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Subject: News of Interest

News of Interest

APOSTASY AND ECUMENISM

ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ASK POPE TO SAVE EASTER LAMBS
Weekend News Today By Andra Brack Source: TampaBay Online (AP)
Sat Mar 27 , 1999

Every Easter, around 2 million baby lambs end up on Italian
dinner tables, animal rights activists say. This year, they're
asking the pope to stop the slaughter. People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals on Saturday asked Pope John Paul II to
``appeal to the faithful ... and save the lives of millions of
lambs, symbols of innocent love, candor and tenderness.'' The
letter from PETA's Italian representative, Walter Caporale, said
that around 2 million newborn lambs are slaughtered every Easter
in Italy. Roast baby lamb accompanied by potatoes and artichokes
or asparagus is a traditional Easter meal in Italy, along with a
dove-shaped cake.

IRAQI RELIGIOUS DELEGATION TO VISIT THE VATICAN
Weekend News Today By Andra Brack Source: Arabic News Fri Apr 2 ,
1999

An official at the Caldanian Patriarchy, who asked not to be
identified, said on Wednesday in Baghdad that an Iraqi religious
delegation will visit the Vatican in the middle of April to thank
Pope John Paul II over his stand towards Iraq. The Vatican has
repeatedly called for lifting the sanctions imposed on Iraq since
1990 and condemned Operation Desert Fox carried out by the US and
Britain in December 1998.

During his visit to Iraq in June, 1998, French Cardinal Roger
Etchegaray noted the desire of the Pope to visit Iraq, "The land
where Abraham was born," on the occasion of celebrating the year
2000. On March 11, Vatican Foreign Minister Jan Touran expressed
to US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright the Pope's concern
over the continued state of tension in Iraq and renewed the
opposition of the Catholic church to the use of force.

CATHOLIC AND ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LEADERS WILL MEET
Religion Today News April 16, 1999

Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders will meet for the first
time in the Western Hemisphere. Baltimore's Cardinal William
Keeler and Archbishop Spyridon, primate of the Greek Orthodox
Church, this week discussed their meeting, which will be held in
June at St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Md. "The work now is to
see where the church was before the division" in 1094 that split
Christianity into Roman Catholic and Orthodox camps, Keeler said. "We
have to get to know each other better." Church leaders will discuss
the possibility of seeking full communion and how to help
congregations in Central and Eastern Europe, the Associated Press
said. Catholics and Orthodox have conducted talks on theological
issues since 1988.

ANTI-SEMITISM

"BRITISH UNIVERSITY BANS JEWISH AUTHORS"
By Jane Hughes, Independent on Sunday newspaper, London, 28 March
99,

One of Britain's newest universities, the University of
Lincolnshire and Humberside, has banned Jewish authors, to
protect its "franchises" in the United Arab Emirates. The
University of Lincolnshire and Humberside has confirmed that
BOOKS BY JEWS AND THOSE WITH BIBLIOGRAPHIES MENTIONING JEWS ARE
BANNED BY ITS AFFILIATES IN THE UAE. Moreover, the British
Council also admits IT TOLERATES THE CENSORSHIP OF JEWISH WORKS
IN ACCORDANCE WITH " LOCAL POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS OR MORAL
PUBLISHING LAWS". The statement horrifies the Board of Deputies
of British Jews, which accused the university of putting "profit
over principles". It will seek to have the matter raised in the
British parliament.

ANTI-SEMITISM RISES IN 1998, REPORT SAYS
Itim and Reuters Ha'aretz 4/13/99 Jerusalem

The number of anti-Semitic incidents throughout the world edged
up in 1998, following a progressive decrease over the past three
years, according to a report released yesterday on the occasion
of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The findings were presented at a
news conference as part of the annual report on anti-Semitism
throughout the world published by the Institute for the Study of
Racism and Anti-Semitism at Tel Aviv University.

Researchers also found it impossible to survey the vast amount of
anti-Semitic material appearing in print and electronic media, as well
as on the Internet, according to Dina Porat, the report's author.
While the number of violent anti-Semitic incidents actually fell, from
38 in 1997 to 36 in 1998, their severity was notably greater, Porat
said. The incidents resulted in greater damage and suggested an
improved ability to organize at local and international levels, she
said.

Violent incidents were recorded in typically "quiet" countries
such as Greece, Serbia, Uruguay and South Africa. Added to that
was a sharp rise in political anti-Semitism and violence in
Russia during the past year.

Porat noted that the past year had seen an upswing in the
appearance of overt, "street" anti-Semitism, including the
beating of rabbis in streets in Russia, Argentina and Britain.
Citing Russia as a particularly severe case, the report said
Russia witnessed "violence against Jewish life and property, by
means of arson and explosives accompanied by popular incitement,
and the most severe anti-Semitic rhetoric by politicians heard in
decades." Nearly one-third of all major attacks took place in the
former Soviet Union.

DRUMBEATS OF WAR

RUSSIA "CANNOT ALLOW" US TO SEND TROOPS INTO YUGOSLAVIA
Moscow, April 9 (AFP)

President Boris Yeltsin on Friday threatened for the first time
to involve Russia in the Balkans conflict if Washington provoked
it by dispatching ground forces to "seize" Yugoslavia, news
agencies reported. "Russia will not get involved in a military
conflict in Yugoslavia unless we are pushed by the Americans,"
Yeltsin said. "They (the Americans) want to move on to ground
actions, they just want to seize Yugoslavia and make it their
protectorate," Yeltsin said, according to Interfax. "We cannot
allow this. "You must understand that Russia is nearby, we have
access to the Mediterranean Sea and we cannot of course give up
Yugoslavia," he said.

RUSSIA PREPARES TO SEND 9 MORE WARSHIPS TOWARD KOSOVO
Special to World Tribune.com Middle East Newsline Thursday, April 15,
1999 Ankara [MENL]

Russia is preparing to send nine more warships to the
Mediterranean Sea to monitor NATO's air campaign against
Yugoslavia, Turkish military sources said on Wednesday. The
sources, quoted by the military's news service, said the ships
would leave the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles for the
Mediterranean and then the Adriatic over the next week. The news
service said the ships would arrive in three groups. The first would
leave for the Adriatic on Thursday, the second on Sunday and the last
group on April 21. Russia has denied the report.

NO U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIERS IN ASIA: SHORTAGE WORRIES LAWMAKERS
By Jon E. Dougherty c 1999 WorldNetDaily.com 4/15/99

Sources have confirmed that because of a major shift in available
military resources to bolster NATO's war effort in Yugoslavia, the
Pentagon has pulled the last available aircraft carrier out of Asia
and sent it to the Mediterranean. WorldNetDaily first reported the
phenomenon last week in an exclusive story detailing possible future
threats to U.S. hegemony in Asia by an alliance of nations consisting
primarily of Russia and China.

The redeployment of the USS Kitty Hawk, the last available
aircraft carrier in Asia, came after Secretary of Defense William S.
Cohen issued a number of defense directives April 3. The move,
according to sources, was made to reinforce continuing military
operations in Iraq and Yugoslavia. Among other directives, Cohen
ordered the Kitty Hawk Battle Group, based in Yokosuka, Japan -- to
deploy to the Persian Gulf to relieve the USS Enterprise, ostensibly
because the latter carrier is scheduled to return to the United States
in May for regularly scheduled maintenance.

The redeployment of the last carrier in the Western Pacific, long an
area protected by U.S. forces, has some congressmen concerned that
the United States is spreading its forces much too thin to adequately
meet all the military's obligations.

Gary Hoitsma, press spokesman for Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.,
told WorldNetDaily, "This is one of our huge concerns about this
whole operation (Yugoslavia)," Hoitsma said. "It's not just this
incident, but so many other things like it that are happening in this
administration." Hoitsma said Sen. Inhofe was most worried about
overall dwindling of military resources and the country's ability to
meet its obligations in all commitments -- those which are long
standing and those recently made by President Clinton.

Military force reduction, coupled with increased
responsibilities, "has been an area of our concern for the past
six years," he added. Hoitsma commented that should trouble
arise between China or North Korea while Pacific theater forces
are being reduced, "there would have to be some real quick
shifting of resources" from other, less pressing, areas of the
world where American forces reside. And neither he, nor a number of
other congressmen and senators, is convinced the United States has the
ability.

"You've got aircraft being taken out of the no-fly zone in Iraq
being moved from Turkey over to Italy, for example," Hoitsma
said. "You've also got airlift stretched to capacity, the need
to call up reserves, and you've got pilots leaving the Navy and
the Air Force in droves -- regardless of the current situation in
Yugoslavia -- because of other concerns about deployments, lack of
mission, and all the rest." Hoitsma said the Clinton administration's
prosecution of the war in Kosovo is exacerbating the preexisting
military shortages. He said Inhofe worries about becoming so heavily
involved in areas of the world where the U.S. has no national
interests -- like Yugoslavia -- "while we leave our flanks exposed."

NORTH KOREA HAS AT LEAST FIVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Weekend News Today Source: Nando Times Fri Apr 16 , 1999

North Korea has at least five nuclear weapons developed with help from
Russia and Pakistan, AFP quoted a defector. "(North Korea) has
complete capability of developing nuclear bombs, missiles and
satellites," Kim Duk-Hong, aide to the highest-ranking North Korean
defector Hwang Jang-Yop, said in an interview published here Friday.
Hwang defected to South Korea in 1997 with his secretary Kim. Kim
said Hwang was told in 1996 by Workers' Party Secretary in charge of
military supply, Jong Pyong-Ho, that North Korea had obtained uranium
from Pakistan to develop nuclear bombs.

CHINA AND DROUGHT

CHINA SUFFERING WORST DROUGHT; 19 MILLION SHORT OF DRINKING WATER
Weekend News Today Source: Foxnews.com Tue Mar 30 , 1999

China's worst drought since the 1980s has left 19 million people
short of drinking water and affected 21 1/2 million acres of
farmland, AP reported. Parts of China have had "scant rainfall''
since September. Rainfall at or near record lows has depleted
reservoirs and could hurt summer crops. Hardest-hit so far is
the northeast, where Shandong and Henan provinces produce about
half of China's winter wheat.

JAPAN AND ECONOMICS

JAPAN EXPERIENCES WORST ECONOMIC YEAR IN DECADES, OFFICIALS SAY
Copyright 1999 Nando Media 1999 Associated Press By Joseph
Coleman Tokyo March 31, 1999

It all looked like it was in reach. Expanding growth. Rising
corporate confidence. More jobs. Japan a year ago was
forecasting 12 months of resurgence and a welcome end to a long,
painful stretch of economic malaise. Instead, it experienced its
worst year in decades.

The end of Japan's 1998 fiscal year Wednesday brings an ugly
reckoning: balance sheets soaked with red ink, soaring
unemployment and an economy shrinking at a record pace. The
coming year doesn't look much better. "The year was so bad and
the trends in much of the economy are so weak that very few
people believe that the economy is ready for a sustainable
recovery," said economist Ron Bevacqua of Merrill Lynch.

The recession is not just bad news for Japan - it could delay
other Asian countries' emergence from financial crisis and drag
on the world economy if the boom in the United States cools down.

THE POLITICAL UNION OF EUROPE

Wednesday 7 April 1999
The London Telegraph

Blair's choice for new EC head vows to
create 'political Europe'
By Robert Shrimsley, Chief Political Correspondent

TONY BLAIR's choice of head of the European
Commission yesterday dedicated himself to eroding the
nation state and creating a new "political Europe".

Romano Prodi, the Commission president designate,
used remarkably frank language, which is likely to
embarrass the Prime Minister, in revealing his clear
federalist intentions by committing himself to
developing a "common European soul". Mr Prodi, the
former Italian prime minister, said that the EU's two
big projects of the moment - the single currency and
the forging of a common foreign and defence policy -
would fundamentally undermine "the pillars of the
nation state".

Tory leaders said his comments had "let the cat out
of the bag" and also revealed Mr Blair's true
Europhile views. Francis Maude, the shadow
chancellor, said: "Tony Blair's endorsement of Mr
Prodi shows he does not have any concerns about his
plans to create a federalist, political Europe."

Interviewed in the Financial Times, Mr Prodi said:
"We have started a new chapter in the structure of
Europe. The euro was not just a bankers' decision or
a technical decision. It was a decision that
completely changed the nature of the nation states."

Referring to both the euro and Mr Blair's European
defence initiative, Mr Prodi said: "The pillars of
the nation state are the sword and the currency, and
we changed that. The euro decision changed the
concept of the nation state and we have to go beyond
that."

Euro-sceptics said it was one of the clearest
statements yet of the way other European leaders saw
the euro as undermining the independence of EU
nations that abolish their own currencies.

Mr Prodi said that his "real goal" was to draw on
"the consequences of the single currency and create a
political Europe". He also made clear his belief that
Britain could not avoid joining the euro - which he
admitted was an overtly political project - if it
succeeded. He said: "Either the euro will fail or
Britain cannot stay out."

John Redwood, Tory trade and industry spokesman, said
Mr Prodi was being "honest" in a way Mr Blair was
not. He said: "Mr Prodi is showing himself to be the
true federalist the Conservatives warned Tony Blair
he was. The Prime Minister now has some explaining to
do because Mr Prodi was his nominee for the job."

Mr Prodi, referring to Britain's initiative with
France to forge a common defence policy, said: "I do
not see the defence initiative as a substitute for
euro membership. But I don't think it was completely
irrational that the UK prime minister started it just
after deciding not to join the euro."

Mr Prodi was unanimously nominated by EU leaders late
last month to become the next EC president, although
the European Parliament has still to ratify his
appointment.

Wednesday 14 April 1999
The London Telegraph

THE Italian president-designate of the European
Commission has promised to use his five-year term at
the head of the EU executive to create a single
European economy and accelerate moves towards
full-blown political union.

In a speech warmly received in the European
parliament yesterday, Romano Prodi, the former
Italian prime minister, also called for the powers of
the Strasbourg and Brussels assembly to be enhanced,
for less use of national vetoes and for the EU to
develop its own "defence capability".

But angry Tory Euro-sceptics accused Mr
Prodi of setting out a "nightmare scenario"
for Europe. Within minutes of Mr Prodi
completing his speech, his critics at
Westminster had tabled a Commons
motion calling on the Prime Minister "to
repudiate Mr Prodi's proposal for a single
European state without democracy".

Mr Prodi left no doubt that deeper
integration would be at the heart of his
"reform" programme. He said: "The single
market was the theme of the Eighties. The
single currency was the theme of the
Nineties. We must now face the difficult
task of moving towards a single economy, a single
political unity."

Harmonisation of tax and economic policies was
central to the EU's economic future. "We must try to
achieve real harmonisation of our economic systems."
Mr Blair strongly supported Mr Prodi's nomination for
the most powerful job in Brussels at last month's EU
summit in Berlin.

Mr Prodi, who is expected to take up the presidency
in late summer, had planned to stand as a candidate
in the June elections to the parliament and then
stand down after being elected. But, bowing to
pressure from all the main political groups, he
conceded that to do so would divide the commission
and parliament.

While stressing that the 15 individual "cultures" of
EU member states were flourishing and were not under
threat, he said Europe had to co-operate more closely
on all fronts if it was to punch its weight on the
world stage. Mr Prodi's vision was one of a deeper
and wider Europe. The EU should make clearer its
commitment to expansion into central and eastern
Europe by setting dates for the admission of new
members, a policy hitherto resisted by Brussels and
EU heads of government.

He said: "We must make haste to lay down a real
schedule for enlargement", adding that the war in
Kosovo had shown the need also to build closer links
between the EU and the Balkan nations. He said that
expansion was possible only if the EU reformed its
institutions. He said: "The ambitious tasks we have
set cannot be carried out with the present
institutions."

The parliament's role in the legislative process
should be bolstered and majority voting increased,
while the commission president should be given
greater authority over the choice and portfolios of
his commissioners, as stated in the Amsterdam Treaty.
Furthermore, because of the EU's role in foreign
affairs, it should have its own role in defence. He
said: "Amsterdam and Maastricht [the two EU treaties]
need to be followed by a treaty that will give us our
own defence capabilities."

Pledging a policy of zero tolerance towards
corruption in the commission, he pledged
thoroughgoing reforms, on condition that he received
the necessary support for change from member states.
His speech was applauded by Euro-MPs and drew
compliments from leaders of the main political
groups.

But Bill Cash, the Tory MP for Stone, said: "To
promote Mr Prodi as the president of the European
Commission, a man totally dedicated to political
union - which means the destruction of the
Westminster democracy and the choice of British
voters - is an outrageous failure of political will."

Sir Teddy Taylor, the MP for Southend East and
Rochford and the secretary of the Tory European
Reform Group, sponsored the Commons motion. What Mr
Prodi planned was, he said, "even worse than a United
States of Europe". Sir Teddy said: "It is appalling
that the Government should have supported for this
post a man who . . . wants a single European state
without democracy."

Downing Street sought to play down Mr Prodi's speech.
A spokesman denied that Mr Prodi had "gone
Euro-berserk". He said Tory MPs should be "less
alarmed and less alarmist about speeches on Europe
made by people who are not British".

PREPARATIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM

US SETS UP BUNKERS TO BEAT MILLENNIUM CHAOS
By James Langton in New York London Telegraph 4/18/99

America's major cities are preparing secret command centres and
making plans to mobilise armed troops in the event of a possible
breakdown of social order if there is widespread computer failure on
the eve of 2000. City fathers are known to be concerned that the
so-called Y2K bug could cause widespread power failures, the breakdown
of traffic management and difficulties in running everything from
airports to ambulances. The result is a revival of the bunker
mentality not seen since the end of the Cold War.

Last week New York revealed that its new $12 million emergency
command centre was: "Ninety per cent complete but fully
operational." The 23rd-floor, 46,000 sq ft complex, near the
World Trade Centre in Manhattan, can house up to 100 of the
city's most senior employees and is protected behind a wall of
bullet-proof glass. It was built above ground because of the
risk of flooding from broken water mains.

Mayor Rudi Giuliani ordered the construction of the new control
room only last year. While it is designed to deal with any
emergency from a terrorist attack to a hurricane, the speed of
its construction suggests that New York's planning for possible
Y2K chaos is at an advanced stage. It was used for the first
time during a snow storm in February.

Other areas are taking similar precaution. State officials in
Ohio announced last month that they were ready to move government
operations into a $13-million bunker eight miles outside downtown
Columbus on Dec 29. The command centre will be manned 24 hours a day
from New Year's Eve until it is no longer needed. It is surrounded by
barbed wire, with underground dormitories, a filtered air supply, food
and water. The Ohio state officials say that it will be used to
co-ordinate relief efforts if there is a major failure of public
utilities. The centre's director of operations is James Williams, a
retired Army National Guard general who insists that the decision to
man the centre for the end of the Millennium is "not a panic
situation. If nothing happens, we can go home and watch football."

Los Angeles, which experienced serious rioting following the
Rodney King trial in 1992, is understood to be preparing an
operations centre five floors beneath a federal building in the
centre of the city. The Automated Traffic Signal and Control
Centre (ATSAC) is normally used to manage traffic in the
notoriously congested Los Angeles area but has the advantage of
dozens of remote-control cameras at strategic road junctions
which could become the eyes and ears of emergency planners.

The ATSAC command centre is also designed to be proof against
earthquakes and nuclear explosions, and is protected by four
vault doors similar to those used in banks. It has its own power
system and can be reached only by a secret lift. American government
officials have admitted that they have no idea of the possible
disruption that the Y2K bug could potentially cause on the most
technologically dependent nation in the world.

National Guard units are organised by state but are said to be
co-ordinating with Federal agencies on a new command and control
system with high-frequency radios, emergency power backup and
command centres to be ready by the end of the year. A full
recall of all 370,000 and 110,000 army and air National Guard
members can only be authorised by Congress and has not taken
place since 1940. An initial step would be the cancellation of
all armed forces leave on Dec 31.

Canada, which has created a task force of 14,500 military
personnel to be mobilised from January 1, as part of Operation
Abacus, is a step ahead. It has already put all its 60,000
troops and reservists, with the exception of those on overseas
duty, on alert for the Millennium.

BANKS SEIZING Y2K SUPPLIER FUNDS: NATIONWIDE TREND FOLLOWS BIG
INCREASE IN SALES 1999 WorldNetDaily.com 4/14/99

As sales of Y2K-related products and services reached record
levels in 1999, banks began seizing credit card funds owed
businesses, denying organizations access to money paid by their
customers. Some financial institutions began calling customers
directly, while demanding financial records from both the Y2K
companies and their owners.

"They called me at 8:30 in the morning and said our account had
been seized," says Greg Caton, president of Lumen Foods, a food
supplier that has shipped over $3 million in orders since last
August. "They indicated fraud." Lumen Foods contends it has
maintained a spotless merchant account with its bank since 1987.

The story is the same across the country: As Y2K-related sales
skyrocket, merchants are being accused of fraud and denied
payment from banks. Even companies that have been in business
over a decade -- with no credit card merchant problems on their
record -- are being hammered. In most cases, the banks refuse to pay
interest on the seized money, even if that money is later released.

Banks claim to be just following procedure. "A large increase in
sales looks suspicious to us," says Sal Caruso, a merchant account
representative from U.S. Bank. "We have to hold these accounts for
review to verify the sales are real." To conduct such verifications,
bank employees call customers and ask if the sales were legitimate --
an action likely to hurt the customer relationship with the Y2K
company.

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