=20
our case, UV-B appears to slow developmental rates of amphibians, leaving=20
a longer window for a pathogen to attack." The researchers attributed this =
to=20
increases in the frequency and magnitude of El Nino events that, through lo=
w=20
snow packs and high evaporation rates, reduce water levels in the Pacific=20
NW. According to the report, El Ninos are affected by Pacific Ocean=20
temperatures, which have been on the rise amid a general warming of the=20
Earth's climate.=20=20

J. Alan Pounds, a researcher at the Golden Toad Laboratory for Conservation=
=20
at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve and Tropical Science Center in=20
Costa Rica, wrote that a sense of urgency surrounds the study of amphibian=
=20
mortality: "Similar declines, some leading to the extinction of entire spec=
ies,=20
have been reported from upland areas around the world." Pounds writes:=20
"Today there is little doubt that both phenomena =97 amphibian declines and=
=20
global warming =97 are real."=20=20

Bad hormones =3D bad marriage=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: Leo=20
                         Source: ABC Raw News=20

Thu Apr 5,2001 -- If this were a perfect world, engaged couples would be ab=
le=20
to take some kind of a test that would tell them whether their planned=20
marriage would succeed. If they flunked, they would go back to the dating=20
game. If they succeeded, they would be guaranteed a life of blissful=20
matrimony.=20=20

Well, guess what? It's not a perfect world. But researchers at the Ohio Sta=
te=20
University Medical Center have come up with what seems to be a very=20
reliable predictor of divorce. It's not the kind of thing that's likely to =
be turned=20
into a prenuptial divorce meter anytime soon, but it speaks volumes about=20
why some marriages fail and others succeed. It turns out that it's all in t=
he=20
hormones.=20=20

Although such things as aggression and a negative attitude are generally=20
thought of as the best predictors of divorce, the researchers found a more=
=20
tantalizing clue in the blood samples collected more than a decade earlier.=
=20
Those same three hormones =97 epinephrine, norepinephrine and ACTH =97=20
were "consistently and significantly elevated in the couples" who later=20
divorced, Kiecolt-Glaser says. These are "stress hormones," the "fight or=20
flight" chemical messengers that are supposed to tell us whether to hang=20
around and duke it out or run for cover.=20=20

http://216.219.160.226/cgi-
bin/readnews.cgi?day=3D01_04_5&item=3D#986513104

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=20

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 20:07:28 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Harpazo.net News items (4/5/01)

King Abdullah II to Focus on Mideast During U.S. Meetings
King Abdullah II, who has boosted his popularity at home and in the Arab
world with stands often at odds with U.S. policy, is now in Washington trying
to get the Americans more involved in Mideast peacemaking.

Before departing for his first meeting with U.S. President George Bush, the
Jordanian ruler said a greater U.S. role was essential to achieving peace.
The thinking of Arab moderates like Abdullah is that Israel won't make tough
compromises - such as ceding war-won Arab land - without American
mediation.

The king has a dire need to reverse the isolationist policy adopted by the
new U.S. administration toward the Middle East conflict, said political
scientist Labib Kamhawi. He said failing to persuade Washington to change
course will lead to a catastrophe because Israel will have a free hand in the
region.

But when Abdullah meets with Bush next Tuesday, he will have a narrow line
to walk in fostering peace. Jordan's economic future is tied to its 1994 peace
treaty with Israel, but the king also has to deal with the anger of his own
people - and many other Arabs - who accuse Israel of using excessive force
in trying to put down the new Palestinian uprising. Ha'aretz

Report: Arafat Showered Clintons With Gifts
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat reportedly gave Bill and Hillary Clinton gifts
in excess of $12,000, according to an editorial in this morning's New York
Observer. The gifts included gold and diamond necklaces, bracelets and
earrings. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was the recipent of
jewelry worth $17,400 from the Palestinian leader, the editorial said.
Jerusalem Post

China Welcomes 'Regret' But Questions U.S. Crew
China has welcomed a U.S. expression of regret over the loss of a Chinese
pilot after a collision with a U.S. spy plane but is keeping up calls for an
apology.

A top Chinese official said on Thursday that a U.S. expression of "regret"
was a "step in the right direction."

He suggested the United States might be allowed a second meeting with the
24 crew of the U.S. Navy spy plane being held on a southern Chinese island.
But in a clear sign the latest words are not enough to end the five-day
deadlock, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said the crew,
which he labeled law-breakers, were being questioned. CNN

Delta Flight Returns to U.S.
A Delta Air Lines flight en route to Japan was forced back to the United
States on Thursday after Russian air traffic controllers said it didn't have
permission to fly through their air space, an airline spokesman said.

Delta Flight 55, carrying 203 passengers and 15 crew members, was about
20 minutes into Russian air space when controllers there notified the pilots
that the flight lacked the proper clearance, Delta spokesman Russ Williams
said. He said the plane turned around and re-crossed the Pacific Ocean,
landing in San Francisco early Thursday.

Passengers were given overnight accommodations in San Francisco and
were being re-booked on flights for later Thursday, Williams said. AP

Russian Sub Kursk Was Carrying Nuclear Weapons
The Russian submarine Kursk which sank in the Barents Sea last August
was carrying nuclear weapons, the Norwegian news agency NTB reported
Wednesday, citing a member of a Russian commission that investigated the
accident. The commission member, identified as Grigori Tomchin, told the
Norwegian television station TV 2 that Norwegian authorities had also
confirmed that the vessel was carrying nuclear weapons, NTB said. The
Kursk went down on August 12 last year with the loss of all 118 crew.
Norwegian officials had no immediate comment on the report. AFP

Algeria Orders New Russian Weapons
Algeria plans to order a range of new Russian weapons as part of a strategic
agreement the North African country has signed with Moscow.

Russian defense sources said the weapons include the S-300 air defense
system. In all, the sources said, the arms sales could total $2.5 billion over
the next decade.

Algeria is also interested in the new S-400 air defense system, the sources
said. The system has a range of 400 kilometers and is touted as being
capable of intercepting the U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missile.

Western defense sources played down reports. They said the financial crisis
in Algiers has blocked plans for major weapons procurement.

But Russian sources said future arms sales to Algiers could be based on
Russian investment in Algerian oil and gas projects. They said such joint
ventures could finance huge weapons sales. MENL

U.S. Confronts Mubarak Over N. Korea Missile Deals
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak came to Washington this week seeking
upgraded strategic ties with the United States. But first he had some
explaining to do.

The Bush administration and members of the U.S. Congress have this year
for the first time addressed reports of Egypt-North Korea missile cooperation
with Cairo. Mubarak yesterday sought to dismiss the reports as "rumors,"
Middle East Newsline reported.

It was the first time members of Congress publicly complained about joint
missile development programs by Cairo and Pyongyang.

U.S. officials said Egypt has acquired from North Korea improved medium-
range missiles from Pyongyang. The officials said the missiles are based on
the Scud C and have a range of 500 kilometers.

Mubarak acknowledged that he was asked about the missile cooperation
during his talks with U.S. officials and members of Congress. But the
Egyptian president dismissed the reports by the CIA of such an effort with
Pyongyang. world tribune

U.S. Considers Anti-Missle Defense to Turkey
The Bush administration is moving to help Turkey defend itself against the
ballistic missile threat from its Iranian and Iraqi neighbors.

U.S. officials said the initial effort will be through Washington's help to other
NATO allies on missile defense. They said the aid would not immediately
extend to selling the Arrow anti-missile defense system to Ankara. The
Arrow is an Israeli-U.S. project.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said Ankara and
Washington agree on the need for missile defense. "Turks understand all too
well that some of the world's most dangerous tyrants and terrorists are
determined to acquire ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction,"
Wolfowitz told the Turkish-American Council last week. "Some of them are
already within missile range of Turkey, and others are developing missiles
that will bring Turkey within range." MENL

Britain Faces Big Foot-And-Mouth Bill
Britain was reported Thursday to be facing a bill of up to $4.30 billion for
tackling a foot-and-mouth epidemic that has ravaged the farming and tourism
industries. Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor government announced on
Wednesday that the number of sites infected with foot-and-mouth had
exceeded 1,000 but the country's top scientist said the epidemic may be
leveling off. The United States made clear it was strengthening its defenses
against the highly infectious and financially devastating disease that has also
spread to the Netherlands, France and Ireland -- albeit on a much smaller
scale. Reuters

Some of Yesterday's Earthquakes
        4.6 KURIL ISLANDS
        4.8 CHILE-BOLIVIA BORDER REGION
        3.9 OFF COAST OF OREGON
        5.0 SOUTHWEST INDIAN RIDGE
        4.5 EL SALVADOR
        6.4 ARU ISLANDS REGION, INDONESIA
        4.6 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
        4.9 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
        3.9 OFF COAST OF OREGON
        5.6 SOUTHWEST INDIAN RIDGE
        3.9 OFF COAST OF OREGON
        4.4 PERU-BRAZIL BORDER REGION

www.harpazo.net/news.html

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 20:09:05 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Daywatch items (4/5/01)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In an unpublicized move, President Bush
signed a special memorandum March 28 that will withhold U.S.
foreign aid to family planning groups which advocate abortion.
The quiet action is a procedural step designed to preempt pro-
abortion forces in Congress who had hoped to overturn Bush's
decision to reinstate the Reagan-era policy.
Full Story: http://www.mcjonline.com/news/01a/20010405b.shtml

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The federal government will limit its funding
of abortions for low-income women using the drug RU 486 to the
same exceptions allowed for surgical abortion, according to a
published report. The March 30 letter also informed states they
have the authority to apply the same restrictions in place for
surgical abortions to RU 486, such as parental notification and
informed consent.
Full Story: http://www.mcjonline.com/news/01a/20010405e.shtml

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 08:54:22 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Phone bomb kills Islamic Jihad leader

Friday, April 6, 2001

Phone bomb kills Islamic Jihad leader

Mortars fired, gunfire erupts in aftermath

By Amos Harel
Ha'aretz correspondent and agencies

West Bank Islamic Jihad leader Iyad Hardan was killed yesterday afternoon
when a device exploded as he spoke on his usual pay phone, just outside
the Palestinian jail where he was being held in "defensive arrest" - meaning
in effect he could come and go as he pleased.

Without directly admitting Israel was responsible, Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon said his government would wage a constant struggle against
terrorism. "Sometimes we will announce what we did, sometimes we will not
announce what we did," he told a political meeting in Tel Aviv. "We don't
always have to announce it."

After dark three mortar shells fired from Gaza landed near the Israeli village of
Netiv Haasara, causing no reported casualties. Later, three more shells fell
near an IDF base at Nahal Oz, inside the Green Line.

In the morning, a 16-year old Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire near
Netzarim.

These developments may mark a resumption of the tension between Israel
and the PA, after a relatively promising meeting between Israeli and
Palestinian military leaders on Wednesday. After the meeting, Israel opened
the terminal in Rafiah, and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer allowed
another 3,200 Palestinian workers to enter Israel in addition to the 1,700 who
had already been authorized.

The Palestinian delegates took the Israeli demands to drop the level of
violence more seriously, sources who were at the meeting said, "but the real
test is in the next few days." Israel refused to make further concessions
before the violence subsides.

On their way back to the Gaza Strip, IDF soldiers opened fire at the
Palestinian convoy. Three Palestinian security men sustained light injuries.
Chairman of General Palestinian Intelligence, Amin Al-Hindi, accused Chief
of Staff Shaul Mofaz of a deliberate assassination attempt.

Israel denied this saying the IDF investigation indicated it was the
Palestinian bodyguards who fired first. Israeli sources, however, questioned
the IDF version, and said the soldiers probably misidentified the source of
fire, or responded excessively to a stray Palestinian bullet. Palestinian
spokesman Nabil Abu Rudieneh said that this incident seriously curbs the
chance of another meeting.

The assassinated Hardan topped the wanted list in the West Bank. He was
involved in the killing of an Israeli police officer in Kfar Biddya in 1996, and
dispatched the two suicide bombers who wounded 27 Israelis in the market
in Jerusalem in 1998. The Shin Bet also suspects he was behind the car
bomb in Netanya last November, which killed two civilians and injured
dozens. Two of the other Jihad activists who were involved in this bombing
have already been killed.

According to Israeli intelligence, Hardan was setting up a group of terrorists
from various organizations. The group ostensibly already had explosives
ready to carry out attacks inside Israel. "Hardan's death may halt these
plans," a senior source in the Israeli defense establishment said yesterday.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=4/6/01&id
=116302

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 08:56:12 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Analysis / A preemptive strike, not vengeance

Friday, April 6, 2001

Analysis / A preemptive strike, not vengeance

By Ze'ev Schiff

This week's killing of two Islamic Jihad activists, one in the Gaza Strip and
the other yesterday in Jenin, suggests that Israel is fixed in its decision not
to wait for terrorist organizations to carry out their threats for attacks against
Israel. The intent is to continue direct assaults against the planners of
terrorist activities, even if terrorist attacks cannot be stoped in their entirety.

This is not an act of vengeance, but primarily a preemptive strike. In the first
case, in the Gaza Strip, the Islamic Jihad activist, Muhammad Abd al-Aul,
was killed by two missiles fired at his car by an Israeli helicopter. In the
second case, which occured yesterday, Iyad Hardan was killed by an
explosion in Jenin. The Palestinians describe these incidents as "hits" and
acts of murder of civilians, which has become a regular Israeli policy. They
have attacked this "policy," and say that it violates international law and the
Fourth Geneva Convention because it involves harming civilians.

These attacks are cause of concern for the Palestinian leadership and the
heads of the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. The execution of a number of
Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel is one of the results of this
concern. Once in a while the Palestinians make hints, also in official
communiques, that they will respond in the same fashion against Israel and
attack Israeli leaders. Israel continues to argue officially that its actions do
not involve attacks on innocent civilians but individuals who take an active
and direct part in the planning of serious terrorist attacks, mostly against
Israeli civilians.

Indeed, these targets are fighting men and terrorists who gave up their status
as innocent civilians. Striking them is a military necessity. The attacks are
carried out when it is impossible to arrest these individuals, and every
operation is authorized before it is carried out.

According to Israel, these individuals cannot benefit from the immunity of
international conventions. On the one hand the Palestinian Authority argues
that it is the right of the Palestinians to make use of violence. On the other
hand they complain that Israel is striking against those carrying out the
violence.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=4/6/01&id
=116303

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 09:09:35 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Resentful reservists worry IDF command

Friday, April 6, 2001

Resentful reservists worry IDF command

'Unequal' defense burden sparks dissent

By Amos Harel
Ha'aretz Correspondent

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) command is increasingly worried by the
expressed resentment of reservists, who complain that Israeli society does
not appreciate their service, as evidenced by the unequal burden they bear.

While reserve units so far are responding to call-ups - at an impressive 95-
100 percent rate - generals from all IDF commands are getting complaints
that the IDF has failed to lobby for laws to improve conditions for reservists.

Typically, the reservists complain that it only took two weeks for the Knesset
to legislate more money for large families - chiefly benefitting the ultra-
Orthodox and Israeli Arabs, who do not do IDF reserve duty.

Senior reserve commanders, whose troops are bearing the brunt of Intifada
duty, are referring to the Tal Bill - which legalizes mass draft-dodging by ultra-
Orthodox men - as "a moral scandal," and warn it will soon become a key
element in declining IDF morale.

So far, five of the 31 Israeli troops killed during the Intifada have been
reservists.

In recent months, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Segev, head of the IDF Manpower
Division, has been hearing reserve regiment commanders warn that "a
catastrophe is coming," if the IDF does not quickly win some benefits for its
reservists. The catastrophe, they say will be a mass exodus of soldiers from
the reserve units.

A senior IDF source told Ha'aretz that, "All it will take is one reserve
regiment commander throwing in the towel and saying: 'I can't be responsible
for a regiment that is treated this way by society' - and the dam will break."

IDF Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz, aware of the problem, wanted to convene a
large gathering of reserve commanders. But he was dissuaded by
Manpower's experts, who warned against the idea until the army has
something concrete to present to the officers as an "accomplishment."

The IDF has long been studying how to improve conditions for reservists.
Suggestions range from tax breaks, to preferential treatment in government
tenders, to the establishment of a special authority for reservists that would
have its own budget.

Yesterday, the University Students Association held a protest rally outside
the Defense Ministry during a defense establishment session chaired by
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that discussed lengthening the period a soldier
is liable for reserve duty.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=4/6/01&id
=116305

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 09:12:41 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Esther/Peru about to elect its first 'Inca' president

[Note that this man has a Jewish wife (unfortunately mostly referred to as
another Hillary Clinton) and has been threatened 127 times (Ahasuerus
reigned over 127 provinces--Esther 1:1). This makes me think of the book of
Esther which is being read this weekend by some people who follow an
unusual Jewish calendar (see http://www.6001.com/news_sp01.htm ).]

Friday, April 6, 2001

Peru about to elect its first 'Inca' president

By Adar Primor
Ha'aretz Correspondent

They say he has an illegitimate daughter, whom he's ignored for 13 years.
They say he's been caught "stoned," that drug tests showed he used
cocaine. They say he tried to bribe a journalist who exposed the affair, to try
and gag it. He reputedly hangs out with whores, and has been photographed
in compromising positions.

But despite it all, Alejandro Toledo is almost surely to become Peru's next
president - the man who will put an end to the corrupt regime of deposed
president Alberto Fujimori and his exiled intelligence chief, Vladimiro
Montesinos.

The latest polls, the last ones to be published before Sunday's vote, show
Toledo, who has claimed the centrist ground, leads by 13-16 percent over his
conservative opponent, Lourdes Flores; and by 16-19 percent over former
president Alan Garcia, the liberal-leftist candidate in third place.

A quarter of Peru's voters still say they are undecided, and the polls don't
cover the distant villages, considered Toledo's stronghold. But he is
convinced he's a shoo-in, able to win a decisive vote in the first round.

"The dirty tricks that accompanied this campaign are because the previous
regime cannot forgive me for exposing the extent of their corruption," Toledo
said in a special interview with Ha'aretz. "They've invested a lot of money
trying to defame me and harm my private life, my wife, my daughter. But it
won't help. The polls prove it."

Toledo says he was kidnapped in 1998 by Montesinos' agents, who drugged
him to blackmail him and embarrass him publicly. The incident may have
been videotaped, a favorite tactic of Montesinos. That's the background to
the campaign of innuendo about him. "Sex, drugs and videotapes," is what
the Lima press called the scandal.

"I won't let anyone sabotage my campaign," he says, rejecting calls for a
DNA test to disprove allegations he sired a girl out of wedlock. "My goal is to
continue my original plan. I just got back from a swing to the Iquitos in the
jungle. Some 65,000 people turned out to receive me - it was unprecedented
in that place. That's the people's response to the charges against me."

His biography is the stuff of political legends. Toledo, 54, was born to an
Indian family from the Andes, one of 16 children. Seven of his siblings died.
His father was a construction worker, his mother a fishmonger in the market.
When he was seven, the family moved to the coastal region looking for a
better life. To help his family he became a shoe-shine boy, hawked
newspapers and lottery tickets. "This modest Peruvian," said author Mario
Vargas Llosa at a Toledo campaign rally this week, "knows poverty. He has
experienced first hand the discrimination and exploitation."

Toledo regards his background as another reason why the political
establishment wants him out of the way. "My victory will be the first time in
500 years that a person of my background rises to power in a democratic
election to represent the vast majority of the Peruvians," he declared. More
than 80% of Peru's 26 million citizens are Indians or mestizos - persons of
mixed Indian and Spanish ancestry. "The white elite fears that the people will
take power away from them - that a 'Cholo' [can be derogatory or diminutive]
like me will represent them," he adds.

His statute among the poor is nearly messianic. They regard him as a
descendant of the great Inca rulers, who managed to overcome the
embedded discrimination in Peru against Indians and mestizos and to force
the establishment to surrender power.

At 16, he won a scholarship to high school and then made his way to
university - prestigious Stanford, in California. There he would meet his wife,
Eliane Karp, a Jewish woman who has taken an active role at his side in his
career and his campaign. There he would finish two master's degrees and a
doctorate in economics, his launching pad for a career that included teaching
in business school, advising the government of the central bank of Peru,
labor minister, and an economist at the World Bank.

That combination - his Indian roots in the Andes and his poverty with the
professional success he has enjoyed - forms the basis of his economic
program: liberal economics with some populist nuances. Toledo prefers to
call it "capitalism with a human face." Peru is in a deep recession.
Unemployment is high and the country only reaches half its potential
production capacity. He promises employment, wage hikes, cheap housing,
roads, tax breaks. And in the same breath, he promises a balanced budget,
privatization, foreign investment and 7% growth a year.

A year ago, in the April 2000 elections, Toledo started as a nearly
anonymous candidate, but ended up with an official 40.3 percent of the vote.
Fujimori took 49.84 percent. Tens of thousands took to the streets claiming
fraud, and so did the international observers on the scene. It turned out that
more than a million ballots were forged by Fujimori's people.

Toledo believes his personal connection to Judaism, through his wife Elaine,
will help the development of relations between Peru and Israel. "I have a
Jewish daughter, of whom I'm proud. I hope to strengthen commercial,
financial and cultural ties between the two countries. I see great opportunity
for cooperation. For example, Israel's great expertise in agriculture could help
us develop the coastal desert and deal with the lack of water."

He hopes to win a massive victory the day after tomorrow. He's hoping for it,
"for Peru's sake."

Before the interview ends, Toledo asks Ha'aretz to send "a message to the
world: Montesinos still has a lot of influence. Many people work for him. He
has too much to lose if I win. He's behind one of the other candidates in the
race. There's nothing surprising in the fact there have been 127 threats on
my life. I believe that in the last few days until the vote, there will be more
threats. I want the world to know that they can assassinate me, but not my
dreams. Those dreams are deep in the hearts of millions of Peruvians."

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=4/6/01&id
=116304

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 09:30:14 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Israel Update #14

------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: Israel Update <Israel-Update@aish.com>
Date sent: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 05:15:32 +0200
Subject: Israel Update #14

To subscribe to this weekly newsletter, send a blank message to:
join-israel-update@ls.aish.net=20

"ISRAEL UPDATE"
Issue #14 - 06 APRIL 2001
http://aish.com/israel

In this email:
1) Quote of the Week
2) Links to Great Articles
3) Who Killed Shalhevet?
4) More Palestinian Child Abuse
5) Zero Objectivity in Time Magazine
6) Passover Prayer for Jewish Captives
7) More "Excessive Force"
8) Worldwide Rally Demands Right of Return

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
1) QUOTE OF THE WEEK

=93[Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi] was quite caustic about the recen=
t rash of=20
bombings, especially the suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. She ca=
lled them=20
destructive and counter-productive to Palestinian interests and are, as she=
put it,=20
playing into Israel's hands.=94

http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/03/28/kessel.debrief/=20

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
2) LINKS TO GREAT ARTICLES

"Arafat's Children" - London Times
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,56-99366,00.html

"Anti-Zionist Racism" - National Post
http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=3D/stories/20010316/502122.=
html=20

"A Clarifying Moment" - Wall Street Journal
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/rbartley/?id=85000784

"Provocation and Response in the Middle East" - Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/opinion/editorials/digdocs/076441.htm

"Memo to Arafat, From President Bush" - Thomas L. Friedman
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/27/opinion/27FRIE.html?searchpv=3Dsite07

"What Would U.S. Do If in Israel's Position?" - Ed Koch
http://www.newsday.com/columnists/stories/friday/nd3661.htm=20

"Poser Prof Pays a Price" - New York Post
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/26378.htm=20

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
3) WHO KILLED SHALHEVET?

Reuters reports PA minister Yasser Abed Rabbo as saying there is no evidenc=
e that 10-
month-old Shalhevet Pass was killed by Palestinian fire. "We believe that t=
he=20
atrocities of the occupation are responsible for all crimes that have claim=
ed the=20
lives of Palestinians and Israelis," he said.

But it gets worse. Here is the radio commentary of senior Voice of Palestin=
e=20
commentator Youssef al-Kazaz, broadcast on the Palestinian Authority flagsh=
ip radio=20
station, Voice of Palestine, on April 2, 2001 at 8:39 am:

"On the matter of the baby settler who was killed in Hebron a few days ago,=
we already=20
said that her death was a fishy action, and there is information according =
to which=20
this baby was retarded and it was her mother who killed her in order to get=
rid of=20
her."

An obscene distortion. Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Gideon=
Meir said=20
the statement is "a genuine indicator of just how low the PA is willing to =
sink to win=20
over world opinion."=20

(courtesy IMRA)

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
4) MORE PALESTINIAN CHILD ABUSE

The Associated Press reports that in a Palestinian "Day of Rage" rally, 15 =
children --=20
all younger than 10 =96 acted out a suicide bombing, with the coaching of t=
he adults.=20

One boy was dressed as a suicide bomber. He wore a black face mask and a gr=
een robe=20
and had a little package wrapped in tinfoil strapped to his belt, meant to =
symbolize=20
explosives. His voice muffled by the mask, he led the children in chanting,=
"We die=20
for the sake of God."

Another boy slipped into a cardboard box with an Israeli flag on it and lay=
on the=20
ground -- symbolizing the aftermath of a suicide bombing.=20

See shocking photos at:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/nm/20010330/ts/mdf29189.html
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/nm/20010318/ts/mdf25139.html

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
5) ZERO OBJECTIVITY IN TIME MAGAZINE

Time correspondent Jamil Hamad was at a West Bank refugee camp when the IDF=
fired=20
retaliatory strikes at the city. He wrote a very emotional and biased piece=
.=20
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,104788,00.html

"In the middle of this all, I read a statement by [Israeli foreign minister=
Shimon]=20
Peres, telling an Arab paper that the best friend of the Palestinians is th=
e Israeli=20
government. I don't know who he thinks he's deluding. Anyone who thinks Pal=
estinians=20
will embrace this Israeli government as their best friends must be those wh=
o think of=20
us as illiterate camel riders who can be told what to think."

Complain to:
letters@time.com=20

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
6) PASSOVER PRAYER FOR JEWISH CAPTIVES

The Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization have initiated a special w=
orldwide=20
solidarity Passover campaign on behalf of Israel's POWs and MIAs.

Every Jewish household is being asked to recite a special prayer within the=
framework=20
of their Passover Seder. In this manner, the demand for the release of the =
Israeli=20
POWs and for information on the MIAs will be placed at the top of the globa=
l Jewish=20
agenda on the eve of Passover, the Festival of Freedom.

The following is the prayer for the safe return of Israel's POWs and MIAs:

"May He who blessed our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph, Moses an=
d Aaron,=20
David and Solomon bless, guard and protect our prisoners of war and IDF sol=
diers=20
missing in action, including Ron son of Batya and Moshe Arad, Zachariah Shl=
omo son of=20
Miriam and Yona Baumel, Yekutiel Yehuda Nahman son of Sara and Yoseph Katz,=
Zvi son of=20
Pnina and Abraham Feldman, Omer son of Hadra and Kassem Suewed, Binyamin so=
n of Edna=20
and Chaim Avraham, Adiel son of Zipora and Yitzhak Avitan, Elchanan son of =
Rivka and=20
Yehuda Tannenbaum, and our brothers who are imprisoned in Iran, among all o=
ur other=20
brothers who belong to the Jewish people and are in distress and being held=
captive=20
for the sake of this community which prays on their behalf.=20

"May God be filled with mercy for them, and bring them out of darkness and =
the shadow=20
of death, may He release their bonds and save them from anguish, and return=
them=20
speedily to their families and may salvation come swiftly. "May they thank =
the Lord=20
for His kindness and wonders for the human race." And may the words of the =
Bible be=20
fulfilled, as it is written: "Those redeemed by God will return and arrive =
at Zion=20
with glad song and eternal gladness on their heads, joy and gladness shall =
they=20
attain, and sorrow and misery shall flee, and let us say, Amen."

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
7) MORE "EXCESSIVE FORCE"

TUCSON, Ariz. April 3 (AP) - Police used stun grenades, rubber bullets and =
tear gas on=20
Arizona basketball fans who set fire to at least three overturned vehicles =
and tore=20
down street signs. Seventeen people were arrested on charges that included =
assault,=20
disorderly conduct and criminal damage, police said. About 2,000 fans spill=
ed into the=20
streets after Duke defeated Arizona 82-72 in the NCAA basketball championsh=
ip in=20
Minneapolis.

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
8) WORLDWIDE RALLY DEMANDS RIGHT OF RETURN

On April 7, 2001, Palestinians and supporters around the world will stage m=
arches and=20
rallies to demand the right of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel pro=
per. The=20
events, sponsored by Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (http=
://al-
awda.org), coincide with the 53rd anniversary of the incident at Deir Yassi=
n.

Deir Yassin is a historical point of contention. It is generally acknowledg=
ed that=20
Palestinians fabricated stories of a massacre to garner sympathy and suppor=
t. Here are=20
some resources to help effectively counter the Palestinian claim:

- PBS Documentary showing fabricated Arab claims
http://www.ourjerusalem.com/documents/octfeb99/0126docs.htm

- =93Deir Yassin: History of a Lie=94
http://www.zoa.org/pubs/DeirYassin.htm

- Ha'Aretz: "There Was No Massacre There"
http://www.yahoodi.com/peace/deiryassin.html

(thanx to Brian Levitan)

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
If you find this email helpful, please pass it along to a friend. This way =
we are=20
partners in making a difference in the fight for truth.=20

- Comments for "Israel Update" can be submitted at: israel-update@aish.com
- Submit your own findings on Media Objectivity to: media@aish.com
- List of major media contacts -- http://aish.com/israel/contacts.asp
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- Archives of media objectivity is at http://aish.com/a/r/9.asp

For reprints and redistribution, please give proper attribution:
Article from Israel Update -- http://aish.com/israel

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Aish.com is a project of Aish HaTorah, a non-profit international network o=
f Jewish=20
educational centers, where people from all backgrounds can explore Judaism =
in an open=20
atmosphere.

(C) 2001 Aish HaTorah International - All rights reserved.=20
Email: webmaster@aish.com=20
Home Page: http://aish.com=20
Live camera from the Western Wall: http://thewall.org=20

Information on dedicating newsletters and supporting Aish.com:
AISH.COM, One Western Wall Plaza,=20
POB 14149, Old City, Jerusalem 91141 ISRAEL

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To change your subscription information, use our form at: http://aish.com/l=
ists

Or to subscribe by email, send a blank message to:=20
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You are currently subscribed to israel-update as: moza@butterfly.mv.com
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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 09:50:17 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Daily World Affairs Report items (4/5/01)

RAU CALLS FOR E.U. CONSTITUTION

German President Johannes Rau called for the creation of a European
Union constitution on Wednesday, plunging headlong into the debate on the
future shape of Europe. In his first speech before the European Parliament,
he said the Charter of Fundamental Rights proclaimed last December at the
EU summit in Nice should be used as the basis for a constitution to lay the
groundwork for a "federation of nation-states."

"A European constitution is not the final stone in the European edifice -- it
should be the foundation stone," Mr. Rau said. He outlined a vision of a
"genuinely bicameral parliament," in which the Council of Ministers, which
represents EU governments, would become a "chamber of states," and the
European Parliament a "citizens' chamber." "Both chambers should have
equal powers in all legislative areas," said Mr. Rau, whose words were
received with enthusiastic applause by EU parliamentarians. They also
applauded his proposal to allow the 2 chambers to elect the president of the
European Commission and his commissioners -- a proposal aimed at
countering criticism that the Commission has little democratic legitimacy.

Mr. Rau's ideas build on existing EU structures -- in contrast to those
expressed last May in a landmark speech by German Foreign Minister
Joschka Fischer. Mr. Rau said he had countered Mr. Fischer's proposals at
the time for a 2nd chamber of the European Parliament made up of
members of national parliaments and was critical of Mr. Fischer's idea of a
"core Europe" centered on Germany and France. Mr. Rau said he believed
concrete steps will be taken in the direction he supports at talks in 2004 on
the future balance of power between the EU and its member states.
(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

CHRIST WAS WRONGLY CONVICTED, RULES SPANISH JUDGE

A Spanish judge has belatedly ruled that Jesus Christ suffered a
miscarriage of justice at the hands of Pontius Pilate but could have faced
other charges. In his putative Court of Appeal, Raul Calderon, a judge from
the Andalucian town of Jaen, maintained: "The procedure in the case
against Jesus was replete with legal irregularities, and the death sentence of
crucifixion ordered by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate was unjust.
According to the law of the first years of the 1st century, Jesus Christ
should have been absolved."

The judge said Jesus's "fundamental crime" was of lese-majeste as
demonstrated in his acts against Roman authority and sovereignty, offences
for which the penalty was death. According to the judge, Jesus could have
been tried for unlawful association, harbouring criminals and civil discord. In
a published essay, Judge Calderon cleared Jesus of the charge of
blasphemy, which was punishable by death under Jewish law. "Jesus did
not blaspheme as he did not use the name of God." (The London
Telegraph)

A DOLLAR OF DANGEROUS STRENGTH

The US currency is creating policy problems around the world
For years, most economists assumed that when US share prices fell, the
dollar would come down with them. But though the dollar's main prop is
being chipped away week by week, the currency has taken on a life of its
own. Its continuing strength could not only make global economic
imbalances worse but also mean any eventual correction is sharper and
more damaging. The US last year needed a net inflow of more than $400bn
- equal to 4.4% of GDP - to fund its current account deficit. But for the
moment, the currency is defying gravity.

...and the dollar's strength is creating policy problems and exacerbating
imbalances around the world. At home, it means the weakness of domestic
demand is compounded by US exports becoming less competitive,
threatening continued large trade deficits and further falls in business
confidence. In Japan, business leaders - in spite of the benefits of a
stronger dollar for their exports - are warning that a further sharp drop in
the yen could cause a sell-off in Japanese assets, whose yields are low,
damaging confidence.

In Europe, to which most of the world is looking to take over from the US
as importer of last resort, Giles Keating at Credit Suisse First Boston warns:
"The weak euro is acting as a drag on the ECB's ability to cut interest rates
and that is not helpful." And for countries such as China and Argentina,
which maintain pegs against the US currency, dollar strength means a
continued struggle to export to the rest of the world.

Most economists agree that the best route for the dollar would be a gentle
depreciation that allowed investors steadily to reposition themselves and the
trade imbalance between the US and the rest of the world to adjust
smoothly. Extreme and rapid moves in currencies, such as the sharp dollar-
yen swings during the Asian crisis, contribute to a drying up of financial
markets and uncertainty among companies, investors and consumers.

But the longer the dollar goes on defying gravity, the greater the imbalances
become and the further and faster the currency may have to fall. Mr
Keating, one of the more optimistic on this front, says that with alternative
investment opportunities such as Japan unattractive, the dollar has a
window of opportunity to effect a soft landing that may last for the rest of
the year. But the window will not be open for ever. (The Financial Times -
Analysis)

EX-KING OF BULGARIA TO UNVEIL POLITICAL PLANS

The exiled former king of Bulgaria, who arrived home on Thursday, has
been given a warm reception by his supporters in the capital Sofia.Ex-King
Simeon II, now a Madrid-based businessman, is expected to unveil his
political intentions ahead of Bulgaria's legislative elections in June. "You will
hear on Friday. It will be interesting," he pledged to his supporters at the
airport but he refused to say whether or not he was planning on putting
forward an opposition movement.

The former king has captured the public imagination since announcing in
February that he would seek a political role. But the constitutional court has
banned him from contesting presidential elections later this year, leaving him
legislative polls as the only alternative. Shortly after the verdict against him
running for presidency had been passed, the former king assured "all the
thousands of people who are looking for a way to vote for Simeon, they will
be able to do so".

Meanwhile, dissenters from the ruling centre-right coalition announced they
were forming a new political party to support his bid to enter Bulgarian
politics. At the core of the new party, known as the Conservative Union
(EKIP), are 8 critics of Prime Minister Ivan Kostov, who have now
resigned from his party, the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF). "EKIP
fully supports the stated will of His Majesty King Simeon II to take part in
the Bulgarian political life", the party said in a statement. (BBC)

ABDULLAH II WANTS U.S. TO EXPAND MIDEAST ROLE

After 6 months of almost daily Israeli-Palestinian violence and growing
economic frustration in Jordan, King Abdullah II is flying to the United
States with a simple message for the Bush administration: "Help!" "I think it
is imperative," the king said in London, en route to Washington, "for the
United States to play a bigger role." President Bush has said he will be less
directly involved in Middle East peacemaking efforts than was Bill Clinton,
who struggled in vainto broker an Israeli-Palestinian accord.

King Abdullah pointedly warned that any vacuum in leadership would
condemn the region to more bloodshed. "A vacuum would create more
problems in the long run than it would solve. Are we going to wait another 2
or 3 months of violence and tragedy until somebody decides this has gone
too far?" His appeal for help from Washington echoed what Mr. Bush
heard this week from another key U.S. ally in the Arab world, President
Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.

The appeals brought to Washington by King Abdullah and President
Mubarak in some ways conflict with the tone of last week's Arab summit in
Amman, Jordan. The appeals are at odds with anti-American sentiment that
swept the region beginning last fall as intifada clashes flared between Israel
and the Palestinians and grew more intense.

Last week, the 22 members of the Arab League approved a statement that
made no mention of any desire for U.S. involvement in the regionbut,
instead, praised the Palestinian uprising and invited the European Union to
take a more active role. The only direct reference to the US in the summit
statement was "extreme indignation" over the U.S. veto of a UN Security
Council resolution aimed at putting peacekeepers inside Israel.

About 40% of Jordan's population is originally Palestinian and the violence
in Israel has struck a particularly emotional chord among that community.
The resurgent influence of Iraq, as well, is pressing Jordan to expand its ties
with Baghdad, while striving not to affect its relations with Washington. The
Jordanian assessment of the new monarch is inevitably colored by the
strong legacy left by his father, King Hussein, who survived wars and
would-be assassins. (Int'l Herald Tribune)

E.U. OFFERS SUPPORT TO WASHINGTON

The European Union called on China to respect international law in its
handling of the American spy plane and 24 detained service personnel
yesterday, throwing its diplomatic support behind Washington in the
mounting crisis. Goran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden, which currently
holds the EU presidency, said in Strasbourg: "We hope that China will
follow the international rules of the game. There's a very worrisome
escalation process going on. But if things reach a stalemate in this particular
problem, things can get worse."

The Europeans and Americans have a similar approach to the Communist
regime in Beijing, both encouraging Chinese membership of the World
Trade Organisation and other global bodies that bind China into the
international rule of law, while at the same time taking a critical line on
human rights abuses. But the 2 blocs are starting to clash over North Korea
where the EU is asserting itself as a global superpower in an area of
traditional US influence. EU diplomats say Brussels is taking advantage of
the new American isolationism to stake out its own role as a global
leader.(The London Telegraph)

LAWYERS DISAGREE WITH U.S.

American diplomats have found little support for their claim that military
planes count as "state aircraft" and, like warships in international waters,
are not liable to search. Samuel Wordsworth, a barrister at Essex Court
Chambers in London, who specialises in international law, said that if the
aircraft had violated China's airspace then the Chinese were entitled to
bring it down and inspect it. Mr Wordsworth, who has worked on
international aerial disputes, said that spies had little protection in
international law.

John Quigley, professor of law at Ohio State University, said military planes
in international airspace, like warships in international waters, clearly had
sovereign immunity. "But I have never heard of applying that concept inside
a state, except in the case of embassies and diplomats which are covered
by the Vienna Convention." Other American lawyers agreed. Francis
Boyle, professor of law at the University of Illinois, said: "There is no
authority for the proposition that a spy plane is like the sovereign territory of
the United States. China has the right to open an investigation and is bound
only by the rules on consular access." (The London Telegraph)

PRESS REVIEW

Austria's Kurier likens President Bush to a bull in a China shop, who's set a
record for smashing so much China in foreign policy in so short a time. It
was doubtful that what his administration was doing could even be called
foreign policy. "The outward effect of the US attitudes that can be placed
somewhere between isolationism, autism and dilettantism is pretty horrible,"
said the Vienna paper.

Anyone hearing the repeatedly rash utterances of the inexperienced
president will ask themselves how much of the China being smashed in the
White House is being smashed by his advisers, wrote the Tages-Anzeiger
of Zurich. The rough tone reveals the lack of experience, the Swiss paper
said.

Bush doesn't seem to be able to suppress an urge for confrontation, just as
with the latest bombings of Iraq - an enormous risk for a president without
foreign policy experience, thinks the Algemeen Dagblad in Holland. His
predecessors had needed a bit more time to plunge their country into an
international crisis. Luckily, said the paper, published in The Hague, there
are people around him who understand their business, such as secretary of
state, Colin Powell. But when Bush steps up the microphone, even his
experienced companions can only hope that he doesn't get lost in Texan
cowboy rhetoric.

De Volkskrant, also from The Hague, thinks the rise in tension this week
could be the precursor of very dangerous developments. Mistrust
predominated on both sides, the paper wrote, with China imputing
hegemonial intentions to America, while Bush was known to be less
responsive to Chinese sensibilities than Clinton was. Asia is pretty old
fashioned compared to Europe, De Volkskrant argues, and there are a lot
of explosive issues lying around there, so that de-escalation of this dispute
was urgently needed.

Fallout from the spy plane affair could only be contained if the US and
Chinese presidents managed to reconcile their very differing approaches to
international relations, wrote The Guardian in Britain. China's apparent
determination to exploit the affair was threatening to turn a relatively minor
incident into a definitive event in relations between the countries. The
Chinese approach was akin to a chess game, the paper said, but
unfortunately, the game Bush knew as a Texan was poker. In that kind of
contest, it concluded, a player raises the stakes, then raises them again, until
an opponent either gives up or goes bust. (Deutsche Welle)

MICHAEL TURNER
(mykelturner@airmail.net)

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 10:30:59 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] BFP News items (4/6/01)

WATER SOURCES IN NORTH AT RECORD LOW; SOME DRIED OUT
          Several traditional water sources in the Galilee have run
completely dry while reservoirs on the Golan are two-thirds empty, The
Jerusalem Post learned on April 5.
          Springs in various parts of western Galilee which are normally
tapped to provide water for agriculture have not accumulated any water from
the winter rains.
          The startling details have been unearthed in an in-depth survey
by the Hydrological Service of the Water Commissioners' Office (WCO) into
the state of the nation's water reserves.
          The Post learned that underground water sources in the Jordan
Rift and Beit Shean valleys are also severely depleted.
          The situation is further complicated by the state of the Sea of
Galilee (Lake Kinneret) where the water level is still 5 centimeters (2
inches) below the original red-line mark.
          Nevertheless, it seems certain that water will have to be pumped
at great cost from the lake up to the Golan, because there is insufficient
water in the reservoirs to meet farmers' needs, even after a 50% cut in
quotas.
          The reservoirs on the Golan are capable of holding up to 35
million cubic meters of rainwater, but only 13 million cu.m. has
accumulated after a winter of far less than average rain in the North.
          Insufficient rainfall following two previous winters of drought
are the prime reasons for the dearth of underground water in the Hula
valley where the level has dropped by 6 meters (19.5 feet).
          The situation in western Galilee is even worse and several
springs including Ga'aton, near Nahariya, Ne'aman, south of Acre, and
Hardalit, west of Ma'alot are completely dry. Water will now have to be
drawn from the already badly-depleted Coastal Aquifer further south and
pumped to the western Galilee to supply farmers with their reduced quotas
of fresh water.
          According to some experts, the situation is so grave that there
might be problems in supplying drinking water to some parts of the country
by the end of the summer. The alternative is to further cut allocations of
fresh water to farmers and enforce restrictions in the urban and industrial
sectors, as has been proposed by the WCO.
          The recommendations include a ban on irrigating public or private
parks, gardens and lawns, and on the use of hoses for washing cars, with
heavy fines for offenders. (David Rudge, The Jerusalem Post, April 6,
2001).

NY MAYOR BLASTS "DISTORTED" ISRAEL COVERAGE
          As Israel came under international fire for the March 28
retaliatory strikes against Force 17 targets, New York City Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani called a press conference to express his solidarity with Israel
and decry anti-Israel bias in the media.
          Flanked by Jewish leaders representing a broad range of religious
and political views, Giuliani was applauded for calling Israel's military
action "necessary" and "justified," and for calling on Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to end terrorist attacks. Giuliani said he
sent a picture of 10-month old Shalhevet Pass, who was killed in Hebron by
a Palestinian sniper, to President George W. Bush, and mayoral aides
circulated letters of solidarity Giuliani wrote yesterday to Jerusalem
Mayor Ehud Olmert and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Giulini also called for
an end to the US Government's policy - evident during the Clinton
administration - of moral equivalency between Israel and the Palestinian
Authority, and pressuring Israel to negotiate under fire with the
Palestinians. "You can't ask people to agree to a process in which more of
their children are likely to be killed," he said. The media's extensive
coverage of Israel's retaliatory strikes on Wednesday and it's
corresponding lack of coverage of Pass's murder "demonstrates disparity in
coverage," said Giuliani. "The coverage of Israel is extremely distorted,"
he said.
          Giuliana said he has been aware of Arafat's involvement in
terrorism since his days as a federal prosecutor, and that in 1995,
expelled Arafat from the United Nations' 50th anniversary celebrations,
held in New York, because he felt, in part, that "our government and our
media had been romanticizing Arafat as a man you can sit down at a table
with like a business meeting and conduct negotiations."
          While he advocated travel to Israel for all New Yorkers, Giuliani
said he is prohibited from traveling to the Middle East due to treatment he
is receiving for prostate cancer, but that he may make a trip within the
next few months.
          Hundreds of New Yorkers gathered on March 29 in front of the PLO
mission at the United Nations for a vigil commemorating more than 70
Israelis who have been killed in terrorist attacks since September. Holding
brightly colored photos of Pass, passing around photographs and bios of
other victims, and waving Israeli flags, demonstrators alternated between
singing Jewish prayers, reading out names of terror victims and chanting
"Arafat's a war criminal." Speakers decried violence against Jewish
targets and called on the United States government to exclude Arafat from
the White House. The demonstration was cosponsored by the Coalition for
Jewish Concerns-Amcha, and Americans for a Safe Israel. (by Melissa
Radler,
Jerusalem Post, April 1, 2001)

JERUSALEM'S OLD CITY WALL MAY CRUMBLE
          Parts of Jerusalem's Old City wall may be in danger of collapse
in the not too distant future, a senior archaeologist from the Antiquities
Authority has reported.
          "There are certain places in the wall that will definitely be
dangerous in the medium- to long-term future," Ya'acov Sheffer, the
director of the authority's conservation department, said on April 1.
          He cautioned that, while portions of the 450-year-old wall may
start crumbling in two years, or even sooner, the authority has no way of
knowing when this will happen.
          "We have no way of telling you that the wall will start crumbling
tomorrow or any other time in the future, because there is no monitoring
system in place," he said.
          Sheffer said the authority has put together a team of experts to
conduct a badly needed comprehensive survey of the Old City wall, but the
survey has not yet begun because of a dispute over who will fund the
project.
          "The question of who is to pay the tab is the big problem, and in
the meantime no one has done anything," Sheffer said, noting that one of
the problems is that it is unclear whose authority the wall comes under.
          He says a comprehensive survey would probably cost some NIS
150,000, which the authority has been unable to raise. Sheffer says the
authority was "a bit embarrassed" to turn to world Jewry to ask for the
$40,000 to cover the project.
          "But what's $40,000 when you are talking about one of Israel's
most important monuments and national treasures?" he asked, adding, "it is
the State of Israel's responsibility to cover the costs - especially when
you are talking about Jerusalem."
          Jerusalem Municipality spokesman Haggai Elias said in response
that if the Antiquities Authority appeals to the municipality on the issue,
the city would be willing to enter negotiations over partial funding.
          Built by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent between
1537-1541, sections of the Old City wall in the worst condition today
include the area near the parking lot of the Jewish Quarter.
          Sheffer notes that nearly a decade ago a municipality report
warned that this area needed to be taken care of urgently, which he says
has yet to be done in a proper manner.
          Unfortunately, Jerusalem's problem is not unique. Just two and a
half years ago, about 100 meters of Acre's Old City wall collapsed into the
sea. Then, as now, preservation work was delayed as different bodies
bickered over who was to pay for the job. (Etgar Lefkovits, The Jerusalem
Post, April 2, 2001)

ISRAEL LEADING FLOWER EXPORTER TO EUROPE
Israel is the leading exporter of flowers to Europe. This year,
some 1.5 billion flowers were shipped to Europe, some 30% of the entire
stock of flower imports to the continent. Kenya is in second place,
providing some 20% of Europe's flower needs. The information was published
in honor of the International Flower Festival, to be held on the Tel Aviv
Exhibition grounds during the Pesach holiday. (Arutz 7, April 3, 2001)

http://www.bridgesforpeace.com

Weekly News Update and Prayer Focus from Israel
Week Ending: April 6, 2001

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 14:48:50 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Arutz-7 News Brief: Friday, April 6, 2001

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Fri, 06 Apr 2001 14:12:03 +0200
To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnew=
s.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News Brief: Friday, April 6, 2001
Send reply to: feedback@israelnationalnews.com

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Friday, Apr. 6, 2001 / Nissan 13, 5761
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<a href =3D"http://www.sterlingexperience.com/index2.html">=20
www.sterlingexperience.com </a>
********************************************************
Up-To-The-Minute News From Israel, New on Arutz Sheva's Homepage
<a href =3D"http://IsraelNationalNews.com "> www.IsraelNationalNews.com </a=
>
*********************************************************

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. GAZA WAR
   2. TOURISM FROM ABROAD AND IN YESHA
   3. AMERICAN SENATORIAL SUPPORT
   4. PAYING THE PRICE
   5. INCREASED TRAIN, BUS, AND PLANE SERVICE FOR HOLIDAY
*** SPECIAL INSERT: LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT TO HEVRON

To Our Readers:
Arutz-7's Internet Staff wishes you a happy and kosher Pesach holiday,=20
beginning tomorrow night. Our next report will be on Monday, April=20
9. Israel will turn its clocks ahead by one hour early Monday morning.

1. GAZA WAR
The war in Gaza intensified last night and this morning. The Palestinians=
=20
fired five 81 mm mortar shells last night at Israeli targets; four shells=20
fell in Nachal Oz and Netiv] Ha'Asarah, communities within=20
Israel-proper. Rockets also hit the Gush Katif town of Morag; residents=20
were instructed to remain in their shelters. The IDF retaliated with=20
rockets towards Palestinian Intelligence and Force 17 targets. The PA=20
continued with six more mortar shells this morning, four of which were shot=
=20
towards Netzarim. The army responded with more rockets, this time towards=
=20
the southern neighborhoods of Gaza City.

A military source was quoted, "We have to make it clear to the Palestinians=
=20
that mortar shells are not part of the game, and that the reaction to them=
=20
will be extremely grave." Two PA military installations and a power=20
station were targeted by Israel Air Force helicopter gunships, and Gaza=20
City was left without electricity. In addition, Israel launched tank fire=
=20
at terrorist targets near Netzarim. Palestinian terrorists fired at=20
Netzarim and IDF targets nearby this morning; there were no injuries, and=20
IDF troops responded with gunfire.=09=09=09=09=09

In Jerusalem today, at least one policeman was lightly injured by=20
rock-throwing Arabs in the Old City. The Arabs rioted at Lions Gate and at=
=20
Mughrabi Gate.

2. TOURISM FROM ABROAD AND IN YESHA
Despite what has become known in Israel as "the situation" - otherwise=20
known as the Palestinian mini-war - many tourists have arrived in Israel=20
for the Passover holiday. Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of New York City, for=20
instance, has arrived with a group of over 100 congregants. Their message=
=20
to Israel: "We are here because you are here. Stay strong and=20
courageous." Rabbi Lookstein led a similar group after the beginning of=20
the Rosh HaShanah Arab Assault, last November.

Following the IDF announcement that holiday trips in Judea and Samaria will=
=20
be banned this Pesach because of the security situation, the Yesha Council=
=20
stated that it had made arrangements with the army to enable trips to=20
certain destinations. These include Hevron, Land of Genesis near Kfar=20
Adumim (between Jericho and Jerusalem), and others. For information, call=
=20
toll-free (in Israel) 1-800-280-380.

3. AMERICAN SENATORIAL SUPPORT
Eighty-seven of the 100 U.S. Senators have sent a letter to President=20
George W. Bush requesting that he not invite PA leader Yasser Arafat, at=20
least until after the White House completes a reassessment of its=20
relationship with the Palestinian Authority. The letter, initiated by=20
Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Joseph Biden (D-DE), urges the Bush=20
Administration to consider putting Arafat's Fatah Tanzim and Force 17 on=20
the official U.S. list of terrorist organizations. A similar letter is=20
circulating in the U.S. House of Representatives, initiated by Reps. Henry=
=20
Hyde (R-IL), Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, and=20
Ben Gilman (R-NY), Chairman of that Committee's Middle East Subcommittee.

The Brownback-Biden letter notes that "many of the attacks [against Israel]=
=20
are well-planned operations involving the highest levels of the Palestinian=
=20
security forces, openly led by the PLO's own militia, the Tanzim." The=20
letter also points out that "Arafat's release from detention since July of=
=20
over 130 members of the most radical anti-Israel groups directly involved=20
in attacks against Israelis has resulted in the commission of many acts of=
=20
terror=85 It is time that the leadership of the Palestinian Authority spea=
k=20
and act against the continuing violence and terrorism, or face a=20
significant change in our relations with them."

The Zionist Organization of American reports that many leading Israeli=20
figures have said recently that the PA is "a terrorist body" - most notably=
=20
including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, quoted in The New York Times on=20
March 28. Arafat himself has often called for the continuation of the=20
Jihad and the like.

*******************************************************
Pesach in Jerusalem! Suite available in Lev Yerushalayim Hotel from April=20
7-16. Only $80 a night - for up to 4 people!! Contact=20
<rivka@israelnationalnews.com> for details.
*******************************************************

4. PAYING THE PRICE
Former Southern Region IDF Commander Yom Tov Samieh says today that Israel=
=20
is now paying the price for ignoring Arab violations of the Oslo agreement=
=20
in the early stages of its implementation. Samieh revealed today that when=
=20
Arafat first arrived in Gaza seven years ago, Arafat smuggled three wanted=
=20
terrorists in his baggage compartment. Military intelligence officials=20
transferred this information to the Rabin government, but the political=20
echelons chose to ignore it. "Had Israel held up Arafat's entry to Gaza,"=
=20
Samieh said, "he would have understood that can't deceive us. Maybe=20
everything would have looked very different today."

Angelica Yosifov, 19, of Holon, was indicted this morning in the Tel Aviv=20
District Court for aiding and abetting Palestinian terrorist Zeid=20
Kiliani. Yosifov, the terrorist's Israeli girlfriend, is suspected of=20
providing him with seven cellular telephones that were used to detonate=20
explosive devices, and even helped him place two explosive devices in Tel=20
Aviv. She is further accused of having known that Kiliani stabbed and=20
critically wounded Col. (res.) Yaakov Ben-Dayan in a Tel Aviv marketplace,=
=20
as well as about his stash of weapons. The police asked that she be=20
remanded until the end of the proceedings against her; the judge gave only=
=20
15 days.

Despite forecasts of possible rain in central and northern Israel tonight,=
=20
Israel has basically marked off this winter as a lost cause. Even the=20
traditional winter prayers for rain will end this Sunday, in recognition=20
that the spring/summer has begun. The Interior Ministry is preparing the=20
country to save water this summer, and has allocated ten million shekels=20
for made-in-Israel water-saving devices in public buildings.

5. INCREASED TRAIN, BUS, AND PLANE SERVICE FOR HOLIDAY
In anticipation of a large volume of holiday eve travelers, additional=20
trains will be added this afternoon, the eve of the Shabbat/Passover=20
weekend, as well as on Sunday night, following the termination of the first=
=20
day of Passover. The Egged and Dan Bus Cooperatives have announced that=20
extra buses will also be added to heavily traveled routes to accommodate=20
holiday commuters.

In the air, heavy pre-holiday traffic began early yesterday, and some 8,000=
=20
persons arrived and took off from Eilat throughout the day. Flights took=20
off and arrived at a rate of one every seven minutes. Another 50 flights=20
are expected in and out of the southern resort city today, carrying about=20
5,000 persons.

*** SPECIAL INSERT: LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT TO HEVRON
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, together with his Deputy, Dalia=20
Rabi-Pelosoff, visited Hevron yesterday; Hevron spokesman Noam Arnon later=
=20
said, "Our only request was that the army take over Abu Sneineh. We showed=
=20
him the Hevron Agreement, which states that Abu Sneineh must be a security=
=20
zone, and that there must be an Israeli patrol presence there to prevent=20
shooting attacks upon us; that clause is simply not being=20
implemented... Ben-Eliezer said that the army would do everything to=20
maintain our security, but did not answer us directly about Abu Sneineh."

On March 29, three days after ten-month-old Shalhevet Pass was murdered by=
=20
a Palestinian sniper from the Abu Sneineh hills in Hevron, President Moshe=
=20
Katzav wrote the following letter to Rabbi Hillel Horowitz of the Jewish=20
Community in Hevron:

Greetings. I thank you for your letter and your good wishes, and I am=20
happy to send my greetings in honor of the Holiday of Freedom and the=20
Holiday of Independence to those who are renewing the Jewish presence in=20
Hevron and to all the residents of the City of the Patriarchs.

You are experiencing a difficult period, involving great personal=20
danger. You are deserving of great praise for your strong stand during=20
this difficult hour, and I praise you for your cooperation with the=20
security forces.

The entire nation shares in your heavy sorrow on the tragedy you=20
experienced with the terrible murder of the baby Shalhevet Pass, of blessed=
=20
memory. We all pray that you know no further sorrow, and that "the Nation=
=20
of Israel will live in safety."

I call upon you to take action to prevent small and marginal groups from=20
harming the security forces and the Arabs.

Your dedication on behalf of national and historic values, and on behalf of=
=20
the Nation of Israel, is a special model for all, and the pioneer spirit=20
that rings within you strengthens the spiritual power of the Nation.

Hevron, the City of Patriarchs, where the foundations of Israel's spiritual=
=20
and political tradition were laid, has always been, throughout the=20
generations, a focus of attraction and longing for the Jewish People. Jews=
=20
always lived here, except when pogroms drove them away.

The Jewish Community of Hevron was re-established with the support of the=20
governments of Israel, with belief that there could be Jewish-Arab=20
co-existence in the City of Patriarchs with mutual respect and respect for=
=20
the rights of one another.

I would like to encourage you during this difficult hour of security=20
tensions, and please transmit my feelings of admiration to the residents of=
=20
the city and participants in your entire enterprise.

Wishing you a Kosher and Happy Passover,
(President) Moshe Katzav

Hebrew News Editor: Haggai Segal
English News Editor: Hillel Fendel

***************************************
Arutz-Sheva's JEWISH UNIVERSE - Simple Surfing w/ Pictures of each website!
<a href=3D"http://www.jewishuniverse.net"> www.jewishuniverse.net </a>

Special Discount on exciting Pesach Trips in Israel! 25% off with mention=
=20
of this ad!
http://www.jewishuniverse.net/tracking/yossi-maimon.asp

The perfect book on Jewish customs - Great gift idea!
http://www.jewishuniverse.org/education/books/rite_and_reason.htm
***************************************

ARUTZ-7 ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1. Arutz Sheva's <http://NewsFromIsrael.com> All English News Updates &=20
Interviews

------- End of forwarded message -------

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 14:54:08 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] The Hot New Medium: Paper

The Hot New Medium: Paper

How the oldest interface in the book is redrawing the map of the
networked world.

By Steve Silberman

They're building something enormous at a research park outside of Lund,
Sweden. Like any concept that eventually becomes the standard by which
imagination is measured, it started out small and grew as its creators
came to understand the scale of what they were making. Now it's half as
big as the United States.

By dawn - which means midmorning in winter at this latitude - the
bulldozers have already been roaring for hours, churning mountains out of
the red, muddy soil, forcing drivers to improvise roads over the fresh
muck. The chaos of construction is not unusual here. The wireless boom in
Europe and Asia is bringing dozens of new office buildings to research
parks like this one all over Scandinavia, from startups incubated as
student projects, to established firms poised to surf the wave of
personal-area-network devices that will wash ashore in the next couple
of years. Even more ambitious, however, is the project taking shape in a
cluttered second-floor office known as the monkey cage by the engineers
and programmers who work there.

As Christer F=E5hraeus tries to describe the magnitude of what he and his
team are designing, his fingers dance with a pen across a sheet of paper.
A compact, straw-haired, 35-year-old Swede, F=E5hraeus gives off the aura o=
f
a tensely coiled spring. In Swedish or English, he speaks staccato, as if
there were too many ideas backing up behind the frustratingly slow buffer
of syntax. To relieve the pressure inside him, he sketches arrows,
rectangles, and intersections that form the true arc of his thoughts.
Words come secondarily to him, F=E5hraeus tells me - his brain thinks in
images. He holds up the paper.

"This is the most advanced digital input screen ever developed," he
declares. "It has very high resolution, perfect contrast, and costs a
fraction of a cent to produce. Any graphical interface can be printed on
it,
and you get years of full-time education, paid for by the government, to
learn how to use it. It will not be beaten in our lifetime."

He puts the paper in my hands. "And I can give it to you, because I have
hundreds more," he offers, gesturing toward a stack of blank paper on
his desk. F=E5hraeus isn't handing me a sketch of the input screen. The
paper is the screen.

That's what they're building at Anoto, the company F=E5hraeus launched a
year and a half ago beside this muddy field near the southwestern tip of
Sweden: a network that can transform millions of sheets of paper into a
new front end for the Internet.

By the end of this year, Ericsson will bring to market a pudgy-looking
ballpoint called the Chatpen. It will be the first of a new breed of
writing instrument invented by Anoto that will allow you to send email and
faxes directly on paper, with no personal computer or wireless tablet in
sight. You'll be able to jot these messages down on business cards, legal
pads, or company letterhead. To send a message, you'll simply check a box
for "Send as email" or "Send as fax" that's printed in the corner of the
paper. Marking other boxes will route your message to pagers or mobile
phones. A single scribbled note will trigger a cascade of networked
events: Jotting down a lunch date in your day planner could update your
laptop and fire off an email to your assistant.

"There are three fundamental technologies for gathering, storing, and
spreading information - voice, computer, and paper and pen," F=E5hraeus
declares, drawing three squares on the paper and methodically checking
them off. "Now we make this one digital and wireless, like the others." By
closing the gap between paper and the digital domain, Anoto is planning
to put the convenience and speed of the Net behind an interface that
was debugged thousands of years ago.

"If we succeed," he adds, "we will have more product coverage than any
other company on earth."

If his network rolls out as scheduled, within a year you'll be able to
make a check mark beside a magazine ad to receive information about a
product, or even to buy it. Visualize ecommerce without the
click-and-wait: Browsing through a printed catalog, you'll purchase items
- software, a subwoofer, or a trip to Paris - by ticking them off with a
pen. Circling your destination on a city map will display, on your
PalmPilot or mobile phone, the quickest route from here to there, movie
showtimes, or tonight's menu at the best bistros in the area.

To do these things, you'll need an instrument like the Chatpen that
contains technology developed by Anoto. (By 2003, other Anoto-enabled
pens, including Pilot rollerballs and a characteristically elegant
offering from Montblanc, will be available.) You'll also need a supply of
the special paper that Anoto has christened digital paper. It won't be
hard to find, and it won't cost much more than standard copy stock. Unlike
Xerox PARC's electronic paper or MIT/E Ink's Immedia, Anoto's technology
employs real paper and commonly available inks. By the time Chatpens
appear in office-supply shops and mail-order catalogs this fall, digital
paper sporting the Anoto logo will be turning up everywhere. This global
rollout will be branded with the most recognizable names in the
office-products industry. You'll be able to buy digital Cambridge legal
pads, digital At-A-Glance organizers, digital Financial Times diaries, and
digital Franklin planners handsomely bound in leather. This winter, expect
flurries of digital 3M Post-it Notes.

At Comdex 2000 last fall, the buzz was that some Swedish startup (or
Japanese; the name of the company, which does sound vaguely Pacific Rim,
is taken from the Latin annoto, meaning "I scribble") had developed a cool
"smart pen." Anoto was one of two finalists for a Best of Show award,
though interestingly, it lost to the Tablet PC, Microsoft's platform that
supports handwriting. Bill Gates' keynote, extolling the virtues of
handwritten input, included a demo in which he beamed a hand-drawn map to
an assistant - with directions to the nearest Starbucks.

While the established heavyweight took home the prize, the concepts
driving the Anoto network are a lot more ambitious than Microsoft's latest
must-buy for the handheld sector. Pen-based interfaces are not exactly
news, even if being able to write in your own handwriting is considerably
easier than trying to recall the Graffiti symbol for the letter q. While
the Chatpen demo in the Ericsson booth - featuring a caricaturist whose
drawings were piped to a laptop screen - was cute, it barely hinted at
Anoto's potential.

Anoto's approach, in contrast to Microsoft's, doesn't require a PC. Each
Anoto pen contains a Bluetooth chip that communicates with any other
Bluetooth device within 30 feet, which could be your mobile phone or
PDA. Ericsson will introduce the R520, the first handset to ship with
Bluetooth, in the US and Europe by the second half of this year. Nokia
already sells a Bluetooth card for its 6210 phone, and Toshiba started
shipping Bluetooth PC cards last fall. The penetration of these devices is
expected to snowball as the cost of Bluetooth chipsets plummets to
between $5 and $10 in the next three years. If the public-access
Bluetooth nodes now in development at companies like Cerulic and
NomadNetworks are widely installed in airports, hotels, and conference
centers, eventually all you'll need to carry is an Anoto-enabled pen and a
sheet of digital paper.

As nifty and convenient as the porting of handwritten text to the Net
may seem, there will be even more advantages to liberation from the
networked typewriter. If your native language is, say, Chinese, Arabic, or
Russian, you will no longer have to translate your thoughts into an
alphabet that a QWERTY keyboard understands. Once symbols and line
drawings are as easy to pour into the datastream as ASCII, you won't
have to depend on text at all. Storyboards, architectural sketches, fabric
designs, game strategies, and comic strips will be emailed, faxed, or
posted to the Web as quickly as they can be sketched by hand. Equations,
with their special characters and sub- and superscripts, will be a breeze.
If you compose a melody on sheet music, you will be able to play it
instantly on your mobile phone or MIDI device. An artist will be able to
zap sketches from his atelier to the Kinko's around the corner.

"Leonardo da Vinci would be our perfect customer," brags Jan
Andersson, the president of Anoto.

     The pen reads a near-invisible grid of gray dots to
     fix a location on a map half the size of the United
     States.

The peerless doodler from Florence might have appreciated that the spark
of genius which makes the network function does not reside in Anoto's
fancy pens. It's printed on the paper.

Full story (45k):
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.04/anoto_pr.html

via: transhumantech@yahoogroups.com

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=20

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 15:00:44 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Arabicnews items

[Note dates.]

Jordan and the US backing Jordan-USA, Politics,
4/6/2001

The International Herald Tribune daily issued in London on Wednesday called
on the US Congress to back Jordan in her being the closest allies for the US
in the Arab region.

The paper said that Jordan is a very strong ally to the US. It carries out a
democratization operation through a genuine parliament that came through
elections. Besides the Jordanian government deals with its citizens on
ground of respect.

The paper continued that Jordan is considered an important separation area
between Iraq, Syria and Israel, and that despite the fact that the value of the
Jordanian exports to the USA does not exceed the annual salary of the US
Basket- ball player Michael Jordan, however, this desert Kingdom, is headed
by a young King who sees that trade, rather financial aids is the way to bring
about development.

The paper continued that King Abdullah of Jordan is making internal reforms
in his country and is trying to make himself distinguished from oil- producing
Arab states through calling for the free trade areas with the US.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010406/2001040602.html

--------------------

Washington opposes a Jordanian, Iraqi agreement Jordan-Iraq-USA, Politics,
2/6/2001

Political and diplomatic sources in Amman said that the US has opposed
Jordan's desire to sign a free trade zone agreement with Iraq, which is
currently under preparations.

The Jordanian weekly al-Majd in its recent issue published on Monday
quoted these sources as saying that the American embassy in Amman
conveyed to the Jordanian government the regret of the American
administration for statements made by the Jordanian prime minister Ali Abu
al-Ragheb which he made last Monday in which he said that the Jordanian
minister of commerce and industry will discuss in Baghdad signing a free
trade agreement between the two states.

The same sources added that the US state department informed the
Jordanian foreign ministry that Jordan can not be linked to two free trade
agreements with two countries who are in a state of hostility and that Jordan
has to stop its attempt to sign this agreement with Iraq.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010206/2001020609.html

--------------------------

King Abdullah, Bush vow to establish peace Jordan-USA, Politics,
12/18/2000

The Jordanian King Abdullah II and the US President elect George Bush have
vowed in a telephone call to work together in order to achieve peace in the
Middle East region.

A Jordanian official source in Amman said that the Jordanian King on
Saturday talked on the telephone with Bush to congratulate him over his
election as President for the US.

"The two officials stressed their care to develop Jordanian- American
relations and to work together for achieving comprehensive, just and lasting
peace in the region, based on international legitimacy resolutions," the
Jordanian source said.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/001218/2000121815.html

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From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2001 20:24:17 -0000
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Philologos Seeks Volunteer - Special Offer

Hi guys,

Right now Philologos.org consists of two people - Moza and myself -
and we're looking for a little help to ease the load. We'd like to
find someone who is interested in reading selected books and then
writing reviews of them.

No experience is necessary, but we are looking for in-depth reviews
with some semi-professional quality. If you are interested in
volunteering, and the key word here is "volunteering," please submit
a sample of your writing to us. You could perhaps write up a review
of a recent book you've read.

While Philologos cannot pay anyone for their time and effort, we can
offer to buy the volunteer reader/reviewer one book a month. You'll
be offering your time and in the process you'll get to keep the
book. All we ask is that a review be written for each book that
Philologos purchases for you.

The reviews will be featured on our BPR Reference Guide site
(http://philologos.org/guide/default.htm) in a special monthly
column. The reviewer should consider this their own personal column
on BPR. This is a chance to share your personal interests in various
bible related topics with our visitors. Philologos, however, does
reserve the right to judge the content of each review before allowing
it to be posted on the site.

If interested, please contact me at: owner-bpr@philologos.org

Send a sample of your writing and give us an idea of what types of
books you are interested in: prophecy related, commentaries, bible
studies, christian fiction, non-fiction, classic literature, etc.
You may even send a "wish list" of books you would like to read.
Also, please include some background information about yourself. We
are not interested in any personal biographical info, other than your
name of course, but we do want to know if you are a Christian and
what your basic interests are in bible related matters.

We will leave this offer open until April 30, 2001 to give everyone
an opportunity to express interest and/or write up a review.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Moza and
I look forward to working with you.

Thanks,

(April 6, 2001)

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 19:20:05 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] School Sued Over "Straight Pride" Sweatshirt Ban

April 6, 2001=20

School Sued Over "Straight Pride" Sweatshirt Ban=20=20

(CNSNEWS) -- A St. Paul, Minn., teenager is suing his high school after=20
school officials told him his sweatshirt, with the trademark logo 'Straight=
=20
Pride,' was offensive to gay, lesbian and bisexual students.=20=20

On the back of 16-year-old Elliot Chambers' shirt was the universal symbol =
of=20
a man and woman holding hands.=20=20

"In the afternoon, he was approached by an assistant principal who told him=
=20
that a female student, representing a group of homosexual students, were=20
offended at Elliot's wearing of the sweatshirt, and the assistant principal=
said=20
she would be speaking with the principal about the matter," said Michael=20
DePrimo of the American Family Association Law Center, who is=20
representing the family.=20=20

"The next day, Elliot was summoned to the principal's office, and he was to=
ld=20
he could not wear the sweatshirt to school again, allegedly because=20
homosexuals were offended by it," DePrimo said.=20=20

The school has set up "safe" rooms, marked by inverted pink triangles, the=
=20
universal symbol of the homosexual community. The "safe" rooms are set=20
aside for student/teacher discussion and counseling about homosexuality=20
and other "non-traditional relationships."=20=20

During a meeting with the school principal Dana Babbitt, the Chambers=20
expressed concern about the school's open support of homosexuality. The=20
Chambers claim Babbitt called them "homophobic."=20=20

"The Chambers have contacted many other parents of Woodbury High=20
School students and informed them of the safe rooms and the open support=20
that the school is giving to homosexuality and bisexuality," DePrimo said.=
=20
"From what I heard, every parent was outraged to find out what the school=20
has done."=20=20

The center is challenging the constitutionality of the school's policy, whi=
ch,=20
according to DePrimo, says, "Students may not wear items with=20
unacceptable writing or graphic depictions, which offend anyone or distract=
=20
from the educational experience of students at Woodbury High School.=20
Unacceptable writing or graphic depictions are those, which are commonly=20
accepted as vulgar, obscene or socially demeaning or derogatory."=20=20

DePrimo added, "And it's our position that his sweatshirt does not fall int=
o=20
that category."=20=20

Stephen M. Crampton, chief counsel for the center, said, "This is a case of=
=20
classic viewpoint discrimination. The school has chosen to openly embrace=20
homosexuality and bisexuality, and it does not welcome dissenting points of=
=20
views. What is especially troubling is the school's open hostility toward=20
student support of committed man-woman relationships."=20=20

Principal Dana Babbitt and the school district declined comment.=20=20

The American Family Association Law Center is the legal arm of the=20
American Family Association, Inc., and it has offices in Tupelo, Miss., and=
=20
Washington, D.C. The center restricts its practice to constitutional litiga=
tion=20
in state and federal courts throughout the country.=20=20

=A9 2001 CSNNews.com=20
=A9 2001 Maranatha Christian News Service=20=20

http://www.mcjonline.com/news/01a/20010406e.shtml

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 19:22:57 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Infobeat News items (4/6/01)

*** Houston hospitals delay surgeries

HOUSTON (AP) - Doctors at two hospitals have postponed surgeries due
to a blood shortage in the nation's fourth largest city, and the
regional blood center is appealing for donors. A liver transplant
under way Thursday night at Memorial Hermann Hospital forced the
postponement of another surgery until Friday, said Beth Hartwell,
medical director of the laboratory and blood bank for the hospital.
She said blood bank had 20 units of type O, far short of the 120
needed to get through two days. Surgeons at The Methodist Hospital
were delaying a major heart operation because of the blood shortage,
said Dr. David Yawn, co-director of Methodist's transfusion center.
At the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, officials
planned to send a mobile clinic out to conduct a blood drive Friday.
The blood bank had only 15 units of type O blood Thursday evening.
Blood drives were also planned in several locations in Houston, and
officials at the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center appealed to donors
to help replenish the critically low supplies.

Full article at: http://www.infobeat.com/fullArticle?article=406656481

*** EU confirms Intel investigation

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - European competition officials confirmed
Friday they are investigating allegations that Intel Corp. used its
dominant position in computer chips to engage in abusive marketing
practices. The European Union Commission said it had received two
complaints about Intel and is examining replies the U.S.-based
company has provided to its questions. The EU probe is unrelated to
a three-year investigation into Intel's business practices by the
U.S. Federal Trade Commission that was closed last September with no
action taken. A call to Intel's European affairs office in Brussels
was not immediately returned. "The investigation is at a very early
stage and the Commission hasn't made any findings that Intel has
actually committed an infringement of EU competition rules," the
Commission said. The Commission added that requests for information
have been sent to several computer manufacturers and retailers.

Full article at: http://www.infobeat.com/fullArticle?article=406655661

*** Volcano erupts on ocean floor

BROOKINGS, Ore. (AP) - A volcano has been erupting on the ocean floor
off the southern Oregon coast since Tuesday night, but it poses no
threat to ships or coastal communities, scientists say. The eruption
130 miles off the coast has generated more than 1,000 minor
earthquakes that continued late Thursday. A few quakes have been
powerful enough to be detected by land-based instruments, with the
largest measuring 4.5 magnitude. Scientists with the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been using undersea
instruments to track activity at the volcano, on an undersea ridge
that runs off southern Oregon and northern California. "We're
mobilizing to get a research ship to check it out," said Robert W.
Embley, a marine geologist with the administration's Vents Program.
Researchers would like the ship to arrive in time to find
"megaplumes," gigantic bursts of hot, mineral-rich water that are
spewed out of underwater eruptions.

Full article at: http://www.infobeat.com/fullArticle?article=406656560

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 19:30:23 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Weekend News Today items (4/6/01)

Rare snow fall hits Tokyo's cherry blossoms=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: faith=20
                         Source: Discovery News=20

Fri Apr 6,2001 -- Snow fell on Tokyo's cherry blossoms after a strong cold=
=20
front hit the Japanese archipelago. It was the first time in 25 years that =
the=20
phenomenon called "hanabie," or cherry blossom chill, had occurred in=20
downtown Tokyo, according to the country's meteorological agency.=20
Temperatures in the metropolis dropped well below the seasonal average,=20
and snow and rain also fell in numerous prefectures to the north and west o=
f=20
Tokyo. The cherry blossom season is normally a chance for the Japanese to=20
emerge from their winter confinement and enjoy one of the first spells of=20
spring warmth.=20=20

Quake Jolts Quake-Weary El Salvador=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: faith=20
                         Source: Discovery News=20

Fri Apr 6,2001 -- A magnitude 5.0 earthquake hit quake-weary El Salvador on=
=20
Wednesday at 1:34 a.m. local time. The quake was centered about 200=20
miles (330 km) NW of the Nicaraguan capital Managua. Seismologists said=20
the offshore quake occurred 40 miles (63 km) beneath the seabed of the=20
Pacific Ocean. In January and February, 2 powerful temblors killed more tha=
n=20
1,100 people in El Salvador and left nearly 1 million others homeless. At=20
least 7,000 aftershocks have shaken the Central American country since=20
those major quakes hit.=20=20

Livestock Cull Impacting Humans=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: faith=20
                         Source: Discovery News=20

Fri Apr 6,2001 -- Pollution from the disposal of the slaughtered livestock =
has=20
triggered fear among many residents that the means of disposal could=20
contaminate air and water sources as well as spread mad cow disease.=20
Some have made accusations that, in its haste to dispose of the culled=20
animals, the government has ignored the impacts of pollutants. The=20
respected environmental news and policy journal ENDS Report reported that=20
fires used to burn the carcasses are fueled by wooden railway ties, coal an=
d=20
old tires, which emit "a variety of hazardous substances including dioxins,=
=20
PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), and particulates."=20=20

Britain's environmental agency foot-and-mouth task force leader, Geoff=20
Bateman, reported that there had also been "unprecedented" use of=20
disinfectants containing substances toxic to aquatic life. According to the=
=20
most recent figures released by MAFF, 631,000 animals have been killed=20
and another 379,000 have been designated for slaughter.=20=20

3 Cyclones Form Over Indian Ocean=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: faith=20
                         Source: Discovery News=20

Fri Apr 6,2001 -- 3 tropical cyclones, 17S, 18S and Walter, aligned=20
themselves almost equidistantly over the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, but=20
none of the storms currently pose a threat to any major landmass.=20=20

Controversial 'GayDays' event announced for second theme park in Orlando =
=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: Leo=20
                         Source: CharismaNews.com=20

Fri Apr 6,2001 -- Pro-family groups are calling for an expansion of their=20
boycott of the Disney empire as another Florida theme park prepares to hold=
=20
a controversial "GayDays" celebration this summer.=20=20

Conservative campaigners say that if Christians continue to refuse to spend=
=20
their money at theme parks that promote the gay agenda, then the=20
companies will ultimately feel the financial pinch and change their policie=
s.=20
According to an article at GayOrlando.com, months of behind-the-scenes=20
meetings with various Universal Orlando executives have resulted "in a quie=
t=20
but definite spirit of cooperation" between theme park management and=20
GayDays.com, "the keepers of the GayDays flame." Now organizers at the=20
gay Web site have announced the First Annual Gay Day at Universal's=20
Islands of Adventure, June 3, though they say the event is not officially=20
endorsed by Universal.=20=20

The theme park is following the lead of near-neighbor Walt Disney World,=20
where "GayDays" began in 1990 when homosexual activists encouraged=20
gays to visit the park on a given day and "Wear Red and Be Seen." The=20
event has since mushroomed into an annual weeklong June gathering that=20
attracts more than 130,000 gays from around the world, and has seen the=20
Disney park dubbed "Gay Disney."=20=20

Hurricane forecaster, Gray predicts hurricane season 2001=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: faith=20
                         Source: Weather.com=20

Fri Apr 6,2001 -- Within 2 months hurricane season will once again be upon=
=20
us. So, hurricane forecaster and Colorado State University professor Dr.=20
William Gray says the season will pack 10 named storms. Gray says 6 of=20
the storms will bloom into hurricanes, 2 of which are expected to be intens=
e.=20
This season's predictions are slightly above normal. The long-term average=
=20
from 1950 to 1990 is 9.3 named storms, 5.8 hurricanes and 2.2 major=20
hurricanes per year. "In general, the more active the seasons are, the grea=
ter=20
landfall probability there is," Gray explained, citing a 65 percent chance =
one=20
hurricane will actually make landfall in 2001.=20=20

But don't jump to the conclusion that it's necessarily good news. Experts=20
say it only takes 1 storm to impact thousands of people and cause millions=
=20
of dollars in damage. "One of the worst storms we ever had was Hurricane=20
Andrew...and that was a very inactive year," Gray said. "We only had 1=20
major storm (that year), but it was Andrew, and it hit South Florida and it=
hit=20
the Louisiana coast, too." Gray and his team cite reasons for and against a=
=20
strong season. They say El Ni=F1o could cause fierce westerly winds that wo=
rk=20
against the tropical cyclones.=20=20

They also say warmer water temperatures and barometric pressures in the=20
Atlantic Ocean indicate a stronger season. The last six years have been the=
=20
most active on average, except for a calm season in 1997, said Gray.=20
Hurricanes Opal, Floyd and Bret all made landfall, but wind patterns have=20
kept other storms from hitting land. And due to that, "We've been lucky,"=20
Gray said. Still, Gray makes one more prediction. He says that hurricanes=20
could become the biggest natural hazard to strike the United States, thanks=
=20
to the population boom in the SE. "I'm quite sure that in the next 15, 20=20
years, we're going to see hurricane damage worse than we've ever seen it." =
=20

Speakers invited to EU Ministers of Agriculture meeting to argue, ''the wor=
ld=20
is not an object for trade''=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead:Kelly=20
                         www.euobserver.com=20

Fri Apr 6,2001 -- The EU Ministers of Agriculture will meet for an informal=
=20
ministerial meeting in =D6stersund between 8 and 10 April. Two issues will =
be=20
at the focus of the discussions - the food chain and foot and mouth disease=
.=20
At the same time, an ambitious counter-arrangement will take place under=20
the caption, "the world is not an object for trade" and will feature speake=
rs=20
like Jos=E9 Bov=E9, French farmer and activist, and Berge Furre, Norwegian=
=20
clergyman and spokesman for Landless (MST) in Brazil. Three political=20
parties, as well as a number of heavyweight grassroot organisations, are=20
invited to the arrangement.=20=20

A demonstration, a press conference, and a conference will ask these=20
questions: "How can we create a world trade on foods, building on security =
of=20
supply and on organic farming? What changes must be made in trade=20
policies, in the administration of natural resources and in agricultural=20
systems? What are the present conditions and the needs for change?"=20=20

Suicide may have a genetic basis=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: Leo=20
                         Source: UniSci.com=20

Fri Apr 6,2001 -- According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and=20
Prevention (CDC), suicide is the 8th leading cause of death in the U.S. (an=
d=20
the 3rd for those in the 15-24 age range).=20=20

Two articles in the current issue of Molecular Psychiatry from researchers =
in=20
France and in Switzerland have identified variations (polymorphisms) in two=
=20
genes that are associated with suicidality -- the tendency to kill oneself.=
=20
These findings suggest that suicidality may have a genetic basis.=20=20

Massachusetts expands insurance coverage for people with HIV=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: Leo=20
                         Source: Yahoo News/Reuters Health=20

Fri Apr 6,2001 -- In a landmark shift in policy, Massachusetts said today t=
hat=20
it is enrolling low- and moderate-income residents infected with HIV into=20
MassHealth, its Medicaid program. It becomes the first state in the nation =
to=20
extend Medicaid benefits to people who have HIV but who have not=20
developed full-blown AIDS. Advocates for people with HIV and AIDS lauded=20
the move, which they said aligns state health policy with nationally accept=
ed=20
HIV treatment protocol.=20=20

As of April 1, HIV-positive residents younger than 65 may qualify for direc=
t=20
coverage or health insurance premium assistance under MassHealth.=20
Benefits are available to people whose incomes are at or below 200% of the=
=20
federal poverty line--about $17,000 for a single person.=20=20

In January, Massachusetts received a waiver from the US Department of=20
Health and Human Services allowing it to expand coverage to people with=20
HIV. A handful of other states also have applied for or received federal=20
waivers, sources told Reuters Health.=20=20

Germany urges Turkey to stop blocking new EU force=20=20

                         Weekend News Today=20
                         Lead: Leo=20
                         Source: ABC Raw News/Reuters=20

Fri Apr 6,2001 -- German Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping urged Turkey on=
=20
Friday to stop blocking the EU's proposed military rapid reaction force, wh=
ich=20
is intended to complement NATO. NATO member Turkey wants a bigger say=20
in the new force's decision-making, despite being outside the EU. The EU,=20
which Ankara aspires to join, says this is unacceptable because it would=20
give the Turks an effective veto on future operations.=20=20

"We hope Turkey will reconsider its policy and will take a cooperative line=
,"=20
Scharping told reporters during a break in a meeting of EU defence minister=
s=20
in Brussels. "It is in the interests of Turkey to take the perspective of=20
cooperation with the EU," he added.=20=20

Despite the spat with Turkey, Scharping said the EU had made "good=20
progress" towards its goal of establishing a 60,000-strong force by 2003. B=
ut=20
he said EU states must match their rhetoric with action and deliver promise=
s=20
to commit men and technology to the force. Establishing the rapid reaction=
=20
force was the focus of EU defence ministers' discussions on Friday. The=20
ministers were also due to discuss how to integrate possible future=20
contributions by non-EU countries such as Russia and Ukraine into the=20
planned force.=20=20

http://216.219.160.226/cgi-
bin/readnews.cgi?day=3D01_04_6&item=3D#986593082

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=20

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 19:33:22 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] King Abdullah of Jordan makes plea in meeting with evangelical leaders

April 5, 2001

Arab Leader Asks American Christians to Press for Peace in Middle East

King Abdullah of Jordan makes plea in meeting with evangelical leaders

by Stephen Strang, Publisher

King Abdullah of Jordan yesterday asked a group of evangelical leaders to
urge Christians in America to press for peace in the Middle East. Meeting in
Washington, D.C., with some 80 leaders whom the Arab monarch called
"men and women of peace," he said: "Arabs need to hear your voice."

King Abdullah asked the group -- from the United States, Canada and South
Korea -- to communicate to members of their constituencies that: "the future
in the Middle East must be peace. It's time to stand up for what we believe
in. We need courage. The people in America should believe in us. Don't lose
hope in us."

Seoul, South Korea, pastor David Yonggi Cho, Trinity Broadcasting
Network's (TBN) Paul Crouch Jr., and pastors John Hagee of San Antonio,
Marilyn Hickey of Denver, and Billy Joe Daugherty of Tulsa, Okla., were
among those who attended the meeting hosted by TV evangelist Benny
Hinn. He told the group that evangelicals had "put one arm around the Jews
in Israel, and now it was time to put the other arm around the Arabs since
they are God's children, too."

Hinn's comment was applauded by the group, including King Abdullah, who
is in Washington this week to talk with members of Congress who are voting
soon on a Free Trade Agreement with Jordan, which the king said was
important to his country's economic development.

King Abdullah ascended to the throne in 1999 following the death of his
father, King Hussein, noted for his long-running peace efforts in the Middle
East. King Abdullah said that Jordan -- whose population is 92 percent
Muslim -- had a history of equality for various religions, including a growing
evangelical Christian minority. Benny Hinn and fellow evangelist Morris
Cerullo have both held meetings in Jordan.

The king spoke about the "difficulties" in the West Bank between Arabs and
Jews and talked at length for the need to end the "vicious cycle of violence,"
saying "if the violence continues it will only get worse." He also said that
Jordan's tourist office was actively pursuing Christian tourism and invited the
group to visit the country's holy sites.

Earlier this year the Jordan Tourism Board launched a major effort to put the
country on the pilgrim map, calling its 200 authenticated biblical locations
"probably the best kept secret of the Holy Land." Among the biblical sites in
Jordan are the place where Jesus was baptized, Elijah's hill and Mount
Nebo.

During a question-answer time, Paul Crouch Jr. asked if TBN could build a
station in Jordan. King Abdullah said even though the nation's newspapers
and TV stations were currently a government monopoly, he was pushing for
"privatization" which might allow for such a station.

Claud Bowers, president of WACX-TV SuperChannel 55 in Orlando, Fla., told
the group that his wife had just returned from a successful tour of Jordan with
a group of tourists. Don Argue, president of Northwest College of the
Assemblies of God in Kirkland, Wash., told the king the group had been
invited by a committee called "Friends of Jordan," and they wanted to be
supportive of the growing group of evangelicals in Jordan.

Hinn told the group that the late King Hussein had asked to meet with
evangelical leaders, but died before the meeting could take place.

http://www.charismanews.com/fullnews/fullnews.cgi?a=latest&t=news.html

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 19:37:45 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Harpazo.net News items (4/6/01)

Israel Rockets Palestinian Police
Israeli helicopters rocketed Palestinian police installations north of Gaza City
early Friday, apparently retaliating for a barrage of mortar shells fired earlier
by the Palestinians. Palestinian police Lt. Col. Naim Alian said at least four
rockets were fired, damaging a two-story headquarters building and two other
structures.

The Israeli prime minister's office confirmed that the attack took place. Israel
radio said the helicopters were aiming at installations where the mortar
rounds were fired. Several of them landed in Israel.

Palestinian doctors said at least five people were injured in the attack on the
compound near the town of Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of the Gaza
Strip.

The explosions from the rocket attack could be heard in Gaza City. Parts of
the city were blacked out. Alian said one of the rockets apparently hit a main
power line.

The Israeli's attacked after three mortar shells fired from Palestinian areas in
Gaza landed near Netiv Haasara, a village in Israel next to Gaza. No
casualties were reported. It was only the third time Palestinians have fired
mortar rounds at Israeli villages outside Gaza. AP

US Fires Rare Double-Barreled Shot Of Criticism At Israel
The United States fired a rare double-barreled shot of criticism at Israel on
Thursday, blasting plans for new settlements in the Palestinian territories
and protesting an incident in which Israeli soldiers opened fire on a convoy of
Palestinian officials.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the shooting, which
occurred as the Palestinians were returning to Gaza after US-facilitated
security talks with Israeli officials, "a very serious incident."

On hearing of it, Secretary of State Colin Powell immediately telephoned
both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
to urge restraint, Boucher told reporters.

"We wanted to ensure that escalation would not ensue," Boucher told
reporters, adding that Washington understood Sharon and Arafat had also
spoken directly to each other after the incident.

Boucher then read the riot act to Israel, spelling out in terse and blunt detail
what the United States expected from the Jewish state, particularly after
Washington had worked hard to arrange the security talks, the first since
Sharon took office last month. AFP

PM Defends Son's Talks With Arafat
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday defended sending his son Omri to
meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. The meeting had
produced a barrage of criticism for seemingly backtracking on his "no
negotiations under fire" pledge.

Sharon told a Likud gathering last night that his son went to the meeting
earlier this week with only one message - to tell Arafat that Israel will not
negotiate under fire.

"I sent him," Sharon told the crowd at Kfar Maccabiah in Ramat Gan. "I'm
sorry I take it personally, but after I heard comments from all sides - I also
dwell among my people - I felt it necessary to clarify that I sent him to say to
them clearly that we will struggle against terror, and there will be no
negotiations under fire." Jerusalem Post

Syrian Rapprochement of PA As Arafat Visit Nears
Syria has recently begun to recognize Palestinian Authority passports for the
first time since the Oslo Accords were signed in September 1993. This
decision marks a positive change in Syrian policy toward the PA, following
the Syrian government's decision to change their relations. Head of the
"Palestinian Rescue Front," Dr. Halad Fahoum, who is extremely close to
the Syrian government, said recently that Syria would even begin allowing
PA residents to enter its territory with their vehicles.

In recent days, PLO and PA officials began preparing for PA Chairman
Yasser Arafat's visit to Syria at the end of the month. In their broadcasts, the
Syrian media has recently begun to use the title "Palestinian Authority" after
not having done so since the creation of the PA. In practice, this means the
first formal Syrian recognition of the Palestinian Authority.

The person mainly responsible for making preparations for Arafat's visit to
Syria is head of the PLO diplomatic office, Farouk Khadomi, who recently
met with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shara and Vice President Abd al
Halim Khaddam. Khadomi also met with heads of Palestinian rejectionist
groups in order to organize meetings between them and Arafat. Among
others, Khadomi spoke with the head of the Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Shalah,
and senior Hamas members Imad al Alami and Halad Mishal. Jerusalem
Affairs Minister Faisal Husseini, who is also in Damascus at this time, spoke
with Vice President Khaddam.

Damascus is attributing the rapprochement of the PA to five factors: The link
between Palestinian and Syrian-Lebanese negotiation tracks with Israel; the
PA's continued support of the Intifada, the adherence to the demand for an
independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem; the return of
Palestinain refugees; and the basis of any agreement in UN resolutions 242
and 338. Ha'aretz

US Has Taiwan Card Up Its Sleeve
George Bush's advisers are examining a graduated list of possible steps the
United States could take if there is no quick end to the stand-off with China
over the detained American EP-3 spy plane. With China continuing to insist
on an American apology before any moves to release the 24 crew members
and the plane itself on Hainan island in the South China sea, and with the
US still insisting that it will offer no such thing as Chinese jets challenged its
aircraft in international airspace, the prospect of such measures grew more
likely yesterday. But it was far from clear whether the Bush administration
had decided which steps to take, or when to take them. the guardian

Severe Weather Outbreak Forecast for Plains
A significant severe weather outbreak, including tornadoes, hail and high
winds, is forecast for Friday afternoon and night across parts of the Central
and Southern Plains. The areas most likely to be hit include south-central
and southeast Nebraska, central and eastern Kansas and central and
eastern Oklahoma, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's
storms prediction center said Thursday. "This is developing into a potentially
dangerous situation," said Dan McCarthy, warning coordination
meteorologist for the prediction center. CNN

Some of Yesterday's Earthquakes
        4.9 CHILE-ARGENTINA BORDER REGION
        4.4 NEAR EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA
        4.9 LEEWARD ISLANDS
        5.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS

www.harpazo.net/news.html

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 19:39:47 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Chinese Fighter Jets Chase Away Five U.S. Spy Planes

Chinese Fighter Jets Chase Away Five U.S. Spy Planes

HONG KONG, Apr 6, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Ten Chinese fighter
jets were despatched to warn off five U.S. spy planes carrying out a
surveillance mission off the Chinese coast, it was reported Friday.

Chinese military authorities on Thursday immediately despatched the jets
after the U.S. planes were located in an unidentified area in coastal China,
the Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po said in a report.

"Under the close monitor of our aircrafts, the U.S. spy planes were eventually
scampered out of China's coastal areas," the paper cited an unidentified
source in Beijing as saying.

The daily noted that it was the first such incident since a U.S. EP-3 spy
plane, carrying 24 crew members, landed at a military base on the southern
island of Hainan after a collision with a Chinese F-8 fighter jet.

So far this year, some 63 U.S. surveillance aircrafts have been detected in
Chinese coastal areas, it said.

Last year, the United States sent some 950 spy planes to carry out spying
mission along the Chinese coast, the daily said.

China has held the United States responsible for the accident over
international waters which left a pilot of one of its F-8 fighters missing, while
Washington said the fault was on the Chinese side.

The Chinese foreign ministry has also accused the U.S. plane of failing to go
through proper channels to get permission to land on Chinese territory. The
United States has said the plane was forced to make an emergency landing.

Beijing has demanded that U.S. apologize for the incident, but so far
Washington has only expressed regret over the missing pilot. ((c) 2001
Agence France Presse)

http://www.insidechina.com/news.php3?id=331304

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From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 19:41:44 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Palestinians: Israeli presence on Mount will have dire results

April 6, 2001 08:08 (Israel time)=20=20

Palestinians: Israeli presence on Mount will have dire results=20=20

Ha=92aretz Service=20

In response to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon=92s announcement that he would=20
support allowing Israelis to continue to visit the Temple Mount, the=20
Palestinian Authority has said that any desecration of the Temple Mount sit=
e=20
will cause dire consequences.=20=20

According to Israel Radio, the PA announcement from Gaza stated that=20
considering the possibility of visiting the Temple Mount is like playing wi=
th=20
fire.=20=20

Sharon instructed security officials Thursday to find the best way to enabl=
e=20
visits to the Temple Mount. Sharon's visit to the Mount in September of las=
t=20
year was one of the factors in the outbreak of the violence of the past six=
=20
months.=20=20

The Prime Minister's Office said the prime minister is fundamentally=20
obligated to provide to all religions the basic right to visit the Temple M=
ount.=20=20

In a related story, the Supreme Court denied a petition Thursday afternoon=
=20
by the Temple Mount Faithful who requested police permission to pray on=20
the Temple Mount during the Passover holiday. The judges accepted the=20
position of the police that to allow prayers on the site would likely lead =
to=20
riots in Jerusalem and throughout Israel.=20=20

http://www2.haaretz.co.il/breaking-news/Intifada/359937.stm

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=20

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/=20

From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 20:12:39 -0400
Reply-To: bprlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] MTV Lawsuit

MTV LAWSUIT: Two 14-year-old girls who were sprayed with excrement
during a taping of the MTV pilot Dude, This Sucks are suing the network.
According to Reuters, Monique Garcia and Kelli Sloat said they were invited
to stand near the stage during the show - taped last January in Big Bear, a
mountain community outside of Los Angeles - with no warning that two men
calling themselves the "Shower Rangers" were about to defecate on them.
"All of a sudden I was smelling something disgusting and I started to gag,"
Garcia said. "I looked around at my friends. They were covered in something.
As I looked down at myself I realized that I was, too." Brian Graden, MTV's
president of programming, apologized and vowed that the footage would
never air.

via: TVGuide Insider <tvguideinsider@TVGUIDE.COM>

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