Huckabee Camp Still Laughing on the ‘08 Trail
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/03/03/huckabee-camp-still-laughing-on-the-08-trail/
Mike Huckabee is the latest victim of a fierce game called “Nap Tag.”
Throughout the 2008 election season, Huckabee’s campaign aides and traveling press have been involved in the running practical joke.
The game consists of this: When a member of the press or Huckabee’s staff makes the unfortunate mistake of falling asleep while traveling from one destination to another, the others conspire to write a humorous or embarrassing comment on a piece of paper and then place it near the head of the sleeping person. A photo is then taken to memorialize the dreamy, bubble-quote moment.
Almost everyone has been tagged at one time or another, including FOX News’ embed producer, who’s been caught asleep twice this election. Recently, players have nap-tagged some big names, including Huckabee surrogate and film star Chuck Norris, who got caught with a sign that read, “MH (Mike Huckabee) can beat me up.” Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist was snapped with a tag that read: “Suit and Tie Made in Mexico.”
Until Monday, one person who had never been tagged was Huckabee himself. That outstanding record ended, thanks to Huckabee’s daughter, Sarah.
While the photo has not been released, the piece of paper placed next to Huckabee’s sleeping head read: “If I close my eyes hard enough, it feels like Air Force One.”
Texas Could Be Huckabee's Last Stand
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/332314.aspx
It may not be the Alamo - exactly.
But Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee may be making his last stand in the Lone Star State.
The Texans, of course, rebounded and ultimately won their independence.
But things don't look as rosy for Huckabee. Despite the odds, he has urged supporters to turn out in Texas as he campaigned Monday across the state.
The former Arkansas governor is hoping a Texas primary win could keep Republican front-runner John McCain from getting the necessary number of delegates required to get the nomination.
But a clean sweep of Tuesday night's primaries could cinch the nomination for McCain. The Arizona senator has an insurmountable lead in the delegate count.
Voters in Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island also go to the polls tomorrow.
McCain's Evangelical Endorsement
McCain has received the endorsement of Texas televangelist John Hagee.
But some Catholic groups are pressuring McCain to reject the endorsement. Hagee has been criticized for calling the Catholic Church "a false cult system."
"Indeed, for the past few decades, he has waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church," said Catholic League President Bill Donohue.
"Senator Obama has repudiated the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan, another bigot. McCain should follow suit and retract his embrace of Hagee," he said. He was referring to Barack Obama, who said he would "reject and denounce" any help from Farrakhan.
McCain issued a statement saying only that he doesn't agree with everything Hagee says.
"In no way did I intend for his endorsement to suggest that I in turn agree with all of Pastor Hagee's views, which I obviously do not," McCain said.
Before issuing the statement, he told reporters he was "proud" of Hagee's spiritual leadership of his congregation.
The controversy appears mild so far, but every vote counts in a tight presidential race. It remains to be seen how much Hagee could hurt McCain's standing among Catholic voters.
Democrats, however, are doing their best to keep the fracas alive, with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean raising it Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition."
"What about a guy who is a vicious anti-Catholic, who is supporting John McCain, and John McCain does not denounce or reject him?" Dean said.
So far, McCain has enjoyed strong support from Catholics, who make up about a quarter of the electorate.
Jewish Backlash Against Obama
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Jewish_Backlash_Against_O/2008/03/03/77345.html
Jewish voters in New York State — including Democrats — could support Republican John McCain in the November election if Barack Obama wins his party’s nomination, according to Fredric U. Dicker’s “Inside Albany” column in the New York Post.
Dov Hikind, a Democrat who backed Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984, is an assemblyman whose Brooklyn district includes the largest concentration of Hasidic Jews in the U.S.
He said many of his constituents oppose Obama for his “half-hearted” support of Israel and his membership in the church of Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., who has repeatedly praised anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
“There are a lot of Jews who are concerned about these issues, and they go way beyond Hasidic and Orthodox Jews, people I describe as conservative Reagan/Giuliani Democrats,” said Hikind, who has not yet endorsed a presidential candidate.
Jewish concerns about Obama have been widely reported among top New York Democrats, according to Dicker.
“There is anxiety, there is concern, on the part of a lot of important Jewish Democrats in New York,” one prominent Democratic activist told the Post.
But Hikind said last week’s controversy over Obama’s visit to Kenya, where he was photographed in Somali garb, would have no impact on Jewish voters.
California Republican Party Endorses 'Save Our Kids' and Protect Marriage Initiatives
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion06928.shtml
SACRAMENTO -- The California Republican Party overwhelmingly endorsed the Save Our Kids initiative to overturn SB 777 at their spring convention last weekend.
Republican delegates from all across California gathered for their biannual meeting and showed their strong opposition to Governor Schwarzenegger's signing of the homosexual indoctrination law.
"We are thrilled that the Republican Party is lending its influential support to our important campaign," declared Karen England, executive director for Capitol Resource Family Impact, the proponent of the Save Our Kids initiative. "Special thanks are owed to Assemblyman Bob Huff for presenting the initiative to the delegates and successfully arguing for an endorsement. As soon as we receive title and summary from the attorney general, we will capitalize on this momentum and begin gathering signatures.
The CRP also endorsed the Protect Marriage initiative, which has petitions circulating the state right now.
"The defense of marriage is vital to the stability of our state and nation," stated England. "With these endorsements, the CRP has boldly taken a stand for traditional marriage and the family. We are grateful for their support."
In other good news from the CRP's gathering, delegates approved a platform that maintained its pro- family and pro-life principles. There had been an effort by homosexual activists and "moderates" to strip the party's platform of these important beliefs. "This was an important victory for pro-family voters and candidates," explained England. "The platform contains the beliefs and principles that hold elected officials accountable. Removing the marriage and pro- life principles would alienate millions of voters that care very deeply about these essential issues."
To request Protect Marriage petitions, please contact La Tanya Wright, ltgwright@gmail.com or (916) 498-1940 x10.
Obama: Sermon on Mount OKs Same-Sex Unions
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Obama_same_sex/2008/03/03/77289.html
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) told a crowd at Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, Sunday that he believes the Sermon on the Mount justifies his support for legal recognition of same-sex unions. He also told the crowd that his position in favor of legalized abortion does not make him "less Christian."
"I don't think it [a same-sex union] should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state," said Obama. "If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans." St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans condemns homosexual acts as unnatural and sinful.
Obama's mention of the Sermon on the Mount in justifying legal recognition of same-sex unions may have been a reference to the Golden Rule: "Do to others what you would have them do to you." Or it may have been a reference to another famous line: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged."
The Sermon, recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, includes the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes, an endorsement of scriptural moral commandments ("anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven"), and condemnations of murder, divorce and adultery. It also includes a warning: "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."
The passage from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, which Obama dismissed as "obscure," discusses people who knew God but turned against him.
"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised," wrote St. Paul. "Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."
On the topic of abortion, Obama said his support for keeping it legal does not trespass on his Christian faith.
"I think that the bottom line is that in the end, I think women, in consultation with their pastors, and their doctors, and their family, are in a better position to make these decisions than some bureaucrat in Washington. That's my view," Obama said about abortion. "Again, I respect people who may disagree, but I certainly don't think it makes me less Christian. Okay."
Obama opened his town-hall-type meeting at the college with a short speech and then provided lengthy answers to a handful of questions. One questioner, Leon Forte, a Protestant clergyman, asked Obama about evangelical Christians who were concerned about his position on issues that conservatives consider "litmus tests."
"Your campaign sets a quandary for most evangelical Christians because I believe that they believe in the social agenda that you have, but they have a problem in what the conservatives have laid out as the moral litmus tests as to who is worthy and who is not," said Forte. "So, I will ask you to speak to those two questions."
Obama volunteered that he believed Forte was talking about abortion and homosexual marriage, and then he gave answers on both issues that were not as explicit as positions he has staked out on these issues in other venues. Last Thursday, for example, as reported by Cybercast News Service, Obama published on his Web site an "open letter concerning LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) equality in America."
In that letter, Obama said he favored same-sex unions that were equal to marriage--including adoption rights--and that he was open to states codifying same-sex marriages.
"As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws," Obama said in the letter. "I personally believe that civil unions represent the best way to secure that equal treatment. But I also believe that the federal government should not stand in the way of states that want to decide on their own how best to pursue equality for gay and lesbian couples--whether that means a domestic partnership, a civil union, or a civil marriage."
In Ohio on Sunday, before mentioning the Sermon on the Mount, Obama insisted he was against "gay marriage" and did not mention his support for allowing same-sex couples to adopt children and have the same "family" status as heterosexual couples.
"I will tell you that I don't believe in gay marriage, but I do think that people who are gay and lesbian should be treated with dignity and respect and that the state should not discriminate against them," said Obama on Sunday. "So, I believe in civil unions that allow a same-sex couple to visit each other in a hospital or transfer property to each other. I don't think it should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state. If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans. That's my view."
Obama also has been more aggressive in framing his pro-abortion position previously than he was on Sunday. When he was in the Illinois Senate, for example, he repeatedly opposed a bill that would have defined as a "person" a baby who had survived an induced-labor abortion and was born alive.
In a 2001 Illinois Senate floor speech about that bill, he argued that to call a baby who survived an abortion a "person" would give it equal protection rights under the 14th Amendment and would give credibility to the argument that the same child inside its mother's womb was also a "person" and thus could not be aborted.
When the Illinois Senate bill was amended to make it identical to a federal law that included language to protect Roe v. Wade--and that the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to pass--Obama still opposed the bill, voting it down in the Illinois Senate committee he chaired.
Yet, in Ohio on Sunday, Obama depicted abortion as a tragedy to be avoided, while being kept legal.
"On the issue of abortion, that is always a tragic and painful issue," he said. "I think it is always tragic, and we should prevent it as much as possible .... But I think that the bottom line is that in the end, I think women, in consultation with their pastors, and their doctors, and their family, are in a better position to make these decisions than some bureaucrat in Washington. That's my view. Again, I respect people who may disagree, but I certainly don't think it makes me less Christian. Okay."
Before discussing his views on same-sex unions and abortion, Obama told the crowd he was a "devout Christian."
"In terms of my faith, there has been so much confusion that has been deliberately perpetrated through emails and so forth, so here are the simple facts," he said. "I am a Christian. I am a devout Christian. I have been a member of the same church for 20 years, pray to Jesus every night, and try to go to church as much as I can when they are not working me. Used to go quite often.
"These days, we haven't been at the home church--I haven't been home on Sunday--for several months now. So, my faith is important to me. It is not something that I try to push on other people. But it is something that helps to guide my life and my values."
Abortionist Jailed - Again
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion06929.shtml
LOS ANGELES -- Abortionist Laurence Reich was arrested and jailed last week in Los Angeles for practicing medicine without a license after a special LAPD Task Force discovered he had been doing abortions illegally. Reich, who faces three felony counts, posted a $60,000 bond and was released.
A protective order has been placed on the case, but it is known that the arrest is a result of an Health Authority Task Force (HALT) investigation that culminated in the raiding of several Clinical Medical Para La Mujer De Hoy abortion mills on August 1, 2007, and the arrest of owner Bertha Bugarin and her sister, Rachel for doing abortions without medical licenses.
Reich, an Osteopath, was forced to surrender his medical license on April 14, 2006, after a conviction on two counts of sexually molesting his abortion patients. Reich had previously served 10 years probation on a similar conviction in 1984. Operation Rescue exposed information it obtained that indicated that Reich engaged in gross sexual "misconduct" with his patients, which included fondling them before, during, and after abortions for his own gratification.
"Laurence Reich is a rapist who uses abortion to gain access to his victims. It doesn't get any worse than that. Operation Rescue has for years called on authorities to put him in jail because of his pattern of perverted behavior," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "The law has no meaning for these people. Only substantial jail time will adequately protect the public from falling prey them."
"We encourage pro-lifers across the country who minister outside abortion mills to monitor their communities' abortionists. As more and more abortionists are banned from the practice of medicine, the chances increase that they will simply set up shop elsewhere," said Newman.
"Abortion is a seedy business that attracts the bottom of the barrel. You can bet Reich and Bugarin are not the only ones out there victimizing women and flouting the law. Pro-lifers need to be on guard and report suspicious activity to the appropriate authorities, for the protection of women and their innocent babies."
About Operation Rescue
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation. Operation Rescue recently made headlines when it bought and closed an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas and has become the voice of the pro-life activist movement in America. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to restore legal personhood to the pre-born and stop abortion in obedience to biblical mandates.
Grand Jury Rejects 'Deal' for Planned Parenthood Abortion Records
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion06927.shtml
OLATHE, Kansas -- Planned Parenthood is still refusing to honor a subpoena issued by a citizen- called grand jury in Johnson County, Kansas, for 16 abortion records that have had patient identifying information removed, despite reports to the contrary.
An agreement between Planned Parenthood and the special counsel for the grand jury was reached last Tuesday to provide some or part of the records. However, that agreement was rejected by the grand jury as being inadequate, and Judge Patrick Moriarty officially revoked the agreement on Friday.
District Attorney Phill Kline issued a statement indicating he was pleased that the agreement had been nullified, and noting that he looked forward to reviewing the documents Planned Parenthood offered to provide to see if they comply with the subpoena.
Planned Parenthood made numerous statements in the media, which circulated over the weekend, saying the records dispute was resolved, when in fact, it is not.
"This is another example of Planned Parenthood saying one thing and doing another," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "The records in question have already been reviewed by a judge, who certified it is impossible to identify patients from the redacted records. If Planned Parenthood really wanted to comply with the subpoena, they would have done so long ago. This is just another devious effort to confuse the public, to delay the investigation, and to hide evidence from the grand jury. Only people with a lot to hide act this way."
Operation Rescue is a member of the L.I.F.E. Coalition that led the petition effort to convene the grand jury. Other coalition members are Concerned Women For America and Women Influencing the Nation.
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation. Operation Rescue recently made headlines when it bought and closed an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas and has become the voice of the pro-life activist movement in America. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to restore legal personhood to the pre-born and stop abortion in obedience to biblical mandates.
Pastor Killed in Sri Lanka
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion06926.shtml
Pastor Neil Edirisinghe (37) of the House Church Foundation was gunned down by two assailants outside his house in Ampara, Sri Lanka on February 17, according to a report from the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL).
Pastor Edirisinghe was engaged in the Lord's ministry in Ampara for many years. The attackers also shot his wife Shiromi (31) in the stomach. At last report, she was in the hospital in critical condition. Their two-year-old son who received a minor injury in the attack is also suffering from trauma. Information received by NCEASL indicated that the murder of the pastor was a contract killing done by people angry with his gospel ministry, which had led to the conversion of a prominent local person.
The police have arrested four people, including two members of an auxiliary force and a businessman, in connection with the murder.
Pray for the Lord's peace and comfort for Pastor Edirisinghe's family (2 Cor. 1:4-7). Pray for the recovery of his wife and child. Pray that they will know the Lord as their Father.
For more information on the persecution facing Christians in Sri Lanka, go to www.persecution.net/country/srilanka.htm.
Christians Kidnapped in India
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion06930.shtml
About 40 Christians were kidnapped February 27 by anti-Christian radicals in Himachal Pradesh, India. The extremists reportedly took the Christians to a religious temple and are trying to force them to renounce Christ and return to the country's dominant faith.
Initial reports from the area indicate that some of those kidnapped are part of a Gospel for Asia-related church in the village where the kidnapping occurred.
GFA leaders in Himachal Pradesh ask for prayer for those who were captured, that they will stand firm in their faith, even in this difficult time. They also ask for prayer for the overall situation for Christians in this northwest Indian state.
An anti-Christian political party controls Himachal Pradesh, and it is possible that the group who kidnapped these Christians is affiliated with the political party. One of this party's goals is to convert Christians to India's predominant religion.
It is not unusual for these extremists to kidnap believers and force them to bow before the statues that represent the country's traditional gods. If the Christians refuse to bow to the statues, they risk being ostracized from society, which brings much shame in the Asian culture in which they live.
The extremist ruling party believes that keeping people in the traditional religion brings unity to the state, and ultimately to the entire country. Since Christianity is so radically different than the other religions, a person's decision to follow Christ creates friction in families and sometimes entire villages.
UN urges action after Archbishop abducted in Iraq
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/un.urges.action.after.archbishop.abducted.in.iraq/17150.htm
The UN envoy to Iraq has called on the country’s government to step up its protection of minorities after the abduction of a Chaldean Catholic in Mosul, northern Iraq, last week.
The Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul in northern Iraq, Paulos Faraj Rahho, was seized by gunmen who attacked his car, killing his driver and two guards in the eastern al-Nour district of the city.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said in a statement, "It is appalling that these attacks on communities that have lived peacefully together in north Iraq for centuries are continuing."
The abduction, which took place not long after the Archbishop had left Mass at the Church of the Holy Spirit, is the latest in a series of attacks on Iraq’s tiny and dwindling Christian population, which makes up around 3 per cent of Iraq’s 27 million, largely Muslim, population.
In January, three Chaldean and Assyrian churches in Mosul fell victim to bomb attacks. Islamic extremists have attacked Christians in the country since the US-led invasion in 2003, believing them to be on the side of the coalition forces.
The Chaldean Church, which practises an ancient Eastern rite, is aligned with the Roman Catholic Church and recognises the authority of the Pope.
Pope Benedict has condemned the kidnapping and called on members of the worldwide Catholic Church to "to unite in fervent prayer so that reason and humanity prevail among the authors of the kidnapping, and that Monsignor Rahho is returned quickly to the care of his flock“.
Monsignor Rahho told the Vatican-affiliated AsiaNews agency in an interview last November that Christians in Mosul were suffering more than their fellow believers in other parts of Iraq.
"Religious persecution is more noticeable than elsewhere because the city is split along religious lines,“ he said.
"Everyone is suffering from this war irrespective of religious affiliation, but in Mosul Christians face starker choices."
Pentagon Concerned by China's Military Muscle
http://www.newsmax.com/us/Pentagon_china_military/2008/03/03/77540.html
An annual Pentagon report on China on Monday said Beijing's lack of transparency posed risks to stability, voicing concern over how it would use its expanding military power.
China is developing cruise and ballistic missiles capable of striking aircraft carriers and other warships at sea, tested an anti-satellite weapon last year and fielded new intercontinental ballistic missiles, the report said.
The report also cited another growing source of concern -- numerous cyber intrusions into US and other computer networks around the world over the past year, apparently from within China.
"I think the biggest thing for people to be concerned about, really, is the fact that we don't have that kind of strategic understanding of the Chinese intentions," said David Sedney, deputy assistant defense secretary for East Asian affairs.
"And that leads to uncertainty. That leads to a readiness to hedge against the possibility that China's development will go in ways that the Chinese right now say it won't," he said.
The assessment comes despite some progress in US-Chinese military relations, including an agreement last week to open a telephone hotline between their defense establishments and to engage in dialogue on nuclear strategy.
The Pentagon estimated China's total military spending in 2007 at between 97 and 139 billion dollars, more than double China's declared budget of 45 billion dollars, which rose by 17.8 percent in 2007 over the previous year.
The report said China's military modernization was being driven in the near-term by preparations for contingencies in the Taiwan Strait, including the possibility of US intervention in a crisis.
"However, analysis of China's military acquisitions and strategic thinking suggests Beijing is also developing capabilities for use in other contingencies such as conflict over resources or disputed territories," it said.
Foreign weapons, high rates of investment in defense and science and technology industries, and far-reaching reforms of its military have stepped up the pace and scope of China's military modernization, the report said.
"China's expanding and improving military capabilities are changing East Asian military balances; improvements in China's strategic capabilities have implications beyond the Asia-Pacific region," the report said.
Among other things, the report said China is developing "counterspace" capabilities to prevent potential adversaries from using space-based assets in a crisis.
As examples, it cited China's use of a ballistic missile to destroy a low orbiting weather satellite in a January 2007 test, as well as civilian space programs with military applications.
In discussing China's cyberwarfare capability, the report said numerous intrusions into computer networks around the world, including US government computer networks, appear to have originated from within China.
"Although it is unclear if these intrusions were conducted by, or with the endorsement of, the PLA (army) or other elements of the PRC (Chinese) government, developing capabilities for cyberwarfare is consistent with authoritative PLA writings on this subject," the report said.
While no classified information was known to have been taken, said Sedney, intrusions into unclassified networks can yield valuable information.
"There's a whole range of scientific and technological material that is available through people in the contracting world and elsewhere that just isn't classified that can be the subject of these intrusions," he said.
The report said China has the most active cruise and ballistic missile program in the world.
It is acquiring large numbers of highly accurate ground- and sea-launched cruise missiles and deploying short-range ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan at a rate of 100 missiles a year, according to the report.
China is also developing a variant of the CSS-5 medium range ballistic missile with a range of 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) to give the military the capability to strike ships "from great distances," the report said.
Although the situation in the Taiwan Strait remains stable, the balance of military power continues to shift in China's favor, the report warned.
As of November, China had between 990 and 1,070 short range ballistic missiles deployed to garrisons opposite Taiwan, and it has 490 combat aircraft within un-refueled operational range of the island, the report said.
China responds to US, EU on news dispute
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080304/ap_on_bi_ge/china_wto_news_controls;_ylt=AgH4vtkLjC8uQSe57I.1PW2s0NUE
China said Tuesday it will follow WTO rules in settling disputes with the United States and Europe over restraints on access to its booming market for financial information services, but it had no comment on the content of the complaints.
Beijing "respects the choices" of other World Trade Organization members, the Commerce Ministry said in a brief statement. It was China's first comment on the WTO cases filed Monday in Geneva.
The new disputes add to tensions with Beijing over its swelling trade surplus with the United States and Europe.
The U.S. and European Union demanded that Beijing ease rules that they say boost its Xinhua News Agency at the expense of rivals such as Reuters Group PLC, Bloomberg LP, and News Corp.'s Dow Jones & Co.
The request triggers a 60-day consultation period. It that fails to resolve the dispute, Washington and Brussels can ask the WTO to launch a formal investigation. The process can take years before the WTO approves retaliatory action.
"The Chinese side will conscientiously study the request for consultations and will deal with this matter according to WTO dispute resolution procedures," the Commerce Ministry said in the four-sentence statement.
It did not respond to the content of the U.S. and EU complaints.
The United States and EU say China violated its free-trade pledges by imposing rules 18 months ago that require financial information providers to use a Xinhua-approved distributor. The only such entity currently approved is a Xinhua subsidiary.
Financial information services complain that Beijing is reneging on a 1996 commitment to let them to deal directly with banks and other customers in China. Under terms of its WTO entry, China promised not to close markets that it already had opened.
Demand for such services has grown rapidly as China's securities and other financial industries flourished in recent years.
Xinhua launched its own financial information service in June as part of efforts to turn itself into a modern media company, and U.S. and EU officials have questioned how it can act as both regulator and competitor of foreign services.
The EU has become increasingly vocal about China's trade gap, an area where Washington has often taken the lead. China's trade surplus with the EU surged by 42 percent in January over the year-earlier period, according to Chinese government figures.
Last month, in a case brought by the United States, the EU and Canada, a WTO panel ruled that Beijing improperly used tax policy to restrict imports of auto parts.
The United States also is pursuing WTO cases over Chinese product piracy and access to China's market for books, CDs and DVDs. An EU panel is examining complaints that Chinese-made screws for furniture and autos are being sold at improperly low prices.
Medvedev to Take Russian Presidency
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/Medvedev_to_Take_Russian_/2008/03/03/77371.html
MOSCOW -- Hours after Russia elected a new president, riot police on Monday detained opposition protesters, pro-government youth rallied outside the U.S. Embassy and Russia reduced gas supplies to Western-looking Ukraine.
The moves may signal that the president-elect, Dmitry Medvedev, intends to continue the course set by Vladimir Putin, who during his presidency reasserted his country's power abroad while keeping a tight grip on society at home.
Putin asked Medvedev to take charge of meetings of the presidential State Council, fast-tracking a transfer of power to his protege. Putin, set to retain power as Medvedev's prime minister, also suggested they work together on a Cabinet reshuffle.
Results from 99.45 percent of precincts showed that Medvedev, Russia's first deputy prime minister, received more than 70 percent of Sunday's vote, the elections commission said Monday.
With nearly all votes counted, hundreds of young people marched through Moscow toward the U.S. Embassy to criticize American policies in Kosovo, Iraq and the Muslim world. After rallying briefly across the street from the embassy and unfurling a banner, police told them to leave and they dispersed.
A short time later, hundreds of riot police detained dozens of youths near a downtown Moscow square where opposition groups had planned an unauthorized protest against the presidential elections.
As some chanted "We Need Another Russia!" police stormed through the crowd, tackling people and dragging them away, their arms wrenched behind their backs or their shirts half-torn off.
The crushing display of police force was sign that authorities would allow no critical mass of dissent or independent opposition as the Kremlin celebrates Medvedev's victory.
"Fifteen years ago I wouldn't have thought that my children would be growing up in a country that reminds me so much of the Soviet Union," said Alexander Ivanov, 48.
In St. Petersburg, Garry Kasparov - the former chess champion who is now an ardent Kremlin foe - and his co-leader in the Other Russia opposition coalition appeared at a simultaneous protest. Unlike in Moscow, the group had permission for the rally in St. Petersburg.
A crowd estimated by police at up to 3,000 gathered in a square and marched toward the heart of the city, shouting "Down with the Police State!" and "This City is Ours!" Police did not intervene.
Election observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe said Monday that Russia's presidential election was neither free nor fair, although it reflected the will of the people in a country with little faith in democracy.
Andreas Gross, who led the 22-member mission, described Sunday's vote as a "reflection of the will of the electorate whose democratic potential unfortunately has not been tapped."
The influential Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had refused to send observers, citing restrictions imposed by Russian authorities.
The election ratified Putin's choice of a successor but did not settle the question of who will be calling the shots once Medvedev takes over in May and names Putin prime ministers as widely expected.
The outside world will watch closely to see how the new leadership in Russia, with its immense oil and gas reserves, engages with global rivals and partners at a time of rising commodities prices.
The Bush administration said it looks forward to working with Medvedev.
"It's in our mutual interest for Russia and the United States to work together on areas of common interest such as nonproliferation, counterterrorism and combating transnational crime," Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Monday.
Medvedev, who also serves as chairman of the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, reduced gas supplies to Ukraine on Monday. Russia says the dispute over natural gas with Ukraine is strictly a financial one, a result of the alleged nonpayment by Ukraine for $600 million in past gas deliveries.
But the timing suggested a possible deeper motive: a signal that despite his purported liberal leanings, Medvedev plans to rule with a firm hand - one perhaps guided by Putin.
The last time Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine was in January 2006 in a move widely seen as punishment for the opposition-led Orange Revolution, which blocked a Kremlin-backed candidate from becoming Ukraine's president.
Since then, Russia has expressed continuing anger over Ukraine's attempts to join NATO and forge stronger links with the European Union.
Medvedev may have been motivated by the need to appear tough in the face of Russia's dispute with Ukraine over gas payments, said Chris Weafer, chief strategist for the UralSib investment bank.
"He didn't want to be seen as backing down," he said.
Gazprom's reduction of gas to Ukraine could be an early signal of Medvedev's foreign policy. Another early sign could come in July at the summit of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations: If Putin goes alone or accompanies Medvedev, that could signal his reluctance to relinquish control.
In Russia, the premier wields significantly less power than the president, and Putin may find his new chair confining. Some officials who know the quiet, unassuming Medvedev have said privately that he is tougher than his appearance and demeanor suggest.
Medvedev's election was not a wide-open contest. His three rivals apparently were permitted on the ballot because of their loyalty to the Kremlin line. But after the election, Communist Party candidate Gennady Zyuganov and ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky alleged elections violations.
Zyuganov, Medvedev's nearest challenger with almost 18 percent in near-complete results, said he would dispute the outcome. Zhirinovsky, with 9 percent, threatened to do so as well.
Liberal opposition leaders Kasparov and Mikhail Kasyanov were barred from running after authorities said they did not meet the strict requirements for gaining a spot on the ballot.
U.S. Government Concedes Vaccines Cause Autism
http://www.newsmax.com/health/vaccines_cause_autism/2008/03/03/77315.html
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the federal agency that oversees the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recently conceded the first vaccine-autism case.
This case was filed in the no-fault National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program as part of the Autism Omnibus proceedings in the U.S. Federal Court of Claims.
It was one of the first three cases chosen that alleged Thimerosal in childhood vaccines significantly contributed to a child developing autism.
Clifford Shoemaker, of Shoemaker and Associates of Vienna, Virginia, is the attorney of record in the Hanna Poling v. Secretary of HHS (case: 02-1466V).
Experts filing on behalf of the petitioner, Hanna Poling, included pediatric neurologist, Dr. Andrew Zimmerman of Johns Hopkins University, and Maryland geneticist and epidemiologist, Dr. Mark Geier of the Genetic Centers of America.
This concession shows the dishonesty of the continual media spin coming from public health officials and others who maintain there is no evidence that Thimerosal, or any other part of any vaccine, has ever caused autism or, for that matter, has harmed anyone in any way.
The facts are that the Vaccine Compensation Act has already compensated over 2,000 individuals who proved that they were harmed by vaccines, resulting in settlements of nearly two billion dollars.
Additionally, hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific/medical articles from some the world’s best universities have long implicated Thimerosal in vaccines as a causal factor in neurodevelopmental disorders including autism.
Furthermore, in 2003, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Government Reform Committee, after a 3.5-year investigation, concluded that Thimerosal caused the autism epidemic and that the FDA and health authorities were guilty of “institutional malfeasance” in covering it up.
Evidence supporting the connection between mercury and autism include:
1. Published studies from the US and France showing that urinary porphyrins, a biomarker for body-burden of mercury, are elevated in patients diagnosed with autistic disorders (http://www.mercury-freedrugs.org).
2. A published study by researchers at Harvard University that found twice as much mercury and oxidative stress in the brains of those with an autism diagnosis as found in the brains of those who were normal.
3. A study from the US showing a significant relationship between increasing blood mercury levels and an increased risk of a diagnosis of an autistic disorder.
4. Numerous papers by independent researchers showing a link between increasing mercury exposure from childhood vaccines and the risk of a child developing an autistic disorder.
5. Several papers showing that adding low levels of Thimerosal to certain blood, brain, eye, immune, liver and/or muscle cells poisons their cellular mitochondrial pathways and can induce cell death.
Today, despite being banned in Europe and restricted in 7 U.S. states, Thimerosal-containing flu vaccines are still recommended for routine administration to pregnant women and infants, with little or no warning of the presence of this known poison in these and other vaccines.
Vaccines have and will continue to save many lives. However, an immediate ban and recall of vaccines and other drugs containing mercury compounds used in their production must be instituted immediately to stop the epidemic of developmental disorders, including autism, caused by the unsound use of mercury in medicine.
For more information, please visit CoMeD’s website:
www.mercury-freedrugs.org
Who's High on Israel's Hit List?
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/332241.aspx
Jerusalem -- If Israel launches a full-scale ground attack in Gaza, they will face the al-Qassam brigades. It is Hamas' strongest arm of terrorism, responsible for most of the bloody operations inside Israel. The military branch is also in charge of defending Gaza.
Israel's top military leaders say they are preparing for a large ground operation to confront Hamas, to stop weapons smuggling from Egypt, and to stop the barrage of rocket attacks on Israelis living near Gaza.
Many live in the town of Sderot, just a few miles from the Gaza border. They have endured hundreds of rocket strikes this year alone.
Sderot protestors blocked traffic recently in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv after an attack seriously wounded an eight-year-old boy and his older brother.
More Targeted Assassinations?
The terrorists seeming ability to fire rockets at will has prompted some Israeli officials to call for more targeted assassinations of Hamas leaders, right up to the former prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh.
"From my point of view, anyone who is responsible for terror-sheltering it guiding it, giving support, which Haniyeh is doing, he's in my opinion a legitimate target to be hit," said Israeli Cabinet Member Meir Shetreet.
Last month, a number of Hamas loyalists were killed, including the son of one of Hamas' most militant leaders, Mahmoud al-Zahar.
Al-Zahar wept and responded by raising a napkin spotted with his son's blood to signal Israel revenge is coming. That revenge could come in the next battle over Gaza.
Under the Green Flag
One of the Hamas leaders in that fight is Nizar Rayan. His goal is to unite all the factions under the green flag of Hamas.
Rayan's name is on the Israeli hit list. He is known for being ruthless and a strong believer in the need to eliminate Israel. He is seen by a lot of terrorists as a morale booster and a mentor.
From a bunker at the Israeli-Gaza border, Rayan calls for a jihadist common cause against Israel.
"From this tiny window, we see the raped Palestine," Rayan said. "And in Allah's will, this window will expand to include all the fighters in the struggle."
Rayan is honored and respected by his front-line followers as if he were a leader from on high. He is confident that Israel can be defeated in Gaza.
"While we are standing by for the next fight, the hours of worship will be even sweeter," he said. "We tell the state of aggression, all the Palestinian people will confront you, and all the sons of Hamas are wholeheartedly united to fight you."
The mid-January conflict in Gaza was the bloodiest operation between Israel and Hamas since Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005.
"This escalation is forcing us to find new reasons that enable us to hurt the Israeli occupation badly," said Hamas spokesman Younis al-Astal. "Because of its crimes, the occupation is stirring us up to find more strong options and methods that will continue until we defeat the occupation."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government has so far held back on a full-scale war with Hamas, knowing that casualties could be high. But a new poll shows two-thirds of Israelis support a large ground operation. Short of that, the leaders of Hamas can expect that the bounty on their heads will rise.
Hamas Claims Victory for Israeli Withdrawal
The Al Qassam Brigades were the primary instigators in the past week of unprecedented violence between Israel and Hamas. The chief of staff for the Israeli Defense Forces says that 90 of the more than 100 Palestinians killed in the Israeli military foray into northern Gaza were terrorists. Of those, some -- if not most -- would have been members of the Al Qassam Brigades.
The group also spearheaded the launching of scores of missiles into Sderot and the surrounding area and expanded the reach of its missile targets to Ashkelon, a city of 120,000, located 11 miles north of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas claimed victory over the Israeli army when it withdrew Monday from the edges of the Gaza Strip. But Israeli defense officials caution that Hamas shouldn't celebrate too soon. Its ranks were devastated by the strength of Israel's response. Although the recent maneuver in Gaza lasted only three days, Israel's security cabinet this week will review plans for a more sustained military operation in Gaza, with the possible goal of preempting Hamas as the rulers of the troubled territory.
Palestinians Suspend Peace Talks; Israeli Troops Withdraw From Gaza
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334512,00.html
Palestinian Hamas militants take position next to a burning barricade during an Israeli army operation in the Gaza Strip.
JEBALYA, Gaza Strip — Israeli ground troops pulled out of northern Gaza before daybreak Monday, following the first extended sweep in an offensive against Palestinian rocket squads that has left more than 100 dead and led the Palestinian president to call off peace talks.
Overnight, Israeli airstrikes targeting weapons manufacturing and storage facilities, a Hamas headquarters and groups of gunmen killed five Palestinians, all of them Hamas militants, Hamas said. But Gaza militants continued launching rockets at southern Israel. Three rockets hit Ashkelon, a city of 120,000, Monday morning, Israeli rescue services said, with one striking an apartment building. No casualties were reported.
Israeli infantry started withdrawing from the town of Jebalya after midnight following several days of fighting, the military said, but the government vowed it would continue its offensive against rocket squads.
Palestinian medical teams found three more bodies in Jebalya after the Israeli troops left. At least one of them was a militant, they said. Residents trapped in their houses for days began emerging, and some collected equipment left behind by the Israelis: ammunition clips, food cans, two bloody stretchers and a helmet with a bullet hole in it.
Jebalya resident Ahmed Dardouna said he and his nine children had been confined to one room of their house by soldiers who occupied it for three days.
"We couldn't distinguish day from night," he said. "The sounds of shooting and explosions, mixed with the screaming of soldiers and the screaming of my children who were asking to go to bathroom and for food is still in my ears."
In all, 117 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the fighting erupted last Wednesday, according to militants and medical officials. Roughly half the dead were civilians, the officials said. One Israeli civilian was killed by a rocket, and two Israeli soldiers were killed in the Jebalya fighting.
The moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, put peace talks with Israel on hold, clouding an upcoming peace mission by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The Israeli offensive also drew a chorus of international condemnation, with the EU, Turkey and U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon accusing Israel of using excessive force in Gaza.
Despite the lopsided death toll, Hamas sent a message to reporters calling the pullout a retreat by the "cowardly" Israeli military. But Israel said the withdrawal didn't signal it was scaling back its Gaza operations.
"Our efforts against the rocket launchers and those who operate them will continue unabated until Israeli children will no longer be attacked while sitting in their own classrooms, and until their families can sit in their own homes without fear of a rocket crashing through their roof," government spokesman David Baker said.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said a full-scale invasion was still possible, and Israel might try to bring down the regime of the militant Islamic Hamas. "We will use force to change the situation," Barak said at a meeting late Sunday of security commanders, according to a statement from his office.
In the early hours of Monday, Palestinians counted nine separate Israeli airstrikes all over Gaza, one of them near the office of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who was not in the area at the time.
Vice Premier Haim Ramon said Israel should consider returning fire at the rocket launchers, even if it means shelling populated areas. "In the end, this will save lives on both sides," he said, since Palestinian civilians would either force the rocket squads from their neighborhoods or flee themselves. He told Israel Radio early Monday that "no reasonable country" would object to Israeli efforts to defend itself.
Notorious Al Qaeda Operative the Target in U.S. Strike in Somalia
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334531,00.html
U.S. forces struck an Al Qaeda training camp in southern Somalia Monday, and officials say the target was a notorious Al Qaeda operative whom FOX News has exclusively determined to be Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.
Nabhan is wanted for questioning in connection with a hotel resort homicide bombing in Mombasa, Kenya, five years ago, and for a shoulder-fired missile attack on an Israeli passenger liner.
Monday's attack on Nabhan was executed with two missiles fired from a U.S. Navy vessel at sea, off the coast of Somalia, FOX News has learned.
Planes fired at least one precision-guided missile at the Somali town of Dobley, a senior U.S. defense official told FOX News.
"On March 2 the U.S. conducted an attack against a known Al Qaeda terrorist in southern Somalia," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said in a statement. "As we have repeatedly said, we will continue to pursue terrorists' activities and their operations wherever we may find them."
There was no immediate word on casualties, but the residents and police told The Associated Press that a home was destroyed and eight people, including four children, were injured.
U.S. officials at Central Command said the overnight strike targeted fewer than 20 Al Qaeda terrorists.
They were assessing the damage done by the attack and digging through the rubble on Monday, and said they'd know more about its success later in the day.
The missiles that struck Dobley, some four miles from the Kenyan border, were from military aircraft. Remnants of an Islamic force that had once ruled much of southern Somalia took over Dobley last week.
Last year, the U.S. shelled suspected Al Qaeda targets in Somalia, one of the most lawless and violent countries in the world.
A police officer who gave only his first name, Siyad, because he was not authorized to speak to the media said the eight wounded were hit by shrapnel. He also said the planes were military aircraft.
An aid worker in Dobley said up to six people were still trapped in the rubble at midday. It was not clear if these victims were included in the police officer's tally.
"A minimum of two bombs were dropped," the aid worker, who asked that his name not be used because he is not authorized to speak to the media, told the AP by telephone. "Between four and six people are in the rubble."
Clan elder Ahmed Nur Dalab said a senior Islamic official, Hassan Turki, was in town Sunday to mediate between his fighters and a militia loyal to the government. Turki's forces took over Dobley last week.
In early 2007, Somali troops and their Ethiopian allies drove out a radical Islamic group to which Turki is allied that had taken over much of southern Somalia. The Islamic forces have fought to regain power.
Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other.
U.N. Security Council Approves New Sanctions on Iran for Refusing to Stop Uranium Enrichment
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334550,00.html
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council approved a third round of sanctions Monday against Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.
The decision came from the United Nations about 2 p.m. EST and was nearly unanimous, sending a strong signal to Tehran that its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment is unacceptable and becoming increasingly costly.
For the first time, the resolution bans trade with Iran in goods which have both civilian and military uses.
The vote was 14-0 with one abstention from Indonesia.
Iran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazee told the council just before the vote that the government would not comply with the "unlawful action" against its "peaceful nuclear program."
Earlier Monday, the chief U.N. nuclear inspector urged Iran to stop stonewalling his experts and cooperate over indications it may have tried to make atomic arms under the cover of a civilian nuclear program.
A senior Iranian official said such allegations were "fabricated." But a U.S. envoy repeated Washington's assertions that Tehran tried to make such weapons in the past.
The exchange came as the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency convened to focus on Iran's defiance of U.N. Security Council demands to freeze uranium enrichment.
It was also looking at an IAEA report that says Iran has cleared up some questions about its nuclear past but that it refuses to discuss the topic of its alleged weapons development activities beyond dismissing them as groundless accusations.
Calling the issue of alleged weapons development, "a matter of serious concern," IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, in comments to the board, urged Iran "to be as active and cooperative as possible in working with the agency" to put the issue to rest.
"A full-fledged examination of this issue has yet to take place," he said, indirectly denying Iranian suggestions that an IAEA probe of Tehran's past activities has ended positively.
As the board met in Vienna, the U.N. Security Council held its session at the U.N. in New York, in which the third set of sanctions was agreed upon to punish Iran for ignoring its demand to freeze enrichment, a potential component of a nuclear weapons program.
A diplomat accredited to the IAEA said all five permanent council members have been ready to back new sanctions as well as the majority of temporary members, with only Libya, South Africa and Indonesia opposed. He demanded anonymity because his information was confidential.
A separate draft resolution was in the works in Vienna. Britain, France and Germany prepared a document focused on Tehran's nuclear failings that would be supported by the majority of board members — including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and the EU.
A senior diplomat, also speaking on condition of anonymity because of confidentiality, said the resolution would be introduced by Wednesday. He said it would praise ElBaradei for his efforts, but note the investigation's failings on the issue of nuclear weapons and emphasize the board's authority on the issue of Iran's nuclear program.
Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran's chief IAEA representative, dismissed any push for an IAEA resolution critical of his country as "ridiculous."
In comments later Monday, he dismissed intelligence forwarded to the IAEA by the U.S. and its allies on purported weapons programs by Tehran as "forged and fabricated," and driven by "political motivations." And he suggested that for Iran the issue was closed, saying the IAEA probe "is concluded."
But chief U.S. IAEA delegate Gregory L. Schulte said the report shows that "troubling questions remain about Iranian activities that strongly suggest a clandestine weapons related program." Both he and Soltanieh spoke to reporters.
Iran's nuclear past has been a key topic at IAEA board meetings for the past five years, after revelations that the Islamic Republic had carried out nearly two decades of secret atomic work, some of it potentially linked to weapons research.
The last IAEA resolution, more than two years ago, referred Tehran's nuclear file to the Security Council. The council imposed two sets of sanctions to punish Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment and fully open its nuclear activities to agency inspectors.
Iran not only continues enrichment — which can produce both nuclear fuel and the fissile core of nuclear warheads — but has expanded its activities, saying it has a right to the technology for a civilian nuclear program. That led to Monday's council vote.
Additionally fueling Western frustrations is Tehran's refusal even to discuss allegations that it tried to make nuclear weapons through interlinked projects enriching uranium, testing explosives and designing missiles and warheads suitable for a nuclear payload.
While a Feb. 22 IAEA report said a probe had made progress on other past nuclear activities, it said that Tehran had not responded properly to intelligence forwarded by the U.S. and its allies purportedly showing nuclear weapons technology being developed by Iran.
Iran has focused on the agency's assessment of progress on some topics to assert that the IAEA report vindicates its claims that its nuclear project is strictly civilian. Soltanieh on Monday said the report "proves Iran's activities are peaceful."
Colombia: Documents Show Growing Relations Between Ecuador's Government and Rebels
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334673,00.html
BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia's police chief said Monday that documents recovered from a slain rebel leader's computer reveal financial ties between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombia's largest guerrilla group, including a recent message that mentions US$300 million in Venezuelan support for the rebels.
The official, Gen. Oscar Naranjo, didn't say if there was any indication in the Feb. 14 message that Venezuela actually delivered this money to the rebels.
Another document found in the laptop belonging to slain rebel leader Raul Reyes suggests financial ties between Chavez and the rebels dating back to 1992, Naranjo said. At the time, Chavez was jailed in Venezuela for leading a coup attempt, and was plotting the comeback that eventually led to his election as president in 1998.
"A note recovered from Raul Reyes speaks of how grateful Chavez was for the 100 million pesos (about US$150,000 at the time) that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, delivered to Chavez when he was in prison," said Naranjo told a news conference.
Reyes, the FARC's main spokesman, was among the rebels killed Saturday in a Colombian commando raid on their camp just across the border in Ecuador, infuriating Chavez and his ally, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.
Chavez has called Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe a "mob boss" and a "liar." In return the Colombian government has expressed its concern at links between Venezuela and the FARC.
Castro Blames U.S. for South American Spat
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/cuba_castro/2008/03/03/77357.html
HAVANA -- Fidel Castro blamed the U.S. for bringing Colombia to the brink of a military clash with neighboring Venezuela and Ecuador, writing on Monday that "genocidal plans of the Yankee empire" created tensions between the South American nations.
Venezuela and Ecuador ordered troops to their borders with Colombia and withdrew their ambassadors from Bogota after Colombia killed a top rebel leader, Raul Reyes, on Ecuadorean soil on Saturday.
"We can plainly hear the trumpets of war to the south of our continent as a consequence of genocidal plans of the Yankee empire," Castro wrote in an essay published in the Communist Party daily Granma.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa had planned to fly to Havana on Monday to participate in an economic forum, but Castro wrote that the crisis caused "our dear friend" to cancel his trip.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is an ally of Washington, which has backed his country's battle against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the country's largest guerrilla group.
Castro's comments, at the end of a lengthy essay on other topics, echoed accusations by his friend President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela that Washington was to blame for the crisis.
Castro, 81 and ailing, stepped aside as president last month. He was succeeded by his brother Raul, 76, who had been provisional president since Castro underwent emergency surgery in July 2006.
The older Castro is a socialist ally of Chavez, and the oil-rich South American nation has helped keep Cuba's economy growing by providing nearly 100,000 barrels of subsidized oil a day to Cuba.
Vatican, Muslims Prepare Historic Meeting With Pope
http://www.newsmax.com/international/pope_muslims_vatican/2008/03/03/77556.html
Muslim representatives and Vatican officials begin talks this week that they hope will lead to an unprecedented Catholic-Islamic meeting.
Five representatives from each side will meet on Tuesday for two days in Rome to work out the details of a larger meeting that will include Pope Benedict later this year.
"We have to bring the dialogue up to date following the great successes of the pontificate of John Paul II," said Yahya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, vice-president of the Italian Islamic Religious Community.
Catholic-Muslim relations nosedived in 2006 after Benedict delivered a lecture in Regensburg, Germany, that was taken by Muslims to imply that Islam was violent and irrational.
Muslims around the world protested and the Pope sought to make amends when he visited Turkey's Blue Mosque and prayed towards Mecca with its Imam.
After the fallout from the Regensburg speech, 138 Muslim scholars and leaders wrote to the German-born Pontiff and other Christian leaders last year, saying "the very survival of the world itself" may depend on dialogue between the two faiths.
The signatories of the Muslim appeal for theological dialogue, called the "Common Word," has grown to nearly 225 since.
"Now there is a need for deeper dialogue on doctrine, theology and the character of religions in today's world and the challenges we face," Pallavicini told Reuters.
"We must try, together with the Pope, to get on a path of dialogue on issues confronting humanity today," he said.
Besides Pallavicini, the Muslim delegation to the preparatory talks will include a Turk, a Briton, a Jordanian and a Libyan.
The Vatican delegation includes Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Vatican's Council for Interreligious Dialogue, the head of the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies in Rome and a professor from Rome's Gregorian University.
Pallavicini said the larger meeting later this year will undoubtedly talk about terrorism.
"Terrorism is one thing that has to be discussed," he said. "All religious leaders must renew a message of peace in their faith. Then it will be easier to isolate extremists and avoid the wrong use of religion," he said.
Although Benedict repeatedly expressed regret for the reaction to his speech in Regensburg, he stopped short of a clear apology sought by Muslims.
Pallavicini said the enlarged meeting would likely take place either at the Vatican before the summer or at Benedict's summer residence south of Rome in August.
Christian Aid, Islamic Relief team up for global volunteering scheme
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christian.aid.islamic.relief.team.up.for.global.volunteering.scheme/17110.htm
A new Government-backed global volunteering scheme for 18 to 25-year-olds will offer young adults from less advantaged backgrounds the opportunity to live, work and learn about life in poorer countries while making a real difference to people’s lives, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander announced today.
Over the next three years 2,500 young adults will be sponsored to do voluntary work in a developing country and raise awareness of development issues in the UK.
The £10 million scheme is backed by the Department for International Development (DFID) and will be run in partnership by Christian Aid, Islamic Relief and BUNAC.
Announcing the scheme in Birmingham today at South Birmingham College, Mr Alexander said: "This scheme aims to give young British adults who wouldn’t normally have an opportunity the chance to make a valuable contribution to the lives of people overseas who are blighted by poverty.
“By living and working with people from very different backgrounds, facing very different challenges, they will learn new skills and help unlock the potential within them to become better global citizens. And on return they’ll be applying what they’ve learned to activities in their own local communities.
“It is important that young people understand the issues that shape the world they live in. All round this should prove to be a very rewarding life experience for the young adults involved.
Starting in summer 2008 with placements to Ghana and South Africa, the volunteers will spend 10 weeks in a developing country working on local community development projects such as environmental conservation or HIV / Aids awareness.
They will then design personal activity plans with other volunteers during a residential weekend on their return to the UK and build understanding about the world back home through road shows and activities in their local communities and encouraging their peers to join the fight against global poverty.
Christian Aid’s Director Daleep Mukarji said: “We are delighted to take a lead in this venture, which is the first of its kind. Christian Aid’s mission is to expose the scandal of poverty and together with Islamic Relief and BUNAC we will be able to directly engage young adults with the issues surrounding poverty, and give them an opportunity to make a real difference.”
Dr Hany El Banna, President of Islamic Relief said of the project: “It will be a continuous journey of discovery; of how and why different people across the globe face different levels of poverty and development, and of how all our actions and destinies are so intertwined.
“Sharing these stories upon their return will potentially have life-changing consequences, not just for the young travelers themselves, but also for their families, friends and possibly whole communities, both here in the UK and beyond.”
Downgrading marriage has failed, says Bishop
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/downgrading.marriage.has.failed.says.bishop/17155.htm
"The great experiment to downplay marriage“ has "clearly failed“, the Bishop of Lichfield has said in a pastoral letter published in the March editions of parish magazines in the Diocese of Lichfield.
In his letter, the Rt Rev Jonathan Gledhill hit out at the erosion of marriage’s unique status as cohabiting continues to gain greater acceptance.
He points to the recent British Social Attitudes Survey which found that 66 per cent of the population regard marriage and cohabitation as being on an equal footing.
"But are they right? Is deciding to get married or not just another personal choice, like whether to drive a Ford or a Vauxhall?“ he asked.
Bishop Gledhill called for a greater distinction between marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and civil partnerships between same-sex couples.
"Most of my gay friends would want to distinguish between marriage, which is something that happens for a man and a woman, and a civil partnership, which allows you to be committed together in a kind-of household for life with your gay partner,“ he said.
"I think I'd want to make a distinction. It's a bit careless to call it marriage, in other words."
Bishop Gledhill warned of the risks to children posed by the increasing normalisation of cohabitation, saying, “Our children deserve the chance to be brought up by a man and a woman who promise to love each other always."
He went on to acknowledge that many marriages are far from perfect, but stressed that the heart of marriage is not the legalities or the wedding day, but rather the “commitment to stay together, to be faithful, and to provide the kind of atmosphere that will give growing children stability”.
He added: “All the surveys show that children whose parents are married tend to do better, be healthier, and involve themselves less in drugs or crime.
“Listening to the stories of the boys locked up in our Young Offender Institutions about their lack of family support makes me want to weep — and then get very angry that we don’t warn people more about the cruelty of having children without a loving father and mother permanently committed to bring them up together.“
Bishop Gledhill said that tax breaks for married couples were not the entire solution, and could even lead people to marry for the wrong reason, but were nonetheless a "way of showing that society knows that it depends on good marriages – which it does“.
Buffett: U.S. in Recession, 'Stocks Not Cheap'
http://moneynews.newsmax.com/money/archives/articles/2008/3/3/084049.cfm?s=mnh
NEW YORK -- Warren Buffett on Monday said the U.S. economy is in recession and that "stocks are not cheap."
Speaking on CNBC television, Buffett also said he is no longer offering to guarantee $800 billion of municipal bonds backed by MBIA Inc, Ambac Financial Group Inc and FGIC Corp, three large bond insurers.
Buffett said that "from a common-sense standpoint right now, we're in a recession," though the U.S. economy has not yet recorded two straight quarters of declining gross domestic product, a traditional indicator of recession.
He said, though, that the environment is "nothing like '73 or '74 yet," referring to a deep economic downturn also marked by rising oil prices and falling stocks. Buffett said investors should not rule out the possibility of a significant economic downturn.
On Friday, Buffett's insurance and investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc reported an 18 percent decline in fourth-quarter profit.
This stemmed in part from weakness in businesses linked to housing, including units that make bricks and carpet, and that offer real estate brokerage services.
Buffett said he is finding more buying opportunities in stocks, following a 16 percent decline in the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index from its recent high in October.
"I find more things to look at now than I did six months or a year ago," Buffett said. But he acknowledged that conditions have changed "more dramatically" in the bond market. Berkshire last year spent $19.11 billion on stocks and $13.39 billion on bonds.
Falling securities and liquidity have pummeled bond insurers, which normally insure relatively safe municipal bonds. But those insurers are under pressure after they also guaranteed billions of dollars of riskier debt, often tied to subprime mortgages.
On Feb 12, Buffett offered to reinsure $800 billion of municipal bonds, but only at a steep premium. The offer didn't include the riskier debt. Bond insurers rejected the offer, and have been seeking new sources of capital or possibly breaking themselves up.
Buffett on Monday said his earlier offer is "not on the table." In December, Buffett started its own bond insurer, Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corp.
Oil Jumps to New Record on Dollar's Fall
http://www.newsmax.com/money/Oil_Jumps_to_New_Record_o/2008/03/03/77337.html
NEW YORK -- Oil prices surged to a new record high Monday as the dollar weakened to another low against the euro.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose $1.93 to $103.77 on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier rising as high as $103.95. That's higher than the price of $103.76 that many analysts believe oil hit in 1980, when adjusted for inflation into 2008 dollars.
Oil's most recent run into record territory has been driven by the greenback's slump against other world currencies. Crude futures offer a hedge against a falling dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the dollar is falling.
Oil isn't the only commodity rising on the dollar's weakness - gold, copper and wheat are among the other commodities that have rallied in recent weeks as the dollar has fallen.
"It's coming down to another commodity price rally," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp., in Chicago.
Other energy futures also rallied Monday. In other Nymex trading, April heating oil futures jumped 6.06 cents to $2.8675 a gallon, and April gasoline futures rose 5.65 cents to $2.7264 a gallon. April natural gas futures gained 20 cents to $9.566 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude futures rose $2.07 to $102.17 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
The Ten Keys to Prosperity
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/332210.aspx
Can anyone prosper and make it financially? Are there rules to follow to assure financial success?
In his new book, Thou Shall Prosper, Rabbi Daniel Lapin offers a practical approach to creating wealth based on principles from Jewish tradition and the Bible.
Lapin shares ten fundamental commandments about business and money found in the Hebrew Scriptures and teachings that can help people from any background.
In an era when the reputation of business has been sullied by scandals as well as hostile news coverage, Lapin proclaims what he calls "the dignity and morality of business."
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