08 Sep 10

Vatican Calls Planned Koran Burning ‘Outrageous’
The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue said today in an e-mailed statement. Every religion “has the right to respect and protection.” Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, told CNN yesterday that he’s “weighing” what to do after U.S. General David Petraeus, commander of international coalition forces in Afghanistan, warned the event would endanger U.S. troops. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs yesterday echoed the general’s warning, saying the Koran burning would put U.S. troops “in harm’s way.”  

EU's Ashton joins international condemnation of Koran-burning plan
The European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, joined Wednesday the international chorus of condemnation of plans by a Christian pastor in the United States to burn copies of the Koran. Terry Jones, heading a little-known evangelical Christian church with just 50 members in Gainesville, Florida, said he would hold a 'Koran Burning Day' on Saturday, on the occasion of the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.  

Audit finds Sharpton's nonprofit on brink of collapse
An accounting firm hired by Al Sharpton's National Action Network found the civil-rights group in such financial disarray that it flunked its record-keeping -- and may not even survive, The Post has learned.  

Bachmann: America ‘cursed’ by God ‘if we reject Israel’
At a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Los Angeles last week, Rep. Michele Bachmann offered a candid view of her positions on Israel: Support for Israel is handed down by God and if the United States pulls back its support, America will cease to exist.  

US pastor defiant as Clinton slams Koran-burning
An evangelical pastor insisted his plans for a mass torching of the Koran would go ahead after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the ... burning ceremony in Florida.  

Castro to Ahmadinejad: Stop denying the Holocaust
Israel and the Jewish people found an unlikely defender in Fidel Castro, the retired dictator of Cuba, on Tuesday, when he came out strongly against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust and supported Israel's right to exist.  

Rosh HaShanah: Sound of the Shofar Heralds Month of Holidays
The sonorous call of the ram's horn – the Shofar – will herald the start of Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year on Wednesday evening, and nearly a month of holidays in the Hebrew month of Tishrei.  

Syrian influence in Lebanon on the rise again
Five years ago, Lebanese thronged the streets of Beirut to protest Syrian control over their country in a movement that quickly ended decades of military domination. Now, many Lebanese are wondering if much has really changed. Syria's soldiers and the posters of its leader are gone but its influence is undeniably back.  

Report: Castro blasts Ahmadinejad as anti-Semitic
Cuban leader tells American journalist Iranian government should understand Jews 'were expelled from their land, persecuted and mistreated all over the world, as the ones who killed God'. Fidel Castro criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for what he called his anti-Semitic attitudes and questioned his own actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 during interviews with an American journalist he summoned to Havana to discuss fears of global nuclear war.  

'More than half think Barack Obama is doing a bad job on the economy'
Some 57 per cent of Americans disapprove of Mr Obama's overall handling of the economy, while his job approval rating is also at a low, with 52 per cent saying he is not doing well. However there is some hope for the Democrats as only 32 per cent think Republican economic plans would work, although voters would favour a Republican candidate over a Democrat by 53 per cent to 40 per cent, according to the poll by ABC and The Washington Post.  

Europe president uses 'state of union' speech to ask for more money
Speaking to MEPs, in an event billed as emulating the annual speech by the American president to US Congress, the European Commission President insisted that "a euro spent at European level gets you more than a euro spent at national level". "Pooling money at the European level allows member states to cut their costs, avoid overlaps and get a better return on their investment," he said.  

Hamas warns the PA: Stop arresting our people or we'll strike
Hamas on Wednesday warned that it would harm the Palestinian Authority if security forces continued to arrest its operatives in the West Bank. In a harshly worded announcement, the Islamist group declared that "our patience will soon run out" and that they would not remain silent for long, Israel Radio reported.  

Climate: New study slashes estimate of icecap loss
Estimates of the rate of ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica, one of the most worrying questions in the global warming debate, should be halved, according to Dutch and US scientists. In the last two years, several teams have estimated Greenland is shedding roughly 230 gigatonnes of ice, or 230 billion tonnes, per year and West Antarctica around 132 gigatonnes annually.  

Small businesses feel squeezed by Obama policies
Last year, even as he struggled through the worst of the recession, Chris Upham said revenue at his District-based real estate and construction businesses doubled -- allowing him to hire two agents. But Upham said he hasn't increased his staff thus far in 2010 and he doesn't expect to for the remainder of the year. That's because his taxes rose sevenfold. And he said he anticipates they'll increase again if the Bush tax cuts for people earning $250,000 and above expire at the end of the year.  

Hundreds of thousands hit by Mexico flooding
Weeks of heavy rain have brought widespread flooding to wide swathes of eastern and southern Mexico. Hundreds of thousands of people have seen rapidly rising rivers break their banks and inundate their communities. Authorities have been trying to evacuate the worst-hit areas but some people are refusing to leave, seeking refuge on the roofs of their houses.  

Obama, Clinton call on US Jews, Muslims to back talks
US President Barack Obama indicated he understood recent Palestinian statements threatening to quit the peace process and rejecting compromise as political posturing, according to rabbis on a White House conference call Tuesday. Obama, who spoke with rabbis of various denominations in a call marking Rosh Hashanah, was asked by a participant about comments from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas perceived in Israel as hostile to the negotiating process he launched with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu just last Thursday.  

07 Sep 10

US church to go ahead with Sept. 11 Quran burning
A Christian minister said Tuesday that he will go ahead with plans to burn copies of the Quran to protest the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks despite warnings from the top U.S. general in Afghanistan and the White House that doing so would endanger U.S. troops. Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center said he understands the government's concerns, but plans to go forward with the burning this Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the attacks.  

Interfaith leaders: Fear, intolerance emerge over Islamic center
Fear of growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States will take center stage in the nation's capital Tuesday as Attorney General Eric Holder meets with top Islamic, Christian and Jewish leaders at the Justice Department.  

Sarkozy, Mubarak see role for Mediterranean Union in Mideast talks
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Egyptian counterpart, Hosny Mubarak, said Monday in Paris that the Mediterranean Union (UPM) could yet become an important factor in finding a peace settlement in the Mideast. "We have proposed, with President Mubarak, that a Mediterranean Union summit could take place in mid-November, at which all the parties necessary for obtaining peace in the Mideast would participate," Sarkozy said following a meeting with Mubarak.  

Russia, Israel Sign Military Cooperation Agreement
Russia and Israel today signed an agreement on military cooperation. Details of the deal inked by the countries' defense ministers in Moscow were not immediately disclosed. But Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said Moscow was "studying seriously and attentively" the experiences and practices of Israel's military as it modernizes its army. His Israeli counterpart, Ehud Barak, said Israel was "ready to continue sharing experience with the Russian military on fighting terrorism and ensuring security, including by using air drones."  

Russia, France to discuss security cooperation
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense minister Anatoliy Serdyukov and their French counterparts will hold a meeting of Russian-French Security Cooperation Council on September 7 in Paris. The key aspect for discussions in two-plus-two format will be improvement of stability in Europe. The sides will discuss President Medvedev’s initiative on the Agreement on European security, France’s initiative to organize the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security space and the Russian-German idea to organize a Russia-EU Committee on foreign politics.  

UN: Iran still enriches, has uranium for 3 nukes
A UN inspection report, published by the International Atomic Energy Agency, says Iran is continuing to stockpile enriched uranium. The report states Tehran's already accumulated around 3 tons of nuclear fuel - enough for 3 atomic bombs if it's refined further. Igor Kokhlov from the Institute of World Economy in Moscow explained why toughened international sanctions against Iran have proven ineffective.  

Russia and France urge Israel to continue settlement freeze
Russia and France on Tuesday urged Israel not to endanger Middle East peace talks by building new Jewish settlements on Palestinian land after the end of a settlement freeze this month. "We are all very worried and we're waiting to see what will happen after the end of the Israeli settlement freeze on September 26," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with France's Bernard Kouchner.Kouchner echoed his colleague's concerns, calling on Russia, the European Union and Arab nations to do "use their entire weight" to push for the Israeli freeze to continue beyond the cut-off date.  

New interface could increase contactless processing speed
A French firm has designed a new interface which could increase the processing speed of contactless smart card technology. Research company CEA-Leti has developed a prototype of the software which transfers data at 6.8Mbps, compared to the current standard rate of 848Kbps.Contactless smart card technology was originally created to be used with bank cards and transit schemes which only require low transfer rates. However, faster transfer rates are needed to support more complex technologies such as contactless biometric data transfer and multimedia file downloads.  

Colombia: 'Giant fireball' was a meteorite
Colombian authorities confirmed that a "giant fireball" that fell from the sky in the Santander department, central Colombia, was a meteorite. The Colombian media has been buzzing with eye witness accounts of the fireball, which caused a massive explosion at 3:15PM local time Sunday.The meteorite that left a crater 100 meters in diameter when it crashed into the earth and police received reports that the explosion had shattered windows in the area.  

Analysis: Sarkozy to press currencies role for G20
President Nicolas Sarkozy has set an ambitious agenda of creating a new international monetary system and taming commodity speculation for France's presidency of the G20 global economic leadership forum from November.-"If the French can declare at the end of their year in the chair that they have laid the foundations of a new international monetary order and advanced the reform of the IMF, it will be a success for Sarkozy," said an expert advising Paris on its G20 presidency, who spoke on condition of anonymity.  

Jordan and Syria call for Israeli withdrawal from all Arab lands
Jordanian King Abdullah II and Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday stressed the need for Israel to pull out from all Arab territories it occupied in the 1967 war, if peace with the Palestinians is to be achieved. -Abdullah and Assad "emphasized that resolving the Palestinian- Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state vision requires the regaining of all Arab rights in accordance with ... the Arab peace initiative," the statement said.  

Indonesian volcano unleashes violent eruption
An Indonesian volcano that returned to life after four centuries of inactivity threw an ash cloud thousands of metres into the air Tuesday in its most most violent eruption yet. "Its latest eruption was double the previous outburst and we recorded a tower of ash reaching 5,000 metres," government volcanologist Agus Budianto told AFP.  

Putin keep experts guessing about his future
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Monday said he had not yet decided whether to stand for Russian president in 2012 but made an intriguing reference to four-term US president Franklin D. Roosevelt.  

Clinton: time ticking for Israel-Palestinian peace
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday urged Israel and the Palestinians to overcome the final obstacles to peace, saying their new talks may be a last chance to end the conflict.