VeriChip Markets Its Implantable RFID Tags and Services Direct to Consumers
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/4055/1/1/
VeriChip has launched a direct-to-consumer initiative known as Health Link, making its RFID system—previously branded as VeriMed—available to customers in South Florida's tri-county area. For $149, a consumer can have a passive 134 kHz RFID chip, compliant with the ISO 11784 and 11785 standards, implanted in his or her arm, with the transponder's unique 16-digit ID number linked to a database containing that individual's medical records and, if they so choose, a living will.
VeriChip is partnering with hearing care provider HearUSA to make the chips available. With the system, consumers can call an 800 number for additional information. HearUSA telemarketing personnel will answer questions about the system and direct interested parties to HEARx stores in their area. Customers can visit one of HearUSA's eight HEARx locations in Florida's Palm Springs, Martin and St. Lucie counties, and have a VeriChip-licensed nurse implant the transponder there in the store. Consumers need not be HearUSA or HEARx customers to have the chip implanted.
According to Scott Silverman, CEO and chairman of VeriChip, the company changed the name of its system from VeriMed to Health Link because the new moniker is expected to have a wider appeal for consumers. Health-care data resides on a Web-based server hosted by VeriChip. After the first year, a patient pays $9.99 per month to keep that information active on the server.
Thus far, about 900 hospitals on the East Coast have agreed to participate in the VeriChip system. These hospitals have received RFID interrogators that can be used to read a patient's embedded VeriChip RFID transponder to automatically access that person's medical records. Of those hospitals, Silverman says, about 200 have completed VeriChip training on using the system, and have been provided access to the VeriMed database, as well as interrogators to scan unconscious or unresponsive patients. At present, 16 South Florida tri-county regional hospitals—including Bethesda Healthcare System, Good Samaritan Medical Center, JFK Medical Center, Jupiter Medical Center and St. Mary's Medical Center—participate in the Health Link system.
The RFID microchip is injected under the surface of a patient's skin, in the rear upper portion of the right arm. If a Health Link member arrives at a hospital's emergency department unconscious, unresponsive or confused, medical personnel can use the Health Link interrogator to retrieve that person's identification number to access his or her personal health record.
Thus far, Silverman says, only about 600 people in the United States have embedded VeriChip transponders. However, the company expects that number to rise as hospital employees gradually make it a standard practice to scan the arms of unresponsive patients being admitted to an emergency room in order to access their identity and medical records immediately.
In 2007, Alzheimer's Community Care (ACC)—a West Palm Beach, Fla., provider of support to Alzheimer's patients and their caretakers—began implanting RFID chips in about 200 volunteers who are clients of the organization (see Alzheimer's Care Center to Carry Out VeriChip Pilot). That pilot is still ongoing, according to Silverman.
Because only 600 people currently have the chips, Silverman says, hospital personnel interrogating patients' arms are unlikely to detect any embedded tags. As such, making the scanning process an automatic part of the check-in procedure for incapacitated patients is a challenge. Silverman indicates he expects that problem to be alleviated as more consumers opt to have the implants done. "That's been part of the frustration we have today," Silverman says. "We need examples of the system saving lives." To date, he explains, there haven't been enough chips in use for that to happen.
The direct-to-consumer campaign began Monday with a Web site, HealthLinkinfo.com, and television ads in southern Florida's tri-county area displaying the 800 number and promoting the health advantages of having an RFID chip implanted in one's arm. "We intend to appeal through advertising to high-risk patients and their loved ones," Silverman states. The 30- and 60-second ads will air for three months, and the company also intends to run newspaper ads in the Florida Sun Sentinel and Palm Beach Post.
Silverman hopes to enroll at least 1,000 new participants in the Health Link system. If he reaches that number, he says, he will consider the campaign a success. After three months, if the campaign is successful, VeriChip plans to expand the Health Link system to other regions of the country, most likely beginning in northern New Jersey, where a relatively large percentage of hospitals participate in the VeriMed system.
"Assuming we reach our goal of 1,000, we are prepared to expand," Silverman says, noting that HearUSA has locations throughout the country. "There are lots of companies we could work with." He adds, "If, three months from now, nobody gets the chip, we will have to look at our business model."
Bush Pushes Congress on Economy
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/366193.aspx
Holding court in the Rose Garden, President Bush dove right into a thorny issue for many Americans these days. the slowing economy.
Some say we're in a recession, but the President refused to play the name game.
"The average person doesn't really care what we call it. The average person wants to know whether or not we know that they're paying higher gasoline prices and they're worried about staying in their homes. And I do understand that," Bush said.
Calling these difficult and tough times, President Bush said Americans are experiencing hardships on all fronts. paying more for gas and groceries and struggling to pay their mortgages and tuition fees.
And he said the Democratic-controlled Congress - in blocking his proposals - is to blame.
"I believe they're letting the American people down," Bush said.
The President faulted lawmakers for failing to protect Americans from issues ranging from national security, to protecting their pocket books, to failing to come up with long-term, comprehensive solutions -- like opening new refineries, expanding alternative sources of energy and allowing domestic drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.
"The truth of the matter is it's in our national interests that we are farmers that grow energy as opposed to us purchasing energy from parts of the world that are unstable or may not like us," Bush said.
Bush said he would consider tapping into the nation's strategic oil reserves if he thought it would help to lower prices and he said he was open to other energy ideas -- though he would not endorse a proposal to suspend gas and diesel taxes this summer - like Senators McCain and Clinton are suggesting.
As for another stimulus package, the President said he's waiting to see the effects of the rebates -- designed to deliver a boon to the economy.
But it'll be several months before their impact is felt as the first wave of checks were electronically deposited this week.
Hillary's Earmarks Tops Among Pork Requests
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/clinton_earmarks_pork/2008/04/29/92066.html
She may be lagging in the presidential delegate count, but Sen. Hillary Clinton is way ahead of her Senate colleagues in the amount of earmarks she is seeking -- a whopping $2.3 billion.
As reported in The Hill newspaper, Clinton has requested nearly $2.3 billion in federal earmarks for 2009, almost three times the largest amount received by a single senator this year.
This is in contrast, The Hill notes, to the earmark records of her Democrat and Republican senate rivals for the presidency, Sen. John McCain, a longtime foe of earmarks who has called for eliminating what he dubs “wasteful Washington spending,” and Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama, who has has spurned earmarks and is seeking no funds for pet projects in the upcoming fiscal year.
Obama has released all the earmark requests he offered since being elected to the Senate in 2004, The Hill reported, which totaled roughly $740 million over three years. Obama has also criticized Clinton for not disclosing her requests. Her office would not say how much she requested in previous years.
Obama has released all the earmark requests he offered since being elected to the Senate in 2004, which totaled roughly $740 million over three years, according to The Hill.
According to The Hill, the total amount Clinton is seeking far exceeds the $837 million secured last year by Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, who took home the largest dollar amount of earmarks in the current fiscal year’s spending bills. In those bills, the Hill notes, Clinton secured $342 million in earmarks.
Clinton's staff claims the money is needed for homeland security, emergency response and health projects throughout New York, according to documents her office provided.
Steve Ellis, a vice president at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a group critical of earmarks, told The Hill that the amount is not unusual for a senator hailing from a big state who has long secured pet projects.
“For her to all of a sudden change course would look opportunistic,” Ellis said. “There’s a decent chance that she is going to remain the senator from New York, and she needs to do what she can to stay the senator from New York.”
Among the projects Clinton is pushing is an additional $750 million for a homeland-state grant program and another $125 million for an urban-area security initiative in the upcoming homeland security appropriations bill. But it does not say which projects the grants would pay for.
Her office justified the requests, telling The Hill that money is needed after a “staggering” reduction in the Bush administration’s budget proposal that left states and localities “ill prepared to prevent another major terrorist attack.”
In addition, she's asking for grants of up to $400 million for interoperable emergency communication, $335 million for emergency planning, $190 million for port security and $225 million for transit security.
The senator also wants the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies subcommittee to add $10 million to bolster the nation’s emergency 911 network and defense appropriators to add $3.2 million for a program geared toward transitioning members of the National Guard to the construction industry.
In the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education funding bill, Clinton asks for $231 million to go toward monitoring the health of people affected by the collapse of the World Trade Center.
Philippe Reines, a spokesman for Clinton, told The Hill that some of the funding for first responders and homeland security is based on need and risk, so New York would receive a portion of the money but so would other parts of the country.
“The funds requested are for critical needs for New York and America, and are appropriate and necessary,” Reines added.
Earmarks take on added importance in the election year, The Hill observed, as lawmakers point to the pet projects to tout their effectiveness in Congress. But they have been caught in the roiling debate over whether earmarks are a waste of taxpayer dollars, a debate that has intensified after pet projects have been linked to corruption cases in Congress.
Home foreclosure rate continues ugly climb
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24359826/
The number of U.S. homes heading toward foreclosure more than doubled in the first quarter from a year earlier, as weakening property values and tighter lending left many homeowners powerless to prevent homes from being auctioned to the highest bidder, a research firm said Monday.
Among the hardest hit states were Nevada, Florida and, in particular, California, where Stockton led the nation with a foreclosure rate that was 6.6 times the national average, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac Inc. said.
Nationwide, 649,917 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in the first three months of the year, up 112 percent from 306,722 during the same period last year, RealtyTrac said.
The latest tally also represents an increase of 23 percent from the fourth quarter of last year.
RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.
All told, one in every 194 households received a foreclosure filing during the quarter. Foreclosure filings increased in all but four states.
The most recent quarter marked the seventh consecutive quarter of rising foreclosure activity, RealtyTrac noted.
“What would normally alleviate the foreclosure situation in a normal market is people starting to buy properties again,” said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s vice president of marketing.
However, the unavailability of loans for people without perfect credit and a significant down payment is slowing the process, he said.
“It’s a cycle that’s going to be difficult to break, and we’re certainly not at the breaking point just yet,” Sharga added.
The surge in foreclosure filings also suggests that much-touted campaigns by lawmakers and the mortgage lending industry aimed at helping at-risk homeowners aren’t paying off.
Hope Now, a Bush administration-organized mortgage industry group, said nearly 503,000 homeowners had received mortgage aid in the first quarter. Most of the aid was temporary, however.
Pennsylvania was a notable standout in the latest foreclosure data. The number of homes in the state to receive a foreclosure-related filing plunged 24.4 percent from a year earlier.
Sharga credited the decline to the state’s foreclosure relief measures, noting that cities such as Philadelphia put in place a moratorium on all foreclosure auctions for April and implemented other measures aimed at helping slow foreclosures.
Nearly 157,000 properties were repossessed by lenders nationwide during the quarter, according to RealtyTrac.
The flood of foreclosed properties on the market has contributed to falling or stagnating home values, yet lenders have yet to implement heavy discounts on repossessed homes, Sharga said.
Nevada posted the worst foreclosure rate in the nation, with one in every 54 households receiving a foreclosure-related notice, nearly four times the national rate.
The number of properties with a filing increased 137 percent over the same quarter last year but only rose 3 percent from the fourth quarter.
California had the most properties facing foreclosure at 169,831, an increase of 213 percent from a year earlier. It also posted the second-highest foreclosure rate in the country, with one in every 78 households receiving a foreclosure-related notice.
California metro areas accounted for six of the 10 U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates in the first quarter, RealtyTrac said.
Many of the areas — including Stockton, Riverside-San Bernardino, Fresno, Sacramento and Bakersfield — are located in inland areas of the state where many first-time buyers overextend themselves financially to buy properties that have plunged in value since the market peak.
“California still hasn’t hit bottom,” Sharga said. “We have a lot of California homes that are in early stages of default that may not be salvageable because either there’s no market or financing available, or both.”
Arizona had the third-highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 95 households reporting a foreclosure filing in the quarter. A total of 27,404 homes reported at least one filing, up nearly 245 percent from a year ago and up 45 percent from the last quarter of 2007.
Florida had 87,893 homes reporting at least one foreclosure filing, a 178 percent jump from the first quarter of last year and a 17 percent hike from the fourth quarter last year. That translates into a foreclosure rate of one in every 97 households.
The other states among the top 10 with the highest foreclosure rates were Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Housing prices drop at fastest pace ever
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24367064/
Housing prices dropped in February at the fastest rate ever, a widely watched index showed on Tuesday, reflecting that the housing slump is gaining momentum and showing no signs of letting up.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 cities fell by 12.7 percent in February versus last year, the largest decline since its inception in 2001. Seventeen of the 20 metro areas reported record annual declines.
“There is no sign of a bottom in the numbers,” David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P, noting that all 20 metro areas have declined for six straight months.
Half of the cities saw home values plunge by double digits led by Las Vegas at 22.8 percent and Miami at 21.7 percent. Those two areas experienced the sharpest appreciation in 2004 and 2005 with annual increases above 50 percent and 30 percent.
Only Charlotte, N.C., posted a positive return of 1.5 percent year-over-year.
The narrower 10-city index declined 13.6 percent in February, a record drop in its two-decade history.
Republicans Become Source of Opposition to Ethanol Mandates as Food Prices Rise
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353249,00.html
WASHINGTON — Republicans generally stood by President Bush's call Tuesday for action on energy and the economy, but one pillar — boosting use and production of corn-based ethanol — is becoming an increasingly sticky point for some in the president's own party.
Once seen as a panacea to curing America's reliance on foreign fossil fuels, ethanol production now is taking blame from some corners for rising food prices around the globe. Critics say ethanol is gobbling up corn that otherwise would go toward food production, adding to the price crunch, and rising prices are hurting American consumers.
On Tuesday, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, announced she will introduce legislation to freeze a biofuel mandate required in a bill passed last year. Pushed by Democrats, the bill required a gradual, five-fold increase in ethanol production by 2022.
And Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. — the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee — called on the EPA to institute "an immediate waiver from (biofuels) mandates."
He wants a review of the effects mandated ethanol production has had on the global food crisis. The waiver power was given to the EPA by Congress in last year's energy bill.
Inhofe warned, "People are starving to death because of this transfer from food to fuel. As the ranking member of the EPW committee, which has jurisdiction, I'm going to ask for an immediate waiver to stop this mandate."
But not everyone — including Bush — believes ethanol is strongly linked to rising food costs.
On Tuesday, Bush vouched for more ethanol, saying, "We're transitioning to a new era, by the way, a new era where we're going to have batteries in our cars that will power — you know, enable people to drive 40 miles on electricity. There's going to be more ethanol in the market, more alternative fuels. Our driving habits will change."
He later added: "The high price of gasoline is going to spur more investment in ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. And the truth of the matter is, it's in our national interest that we — our farmers, grow energy, as opposed to us purchasing energy from parts of the world that are unstable or may not like us."
But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed concern Monday that there is a link between the more ethanol and higher global food prices.
"Although we believe that while biofuels continue to be an extremely important piece of the alternative energy picture, obviously we want to make sure that it is not having an adverse affect. ... We think that it is not a large part of the problem, but it in fact may be a part of the problem, the ethanol debate," Rice told a gathering of the Peace Corps.
Politicians from corn-belt states like Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska are finding it difficult to embrace a freeze — partially because putting downward pressure on grain prices could hurt farmers — but a number of key Democrats from that same area have signaled they are open to the idea.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois — the No. 2 Senate Democrat — on Monday said he was open to reviewing ethanol's effects at a press conference on the global food crisis, but said he is not calling for a freeze on the fuel.
"I think we ought to take an honest look at it. I've supported ethanol from the beginning. I've supported biofuel production," Durbin said. "The object of having homegrown fuel in America is a good goal. ... But we have to understand it's had an impact on food prices. And let's be honest about it, even in the corn belt. We better be honest about it."
But he also expressed some skepticism of ethanol's effect on the broader food market: "I can't imagine that using corn for ethanol in Illinois is going to raise the price of rice, which has happened dramatically around the world. So, let's take a look at this thing and play it out in an honest fashion."
Some stores limiting sales of rice as customers hoard
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/apr/23/some-stores-limiting-sales-of-rice-as-customers/
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Sam's Club warehouse unit is restricting purchases of some types of rice to four bags a visit as prices reached a record in Chicago futures trading.
The limits on jasmine, basmati and long-grain white rice, a response to "recent supply and demand trends," will be put into effect in all U.S. stores where allowed by law and are effective immediately, Sam's Club spokeswoman Kristy Reed said Wednesday in an e-mailed statement.
Some consumers have started hoarding rice, the food staple for half the world as prices soar and supplies shrink. China, Vietnam, India and Egypt have curbed sales abroad to safeguard domestic supplies and cool inflation. Thailand also may restrict shipments, a World Bank official said.
"The warehouse clubs are doing it to protect their business customers, such as smaller restaurants, caterers, nursing homes, day-care centers," food consultant Jim Degen said.
"The business members are the most important members in warehouse clubs because they generate so much more revenue per member."
Supermarkets and grocery stores have a different customer base, and they haven't seen any signs of hoarding of rice by individual shoppers, said Bill Wertz, a spokesman for Wal- Mart, the second-largest grocery store retailer in Colorado.
Mary Lou Chapman, president of the Rocky Mountain Food Industry Association, said that none of her trade group's grocery store and convenience store members has reported rice shortages or concerns from shoppers. But she worries that consumers might nonetheless panic after hearing about reports of hoarding.
"My concern is when there's a national news story, it tends to drive a situation in local markets that wasn't there to begin with," Chapman said.
Some of Costco Wholesale Corp.'s stores, including locations in California, have put limits on sales of rice and flour, Chief Executive Officer James Sinegal told Reuters.
Agent: South Carolina Teen Accused in School Plot Wanted to Kill Jesus
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353248,00.html#
FLORENCE, S.C. — Federal authorities say a South Carolina teen accused of plotting to blow up his high school told police that he wanted to die, go to heaven and kill Jesus.
A dark portrait of Ryan Schallenberger emerged Tuesday in a federal courtroom as prosecutors argued the teen needs a psychological evaluation.
An ATF agent says Schallenberger told a sheriff about his wish to die after his arrest. Prosecutors also played a 911 tape of the teen's mother calling police after he smashed his head into a wall. She says on the tape her son threatened to shoot police if they were called to his home.
Authorities say the teen bought materials to make several bombs and had written a journal detailing his plans to attack Chesterfield High School.
Brussels criticised on access to documents law
http://euobserver.com/9/26059
BRUSSELS - The European Commission's plans to overhaul rules on public access to documents have been strongly criticised by a civil liberties watchdog, which says its proposals are "retrogressive" in key areas.
Due to be unveiled on Wednesday (30 April), the proposal updates a 2001 law on document transparency that has been subject to strong criticism by MEPs and NGOs for being too restrictive.
But according to UK civil liberties organisation Statewatch, the proposed amendments "do not consider many of the fundamental questions posed by civil society and the European Parliament."
"Two of the commission amendments are highly retrogressive," said Statewatch editor Tony Bunyan.
He was referring a change in the law which redefines the meaning of a document so that if it is not recorded in the commission's system, it is not considered a document.
According to an explanatory note attached to the proposed new law, the commission says that a "document only exists if it has been sent to recipients or circulated within the institution and as been entered in the institution's records."
This point is likely to be strongly criticised by NGOs, who want to know about possible documents that may have been used to influence forthcoming laws. A particularly sensitive area in this regard is legislation concerning the environment.
Mr Bunyan also condemns a proposed amendment to the current regulation that suggests that each EU institution shall define its own rules on which other documents "are directly accessible to the public."
In addition, the commission has removed a general principle currently in the law that all documents listed on the public register should be "as far as possible" directly accessible to the public in electronic form.
Statewatch also accuses the commission of failing to address requests by MEPs to give parliamentary control over classified documents and provide a "single access point to preparatory legislation."
There is some praise however for a proposed change by the commission to disclose personal data of civil servants and interest representatives "in relation to their professional activities" unless disclosure would "adversely affect the persons concerned."
The proposed revamp of the document access law comes as the European Ombudsman recently noted that lack of transparency, including refusal of information, continues to top the list of EU institutions' sins against citizens.
Of all the complaints concerning EU institutions the ombudsman received last year, 28 percent concerned transparency and the European Commission came off in the worst light.
However, the parliament's own transparency image came in for a blow last week, when MEPs voted down a proposal to make auditors' reports public as a matter of principle.
A recent auditor's report, unavailable to the public, revealed cases of MEP abusing their monthly staff allowances.
PA: Olmert Ready to Give Up Temple Mount
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/145511
Palestinian Authority officials quoted Saturday in the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar said that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had agreed in principal to allow Arab or Muslim authorities to control the Temple Mount. Olmert had asked to keep the Old City of Jerusalem along with the Mount of Olives and the neighborhood of Mei Shiloach (Silwan), they said, but was willing to split control in a manner that would allow all religions freedom of worship.
The sources said negotiations between Olmert and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas had failed, as Olmert’s offers did not come close to meeting Abbas’s expectations. Olmert wants to keep 15 percent of Judea and Samaria, including part of the Jordan River Valley, they said, and is unwilling to allow hundreds of thousands of foreign Arabs to settle in Israel. Abbas, on the other hand, says he will allow Israel to keep a maximum of two percent of Judea and Samaria, and insists that at least 100,000 foreign Arabs be granted Israeli citizenship in the next decade.
'Land for Peace' Means Iran in the Golan
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/366101.aspx
Washington, DC - Israeli Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said ceding the Golan Heights to Syria means putting Iran there.
"Due to the fact that there is a strengthening of the radical axis, and Syria is very central and dominant component of the radical axis, any handover of the Golan Heights to them [the Syrians] means Iranians in the Golan Heights," Mofaz said, following Monday's meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"We must take this under consideration, not as a statement that creates headlines, but as an issue that will become very tangible and real," Mofaz said.
"Just as today the Iranians have a foothold in southern Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip, they will have one in the Golan Heights," he said.
"This doesn't mean we shouldn't make peace with the Syrians in the future. It doesn't mean we shouldn't talk to the Syrians, but in this reality the Golan Heights is a strategic asset for Israel and handing it over to the Syrians is tantamount to handing it to the Iranians," said Mofaz.
Mofaz also told the secretary of state that the Hezbollah terror group virtually controls southern Lebanon and has doubled its cache of long-range rockets since the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.
Mofaz said UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) troops have paid little heed to UN Resolution 1701, which forbad Hezbollah to operate south of the Litani River.
"The presence of UNIFIL and Lebanese Army forces in southern Lebanon is insignificant and does not constitute an obstacle in the face of Hezbollah's strengthening," Mofaz said.
In spite of the peacekeeping forces in the area, Hezbollah moves freely in southern Lebanon, transporting weapons and troops in preparation for the next war with Israel, free of interference by UNIFIL forces or the Lebanese Army, he said.
Rice: Young Palestinians Losing Hope for Peace With Israel
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353282,00.html
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told an American Jewish audience Tuesday that young Palestinians are losing hope for an agreement with Israel.
"Increasingly, the Palestinians who talk about a two-state solution are my age," Rice, 53, said in a somber speech to The American Jewish Committee at its 102nd annual meeting.
Insisting that the Bush administration will never yield to dealing with Hamas militants, Rice said, "What you don't want is that the hopelessness and the vision of the extremists have no counter."
Set to leave early Thursday for more jawboning with moderate Arabs and Israeli leaders, after talks in London designed to raise more economic support for the Palestinians, Rice called on Israel to make "difficult decisions" to provide the Palestinians with the dignity of statehood.
In fact, she said, "we have a chance to reach the basic contours of a settlement by the end of the year" — a scaling back of President Bush's initial hope for a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians before he leaves office.
Rice also poured cold water on any prospects that Israel and Syria could negotiate peace terms.
The two sides, working partly through Turkey, have shown some renewed interest. The basis would be Israel swapping the Golan Heights for a peace treaty with its Arab neighbor.
Rice said the Bush administration had tried to interest Syria in peacemaking, with such moves as an invitation to a Mideast conference last November in Annapolis, Md.
"It is hard to see there is a Syrian regime receptive" to negotiations with Israel at this point, she said.
"Syria is like Iran's sidecar," she said, aligning itself tightly with a country that threatens Israel's existence. And, she reminded the American Jewish Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobby and foe of intolerance and anti-Semitism, "you know about Syria's nuclear program."
Rice referred to a nuclear facility built with North Korea's cooperation and then wrecked by Israeli jets last September.
The central theme in her 15-minute speech and 20-minute question-and-answer session was that the Bush administration would not give up trying to steer Israel and the Palestinians toward a settlement that provides the Palestinians with a state.
And, the administration would have no dealings with Hamas or other Palestinian extremists that war with Israel and refuse to recognize the Jewish state.
"Either you are a political party or a terrorist group," Rice said. "You cannot be both."
Once again, Rice criticized former President Jimmy Carter for holding talks with Hamas leaders. "I don't see the point of trying to negotiate with people who are determined to destroy the foundation of peace," she said.
Quartet to discuss ME conference
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1208870525337&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The possibility of holding an international conference in Moscow sometime in June is expected to be one of the main issues the Quartet will discuss in London on Friday, with Israel under the impression that the Kremlin remains intent on going ahead with it.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who has been promoting the idea, will attend the meeting, along with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and top officials from the other two members of the Quartet: the European Union and the United Nations.
Israel has not hidden from Moscow that it is not overly enthused about another Middle East conference, with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert saying last month that "what we need to make peace in the Middle East is to sit the two sides together to talk, rather than going to international conventions. This going from one convention to the other is not something I am particularly in favor of."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, on the other hand, has expressed great interest in the conference, going so far as to say in Moscow earlier this month that "we have great hopes the conference will move forward the peace process between Palestinians and Israel, and that it will lay the grounds for the overall peace process for the entire Middle East that will include Syria and Lebanon."
US officials - at least in private conversations - have, like Israel, been cool toward the idea, while the European Union has taken a wait-and-see approach.
Moscow first broached a follow-up conference to Annapolis even before the parley was held last November. It is widely assumed that unlike at the Annapolis Conference, the Israeli-Syrian track would also be discussed at a Moscow forum.
While Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will be in London the day of the Quartet meeting to take part in the donors' conference for the PA, she is not expected to take part in the Quartet discussions on the Moscow meeting.
Livni will, however, be meeting with her Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, for the first time since her criticism of Egypt in December for not doing enough to stop arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip. Livni's words prompted a sharp response from Gheit.
At the time, Livni told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that while Egypt had played a positive role at Annapolis, "this does not negate the fact that their performance on the Gaza border is awful and problematic. The weapons smuggling lowers the chances that pragmatic factions in Gaza and the West Bank will regain control."
Responding to Livni's statements, Gheit said, "It would be better if the Israeli minister did not run on about matters that she does not know enough about."
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki, a close confidant of Gheit's, met with Livni in Jerusalem on Sunday in what was apparently an attempt to pave the way for the London meeting.
Like Livni, Gheit will be in London to take part in a meeting of the donors' conference, known officially as the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, that begins on Thursday. The meeting is expected to be a follow-up to the Paris Conference in December, at which some $7.2 billion was donated to the PA.
The London meeting, according to officials in Jerusalem, is expected to look at what happened to the Paris pledges, and the status of various Palestinian projects that were to be funded by that money.
Zahar: We have 200,000 suicide bombers
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1208870523725&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Israel may have 200 nuclear warheads, but Hamas has 200,000 people who want to blow themselves up inside Israel, Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, said on Tuesday.
Zahar, who was speaking to supporters at the Islamic University in Gaza City, said Israel would pay if it rejected the Egyptian initiative for truce with the Palestinians.
"If Israel says no, it will pay a heavy price," he said. "We are a besieged people and we will have to use all our tools to defend ourselves against Israel."
Zahar said he expected Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to brief Israeli leaders next week on Cairo's efforts to achieve a truce.
Once Israel accepted the Egyptian proposal, Zahar said, all the border crossings into the Gaza Strip would be reopened. "The issue of the truce initiative will be determined finally next week," he added. "I believe Israel will accept the initiative, although it will try to drag its feet on some issues."
The Hamas leader pointed out that his movement had accepted a cease-fire with Israel in 2005. "Hamas benefited from that truce and no one can deny this," he said. "Even those who opposed the previous truce have admitted that it was useful."
Zahar criticized Palestinian factions that were opposed to the latest Egyptian initiative, saying some of them had received $1.5 million from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to boycott a Hamas rally against the US-sponsored peace conference in Annapolis last November.
Hamas would not agree to the presence of EU monitors at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Sinai, as was the case before June 2007, when Hamas took full control of the Strip, Zahar said. In the past, Hamas said it would agree to the return of the monitors on condition that they lived in the Gaza Strip or Egypt and not in Israel.
Zahar's remarks came as representatives of several Palestinian groups began talks in Cairo over the truce proposal.
The Egyptians summoned the representatives in a bid to persuade them to accept the initiative. Among the groups participating in the discussions are Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
An Egyptian diplomat told The Jerusalem Post that all the groups had agreed in principle to the truce. Cairo was optimistic regarding the prospects of achieving a deal as early as next week, especially since Hamas has already agreed to the truce, he said.
The diplomat confirmed that Suleiman was planning to visit Israel next week for talks with government officials on his discussions with the Palestinian groups. "We are very close to achieving an agreement," the diplomat said. "We believe all the parties are interested in a lengthy period of calm."
Hamas legislator Mushir al-Masri said Tuesday that a truce with Israel would not be possible unless all the Palestinian groups agreed to it.
"We won't go to a hudna [temporary truce] unless there is a consensus among the Palestinians about it," he said. "We are aware that some groups are opposed to a truce, but don't believe that the major factions would reject a mutual and comprehensive truce that would end the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip."
Palestinian Terrorists Plan Israeli Independence Day Attack
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/israel_independence_day/2008/04/29/92065.html
Palestinian terror groups are planning a wide-scale attack on Israel's 60th Independence Day, the chief of Israel's military intelligence is warning.
Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin told the cabinet on Tuesday that groups are planning a wide-scale attack on Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel's independence day, which falls on May 14 and commemorates the declaration of independence of Israel in 1948, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Yadlin said his Military Intelligence organization had detected preparations among terrorist groups to combine forces and carry out an ambitious attack, as well as to breach the border between Gaza and Israel, much in the same way Hamas had breached the Rafah border with Egypt several months ago.
Yadlin explained the attack would be another attempt by Hamas to remove the closure on the Gaza Strip, and that the fear that the next attempt might be directed at the Israeli border stems from the recently reinvigorated motivation by the Egyptians to deter Hamas from trying to carry out another border breach on Rafah, the Post reported.
The Associated Press reported that Egyptian forces beefed up their presence near Rafah last Friday following a mass demonstration organized by Hamas near the point where the border was breached. An Egyptian official told the AP that the decision to increase presence at the border was meant to prevent any Palestinian activity aimed towards infiltrating Egyptian territory.
Hamas has issued its own warning, with top official Mahmoud Zahar saying that if crossings from the Gaza Strip are not open, "all options will remain" in the group's hands.
Israel has closed the borders between Israel and the Gaza strip and between the Gaza strip and Egypt because of terrorist rocket attacks launched in Israel from Gaza.
Egypt looks for lead role in Mediterranean Union
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2008/April/theworld_April1028.xml§ion=theworld
LUXEMBOURG - Egypt wants to play a leading role in the planned Union for the Mediterranean, coordinating the states around the south of the sea, its foreign minister said on Monday at a meeting with European Union officials.
Egypt 'accepts and endorses' the idea of the union originally proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and it is 'eager to enter high-level discussions with the EU as Egypt, the coordinator of the south,' Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Ghreit said.
Egypt will also organize meetings around the southern Mediterranean to forge a common view with Arab neighbours on issues important to the proposed union, he said at a meeting in Luxembourg.
'Whatever we put on the table (on the issue of the proposed union) is very much spoken about, talked about and prepared with Egypt,' EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana replied.
Sarkozy initially proposed the idea for a Mediterranean Union modelled on the EU in early 2007. However, EU member states without a coastline on the sea rejected the creation of a major new structure, approving instead a strengthened version of current policies.
The talks in Luxembourg were the fourth in an annual series set up und EU and Egypt, which came into force in 2004, and were marked by their 'constructive' and friendly tone, participants said.
The two sides discussed Egypt's mediating role in the Middle East Peace Process, agreeing that the immediate prerequisites for progress would be a ceasefire, the exchange of prisoners and the implementation of a 2005 agreement on crossings into the Gaza Strip.
They also discussed the global problem of world food prices, while Egypt presented EU Foreign-Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero- Waldner with a list of proposals for improving aspects of cooperation, Aboul-Ghreit said.
They also touched on the question of the crackdown on banned opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood ahead of April 8 municipal elections in the country.
'When you have an illegal organization acting, trying to be legal, you arrest its operators,' Aboul-Ghreit said.
'There are still a lot of questions that we would have to tackle in the future, but ... the fact that the (April) elections were held was certainly important,' Ferrero-Waldner said.
She hoped that future cooperation would allow Egypt to build on the experience of its first-ever contested presidential elections in 2005, she said.
Damascus co-opted to Hamas-Cairo talks on Gaza truce
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5228
DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources report a new bump on the road to a truce in Gaza: The various Palestinian radical factions, led by Hamas, which are negotiating terms in Cairo, want to bring Syria into any ceasefire deal as co-sponsor with Egypt.
Damascus however has laid down its own conditions and thrown a spanner in the works. Our sources report that the Palestinian Jihad Islami representatives were flown from Damascus to Cairo last week aboard a special Syrian military intelligence flight authorized by Syrian president Bashar Assad. The dickering begun in Cairo last week therefore continued Wednesday, April 30 on a new basis.
The Syrian complication has drawn even more vehement denials of direct talks with Hamas from prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense minister Ehud Barak. They are walking on thin ice. It might crack if even an informal ceasefire was seen to be sponsored by Damascus, host of the Palestinian terrorist organizations’ high commands.
To sidestep this difficulty, the Israeli side has suggested that Egypt arrange for Israel and Hamas to coordinate reciprocal pauses in hostilities on a pre-agreed date and time without any formal announcement.
DEBKAfile’s sources add this plan faces three further pitfalls:
1. Israel cannot meet Hamas demands for a full re-opening of all the Gaza crossings and an end of its blockade, but is willing to let the present transit of food and fuel convoys carry on.
2. Neither Israel nor Egypt is willing to have the Rafah crossing to Sinai fully operational - only partially.
3. Hamas’ radical allies, the Jihad Islami and the Fronts, will not join a ceasefire unless Syria is a party to it.
In the last 24 hours, Egyptian officials were told Syria’s support had a high price: Cairo must bring Riyadh round to patching up its quarrel with Damascus over Lebanon. But Egypt’s initial feeler elicited a sharp Saudi rebuff.
Despite all these setbacks, Cairo and Jerusalem believe a truce will eventually come about because Hamas is eager for a short pause in the fighting and a partial easing of the embargo against Gaza.
Hamas leaders have said bluntly that any pause would be “tactical” to permit its “fighters to recuperate” for the next round of war against Israel. This is the most Israel can expect.
US Accuses Iran and Syria of Trying to Destabilize Iraq
http://www.newsmax.com/international/un_iraq/2008/04/28/91727.html
UNITED NATIONS -- The United States is accusing Iran and Syria of trying to destabilize Iraq.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that Iranian-backed groups have launched numerous attacks on Iraqi civilians and multinational forces this year.
He cites estimates suggesting that 90 percent of foreign terrorists enter Iraq through Syria.
In a report to the council on behalf of the multinational forces, Khalilzad says Iran and Syria must stop sending weapons and foreign fighters into Iraq.
Iran and Syria have repeatedly denied trying to destabilize Iraq.
Gates: 2nd Carrier in Gulf 'Reminder' to Iran
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/366604.aspx
MEXICO CITY - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that sending a second U.S. aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf could serve as a "reminder" to Iran, but he said it's not an escalation of force.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with Mexican leaders, Gates said heightening U.S. criticism of Iran and its support for terror groups is not a signal that the administration is laying the groundwork for a strike against Tehran.
Still, he said Iran continues to back the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"I do not have a sense at this point of a significant increase in Iranian support for the Taliban and others opposing the government in Afghanistan," Gates said. "There is, as best I can tell, a continuing flow, but I would still characterize it as relatively modest."
His comments contrasted with those from Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said last week that he had not seen any new signs of Iranian support for the Taliban.
Gates played down the addition of a second carrier to the Gulf, saying that the number of ships there rises and falls continuously. He said he doesn't expect there to two carriers there for a long time.
Asked if the carrier move went hand in hand with the rising U.S. rhetoric against Iran, Gates said, "I don't see it as an escalation. I think it could be seen, though, as a reminder."
In the past, military officials have said that beefing up the Navy's presence in the Gulf was a way to show that that the U.S. remains committed to the region. And they have acknowledged it also serves as a show of force for other countries there, such as Iran.
In recent weeks, U.S. officials have ratcheted up their complaints that Iran is increasing its efforts to supply weapons and training to militants in Iraq.
Military commanders in Baghdad are expected to roll out evidence of that support soon - including date stamps on newly found weapons caches showing that recently made Iranian weapons are flowing into Iraq at a steadily increasing rate.
Another senior military official said the evidence will include mortars, rockets, small arms, roadside bombs and armor-piercing explosives - known as explosively formed penetrators or EFPs - that troops have discovered in caches in recent months. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the evidence has not yet been made public, said that dates on some of the weapons were well after Tehran signaled late last year that it was scaling back aid to insurgents.
Speaking of Afghanistan on Tuesday, Gates said that the Taliban is changing its tactics there - from large-scale firefighters to a "significant increase in terrorist acts," including roadside bombs and suicide attacks, similar to the one that unsuccessfully targeted Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday.
At least one police officer has been arrested in connection with the assassination attempt, deepening concerns about the Taliban's infiltration of Afghan security forces.
Gates said, however, he does not have a sense that the infiltration is any worse that it has been before. He said that it is important to screen the security forces well and that military trainers working with those forces need to make that a focus of their efforts.
On other matters, Gates said it was critically important for Congress to approve funding for an anti-drug trafficking program to aid Mexico.
The so-called Merida Initiative is a $500 million proposal to counter drug crime in Mexico. While the Pentagon portion of the program is small, the U.S. military has worked with Mexico to provide intelligence, surveillance and equipment to counter drug cartels.
"We have a shared concern and a shared threat in the drug cartels," Gates said, adding that it will benefit the U.S. to enhance Mexico's ability to deal with them.
He added that if Congress failed to approve the funding - which is included in the emergency war funding bill - it would be "a real slap at Mexico."
This is Gates first trip to Mexico City and only the second visit in recent history by a Pentagon chief. The only other U.S. defense leader to travel to Mexico was William Perry, in 1985.
Christians Gather, Speak Out on Persecution
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/366519.aspx
Christians gathered on Capitol Hill Tuesday to call attention to religious persecution in North Korea.
North Korea is the number one persecutor of Christians, according to the Open Doors USA World Watch List."
"We need to shine our light and shine the light of Jesus Christ on what's happening in North Korea," said Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors USA. "Because you see tens of thousands of christians in north korea today are suffering simply for the faith they hold in Jesus Christ."
Christian refugees from North Korea are dedicating this week to concentrated prayer for their homeland.
Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Maldives and Bhutan round out the top five worst countries for Christian persecution.
Disclosure of Syria-N.Korea link was message
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/disclosure.of.syriankorea.link.was.message/18446.htm
President George W. Bush said on Tuesday the recent U.S. disclosure of suspected North Korea-Syria nuclear cooperation was intended to send a tough message to Damascus and Pyongyang as well as Tehran over their nuclear ambitions.
"We wanted to advance certain policy objectives through the disclosure, one would be to the North Koreans to make it abundantly clear that we may know more about you than you think," Bush told a White House news conference.
The CIA said a suspected secret Syrian nuclear reactor it alleges was being built with North Korean help had been within weeks or months of completion when it was bombed by Israeli warplanes last year.
The United States last week released photos it said proved its accusations of an illicit arms program. Syria has denied the U.S. charges and accused Washington of involvement in the air attack by Israel, which is believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East.
The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency has criticized the United States for waiting until this month to share its intelligence, and U.S. lawmakers have also complained about the delay.
Bush said the information had been withheld at first because of concerns about the risk of "confrontation" or "retaliation," an apparent reference to Syria's possible military response to Israel's strike on its territory.
He acknowledged that the disclosure last week was in part aimed at pressuring North Korea to come clean fully on its nuclear and proliferation activities and said it was also meant to send a stern message to Syria.
"And then we have an interest in sending a message to Iran and the world for that matter about just how destabilizing nuclear proliferation would be in the Middle East," Bush added.
Washington is leading an international campaign against Iran over a nuclear program the West suspects is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Tehran insists it wants nuclear technology for peaceful civilian purposes.
EU: Russia Must Show Restraint in Standoff With Georgia
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353240,00.html
LUXEMBOURG — The EU urged Russia on Tuesday to show restraint in its standoff with Georgia over its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and said Moscow's decision to send more peacekeepers to the area was not wise.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asserted his country's legal obligation to protect Russian speakers in the two regions, which have had de-facto independence since the early 1990s.
"All the statements we made in terms of protecting our citizens are rooted in the Russian constitution, which makes it mandatory for the Russian state to protect the lives and dignity of its citizens wherever they are," he said.
Russia has long provided support to the two regions, including granting residents passports and lifting trade restrictions.
If Georgia takes military action against Abkhazia and South Ossetia, "Russia will have to take retaliatory actions," Lavrov said at a news conference after discussing bilateral relations with senior EU officials.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke from Georgian control in brief wars in the 1990s. They seek either independence or absorption into Russia.
Tensions have spiraled in recent weeks as Georgia pushed for NATO membership and Russia worked on closer ties with the separatist regions. It has peacekeeping troops there which Georgia says actually support separatist forces.
Sitting next to Lavrov at the news conference, Javier Solana, the EU foreign and security affairs chief, spoke of the need to respect "the territorial integrity of Georgia" and "de-escalate this perception" that war is growing imminent.
Lavrov asserted Moscow was raising its peacekeeping troops within agreed limits. But Solana discounted that. "I would like to say very frankly that even if the increase of troops is within the limits ... I don't think it is a wise measure to increase now."
Lavrov accused Georgia of seeking war. He said it has secretly "acquired a huge number of offensive armaments." He said he presented EU officials with documented evidence of that.
Speaking separately to The Associated Press in a telephone interview, Georgian Foreign Minister David Bakradze said Russia's military buildup in Abkhazia and South Ossetia meant it seeks war and plans to occupy the two regions.
Bakradze visited the NATO headquarters in Brussels, which on Monday issued a statement reaffirming support for Georgian sovereignty.
The EU and Russia said they remained committed to take bilateral relations to a "strategic partnership."
But earlier Tuesday, the EU foreign ministers failed to agree among themselves on how to do that because of lingering objections from Lithuania, which wants Moscow first to improve ties with its immediate neighbors.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas said his government was "ready for compromise," but demanded that Russia fix an oil pipeline to a Lithuanian refinery and peacefully resolve "frozen conflicts" in Georgia and other ex-Soviet republics.
The European Union seeks to enroll Russia — which badly needs foreign investors and expertise to develop its oil and gas reserves — into a "strategic partnership" covering a broad sweep of economic and political issues.
Negotiations in the last two years have stalled because Moscow balks at what it sees as EU human rights lecturing, and Poland had tangled with Moscow in a trade dispute that is now resolved.
Additionally, there is lingering ill will in Lithuania, which regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Russia and Lithuania have engaged in tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions in recent years.
"Frozen conflicts create a dangerous situation in the sense of security and stability," Vaitiekunas told reporters on arrival at the EU foreign ministers meeting.
The European Commission is still looking forward to a June summit with Russia to formally launch negotiations for a strategic partnership in which energy plays a significant role.
The proposed partnership would be much broader than a decade-old cooperation deal. It would include everything from closer energy ties to better cooperation in the fields of crime fighting, immigration, food safety and consumer protection. It also would include touchy issues such as human rights and democratic reforms.
Russia Building up Troop in Separatist Georgian Regions
http://www.newsmax.com/international/russia_georgia/2008/04/29/92006.html
MOSCOW -- Russia's Defense Ministry said Tuesday it is building up troop contingents in two separatist regions of Georgia because of provocative actions by the former Soviet republic.
Details of the buildup have not been specified, but the announcement adds to tensions between the small Caucasus country and its giant neighbor. It also raises fears of a renewal of the fighting that broke out in the regions after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Georgia cut off talks with Russia about Moscow's efforts to join the World Trade Organization in protest of Russian ties to the breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a top negotiator said Tuesday.
The regions seek either independence or absorption into Russia.
Russia has peacekeeping forces in both, but Georgia contends the troops support the separatists.
Tensions have spiraled in recent weeks with Georgia pushing for NATO membership and Russia calling for closer contact with the separatist regions. Earlier this month, Georgia accused Russia of shooting down its unmanned reconnaissance plane flying over Abkhazia.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Georgia has been concentrating troops near the regions and "this prompted the need for a forced increase in the conflict zones of the peacemaking contingents."
Georgian Foreign Minister David Bakradze said Russia had decided to send in extra forces without consulting Tbilisi.
"That is a very, very dangerous decision," Bakradze told The Associated Press by telephone from Luxembourg, Belgium, where European Union foreign ministers were meeting their Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. "They did it by violating all legal procedures."
EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana said Moscow's decision to send more peacekeepers to the area was unwise and urged Russia to show restraint.
But Lavrov said Moscow must protect the regions' Russian speakers and that if Georgia takes military action against the secessionist regions, "Russia will have to take retaliatory actions."
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has vowed to bring Abkhazia and South Ossetia under government control peacefully.
Lavrov accused Georgia of seeking war. He said the country has secretly "acquired a huge number of offensive armaments" and that he presented EU officials with documented evidence of that.
Russia's Defense Ministry said the build-up measures include creating 15 additional observation posts along the Georgia-Abkhazia administrative border. The measures are within limits set earlier by the Commonwealth of Independent States, a grouping of former Soviet republics that includes both Russia and Georgia, the ministry said.
However, Georgian Prime Minister Vladimir Gurgenidze said Tuesday that Russia had sent several armored troop carriers to the area near the town of Gagra, which is well inside Abkhazia.
"It is categorically unacceptable when Russia takes such steps without agreement from the Georgia side," he said.
Earlier Tuesday, Georgia announced it had cut off talks with Russia over Moscow's accession to the World Trade Organization in protest at its ties to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Decisions at WTO, a 151-member trade bloc, are made by consensus, so Georgia has a de-facto right of veto over Russia's entry. Russia, which is the only major economy outside the WTO, must also reach agreement with Saudi Arabia before it can join.
The talks will resume "only if Russia cancels the decision by President Vladimir Putin establishing direct links with the authorities of the separatist regimes of South Ossetia and Abkhazia," Georgian negotiator Tamara Kovziridze told The Associated Press.
Lithuania meanwhile on Tuesday blocked EU plans to develop closer ties with Russia, in part over Moscow's dispute with Georgia.
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