$Account.OrganizationName
January 15 - January 21, 2007 
 Weekly News In Review
 Vol 2, Issue 3
In This Issue
Links Of Further Interest
Quick Links


Join our mailing list!

The Weekly News In Review Newsletter is a compilation of the news articles that have appeared on the Understand The Times website during the previous week.

We have chosen the 15 most important articles for 2006 in our "Year In Review 2006" . You can read these by clicking on the link below:

http://www.understandthetimes.org/yir2006.shtml

 

 January 15, 2007 - Millions of Hindus wash away their sins
 Article: Miscellaneous

By BISWAJEET BANERJEE, Associated Press Writer
 
ALLAHABAD, India - Hundreds of Hindu holy men, naked but for the ash smeared on their bodies and an occasional marigold garland, led a sea of humanity to the waters of the Ganges River Monday to wash away their sins at the apex of a weekslong pilgrimage.

By midmorning Monday, some 3 million people had immersed themselves in the waters near the north Indian city of Allahabad, said festival organizer P. N. Mishra.

The number was expected to top 5 million by the end of the day - declared a royal bathing day by astrologers and the most auspicious of the 45-day festival that started Jan. 3.

...Nearly 70 million Hindus are expected to participate in the 45-day "Ardh Kumbh Mela" or Half Grand Pitcher Festival, one of the largest regular gatherings in the world. They wash themselves in the waters of the Ganges, believing it absolves their sins and ends the process of reincarnation.

...According to Hindu mythology, gods and demons fought a celestial war, spilling nectar at Allahabad in a pitcher, or Kumbh. A larger festival, the "Maha Kumbh Mela," or the Grand Pitcher Festival, takes place every 12 years.



Read More ... 


 January 13, 2007 - Iranian embarks on Latin American tour to forge anti-US ties
 Article: Islam

CARACAS (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is locked in a tense standoff with the United States, has embarked on a Latin American tour here, making his first stop in Venezuela for talks with his ideological "brother," President Hugo Chavez.
 
The trip will also include visits to Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua, countries controlled by governments critical of Washington.
...Facing sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council over its uranium enrichment work and the threat of international isolation, Iran is keen to demonstrate it has backing among a number of leftist leaders in Latin America.

Chavez is the most vocal cheerleader in Latin America for Iran and its hardline president, with both men calling each other "brother" and relishing their status as fierce opponents of Washington's influence.

"Hugo is my brother," Ahmadinejad said during his last visit to Venezuela in September, when the two leaders inaugurated a joint oil well. "Hugo is the champion of the fight against imperialism."



Read More .... 


 January 15, 2007 - Evangelicals, scientists join forces to combat global warming
 Article: Social Gospel

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Some leading scientists and evangelical Christian leaders have agreed to put aside their fierce differences over the origin of life and work together to fight global warming.

..."Whether God created the Earth in a millisecond or whether it evolved over billions of years, the issue we agree on is that it needs to be cared for today," said Rich Cizik, vice president of government relations for the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 45,000 churches.

Eric Chivian, director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, agreed, saying: "Scientists and evangelicals have discovered that we share a deeply felt common concern and sense of urgency about threats to life on Earth and that we must speak with one voice to protect it."



Read More .... 


 January 16, 2007 - The last Rick Warren column: Yes, Rick Warren is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations
 Article: Social Gospel

Last week, in the latest of a series of columns I have written about mega-church leader Rick Warren, I wondered out loud about mixed signals coming from Saddleback Church.

I was puzzled, because back in November, Warren had told me he was a proud member of the Council on Foreign Relations and had learned much about the Middle East at the organization's briefings. Yet, when concerned individuals wrote to the church seeking to verify that Warren was a member of a group that for 191 years has attacked the idea of nation-states in favor of world government, they were routinely told the report was untrue.

In other words, I was a liar.

...I got my answer last week from Rick Warren. And because he politely asked me not to publish his e-mail, I will paraphrase his responses as much as possible.

Warren once again confirmed he is a member of the CFR. He said the organization wanted more evangelicals and he answered the call because Jesus calls believers to be salt and light in the world. He said his volunteer aide who answered e-mails on his behalf was mistaken.

He also went on to defend his remarks that began the whole controversy between us - that Syria is, indeed, a "moderate" country. He modified that claim only slightly by adding "in terms of treatment of Christians." He also said his standard for that claim was a comparison of Syria to countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran.

I responded to Warren by explaining I had no more desire to belabor this issue than he did. But, I explained, as a passionate advocate of freedom for all the people of the Middle East, I can't ignore it when high-profile pastors undermine that pursuit of freedom.

I told him quite frankly that's what he did.



Read More .... 


 January 16, 2007 - Google Earth map marks Temple Mount Palestinian - Gaza Strip also 'Israeli occupied,' even though Jews withdrew in 2005
 Article: Israel And The Last Days

By Aaron Klein
 
JERUSALEM - While Jerusalem serves as Israel's capital, and the Temple Mount is located within Israeli sovereignty, the popular satellite map program Google Earth divides the city and places the Mount - Judaism's holiest site - within Palestinian territory.

Interactive Google Earth maps mark eastern sections of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount as "occupied territory," set to become part of a future Palestinian state.

Google Earth states it demarcates its maps according to international standards, but no Israeli-Palestinian negotiations - even the failed Camp David final-status negotiations in 2000 - ever placed the Temple Mount within Palestinian territory...



Read More .... 


 January 15, 2007 - Temple Aqueduct and Ritual Bath Excavated Opposite Temple Mount
 Article: Biblical Archaeology

by Ezra HaLevi

Excavations being conducted opposite the Western Wall Plaza have uncovered an aqueduct that brought water to the Holy Temple, as well as a ritual bath from that period.

The never-before-excavated area is situated behind the Western Wall police station, adjacent to the plaza where millions of worshipers and tourists come each year to visit the Western Wall and Temple Mount.

The new archaeological find uncovers a missing link in the ancient water system, known as the "Lower Aqueduct." This system channeled water from Solomon's Pools near Bethlehem (located several miles south of Jerusalem) directly to the national focal point of Jewish worship - the Temple Mount.

Solomon's pools, situated just north of the modern Jewish town of Efrat, cover an area of about 7 acres and can hold three million gallons of water. A lengthy aqueduct conveyed the water from the lowest pool through Bethlehem, across the Gihon valley, along the western slope of the Tyropoeon valley, and into the cisterns underneath the Temple Mount. Today, the water from the pools reaches only Bethlehem due to the destruction of the aqueducts.
 



Read More .... 


 January 15, 2007 - Skull found in Romania suggests possible human-Neanderthal interbreeding
 Article: Creation/Evolution - Misc.

RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
 
WASHINGTON (AP) - A skull found in a cave in Romania includes features of both modern humans and Neanderthals, possibly suggesting that the two may have interbred thousands of years ago.
 
...It could reflect a case in which ancient traits reappear in a modern human, or it could indicate a mixture of populations, Zilhao said. Or it simply may be that science hasn't been able to study enough early modern people to understand their diversity.

Dr. Richard Potts of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History noted that the skull represents the earliest modern human ever found in Europe.

It's a big deal in that sense, he said, but the combination of characteristics don't necessarily indicate interbreeding between populations.



Read More .... 


 January 15, 2007 - Palestinian PM: Hamas will never recognize Israel
 Article: Israel And The Last Days

By Nidal al-Mughrabi
 
GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Monday the Islamist militant group Hamas would never recognize Israel.
 
Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, said in an interview from Gaza with Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah's al-Manar television: "Hamas will never recognize the legitimacy of the occupation (Israel)."
"Hamas will never show flexibility over the issue of recognizing the legitimacy of the occupation," he added.

Hamas took control of the Palestinian government last March after winning parliamentary elections a year ago.

The United States and its allies imposed sanctions on the Hamas-led government to pressure it to recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim deals. The group has refused to abide by these demands.



Read More .... 


 December 28, 2006 - Pope asked to let Muslims pray in cathedral
 Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days

Dale Fuchs in Madrid
 
An organisation of Spanish Muslims has asked Pope Benedict XVI for permission to worship alongside Christians in the former Great Mosque of Córdoba, an elegant vestige of Moorish rule that was turned into a cathedral in the 13th century.

In a letter sent on Christmas Day to the Pope's ambassador in Spain, the Spanish Islamic Board requested that the world heritage site - known for its red and white arches and often filled with more tourists than worshippers - be opened for prayer by all religions as a model of tolerance and a way to foster inter-faith dialogue.



Read More .... 


 January 4, 2007 - Will the 21st Be the Orthodox Century?
 Article: Emerging Church

My evangelical passions prompt me to suggest that this renewed fascination with the Great Tradition may indirectly revive Orthodoxy. And if it doesn't, it should. Little by little, our parishioners are being touched by evangelicals who are rediscovering the creative relevance of the Christian East and repackaging it far more attractively than we have been doing for ourselves.

But revival will not happen automatically. Dialogue at the local church level will help, even if evangelicals learn more from the Orthodox than the Orthodox are willing to learn from evangelicals. The time has come for us Orthodox to rediscover the evangelical character of our faith on its own terms, not defined by using some form of the model of evangelicalism. Because of our maximalist vision of theology, our evangelical identity will look and act very differently than yours. I wouldn't exhort my Orthodox brethren to regain their evangelical focus as passionately as I do in lectures and articles if I didn't think they would respond, and thankfully they are doing so in increasing numbers.



Read More .... 


 January 18, 2007 - Iran warns it's ready for nuke standoff
 Article: Wars And Rumors Of Wars

TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that Iran was prepared for any possibility in the standoff with the West over its controversial nuclear activities.
 
"Today, with the grace of God, we have gone through the arduous passes and we are ready for anything in this path," state-run television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying Thursday.
 
Ahmadinejad also denounced critics of his nuclear diplomacy at home, saying that they will not affect his government's handling of the nuclear issue with the West.
 
Conservatives and reformists have in recent weeks openly challenged Ahmadinejad's hard-line nuclear diplomacy tactics, with many saying his provocative remarks are doing more harm than good.


Read More .... 


 January 17, 2007 - Climate resets 'Doomsday Clock'
 Article: Signs Of The Lasts Times

By Molly Bentley
 
Experts assessing the dangers posed to civilisation have added climate change to the prospect of nuclear annihilation as the greatest threats to humankind.
As a result, the group has moved the minute hand on its famous "Doomsday Clock" two minutes closer to midnight.

The concept timepiece, devised by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, now stands at five minutes to the hour.

The clock was first featured by the magazine 60 years ago, shortly after the US dropped its A-bombs on Japan.

Not since the darkest days of the Cold War has the Bulletin, which covers global security issues, felt the need to place the minute hand so close to midnight.



Read More .... 


 January 14, 2007 - Iran and Venezuela back oil cuts
 Article: Miscellaneous

The presidents of Venezuela and Iran have called for a cut in oil production by the members of the Opec oil cartel.

Speaking in Caracas, Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said they wanted to co-ordinate the group to reduce the amount of crude oil on the market.

Venezuela has been a strong ally of Iran in its controversial pursuit of a nuclear power programme.

Mr Chavez welcomed Mr Ahmadinejad to Caracas, calling him a "fighter for just causes, to a revolutionary and a brother".

He said the world oil market was oversupplied with crude, and said Opec should act to stop falling prices.



Read More .... 


 January 19, 2007 - World faces megafire threat - expert
 Article: Signs Of The Last Times

By Rob Taylor

THEY burn like fire hurricanes on fronts stretching sometimes thousands of kilometres and with a ferocity that explodes trees and makes them impossible to extinguish short of rain or divine intervention.

Bushfires like those that had raged through Australia's southeast for two months and struck Europe, Canada and the western US in 2003 were a new type of "megafire" not seen until recently, a top Australian fire expert said today.

"They basically burn until there is a substantial break in the weather, or they hit a coastline," Kevin O'Loughlin, chief executive of Australia's government-backed Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre, said.

"These fires can't be controlled by any suppression resources that we have available anywhere in the world."



Read More .... 


 January 19 - Vatican display exhibits eucharistic miracles
 Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days

The Great Hall of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Naperville was filled Jan. 13 with posters propped up on easels likening an art exhibit. The silence, which typically permeates an art museum, filled the air in the room with approximately 5,600 square feet.

Interested onlookers read about the 120 eucharistic miracles described on 160 panels of the Vatican International Exhibition of the Eucharistic Miracles of the World. The accounts ranged from well-known visions such as Our Lady of Guadalupe to lesser-known ones such as the eucharistic miracle that occurred in 1412 in Herentals, Belgium. A variety of miracles, including healings and visions, have been attributed to eucharistic adoration.

"It's one of those things where all this information - seeing all these miracles presented to me right here  - it really hit me as I walked into the room. I had heard of a couple, I just didn't realize there were all these," commented Alex Gervacio, a parishioner of St. Mary Parish in West Chicago.

Sue Gorski, a parishioner of SS. Peter and Paul Parish in Naperville, acknowledged that she has been fascinated with eucharistic miracles for years, yet this display enlightened her on some that she had never known about. She added, "This is overwhelming evidence of eucharistic miracles - how anybody can not believe in it, I don't know."

More than 1,000 people visited the exhibit while it was on display Jan. 13-14, according to Margaret Gilmore. The member of St. Elizabeth Seton's eucharistic adoration chapel core team of coordinators explained that they requested the exhibit to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the parish's eucharistic adoration chapel. Through e-mail correspondence after the event, she commented, "Each and every (guest) came away with a new appreciation for the gift of the real presence of the Eucharist."

The Real Presence received exclusive permission from the Vatican to exhibit the display in the United States. The Real Presence has made three duplicate exhibits of 140 Vatican-approved eucharistic miracles available for exhibition - one on the East Coast, one in the Midwest and one on the West Coast. The Real Presence is also working on publishing a book about the miracles.
 


Read More .... 


 January 19, 2007 - Paper: Jordan King wants nuclear program
 Article: Wars And Rumors Of Wars

JERUSALEM - Jordan's King Abdullah II told an Israeli newspaper Friday that his country wants its own nuclear program.
In an interview with the daily Haaretz, Abdullah said his desert kingdom, which borders Israel and has a peace agreement with it, wanted nuclear power "for peaceful purposes" and was already discussing its plans with Western countries.

"The rules governing the nuclear issue have changed in the entire region," the Jordanian leader told Haaretz, noting that Egypt and several Gulf states have declared their desire for a nuclear program. Though Jordan would rather see a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, he said, "every desire we had on this issue has changed."

...Brom said the Jordanian king was probably trying to make the point that if Iran, which is moving ahead with its nuclear program despite international protests and U.N.-imposed sanctions, is allowed to become a nuclear power, then a regional nuclear race will be unavoidable.

"Abdullah might be saying that if the Iranians aren't prevented from getting a nuclear program, Jordan and everyone else will want one of their own," Brom said.



Read More .... 


 January 10, 2007 - Invisible RFID Ink Safe For Cattle And People, Company Says
 Article: Technology For A Global Monetary System

A startup company developing chipless RFID ink has tested its product on cattle and laboratory rats.

Somark Innovations announced this week that it successfully tested biocompatible RFID ink, which can be read through animal hairs. The passive RFID technology could be used to identify and track cows to reduce financial losses from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (mad cow disease) scares. Somark, which formed in 2005, is located at the Center for Emerging Technologies in St. Louis. The company is raising Series A equity financing and plans to license the technology to secondary markets, which could include laboratory animals, dogs, cats, prime cuts of meat, and military personnel.

...The technology could verify that cuts of meat originated in a hormone-free environment, Pydynowski said, adding that consumers would destroy the system by breaking down the ink when chewing the meat. In other words, Big Brother wouldn't know whether someone ate a Big Mac or a filet mignon, according to Pydynowski's explanation. However, the government and agricultural producers and retailers could track e-coli outbreaks in spinach, he said.

The ink also could be used to track and rescue soldiers, Pydynowski said.

"It could help identify friends or foes, prevent friendly fire, and help save soldiers' lives," he said. "It's a very scary proposition when you're dealing with humans, but with military personnel, we're talking about saving soldiers' lives and it may be something worthwhile."



Read More .... 


 January 11, 2007 - Animal Tags for People?
 Article: Technology For A Global Monetary System

Two cousin companies bet the fast-expanding market for animal RFID chips will extend to humans before long

Under the federally supported National Animal Identification System (NAIS), digital tags are expected to be affixed to the U.S.'s 40 million farm animals to enable regulators to track and respond quickly to disease, bioterrorism, and other calamities. Opponents have many fears about this plan, among them that it could be the forerunner of a similar system for humans. The theory, circulated in blogs, goes like this: You test it on the animals first, demonstrating the viability of the radio frequency identification devices (RFIDs) to monitor each and every animal's movements and health history from birth to death, and then move on to people.

Well, all you conspiracy buffs, let me introduce you to Kevin McGrath and Scott Silverman.

McGrath heads a small, growing company that makes RFID chips for animals...and people.

...Silverman's company, VeriChip Corp., is preparing for widespread marketing of its people chips with an initial public offering that it expects to complete within the next 60 days. It has begun building what he refers to as "the infrastructure" by signing up more than 400 hospitals to adopt system scanners and databases and about 1,200 physicians to make chips available to patients likeliest to benefit from them, such as diabetics.

...Silverman says: "We are leaders in the RFID industry in facing privacy issues head on." The chip for people "should always be a voluntary product, with opt-in and opt-out capability."

As comforting as such statements appear, it's important to remember that adoption of the RFID chips doesn't necessarily need to be legislated to become nearly universal. If enough hospitals and insurance companies begin requiring them, or treating patients wearing them more expeditiously than nonusers, or providing discounts for usage of the chips, they well could become the norm. Then, not wearing a chip might be akin to not having a bank ATM card or, increasingly in Eastern states with toll roads and turnpikes, not having a transponder to pay tolls in your car.



Read More .... 


 January 20 - U2charist Comes to Trinity Church
 Article: Emerging Church

Trinity United Methodist Church (137 Main St., next to the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier) is hosting central Vermont's first U2charist on Sunday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m.

U2charist - an inter-generational and ecumenical worship service with all the music and much of the liturgy coming from the spiritually evocative songs of the rock band U2 - has recently received international media attention from BBC World Service to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for its innovative use of the band's biblically rich lyrics and social justice message.

Sputnik, Vermont's '80s cover band (Anais Mitchell, Sara Grace, Noah Hahn, Jay Ekis) will provide the live music.

The Rev. Mitchell Hay and the Rev. Barbara Lemmel will lead the multimedia worship, which will be filled with dancing, drama, PowerPoint, prayer, and breaking bread together. They hope to create an environment that will be meaningful and fun but not "churchy"- a spiritual experience even for folk who might consider church to be boring, irrelevant, and stupid. Songs will include "Pride (In the Name of Love)," "One," "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," "When Love Came to Town," and many others.
 
U2charist began at an Episcopal Church in York, Maine, and has spread to England, New Zealand, South Africa, and all over the U.S. and Canada. The services have raised awareness of the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goal and the One Campaign to raise a global voice to speak out against hunger, poverty, and HIV/AIDS.


Read More .... 


 January 20 - A Battle for Global Values
 Article: One World Religion

Comment from Understand The Times 
The following article was published by the Council on Foreign Relations. The author is Tony Blair. He was the prime minister of the United Kingdom at the time this article was written and posted.
 
The roots of the current wave of global terrorism and extremism are deep. They reach down through decades of alienation, victimhood, and political oppression in the Arab and Muslim world. Yet such terrorism is not and never has been inevitable.

To me, the most remarkable thing about the Koran is how progressive it is. I write with great humility as a member of another faith. As an outsider, the Koran strikes me as a reforming book, trying to return Judaism and Christianity to their origins, much as reformers attempted to do with the Christian church centuries later. The Koran is inclusive. It extols science and knowledge and abhors superstition. It is practical and far ahead of its time in attitudes toward marriage, women, and governance.

Under its guidance, the spread of Islam and its dominance over previously Christian or pagan lands were breathtaking. Over centuries, Islam founded an empire and led the world in discovery, art, and culture. The standard- bearers of tolerance in the early Middle Ages were far more likely to be found in Muslim lands than in Christian ones.

Additional Comment:
Tony Blair, since writing this article has been given the position as a member of the Russia, USA, England, European Union Peace Envoy with regard to peace initiatives in the middle east and plans to resolve the situation between Israel and a future Palestinian state.



Read More .... 


We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a blessing to you.

In Jesus,
Roger Oakland


Forward email

This email was sent to ronpierotti@volcano.net, by roakland@aol.com

Understand The Times, International | P.O. Box 27239 | Santa Ana | CA | 92799