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COMMENTARY -- WAR -- (the news is directly below):
You have gone back in time and are standing in the midst of a lush ancient forest. You hear and see some large vegetarian dinosaurs feeding on the moist soft leaves of brush and trees. You also see skulking about like a cat after a mouse, other smaller dinosaurs with a lighter build about them trying to catch and eat even smaller dinosaurs. You also see small dinosaurs feeding on the vegetation. Suddenly you hear a loud screech which terrifies every creature in this setting and sends them running for fear. The screech is coming from a large version of the lighter built and fast moving dinosaur with teeth designed to rip and tear other animal flesh. It quickly moves up on the large vegetarian. It lacks the weight of the vegetarian it is pursuing but has more speed and agility. It's massive and powerful jaws are set into motion as it lunges upon the vegetarian and immediately draws blood as it rips and tears away at a vital spot. The vegetarian tries to defend itself by using its heavy tail to whack the aggressor but it was too slow this time in defending itself and it quickly weakened because of pain and loss of blood. Dizzy and in weakness it dropped to the ground and took its last breath. The aggressor ruthlessly tore away at the most tasty spots and then left the carcass for scavengers.
In the natural world this story describes the "food chain" and the "predatory" character of those creatures at the top of the food chain. The predatory behavior is driven by hunger and the instinct of the predator to feed and care for it's young. Although all animals have some kind of reasoning capability their instincts most often prevail and their reasoning is subordinate to these instincts to make them more effective at surviving.
How does this story relate to war? Is war wrong? Is war necessary? What is accomplished by war?
Mankind is to be above the animals, that is he should be exercising his reasoning capabilities over his instincts. But mankind often does not do that. Tribal behavior is something like wolf pack behavior. There is a kind of civilized order within the pack but anything outside the pack is considered fair game. There is usually a pack leader. In many ways, the societies and cultures and communities of mankind are like the pack where the reasoning capabilities of the individuals in the pack and the consensus of the pack is directed at serving the primitive instincts of survival.
Although man is more technically capable as he sits atop the food chain, many of the nations, societies, cultures, and communities of man are more predatory in character with leaders that know how to control the pack and maintain their control over the pack. If allowed, these predatory packs of mankind will act just like the predatory dinosaur. No amount of talk or reasoning will prevent the attack because the overall social behavior is predatory and reason is used to make the predatory behavior more successful. The only defense against such predators is to be both prepared and more capable if attacked. But often a defensive posture will fail as it did with the vegetarian dinosaur which was no threat to the other dinosaurs. Many animal packs that are vegetarian adopt defensive and preventative postures as a pack to minimize any predatory attack on members within the vegetarian pack. Buffalo, cattle, and many other animals do this.
But only mankind has two things the animals don't have. Man is smart enough to anticipate a predatory attack and respond in a defensive manoeuvre of defense to disable or kill the predatory enemy before the "screech" of death is heard. Man has the means and abilities to develop sophisticated weaponry. Compare this weaponry to the teeth of the attacking dinosaur and the tail of the vegetarian dinosaur.
But if a society or community of man is not aware of such dangers by other predatory type societies and communities then it peacefully and obliviously eats, drinks, sleeps, reproduces, plays, and in other ways occupies itself. When the "screech" of impending death is heard it may be too late. This is especially true if the predatory society has technological superiority and readiness to use that technology in an aggressive manner. This susceptibility scenario is also true if a society or community of man has been deceived into thinking that the predators are their friends or that arbitration, deals, and discourse will stop the aggression. Nothing will stop the predatory nation or community from its behavior other than its own destruction. A predatory human or human society is far more committed to violent aggression than is a predatory animal seeking a prey for a source of food. A predator is ruthless and uncaring whether it be a dinosaur, a wolf, or man. The "whimper" (or dialog to prevent aggression) that precedes death is understood by the predator as victory and the prey can be savaged. There are those that feel that a kind of social remedial exercise involving discourse, and various other forms of reward and penalty administered against the predatory society, by some powerful majority, will cause such predatory communities to change. This is foolishness as long as the pack leader remains leader. The leaders drive the communities. This is true even in western democratic nations. Sometimes leaders reflect the views of the community that elected them and perhaps leaders exploit the community that elected them.
When leaders have control of the key social institutions they can use these institutions to brain wash the community as a whole. If leaders don't have control of the key social institutions then new potential pack leaders can use these institutions to brain wash the community and thereafter supplant the pack leader. For example, often the educational institutions are infiltrated with authority figures that have a profound influence on those they teach. So it is not unusual in just about every society to see social discontent first voiced by universities and institutions of higher learning. The so called media in the form of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV industry, the publishing industry, and the movie industry are powerful means of brainwashing a society and re-engineering the "average" social mentality. A third category is the religious institutions, seminaries, and related organizations. Whoever controls the content of these institutions inevitably controls the pack mentality. Laws and government are derived from this mentality. As the mentality changes so also do the laws and inclinations of government.
As long as the average human being allows himself or herself to be herded along in a pack type social environment there will be predatory societies that feed on the other societies. They will skulk about and wait for their moment. They will form unholy and wicked alliances with each other only to eventually turn on one another. War in this context simply realigns those at the top of the food chain. War is for the purpose of establishing different leaders, it rarely occurs for the purpose of true peace and prosperity directed from a global perspective. Although the word peace is used a lot today its meaning varies depending upon who uses it. Peace as used by world leaders means the establishment of their objectives at the cost of their opponents. World leaders shake each others hands in such deceptive gestures of peace. It is a paradox. It is a horrible dilemma. If any society disarms, adopts arbitration and dialog to effect change then they will be perceived as manipulatable through that dialog. They will also be perceived by the potential aggressor as weak because they rely too heavily on a so called diplomatic solution to disputes. Meanwhile the predatory society or societies will take whatever gain they can through the dialog and when their moment comes, lunge, and with their mighty jaws and sharp teeth rip and tear away at the vulnerabilities of their prey.
Therefore, God must manipulate the devil who influences man towards predatory behavior. The devil incarnate is Anti-Christ. The Anti-Christ or Satan is any human being that uses their reasoning capabilities to serve their primitive instincts. By so doing they have opened up and turned over their mental "real estate" to the spiritual forces of darkness that bring only death. The spiritual force of evil is only able to influence the human mind through the mechanism of our primitive instincts for survival. If we lust and are preoccupied with the things and values of a world driven by such instincts then we have been deceived into a form of mental slavery that brings only hatred and death in its wake.
Jesus Christ is the answer. He is both an example of what we must be like as humans and he is the facilitator/mediator/interface whereby we can all know and experience the love/caring of God.
If you have any comments, questions, or concerns you can email this ministry at thilts@help-for-you.com
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Page 1
. . . Day by Day with VOA .. . . BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 08:24 GMT . Illegal music
sites 'here to stay'
.
Album sales are falling
worldwide
Illegal music download sites will never be eradicated, the president of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has admitted. Cary Sherman told BBC News Online that music would always be available for free somewhere on the net despite costly court battles to shut down illegal music sites. He said the aim was to bring the proliferation of sites under control so that business were free to continue to make money.
"Our aim is not to completely eliminate music piracy or illegal peer-to-peer services altogether, " said Mr Sherman. "As long as it is within a reasonable amount of control then we will be happy but we are still a long way from that." Mark Mulligan, an analyst with Jupiter Research, agreed that the music industry would never fully be able to eradicate illegal file sharing. "There will always be those willing to develop alternative illegal services. "It has got to be accepted that file sharing will always be there just as shoplifting is accepted as wastage in the retail sector." Mr Sherman's comments come as research shows more people than ever are willing to pay for songs on the internet and the music industry starts to hope people will turn to legitimate services. 'Exploding According to Jupiter, 19% of people surveyed said they would pay for song downloads over the internet, up from 16% a year ago. The RIAA, which has spearheaded court action against illegal sites, said legitimate online music services were "exploding". "The overriding goal of our efforts to curb illegal internet music trafficking has been to foster an online environment where the legitimate services can succeed," said RIAA chairman Hilary Rosen.
"It is also encouraging that the extraordinary progress of the legitimate online market in the US is being mirrored around the world," she added. But Mr Mulligan said major music labels and online music distributors were yet to convince the masses that the internet was a good source of paid-for music. The music industry is convinced illegal music downloads are having a detrimental effect on record sales. Album sales in the US in 2002 were down for the second year in a row - dropping more than 10% on the previous year. Mr Mulligan said the proliferation of illegal sites had to be tackled before people would start paying for their music online. Pledged "Illegal file sharing has to be driven into the underground by making legitimate offerings compelling," he said.
"We are taking the message to universities and corporations that illegal downloads waste bandwidth and expose their networks to security problems," said Mr Sherman. The scale of the problem is huge - in 2001 IFPI and affiliated national groups were responsible for the removal of:
'Experimentation' Mr Mulligan said the offerings of US services MusicNet and Pressplay, which are backed by major labels, remained "experimentation". "Even if illegal sites were removed now a huge vacuum would be created. "In the US there are a handful of legitimate offerings but in Europe there are almost no real legitimate forms available." Mr Mulligan said that in Europe there needed to a higher penetration of broadband, simpler licensing agreements and more legitimate offerings before the market could take off. He said: "The whole of the internet has been a free content model. You have to convince people that it is worth paying for good quality content." Mr Sherman admitted that the only response to illegal peer-to-peer services was to promote "legal, attractive alternatives that will make consumers want to pay for their music". . BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 13:45 GMT . Berlusconi
accused of Mafia links
.
Berlusconi is alleged
to have had links with Mafia bosses Italian supergrass Antonino Giuffre has accused Italian Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi of meeting Mafia bosses during the 1980s at the
trial of a senator in Sicily.
Mr Giuffre, who turned state's witness after his arrest in April, said Mafia bosses had visited Mr Berlusconi's villa near Milan, purportedly to see a person who worked there, media reports say.
Mr Dell'Utri is accused of using an advertising business - part of Berlusconi's Fininvest business empire - to launder Mafia money. The highest-ranking member of the Cosa Nostra to co-operate with investigators, Mr Giuffre said Mr Berlusconi used to be in touch with Stefano Bontade, a top Mafia boss, who visited Mr Berlusconi's villa in Arcore. Mr Giuffre added that the mobster's contact at Mr Berlusconi's villa was the late Vittorio Mangano, a convicted Mafioso who used to be a stable manager there. "When Vittorio Mangano got the job in the Arcore villa, boss Stefano Bontade and some of his close aides used to meet Berlusconi using visits to Mangano as an excuse," Mr Giuffre said. He told the Palermo court that despite the prime minister's assertions to the contrary, Mr Mangano's Mafia identity was known when he was hired at the villa. "Berlusconi was afraid of kidnappings, so Dell'Utri introduced him to Mangano," Mr Giuffre said in his deposition to state prosecutors ahead of the senator's trial.
Mr Giuffre was formerly the right-hand man for Bernardo Provenzano, the Cosa Nostra head who has been on the run for more than 30 years. "Dell'Utri was a person very close to Cosa Nostra and at the same time he was an excellent reference for Berlusconi, and was therefore known as a serious and trustworthy person," Mr Giuffre said, speaking with his back to the video camera. Mr Dell'Utri denies the charges, which are largely based on the evidence of other Mafia turncoats. On Tuesday, he said the government's anti-Mafia record proved there was no tie between Mr Berlusconi and Cosa Nostra. Mr Berlusconi himself was also questioned during the trial, but he exercised his right to silence during the special court session held in Rome in November. 'Political links' According to Mr Giuffre, the relationship between Mr Dell'Utri and the Mafia gained importance in 1993 after the collapse of the Christian Democrat Party amid widespread corruption trials. At that time, Mr Berlusconi was putting together his Forza Italia Party to fill the political vacuum. "Cosa Nostra was interested in making contact with the upper echelon of this movement," Mr Giuffre said. Mr Giuffre is also expected to testify at the appeal trial of Giulio Andreotti, Italy's seven-time prime minister who has been accused of association with the Mafia. . BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 06:46 GMT . European
press review
,
The dilemma facing the French and German
leaders over their respective countries' role in any war against Iraq comes
under the spotlight in today's press.
American influence over the new, enlarged EU is also examined. And the cloning debate needs to be addressed urgently, believes one daily. Chirac treads a fine line Two of France's leading dailies point to French President Jacques Chirac's delicate balancing act over the possibility of war against Iraq. "As America
and Britain step up their military deployment in the Gulf," the centre-right
Le Figaro reports, Mr Chirac "took the opportunity of the traditional
New Year greetings to the diplomatic corps to repeat France's opposition to all
unilateral action."
"Let us resolutely reject the temptation of unilateral action," the paper quotes Mr Chirac as saying. "Any eventual decision to use force must be explicitly taken by the UN Security Council on the basis of the inspectors' findings." However, the paper notes, in another speech, the president told the French armed forces to "be ready for any eventuality" over the prospect of an intervention in Iraq. The left-leaning Liberation believes Mr Chirac "has very skillfully taken a twin-track approach" to the Iraq question. He has
"distanced himself from Bush by urging him to go through UN channels", while
"simultaneously reassuring him that France stands firm as an
ally".
However, the situation contains a number of paradoxes, Liberation argues. "A left-wing French president would find it easier to take a pro-war stance because the opposition's support would be a foregone conclusion". The centre-right Chirac will not be able to rely on corresponding backing from the Left. "But if the UN decides for war, then there will be war, and France will participate," Liberation states, pointing to another paradox. Mr Chirac will then find himself "rowing against the current of anti-war feeling which he himself encouraged". Test for Schroeder The German press highlights the difficulties of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's position faced with signs that Britain and France are gearing up for war. For Die
Welt, "Paris and London are planning for D-Day".
A commentary in Frankfurter Rundschau fears that the situation shows the poverty of European foreign policy. By failing to oppose military action, Britain and France are pursuing national rather than European interests. "In this way, the old continent presents the absurd picture of the diplomatic isolation of the man who probably best represents pan-European scepticism," the paper argues, in reference to Mr Schroeder's opposition to the war. "A war without new evidence of Iraqi nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and without a second UN resolution would mean the end of any European foreign policy before it has even got off the ground." The
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung believes a UN Security Council vote on
military action against Iraq would be the chancellor's "moment of
truth".
"If, as is to be expected, the allies were to vote with America, then Berlin would not be able to vote against without completely isolating itself." Berlin, which now sits on the Council, is therefore praying its position will not be tested, and there will be no war, or at least no vote, the daily adds. Sweden's Svenska Dagbladet agrees that Mr Schroeder is in for a rough ride and the UN Security Council seat will be "nowhere near as comfortable as Schroeder had hoped". His attempts to reposition himself by saying that Germany could accept military action without participating had lead to criticism at home that he broke promises made in the election campaign. "Germany's saviour has shown himself to be a knight in rusty armour," says the paper. Washington calls the shots An editorial
in France's Nouvel Observateur is sceptical of the enlarged European
Union's ability to stand up to America in the international
arena.
Poland's announcement, less than two weeks after being accepted into the EU, that it had decided to equip its air force with American F-16 planes in preference to their Swedish and French equivalents, showed "Europe's total capitulation to the United States", it argues. "The latest country to be admitted into the Union lost no time in showing allegiance to the American empire." Recalling President George W Bush's insistence during last month's EU summit in Copenhagen that Turkey be invited to join, the paper laments "that aside from a few grumblings backstage, the Europeans seemed to find it altogether natural that America should decide what is good for Europe". Cloning quandary After
suspicion that human cloning claims by the Quebec-based Raelian cult could be a
hoax, the Swiss Tribune de Geneve believes that what it calls "this
cloning soap opera" at least has merit of "giving a boost to the
debate".
"For better or worse, cloning, whether of the human or therapeutic variety, is undeniably part of our immediate future." "The boundaries for this kind of research should urgently be laid down," it demands, adding that the cloning of human beings should be classed as a crime. However, "a blanket ban on all forms of cloning would do huge damage to the 'therapeutic' variety thought capable of providing cures for most diseases currently deemed incurable". The European press review is compiled by BBC Monitoring from internet editions of the main European newspapers and some early printed editions. . BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 14:53 GMT . French seek
oil spill compensation
.
20,000 tons of oil
have leaked Two local authorities in south-west France are seeking compensation
for oil damage incurred by the sinking of the tanker Prestige off the coast of
Spain.
Oil from the tanker has devastated the Atlantic coast of Spain and France and its precious fishing industries.
The Prestige's Greek captain, who is now in jail, said on Wednesday that his vessel had been in "perfect condition" before it sank. "I believe something struck the ship. Perhaps it was a contained or a powerful wave," Apostolos Mangouras told the Greek daily, Ta Nea. "If I thought the ship was in bad shape, I wouldn't be its captain," he said. Captain Mangouras is facing prosecution in Spain on charges that he refused to have his ship towed out of sea. French suits The French lawsuits are being brought by officials in the Gironde and Arcachon regions. Oil is now turning up on the beaches of northern Portugal and there have been fresh slicks near Landes in south-west France, but not in the kind of volumes seen in the past, local officials said. In the Gironde, north of Bordeaux, the authorities took advice from Corinne Lepage, a former environment minister and lawyer, who is already seeking damages for a 1999 spill from the Erika tanker off Brittany. "I think the complaint... will be registered by the end of the week," Xavier Pintat, mayor of the coastal town of Soulac, said. Mr Pintat has been appointed by a group of districts in Gironde to lead the legal campaign. In Arcachon, west of Bordeaux, local mayors have joined together to plan a similar lawsuit.
The region produces oysters and shellfish, but the local economy has been decimated after all sales from the region were banned on Sunday. Last week the public prosecutor's office in Brest opened a criminal inquiry into who was responsible for the sinking, in response to a request by President Jacques Chirac. Portugal hit Now Portugal may be under threat from the slick too. Oil was detected near Esposende, a fishing town located some 350 kilometres (220 miles) north of Lisbon. The oil is now undergoing tests to see if it does come from the Prestige. The patches of oil along a four-kilometre stretch of beach are around 10 centimetres (four inches) and a clean-up operation is underway. Previous Portugal has been spared the effects of the slick thanks to favourable winds blowing the oil northwards. Some 20,000 tonnes of oil have escaped from the Liberian-registered Prestige, an ageing single-hulled tanker, which broke in two before it sank in stormy seas off the coast of Spain seven weeks ago. . BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 17:35 GMT . In
pictures: Snow engulfs Europe
.
Europe is struggling to cope with sub-zero temperatures and heavy
snowfalls that have caused a number of deaths.
Russia has been hardest hit, with temperatures plunging to -48C in
some places On the far east Russian island of Sakhalin, six people were killed in
a violent snowstorm Russian TV showed images of iced-up radiators and windows, as
Sakhalin residents struggled to keep warm At least six people have died in weather-related accidents in
Germany In Berlin, children were able to play on the frozen lake in front of
Charlottenburg Castle A rare cold snap hit southern France this week, affecting road and
air travel Snow could be seen on the hills to the south of Dublin behind the
clock tower of the Museum of Modern Art
. BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 20:46 GMT . Turkey plane crash kills 72
.
 The Turkish authorities say 72 people are believed to have died after
a commercial aircraft on an internal flight crashed late on
Wednesday.
So far, only five survivors have been confirmed.
The Turkish Airlines RJ-100 plane was approaching Diyarbakir to land when it came down, reportedly in heavy fog. Rescue workers were now checking inside the plane for survivors, one security official said. "There's little hope that anyone else has survived," the unnamed official told Reuters news agency. "The pilot of the plane did not issue a mayday warning before the crash," he said. Turkish media said survivors had been taken to local hospitals where most were described as being in shock, but not suffering from life-threatening injuries. The plane, flying from Istanbul, was carrying 72 passengers and five crew. Distraught Turkish police and army officials have been attempting to calm distraught relatives and friends who have gathered at the airport entrance to greet those off the flight. "Police have emptied the terminal building but there are a lot of people yelling and screaming," a local taxi driver told Reuters news agency. The military, which has a heavy presence at the airport, and in the area, has been helping with the rescue effort. Turkish Airlines Director Yusuf Bolayirli told Anatolia news agency there was no firm indication yet of what caused the crash. Last week, several flights to Diyarbakir - a largely Kurdish city close to the border with Syria and Iraq - were cancelled due to poor weather. . HFY Comment: Later reports alter the above figures to 75 dead. BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 16:55 GMT . Vatican crime rate 'soars'
.
A Swiss
Guard murder was the last serious crime The world's smallest country - the Vatican -
has one of the highest crime rates in the world, a report
said.
The report, for the year 2002, was presented to the pontifical court by the state's Chief Prosecutor, Nicola Picardi.
St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican museums provide a kind of earthly paradise for pickpockets, the report said. Other crimes included embezzlement, fraud and insulting the police and civil servants. The last time a serious crime was committed in the Vatican was in 1998 when a disgruntled Swiss Guard shot dead his commander and his commander's wife before killing himself. Low clear-up rate The Vatican - the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and home to Pope John Paul II - has a population of just over 500, not all holding Vatican citizenship. Wednesday's statistics showed that in 2002 there were 397 civil offences and 608 penal offences. Mr Picardi said that petty theft - purse snatching, pickpocketing and shoplifting - was the most widespread of crimes affecting millions of tourists who visit the city state every year. The perpetrators - like the victims, tourists to the Vatican - were rarely caught, the report said, with 90% of complaints never leading to a prosecution. But, taken statistically, the figures paint a picture of rampant criminality in the Holy See, with 87.2% of the population committing a civil offence, and penal offences running at a staggering 133.6%. "The statistics show that there is a notable increase in litigation and in the complexity of cases, with consequences internationally and above all, for the public," Mr Picardi said. As a result, there was a backlog of cases in before the courts, which had to deal with a record 239 cases last year, with 110 still unresolved into 2003. But jail is not an option in the Vatican - which has no prison facilities. Anyone receiving a jail term would be sent to Italy to serve their sentence - with the Vatican having to pay the Italian state for the costs involved. . BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 18:10 GMT . Vatican to reinforce Catholic orthodoxy
.
Pope's
advisors say traditional values have weakened
For months it has seemed to liberal Roman Catholics that the sex abuse scandal that has affected the Church in many parts of the world, must lead to radical reforms.
But the signs are that the pope's advisers have come to precisely the opposite conclusions - and intend to reinforce traditional standards and discipline. They plan to crack down especially hard on homosexuality in the Church. 'Anglo-Saxon' problem In St Peter's Square in the Vatican, a group of children waiting to tour the towering basilica, tightly gathered around a smiling young priest.
Indeed, here in Rome, many see the scandal as what they call an "Anglo-Saxon" problem. Gerry O'Connell, the Vatican correspondent of the Roman Catholic journal The Universe, says that some of the pope's chief advisers have analysed the American cases and concluded that the problem is not paedophilia, but homosexuality. "When they analysed these cases, they discovered that the vast majority involved not priests and little children, that's children under the age of 11 or 12, but rather priests and teenagers," Mr O'Connell says. "So it had more a homosexual dimension to it." That conclusion is having far-reaching effects. 'Inadvisable and imprudent' Liberal Roman Catholics have argued that the scandal was caused by too much emphasis on hierarchy and the priesthood, and that the answer is to ordain women and end compulsory celibacy.
But conservatives - and there are many surrounding Pope John Paul II - believe the crisis has been caused by a weakening of the Church's traditional values and standards, and specifically a tolerance of homosexual priests. The Vatican correspondent of the National Catholic Reporter, John Allen, says a one-page letter from one of the Holy See's departments, the Congregation for Worship, graphically demonstrates the shift against homosexuals. He quotes the letter: "The ordination to the priesthood of homosexual men, or men with homosexual tendencies, is absolutely inadvisable and imprudent, and from a pastoral point of view, very risky." "To me, that's a pretty clear statement of position," Mr Allen says. According to him similar language is likely to be used in a more substantial document expected from the Vatican department in charge of education in the next few months. "There seems to be a clear thrust here towards making it more difficult, if not impossible for a homosexual to get into a seminary and ultimately to be ordained as a Catholic priest," Mr Allen says. Crisis in morale Another important clue is contained in the words "homosexual tendencies". The Church has always said that active homosexuality is a sin. But not necessarily homosexual tendencies. Ending that distinction would represent a significant crackdown on gay men in the priesthood.
At Beda College, a seminary for mature men in the St Paul's area just outside Rome's old city walls numbers of students are falling. The college's rector, Monsignor Roderick Strange says that the crisis in morale caused by the sex scandal can only make the situation worse. He thinks that whether or not a man has homosexual tendencies is irrelevant, provided he is sufficiently mature and socially well integrated. Barring them from seminaries would be a big mistake. "The issue of paedophilia and abuse may have homosexual aspects but it is simply not to be identified with that orientation," Monsignor Strange says. "If it were the case that people were using homosexuality to say that by banning this we will solve that then we wouldn't be getting any further forward at all." Reinforcing orthodoxy The resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston encouraged liberal Roman Catholics to believe the pope might find some relaxation of the Church's traditional disciplines unavoidable. But there is a tendency in Rome for America to seem far away, and to put its sex scandal in a wider context. For Vatican conservatives the priority seems to be to reinforce Roman Catholic orthodoxy in the Church as a whole, rather than indulge liberals in its unruly provinces. . BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 00:00 GMT . Beer belly 'gene' found
.
Genes
could predict which men will get a beer belly Genetic make-up could be to blame for the
beer belly.
Scientists have found that men with a certain gene variation have a tendency to get a flabby stomach.
Experts say other factors - such as diet and exercise - also play a role in obesity. It appears, however, that some men may be genetically programmed to get a beer belly as they get older if they lead an unhealthy lifestyle. Fat cells The culprit seems to be a substance called angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) which helps regulate blood pressure in the body. Studies in the laboratory suggest it might also play a role in the growth of fat cells. A team led by Pasquale Strazzullo of the University of Naples looked at several natural variations in the gene that are found in healthy men. They found that one genetic variant (polymorphism), known as DD, is linked to developing fat around the stomach. It seems to predict which men will put on weight and develop beer bellies as they grow older. "DD homozygosity was associated with larger increases in body weight and blood pressure in aging persons, as well as with higher incidence of overweight," they write in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Heart Study The research was part of a large heart disease study of 959 men, aged between 25 and 75 years old, who work for the Italian company Olivetti. Participants in the Olivetti Prospective Heart Study were weighed and measured, and their gene type was determined with a blood test. Men with the DD genetic sub-type were more than twice as likely to become overweight over the course of two decades than those with a different gene type. The authors say the study does have limitations - it only looked at Italian men and may not apply generally. Scientists acknowledge that more research is needed to unravel the relationship between particular genes and obesity. As genes are identified and their roles better understood, so is the fact that obesity is a chronic disease, said a spokeswoman for the American Obesity Association. She told BBC News Online: "Understanding genetic predisposition to weight gain is an essential step in defining obesity prevention and treatment strategies, and in arresting the stigma that obesity is always an individual's fault." . BBC -- Tuesday, 7 January, 2003, 10:24 GMT . Fat at 40 'slashes life expectancy'
.
People are getting fatter younger People who are obese at 40 can lose up to
seven years off their life, research has found.
The findings mean that being fat in middle-age increases the risk of dying early as much as smoking. If a woman is obese and a smoker at 40, she risks dying 13.3 years sooner than a slim non-smoker. An obese male smoker was found to lose 6.7 years from their life expectancy. Dutch researchers analysed data from just under 3,500 volunteers in Framingham, Massachusetts, USA from 1948 to 1990.
Obese female non-smokers lost an average of 7.1 years and men lost 5.8. Non-smokers who were overweight, but not obese, lost three years. 'Preventable disaster' Obesity is defined as having a body-mass index (BMI) of 30 or above. Doctors consider a BMI of 25 or under to be healthy. A person's BMI is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of height in metres. Click here to calculate your Body Mass Index Obesity is already known to increase the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Dr Anna Peeters, of the Netherlands Morbidity Research Unit, who led the study, said: "We concluded that obesity in adulthood is associated with a decrease in life expectancy of about seven years, both in men and women. "The magnitude of this loss is similar to that associated with smoking. "The smoking epidemic in the Western world is waning. "However, a new fear should be the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity in young adults, which heralds another potentially preventable public health disaster." She added: "This time, we must pay attention earlier and firmly establish research for more effective prevention and treatment as top priorities in public health." Higher risk Dr Serge Jabbour, director of the weight-loss clinic at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia said: "The message is that you have to work on your weight. "If you wait a long time, the damage may have been done." He added: "This study is saying that if you are overweight by your mid-30s to mid-40s, even if you lose some weight later on, you still carry a higher risk of dying." The research is published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. . BBC -- Tuesday, 7 January, 2003, 15:12 GMT . Israel tightens curbs on Palestinians
.
Palestinians' freedom to move has been curtailed Israel has tightened restrictions on
Palestinian civilians and officials moving around the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip.
Israeli security forces have told the BBC that soldiers have been ordered not to allow goods to move between Palestinian cities, or to permit Palestinians under the age of 35 to leave Palestinian territories.
Earlier, three Palestinian militiamen were killed when Israeli forces raided a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in a search for militants, Palestinian sources said. Witnesses said dozens of gunmen clashed with troops after Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles went into the Maghazi camp in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The army is also reported to have entered the Khan Yunis sector in the south of the strip where several homes were destroyed. Status revoked Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said members of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and other Palestinian officials had been banned from moving between cities.
Palestinians accorded VIP status by Israel will now have to apply for special permits to travel. "This is new proof that Israel wants to destroy the Palestinian Authority," he told French news agency AFP. He said only children under four months old were allowed out of Palestinian areas. The new measures come on top of severe restrictions already in place, since Israel took control of the West Bank following a series of deadly bombings in June. Following Sunday's attack, Israel banned Mr Erekat and other Palestinian officials from attending a conference in Britain on reforming the PA. The move led to a diplomatic spat between Israeli Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his UK counterpart, Jack Straw, while US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he regretted Israel's decision. Diplomatic row In a transcript of a telephone exchange published by the Israeli foreign ministry, Mr Netanyahu and Mr Straw accused each other of failing to seek proper partners for peace. Mr Netanyahu told Mr Straw that the suicide bombings made "business as usual" impossible. He then urged the UK foreign secretary to adopt the same position as US President George W Bush "that leaders compromised by terror cannot be partners for peace". Mr Netanyahu added: "You in Britain are doing the exact opposite." That apparently drew a sharp reply from Mr Straw who is said to have replied: "No, it is Israel that is doing the opposite. "Instead of concentrating on dealing with terrorism, it is striking at [Palestinian] delegates." . BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 16:04 GMT . Sharon rejects corruption charge
.
Mr Sharon said he had documents to refute the charge
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has
rejected as "despicable political libel" the allegation that he received an
improper $1.5 million loan.
He told reporters on Wednesday that he would "refute this libel with documents and with facts". The liberal Israeli daily Ha'aretz has alleged that the prime minister and his sons received the loan to cover debts from Mr Sharon's campaign for leadership of his Likud party in 1999.
Cyril Kern, the South African businessman who made the loan, rejected the allegation of impropriety as "character assassination". A South African Justice Ministry spokesman confirmed that Attorney General Rubinstein's office had requested help with an investigation into the loan. Old friend Mr Kern, who has been a friend of Mr Sharon's since they fought together in Israel's 1948 war of independence, dismissed the notion that the loan was improper.
Amram Mitzna, the head of the main opposition Labour party, had earlier challenged Mr Sharon to make a statement on the issue. "If Mr Sharon decides to keep quiet he will lose his legitimacy and be unworthy of leading Israel in its hour of crisis," Ha'aretz quoted him as saying. Poll dip An opinion poll on Wednesday suggested that a substantial portion of the electorate shares Mr Mitzna's view. Some 31% of Israelis said Mr Sharon was unfit to be prime minister given the allegations. But 46% said he should keep his post. The poll did not say what Israelis thought before the allegations surfaced. The loan issue is the second corruption allegation to hit Likud recently. There have been allegations of vote-buying during Likud party primaries before the election, and Mr Sharon sacked his deputy infrastructure minister when she declined to answer police questions. Labour steady The scandals have cut into Likud's lead over Labour at a time when the Israeli public seems to support Mr Sharon's hard line on security issues.
But Labour, whose forecast has held steady at just over 20 seats in predictions for the next Knesset, has apparently not benefited from Likud's troubles. Polls suggest that former Likud supporters are backing other right-wing parties - including religious ones - or the centrist Shinui party rather than going over to Labour. . BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 11:03 GMT . UK woos Turkey on Iraq
.
Turkey is under pressure to let the US use its bases
British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has
praised military co-operation with Turkey despite the country's reservations to
a possible American-led war against Iraq.
Mr Hoon is the latest Western official to visit Ankara to urge the Turkish Government to make its military facilities available to fellow Nato allies.
The talks come as more Western troops head towards the Gulf. In its latest deployment, the US is sending battle planners to a forward base in Qatar to join thousands of American soldiers being deployed to the region this week, joining the 50,000 already there. A British naval task force is being sent to the Mediterranean, and military reservists are being called up, Mr Hoon announced on Tuesday. Flag burnedTurkey is not expected to make a decision on whether to allow the use of its bases, land and ports by US troops until the United Nations has ruled on military action. The government has played host to a steady flow of high-level visitors from London and Washington over the past few months, all keen to get Turkey to agree to the use of their facilities should war come.
But there have also been signs that Turkish resistance is softening. A private TV station reported on Tuesday a decision to allow U-2 spy planes to fly over Turkey on their way to Iraq. US aircraft already use Turkey's Incirlik air base to enforce a no-fly zone over northern Iraq. But the head of the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs committee, Mehmet Dulger, has warned against the stationing of any British troops in the neighbouring Kurdish-held part of northern Iraq. Mr Dulger said Turkey's reservations stemmed from World War I, when Britain helped break up the Ottoman Empire. 'Significant' force Meanwhile the military build-up has been continuing, with Britain calling up 1,500 reservists and bolstering naval forces already earmarked for the Gulf.
In France, President Jacques Chirac said on Tuesday soldiers needed to be prepared in case new areas of engagement opened up - his clearest reference yet to the prospect of French involvement in any military action in Iraq. The BBC's Paris correspondent, Jon Sopel, says Mr Chirac is slowly trying to massage public opinion in case military action does take place and French soldiers are involved. France has long opposed unilateral military action by America against Iraq, insisting any resort to force must be approved by the UN first. . BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 15:32 GMT . Russia shivers in big freeze
.
Temperatures near -50C have been recorded More than 20,000 people across Russia have
been left without heating as temperatures plunge to record
lows.
Russian news agencies report that thermometers plummeted to -37C in
the Moscow suburbs overnight on Tuesday, while the Arctic port of Murmansk
registered temperatures of -48C.
Some 23,000 people in around 20 towns across the country are living without heating as old or overused heating systems break down in the extreme frost, Interfax news agency said. Russian television showed images of iced-up radiators and windows, with residents bundled in blankets to try to keep warm. Homeless at risk In the capital six people froze to death overnight. According to the Emergencies Ministry, almost 240 people, mostly
homeless and elderly and often drunk, have frozen to death in Moscow since the
beginning of winter.
Average winter temperatures for Moscow normally hover around -10C. Moscow's meteorological bureau has forecast a rise in temperature for the city and surrounding area over the next few days. But it warns that the bitter weather may return next week. ITAR-TASS said that 10 people died from cold and 66 were hospitalised with frostbite over the Orthodox Christmas holiday. On the far east island of Sakhalin, meanwhile, six people have been killed in a three-day snowstorm. BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.
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Even if illegal sites
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. . . Day by Day with VOA .. . . . BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 13:55 GMT . Einstein proved
right on gravity
.
It all adds up: Albert
Einstein would be pleased
It means that Einstein's General Theory of Relativity has passed yet another test with flying colours. The measurement was made by Ed Fomalont of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Sergei Kopeikin of the University of Missouri, in Columbia, both US. Writing in New Scientist magazine, they say: "We became the first two people to know the speed of gravity, one of the fundamental constants of nature." Higher dimensions Isaac Newton believed the influence of gravity was instantaneous. Later, Albert Einstein assumed it travelled at the speed of light and built his 1915 General Theory of Relativity around that assumption. If gravity travelled at the speed of light it would mean that if the Sun suddenly vanished from the Solar System, the Earth would remain in orbit for about eight minutes - the time taken for light to travel from the star to our planet. Then, in the absence of gravity, Earth would move off in a straight line. Modern researchers say that knowing the speed of gravity is important in the study of branches of cosmology where the Universe has more spatial dimensions than the usual three. Some of those theories suggest that gravity could take a short cut through higher dimensions and so appear to travel faster than the speed of light. Jupiter's help To measure gravity's velocity, Kopeikin determined that it could be determined with the help of the planet Jupiter, if its mass and velocity were known. The perfect opportunity arose in September 2002, when Jupiter passed in front of a quasar - a distant, very active galaxy - that emits radio waves. Fomalont and Kopeikin combined observations from a series of radio telescopes to measure the apparent change in the quasar's position as the gravitational field of Jupiter bent the passing radio waves. From the observations the researchers determined that that gravity does indeed move at the same speed as light. The results of the study have been presented to this weeks meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle. . BBC -- Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 11:35 GMT . Kiss-and-chase in
space
.
 A
recently discovered asteroid is playing a cat-and-mouse game with
Earth.
The space object, which follows a similar path to our own around the Sun, will cross the Earth's orbit on Wednesday. Astronomers say | |||||||||